Page 14 of The Beach House
We both looked over to the doorway, where Rachel had stuck her head in. She gave a small wave, which I would’ve returned if my hands hadn’t been pinned between my chest and Noah’s.
“Hey,” we responded.
I said, “Welcome to the madhouse. Sorry, sorry. Beach house.”
“Rach, come on, my parents want to show you the beach.”
I had never been so glad for Lee’s excitable nature as when he wrapped his arms round Rachel’s waist and pulled her away, out of the house. I heard the back door rattle closed behind them and, through the windows, saw them all heading down toward the beach.
I turned back to Noah, wiggling one of my hands free to run it through his hair, pushing it away from his face.
He shot me one of his rare smiles then. Not his trademark sexy smirk, or even half a smile. It was the one that flashed the dimple in his left cheek and was so infectious that I had to smile back at him, getting that warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach.
“So, tomorrow night.”
“Huh?”Did I miss something?
“Iwasthinking we could do something tonight,” he said, “but we can’t because we’re all going to this steakhouse, apparently, to welcome Rachel. But we’ll do something tomorrow. Just me and you.”
“Did you have anything in particular in mind?”
He tapped his nose. “I’ve got a few things up my sleeve.”
“It doesn’t involve a monster truck rally, though, right?”
He laughed and tweaked my nose, making me grimace and scrunch up my face. “No, it doesn’t. I know you, Elle. Trust me, you’ll love it. If it goes to plan.”
“To plan?”
He shrugged. “It’s a surprise.”
I groaned, frowning at him. “What’s with you and surprises?” I thought for a moment. “Please tell me you’ve done something unbearably cute and set up another kissing booth so we can, like, re-create all the magic of our first kiss.”
Noah laughed again. “Huh, thatwouldhave been an idea. Now I’m feeling like you’re going to be disappointed it’s not that.”
“Can’t you just tell me what we’re doing? It sucks not knowing. I feel like an idiot. I won’t be disappointed if I know what the surprise is. Tell me? Please?”
He grinned impishly, looking startlingly like Lee for a moment. “Now, where’s the fun in that?”
“You just like teasing me like this, don’t you?” I pouted.
“Yup, pretty much.” He dipped his head to give me a quick kiss on the lips before jumping to his feet and offering a hand to help me up. I sighed, still pouting at him, but took his hand and stood up too.
“Are you going to watch the rest of the race with me, Elle?” Noah taunted. I looked from him to the car race still going on the TV and raised my eyebrows as if to sayYou’re kidding me.Noah laughed and sat back down. I sat right down next to him, snuggling up, and even though I didn’t want to watch the race, I was really, really happy.
The others weren’t gone long. When they came back, Rachel unpacked a few of her essentials (namely, a swimsuit) and the four of us headed to the beach.
After setting down my towel, I yanked off my T-shirt and stepped out of the shorts I’d put on over my red polka-dot bikini. “I’m going swimming. Anyone else?”
“Um…maybe in ten minutes,” Rachel told me with a bright smile. Her eyes darted over to Lee, and I understood immediately.Right. Alone time. Gotcha.
I didn’t bother looking at Lee or waiting for him to answer. I turned straight to Noah, who was scrolling through his phone. I pulled on his elbow. “Come on. Race you.”
He looked at me with a smirk, one dark eyebrow going up. “Race? What do I get when I win?”
“Ifyou win,” I corrected him pointedly. “Hmm…”
“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” he told me, winking with that cocky arrogance I used to wonder why girls swooned over—it totally worked on me now too. He dropped his phone on his towel and threw his sunglasses down.
