“Flynn, it sounds perfect.” Or it would be, if he’d walk faster.
Or . . . maybe . . . she should focus on the handsome man next to her and save the painting mania for another trip. Sierrasucked in the salt-tinged air and reminded herself how lucky she was to be on the edge of the Pacific with such a wonderfulguy. One who, miraculously, liked her. At least, the parts of herself that she let him know about.
She wouldn’t ruin tonight by wondering what he’d think about her if he knew the truth.
The furrow in his brow said that Flynn wasn’t convinced. “Does it sound okay? Or are you humoring me?”
“Why would I bother to humor you? If I didn’t like this, if I didn’t want to be with you, it’d just be a waste of a night.”
They veered closer to the shoreline, where it was easier to walk on the packed sand. “Wouldn’t you rather be in a club tossingback shots and dancing?”
“No.” Sierra stopped. Using her big toe, she drew an outline of a bottle and two shot glasses. Put it in a circle and slasheda diagonal line across it. Flynn barked out a laugh. Then she bent down to unearth a half-buried strand of seaweed. The thickrubberiness of the leaves surprised her. “Is that what you did?”
Flynn took the seaweed and pressed on a bulb, squirting seawater at her. “I worked a lot. Did the fights. But I hit some clubs,too. Look, I know this date is pretty basic. But I don’t know what sort of a good time to offer you here. This is all differentto me. I’m off my game. Where I used to live there were more . . . options.”
Where was that, exactly?
Oh, yeah. Her new dating rule: don’t ask any question you aren’t willing to answer yourself.
“Flynn. This is perfect. Truly, I don’t need much to make me happy.”
“What do you need?”
It was the kind of question that came up at two in the morning—or on a deserted stretch of beach with only the crashing wavesas background music. It deserved a thoughtful answer. A real one, as best she could share without revealing her secrets.
“A place to paint. Some . . . peace. Lots of honesty. No secrets or lies.” It was one hundred percent hypocritical of herto wish for that. But Rick had lied to her for so long. The hurt and betrayal she’d felt when the truth unraveled was a feelingSierra never wanted to experience again. So yes, it went on her wish list.
A girl could dream, couldn’t she?
Flynn’s fingers dug into the back of her hand all of a sudden, then just as quickly relaxed. He moved behind her so that theyboth faced the lighthouse, keeping the setting sun at their backs. Then he circled his arms around her in a loose embrace.“That’s both simple and very specific.”
“All I want is a simple life. I never dreamed of being rich or traveling the world.” This moment, right here, with Flynn,was so much better than anything she’d ever dared to hope for. Because when you lived with nothing for so long, almost everythingseemed out of reach and impossible to imagine. “I just want lots of happiness.”
His head cozied up against hers, lips brushing the top rim of her ear. “How about lots of kisses, too?”
“Oh, geez. You’re right. I don’t know how those slipped my mind . . .” Sierra wound her hand around the back of his neck tomake sure he didn’t go anywhere. He clamped tighter the arm at her waist, pulling her back against a hard-on so impressiveit made her gasp.
Flynn moved in on that gasp, capturing her mouth while it was still open. His tongue swooped in, tasting and licking and strokingthe inside of her mouth.
But Sierra was ready. Ready for him. Primed by the happiness of being with him and the romance-drenched moment. So she shiftedsideways and became the aggressor. Wrapped a leg around his like a vine up a marble column—because that’s how solid Flynn’smuscles felt—and twined to him with every possible appendage.
Her fingers wove through his hair. Her other hand boldly shot up his untucked black shirt to clutch at the warm skin of hisback. Her tongue took over his mouth. It didn’t matter what was in his backpack picnic. What Sierra hungered for right now could only be assuaged by moreFlynn. More heat. More pressure. More moans that melded with the music of the waves.
Suddenly her other foot left the ground as Flynn lifted her and spun them in slow circles. She tipped her head back for asecond. Then she blinked at the handsome man grinning down at her. “What are you doing?”
“Feels like the earth is moving?”
Sierra nodded, already dizzy and more than a little kiss-drunk. But she didn’t want him to stop, either.
“I’m giving you a preview of what it’ll feel like when we have sex.”
She swallowed hard. “Oh.”
Flynn carried her closer to the water. He stood with his feet submerged, turned so that spray hit her cheeks from the suddenlygusty wind. “It’ll feel like this, too. Fierce. Inexorable.”
Sexy and smart. Was there any better combination? Oh, well, yes. The icing on top of Flynn’s mysterious bad boy vibe. “Whatkind of a person uses the word inexorable?” she murmured, not really expecting him to hear it over the surf.
“What kind of person knows what it means?” he whispered back even softer.
Was she supposed to have heard that? Did it mean that Flynn realized she wasn’t telling him the whole truth about herself?
“Touché.”
Chapter Nine
Flynn didn’t mind unloading the booze delivery. Hoisting kegs and cases full of bottles was a good workout. Well, a good start to a workout, anyway. The only gyms in Bandon were those women-friendly places that had circuits for weights and eight differentkinds of dance classes. No free weights. No heavy bag. Flynn knew better than to go into a gym for weekend warriors if hewanted to avoid attention.
There was a rumor that Mollie was
