String Beans (The Girls of Beachmont #2) (14 page)

Wyatt and his damn notes…just like a kid in grade school.

I wasn’t sure what I expected to find in the note,
but what he wrote surprised me.

I won’t be kissing you again until you are divorced.

~Earp

I couldn’t tell if it was a promise or a
challenge, and I wasn’t sure which one sounded more appealing.

The note was burning a hole in my pocket, so when
I got home that night, I placed it inside my top drawer. Why did I keep it? I
didn’t have an answer.

And rather than let things put a strain on our
mutual group of friends, I walked over to Wyatt’s place the next morning and
knocked on his door. Dallas and Callie dragged Jolie out for the same hike they
took me, but she enjoyed that sort of thing. It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday
morning and I didn’t want to waste it.

“Are you busy today?” I blurted out when he
answered the door.

“Good morning to you too.”

“Sorry. I was just wondering, if you’re not doing
anything today, if I could take you up on that offer to show me around your
favorite places.”

He cocked his head to the side and watched me for
a moment. He thought I was insane. The evidence was written all over his face.
Just the night before, I’d kissed him, while at the same time telling him I
wasn’t ready to start anything.

I was confusing myself.

“You’ve probably got something going on. I’m
sorry, maybe another time,” I said as I turned to walk back to my place.

Wyatt didn’t stop me, or say anything, and I felt
like an even bigger fool. I closed my door behind me and squeezed my eyes shut,
embarrassed that I had gone to him.

There was a knock behind me and I jumped away
quickly.

“It’s Wyatt. Can I come in?”

I opened the door and flashed a small smile. He
stepped in and grabbed the back of his neck as he turned to face me.

“I’m trying to make this
not
be weird between us,” I said.

“I think we can both agree that it
is
weird.”

“Yes. But Wyatt, we have friends in common, and
we’ve hung out before. I just want to get back to that.”

He exhaled and dropped his hands to his sides. “Okay.
Then let’s do it.”

“Really?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “Why not?”

“Okay, this is great. What should I wear?” I asked,
overly excited.

“Comfortable shoes?”

“Do you like to hike too?”

“Hell no,” he said quickly. “But I do have some
errands to run, so you can come with me.” He started to leave my apartment but
turned around and looked at me. “This doesn’t change anything…I’m still not
going to kiss you.”

My jaw dropped open and remained that way until he
had closed the door behind him. There I was trying to make things “normal” for
us, and then he goes and says something like that?

I could have let his words rattle me, but I was
determined to move on and hopefully keep things from becoming any weirder than
they were. In the short time I’d known him, he’d become friends with Callie,
was roommates with Dallas, and was someone Jolie actually liked. I refused to
have it on my conscience that things went south.

Rather than dissect what he said, I changed into a
pair of running shorts and a tank. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and looked
at myself in the mirror, frowning at the lack of change in my appearance. My
hair was so long that all I could do was put the heavy tangled mess up, and I
hated it. I missed the days when I actually spent time doing something with it,
and I decided to add my hair to my “fix” list.

There was a knock at the door and I answered it
quickly, knowing it was Wyatt. He was dressed in clothes similar to mine, so I
didn’t feel underdressed. Yet I still found myself checking him out.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yep. Let’s go.”

I grabbed my keys and locked up as I followed
behind him. He didn’t mention his note again, and neither did I.

“We can take my car if you want,” I said as we
neared my trusty Bug on the sidewalk.

“Actually, my Jeep is right here,” he said,
pointing to the black vehicle in front of mine. He looked at me and smiled. “Besides,
I know where we’re going, you don’t.”

He unlocked my side first and held the door open
so I could get in.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“What have you seen already?”

“Let’s see: work, String Beans, Griffith Park,
Mood Swings, and…the grocery?” I said, counting the places on my fingers.

“Wow, then there’s not much left for me to show
you.” He laughed as he put the Jeep in gear and pulled out onto the street.

“I haven’t been to the beach yet,” I admitted.

“I know the perfect place.”

As he drove to wherever he was taking me, I took
in all the pedestrian traffic at every corner and sidewalk. I don’t think I had
ever seen so many people outdoors when I lived in Spring Park. It was a
gorgeous May morning and it made sense that people would actually be enjoying
it.

The farther we went, we got away from the high-traffic
areas and entered a beach community. Small bungalow-style homes lined the
streets practically one on top of the other. They were quaint yet stylish, and
I envied their proximity to the ocean.

Wyatt had slowed his speed as we made our way down
a busy two-lane road. A few people were carrying surfboards while others were
walking or riding bikes. I couldn’t wait to feel the sand between my toes and
began looking for public beach signs until he came to a stop.

“I thought we were going to the beach,” I said to
him.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to face me,
resting his arm on the steering wheel. I looked at him and then back to where
we’d stopped.

“We are.” He pointed at the small white house with
blue shutters. “That’s my folks’ house.”

“Oh…yeah, that’s…”

“They’re not home.” He smiled. “You won’t be
meeting my parents today,” he laughed as he climbed out of car.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” I lied,
following his lead.

He met me on the sidewalk and raised a brow. “No?
Sorry… What were you going to say?”

I shook my head and smiled, ignoring his question.
“Is this where you grew up?”

Wyatt knew I was lying, but he let me get away
with it for some reason. He started walking up to the front door with his key
in hand and I followed him. The house was landscaped with flowers I couldn’t
identify and looked like it was straight out of a magazine for beach-lovers.

“To answer your question, I didn’t grow up here.”
He opened the door and we walked in to his parents’ house.

