by Parker, Ali
I’d heard that some of the beaches in the area smelled really bad and that the water often wasn’t clean, but neither was the case for my beach for the day. The ocean was blue and inviting, heat from the bright sun shimmering on the surface of the water.
The sand was hot but soft, the temperature tolerable around me now since I’d had the umbrella up for an hour or so. Relaxing in one of two lounging chairs for hire under the umbrella that was mine for the day, I had a great view.
When I woke up earlier, I’d taken one look outside and decided that today was the perfect beach day. I’d called Elliot and let him know not to expect me at the branch at all, and then I’d had Daniel clear my schedule in its entirety.
No meetings, no reports, no nothing. It was pure bliss.
My house I was staying in was on the beach, but it was a secluded semiprivate beach. It had been practically deserted when I’d checked it earlier, so I decided to head to the beach near the boardwalk.
Sitting alone on a beach sounded like a recipe for my bullshit melancholy and wishful thinking to resurface, and that was the last thing I wanted. I’d had that shit on lockdown since Valerie had ditched me at the museum.
When I’d asked her to come in with me, I honestly hadn’t been planning on my Dr. Phil moment. It just presented itself and in the frame of mind I’d been in, it seemed too good to pass up.
All I’d wanted was to show her the art; to share my passion. I thought it might do her some good to experience something totally different. I knew most people didn’t visit museums that often, and I happened to think it was too bad. They’d never failed to inspire me.
There was just something about Valerie that had compelled me to share something with her that I seldom shared with anyone. I wanted her to know that part of me, the part that was buried so deep down inside even I forgot it was there sometimes. The real me.
That guy had seen something in her and he’d wanted to at least try to light the spark of inspiration he just knew was burning in her. I hadn’t been that guy for a long time, but she’d drawn him out of me.
Something in her spoke to him and made him feel like he was part of me again. A part I’d missed the fuck out of and was sorry to have to say goodbye to again. I’d had to, though. All I’d achieved by taking her into the museum was to piss her off somehow, make her feel like I was counseling her.
Regret sat as heavily as a fucking rhinoceros in the pit of my stomach, churning day and night. I’d been trying my luck when I’d asked her why she was doing something she so clearly hated when we’d met, but I’d pushed it too far with my little speech in the museum.
I didn’t know why I was still regretting it almost a whole day later. It wasn’t like she meant anything to me. I just wished I could apologize to her somehow. It felt like something I had to do.
It wasn’t just because she was hot or intriguing, it was because she had some kind of fire inside her and I wanted to see it burn. I wanted it more than anything else, which was a good indication that it was probably time for me to get the hell out of Dodge and back to my real life.
Shaking my head at myself, I jumped when a hand landed on my shoulder. Jerking my head to the side, I could hardly believe who was standing behind me.
“Fulton, do you have a minute?” Valerie asked. She pushed the aviator sunglasses from her eyes into her black hair, taking the short strands framing her face back with them.
She was wearing a violet bikini under a sheer black cover-up, her feet and face bare. A small smile formed on her lips when she caught me checking her out. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”
Gesturing toward the empty lounger beside me, I offered her a seat. “Sure, step into my office.”
Walking around the back of the lounger, her eyes swept the length of the beach. “Your office has some view, I’ve got to say. Have you become a beach bum in the last twenty-four hours? Because this is the kind of office I could get used to.”
“Beach bum.” I snapped my fingers, nodding. “Good idea, I’ll get right on that.”
Chuckling as she sat down, she set her bag on the sand and the rolled-up towel she had been carrying under her arm on the chair beside her. “Before you officially set your career change in motion, I owe you an apology.”
My brows climbed up my forehead. “An apology?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged, but the regret that entered her eyes was as genuine as what I had sitting in my stomach. “I might have been a bit harsh yesterday when you were just trying to be nice. I guess I may have overreacted, so I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” I reached up and pulled my own sunglasses off, squinting a little while my eyes got used to the light without them. “You were harsh, but it wasn’t uncalled for. I don’t really know you. I had no business lecturing you. It won’t happen again.”
“Same.” She smiled and held out her small hand for me to shake. When I took it, her palm was dry and warm, her grip firm. And then my mind flew straight into the gutter as I imagined what it might feel like wrapped around other parts of me, so I reluctantly let her go.
Our fingers lingered for a second before releasing completely. Valerie stared at the spot where we touched with a slight frown on her face, but when her eyes met mine again, she was smiling.
“Can I buy you an ice cream to make up for being a touch overdramatic?” She waggled her brows. “There’s nothing that can fix everything the way ice cream can.”
“Agreed.” A warm, buzzing kind of feeling replaced the regret in my stomach. It felt almost like— Holy shit, did I really just get butterflies? What the fuck?
It had been a long time since anyone had offered to buy me anything. That had to be it. It had nothing to do with the prospect of spending more time with her, even if it was just the five minutes or less it would take for us to get ice cream with all the vendors trolling the families on the beach.
“Thanks, ice cream would be great.”
