Page 48 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

He wants to have sex with me. I gulped. That wasn’t exactly what he said. Really sexy could mean anything. To me it meant all the sex. In every position. Including the gross Thanksgiving turkey one. "I think I'd like that." I wished he wasn't wearing his sunglasses. I wanted to see his reaction to what I said, but it was impossible to tell. Stupid sunglasses. His silence was unnerving. It felt like a few minutes ticked by with me just awkwardly standing there. He was staring out at the ocean again. But I wanted his attention, even if it was for just another second. I craved him more than Pink Dream ice cream. So I was basically addicted. "One," I almost shouted.

"One?" He smiled at me. "One what?"

God, why was that the thing I said into the awkward silence? I leaned in closer to him so that the people around us couldn't hear me. Why I chose a super public place to answer his question from last night at the top of my lungs, I had no idea. "Only one guy has seen me naked."

"The asshole?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I've kind of seen you naked too. So have Clint and Elle. You’re racking up the points here."

"Not naked, naked. I was wearing underwear.

"Which revealed a whole lot of your ass."

I could feel my face turning red. He was right. My ass had been on full display. I swallowed hard when he didn’t look away. It was like he was picturing me in nothing but my thong again. "How many girls have seen you naked?"

"Ummm." He looked back out at the water. "Hmmm.” He didn’t answer for an agonizing minute. “More than one."

"What does that even mean? You can't remember? Or it's like…a lot more than one?" Please don’t be a lot more than a few. I didn’t know where we were going, but I hoped I’d be going wherever it was with him. And the thought of him ogling tons of naked women really bothered me. Even if it was in his past.

"It means I've gone streaking and I have no idea how many girl

s saw me."

I laughed. That was not a serious answer. Besides, I’d asked the wrong question in the first place. All I really wanted to know was how many girls he had slept with. That was something someone who was more than a friend would want to know. But he wasn't giving up the information easily. "What if you don't count the streaking incident?"

"Completely naked? Or like, wearing boxers?"

I smiled. I’d seen him in his boxers twice and I wouldn’t be forgetting either occasion anytime soon. "Completely naked."

"Probably four."

"Probably?"

"Yep, probably."

"Your answers are extremely vague."

"I'm trying to work, Jellyfish Girl. It's hard to focus on more than one thing at a time." He smiled at me.

Fair point. Hopefully there weren’t a bunch of children drowning because of me. "I'll leave you alone then." I laid my towel on top of the sand and sat down on it. I had decided to finish Twisted Love after all, so I pulled it out of my bag. A steamy hot summer beach read fit my mood perfectly. And it was easy to imagine that it was about J.J. and me.

I lay down and hoped that he really did like my ass. Because even though I was wearing a bikini bottom, it was basically on full display. Every now and then as I read, I'd glance up at my lifeguard. I caught him staring at me once. For some reason my response had been to wink. I wasn't used to being so bold, but I was finding it fun. The wink had gotten me a smile and a wave of confidence.

After a few hours of reading, my lifeguard cleared his throat. I looked up at him.

"I think some of the lifeguards are playing touch football after our shifts are over. Do you want to play?"

Anything that involved touching him was a go for me. "Yeah, that sounds fun."

"Do you know how to play?"

Well, now he was just being insulting. "Of course I know how to play. I love football. I used to throw the ball around with my dad on Sundays before Eagles games." Before he left. I tried to squash that annoying voice in the back of my head. But I was already picturing him teaching my half-sisters. All three of them laughing together. The perfect family. Why did this still hurt so much? I was fine without him. I had been for years. If he didn’t need me or my mom, I didn’t need him either. That was what I always told my heart, but sometimes it was too stupid to listen. Or too naïve to care. Or too hopeful that things could one day change.

"Really?"

I looked back up at him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I’d gotten lost in my annoying daydream of what would never be me and my dad.

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