Page 17 of The Catch

“It’s not far.”

“Josh and I will walk you,” Cat offered, surprising them all. No one more than him.

Sonya narrowed her eyes, sizing him up as if she was deciding whether or not to grant her permission.

“I’ll bring her right back,” he said, pushing aside his shock. “I promise.”

“Or don’t,” Dani said. “She has no curfew tonight.”

“Thank you, Cat,” Emma said, setting her empty cup on the table and hip-checking Dani as she walked by.

Sonya poked a finger into Cat’s shoulder. “You call me if you aren’t coming right back. I mean it.”

Josh offered his hand to Cat, and she took it. “Of course, Sonya. I promise.”

Emma pulled her phone out to call her fiancé as soon as they stepped onto the street, still bustling with the late-night activities of people on respite from their real lives. The glow of replica gas lamps and the fluorescent glare from the trinket shops lit the night sky, and notes from every genre of music danced out of the clubs giving the air its own pulse.

The change in the atmosphere seemed to massage Cat’s shoulders loose, and her lips turned upward into an easy smile. “Are you having fun?” Josh asked, using the crowd as an excuse to pull her closer to him. He still wasn’t sure why she’d suddenly decided to steal off with him, but he was going with it.

“I am. I don’t think I want to go back to the bar after we drop Emma off, though.”

His cheeks shot up in a grin. Even better. “Where do you want to go?”

“Let’s go swimming.”

He tipped his head down to look at her, one problem nagging his brain. “Sonya looked like she would hunt me down if I didn’t return you.”

“I’ll call her. Come on, let’s go.”

“Where are you going?” Emma tucked her phone in her purse and joined them. They arrived in front of the lobby of Cat’s expensive hotel, and the scent of the saltwater found them again, bolstering her idea.

“Josh is going to take me swimming.” Emma gave her a curious look, but Cat kept her eyes on his. “Go get changed and meet me back here, okay?”

He looked over his shoulder at his hotel two buildings away, then back at Cat. She had grabbed Emma’s hand, already starting in toward the door.

“I’ll meet you in the lobby,” he called after her. “Don’t go anywhere by yourself.”

“I promise.”

“I’ll be back in ten.” He took off in a half jog toward his hotel.

Five

Cat had always prided herselfon her willpower. Well, not always, but ever since she’d learned her lesson. She didn’t get caught up in romantic moments. She didn’t do things just because they felt good. But when Josh had touched her face and looked down at her mouth with those gorgeous blue eyes and then pulled away, a thought that had first nudged her brain in the ocean that day begged to be heard again: It had been entirely too long since she’d been kissed. A lot longer than that since she’d rounded any of the other bases. Staring at Josh all day, letting him stand that close and touch her like that, had been a frank reminder that that wasn’t sustainable.

She wasn’t trying to fall in love like Emma suggested—the thought of that made her feel dizzy and a little nauseous—but maybe she was selling herself short by not taking advantage of a different opportunity. She’d sworn off love a long time ago, but with that decision, she’d inadvertently sworn off sex. Josh was gorgeous. Like really, unfairly good looking, and he made no attempt to hide his interest in her. When he’d been the third person that day to tell her she didn’t know how to have a good time, another thought had materialized. Maybe shecoulddo the no-strings-attached thing.

Sure, she’d seen Dani’s hidden disappointment after these encounters, but that was because deep down Dani always had higher hopes. Cat didn’t blame her. People weren’t made to have sex with no emotional attachment, at least not for the long term, but Cat wasn’t getting her hopes up over anyone anymore, and there was no long term about it—she was leaving the next day. So what was the harm in using Josh before he used her? She’d have messy, sandy vacation sex with this gorgeous man, and then he’d never call her again, but that would be okay because that was what she wanted. She was completely in control. She’d check “have more fun” off her list of accomplishments and never, ever, see Josh Rideout again.

She pulled all of her bathing suits out of her suitcase, deciding on a white halter-style bikini, then covered it with a t-shirt and wrapped her ponytail into a bun.

“I don’t understand,” Emma said. She was lying on Dani’s bed, sipping a ginger-ale she’d snagged from the vending machine in the lobby. Emma was confused by Cat’s sudden eagerness to spend time with Josh, but a little spark of romantic hopefulness still flickered behind her concern.

“What’s to understand? I want to go swimming.”

“What happened to your whole speech about how meeting a guy is the last thing you want, etcetera, etcetera?”

“All of that still stands.” Cat buzzed around the room, tossing her phone and a towel into a bag. “I just decided that maybe you guys were right. A vacation fling might be exactly what I need.”

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