“You’re taking me up on it?” Excitement sparked in her eyes. She twisted around immediately, raising her hand to get the attention of the nearest guy selling ice cream. As soon as he signaled he’d be right with us, she dug into the bag at her feet and retrieved her wallet. “I can’t believe you’re actually taking me up on it. I thought for sure you were going to tell me I was a bitch and send me on my merry way.”
“Well, you offered ice cream so…” I scrunched up my nose, shrugging. “I didn’t have a choice, did I? Nothing fixes everything like ice cream can.”
Valerie smiled when I repeated her words back to her. “Right, so pick your poison. It looks like he’s almost done there.”
“Poison?” I rounded my eyes, doing my best to feign shock. “I thought you were apologizing, not trying to kill me for my transgressions.”
Valerie laughed, giving her head a subtle shake. “Your transgressions? You sound like a pop songwriter choosing a word just because it rhymes with something.”
“Music is a form of the fine arts.” I shrugged. “Since pop technically counts as music, I might have been a pop songwriter in a previous life. Maybe I am in a parallel life.”
This time, she rolled her eyes before she laughed. “You’re an ass.”
“I am an ass.” I smirked, waiting for her to look away from where the ice-cream vendor was digging out change for customers he was finishing up with, before winking. “I also have a great ass.”
“You do,” she replied without skipping a beat. A devilish smile spread on her lips as she put her hands up, palms facing the sky. “What? You thought I hadn’t noticed?”
“I know you noticed, but I didn’t think you’d admit it.” My smirk grew into a smile. This girl…
“I’m not ashamed that I looked. I’m not a water flea, then again, who am I to say they don’t look at good asses even if they won’t feel attracted to that other flea.”
“Water flea?” I felt my confused frown creating a line as deep as the Mariana Trench. “I thought we were talking about my ass.”
&nb
sp; “Water fleas are asexual,” Valerie explained patiently, but the amusement flickering in her eyes and the way the corners of her mouth twitched made it obvious she was trying not to laugh. “What I’m saying is that I’d have to have been asexual not to have noticed your ass. It’s a fine ass. Asexual means—”
“Someone who’s not attracted to anyone sexually. Yeah, I got that part. Thanks, by the way. So do you.”
Her eyes widened, but there was delight more than surprise in them. “Why, thank you. I’m glad you noticed.”
“I’m not a water flea either.” We were interrupted by the ice cream vendor who informed us that he was out of everything except for Eskimo Pies. “I’m a sucker for those anyway.”
Valerie pouted. “I wanted one of those fruit lolly things.”
“The long, hard ones?” I couldn’t help it. It was the first thing that popped into my head, the imaginary visual of watching Valerie lick and suck that fucking piece of lucky ice. Given how well trained I was in not saying everything that popped into my head first, I was as surprised as anyone that this had come out.
The ice cream vendor smirked at me, so I was pretty sure he knew exactly where I was coming from. It was seeing the same smirk on Valerie’s lips, however, that surprised me. She hardly even looked at me as she took two ice creams from the man, paid him, and handed mine over.
Once he was gone, she lay back on her lounger with a weirdly satisfied expression on her face. “You liked the idea of watching me eat that long, hard ice cream, didn’t you?”
I drew my knees up a little to hide the rather obvious problem that was tightening my swim shorts because of how much I liked that idea. It was the best I could do, considering that reaching down to adjust myself wasn’t an option with her right next to me.
“I’m not a water flea.” I decided to take the easy way out that she’d given me as justification just minutes ago. If we kept talking about this, though, even a damn water flea would have developed a problem. “Thanks for the ice cream.”
“Smooth change in topic, but you’re welcome.” She peeled the wrapper off her ice cream, taking a delicate lick of the chocolate, which made my shorts even tighter. Thankfully, the next thing she did was bite the one corner clean off.
I winced, but the unexpected visual saved me from having to deal with an uncomfortable situation. Sliding my sunglasses back on, I settled back in my lounger and unwrapped my treat. “So, do you often go around buying ice creams for relative strangers on the beach?”
“Nope, but I think I might make a habit out of it.” She smiled. “This is pretty fun so far, but I guess it depends on how the rest of this goes.”
“No pressure on me, huh?” I turned my head to face her. “Although, I’m kind of torn about it. I don’t know that encouraging you to go around buying ice cream for other strangers is a good thing.”
“But buying ice cream for you is okay?”
“Yep.” I grinned. “I’m not a stranger to myself, so I know I’m not a serial killer. Even though you mentioned that might be your passion, I’m not feeling like I’m in danger so far.”
“Just you wait. My friends always say I’m the dangerous one in our group.” Her lips curled into a soft smile, making her fondness for her friends obvious.
I liked that, how instinctively that smile came to her when she mentioned her friends. It meant she was loyal to them, and it didn’t seem likely that she’d talk smack about them behind their backs. Finding friends who deserved the trust we had in them was hard these days, and she seemed like one who was trustworthy.
“Tell me about them, your friends.”
Valerie’s demeanor changed, perking up as her smile rose higher. “Well, there’s Olive. She’s the mom of our group. She’s always taking care of us, making sure we don’t shirk our responsibilities. That sort of thing.”
