Page 20 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

"Alright then." He looked down at his watch. "See you in 20 minutes." He walked away. But he went past the bench and down the boardwalk.

Weird. Maybe he had changed his mind. I hope he’d changed his mind.

But he didn't. Fifteen minutes later he was back with a Grottos pizza box. He sat down on the bench and crossed his right ankle over his left knee. He took off his aviators, hooked them on the front of his shirt, and stared directly at me.

His eyes really were enchanting. I turned away from him. I needed to not look at his eyes. It was like they had a trance over me. When I turned around he was still staring at me. Stop it! I tried to pay attention to the new employee instead of my lifeguard.

"So how do you like your new job?" I asked Becca.

"It's lots of fun. I can’t believe I was lucky enough to score a position at Sweet Cravings. We’re both so lucky, don’t you think?"

Of course that was her answer. "Definitely.” I drummed my fingers against the counter. Our shift was over, and she was looking at me expectantly. But I didn’t want to leave. Walking out of here meant walking toward my lifeguard. And I didn’t want to walk anywhere near him. Even if he did have beautiful eyes and a pizza.

“Is it time to go?” Becca asked.

Classic Becca, not able to read my mind. In her defense, she didn’t know me. And she certainly didn’t know that I wanted to stay locked in here forever. Plus our replacements had already arrived. And it was in fact time to leave.

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “Let's divvy up tips and we can get going." I dumped out the tip jar and counted it out. We each got fifteen dollars. The awesome tips were the only good thing about Fridays. "Well, hopefully we'll get to work together sometime again. It was nice meeting you."

"You too!"

I hung up my apron and grabbed my beach bag. Usually I had a purse, but since I had planned to go to the beach after work I had opted for my usual beach bag. I took a deep breath and went outside. My lifeguard stood up and walked over to me.

"I think I owe you a pizza." He smiled at me.

"No, it's fine. I'm actually not hungry." I was starving and the smell of the pizza had my mouth watering. But I wasn’t hungry enough to eat with a dick.

"Oh, yeah, I heard you've been really sick." He said it normally, but I heard it in a sarcastic rude way. Because that’s what I thought of him.

"I was sick." I wasn't.

"I'm not arguing with you." He shrugged his shoulders.

"I actually have plans right now," I said and started walking toward the beach.

He quickly caught up to me. "What are your plans?"

"I haven't been to the beach in a while."

"Okay, I'll come with you." He walked silently beside me across the boardwalk, through the sand, and close to where the water was breaking.

I glanced at him. I thought he’d have left by now. I didn't know what he wanted me to say. But the pizza did smell good. And I really was hungry. Choices, choices.

"Look, I do owe you a pizza,” he said. “And you owe me an explanation. So let's eat and talk."

If anything he owed me an apology. But I wasn’t about to play whatever game he was trying to play. "We don't owe each other anything."

"Actually we do. You won this pizza fair and square in a bet." He sat down in the sand. "And you walked out on me in the middle of our date with no explanation. I want to know why."

It was a date? I looked down at him. His blue eyes were so endearing. I grabbed my towel out of my bag and spread it on the ground. He brushed the sand off his swim trunks and sat down next to me on my towel. He opened up the box and raised his left eyebrow.

"What, is it drugged or something?"

He laughed. "No."

I took a slice. He grabbed one too and closed the lid to the box.

"I'm sorry about what my friends said. I told them about you being a stalker in a funny way. Like how I kid with you. I wasn't serious. I'm sorry if that's what upset you."

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