“We both know you’re attractive.” I rolled my eyes and stood alongside him. My blue jean shorts were damp from the sand, but I dusted them off the best I could. “The unknown factor here is if you’re innocent or on the run.”
His smile turned devilishly lethal with the deepening of his grin.
“So, are you going to chance it?” His voice was as smooth as butter as he took a step back, and I found myself eager to follow him.
I knew I was going to say yes before the word ever left my lips. I was in this town all alone. In this world all alone, and I desperately wanted to be anywhere other than where I was.
I didn’t want to think about my dad or my stepbrother or the fact that I could no longer turn to my mom.
I wanted to take a risk with him regardless of the consequences.
No one would even notice if I was gone. I doubted they would even care.
I was on my own, and the only thing that mattered in that moment was the two of us on this beach with no one to stop us.
No one to care about the reckless decisions I made.
I took a step past him and looked him over. “I don’t even know you.” I didn’t wait for him as I kept walking in the direction he was heading, but he quickly caught up.
“You can get to know me.” He got ahead of me and turned around to face me. His eyes trailed over me from head to toe as he walked backward in the sand, and I couldn’t help but notice that his gaze held no shame when it finally met mine again. “We can play a game.”
“A game?” My stomach tightened as I thought about the kind of games he probably played. His eyes sparked with mischief, as if daring me to take a risk.
“Yes. You can make an assumption about me, and I’ll let you know if it’s true, then I can make one about you.”
This game of his sounded dangerous, but I had already made plenty of assumptions about him in my head.
“You’re a player.”
He rubbed his chest playfully, but his eyes lit up at my words. “Damn. Right off the bat, huh?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Am I wrong?”
“You’re not right.” He shifted to walking beside me, and the smell of him overwhelmed me.
His cologne was a mixture of smoke and spice, and I could practically taste it on my tongue. “But you’re not completely wrong.”
He smiled before biting down on his bottom lip. “My turn. You’re an only child.”
“Yes.” He technically wasn’t wrong. Lucas was only my stepbrother, and I wasn’t meeting him until after I was seventeen. In every way that mattered, I was an only child.
He snapped his fingers. “One for one.”
We walked farther down the beach, and I thought about what to say next. I had plenty of assumptions about him in my mind, but I wasn’t sure that I should say any of them out loud. “You’re not an only child.”
“I’m not. I have a younger sister.”
“Poor thing.” I chuckled. “I bet she can never get a date with you around.”
A storm brewed in his eyes before he pulled his gaze away from me and out toward the ocean. I instantly regretted what I had said.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
He grinned and slipped a mask over his emotions. “You’re good. My turn.”
I didn’t push him further. I didn’t even know this guy. I had no right to his secrets. Even if I desperately wanted to know them.
“I bet that you didn’t want to move here.”
“What makes you say that?” I crossed my arms. He was spot on.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head slightly. “I just get this feeling that you don’t want to be here.”
“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. No.”
“It’s not too bad.” He kicked a small shell across the sand. “I’ve never lived anywhere else, but I don’t hate it.”
“Why do I get the feeling you can’t wait to get out then?” We were still walking down the beach and passed more and more houses that looked so damn similar to the one we had just left. Some were larger than others, but they were all grandiose.
Just like my father’s house. It was just up ahead.
“You’re a little too good at this game.” He chuckled and ran his fingers down the back of his neck. His bicep bunched under his t-shirt, and I saw the edge of a delicate tattoo peeking out. “I’m not leaving Clermont Bay.”
“Like ever?” I laughed, but he looked serious.
“I mean, maybe eventually, but not anytime soon.”
I understood how that felt. If it wasn’t for my mother’s life insurance policy, I wouldn’t be able to pay for college either. Even with it, there was no way I would make it through without working my ass off. It didn’t matter that my father had more money than I could ever dream of. I refused to touch any of it. “So, what? You just party with those rich assholes then?”
“Don’t forget you were there too.” He chuckled. “But unfortunately, I am one of those rich assholes.” He pointed behind us to a house we had just passed. It only sat a few away from my father’s, but it stood out from the rest. The large stone house looked like it had been there long before the rest of the homes even though it was still pristinely taken care of. It had a regal feel about it that made it seem old and established. Not like my father’s. Everything about it felt new. “That’s my house.”
“That one?” I pointed at it in shock. I had no idea of Beck’s last name, and I honestly didn’t care to know. But I knew that whoever his father was, he had to be important to live in a home like that.
“That would be it.”
“I can see why you don’t plan on leaving.”
He laughed and kept
