Page 30 of Guarding My Love

Most of her friends didn’t reach out much because they were too busy with work or going out. She didn’t have a lot of close friends anymore because she always put men before them.

No more.

“No, Marco.”

She turned her head and saw him leaving a huge pile of stinky mess right on the beach.

Dang it. She didn’t bring a bag with her to pick it up either.

She was looking around to see if she could find some sticks or something. Maybe she could cover it in the sand?

No, that would be wrong.

“Come on, Marco. We need to go now that you dirtied Foster’s beach. I’ll come back and clean up after you.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

She turned quickly to see Foster standing at the end of the path.

“I didn’t know you were here,” she said.

“I just pulled in,” he said.

“How did you know I was here?” she said. “Did you hear me talking to Marco?”

She didn’t think she was that loud.

“I saw you on the security cameras.”

“Oh,” she said. She had no idea he could see her coming and going on his property. Which was stupid on her part knowing that he worked with technology and security.

There she went again not thinking things through.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “I told you to come down. I’ll take care of the mess. Or better yet, it’s going to rain tonight and will be gone on the beach soon enough.”

“It’s my dog and my mess,” she said. “I don’t need someone to clean up after me.”

She saw he wanted to argue, but then said, “Heard. It’s up to you. I’m not going to fight with you over shit. Literally.”

She laughed. “Good point. We’ll get out of your way.”

She started to walk up the path and he turned to let her through. “You don’t need to leave. I just got home.”

“Have you been gone?”

“You don’t have much of a poker face,” he said. “You’ve said before you can see my vehicle coming and going and probably haven’t seen it for a few days.”

“I don’t watch for you,” she said.

“I didn’t say you did. Just that you could see me coming and going at times.”

There was no reason to dispute that. “So you went away?”

“For work,” he said. “Just a few days. Glad to be back. I should be going into my office, but I can take care of what I need to here and I need to do laundry. Should have done it before I left.”

She smiled. “Are you one of those people who waits until you don’t have any underwear left?”

“Not quite that bad,” he said. “But years of fighting for the washer had me learning to be creative. It’s more a time or laziness thing.”

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