Just for the Summer (Chasing Carolina #0.5) (8 page)

“Sorry about interrupting whatever it was I was interrupting,” he says before shutting the door, giving us privacy once again.

“I should probably get going,” Ashlynn says before wrapping her arms around my waist and pulling me back to her again.

“You sure? You can come in and have a slice of pizza if you want.”

Shaking her head, she beams up at me with the biggest, most beautiful smile. Her lips are slightly swollen from our kiss, and I can’t help but smirk at the thought I’d left my mark on her.

“I have a big date tomorrow, so I need my beauty rest,” she teases before leaning up on her toes and pressing a soft kiss to my mouth.

A gentle breeze blows across the water and over us, causing her to shiver slightly in my arms. “Well, then I guess I’ll say goodnight and let you get on your way.” I give her one more kiss before releasing her.

“Goodnight, Chase.”

I stand on the deck and watch her until she disappears into her house before I head inside to eat. Today has been a whirlwind. I can only hope things will be looking up from here.

“I’M SO NERVOUS ABOUT
my date with Chase tonight,” I say, rolling onto my stomach so I can tan my backside.

“Don’t be. I imagine it’ll be something fun and completely Chase-like. Maybe zip lining or snorkeling, because from what I Googled on him this morning, he lives on the wild side. That boy should have danger as his middle name.” If this is Nikki’s idea of helping me relax, she’s insane.

“Really, Nikki? Thanks. Now I’m about a hundred times more nervous! I’m terrified of heights, and I really don’t think swimming around waiting for a shark to eat me qualifies as an amazing date. Why is it the one guy I’m attracted to since Evan has to be an adrenaline junky?”

The rest of our crew appears beside us, Becca plopping down onto her towel beside me, and Tamara sitting back in her beach chair. They just got back from taking a dip in the ocean. It’s so hot today I feel like I’m melting under the sun. We have to keep jumping in the water every few minutes to cool ourselves off. I don’t want to burn, ruining my date with Chase because I’m as red as a lobster, so I’ve been applying sunscreen religiously.

“What are we talking about?” Tamara asks while slipping her oversized sunglasses back on and setting her sun hat on her head. She digs her book out of her beach bag before turning her eyes to Nikki and me.

Becca rolls onto her side, props her head up in her hand, and grins at us. “Yeah, girlies. Spill it. What are y’all gossiping about? Wait! Wait! Let me guess…Chase?” She lets out a high-pitched giggle when I roll my eyes at her and give her a push, sending her onto her back.

“Yes, Chase, and now, thanks to Nikki, I’m stressing over what we’ll be doing for our date. We barely know each other, so it’s not like he’s aware of my extreme fear of heights and sharks. Nikki here has revealed Chase is an adrenaline junky who likes to live life on the wild side, which is the total opposite of me!”

Nikki lets out a loud huff. “Oh, stop being such a twat waffle. You’re going on a date with Chase freaking Kenzington! I googled my ass off all freaking morning, and let me just say the ladies have nothing bad to say about that man besides the fact he’s a heartbreaker. Which…I mean…come on. That’s a given. We’ve seen his womanizing ways firsthand. With looks like that, I’d think he was gay if he didn’t manwhore it up every once in a while.”

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Four gorgeous ladies sitting on a beach all by themselves? I think this situation needs to be rectified STAT!” Parker shouts across the beach at us with a big ass grin across his face.

The crap that comes out of that guy’s mouth…

“Ashlynn,” Chase says in such a way that makes me tingle with excitement from my head to the tips of my toes.

“Chase.” I laugh as he squeezes his body beside me on my towel.

“What are you ladies up to today besides looking beautiful?” Parker asks, sliding his eyes over the four of us. He’s such a pig, but he is entertaining.

He’s sitting beside Becca—who never came home until after the sun was up this morning, by the way. She rolls on her back, resting her head in his lap as she peers up at him. “We’re working on our tans. What are you guys up to? Nothing that’ll end with us bailing your sorry asses out of jail, I hope.”

Vance, who’s sitting in one of our empty beach chairs, digging his toes in the sand, answers for the guys, swinging his hand from Chase to Parker, “These two jackasses are spending the day here until lover boy takes you out on your date, and I’m going out with a girl I met last summer who’s back in town.”

Parker, needing to put his two cents in of course, tells me, “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact Chase is actually taking you out on a date. This dude hasn’t taken a girl out on a date in his entire life! I bet you a million dollars the devil is playing hockey down in hell right now.”

“Oh, come on. He’s twenty-two, for crying out loud; he’s had to have gone on a date at some point in his life,” Becca says, slapping Parker on the thigh before turning her attention to Chase and me.

Chase lets out a deep chuckle and holds his hand up in the air with his index finger pointing down at himself. “Hello! I’m sitting right here, and for your information, I’ve been on dates,
thank you very much
. I’ve just never gone out with a girl without having a group of our friends tagging along with us.”

Propping myself up on my forearms, I look up at Chase. “I’m excited for our date and honored I’m the first girl you’ll be taking out on a real one. I just have two requests: Please do not take me to do anything involving heights or sharks.”

