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“Don’t stereotype him. He is a feline of refined and varied tastes. So what do you think?” he asked.
I thought it had been a solid two weeks since the whole rooftop incident. During which I’d beat myself up in every possible way. And then spent far too much time worried that he wasn’t still alive.
And now he was just going to call me up and invite me to the beach? Was I really going to just… say yes to that?
I mean, this wasn’t like friendships or dating back in the world-before. It wasn’t like anyone was going to judge me for being lured into his trap, being pulled into his games.
No one was around to know how tempted I was, how badly I wanted to say yes, how much I’d been obsessively thinking about him.
“Come on, Catie. You said we could have adventures. This is an adventure. And since you are always worried about those kinds of things, if the zombies show up, we can just hang out in the water until they go away.”
There were obvious flaws in his plan. Still, I couldn’t help but saying what I felt in my heart.
“Okay.”
“Do you have a bathing suit?”
“I do not.”
“I’ll bring you one. And sunblock for your pale ass. See you in… well… you have no way to tell time. So you’ll see me when you see me.”
I never rushed to get myself together so fast in my life, pulling my halfway clean hair into a ponytail, giving all the important bits a quick wash, then did something I hadn’t done in months.
I shaved.
I’d just barely managed to finish when I heard Caleb knocking on the front door to the tune ofMambo No.5.
And, damnit, a huge smile tugged at my lips.
“There she is. What? You’re not bringing your breastplate to the beach?” he asked.
“Depends on if it goes with my bathing suit or not,” I told him, nodding toward the bag in his hand.
“Go on and get dressed. I’ll wait here,” he offered, shuffling his feet, looking uncomfortable.
Shrugging it off, I closed the door, then quickly stripped out of my clothes before reaching for the suit.
“Of course it’s a bikini,” I grumbled.
But, well, it wasn’t like there were magazines and billboards and social media full of perfect bodies for Caleb to compare me against anymore.
Shrugging, I jumped into the red bathing suit, but went ahead and slipped my tee back on over it, then grabbed a weapon, before making my way outside.
“You have aSUV?” I asked. “With a trailer? And aboat?”
“I know, right?” he asked, looking pleased with himself. “It’s electric. And with the solar… I just had to forego some luxuries to let it power up enough. Dude had every kind of toy imaginable. We have floats and noodles and pedal boats too. Lots of fun for us today. Ready?” he asked, opening my door for me.
And there was Toddy. Lounging on the center console. With a freaking sailor hat on.
I glanced into the backseat, seeing all the things he promised, plus coolers, towels, and an umbrella. But also, something I hadn’t been expecting since he really never talked about them.
Weapons.
And a lot of them.
Nice ones, too.
Much better than my makeshift duct tape ones.
