Wet (The Water's Edge #1) (5 page)

“Seven.”

“Seven?”

“I’ll even take you to breakfast afterwards, my treat.”

“Can we get Krispy Kreme?” I brightened.

He looked confused, like the two couldn’t possibly go together. “Doughnuts? After a workout?”

“What’s the point of burning all those calories if you can’t indulge a little?”

“We’ll get doughnuts if you don’t wimp out during the session,” he countered.

“Deal.”

The next morning, I dressed carefully for my workout. Compression leggings to show off my legs, a new shockingly bright pink sports tank, and my hair pulled back in a perky ponytail. You could always count on cute guys being at the gym, Theo included. It wouldn’t hurt to look my best. I even swiped on some waterproof mascara before walking out the door.

Theo was on the treadmill when I walked in, and he raised his eyebrows as he looked me up and down. “You here to look pretty or break a sweat?”

“Can’t I do both?”

“We’ll see, I guess,” he said. He looked like he was regretting the invite, but I could hang with the best of them. He’d figure that out soon enough.

He stepped off the treadmill and used the bottom of his damp top to wipe the sweat off his brow. I got a quick peek at his abs. Better than I expected. He dropped his shirt and caught me looking, grinning at me.

After filling up my water bottle at the water fountain and grabbing a towel, I was ready. We started with a one mile jog on the treadmill to warm up, and then he had me do a series of twisting lunges using the Bosu ball. Moving on to upper body, I swung a small kettle ball until my arms felt like jelly. I kept trying to glance around at the other guys in the free weight area, but Theo kept us on the mats in front of the mirrors on the other side of the gym. We’d run through several of the leg machines, and I suffered through squats holding a barbell on quads that were ready to collapse. I turned toward the mirror again, trying to check out the guy using the captain’s chair.

Theo snapped his fingers in my face, jerking my attention back to him. “Sadie! What is going on with you? Yes, you look hot. Yes, the other guys are looking at your butt as you squat. Happy, now?”

I flushed and stared straight ahead while I finished out my set, focusing on my form while he watched me. We switched to crunches on the decline bench until my abs screamed for surrender. Finally, he took mercy on me, and I sat on the mats, stretching out my legs and moaning.

We didn’t talk much until we were settled at a table at Krispy Kreme, with hot coffees in hand and a small box of warm, freshly made doughnuts between us. Theo tilted back in his chair, studying me. “So,” he said. “What was all that about at the gym?”

I looked at him, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

He shot me a pointed look. “You were acting like you’ve never seen a guy flex before. You were practically drooling at one point.”

Okay, I thought I had been a little more subtle than that. “It wasn’t that bad,” I protested.

His lips quirked. “If you say so.”

I studied the steam rising from my latte and chewed my lip, and Theo folded his arms across his chest, waiting me out. “I’m just not doing well in the guy department,” I admitted.

He let the legs of his chair drop back down and chuckled. “I find it hard to believe you’re having trouble attracting a guy.”

I picked up a doughnut and nibbled, the glaze melting against my tongue.
Heaven
. Stalling, I watched Theo devour a doughnut in three bites, trying to decide if I wanted to discuss the details of my stagnant love life.

“Oh God!” he groaned in ecstasy, his mouth full. “These are amazing.” He grabbed another one and inhaled it while I tried not to laugh. He took a swallow of coffee, picked up a third doughnut and dipped his chin down. “You know you want to tell me. You’re a girl. You’re dying to talk about it.”

I made a face at him. “Fine. But if I tell you, you can’t make fun of me.”

“Promise.” He put one hand over his heart and held up the other like a Boy Scout.

I sighed and gave him the condensed version of what happened with Asshole and my strike-out with Jared. “And then, to top it off, as I was doing the walk of shame, I ran into this guy West again, who clearly had a better night than me and—”

“Wait. West?” Theo interrupted me, raising his eyebrows. “West Montgomery? Are you the girl who attacked him on the beach?”

I felt my cheeks warm. “I did not attack him,” I said through gritted teeth. “I was trying to save him. And how do you know about that?”

“I was surfing with him earlier that morning. When he came in to grab breakfast, he was talking shit about some girl launching herself at him in the water, and that he had to drag her back out. Said it was a shame he didn’t get a chance to do mouth-to-mouth.”

I didn’t think it was possible to turn any redder. “Right,” I mumbled, trying not to picture West’s lips fused to mine, sharing the same breath. “So, anyway, my luck with guys has turned to crap. I think something’s wrong with me.”

Theo shook his head. “There’s something wrong with everyone. You’re fine.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s wrong with you?”

His eyes turned sad, and he didn’t answer right away, fiddling with his doughnut. “I let the right girl get away,” he said, almost sounding embarrassed. “I was too chickenshit to make a move, and by the time I was ready to, she was already with somebody else. I missed my shot.”

My heart broke for him. He looked like a kicked puppy. I reached over and squeezed his hand. “Her loss, Theo.”

“Yeah. Sure.” He laughed without humor.

