Page 21 of Nights at Seaside
“You can tease me all you want, but you guys know I don’t sleep around.”
“We know,” they said in unison.
“We were plotting Operation Get Sky a Man just yesterday.” Bella winked.
“He’s muscular, like Tony,” Leanna said as she handed the phone back to Sky.
“Yes, he is, which reminds me. Heboxes.” She knew her tone made it sound as awful as if she’d said,He never bathes.
“That makes him even hotter,” Jenna said as she reached for another piece of toast.
Leanna turned empathetic eyes to Sky. “Are you okay with him boxing?”
Sky shrugged. “I’ve been compartmentalizing. I think about his romantic, poetic, warm, and sexy sides.” She pointed down the hill toward the pool. “And somewhere way down there, far, far away, are thoughts about his boxing.”
“Mm-hm,” Bella said. “You’re in denial.”
“Big-time,” Amy added.
“He’s a goodstrummer. Give her a break,” Jenna said. “We’ve all ignored certain things when the sex was too great to walk away from.”
“We didn’t have sex,” Sky reminded her.
“But you want to,” Jenna said with wide eyes.
“More than you can imagine, which probably makes me a slut, because we’ve gone out on only one very long, very fun, very revealing date.”
“Well, you’re definitely not a slut,” Amy said. “If you were, you would have slept with Blue.”
“Oh, gosh,” Leanna said. “Does Blue know? He’s so protective of you.”
“Yeah. He met Sawyer, actually,” Sky said. “He seemed to like him, but he got a little funny.”
“Funny?” Bella asked.
“He called mehis girlwhen he was talking to Sawyer. He said, take care ofmy girl.”
“Sky,” Bella said with a serious tone. “You and Blue haven’t hooked up, have you? You can tell us.”
“No! Geez, Bella. I just told you guys I got…strummed…after one date. I think I would tell you if Blue and I slept together after knowing him for years.”
“We need to meet strummer boy and see if Blue saw something he needs to be wary of,” Jenna said. “If we think he’s a keeper, then we can work on you and your aversion to sports.”
“I don’t have an aversion to sports,” Sky said sharply. “Tony is a pro surfer, and I’m fine with that.”
“But boxing?” Leanna asked. “Sky, you’re all about love and kindness. No part of you is about punching someone in the face. You get mad when Bella stomps on spiders.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s what I’m tryingnotto think about.” Her phone vibrated, and each of the girls’ eyes shot to the phone.
“Is it him?” Jenna bounced in her seat.
Sky scrolled to the text. “It’s him.” She read the text to herself and felt her insides go warm.
“And?” Amy urged.
“Her cheeks are pink,” Leanna said. “It’s probably private.”
Jenna elbowed her. “Did he ask you if you needed to bestrummed?”
