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Blake looked at Lauren. “Rule three, we want to hear about your job hunt, as well as when you can move into your new place, so you can’t just be flirty today.”
“Wow,” she said. “I thought this was going to be fun.”
“It will be fun.” Blake sat in his chair, and it wasn’t one of the beach loungers like hers, so he hovered above her. “We just have to have a couple of rules to keep everyone safe.”
“I don’t see how me not talking about SquareSpaces has anything to do with safety,” Tommy said, grinning.
“It does if you want to live,” Blake said. “Otherwise, I might kill you.” He raised his eyebrows. “Does that make it a safety rule for you?”
The smile slid from Tommy’s face. “Yes, sir.” He took another drink, shifted his cup around in the sand until it stood up on its own, and said, “I’m going back in the water. I’ll check in in fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you,” Blake said. “Watch out for girls!”
Tommy didn’t look back, and Lauren watched him disappear around an umbrella a few yards in front of them. She looked over to Blake and wrapped her own lips around the bright blue straw of her soda pop. “I can’t be flirty?”
“Not when I’m trying to be serious,” he said. He looked left and right. “I hate this beach when it’s like this. He justhadto come here.”
“Oh, so you’re in a bad mood.”
“I’m allowed to be in a bad mood,” he said.
Yes, he was, and Lauren didn’t say anything else about it. She got out her gummy worms, and she’d only taken one bite of the first one before Blake reached over and took her hand in his. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said, his voice much softer now.
She pushed her sunglasses up, because she didn’t really need them in the shade. She carefully undid a couple of buttons on her coverup and pushed it off her shoulders, revealing the sexy black straps of her swimming suit top. “Me too,” she said with a sigh. She leaned back in her chair and stretched her legs out in front of her. “It’s kind of loud with all the people, but I don’t hate it.” She turned her head and smiled up at him. “It kind of mixes in with the waves.”
He smiled back at her. “I really do want to hear about your job hunt, and I’m going to be totally available on the day you move into your new place.”
She nodded, her smile turning soft as his did. “I think I’m going to quit my job,” she said. “And start an online marketing consultation business.” The idea had been mulling in her head for a few weeks now—ever since her first commute from Hilton Head to Charleston, a drive she hated—and she’d been working on a few things to get it off the ground.
“I have a lot of experience in corporate marketing,” she said. “I can take that to small businesses looking to level up or grow. I can do it from home. I can meet online, via video, or travel if I need to.”
“Yes, I think you could do all of that.”
“I can work when I want,” she said, tasting the freedom of the words as she said them. “I think it’s a really good strategy for me right now.”
“You’re always talking strategy,” he teased.
Lauren nodded and looked back. She could see the sky beyond the edge of the umbrella, and she closed her eyes. “My seaside strategy was to come here and find myself,” she said quietly. “Relax. Figure out what I want. I’ve got this great boyfriend.” She squeezed his hand and smiled, but she kept her eyes closed.
She could almost hear the breeze beyond the mishmash of voices, dogs barking, people calling to each other, and the ocean roaring down the beach. “I’m moving into a fabulous new house in only two weeks, and I have enough savings to tide me over while I start this new business.”
Lauren turned toward him again. “In fact, I already put in my notice at my job. Only two more weeks of that too, and then I’m going to start implementing the pieces of my plan.”
“What about the house in Texas?” he asked.
“I’m going there next week,” she said. “To list it. See what else I want from it. I’m going to have a yard sale on Saturday. Then…then, I’ll be back here for good.”
He tugged on her hand, but Lauren didn’t know what he wanted. She looked at him, and he said, “Come sit with me,” in a needy, quiet voice.
Oh, she liked the idea of that, and she stood, her cover-up slipping further down her chest as she did. She didn’t bother to adjust it as she took her place on his lap, his hands sliding up under the sheer white fabric and settling on her bare waist. “Mm, you’re sexy,” he whispered.
She bent down and kissed him, and she liked being higher than him. She felt on top of the world in that moment, but she reminded herself that they were on a public beach—a very, very busy public beach.
He knew it too, and he didn’t take the kiss too far. He pulled away and sighed, and Lauren laid her head on his shoulder. “I sure like Tommy,” she admitted.
“I didn’t know you’d gotten his number,” Blake said.
“Yeah,” she said, somewhat surprised. “I thought he told you.”
