“You going to let him move in on your girl like that?” Oliver asks me.
“She’s not my girl.”
“This is going to be fun,” he says, clamping a hand down on my shoulder.
“We already know they’re fun,” I counter, as we begin to follow Daniel and now Sam, who has caught up to them.
“Not the girls, I mean you.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about watching you fall for this girl.”
“Whoa, hold up. No one said anything about falling for anyone,” I correct him.
“You keep telling yourself that, my man.” Oliver grins.
“You’ve lost your damn mind. She doesn’t even live here. If I decided to start a relationship, it wouldn’t be with a girl who lives states away.”
“You sure about that?” he questions me.
“I’m positive. They’re cool, and she’s fun to hang around.”
“You called dibs.”
“Yeah, to keep you jokers from making a move.”
“Uh-huh, we’ll go with that,” he says with a chuckle.
“Come on, slowpokes!” Sam calls back to us.
Oliver and I lift a hand, letting him know we heard him and we’re making our way there. We walk in silence for a few minutes until Oliver speaks up again. “You know it’s fine, right?”
“What’s fine?”
“To fall for her?”
“Stop.” I groan, dropping my head back. “I’m not falling for anyone. I’m keeping my eye on the prize, on my goal. We have an endgame. I haven’t forgotten that.”
“I hear you,” he says.
I can tell by his tone that he doesn’t believe me. It’s not that I don’t want to find someone. I grew up watching my parents, and I don’t think any two people are more in love than they are. However, the career I want is not for everyone. And even though I’m a freshman, scouts came to watch us play in high school. Oliver and I are both on the radar for the pros. Word travels fast, and it’s hard to know who’s interested in you for you and who wants you as their meal ticket. Peyton seems easygoing, but I barely know the girl.
It’s way too soon to be talking about falling, and long-distance relationships, and all that. She’s nice, and I want to hang out with her while she’s here. Maybe we’ll keep in touch? But I’m certain that’s as far as it’s going to go.
When we finally catch up to them, Daniel and Sam are making introductions. I see my buddies and their interest, and well, like I said, I like her, and she doesn’t need to be used like that. I walk up next to her and slide my arm around her shoulders.
“Wanna take a walk?”
“Where to?”
“Just down by the water.” I point at the shoreline about fifty or so feet away.
“Hey.” Peyton places her arm on Karina’s. “We’re going to walk down to the water,” she tells her friend. “Will you be okay?”
“I’ll make sure of it,” Oliver speaks up.
I’m not sure what it is with him today, but I’m grateful. “He’s good people. I promise.”
“Stranger, remember?” Peyton reminds me.
“Hold up.” Karina pulls her phone out of her back pocket and takes a picture of us, and then Daniel, Sam, and Oliver. “You know, just in case.” She shrugs.
“You’ll be able to see us the entire time,” I promise, which seems to appease her. “Ready?” I ask Peyton.
“Sure,” she agrees.
I hold my hand out for her, and she takes it. I don’t hold hands with girls, so I’m not sure what made me do it, but I don’t hate it. I kind of like the softness of her fingers entwined with mine.
“I love the ocean,” she says. It’s the dark of night, so you can’t really see much, but the moon is bright, the stars are shining, and the sound of the waves lets you know it’s there.
“You ever thought of moving?”
“I love the mountains too,” she admits. “And Tennessee is my home. It’s where my family is. I couldn’t imagine moving away from them. What about you? You plan on staying in Florida?”
“I’m not sure. I’m hoping to go pro, and then I won’t really have much of a say as to where I’m living.”
“Ah, an athlete. What sport?”
“Baseball.”
“Good game. I play softball. In fact, our season starts the day we get back to campus.”
“Are you any good?” I ask her.
“I can hold my own. What about you? Is going pro a real possibility?”
“Yeah, that’s what my coach tells me. Recruiters are hanging around already, and I had scouts at most of my games in high school.”
“You’re a freshman, right?” she asks.
“Yeah, you?”
“Yep.” She looks out over the ocean. “I hope all your dreams come true, Griffin.”
I step behind her and wrap my arms around her. She doesn’t even flinch when I do it. Instead, she rests her hands over mine that lock around her waist. She leans back against my chest, and a small sigh escapes her lips.
It’s out of character for me, but something in her tone tells me that she’s being sincere, and that touches something inside me I didn’t even know existed. A part of me is drawn to her, and I can’t explain why.
“Thank you,” I say, my lips next to her ear. I don’t kiss her like I want to. Instead, I hold her while we stare out at the darkened waters, shimmering in the moonlight.
CHAPTER 3
Peyton
“I can feel you staring at me,” I grumble into my pillow. It was late by the time the guys walked us back to the hotel last night, so Karina crashed in my room with me. Thankfully, Parker and I have a two-bedroom suite. I don’t need to see her and Holden all tangled up in bed together, and by the two pairs of shoes sitting next to the wall when I kicked mine off, I know he’s here with her. Of course, he is. He’s head over heels in love with my sister. Where else would he be?
“That’s because your phone keeps going off,” Karina fires back.
“Who in the hell is texting me at this hour?”
She laughs. “It’s after nine, sleepyhead. Did all that cuddling with Griffin last night take it out of you?” she asks, her voice sugary sweet.
“Stop.” I swat at her arm. “Besides, you and Daniel looked pretty close too.”
“We were flirting.”
“So were we,” I defend.
“Nah, what you had going on was altogether different.”
I peel open my eyes and look at her. “How do you figure?”
“I don’t really know. The best way I can explain it is that it looked like the two of you were together. Like you had been together for a long time. You move, he moves. He moves, you move. It was really something to see.”
I should tell her that she’s crazy, but then I’d be lying. That’s exactly how it felt to be with Griffin last night. “He didn’t make a move,” I confess.
“Yeah, it didn’t look like that to me. I mean, it didn’t look like he was just trying to get his dick wet. It was weird, Peyton. I’ve never seen two people just… connect like that.”