AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“About Leah seeing someone? No. About you. Maybe.” She studied him a moment then made an apologetic face. “Sorry, but he’s like the rest of us. He doesn’t want to see her get hurt again. And you’re not sticking around.”
He didn’t want to have this conversation again. So he just nodded. “All right. Quiet then. You send the invites, I’ll do the rest. I’ll talk to Billy today and we’ll take it from there.”
Chapter Thirteen
When they came out of the ocean, Leah couldn’t stop laughing as she wrung seawater out of her hair. She collapsed back onto the sand, trying to catch her breath. She and Zach had, as he’d promised, driven around to Shane’s house, which fronted onto one of the smallest but best surf beaches on the island, and spent the afternoon surfing and fooling around. She’d be sore in the morning—she was out of practice with her board—but it would be worth it. Zach in lazy, relaxed, silly mode was irresistible.
“C’mon, lazybones,” Zach said, when he caught up to her. “No lounging around on the beach all day.” He leaned over and offered her a hand.
She pouted at him, ignoring the hand. “Why not? It kind of fun to have it all to ourselves. And it’s my birthday, so shouldn’t I get to decide what we do?” She twisted back to look back up at Shane’s house. It had always been her favorite of the Blacklight houses. Not as extravagant as the Harper house, not as cutting-edge Architectural Digest–darling as Danny’s. It was stone and weathered wood and glass that curved around the land as if it had grown there. It was a pity it was empty most of the time. She couldn’t remember the last time Shane or any of his family had been to Lansing. “It’s nice here. Peaceful.” No chance of being interrupted. Zach had been right about today. Mina was on duty at search and rescue—Fourth of July being one of the island’s busiest times of year outside of CloudFest—and Faith and Caleb were spending the day with Lou and then going to the fireworks. She’d had a nice birthday lunch with her parents at Jin’s diner and then headed out to see Zach. Nearly the perfect day, in her book. All that she needed to top it off was a couple of good orgasms, and she’d be one happy birthday girl.
“Exactly. It’s your birthday.” Zach said. “And I have things planned.”
“What things?” she asked suspiciously. But she held out a hand so he could haul her to her feet.
“Things you’ll like.”
She grinned. “I would’ve thought we had plenty of time for those things later.”
“Other things you’ll like, woman. You have a one-track mind.”
“You like the track my mind is on just fine, rock boy.”
“True, but as you said, plenty of time for that track later on.”
“Okay, then.” She ran a hand through her hair, which was pretty much a mess of tangles and salt water even though she’d tied it back. “Do I get a chance to shower before we try these things?”
“I think that can be allowed,” he said.
The shower, back at Zach’s, turned out to involve some of the things her one-track mind had imagined. Well, he couldn’t really blame her for that, could he? After all, he’d come into the bathroom in just his wet shorts to bring her some towels when she was just starting to run the water. Half-naked Zach and a shower was too promising a combination to resist. And he hadn’t resisted too hard. Still, by the time they were done and then dried off and dressed it, was nearly six.
“Do your plans involve dinner?” she asked as she came back into the kitchen.
“I’ve known you a long time, Santelli. And I’ve seen you when you’re hangry.” He shuddered theatrically. “So yes, I planned on feeding you.”
She stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”
“If you’ve been won over by my culinary skills then you’re setting your standards too low,” he said. He pulled a bandanna out of his pocket and waved it in front of her nose. “But before we get to the food, you need to put this on?”
“Dude, I thought you said the special things had to wait until tonight. And we just did it like thirty minutes ago.” She was teasing. Mostly. She wasn’t adverse to the idea of Zach and a few knots and a blindfold. Just hadn’t expected it right this minute.
“Mind out of the gutter, Santelli. This is so you don’t spoil the surprise.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.” But she reached for the bandanna, folded it into a strip, and tied it around her eyes.
“You’ve done that before,” Zach said.
“Too many games of blind man’s bluff as a kid.”
“I don’t remember those.” He came ’round behind her to tug on the knot.
“We didn’t play it with stinky boys,” she said with a smile, trying to get used to the sensation of darkness. She could feel Zach behind her, the warmth and the scent of him. It was tempting to press herself back against him and see if she could distract him some more. But if he’d gone to all the trouble of actually making plans, it was kind of sweet, and it would be unfair to ruin them.
“I wasn’t stinky.” He pulled on the knot again. “Are you sure you can’t see anything?”
She felt the air move in front of her face. He must have reached around to wave a hand in front of her face.
“Total darkness, I promise.”
