Page 44 of Body Shot

“We won’t know for a while. It’s a lengthy process.”

“Huh. Well, I’m sure you will. Anyway, you need more fun in your life. And I’m the perfect guy to have fun with.”

Her smile is so goddamn gorgeous I stop breathing. “You are, huh?”

“I am. Tomorrow night we’ll go out and do something.”

She bites her lip. I know she’s hesitating, so I give her my most charming smile, topping that off with a soft kiss on her lips.

“Okay,” she says.

I want to do a fist pump but restrain myself. “Great. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Then I frown, remembering she’s with another dude tonight. “Sure you don’t want me to get rid of him?”

She shakes her head, eyes dancing. “It’s fine, Beck.”

My insides are still in knots and my groin heavy as we leave the office. She stops in the ladies’ room and I continue back to the bar to quickly look after some impatient customers. Alex, another bartender, is working too, but some of the table orders are getting backed up. I throw myself into action, keeping an eye on Hayden and Will to make sure Will isn’t trying anything. If I look over there and find Hayden in Will’s lap, I’m going to be launching tequila bottles across the bar.

Man, I have to dial this down.

What am I going to do with her tomorrow night? More importantly, how am I going to get a Friday night off?

This has never been an issue before. Running a bar is fun, like going to a party every night instead of work. Okay, that isn’t totally true, as I’ve quickly discovered. There’s a lot of work that has to be done to keep a business running. More than I expected when we decided on this crazy plan.

I turn to Alex. “You’re not scheduled tomorrow night, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Want an extra shift?”

The UCSD student scrunches up his face. “Friday night . . . but I need the money . . . okay, sure.”

“Great.”

Problem solved. I like solving problems. Then I cast another baleful glance toward the table where Hayden is on a date with Will. They’re gone. My head jerks back. I didn’t see them leave. They’d better be going straight the fuck back to her place, where that clown hat will drop her off and she’ll tell him she never wants to see him again. Christ.

Adrenaline surges through my veins, the urge to follow them and make sure that happens making me edgy. What the hell is wrong with me? Calm the fuck down. I’m seeing her tomorrow night. She’s basically admitted she isn’t attracted to clown hat, so I have nothing to worry about. What I should be worried about is why I’m so worried.

I arrive at Hayden’s condo the next evening to pick her up. She answers the door, her face tight, her eyes wary. “Hi.”

“Hi, gorgeous.” I bend and kiss her cheek. Friendly but not too much. “All set?”

“I’m not sure. I’m a little worried about what we’re going to be doing.”

“Heh. Really?”

She gives my chest a little swat. “Really. I don’t like not knowing what’s happening.”

I called her earlier and told her to wear a swimsuit, with maybe a T-shirt over it that she’s not afraid to get wet, but I didn’t tell her what we’re doing.

“I’m not athletic,” she informs me. Yeah, I saw her trying to shoot basketball hoops. “If you’ve got something crazy planned for us, I might as well tell you right now I probably can’t do it.”

“It’s not crazy.” I’ve given lots of thought to this. She needs to have fun, but I already know her idea of fun and mine might not be the same. She likes looking through a microscope. I like jumping out of planes. These are slightly different.

But surely there’s some way I can gradually get her to try some new things. Maybe she’ll never want to jump out of planes—although I’d be happy to do a tandem jump with her, as I do on a regular basis to raise money for the foundation. It’d be crazy fun to introduce her to skydiving. But short of that, there are lots of other things I can introduce her to. And I’m not even thinking sexually.

Okay, I am, but that’s for later.

“We’re going night paddleboarding,” I inform her.

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