“Let me fill you in on how things work around here,” he said, stopping so we were practically toe-to-toe.
His breath didn’t smell like alcohol. It smelled like coffee. The big, fat jerk had coffee and I didn’t.
“This is a quiet stretch of sand. All the people in this area live here, year round. We mind our own business. We stay out of each other’s way. We definitely do not let our cats loose and then come out on the sand at the crack of dawn, bellowing like some kind of crazy person.”
“What are you, like, the beach police?” I retorted. I held up a hand. “No wait, I know. You’re neighborhood watch.” I couldn’t help it. I giggled.
Judging from the dark scowl on his face, he wasn’t amused.
I sighed, he was totally ruining my whole “new day” approach to life this morning. “I have no intention of disturbing your peace. It’s the reason I’m here too. I’ll just call the fire department, get my cat, and we won’t have to see each other ever again.”
I spun to go inside and get my phone. Just like last night, he stopped me. This time, instead of taking my wrist, he palmed my hand, pulling me back around. I yelped and pulled my hand away, shaking it a little as if to get rid of the pain.
“What’s wrong with your hand?” he asked, his voice losing some of its annoyed, sarcastic edge.
“Nothing.” I sniffed, tucking it beneath my other arm against my side.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He ran a hand through his blond hair, pushing it away from his face. Damn, his eyes were blue.
“It’s okay.”
Carefully, he reached out and pulled my hand away, to hold it out between us. In the fleshy part of my palm under my thumb was an angry-looking splinter. The skin was red around the edges and slightly puffy. In the center you could see the sliver of wood buried in my skin.
“It’s just a splinter,” I told him, trying to pull my hand away. “Demon cat - three, Talie - zero.”
“Demon cat?” he mused, the corner of his lip lifting. He had full lips, the kind that were good for biting.
It took me a moment to answer because he was cradling my hand in his while smoothing his thumb around the area where the splinter was. His touch was beyond gentle yet self-assured, like he knew what he was doing. Little prickles of pleasure raced up and down my legs because even just that slight touch from him was so very good.
I cleared my throat. “That cat hates me.”
That statement earned me a full-on grin. His straight, white teeth flashed, and a dimple appeared in his chin. From this close up, I could see the roughness of the stubble growing along his jaw. Out here in the sun, it looked golden, as if to highlight his already perfect face.
The cat made a pitiful sound and I looked up. “I better go.”
I tugged my hand back and he let go, turning around to walk away. But he didn’t go back up the steps to his deck. Instead, he leapt onto the pole and started to climb. It was just unfair he could do that and I couldn’t.
I expected Salty to react to him the same way he did me. Yeah, no. He gave another pitiful meow and allowed the man to lift him up and perch him on his shoulder like a parrot. Seconds later, he was striding back across the sand to me, with a happy-looking Salty.
“Thank you,” I said, reaching out for the cat.
He hissed and growled.
I snatched my hand back and scowled. “See!”
He chuckled. The sound brushed over my body, setting it to tingle. “I’ll carry him.”
I led him onto the deck and toward the sliding door, which was still open. My OJ was sitting forgotten on the arm of a lounge chair. I pushed the door open a little wider and turned to get the cat, but he was much closer than I expected. I collided with his chest and the cat. He reached out to steady me and rolled his eyes.
“You are a disaster.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He stepped around me to put Salty on the floor, who immediately ran off into Ruth’s bedroom. I hoped he hid there the rest of the day.
“So do you have a name?” I asked. “Or should I just keep thinking of you as the rude guy next door.”
“Gavin,” he supplied. “You’re Talie?”
I nodded. “Well, thanks, Gavin,” I said, trying out his name on my tongue. “I won’t disturb your peace anymore.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that.”
I made a shooing motion with my hand, hoping he would get the point. He grabbed the hand with the splinter and said, “You need to get that out before it gets infected.”
“Will do.”
Instead of taking me for my word, he slid the door shut behind him and then towed me along into the bathroom.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m getting this out.”
“I can manage.”
He barked a laugh. “No, you can’t.”
I really didn’t like being treated like some child who had no clue. I was a grown woman. I could take care of myself.
I spun around to rush out of the room, but he caught me around the waist and lifted me off my feet like I weighed nothing more than a seashell.
“Hey!” I gasped.
My bottom hit the bathroom counter and he stepped between my legs. I lost the ability to think. I glanced down at the way my pale knees looked framing out his tight, toned waist. My heart started to pound as I glanced at the board shorts he wore. They hung low, exposing a deep V shape low on his waist. I didn’t know what those lines were called, but I had a serious hot flash thinking about licking them.
Gavin seemed completely unaffected by my closeness as he opened up the medicine cabinet beside my head and withdrew a pair of tweezers.
“I’ll do this,” I said, trying to take them.
“Shh,” he shushed. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Oh, so you’re an expert splinter remover?”
His eyes flashed up to mine. “I’m an expert at a lot of things.”
Oh my.
Did I mention I hadn’t had sex in six months? It was this moment when my body decided to remind me of that and how utterly sexy this man was.
No! I told myself. No, no, no.
“Don’t fidget,” he said, palming my hips and stilling my body. I hadn’t even realized I was moving.
He lifted my hand and turned it palm up. Then he pinched the skin with one hand (which hurt really bad!) and used the tweezers to pluck out the splinter. He got it in one try.
He held it up between us and I noted it had some blood on the end.