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He grunted. “I like him already.”
Adrian held up two thick fingers and the bartender nodded. He began pouring pints this time, instead of bottles.
“When’d you get in?” he asked.
“Yesterday. And you?”
“Just now.”
He shifted, and I could see even more tattoos. They crawled up and down his corded arms, his forearms and hands too. There were words but I couldn’t read them. Something that looked like brass knuckles…
“I heard you were on a boat maybe,” I said.
“A couple of trawlers,” Adrian nodded. “North Bay. Aberdeen. A few more out of Grays Harbor.”
There was an anchor tattooed on his neck that wasn’t there before. I knew, because I’d kissed every inch of that neck at least a dozen times.
“Also maybe that you were a lumberjack or something.”
At that he chuckled gruffly. “Do I look like a lumberjack?”
I used the question as an excuse to give him a more thorough once-over. My eyes lingered, too.
“You look like you could take down trees just by looking at them.”
Adrian leaned into me as our beers arrived, sliding one big knee boldly between my thighs. The move made my stomach do a sexy backflip.
“And you look just as delicious as the day you drove out of here,” he asserted. His emerald eyes locked unapologetically on my body, and my heart thumped. “Maybe even more.”
I was sweating, and it wasn’t hot. Conflicting voices went off in my head, drowning each other out in a cacophony of red flags and warnings.
“What about you?” he asked, lifting his beer to his stubbled lips. In just three big swallows, half the pint was gone.
“I— I uh…”
My God, those eyes!No matter what I did, I couldn’t escape them. I could see them piercing whatever veil of bullshit I was about to give him. Adrian and I were always like that. When it came to the two of us, there were no secrets.
“I’ve been bouncing around California,” I admitted. “I did some waitressing, some bartending, some other odd jobs. Got as far south as Santa Barbara, but ended up in Big Sur managing a surf shop.”
His expression went skeptical. “Asurfshop?”
“Yeah,” I said nervously. “You should come down sometime. I’ll hook you up with some lessons.”
Adrian leaned in even closer, and my heart began thundering away in my chest. I was leaning too. It was automatic.
“Kayla…”
He whispered my name, and with the whisper came an even more intoxicating whiff of his scent. Memories rushed back, full force. Good memories. Incredible memories…
“I’m not the surfing type,” he murmured.
Chills ran through me. Like he’d breathed hot breath down the back of my neck.
“I— I know.”
Holy shit! What the fuck was I even saying? All of a sudden my body was trembling all over.
“Know what type I am?”
