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Kent can be infuriatingly cocky at times. And why do I find that so hot? “Maybe I’m not running from anything at all. Maybe I’m running to something.”
Kent gives me a thoughtful look. Then he shrugs. “Oh well. You’ll figure out what you’re getting away from eventually.” He smiles to himself as he kicks the sand on his next step. “No pressure to answer now.”
I roll my eyes. “I said I’m not running from—”
“What do you do, by the way? Back home, I mean. Wait, let me guess.” He lifts a hand and squints at the stars, as if he’ll find the answer written in them. “Retail?”
I nearly stumble again, surprised. “How’d you know?”
Kent laughs. “Really? I’m right? Wow. I’m never right.”
“Well, close enough. I’m an assistant floor manager at a designer clothing store in Houston.”
“What designer?”
“I believe the exact name is: Overpriced Pretentious Garbage You Only Want To Buy Because We Have Hot Models In Our Ads. Ever heard of it?” Kent just chuckles and shakes his head. “A bit of a mouthful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, a bit. I imagine it’s difficult to fit on billboards.”
“Depends on the font.”
After another stumble in the sand, my side brushes against his. Our hands graze one another’s, and I find my heart fluttering around in my chest as I look at him. He looks back. Then we look away like nothing happened, walking along the beach.
I swear it’s pure fucking electricity with Kent.
“Um, anyway,” I go on, talking to the sand—perhaps to better watch where I put my clumsy feet. Who knew walking the beach was so fucking difficult? I clearly don’t do it enough. “They pay rather well for what it is. Rico works there, too. You’d think it would cause more tension between us, me being a manager over him and all, but we get along. He especially loves the employee discount.”
Kent smiles. “It’s all about the hidden perks. I bring home baked goods all the time. Mom and Skip love it.”
“Wow, I’m jealous suddenly.”
“Hey, you got a free one, too!” he reminds me. “Or did you throw it away the second you rounded the corner, too pissed off with me to enjoy it?”
I cringe, then stop in place. “Alright, alright. Maybe I owe you an apology.”
He stops too, smirking. “Do you?”
Damn, he looks so sexy when he smirks. I have to pull my eyes down to his chest to not be hypnotized. Then I realize his chest is just as hypnotizing. “Yeah. I … might’ve been a bit quick to judge you. I made an assumption about your intentions. I wrote you off. I called you a player. You were just being nice to me.”
“You got your funnel cake and ate it, too.”
I laugh. He laughs. Then our gazes are captured once again as we grow quiet, ghosts of our laughter alive in our wet eyes.
I open my mouth to say something else.
A voice calls out from the bonfire instead: “Jonah!”
We both turn. Sitting on a blanket some distance from the fire are the unmistakable shapes of Rico and Adrian, drinks in hand. Rico nudges Adrian and says something, and Adrian laughs. Then the pair of them get up and start coming our way.
Rico notices the fellow at my side. “Oh, hello there,” he sings, impressed, as his eyes drag up and down Kent’s body. Then he eyes me and whispers, “Good going!”
I try not to roll my eyes. I’m about to tell him it’s not what he thinks when Adrian says, “I thought you swore off hanging out with the vacationers for good, little bro.”
Kent has become a statue of tension and ice, which I only now notice. His eyes darken. “Call me ‘little bro’ again and see what else I swear off.”
Rico gasps, oblivious to the tension. “Oh, so you’re the brother Adrian talked about! Yes, I see the resemblance. Wait, aren’t you twins?”
“Fraternal,” Kent nearly growls.
Rico nudges Adrian. “How’s he the little bro?”
“Little bro by a minute and a half,” says Adrian.
“It was me who was born early,” Kent spits back.
Adrian experiences half a second of confusion. “Huh. Well, Mom can’t remember, so whatever, doesn’t matter. I’m basically the older brother between us in more ways than just who was born first.” He shrugs his big, rounded shoulders. “Someone’s gotta be responsible around here.”
Rico giggles. “Oh, this is so adorable.”
I shoot Rico a look.
Kent clearly finds none of this exchange to be “adorable” at all. “If you don’t mind,” he says to Adrian, his words clipped, “we were in the middle of something.”
Adrian gives me a glance. “That so? Hey, I have a great idea.” He takes a step forward. “Let’s relax, kick back, and just have some beers around the fire. Finn might show up later with his boyfriend. We can have a boys’ night out, all of us, with our two new acquaintances here.”
