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Deciding this was as much as she needed to know about this, for now anyway, he changed the subject. He offered to go through a drive thru and grab something to eat but she reminded him she’d brought snacks. “I made quesadillas and salsa. More than I initially anticipated so I think we should be fine. But we can get drinks because I didn’t bring anything.”
They grabbed a couple of sodas through a drive thru and headed to the beach. Pulling into the parking lot of the beach. Once he pulled out the blanket from his trunk, Byron instantly took her hand the moment he was close enough. Like it was something they’d been doing forever, he smiled leaning in and pecked her again.
Grunion weren’t running yet but they started through the sand toward the shore. Vannah winced as they got closer to the shore. “I’m good with watching them from here.” Byron turned to her in time to see her wince. “I’ve never liked getting close enough to where they might actually touch me.”
Chuckling, he dropped the blanket right where they were. “Just like my niece Elsa. She makes those faces too. Lucy on the other hand,” he said as they spread the blanket out. “And she’s the younger one, is the braver one. She actuallywantsto catch them.”
“Oh, no. They’re so slithery. I’m good at this distance.”
“Then here, it is.”
They sat down on the blanket and leaned in to kiss her just couldn’t be helped. It was long and deep and before he knew it, they were lying down on the blanket as the marathon kissing continued. Feeling his heart speed up, Byron’s head raced with panicked thoughts. He hardly knew her and somehow, he already knew, he might be in trouble. He’d had his share of girls he just made out with and even slept with but nothing more. This just didn’t feel like that. There was something too sweet about her. Something that felt too innocent. There was no way she could be one of those girls that would be okay with that kind of relationship.
Afraid of giving into the temptation of bringing up the subject of herfriendsagain, he steered clear of it. Once they came up for air he went with another topic. He talked about their evening and how he’d brought out his nieces a few times for this. “Those two have me wrapped around their little fingers.”
She smiled sitting up and crossed her legs as she licked her lips. “My uncles and aunt have always spoiled me and my siblings as well. My mom says we were probably more spoiled than my cousins since my dad was the first of his siblings to start a family.”
Hoping she’d eventually lie down again, Byron stayed in that position, but sat up just slightly leaning against his elbow. “That’s probably the same thing with me,” he said playing with her fingers. “Though, technically Nine was the first to bring a kid around us with his stepdaughter. A little different but I spoil her too.”
“Nine?”
“One of the other owners of the shop,” he explained. “One of the other guys I refer to as my brothers. His kids call me uncle too.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that today but is his name really Nine?”
“Nah,” Byron smiled. “He’s just gone by it for years. Something about his pitching days, always went nine innings and shit, but I don’t really remember. I just met him as Nine, so he’s always been Nine to me.” He chuckled as he thought about it. “I can’t even remember his real name. Speaking of names though. What’s up with your friends name?”
“Xochitl?” she smiled then laughed sweetly when he nodded wide eyed. “When I saw the name of who I’d be rooming with I panicked.” She explained about immediately doing her research on the unusual name and even practicing how to pronounce it before she met her. “It’s Aztec and she’s Hispanic like me. You are too, obviously? Mexican cartel and all?”
“Yeah,” he nodded kissing her hand and pulling her down next to him again because he was already having withdrawals. Hearing her sweet laugh didn’t help. “Almost born in Mexico,” he said before kissing her so deep his heart was thudding again.
He was tempted to ask her what it was about her that had him feeling this way. Likeshe’dknow. But again, the fear of freaking her out like he thought he might’ve those first few times she’d caught him gawking at her won out. Pulling away he searched her eyes and shook his head without thought.
“What?” She tilted her head.
Panicked and feeling like an idiot, he cleared his throat and glanced away. “Just trying to remember who you remind me of.” Glancing back at her he was glad for the distraction of her pulling stuff out of the bag she packed snacks in. Before she could make too much of his comment he added, “You made this?” Byron pointed at the fancy salsa that looked restaurant bought.
She nodded pulling a chip out of the bag. “Yeah, I just threw together what I could find. I didn’t have cilantro and only half a jalapeno, so I threw in some cayenne pepper, but I overdid it. Thankfully, I found a mango, diced it in there and it sort of mellowed it down.”
“You know your enchiladas are pretty much gone.” He leaned in and kissed her because he had to, then pulled away and gazed at her. “And the only other person I shared with was Nine, but he inhaled about six of them. Is that what you’re studying?”
Frowning, she shrugged as she dipped a chip in the salsa. “No. I actually haven’t made up my mind what I want to major in. For now, I’m just getting my general Ed out of the way. On paper, I’m majoring in business.”
Byron reached for one of the quesadilla slices and dipped it into the salsa. Just like her enchiladas had, the flavors exploded in his mouth. Didn’t even matter that the salsa did have a hell of a kick to it. It was stilldamngood.
“Well, I think . . .” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Judging just from the two things I’ve tasted you made so far, you should definitely look into majoring in the culinary world.”
Tilting her head again, she smiled. “My parents said the same thing. They . . .” She paused peering out toward the tide. “Is that them?”
Turning toward the water, Byron saw the moonlit shiny slithering of the grunion. “Yep, that’s them.”
For the rest of the evening, he decided to keep the conversation on safe stuff. He told her about the first time he’d been out to see the grunion run and then moved on to one of his favorite subjects, his nieces. He told her about their day at the Zoo and how it’d been Lucy’s first time seeing a lot of the more exotic animals.
“I’ve seen photos of my first time at the zoo.” She smiled big, shaking her head. “But I don’t remember it I was so young. The first trip there that I do remember was on a school trip in the second grade. I remember the kids snickering because we were assigned partners if we didn’t pick our own. Juan was the only boy who picked a girl—me. And we had to stick together and hold hands the whole day. It’s weird looking back now because I’ve always been so shy. You’d think I would’ve avoided holding hands with a boy because in the second grade that was just asking for merciless teasing and we did it so casually. Even became best friends after that.”
Glancing out at the grunion trying to sound as casual as the story she’d just shared Byron had to ask. “So, your best friend is a dude?”
“Was, through grade school, before his family moved back to Mexico.” She shrugged picking up one of the last pieces of the quesadilla and dipping into the salsa. “Didn’t see or hear from him again until high school and even then, it was only via social media. His parents opened up some kind of cell phone store business out there and are doing really well.” She smiled at him wiping her mouth after eating the quesadilla. “Xochitl is my best friend now.”
Done with getting tense every time they veered off any safe subjects, Byron decided he was also done with talking. He leaned in and kissed her softly. Within minutes they were laying down on the blanket doing what he now knew he’d never get enough of and he’d much rather be doing then wondering about where this might or might not be going.
