Page 33 of Kissing the Beach Town Fire Chief
I start climbing. “Careful!” she calls when a branch wobbles.
“You worried about me, or just the cat?”
“Both! But mostly the cat.”
The kitten hisses like I’m her mortal enemy, but I murmur to her until she lets me scoop her up. When my feet hit the ground, Ami takes her instantly, tucking the ball of fur against her chest.
We find the rest of the litter nearby, and Ami crouches to return the runaway.
“They’re so cute,” she says.
“They are.”
“That was a nice thing you did.”
“Agreeing that kittens are cute? Yeah, I know.”
She gives me a look. “Saving her, you idiot.”
I grin. “If something needs saving, I save it. Doesn’t matter if it’s a person or a three-pound ball of fluff.”
She smiles at me in the moonlight, and it’s enough to tilt the whole world.
“This is so cliché,” I murmur.
“I know,” she whispers back, that smile deepening. “But I think I like clichés.”
That’s all the invitation I need. I close the distance, brushing my lips over hers. She sighs into the kiss, fingers curling in my shirt like she’s been waiting for this as much as I have. It’s soft at first, then warmer, lingering just long enough to make it hard to pull away.
When I do, her cheeks are flushed, her eyes shining.
“Come on,” I say, lacing my fingers with hers. “Let’s go home before I climb another tree just to kiss you again.”
Chapter seventeen
Ami
A wave of nostalgia washes over me as I stop beneath the fluttering banner:
Annual Seabrook Sandcastle Competition
For years, this was my favorite summer day. The one I counted down to with almost unbearable impatience. Ethan and I would battle it out for first place, our rivalry the stuff of town legend. When he won one year, I’d come back the next with a vengeance—only for him to steal the title again the next.
It was infuriating. He was a smug kid, always gloating in that maddening way that made me want to bury him in the sand—figuratively, of course. I couldn’t imagine we’d ever be friends. And yet, looking back, some of my happiest memories in Seabrook have him stamped all over them.
As my bare feet sink into the soft, warm sand, I wish I were twelve again—back when the world felt endless and my parents were still alive. I can almost hear Mom laughing as she tried to sculpt a mermaid that looked suspiciously like a sea monster,while Dad strolled around, pretending to be the royal judge of the beach. The memory is sun-drenched, salty, and so full of love it makes my heart ache in the sweetest way.
“Missing the feeling of losing to me?”
The voice behind me sends a little spark down my spine. My lips curve before I even turn. Ethan’s standing there, that same overconfident smirk tugging at his mouth—and somehow, on him, it’s more infuriating and more attractive than it’s ever been.
“Oh please,” I snort. “We both won the same number of times.”
He steps closer, shrug deepening the crinkle at the corners of his eyes. “True. We never did settle the score.”
“Probably on purpose,” I muse. “The judges were in on it. Everybody in town wanted us to get along.”
“Guess it worked,” he says, and his gaze lingers on me for a beat longer than it should. “One night stuck in the bookstore, a hidden history, and here we are—teammates.”