Giving me his adorable, melt-your-heart grin he bends down, slides his fingers under my chin, tilts my head up towards him, and presses a sweet, heart-fluttering kiss to my lips. “Deal,” he murmurs against my lips before pulling away from me, leaving me hungry for more.

I give him a small smile as I watch him grab my bottle of suntan lotion from my beach bag and pour some into the palm of his hand. “You’re lookin’ a little red, and the last thing I need is for you to get sunburned and have to cancel our hot date.”

The idea of him running his hands over my body makes my heart stop and jump start again. Last night, just that kiss he gave me had my resolve crumbling. I am trying to be smart and take things slow, but he makes it almost impossible to do so when he’s constantly tempting me to throw caution to the wind and do everything my body is screaming at me to do.

It’s so hard to decide who to listen to when your head and your body are both screaming at you to do two different things.

Chase programmed his number into my phone today at the beach, and then called it so mine could be saved into his, so around five o’ clock, I wasn’t too surprised to receive a text from him. He wrote me, saying to wear shorts, a tank top, and bring a hoodie. That was his only request for our date, and even after asking him a million times, he refused to tell me where he was taking me.

He was so sweet, and looked as handsome as ever when he knocked on the beach house door at six sharp. He was wearing cargo shorts, and a tight-fitting blue shirt that made his ocean blue eyes shine even brighter.

We took his Silverado, but he promised tomorrow he’d take me for a ride on his motorcycle. I continued to try and guess what we were doing for our date, but he refused to give me even the smallest clue. His lips were sealed, and when we got about three minutes away from our destination, he made me cover my eyes until he was parked.

So here we sit, and finally, he tells me I can look, and I literally laugh out loud as I take in the sign that says NASCAR Speedpark. Of course he brought me to a go-kart track. He is too cute. He has the biggest grin on his face, and it’s contagious. Seeing him so excited for our date has me bursting with excitement of my own.

I tell him professional or not, I’m so going to beat his ass. I love go-kart racing. It’s one of my favorite things to do besides miniature golf when my friends and I go out.

After waiting in line, in which Chase signs a few autographs for some kids, seeming to make their year by chatting with them and signing their pamphlet for the go kart track, we finally get to pick our cars at the Slidewayz Track. This place has a variety of tracks to choose from. I’m excited to race on this one, and hopefully a few others. There’s even one where you get to race in mini versions of a NASCAR car!

I pick the go-kart just behind Chase and buckle myself in, quickly getting myself all situated. I’m ready to see Chase in his element and having fun. I feel like I’m seeing a part of him not many get to see, and it makes this date that much more amazing.

“Hey! You ready to eat my dust?” I shout at him.

He spins around and gives me his best game face. It’s adorable how seriously he is about go-karts. “You sure can talk the talk, Myers, but can you walk the walk?”

I shake my head at him using my last name. He is so in the moment right now it’s highly amusing. I just pray I can beat his ass fair and square, because if I do, I am going to victory dance all over the track.

Rolling my eyes, I push my eyebrows together and purse my lips up at him. “You can just wait and find out. Whatever you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The guy running the go-karts comes over the loud speaker, telling us they’re powering our cars up, and instantly, they rev to life. They’re so loud I can’t hear anything but the roaring vehicles around me.

Finally, we get the green light, and I press my peddle to the floor and shoot off towards Chase. I launch forward with so much force my body gets pressed against the seat. I can’t contain my laughter as people behind and beside me bump into my car, but I continue to maneuver around the track, keeping them from getting around me.

I shout towards Chase, doubting he can hear me, “I’m gonna catch you, Kenzington!” I love how his last name sounds on my lips.
Almost as amazing as his lips feel pressed against mine.

I see his head shake side to side as he jerks the car from one side of the lane to the other, maneuvering around kids and adults alike. I mirror his actions, passing everyone too. As I pull up right behind him, my body is humming with excitement as adrenaline pumps through every inch of me.

“Hells to the yeah!” I shout as I jerk the wheel, bumping into Chase’s back tire, causing his car to skid towards the tires lining the track. I get just enough space to scoot around him. I turn my head to look up at him, and so wish I hadn’t, because his crystal blue eyes sparkle down at me while he gives me his mega-watt smile. I become distracted just long enough for him to shoot back by me.

“Damn you, Chase Kenzington, and your way-too-cute smile!” I shout at him as he peers back at me laughing. He is such an ass!

If I didn’t know it before, I do now; I have it bad for this guy.

After we do a few more laps around the track and have fun passing each other, we get serious for the final lap. No more playtime. I put on my game face and don’t hold back. I run anyone and everyone out of my way, even the dad with his kid in the kart, racing beside me. I know…it’s not my proudest moment, but I’m determined to win!

With the checkered flag flying ahead, I floor it as fast as my car will go and find myself right beside Chase. I’m screaming with excitement as we race towards the finish line. We pass over it side-by-side, tying.

Seriously?! I’m a little disappointed, but I guess tying with a soon-to-be professional NASCAR driver is still pretty good bragging rights.