Page 11 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

"You know, I like Jellyfish Girl better,” I said.

"Okay, fine, Jellyfish Girl. Your stings look a lot better, by the way." The way he said stings made it seem like he had seen the one on my butt too. Which meant he had looked over at me when I had been reading on my stomach. I smiled to myself. I was very aware of his eyes on my legs. And I liked the attention.

"So much better. Thanks again for that."

He looked at the watch on his wrist. "It's getting pretty late, so if you're going to swim, do it now so you have time to dry off."

And he thought I was the stalker? He truly did know my schedule. "Time to dry off for what?" My only plans were to go back to my apartment to cook for Kristen. I usually dried off on the walk home. Wait, did I just invite myself somewhere with him? What is wrong with me? I was about to open my mouth to clarify when he started talking again.

"Lifeguards get free drinks on Thursdays at Grottos. You're coming with me."

Oh my God, he's asking me out. Or did I force him into asking me? God. "Umm..."

"Come on, Jellyfish Girl. It'll be more fun if you come."

"Okay." I didn't hesitate nearly as long as I thought I would. That I should have. I don't know if it was because of the erotic romance I was reading or because he was the most handsome guy I had ever talked to. Probably both. "I guess I'll go in the water now then." I quickly walked away before I had a chance to say anything weird.

"Be careful of jellyfish!" he yelled after me.

"Okay, smartass." Oh shit, did I just curse at him?

I heard him laughing as I made my way to the water. I shook my head. Every time we interacted I did the weirdest stuff. But he wanted to go out with me anyway. There must be something seriously wrong with him. I ran into the water and dove into a wave. I made my way past the breaking waves and treaded water. Part of me wished I'd get stung by another demon jellyfish so he'd have to touch me again. I laughed at myself and looked back at him. He was so handsome. And maybe tonight I'd finally get to learn his name.

I didn't stay in the water nearly as long as I normally would. Knowing my lifeguard might be watching me made me nervous. All I could think about was the fact that he had asked me out. And how I hadn’t even hesitated to say yes. What happened to my summer plans of no dating? I wrung my hair out and walked back toward my towel. I lay down on my stomach and pulled my book back out. Stupid romance book, messing with my head.

***

"So nothing stung you today?" I opened my eyes. My lifeguard was sitting on my towel beside me. I must have fallen asleep reading.

"Oh." I quickly sat up. "No, not today." I wiped the side of my face, grateful that there wasn’t drool everywhere. I put my book in my bag before he got a chance to see what I was reading. Why is he sitting next to me? I thought him asking me out had been part of a bad dream. Well, actually a really great dream that involved some of that turkey business Kristen had mentioned. Of the non-anal variety. But I couldn’t seriously go out with him. That wasn’t part of my summer plans.

"Darn, I really wanted more free ice cream."

I laughed. "I can give you free ice cream whenever you want. I usually take some home with me after work."

"Your job definitely has better perks than mine. So are you ready to go?" He stood up and put his hand out for me.

I stared at his hand. A tiny voice in the back of my head warned me that this was a bad idea. Touching him should be a no-no. But my hand started moving on its own accord. "Yeah." I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet. "One sec." I quickly pulled on my tank top and jean shorts. "Is this okay to wear?"

"Yeah, you look great. We all just wear our bathing suits." He was still wearing his lifeguard swim trunks but he had also put on a t-shirt.

"Are you sure it's okay that I come? You know…since I'm not a lifeguard?"

"It's fine. It just means I have to pay for your drinks." He smiled at me.

"You don't have to do that."

"I'm pretty sure I just scored free ice cream all summer. So yes, I do."

I smiled at him. It was hard not to smile when perfection in male form was staring back at you. "Okay." I shook out my towel and put it into my bag. We started walking toward the boardwalk. I kept stealing sideways glances at him. He was at least six inches taller than me. He was as tan as I expected a lifeguard to be. And he was lean yet muscular. He was starting to get a 5 o'clock shadow. For some reason I found myself wanting to reach out and touch it. I forced my hands to stay by my sides.

When we reached the boardwalk, he stopped and rinsed the sand off his feet at the little shower. "So all I really know about you is that you come to the beach every Tuesday and Thursday around one o'clock. Jellyfish love you. And you work at an ice cream shop with really sexual flavor names. Maybe that means something. I don't know." He held the shower lever down for me so I could rinse the sand off my feet too.

I laughed. "No, it doesn't. I just needed a job to pay my rent. I'm renting this really cute, tiny apartment over this old lady's garage. I love it."

"Do you live there by yourself?"

"No." Oh crap. “Actually I have a roommate who I always have dinner with. I need to text her.” Kristen would probably starve if I wasn’t there to cook for her. I paused when I pulled out my phone. I knew nothing about my lifeguard. Maybe he was a murderer. He was probably going to get me drunk and kill me. Maybe he was a freaking cannibal. I could be seconds away from being in his tummy. “Umm…you said a bunch of people were going right? Do you care if she comes too? She’d kill me if she knew I was going

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