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Yeah, his was not the most intelligent question either.
Andy was very much not okay. And considering the sensory issues she’d elaborated on yesterday, a pat on the back wasn’t going to help her any. Luke tightened his grip on the ponytail he’d made of her hair and gave it a firm tug.
Strangely, this had the effect of relaxing her a bit.
Perversely, this pleased him. “Breathe, Bird.”
She took a deep breath. Several of them. Then — seemingly having collected herself enough to stand back up — she took one look at his boy and said, “I might have overdone it on the baby waves.”
Kyle’s mouth tipped up in a grin, dark eyes lighting with amusement.
Andy didn’t notice as she glanced back over her shoulder. Or tried to anyway. “Let go.”
No sooner did Luke release her than she was jetting across the sand.
“Shit.” His gaze flickered to their boards.
“I’ll get ’em,” Kyle said, tipping his chin towards Andy’s rapidly retreating form. “Go take care of your girl.”
“Thanks, man.” Luke snatched up Andy’s bag and the towel before hauling ass after her.
Damn, the woman could run. She’d already made it up the steps before he caught up with her. “Andy!”
She didn’t spare him a glance as she darted out onto the now-bustling boardwalk. “Jesus!” Luke swore as she narrowly missed being mowed down by a skateboarder. The dude shot her the finger as he swerved his board out of the way, but Andy didn’t spare him a glance either, just kept on moving.
By the time they reached Tidal View, Luke was well and truly pissed. “Damn it,” he growled as he punched in the code to his complex with her hovering beside him at the door. “Fucking look both ways!”
As soon as the door opened, she did, in fact, look both ways. But this was only to ascertain where the elevators were. Spotting them, she took off, and as they stepped inside, she jabbed the button for the third floor.
The woman’s recall was excellent.
Of course, considering her Peeping Tom ways, he shouldn’t be surprised.
After a tense ride up, Luke pulled the key from the zippered pocket of his shorts and unlocked his door. Andy charged right into his living room like she owned the place.
“Bathroom’s just past the kitchen if you need—”
She’d already found it. Striding across the room, she left a trail of sand in her wake. Not that Luke cared about the mess on his hardwood floors. They were a rugged engineered kind of wood anyway, built to withstand the abuse of sandy feet and stained a multi-tonal driftwood color that hid most of it.
No, what was irritating was that Andy hadn’t said one word to him since “Let go.”
Slam!
And now she was both literally and figuratively shutting him out.
Oh, hell no! This was bullshit. Charging after her, he stopped outside his guest bathroom. If he heard the snick of the door locking, he was going to lose it.
Luke pressed his ear to the wood. “Andy?” He didn’t get a response. He also didn’t hear a snick. What he did hear was an explosion of tearful whimpering right before the shower fired up and drowned out Andy’s sobs.
Fuuck!
This woman was upset.Reallyupset. And coming at her all pissed wasn’t going to make her feel any better. He needed to calm down first. Sucking in a breath, he blew it out slowly, waited a beat, then grasped the doorknob.
Inside the bathroom, steam was already fogging up the frosted glass door of the shower. But not so much that he couldn’t easily make out Andy sitting on the bench inside it. Especially since she still wore her navy wetsuit, which contrasted sharply with the ivory tile walls. Her head was bowed as her shoulders shook.
The way Luke saw it, he had a couple options considering the smaller size of his guest bath. One, he could drop the lid on the toilet and talk to her from there. Or two, he could join her in the shower and wash off since she was wasting the water anyway.
He decided on option two.