The whitewashed wood floors were bathed in
sunlight from the uncovered windows. The paneled walls dated the place a
little, but it looked as if they’d spent time updating the look of the home.
Pictures were placed on all the walls; some were of beach-themed items, others
of family.

Wyatt disappeared around the corner, leaving me to
peruse the images alone. There was a picture of an older couple laughing
together and I assumed them to be his parents. As I studied it closer, Wyatt
looked like he had her eyes and his dad’s nose. I couldn’t help but smile at
the love and happiness in their faces before moving on to the next picture. It
was an old black and white of a little boy facing the beach in all his naked
glory with nothing but a shovel in one hand and a bucket in the other.

“I begged her not to put that one up,” Wyatt said
from behind me.

I spun around and smiled. “That’s adorable. I
would have put it up too.”

“Yeah, and it was great having it up at our old
house when I was in high school. Mom loved to bring my girlfriends over to see
that picture.”

“She sounds pretty great,” I laughed.

“You ready?”

“For?”

“The beach,” he said. “C’mon.”

He started walking toward the back of the small
house and held the door open as he stepped out.

My breath caught in my chest as I admired the view
from the patio. Their backyard was literally the beach.

“This is amazing,” I said. The patio was small, but
housed a table-and-chair set. “Do they come out here often?”

“Every night,” he said, leaning against the
railing. “Dad and I built this for Mom after the stroke. They moved here when I
went off to college because she loves the beach, but after the stroke it was
hard for her to get to the water. He thought if she could just sit outside and
enjoy it, it might help.”

“And did it?”

“Yeah. A lot, actually. We ended up putting that
ramp up for her to make it easier to get her to the water.”

“So you’re telling me that aside from working for
some big company in New York, and running your own business, that you can build
things too?”

“I know, jack of all trades, master of none.” He
smirked.

“Why would you say that?” I asked, walking to
where he was standing.

“That’s what my ex used to say.”

I looked at him quizzically and he elaborated.

“When I told her I was coming back here to help,
she kept telling me that I needed to work on
my
career and let my dad deal with my mom. We argued quite a bit
and then she threw that little gem at me.”

“Sounds like a peach,” I muttered.

“She wasn’t all bad,” he replied. “Wasn’t all good
either.”

“I know what you mean.”

He pushed off the railing and raised his hand. “Shall
we?”

I didn’t need him to say it twice. I took off my
shoes and left them on the deck before taking off down the ramp and onto the
warm sand. Wyatt was behind me but didn’t seem as eager to get to the water as
I was. I didn’t stop until my feet were greeted by the cool Pacific Ocean. The
breeze was salty against my lips and stray pieces of hair escaped my ponytail
as the wind touched my face.

“Do you surf?” I asked when Wyatt came to stand
next to me.

“Yep. You?”

“Nah. I’m afraid of sharks. And fish. And pretty
much anything in the water.”

“But you like the water?”

“I love it. I just don’t like being
in
it. This,” I said, pointing to my
feet, “is as far as I’ll get in.”

Something flashed in Wyatt’s eyes and before I
could stop him, he threw me over his shoulder and ran into the water while I
screamed and begged him to put me down. His laugh rumbled throughout his body, and
I felt it rattle against me. He tried to put me in the water, but I clung to
him so tightly I made it nearly impossible.

“Don’t you dare,” I threatened. “So help me, I
will kill you.”

Wyatt only laughed as he tried to pry me away from
him, but I managed to wrap my legs around his waist, somehow ending up on his
back. His arms were wrapped under my knees, holding me up, and my toes were
beneath the surface of the water.

“What the hell? Are you a spider monkey or
something?” He was struggling to untangle me, but I had a death grip on him.
“Okay, I promise, I won’t throw you in the water.” He laughed tiredly.

“You swear?”

“Yes. But you’re sort of choking me.”

I loosened my grip only slightly and he exhaled.
We were in water up to his stomach, and fear of what was beneath the surface
plagued me.

“What if I just happened to fall?” Wyatt asked.

“Don’t you dare,” I laughed.

He wobbled from side to side. “I’m not sure I can
carry you.”

I tightened against him and whispered in his ear,
“Yes you can. Don’t drop me.”

He squeezed my thighs gently and started walking
back toward the beach. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I exhaled as he continued walking until something
touched my foot and I jumped off his body, landing in the water. To strangers
on the beach, I probably looked like an idiot, but I was freaking out. Wyatt
scooped me into his arms, keeping my body out of the water.

“Something bit me,” I said in a panic, but Wyatt
looked at my foot and laughed.

“Nothing bit you.”

“My foot, it got my foot!”

“There’s nothing on your foot.”

We reached the sand and he set me on my feet and
bent down to inspect my claims. When he stood up, he looked down at me and
smirked.

“Your foot is fine.”

“So you’re a doctor now?” I teased.

We were both drenched, but he was the only one who
deserved it after what he pulled.

“I can’t believe you did that,” I told him.

“What?” he asked, feigning innocence.

“I could have died,” I said dramatically. “That
was probably a shark that touched me. You’re lucky it didn’t attack you.”

“You’re certifiable.”

“And you’re dangerous,” I laughed. “And wet.”

He looked at himself and then at me. “We can get
some towels at the house,” he said as he started to walk back, but I didn’t
move. “Vi?”

I sat down on the sand and lifted my face to the
sky. I loved the sound of the waves crashing and the birds squawking overhead.
Wyatt came and sat down next to me, keeping a safe distance, but didn’t say
anything.