Page 122 of Sweetheart

I swallowed. "There was a dog."

Before I could get too far into the story, Aurora came back, looking slightly harried and red-faced. "Sorry, Scar, he got away."

My heart dropped.

"What did the dog look like?" Sam's friend asked.

"He had the prettiest midnight black coat," Aurora said. "Fast as a cheetah, a little scary because of how big he was. And smart too because he hid from me, so I couldn't get Scarlett's clothes back."

"Sounds like Onyx."

"You think?" Sam said.

"Could've been her, only one way to find out." His friend let out a long, piercing whistle, and the black dog came bounding back down the beach, not stopping untilit rubbed itshead against its owner's thigh. "Did you take this girl's clothes, O?"

It was a rhetorical question, and the dog panted happily up at him.

"She looks guilty," Aurora commented.

"Sorry about that," he said. "She's the best dog, but yeah. She likes clothes."

"It's okay," Aurora said. "She's gorgeous."

"Thanks."

"Um, hello?" I said, bringing their attention back to me and my current predicament. "Does anyone have any spare clothes I could borrow?"

"I brought a blanket," my cousin said, pulling one out of her bag and holding itup. Of course, the dog didn't even touch that—a fact for which I should've been grateful, but I stillwasn'tover being mortified. "And a bookand headlamp just in case this skinny-dipping expedition ran longer than expected."

"Ror."

"Right," she cleared her throat. "Gentlemen, can you turn around?"

They spun faster than I could blink, and I made my way out of the water to my cousin as quicklyas possible. After she'd wrapped me up in the blanket, I went over to Sam.

"Um, can I get my panties back?" I said.

"Oh yeah," he said, and even in the moonlight, I could see a blush suffuse his neck and cheeks.

I pulled those quickly into place as well.

"Ror, did you happen to have another shirt in there?"

She shook her head.

Looking down at myself, Ifrowned. The blanketwould've been fine to conceal my lower half, but stretched out as it was, the lengthbarely covered all my bits. "Well, I can't walkto the car like this," I mumbled.

"You can use my jacket," Sam's friend-whose-name-I-still-didn't-know said.

Before I could reply, Sam shot him a glare.

"No way, Ryker," he said. "She's not wearing your jacket without anything underneath it."

"Just trying to be nice," Ryker said.

"Sure."

I looked at Auora, but she only shrugged.

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