“You’re pretty good at this,” I said.
“I have my ways,” she said. “I’m not pretty like you though. I don’t have hot guys fawning over me. The only time I get attention is if I’m half naked when I run. Like if it gets too hot and I’m in a sports bra. Or if I’m wearing something that doesn’t support me all the way. Guys just love boobs.”
“They’re all idiots,” I said. “And you are pretty to me. You’re hot, Gia. You should own it. Your legs are like… fuck…”
“My legs?” Gia asked. “Who cares about legs?”
“I don’t know. Some guys do, I’m sure. I’m not going to compare our bodies. That’s not good to do. You’re smoking hot. I’m smoking hot. And anyone who can’t see that, screw them.”
“Screw them with a jagged seashell,” Gia said.
“Wow. You’re good at mental games and violence.”
“I’m the full package of crazy bitch,” she said. “I don’t get why I’m single.”
We both started to laugh.
Our shoulders bumped together and Gia looked at me to say something else.
She quickly sucked in a breath and all laughter ended.
Her face turned pale white.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Someone is watching us.”
My heart jumped into my throat as I scrambled to get to my feet.
I grabbed for Gia’s hand.
Someone was definitely watching us.
But it was someone I knew.
“Is that Noah?” Gia asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “You better go.”
“What? No.”
I looked at her. “Gia. Seriously. Go. I’ll handle him.”
“He has something… oh… wait…”
“Yeah,” I said.
Noah stood just far enough away to look creepy as hell. With a dress in his hand.
I shook my head and blinked a few times to make sure this was real.
Noah showing up like this. With a dress.
The third dress.
Meaning this entire thing was getting too crazy and too real all at the same time.
“Are you sure, Winter?” Gia asked.
“Positive,” I said. “I don’t want you involved in this.”
“Too late for that,” she said. “I do remember stabbing some tires.”
“Which you will never tell anyone you did,” I said. “Got it?”
Gia reached down and grabbed the bottle of vodka out of the sand. She took a drink and handed the bottle to me.
“You’ll need this,” she said. “And I feel like a terrible best friend for leaving.”
“You’re not. Let me handle it. It’s fine.”
Gia sighed and left.
I kept my eyes moving between her and Noah.
Noah didn’t move an inch.
Gia disappeared into the night.
Once she was really gone, Noah started to walk toward me.
“You guys love to make an entrance,” I said.
“I didn’t want to interrupt your girl’s night,” he said.
“Bullshit, Noah.”
“No, I’m serious.” He was close enough that he grabbed the bottle of vodka from my hand. He took a big gulp. “God, that tastes terrible.”
I ripped it back from him. “Then don’t drink it.”
“I was hoping you two would kiss or something.”
“You know, you and Xavier are as dumb as Easton.”
“Dumb?” Noah asked.
His lip curled.
Ahh, right. Noah has issues… so calling him ‘dumb’ is really bad…
“What?” I asked. “Are you offended?”
“No,” he said. “I brought you a dress.”
“A dress? For what?”
I was kind of loving playing stupid near Noah. Or maybe it was just the vodka making me act that way. I felt giddy and flirty and loose and floaty.
All of which were dangerous things to feel considering who I was around.
“Really?” Noah asked with a laugh. “You lost your memory, but not your recent memory.”
“You don’t know anything about my memory, Noah.”
He moved closer to me. “Want to bet?”
The smirk on his face made me shiver.
What the hell does that mean?
I stepped back a little because the vodka was already telling me how good Noah looked. He wasn’t some rough and tough beach guy. He wasn’t some hippy surfer wannabe. He was himself. The nice shirt. The nice pants. That was his look. And even with the blood… when he beat someone up and got blood on his shirt… he would just change the shirt like it was nothing.
I shook my head to purposely scramble my thoughts.
“Uh, a dress, huh?” I asked. “You know, the other two just dropped theirs and ran.”
“I’m not the other two,” Noah said.
He moved closer to me again.
“I can see that,” I said. “I was enjoying a night with Gia.”
“Oops,” he said.
“Give me the dress and leave,” I said. “I’ll try it on. Like I did the other two. And then you’ll have to wait and see which dress I decide to wear to the ball.”
Noah slowly shook his head. “No.”
“No?”
“I wish you could remember, Winter,” he said.
Oh, but I do, Noah…
“Remember, what?” I asked, almost flirting a little.
“Everything,” he said.
He reached for my face and stroked my cheek.
When he did that, all the chills that had been working through my body turned into mini balls of heat.
I didn’t quite understand what everything meant. Other than him messing with my head. Just like the others. Like Easton trying to convince me that he and I had hooked up in the backseat of his car. The closest thing Easton and I ever had to a hookup was me in his memory and him in his bed with his right hand doing the work.
The same could be said for Xavier.
And Noah.
A quick wave of sobriety came over me and I reached for the dress.
Noah put his hand to my wrist and moved my hand away.
“No,” he said again.
“No to what, Noah?” I asked.
“You’re not taking this dress and running off with it,” he said.
“Then what am I doing with it?”
“You’re going to try it on for me… in front of me.”
Trust me, I went through the logical process.
I told myself leading Noah to the beach house was a bad idea. I told myself accepting his dress - or the other dresses - was a bad idea. Even when I got to the deck, I put my right foot on the first step and paused.
Before I could even attempt to think a thought, Noah touched my sides and pressed the front of his body to the back of mine.
“Cold feet, Winter?” he asked as though he could read my thoughts.
That was an opening to come to my senses and tell him to leave.
There was zero reason for me to accept a dress from him. I could actually make my plan work by rejecting his dress without seeing it. It would hurt him. It would get into his head. He would have instant resentment for Easton and Xavier over it.