Page 32 of Not the Billionaire

“I think that went great,” he told her.

She did a little skip and a hop as they reached her car. “So do I. Thank you for coming along.”

“Just doing my job.” He waited for her to unlock the car and opened the door for her again.

She rewarded him with a smile that made his heart skip a beat.

He closed her door gently behind her and rounded the car to get in. “We should stop by the beach before we head back,” he said as he pulled his door closed.

She looked over at him in surprise. “Are you serious?”

“Heck yeah. Why not? You said you hadn’t been in a while.” He hoped she’d go for it, because he didn’t want their time together to be over yet.

She appeared to be turning the idea over in her mind for a few moments, and then a smile spread across her face, revealing the cutest dimple in her right cheek. “Why not.”

As she drove them down Ottawa Beach Drive to Holland State Park, he repeatedly glanced over at her. He couldn’t help it. All he wanted to do was look at her. He tried not to stare. Not at her smooth legs when he opened the door for her. Not at her bare feet when she kicked her shoes off and tossed them into the car. Not at her light pink painted toenails, which made her even more adorable. He tried. But in this case, he didn’t mind failing.

The beach wasn’t overly crowded, scattered mostly with moms and their babies or small children, but it was still quite busy for a day in early June. The air temperature was definitely warm enough for a day at the beach, but not many people were in the water, which meant it was probably too chilly for swimming.

They walked across the sand, sinking in here and there, bumping into each other, and laughing. It was the most fun Sebastian had had in a long time.

When they strolled closer to the water, he removed his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants, and waded in ankle-deep. “Oh, that’s cold.”

Genevieve walked in beside him and went deeper until the water was almost to her knees. With her petite frame, it would only take a wave that would make it to his knees to completely cover her lower body.

“Wimp. It’s not that cold.” She kicked a little water at him.

“Hey, we still have to go back to work, you know.”

She kicked at the water again, soaking one of his rolled up pant legs.

“Genevieve!” He moved closer to her and bent down with his hand hovering over the water. “Two can play that game. Do you really want to go there?”

Her lips pressed together as she thought about it. “You’re right. We do have to go back to work.”

He straightened again and nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

She moved slowly toward the shore, eyeing him with each step.

He watched her curiously, turning toward her as she moved, the two of them circling each other. “Genevieve.” He said her name slowly, as if in warning.

She suddenly began kicking water right at him, and he immediately bent over, cupping his hands, and tossing water at her.

When they’d both had enough, they were soaked, head to toe, and laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Her hair was plastered to her head, and she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Droplets of water trailed down her face. He stepped closer and watched one slip over the light smattering of freckles across her nose and hang from her lip before falling. His eyes remained fixed on her lips. Never in his life had he wanted to kiss a woman more than he wanted to kiss Genevieve now.

Instead, she smiled shyly, breaking his stare, and walked up onto the sand.

Sebastian took in a steadying breath and followed her, grabbing his shoes and socks as they headed across the beach.

“I probably should have thought about what I was wearing before our little water fight.” She crossed her arms over her chest. Her white button-down shirt was completely soaked, and she kept pulling it away from her skin as best she could so she wouldn’t give him or any other beachgoers something to see.

Sebastian tried not to look as he pointed toward the snack bar. “The gift shop probably has towels.”

“Awesome,” she replied. “I’ll go hide out in the bathroom while you find out.”

He chuckled. “Okay.”

She gave him a little smile and scurried off to the women’s restroom. He watched her hurry along the sidewalk until she disappeared around the corner, then headed into the gift shop. There were all the usual staples—sunscreen, beach umbrellas and chairs, sunglasses. He stopped by a rack of souvenir T-shirts and chose one in a dark heather grey with “Holland, Michigan” embroidered on the front in pink before moving to the display of towels. His attention immediately went to the pink striped towel with the same embroidery as the shirt, and he picked one up for Genevieve and a blue one for himself.

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