He was wrong. Oh, so wrong. I’d been a chicken so many times in my life, but he and Fallon had always chosen to see the moments when I was pretending to be brave as the real me.
Beckett’s hair glimmered in the sunshine, his dark strands lit by fiery highlights, and those dark-chocolate eyes remained centered wholly and delightfully on me. He took a couple of steps, water pouring off him as he came closer and accentuating every cut and groove. The swim trunks he’d pulled back up were now clinging to him, showing off rather than hiding his impressive package. A package that was still as hard as it had been when my body had been tucked up against it.
“You look a bit uncomfortable there, Fireball. I think you’d better step back into the water and…cool off.”
A wicked mischievousness curled his lips, making me want to wipe it away with my mouth pressed against his.
“Just remember, you started this, darlin’. One good prank deserves another.”
My chest fluttered and swooped. The firefighters at Beckett’s station were famous for pulling pranks on one another, and once prank season started, it went on for months before anyone called a truce. Beckett was the reigning King of Pranks. The top dog. The ultimate champ.
And now that I was living with him, he’d have easy access to me.
“Harmless. What I did was utterly harmless,” I tried to backpedal, but it only caused his teeth to flash and aspark to enter his eyes. “No big deal. You weren’t even embarrassed by it. No one saw anything.” I waved toward the trees hiding us from the crowded beach.
“But now you’ve seen far more of me than I’ve seen of you,” he said. “It’s like that episode ofFriends. The one where everyone is trying to see each other in the shower, and they keep getting the wrong person until it spins out of control. Except, it’s just you and me in the house.”
“And my dad. Are you going to rip the shower curtain back and see my dad in all his glory?” I couldn’t even think it without my gag reflex kicking in.
“Small risk for a chance at payback,” he said, dragging his gaze down my body, and even though my bathing suit covered all the necessary spots, I suddenly felt very, very bare.
My thighs trembled, and my throat nearly closed. How many times in my life had I envisioned being naked with Beckett’s eyes on me? How many times had I read a book and seen him as the hero and me as the heroine and lived out my fantasies through their actions?
Too many to count. Too many to be healthy.
That was when reality slid home, as if I’d been slapped. What had I been thinking? We were just friends. That was all Beckett would ever want, regardless of how he was looking at me now. Even if he’d started to see me as someone desirable, someone he wanted to get sweaty and naked with, it wouldn’t end with arealring on my finger.
And I wanted more than heated looks and a sinful night spent twined in his sheets. I dreamed of a happily ever after. I wasn’t ridiculous enough to think life was like my romance books, but I did deserve someone who actually wanted to love me—who wanted love at all—and Beckett held it off with a superpower-like strength.
I looked down, breaking the hold his gaze had on me. “I lost the race, even though you cheated, so I’ll go get the nachos. You want a lemonade or a beer?”
For a moment, I didn’t think he’d answer, but when I looked back up, all playfulness had been wiped away. It was several long, tension-filled heartbeats before he finally responded. “Just a water, please.”
Then, he turned, diving back into the water with his dog chasing after him. They swam toward the dogwood again, Beckett’s long arms breaking through the water with the same ease he seemed to do any physical activity. I watched for a few more seconds and then turned away.
I found the old path through the rocks and trees that led back to the beach and picked my way over to our lounge chairs. I slid into my T-shirt and shorts, grabbed my wallet, and headed for the snack bar, all the while cursing myself for letting our lighthearted fun get to me. For letting that bitchHope dangle a carrot I’d almost swallowed.
When I came back with the food, Beckett had returned from the cove and was drying off.
I placed the ginormous plate of carne asada nachos and two water bottles on the table between the chairs, determined to act casually. To act as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred in our secret spot.
“Your phone has been vibrating nonstop,” he said.
I instantly panicked, thinking of Dad left alone. I dug frantically in my bag, hoping nothing else had happened to him. Guilt hit me in the chest. I shouldn’t have left him.
I finally found my phone at the bottom and swiped it open to see a series of messages from Meredith, verifying I’d be back at work on Sunday. Relief that it wasn’t Dad was followed by unease.
I didn’t have a choice but to go back to work. I needed my paycheck, but I also couldn’t afford to have someone come and stay with Dad while I was gone. On the other hand, I certainly couldn’t afford to have Dad burn Beckett’s house down in a moment of forgetfulness.
“What is it?” Beckett asked, coming to stand next to me and tucking a single wet strand of my hair gently behind my ear.
Maybe Chelsea was right about me after all. Maybe I was greedy and selfish, because all I wanted was to have the lightness Beckett and I had shared in the water back. I’d do just about anything to have the delightful tension torturing me rather than thoughts of how to, once again, take care of my father.
When I still hadn’t responded, he prompted me with a gentle, “Maise?”
“It was just Meredith, confirming I’ll be back at work on Sunday.”
“Okay? Why did that freak you out?”