Beach Side Beds and Sandy Paths (15 page)

I scream and suck in a breath right before I go under. My top flies up and my boob
pops out. Holy wardrobe malfunction. Luckily, I manage to push it back into place.

Pay
back time.

Before I surface, I swim until I feel Ryan’s leg, grab his shorts and yank them down as hard as I can.
A laugh erupts in my throat, but I hold it down so I don’t gulp water. I swim away and resurface. Ryan is red faced, and he’s pulling off some pretty hilarious maneuvers under the water.

“You are so going to get it,” he says and
lunges at me. I scream again and dive into a wave, moving my body like a mermaid. Hands wrap around my ankle and pull me back. I kick with all I got, but he only tightens his grip and gives a final yank, running his hand up my leg.

Chills follow his fingers and shoot right up my spine. He turns me towards him, and I link my legs around his waist. His lips press against mine and light breaks through my eyelids as we emerge from the
depths of the ocean.

The sun warms my back, a wave crash
ing through us, and a seagull caws somewhere above us, but I don’t take my lips away from Ryan’s. Ever since Brett came into the picture he’s been acting weird.

Right now, with his fingers losing themselves in my hair, his body pressed against mine, he’s not acting. He’s just Ryan. My gorgeous best friend. My boyfriend.
The only person that could turn any situation into the best possible moment.

“I’ve missed you,” I say against his
mouth.

He pulls back, resting his head against mine. “You’ve been the one hiding out at the house.”

I smile, knowing the surprise I have waiting for him. “That’s not what I mean.” He cocks an eyebrow at me and I kiss the bridge of his nose. “I mean I missed
you
. Ryan. My Ryan. Physically you’re here, but mentally?” I tap his forehead with my fingers. “You’ve been somewhere else.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I just wish I could do something to help with whatever it is that has you all in a tizzy.”

“I’m not in a tizzy.”

I blink up at him. “If you say so.”

“Tizzies are for girls. I’m a manly man,” he says and holds his arms up. I grab onto his bicep
, and he flexes at my touch.

I shake my head and laugh. A suspicious grin passes ac
ross his face. He leans in and kisses me, then pulls back with all he has, dunking us both into the water.

I don’t know how long we stay in the water, but by the time we make it back to shore, my fingers and toes
are a pruney mess.

Kaylee, Nate
, and Brett are nowhere to be seen, which means Kaylee followed through with our plan and got them to go with her into town for ice cream and shopping. Nick slept the morning away and hasn’t been around all afternoon. I’d bet my nail polish collection he’s off with some girl. Now I just have to get Ryan back to the house and pray that he doesn’t shut me out again.

He reaches down and grabs my towel wrapping it around me, and rubbing his hands up and down my arms.

“Ready to head back to the house?” I ask, trying to conceal the excitement surging through me. There was no way he was going to be able to turn my surprise down.

“It looks like everyone else went back. Why don’t we stay here for a little while longer? I’m enjoying it being just the two us.”

I couldn’t bear to watch the hopeful look on his face dissolve, so I lift on tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “Sounds perfect.”

If Kaylee
sticks to the plan, her and the guys will be gone for at least a few hours. What was a few more minutes at the beach? Lately every second I spend with Ryan, my Ryan, seems like a fleeting moment.

Even though I ha
ve our night planned out at the house, I’m perfectly content sitting in between his legs, his arms wrapped around me as he trails kisses down the length of my neck.

“Have you talked to your Mom today?” he asks.

I nod against his shoulder and moan when he nibbles at my earlobe.

“How’
s she doing?”

“
Good.”

“Do you believe her?”

I look up into his eyes. Though, it was a thought in the back of my mind it still rears its ugly head from time to time.

“I want to.” I shrug.

“I know.” He kisses my forehead and squeezes me tighter.

“She’s been doing so
good, but she did relapse in the beginning.”

“You know I’m not your mom’s biggest fan, but that was one time. The withdrawal symptoms she had, I don’t know if I could really blame her either.”

Most people wouldn’t have defended her. Justified her turning back to the bottle, . especially if they knew all she had put me through. But that’s why I love Ryan so much. He doesn’t say what I want to hear. He says what I need to hear.

“I’ve blamed her for so much already,” I say and snuggle my head into the
crook of his neck.

“And she deserved that blame. She didn’t exactly make it easy for you.”

“No, she didn’t.” I peek up at him and rest my hand on his cheek urging his eyes to mine. “She made things absolute shit, but I survived. You know why.” I dragged my finger down his jaw and back up.

He kissed my nose. “Why?”

“Because you always said the right thing and knew when words wouldn’t fix it. Then you would just hold me. Let me cry. No matter how much snot I got all over your shirt, you never let me go.”

“Your boobs were pressed against me,
so of course I wasn’t letting go,” he says and I tweak his nipple. A squeal slips from his mouth, and we both laugh.

That’s the other thing about Ry. When things get heavy, he always manages to
bring back the light.

“You are so going to get it,” he says and tosses me under him.

My back against the sand, the sound of the waves crashing behind us and Ryan hovering mere inches above me, I momentarily forget we are on a public beach.

I wrap my hand around his neck and erase the distance between us. His lips sync with mine the instant they touch and every nerve ending in my body comes to life.

I arch into him, and his hand finds my hip, swallowing it in his grasp. His fingers massage into me, squeezing tight and pulling me close.

“Get a room!”

It takes a moment for my mind to register, but once it does I can feel the blush spreading up my chest into my cheeks.

