Page 80 of The Rules

Even with the distraction, though, he gained on her easily.

She tossed a look over her shoulder and pumped her arms, pulling away again. She was quick, but running on sand was his regular training routine. Not exactly the same as the hard-packed soil of the running trails in the city she usually took to. Plus he had the advantage of recognizing the finish line before she did, knowing when to give it his final push.

And there it was.

His footfalls grew heavier as he blew past her. She made a sound that was surprise and anger and stretched her stride, but her legs were too short. She’d never catch him. He looked over his shoulder to gloat just as her knee went out to one side and she fell flat on her ass.

“You okay?” He pivoted and rushed the few steps he’d gained on her, dropping to his knees in the sand. Shit. Maybe racing on unfamiliar terrain was a bad idea. “Did you hurt your ankle?”

“No.” She shook her head, breathing heavily. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” He went to reach for her foot, but she swung it out of his reach and pulled to her hands and knees, doing some weird bear crawl for a few steps until she could get her top half upright. She jumped the last yard to the old crumbling cement finish line while he sat, his ass and thighs in the cold sand.

“Really?” he huffed.

Dani bent at her waist, her hands on her knees, and caught her breath. “What? I said I was fine. Shoulda believed me.”

Dylan pulled himself to his feet and walked to her. “Should have left you sitting on the sand and made a break for it, huh?”

She shrugged again, panting. She was in good shape, but the cold wind off of the water would take anyone’s breath. It whipped her ponytail, tossing it around her head wildly. He reached a hand out to capture the blonde strands, pulling until her head tipped up to his. “That was dirty.”

A little smirk tugged at her lips, but she held his gaze. “What are you going to do about it?”

A variety of punishments flashed through his mind, all of them more explicit than the last, but when her fierce face broke and she started giggling, those x-rated thoughts drained from his brain like the surf pulling away from the shore. He laughed too, his shoulders shaking with the sheer enjoyment of playing with her like this. He pulled her down onto the sand and she landed on his chest, laughing. Instead of thinking about spanking that tight little ass, all he wanted to do was press his mouth to hers while she giggled against his lips.

Either he’d gone soft, or Dani Petrillo was just that intoxicating.

After making out in the sand for way longer than was appropriate, they walked back to the car to add another layer, then down the access road to the part of the beach reserved for swimming. Even this late in the season, a few food trucks put in lunchtime hours in the parking lot. Mostly for hardcore surfers and fishermen. He bought Dani a crab cake and himself a burger and they found a log on the beach to sit on.

“Hey, remember that fancy dinner I promised you on our first date?” he said.

She wiped mayonnaise from her chin and grinned. “I do remember that promise. I figured this was it.”

He pinched her thigh, glad for her joke making what he was about to ask feel a little easier. “Well, um, it’s not black tie or anything, but I always take my mom out for dinner on her birthday. Somewhere fancy.”

“Sounds like you.”

“Yeah. Anyway, you wanna maybe come with me?”

Dani’s perfectly-shaped eyebrows shot to her hair. “You’re asking me to come to your mom’s birthday?”

His heart beat harder against his cold chest, and he forced a shrug, hoping his face didn’t screamplease, I need you there.Lately, spending time with his mom was wearing on him. The comparisons, the foolish comments. The ghosts she seemed to like to keep around. He needed a break, a buffer. Dani made things easier.

“You’ve already met, so it isn’t weird, right? I can’t take too much of my mom and her…”complete disconnect from reality “... drama. You were great with the Jansens. Come charm her so I don’t have to.”

“I mean, I guess I could.” She pulled her lip between her teeth. “You really want me to?”

“You’d be doing me a favor.”

“Is this going to be a habit, me getting you out of talking to people?”

“Maybe.” He gave her that smile that always worked—hisclose the dealsmile. This was a big one. “Look,” he said, Dani’s shyness about the whole thing giving him the courage he’d been lacking. “She likes you and we’re doing this, so let’s do it.”

He watched her swallow, her eyes darting around his face like she was searching for a lie. That being her first inclination twisted in his gut, but then she smiled. “Okay.”

The breath he’d been holding rushed from his lungs, fogging on the cold air. “Okay.”

Thirty

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