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Once they reached the marina, Blair watched Justyn tie up the boat with two swift loops of the heavy rope and pull the coil into a tight knot. As she walked past Justyn to put her bags on the dock, she pinched his butt and giggled. He arched his eyebrows and handed her the cooler.
“Fine. If you’re that pissed at me for what I said at the beach, well then I’m sorry. It’s just. I just … I hate being startled. And you know, the whole thing was a surprise to me anyway,” Blair blurted out the apology as she loaded beach gear on her shoulders.
Justyn seemed focused on untying and retying his bowline knot.
“Look. You act as if you didn’t want any of that to happen today at all, but every signal you’ve been throwing my way has said that’s exactly what you want. Hell, it wouldn’t be the first time I read the signals wrong, so if that’s what you’re mad about, then just say so. I didn’t have some big plan to seduce you or anything like that. My only plan was to hang out with you on the beach—that’s it.”
Blair didn’t like that he was calling her out. “Really? You just wanted to spend time with me, not plot how to get me naked? Because you seemed pretty intent on removing this bikini.” She realized she was getting bitchy with him for exactly what she had intended to do—sleep with him. However, those rules didn’t apply to him. It was her summer and her seduction.
Justyn laughed and let the rope drop from his hands. “Blair, come on. Give me a little more credit than that. I definitely wanted to spend the day with you.” He hoisted himself up on the dock and walked up to her. He reached for the underside of her chin and tilted her face toward him, as if he were going to kiss her. Holding her there, in that pose, he winked at her. “You do want me.”
“Justyn! Ugh!” She pulled on the bag and stormed off to where her car was parked in the gravel lot of the little marina.
“Hold up! Come back! I’m just kiddin’ around.” He jogged toward Blair while she crammed her bags into the trunk of the car.
“You act like this is all just a joke. I’m going home.” She turned to the driver’s side. “Thank you for the day at the beach. I’ll see you later.”
“Blair, wait.”
She threw the car in reverse and whirled out of the dusty lot before she had a chance to change her mind. Her head was swimming. She wanted him to want her, but not want her only for sex. She had convinced herself all she wanted from him was sex. Dammit. This is exactly what she and Maggie had talked about—no entanglements this summer. And here she was in an argument with an island guy over a silly wave—in the middle of the marina parking lot, no less.
It wasn’t until she walked into the quiet house that Blair remembered Maggie was gone for the night. Her friend was spending the night in Morehead City with her Aunt Jenny, who was in town for a day. The house seemed overly large and lonely without her best friend to commiserate with.
Blair shed the drenched beach bag in the utility sink and pulled the soaking wet towels to hang outside. She plucked four clothes pins from the line and clipped them to the colorful edges of the two towels she had. She ducked around the billowing towel, shimmied out of her cutoff shorts, and pulled the tank top over her head. She shook the clothes to loosen the wet sand stuck to the fabric. There was no point. She knew it would be tomorrow before she could properly shake these out.
Wrapped in visions of Justyn untying the delicate strings of her bathing suit on the beach, Blair leaned against the tree on the other side of the clothesline. She closed her eyes as images of his hands and hard chest flitted through her mind. She walked toward the house and left the remnants of the make-out session gone sour blowing in the island breeze.
Kicking her sandy flip-flops by the back door, she traipsed into the house in search of some ice tea. She grabbed a tall glass from the cabinet and filled it with ice and a few lemon slices. As she was returning the pitcher to the fridge, she heard the squeaky springs of the screen door give way.
“Maggie, you’re back early?” She turned to face her friend.
“No. Not Maggie. I hope it’s ok I’m here.” Justyn stood in the living room, holding a handful of flowers that Blair had to assume he picked on the side of the road on his way over. He had on a fresh shirt and khakis, and his hair was slightly wet.
Blair looked down at her bikini. Her cover up and towels were out on the line. She was planning on a nice hot shower after she guzzled the glass of ice tea, but she was killing time and soaking up every second she could. She hadn’t made it up the stairs yet.
“Uh. Sure. What’s up?”
She sipped the tea and slid to the other side of the kitchen island. She felt silly trying to cover the bottom half of her body from Justyn after their escapade on the beach.
Justyn crossed the floor in a few long strides. “I didn’t like what happened back there. Here.” He extended the flowers toward her. “I got these for you.”
Blair smiled and took the heaping pile of black-eyed Susans and Queen Anne’s lace from his hand.
“Thanks. They’re pretty.”
She immediately turned and searched the upper cabinets for a container to house the wildflower bouquet. She could feel his gaze eyeing her backside as she reached on her tiptoes for a milk glass vase on the second shelf.
“Here. Let me get that for you.”
Justyn brushed past the island and reached over her outstretched hand to grab the vase. She watched as he flipped the lever of the faucet and filled the antique vase until it was half-full of water. When he turned to reach for the flowers, Blair was leaning against the island with the flowers behind her.
He stepped closer. Then, running his hand along her bare skin, he stretched around her back to retrieve the colorful blooms. Blair giggled as the petals tickled her back.
“Good. Glad you’re smiling again.”
Justyn stuck the bunch in the vase and placed the arrangement on the counter. “I don’t want you to be mad at me, Blair. Can we start the day over?”
She smiled at him as he planted a hand on either side of her waist. “It’s almost sunset, so I would say this day is kinda shot.”