I cover my eyes and bury myself into Ryan’s chest. A laugh rumbles up his stomach, and my head bounces against him. “How embarrassing!” I say, but I doubt he hears me over his
laughing fit. “Keep laughing.” I go to roll away and he pulls me against him.

“I’m going to need a minute to cool down.”

“There’s iced tea at the house,” I say and he shakes his head.

“I don’t mean temperature wise.” His eyes travel
south, and now I’m the one laughing.

“
It must suck to be a guy.”

“
Not always. I mean I can pee whenever and wherever I want.”

I laugh,
“Guys really do have it easy.” I rest my hands on his chest. “Truth or dare?”

“Seriously. You want to play that right now?”I nod
, and his lip quirks. “Considering I can’t go anywhere anytime soon, I’ll go for truth.”

“Has this ever happened to you in public before?” I cock my eyebrow at him playfully and bite back my smile.

He rolls his eyes and runs his hand through his hair. “Do you remember that day in Mrs. Golden’s class when she asked me to go to the board and work on that math problem?”

“How could I forget? You told Mrs. Golden that you hurt yourself in gym class and didn’t want to stand on your ankle anymore than you had too, but that Lexie would be
‘more than happy to volunteer.’ I wanted to kill you. You knew I sucked at Algebra. I never understood why…”

His lip quirks in the corner
, and he shrugs his shoulder.

“Oh. My. God. You put me through public humiliation because you had a boner
!”

“I think my public humiliation
would’ve been a lot worse compared to your inability to solve an equation.”

“Says you. Why’d that happen to you anyway?”

He rubs at his neck, looking down before blinking back up at me. “You were wearing that green tank top of yours. The one that made your eyes even darker.” He runs his finger down the line of my bikini top. “And cut just low enough. That shirt got me every time.”

“I loved that
one. Mom borrowed it and snapped the strap off. I totally forgot about that. Wait that was like seventh or eighth grade.”

“Seventh,” he says so matter-of-factly.

“I turned you on even then?”

Ryan sits up and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Lex, you’ve been turning me on before I even knew what that meant.”

I take in a ragged breath and look up into his eyes. “Really?” Kaylee mentioned Ryan had been in love with me forever, but hearing it from him is something completely different.

His hand rests on my cheek and rubs small circles with his thumb. “Really. Lex, I’ve been in love with you since day one.”

All thoughts of why we were still on the beach rush out of me, and I jump up, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. He shifts slightly in his board shorts and holds his towel in front of him.

“Where are we going?” he asks with a laugh.

“This way,” I say and walk faster than I’ve ever walked before. Even faster than all those times Brewster, my favorite client’s dog, dragged me down a block and a half before Ryan caught up with me and took his leash.

The house is in sight and somehow I manage to move faster. Ryan starts to lightly jog to keep up with me.
Loud music drifts down the path leading to the house. That’s weird. I didn’t leave music on. Maybe Kaylee thought it would set the mood? 50 Cent is a weird choice but hey who am I to judge?

I all but run up the path, the music getting louder, only for me to come to a complete halt. Ryan runs into my back and if it wasn’t for his hand wrapping around my waist I would’ve nose
-dived into the stairs leading to the house.

People line the deck and even more are packed in the house like nail polish on a shelf. No. No. You have got to be kidding me.

“Just in time for the party!” Nick says, tossing Ryan a beer. I don’t even need to look to know he tossed it right back. After our biggest blow out ever I don’t think he will ever touch a drop of alcohol again.

“I’m good,” Ryan says
as it lands in Nick’s hand.

Damn it! Nick’s been so scarce I
thought for sure he wouldn’t be here. .

“Suit
yourself,” he says and turns back to the two blonds anxiously waiting behind him. Is she eating the brownies I made for Ryan? Oh my God she is! And my rose. Oh no. That other bimbo did not take my rose and use it as an accessory on her overly large ear.

Before I can rip it
away, they disappear into the crowd and I plop on the steps, my head falling into my hands.

My eyes sting and my throat burns with disappointment. No matter how hard I try
, no matter how much planning I put into it, it always goes to shit. Story of my life.

“Hey,” Ryan says kneeling down in front of me and taking my face in his strong hands. “What’s wrong? I threw the beer back. I would
n’t.”

I hate that he thinks it’s his fault. It’s not. It never is.

I shake my head. “I had the whole rest of our day and night planned and this”—I throw my hand out scanning the raging party—“was not supposed to be a part of it. Every time I try to do something for you it goes wrong.”

“What are you talking about? What else has gone wrong?”

“When I was trying to act all sexy for you, and my boob exploded! Who knew that could even happen?”

“Lex.” He sits down on the step beside me and takes my hand in his. “You don’t need to act sexy. You could be
wearing a shit brown rain poncho, and you’d still be sexy as hell.”

“
Really?” I ask, blinking up at him. He takes my face back in his hands and swipes his thumbs under my eyes.

“Really.”

“Then why won’t you have sex with me?” I don’t mean to blurt it out like that
again
, but a girl can only endure so many rejections before thinking it’s her. “You love me, right?”

“I hate that you even have to ask that.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

He looks down at the ground and rubs the back of his neck. I put my hand under his chin and urge his eyes to mine. “Talk to me.”

“The problem is.” Pain flashes across his face. “I love you too much.”

I don’t know how to take that. I still have so many questions, but by the look on his face, for the first time, I don’t think I want to know. Ryan has always been able to talk to me about everything. Well…except for the fact that he has been in love with me from that very first day on the playground, but still. When he’s ready to talk, I know without a doubt, I’ll be his first and only stop.