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“Come here.” He slips his arm around my waist and pulls me against him, closing the gap I’d left. “Smile.” I’m a little blindsided when his hand latches onto my hip but smile as he takes the picture. With his arm around me, I’m reminded of when we danced at the bar last week and how good it felt to be close to him. His arm stays wrapped around my waist as he pulls up the picture he’s taken.
“Looks good,” I mumble.
He smiles at me and slowly drops his arm. “What shall we do?” he asks as he slips his phone into his pocket.
“Beach?”
“Sure.”
He checks the bike is secure before we head away from the marina in search of the beach. Shops, bars, and restaurants fill the sidewalk, and although it’s the middle of the week, the town is full of people. We pass a handful of hotels before the sidewalk opens out, and a golden sandy beach appears ahead of us.
I slip off my sneakers and hold them in my hand as I walk onto the beach, my feet sinking into the hot sand. Sawyer has walked on ahead as I stand and savor the feeling of my feet disappearing beneath the surface. I watch him as he walks backward toward the shore. His eyes are fixed on mine, and he smiles, my stomach flipping. He is so attractive. He’s wearing cut-off jean shorts and a tight white T-shirt. Earlier, his arms around me felt good, and I can’t help but imagine what it would be like to kiss him. A real kiss, like the ones I’ve read about. A kiss I know would be better than the one I got from my middle school boyfriend when I was twelve.
“Hey, Hallie,” he shouts from the shoreline, pulling me from my thoughts. “Come and dip your toes in.”
I give him a wave, slowly pulling my feet from the sand. I need a minute to get myself together before heading over to him. When I get to the shoreline, the water laps gently over my feet, and I take a sharp intake of breath as the frigid water hits my skin.
“It’s cold.” I laugh, hopping from foot to foot.
“Wimp,” he teases, and I bend down, scooping some water into my hand. “Hallie, don’t you dare.”
I grin as he eyes my hands while slowly backing away.
“Who’s the wimp now!” I cry, tossing the handful of water at him. It hits his white T-shirt, making parts of it see-through. He inhales sharply as it soaks him, and I hold my breath, waiting for his reaction. He stares at me for a few seconds before laughing and throwing his shoes onto the sand.
“Oh, it’s on,” he shouts, running the short distance toward me and scooping up handfuls of water on his way.
“No, no, no,” I squeal, throwing my sneakers alongside his and running away from him through the swell. He’s quicker than me, though. A splash of water hits my back before his arms reach around my waist, and I’m lifted into the air. I scream as he spins around with me in his arms, my legs kicking up the water as he does. I’m laughing so hard I can barely breathe. When his fingers begin to tickle me, I try to push his hands away, my breathing becoming even more difficult.
“Sawyer… no… put me down,” I gasp out between fits of laughter.
His fingers still, and he gently lowers me onto the wet sand. His hands remain around my waist, and he turns me so I’m facing him. My breathing is labored from all the laughing, and I cling to him while I catch my breath. His fingers dig into my sides, and embarrassed, I drop my head into the crook of his neck. He smells good, and I breathe in deeply, inhaling his scent.
“You okay?” he asks softly, and I nod, my face still buried in his neck. After a few seconds, I stand up and step out of his embrace, his hands falling from my waist.
“Shall we get something to eat?” I ask, looking anywhere but at him. He doesn’t answer straightaway, and I look up, meeting his eyes. Something crosses his face, but it’s gone before I can figure out what it was.
“Sure. There was a burger place that looked good as we were walking up,” he replies eventually.
I gesture up the beach to where we left our shoes. “Better grab our shoes before the tide takes them out.”
“I’ll get them.” He jogs the little way up the beach and scoops up both pairs before coming back. “Let’s go. I’m starving,” he says before handing me my sneakers. Walking side by side in silence, we head off the beach. I try not to think too much about what just happened. It’s not as though my life has suddenly become one of the romance books I read. Real life isn’t like that.
The burger place we passed earlier looks busy. Sawyer asks for a table, and luckily, they have one. We’re seated in a booth at the back of the restaurant, and I thank the waiter as he hands me a menu. Everything looks good, and I glance around to see what the people at the neighboring tables have ordered.
“Everything okay?” Sawyer asks, his eyes flicking to where I’m looking.
“Yeah, I’m being nosy. Checking out what everyone has ordered. What are you getting?”
He glances back down at his menu. “It’s a tough one… I’m thinking the ranch burger. You?”
“Good choice. I’m going to go with the Monterrey Jack burger.”
He calls the waiter over and gives him our choices, adding fries and a Coke each to the order. Once the waiter has left, I take a look around the restaurant. It’s a cross between a diner and a sports bar. The restaurant has booth-style seating like the one we’re sitting in, but there’s also a pool table across the other side of the bar. There are a few large-screen televisions hanging on the walls, each one showing a different sport. The one closest to us is showing a baseball game.
Sawyer’s phone chimes with an incoming message, and he pulls it from his pocket. I watch as he reads the message and frowns. His fingers fly over the screen as he replies. My attention is drawn back to the television when the screen turns red, and the words ‘BREAKING NEWS’ flash up. An uneasy feeling washes over me as I wait to see what’s happened. An image of a young girl fills the screen along with the words ‘AMBER ALERT.’
“Sawyer,” I whisper, my eyes fixed on the screen. The television is muted so I can’t hear what’s being said, but I know what an Amber Alert is. It’s a missing child. Words roll across the bottom of the screen, but as we’re a little away from the television, I can’t read them all. I can make out one word though, and the word is Savannah.
