“That’s right. Splash the water,” he eked out. “That’ll scare it off. Also, Red, you’re strangling me.”
“Sorry.” I loosened my grip on his neck. “Is it gone?”
“I don’t know. Stay still.”
“I thought you said nurse sharks don’t want to eat humans!”
“Okay, shit. For someone who grew up in Florida, you don’t know a lot about the water, do you?”
“If you couldn’t tell, it’s not a place I go a lot.” I wriggled on his back, trying to keep my feet out of the water.
“Stop splashing,” he told me, tapping my thigh with his fingers. “We’ll go slow.”
“If I die because you wanted to swim in our underwear, I’m going to haunt you forever and make your life hell.”
“Duly noted.” Slowly, he began the trek back to the beach. His steps were slow and careful, and this was exactly why my mom always told me to stay out of the water at night. “Nothing like a potential shark to kill a boner.”
“If it didn’t, I’d be worried.” I slid off his back to my feet and instantly winced. “Ow.”
“What’s up?” He looked at me, the concern on his face illuminated by the moon.
“My foot hurts.” I put my weight on my right foot.
“Hold on. I have my phone in my pants pocket. I’ll put my shirt out for you to sit on so I can look.”
He moved before I could register that he was leaving me standing at the very edge of the water.
Wait—no.
“Adam!” I hopped on my right foot onto the sand. “Don’t leave me with the shark.”
“Jesus, Poppy.” He laughed, running to me right before I fell over. “It’s not gonna come up that high. Come on.” He wrapped an arm around me and guided me over—still hopping—to where he’d laid his shirt on the beach.
He helped me down and got my dress, pulling it over my head to cover my boobs. He even did the zip up for me as I pulled my hair around and squeezed water out of it.
“Let me put my pants on.” He did that quickly then pulled out his phone. Using the flashlight to get some light, he gently took my left foot in his hand and tilted it to see. “You’re bleeding.”
“Great. So I was the reason for the shark.”
“Absolutely. It was entirely your fault we were almost eaten.” He half-smiled. “I can’t see anything in it. Does it sting or just hurt?”
“Just hurt.”
“All right. Here.” He rested my foot on his and, using the sleeve of his shirt, touched it to my foot.
“What are you doing?” I pulled away.
“Poppy, it’s just a shirt. I need to stem the bleeding before I take you inside and get a Band-Aid or something, okay? It’s right in the arch of your foot.”
I sighed. “I bet that happened when I went down.”
He nodded. “Probably when you fell the second time. You wouldn’t have felt it because you were too mad at me.”
“So, it’s all your fault instead.”
“If that makes you feel better.” He peered up at me, smiling, then checked my foot. “Okay. If I carry you, we can probably get there before it starts again.”
I groaned. “Driving home tomorrow is going to suck so bad.”
He gave me a sympathetic nod and stood up. Adam turned off the flashlight and tucked his phone back into his pocket, then bent to pick me up. I made sure to grab his shirt and both our shoes before he lifted me. He held me against his body with one arm behind my knees and the other around the top of my back.
“This isn’t how I planned this night to end,” I muttered grumpily as he carried me up the beach.
His laugh was light and low and oh-so-delicious. “You know what, Red? It wasn’t my plan, either, but it makes total sense, don’t you think?”
In a weird kind of way, he was right.
It did make sense.
CHAPTER TWENTY – POPPY
Goodbyes Are For Suckers
I felt sick.
I didn’t want to say goodbye.
I shifted on my feet as Adam opened the trunk of his car. I’d been re-bandaged this morning and taken painkillers to make the drive home as easy as possible, but right now, knowing he was leaving, the pain in my foot didn’t come close to comparing to the pain I felt in my heart.
And it was stupid pain. Not stupidly painful, but straight up stupid pain. I knew this would happen. It was written in the stars from the very beginning. This hadn’t been a first date or a precursor to something longer or more serious.
Yet, I’d allowed myself to cross the line into falling for him. I know—four days. It sounded stupid, but we’d been together almost constantly. You put any two strangers with an attraction together and they were bound to feel things.
I just hoped I hadn’t fallen too far and that I’d be over this in a week. That was all I was holding onto as Adam slammed the trunk and walked over to me.
He reached out, his fingers trailing across my skin as he pushed hair from my face and tucked it around my ear. “I had a really great time this weekend.”
“Me, too,” I said softly. “It was fun. You know. Apart from my foot getting cut open and Aunt Blythe stripping at breakfast.”
She was still drunk… Or so she said.
“That did brighten the morning up,” he said with a smirk. “I’m sorry I have to leave so early. I’d stay later if I could.”
I shrugged. “It’s fine. I won’t be here much longer. I have to work the lunch shift tomorrow and I don’t want to get in late.”
“Did Avery already lave?”
“Yeah. She has to work tonight, so she left right after breakfast.”
He nodded slowly. We stood for a moment, just looking at each other until I laughed and dipped my chin.
“What’s so funny?” He hooked two fingers beneath my chin, so our eyes met.
“This is ridiculous.” My hair came loose so I pushed it back again. “I mean—we’ll see each other again. We don’t live a million miles apart.”
“I know your favorite bar. And where you work,” he added.
“Exactly. This is dumb.”
“Come here.” He pulled me into his body, wrapping his arms around me tightly. I squeezed my eyes shut at the pang in my heart when he kissed the top of my head.
Jesus, I needed to pull myself together. We had feelings for each other, but we’d cleared it up last night. I wasn’t the girl who could deal with him being away as much as he would be. Relationships were hard for him because of hockey, and that was fine.
Adam pulled back and kissed me, one hand around the back of my neck. I felt it right down to the tips of my toes—and when he pulled away, I pressed my face into his chest.
I didn’t want him to see how deep that kiss had tugged at me.
I squeezed him tight then pulled back. “Thank you for saving my ass this weekend.”
“I’ll save your ass anytime, Red.” He smiled, then kissed me once more before he let me go.
I backed up, bumping into Rosie’s car next to his. My foot stung, so I put weight on my toes instead of my whole foot and watched as he got into his car. He rolled the window down, and the rumble of the engine as it started made me want to climb on the roof so he couldn’t go anywhere.
He winked, shooting me one of his sexy half-smiles before he backed up.
The last I saw of him was him raising his hand out of the window in a wave.
I held mine up lamely, swallowing back a thick lump in my throat.
It wasn’t supposed to hurt this much.
Rosie came up next to me and wrapped an arm around me. “Come on, Hopalong. Let’s sit.” She guided me over to the stairs and we sat down, staring out at the parking lot.
Well, I stared at it. At the road out of it, to be honest.
She was looking at me with the kind of understanding only a sister could feel—like she felt the very same ache, I did knowing that he was gone.
“Tell me if I’m wrong, but that plan backfired, huh?”
That was one way to put it.
I shrugged and looked down at my painted toes. “Doesn’t matter, does it? It was for one weekend only. I knew that. So did he.”
“That’s not the point, Pops,” she said gently, squeezing me into her side. “Does that really mean it has to be over?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.