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I shake my head. “No. Because if one of those strays bit my face off, I’d throw its little ass in the cage and never approach it again. When I had the chance to put you in one, I didn’t. I’m no overly loving angel. I’m not made of forgiveness. I’m prickly and opinionated and not one bit reluctant to stand up for myself. It was a conscious choice to let you off the hook. It is a conscious choice every single day that I wake up under your roof and commit to making this work. It’s not some… natural compulsion that I just passively give in to. I always want to give you a chance, and even though you’ve made me regret it each time I have before, I’m still here. If that doesn’t show you I care, I don’t know what would.”
I’m so fired up by the end of that, it takes me a minute to process the smirk on his stupid, handsome face, the amusement dancing in the depths of his green eyes.
“You’re fucking with me,” I realize.
“Would I do that?”
“Yes,” I say, wide-eyed. “You absolutely would. You asshole.” Then, letting my temper get the best of me, I uncap my bottle of water and dump it right over his head.
The smirk disappears instantly, and although my temper also dissolves instantly at the sight of him soaking wet, I’m still a little sorry I can’t hold back a laugh.
Landon pushes off the beach and sits forward, pulling his wet, clingy T-shirt away from his skin. He looks over at me slowly, unable to believe I just did that, and I try shooting him my most innocent, don’t-kill-me smile.
“I’m part Irish,” I explain. “We have tempers.”
“Oh, I’ll show you a temper.”
I crawl away, hastily making my way to my feet. “You deserved it! You can’t get me back.”
I turn to run away from him, but before my foot can even hit the beach, he grabs me from behind, yanking me back against his wet body.
I shiver when his breath hits my skin and he murmurs in my ear, “Remember what I told you would happen next time you spilled something on me?”
“Yeah, but are you really a man of your word?” I ask lightly as he drags me back toward the oversized beach towel.
“You bet I fucking am.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Landon
Parker struggles to break free of my hold, but her weak little ass doesn’t stand a chance against me. All she manages to accomplish with her thrashing is to turn me on even more than dumping her water over my head and then trying to run from me.
My temperamental little runaway, always thinking she stands a chance when she doesn’t.
“Let me go, you big jerk.”
I smirk at her insult, dragging her back to our picnic spot and wrestling her little ass to the ground so I can climb on top of her.
Huffing, she glares up at me. “This isn’t fair. You were manipulating my emotions. I deserved a little revenge.”
I unbutton the first button of her green top. “Take all the revenge you want; just know I’ll always pay you back with interest.”
Her nose wrinkles up and she pouts at me. “That’s not fair.”
“Such is life.”
When I get to the third button, she tries to hold her shirt together, her gaze darting around us. “Landon, stop it. You cannot undress me on a public beach.”
“Why not?”
“Because this isn’t France, and you may be fine with having a criminal record, but I’m not.”
I already made sure the spot I took her to didn’t have anyone else around, but I check now just to make sure no one has shown up since then. Seeing the beach is still empty, I tell her, “There’s no one around to see. Relax.”
“That could change at any time. If you wanted to maul me, you should have taken me toouractual private beach.”
I push her shirt open, looking down at her pale, freckled skin and the white no-nonsense bra she’s wearing underneath. I can’t help but smirk. “I see you went all out for our date.”
