Page 95 of The Best Men
I. Have. Butterflies.
And I’m going to be okay with that for the rest of the afternoon as Asher St. James takes me on a date to the beach.
31
AFTERNOON DELIGHT
MARK
Asher counts off on his fingers as we walk through the sand. “Let’s see. I introduced you to your first time with a dude. To first class on a plane. And now you’re, finally, after twenty-seven years, going to the beach.”
I shoot him a steely stare. “I’ve been to the beach before. Just notthisbeach,” I say as we trudge through the soft-as-sugar sand, flip-flops in hand, the sun casting rays high above us.
“Exactly.Itook you to the beach,” he says, like he owns the world.
Shaking my head, I laugh. “You love all the credit, don’t you?”
“Ideserveall the credit.”
He’s not wrong. Asher’s specialty is getting me to have a good time, and he’s earning top grades. I’m not entirely sure what I do for him, but maybe I’m simply entertainment during this trip?like staging this beach intervention has amused him.
My gaze travels around the sand and the surf. In the waves, a fit old dude tosses a tennis ball to a Border Collie. At the edge of the water, a pack of college-aged kids play volleyball.
And beside me is the guy I won’t see much after tomorrow night.
Funny, how on Tuesday morning I was dreading these days with him. Now a part of me dreads leaving Florida.
While we make our way through the sand, I picture another first time. My eyes laser in on his hand.
Ah, what the hell.
I reach for his hand, thread my fingers through his.
Without any hesitation, he curls his fingers tight through mine. I’m holding hands with a guy for the first time. Everything about this moment feels right.
Just right.
Even when Asher says, “Look at you. You’ve come so far from the day you hid behind the dressing room curtain at Angel Sanjay’s showroom.”
“I wouldn’t say I was hiding.”
With a laugh, he squeezes my fingers harder as we reach the surf and walk along the water. “You were. You were hiding and horny at the same time. Such a dangerous combination.”
I scoff-laugh. “You will never not mock me.”
He rubs his thumb in a circle along my wrist, the motion sending small shock waves of pleasure across my skin. “Truer words.”
I laugh, and Asher turns to me, studying my face, his eyes serious.
I school my expression. “What is it?”
We stop walking. He drops my hand, then his shoes. I follow suit, letting mine fall to the sand.
“There’s something I want to do,” he says, his voice a touch vulnerable, like he’s about to take a risk.
That look paired with that tone scrambles my thoughts. “Sex on the beach in the middle of the day might be myonlyline,” I tease.
He doesn’t laugh. Instead, his eyes pin me, and they glimmer. “You’re so fucking fearless, Banks. It’s insanely hot. You’re kind of wild in bed, and I love that,” he says, and my heart tries to destroy my sense of reason.