We were both quiet for a few minutes, engrossed in our own thoughts. “Well, aren’t we just pathetic?” I mused, just to break the heavy silence.

Theo narrowed his eyes and set his jaw and let my sentence hang for a moment. “No, we aren’t. There’s nothing wrong with either of us.”

“Except the lack of romance, you mean?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Maybe that’s fixable. I mean, we’re both available, we’ve already seen each other half-naked at the gym —”

I made a strangled sound in my throat. Where was he going with this?

“Let me take you out this weekend,” he said, catching me off guard.

I looked at him, flustered. I hadn’t really gotten that vibe from him, like he was interested in me that way. He couldn’t quite meet my eyes and the tips of his ears were red. “Look,” he started. “Maybe I’m not who you pictured yourself with, but I like you. I feel comfortable with you. Maybe it’ll turn into something, and maybe it won’t, but either way we’ll have a good time. We can catch a movie then grab some ice cream on the boardwalk. It’ll be fun. Whaddaya say?”

He looked at me hopefully, and I found myself grinning back at him. “Sure.” Why not? What did I have to lose? And it’s not like I had anything better to do.

“Saturday at seven?”

“Sounds good. I’ll text you my address.”

“It’s a date!” He winked at me then shoved the rest of the doughnut in his mouth, licking his fingers. Such a guy.

After playing phone tag all week, Rue answered my call Thursday night. She’d left early the morning after we went to Anchor for her trip, so we hadn’t had a chance to debrief yet. I rehashed my previous weekend with her. She about died laughing when I recounted my run-ins with West. “West is such a player,” she said, when she caught her breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever known him to have a girlfriend. Although he is gorgeous, I’ll give you that.”

“Tell me about it,” I said.

Rue had spent her summers at Reynolds Island growing up, so I wasn’t surprised she knew who West was. She recounted a few rumors she’d heard about girls doing stupid stuff to get his attention. He sounded like an arrogant horn dog with attention span issues. Figured. The hot ones always were.

“So, any other prospects out there? I take it Jared is gone.”

“Yes, thank God. What about Eric?”

“Eh, nothing to talk about there. He had hairy toes. It was weird.” Rue found something wrong with every guy, whether it was a date or a hook up. She was searching for the perfect man and refused to stop until she found him.

I paused. “Why were you looking at his toes that closely? You know what, never mind, don’t tell me.”

“You going out this weekend? Or do you want to have a girl’s night when I get back?”

“Actually, I have a date Saturday,” I announced.

“Oooohhh, with who?” she squealed with delight.

“Theo, from work. Do you know him?”

“Yes! Aw, he’s a sweetie! I wouldn’t have picked him for your type, but he’s a step up from Asshole.” My ex was never mentioned by name anymore. He didn’t deserve such kindness.

“Sweet isn’t my type?” I was a little offended.

“No. You like to argue too much.”

“I do not!”

“See what I mean?” she pointed out.

I huffed. “We’ll see.”

“Just remember,” she warned, “He’s a local. No hook ups. Dating for real, yes, casual sex, no.”

I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see it. “Yes, Mother.”

She giggled. “I’ll see you Sunday then. Have fun!”

On Saturday night, the doorbell rang promptly at seven.
Two points for him
, I thought, as I moved across the living room to the front door. I loved our house. It was a quaint little three bedroom place with an open floor plan, so the kitchen, living room, and dining room were one big space, with driftwood gray walls and nautical blue and white furnishings. We had a screened sun porch off the back of the kitchen and a big hammock tied between two live oaks dripping with Spanish moss in our small yard. Since the whole cottage was on stilts, we just parked under the house.

I’d slipped on my favorite green sundress and wedges for the date, leaving my hair to fall in its natural partly curly, partly wavy riot around my shoulders. My make up was subdued, just mascara and lip gloss. Checking my reflection in the entryway mirror one last time, I smoothed the front of my dress, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Theo was leaning against one of the porch columns while he waited. He straightened when he saw me and came forward, giving me a hug, and my nerves vanished. This was just Theo. “You look really nice,” he said, grinning at me, one of his dark curls falling over his eye. He pushed it back, a movement I could tell was habit for him.

“You’re looking pretty good yourself,” I returned, smiling. He was wearing the standard island guy uniform — a polo, plaid cargo shorts, and leather flip flops. I locked the front door, and we were ready to go. Theo held my hand as we walked down the steps and opened my car door for me, waiting until I slid inside before closing it behind me. A perfect gentleman.

At the theater, we picked a comedy with Jason Segel, and he held hands with me during the movie too, lacing our fingers together. The connection felt warm and easy, but that was it. My palms didn’t sweat, and my heart didn’t race. I tried not to let that bother me, tried not to remember the tingle I’d felt when my skin had connected with West’s out in the water. I definitely didn’t relive, in slow motion, that endless slide down his body when he’d set me back down on the shoreline, the way he’d kept his hands on me a beat too long after I was steady. It never even crossed my mind.