Page 9 of The Bleeding Hearts Club

No. No I shouldn’t do that. That’s weird. Right?

No one’s watching.

But I can’t just dig in a person’s stuff. That’s wrong.

You aren’t digging through it though. It’s sitting right there.

Lo and behold, right at the top of this beach bag is a huge ass bottle of SPF 100. Exactly what I need to use if I have any hope of not suffering through Hell the rest of the week.

It couldn’t hurt. I’m not snooping. I can apologize later. My skin will thank me now.

The chair creaks as I move to stand. instantly I pause. One glance around, no one heard, or noticed. They are all entranced in volleyball, or that one couple that seems to have found each other rather quickly if the tongue hockey is any indication.

Okay, Mina. Just fucking do it.

My movements are jerky, but I race to the chair, sinking into the sand. It’s a battle of wills at this point. My dignity, or suspicious moles?

Just as I reach my mission’s destination, I slip.

“Shit!”

For the second time in two days, I fell flat on my face. Ungracefully, hard, and as if gravity had been upped to a thousand. At least its sand and not an airport floor.

I raise on to my elbows and stare down directly at toes. My head lifts slowly, eyes trailing up the length of toned calves, thick thighs, golden skin, and an equally golden spatter of hair across an equally toned chest and stomach, directly into the same bright blue eyes I looked at yesterday from an almost identical position.

Shit.

“Shit,” I mumble as Theo’s arm shoots out to offer me his hand. I grab it and he yanks me up, again.

“We need to stop meeting like this, you know?” He grins at me cheekily.

“Ha. Ha. Maybe you shouldn’t be right on my ass every time I’m a little clumsy.” I roll my eyes. “What’re you doing this way? I figured you’d be over there,” I jerk my head to the crowd. “Life of the party and all that jazz.”

His lip twitches, hinting at the dimple on his cheek. “My stuff is over here.” He points to the chair behind me. My face heats.

“Oh, cool,” I croak.

Smooth, Mina.

“Yeah. Taking a snack break, before I go back out. Waves are freaking crazy today. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten out on the water.” Theo stalks around me and flops unceremoniously onto the wooden chair. It creaks and groans far more than it did with me.

“Want one?” He has a bag of pretzels in his hand held out towards me.

“Uh, no. I have to go back to my room. I forgot my sunscreen, but I may as well just pack up and hang there. Maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow,” I sigh, turning back to my chair.

“Nah, don’t do that. Here,” he reaches into his bag pulling out my holy grail. “No need to go through all of that.”

“I—Thank you,” I cringe. “I owe you.”

“No big deal. I know the horrors of a bad burn.”

My hand wraps around the bottle, fingers grazing his. They’re so warm. I hadn’t noticed it when he helped me up. It’s as if his skin has just absorbed the heat from being in the sun.

Written across the label in bold letters, just as I thought: SPF 100.

I grin to myself.

What’re the odds?