Page 54 of Tourist Trap

“Beach games?”

“We’re going to start promoting it soon, but yes. It’s going to be quite the event, teams competing in different games, a winner, a big party after.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool,” I say, because even if I hate this guy, I bet beach gameswouldbe fun.

“You know, I’ve even meant to talk since our first meet got a little…interrupted,” he says, then steps closer to me. I give him a tight smile and step back. “At Surf. You started dancing and then were dragged away.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, but?—”

And then we’re interrupted once again.

NINETEEN

MILES

I see her bright red sweatshirt and her blonde hair before I really see Claire, but as I approach, my jaw goes tight. That's because she’s standing on the steps of the lifeguard house talking to Brad Baker.

The bane of my existence.

When she takes a step back, he mimics it, and something snaps in me when I see how uncomfortable she looks.

I move across the sand, my weight shifting in a way that if I didn’t run on this sand regularly, it might slow me down, but thankfully, I’m to her quickly.

Just in time to see Brad Baker reach out and brush a lock of Claire’s blonde hair aside. She tries to shift away as his fingers touch her face, but there isn’t much room on the steps.

“Hey, baby,” I say, too loud to be casual, but I’m fighting back a myriad of emotions in my gut that I refuse to look at too closely.

Because if I do, behind the simmering irritation, I might see I have a thing for Claire Donovan.

Both heads snap toward me. Brad gives me a dirty glare, while Claire looks at me with intrigue before a small smile that’s hiding a healthy amount of relief.

“You know him?” Brad asks, and Claire looks from me to Brad, clearly trying to weigh whether she’s more annoyed with my antics or annoyed by this dickhead.

She looks at my outstretched hand and at me before she reaches out and grabs it.

“Oh yeah. Miles and I go way back.”

I tug her down the two stairs and away from Brad, pulling her into my side. Her hand moves to my chest, heat burning there, as her body presses to my side, and she smiles at Brad. His jaw has gone tight, his eyes narrowing in on my hand that’s on her waist.

“Brought you your water,” I say, lifting her bottle, and she smiles genuinely this time.

God, she’s so pretty.

“You’re the best.”

I take a step away from the building, and she follows, hand in mine.

“Uh, Claire, I really need to talk to you about the lifeguards—” Brad starts, but I interrupt, ignoring him and directing my question to her.

“You’re on break, right?” It’s meant as a reminder that she isoff the clockand thus not required to speak to him about work things. She nods. “Come on.”

“I was talking to her—” Brad starts, clearly annoyed by my interruption of his hitting on her.

“Helen is inside,” Claire says with a polite smile. “She’d be more than happy to talk to you about hiring some lifeguards.”

“But I—” Clearly, he’s not getting the picture, and suddenly I’m even more happy I came in to interrupt their conversation because he wouldn’t have stopped.

“Excuse me, Brad, I gotta talk to my girl,” I say, putting a hand around her waist and tugging her away.

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