Page 21 of Summer Affair

“That makes sense. You did lay the guy out.” He smiled. “Aubrey’s self-defense classes?” he asked.

“You know it. I really do love this place.” She sighed and rested her head back, closing her eyes.

“It’s the best.”

Just the sound of his voice calmed her down further. The warm richness of it mixed with the cool breeze, the sound of the birds happily chirping, and the smell of the salt water were all she needed to change her perspective.

“Thanks,” she said, turning to him.

“For?” he asked softly. His dark eyebrows shot up slightly.

How had she never noticed how rich and warm his eyes were before now?

“For being there,” she said without thinking.

He shrugged. “I had some free time and thought I’d sit in on a session.”

“No, I mean after. To help settle me.” She reached over and took his hand in hers. “We’re friends first, that’s something I’ve never had before.”

“What? Friends?” he asked, a look of confusion on his face.

“Not with a man I want to sleep with.” She smiled when his eyes heated.

He pulled her closer and lowered his tone. She enjoyed the sexy warm sound as he said, “Really? So when do you plan on taking this next step?”

She chuckled. “When the time is right.” She looked up at him. “Normally, I wouldn’t hesitate to jump in bed with someone I wanted.” Her eyes moved to his lips. “This is different. I want it to be.” She needed him to understand. Needed to persuade herself. It had to matter. She couldn’t lose him. Especially after she’d spent a lifetime dreaming of what it would be like.

His eyes moved to hers and he nodded slowly. “Yeah, it’s different. Take as much time as you need. Until then, there’s plenty we can occupy our time with.” He smiled as he dipped his head lower until their lips touched softly. “So many other things we can do.”

She groaned and wished they could remain right there for the rest of the day. But then they both heard the golf cart heading down the pathway towards them.

They were standing apart from one another as Brett and Aaron stopped in front of them.

“The Temples are now off the premises,” Aaron said.

“Are you okay?” Brett asked her.

She nodded. “Never better.”

“Tell me the bastard was at least walking funny?” Dean asked.

Aaron chuckled. “Yeah, we were wondering why. Is that your doing?” he asked Dean.

Dean shook his head and pointed his thumb at her. “She had him on the ground before I even stepped into the room.”

“Damn,” Aaron said, dragging the word out. “Remind me to never mess with you.”

“I’ll warn you to not mess with any woman on campus who has taken Aubrey’s self-defense class,” she pointed out. “Now, how about you give us a ride back? We’ve got a client in a few moments.” She climbed onto the back of the golf cart.

By the end of the day, Andrea was done being around people. All people. Dean had disappeared after her next client, leaving her to handle some of the worst clients she’d ever had.

One woman actually pinched her arm and slapped at her when she claimed Andrea was being a brute and too rough. The next woman was so drunk, she barfed all over Andrea’s shoes. Her last client was an older man who was covered in what looked like warts. She wore gloves for that session.

Dean was stuck working the evening shift in the main dining hall. He was dressed in board shorts and a tank top since the evening’s theme was something to do with Hawaii. Maybe it was pineapples. Several of the waitresses had them on their heads.

At any rate, after picking up a dinner to go from the employee dining room, Andrea headed home. Alone.

She was thankful that her drive to and from work took her less than ten minutes. The job before this, her drive had been forty-five minutes to Panama City.