“Is that your way of saying she’s boring?”
She shook her head emphatically. “Not at all. She’s a lot of fun, actually. She’s just responsible too. Heidi and I need someone like her more than you can possibly imagine. We’d have been out on our asses years ago if it hadn’t been for Olive.”
“Heidi?”
“The one who’s about to become the actual mom of the group.” Valerie released a quiet sigh, but her slight smile remained. “After we moved here, she met a guy. They fell in love, procreated, and now she’ll be moving out soon.”
“You don’t seem very excited about that prospect?” While she was talking, her shoulders had dropped just a fraction, but with as closely as I was watching her, I’d seen it.
She shrugged, leaning her head back against the lounger and taking a deep breath. “It’s not that I’m not excited for her, I really am. All I ever wanted was for her to be happy and she is. It’s just that I didn’t expect any of us to move out quite so soon, you know?”
“You feel like she’s leaving you behind.” It wasn’t a question. It didn’t need to be. There was a wishfulness to her tone that made it clear she’d rather have had her friend stay with her, baby and all. “Is she moving far away?”
“No.” Her head was still back against the thick green pillow covering the lounger, but she turned her face to me. “Will’s house is in the same neighborhood as ours. She says she’ll still see us all the time, but you’re right. I do kind of feel like she’s leaving us behind.”
I pressed my lips together, uncertain if what I wanted to say next would constitute breaking my promise about not pulling the Dr. Phil crap again. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t forgive me again, so I had to play my cards right.
On the other hand, it felt like she needed to hear what I wanted to say. Even if she didn’t forgive me again, I’d be going back to Boston soon anyway. Maybe leaving her with those words would be worth it for her in the long run, even if it pissed her off now.
“She’s following her own path, maybe you should too. It seems like this is the ideal time for you to explore what you want in your own life. Find your passion, follow it. You’re all making a new start to a certain extent, so why not take advantage of that.”
Valerie’s teeth sank into her bottom lip, chewing lightly. I breathed an internal sigh of relief that she hadn’t jumped up and started screaming at me right away for bringing it up again.
After taking a few seconds to think about it, Valerie nodded slowly. “If I knew what my passion was, maybe I’d have done that.”
“You’re not annoyed that we’ve circled back to this?”
“No. I don’t feel like you’re counseling me this time, so we’re all good.” Her head turned forward, facing the ocean instead of me. “How would you go about it if you were me, finding your passion?”
I narrowed my eyes in thought, remembering those early days when I discovered art. “Is there anything you’re curious about? Something that’s maybe always intrigued you or that you want to know more about?”
“I was intrigued in that museum.” She sucked her lip back in, releasing it with a pop and extending one tattooed arm toward me. “I’d like to know more about art. Obviously, my body has been a canvas for a long time. I feel like maybe ink was my introduction to art, and I’ve always loved it.”
Reaching out, I gently took her forearm in one of my hands and leaned over to inspect the swirls of color there. “This is definitely art. If you’d like to know more about different kinds of art, though, I can always show you a few things? If you’re free some time during the next week, that is.”
“I’m free all of next week.” It was like I could see the excitement physically spreading through her body. She sat up straighter, her shoulders squaring. Her lips curled into a radiant smiling and she wiggled her toes. “I quit my job, so I can meet you whenever you’re available.”
My own excitement about spending more time with her and getting to introduce her to the world of art made me sit up straighter too. “Let me give you my number. I’m pretty free while I’m in town, so I’ll let you make the decision about when you’d like to
see me.”
“Such a gentleman.” She swung her legs off the lounger and buried her toes in the sand, leaning over to get her phone out of her bag. When she handed it over, she pushed her sunglasses into her hair and gave me a smile that made me want to take her to every museum in the world if it meant I could keep seeing it. “You’re on, Fulton. I’d love that.”
Chapter 10
Valerie
“You quit your job?” The front door slammed shut a microsecond after I heard Olive’s question echoing around the beach house. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
I stood up from the couch and turned to face Olive’s wrath. I’d spent the time while she was on shift researching fine arts on my phone and I’d gotten so into it that I hadn’t even realized I’d meant to mentally prepare myself for this conversation. Crap.
“Seriously, Val? What were you thinking?” Olive’s eyes danced like twin blue flames; flames she was preparing to launch at me. “Heidi’s moving out, and now you’re unemployed. How are we going to afford this house? Or any of our other expenses?”
“I’ve got it covered.” I’d been planning on easing her into it, sitting her down with a glass of wine and explaining everything. Fuck that, new plan. “I was given a massive tip on my last shift, and it should cover my part of the expenses until I find something new.”
A deep V appeared between Olive’s eyebrows. “You got tipped that much money?”
“I did.” I took a deep breath to order my thoughts, but they surged out of my mouth in a rush of words spoken so fast even I wasn’t sure if I could keep it. “I served this guy at the restaurant. He’s super hot, but he’s also weirdly observant and supportive. He told me I looked like I hated my job, asked me to sit down and talk to him. When he left, I found out that he’s superrich, too, and not just super hot. He left a note with the money to use to it find my passion, so that’s what I’m doing.”
