He pressed his hand to his chest like I’d wounded him, but his eyes were laughing. He backed away into the crowd, pointing at me. “This isn’t over, Banks. You want me. I see it in your eyes.”
“That’s not what you’re seeing,” I replied, shooing him away.
“That guy wants you,” Capri said. “You worked your magic on him. He’s under your spell.”
“He wants any woman,” I corrected. “He doesn’t care who’s attached to the body.”
She laughed. “True. Like a dog in heat.”
“How have you managed to avoid him?” I asked.
“Because I like my guys a little ugly,” she replied with a smile.
More people filtered in as the night deepened. Tourists and locals blended the way they always did this time of year. The locals were looking for summer flings and the summer people were hoping for the same. We accepted them into our group but we always kept them at arm’s length.
The night was warm, making the fire just a little too much even though my surf shorts and long-sleeved rash guard were still damp. Instead of staring at flames, my eyes were drawn to the silvery streaks on the water, a view I’d seen literally thousands of times.
This was my life and I loved every bit of it. My students, who drove me absolutely crazy and filled me with the most ridiculous pride. My family was here. Capri. My other friends. I felt complete despite being single. I didn’t need a husband. I loved my life and felt whole. What else was there? What else could there possibly be?
I tipped my face up to the moon and exhaled slowly, feeling the last of the day drain out of my shoulders.
I was about to turn my attention back to the fire when I noticed something moving along the beach. Not something—someone. I could see someone running at a steady clip but not exactly marathon speed. Someone that was very familiar with jogging on the beach. I knew everyone in town and there was no local that looked like that. He was tall. Broad shoulders. His shirt was tucked into the back of his waistband, making it look like he had a tail. But it wasn’t the tail that had me practically licking my lips. It was the chest and abs that looked like they’d been chiseled from stone. The kind of body that Hollywood airbrushed onto their actors. But his was all real.
I was staring but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. My gaze traveled down his body and noticed his thighs flexing. He wasn’t body-builder big but he was in good shape.Reallygood shape. I’d say his body was superior to the gym rat behind me telling everyone about the new creatine powder he switched to. That’s when the jogger looked toward me. His pace slowed. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but I knew exactly what color they were.
And then he smiled. That smile stretched across twenty feet of sand and hit me square in my chest. My stomach knew before my brain did. It felt like I’d swallowed a gallon of go-go juice and the butterflies that lived there were spazzing out in my tummy.
I was walking toward him without even telling my feet to move. He had stopped running and took a few steps in my direction. Then he whistled before breaking into that glorious smile that nearly dropped me to my knees right there on the beach.
“How long has it been, Banks?” he asked in that deep voice that sent chills through me. I could feel the ghost of his fingertips trailing over my body while he talked to me in that husky tone.
And then I remembered everything that happened between then and now.
“Four years, Anderson.” I stopped walking. I planted my feet in the sand and put my hands on my hips. “Not nearly long enough.”
His chest rose and fell. I could see the sweat glistening on his skin. Sea green eyes that I had spent four years not thinking about were staring back at me. Standing close to him, I got a glimpse of all those hard muscles. He was not old and flabby and I felt like I should be angry about that. I should be mad at Capri for even putting that idea in my head.
He looked like the men I pictured when I was three chapters deep into one of my romance novels at midnight. The man belonged on the cover of every spicy book. If I saw his chest on my screen, yep, add to library. Immediately. The chiseled jaw, defined cheekbones, and long lashes were all icing on the cake that was Colt Anderson.
I reminded myself I was a woman who had moved on.
Bodhi had a great body. I could stare at him. I was not going to drool over the man standing too close on my beach.
CHAPTER 4
COLT
Had it really been four years since I last stood on this beach with Summer Banks? It felt like yesterday and a lifetime ago all at once. Memory was a strange and cruel thing. I could still smell her. Coconut sunscreen and vanilla body lotion. She always smelled so sweet. Like a warm, delicious dessert. And that made me think of her taste. What it felt like to touch her. Run my tongue over that tanned skin.
I could still feel the warm press of her against me as we lay tangled together in my bed at the beach house down the shore. Her laugh. The pillow talk had always been so deep but easy at the same time. I wondered if anyone else knew her the way I did. Of course, they did. I wasn’t anyone special. People knew her far better than I did. I felt so fortunate for the time I did get with her. When she let me in and shared herself with me.
I had spent four years telling myself I’d moved on. But standing here now, looking at her, I understood what a convincing liar I was. How could anyone move on from her?
Her hair was still damp in thick chunks around her face. The rash guard and surf shorts clung to her and it brought me right back to the first night I ever laid eyes on her. Dripping wet, pulling a half-drowned kid from the Pacific, sand on hercheek and aquamarine eyes cutting through the dark. She looked exactly the same. Maybe better. I hadn’t thought that was possible.
She rolled her eyes when she caught me checking her out. It wasn’t like I was subtle. And to be fair, she’d given me a pretty thorough inspection.
She tilted her head back toward the fire. “Want to come say hi to everyone?”