Page 19 of The Beach House
I looked at Rachel, who glanced back at the girl and raised her eyebrows at me.
“You should so get his number after,” another girl said. Rachel’s eyebrows went up even higher. I could see her holding back a laugh. “You have to. He was totally coming on to you.”
I turned round, and the two girls looked at me. They seemed at least two years older than me, probably in college. “What?” one of them snapped.
“He wasn’t winking at you. Just, you know, FYI.”
The girl snorted. “Sure. What, you think he was winking atyou?” She looked me up and down with the corner of her lip curled up.
“Um, yeah,” I replied.
“Oh, sure,” her friend scoffed. “He was looking atyou.”
“Well,” Rachel said, “considering she’s dating him, I’d say hedefinitelywasn’t winking at you.”
I could hear the girls muttering behind us before getting up and stalking off. I grinned at Rachel, nudging her.
“Who knew Miss Sunshine could be such a badass? Remind me to never get on the wrong side of you!”
That night, Lee took Rachel out to see a movie and go for dinner afterward. There was an art gallery opening in the next town over, so Matthew and June went there. Which left me and Noah alone in the beach house. I was swimming lengths in the pool when he came out and tapped me on the shoulder.
“Did you forget about the special surprise I had planned for you?”
Crap. I totally had.
“Uh…”
“I’m cooking dinner. Which, hopefully, I won’t burn.”
“You’re cooking dinner?”
“Sure I am. Everyone else is out, which means…we’ve got date night.”
The wordsdate nightwere all I needed to get me out of the pool and into the shower.
I had no idea what to wear; my only pretty dress, the yellow one, was in the laundry. I had shorts and T-shirts, sure, but nothing I really wanted for adate,if we were going to call it that.
I had no choice but to call Rachel.
“You’re so lucky,” she answered. “I just went to the bathroom; I was about to go back into the movie. What’s wrong?”
“Noah’s making dinner and I have nothing to wear.”
I was really only after her advice about what outfit to put together and how to dress it up appropriately, since she knew practically the entire wardrobe I’d brought to the beach house.
What I didn’t expect her to say was “The white halter dress in my side of the closet. Wear those cute black sandals you brought too. Now I have to go—the guy at the popcorn stall is frowning at me. Bye!”
“I owe you,” I said, even though she’d hung up already. Hurrying, I found the dress she was talking about. I didn’t have enough time to do much with my hair, so I threw it up into a ponytail. But when I looked in the mirror, I smiled. I actually looked pretty good, especially considering I’d only had thirty minutes to get ready.
I paused outside the kitchen, though, taking a deep breath and smiling to myself. When I breathed in, I could smell Noah’s cooking. Whatever it was, it smelled great—if maybe a little burnt.
The kitchen light was off, but the soft light outside threw Noah’s silhouette against the glass doors. Still smiling, I walked out but lingered in the doorway.
“It’s not that burnt,” he said, looking back at me. “I swear.”
I laughed. “I never said a word!”
He’d changed since I’d seen him earlier on my way to shower. He wore a pair of black jeans and a gray shirt that strained over his biceps. Even his dark hair was a little tidier than usual—like he’d run a comb through it. I found myself thinking he looked cuter and more carefree with it all messy, almost in his eyes. But of course, he looked as hot as ever.
