Page 34 of The Expiration Date

“Thanks,” I respond evenly, trying not to reveal that I’m a little taken aback.

“You are just full of surprises, Haley Swann.” It is ridiculous how perfect he still looks after playing an hour of intense beach volleyball. His backwards hat is still in place on top of his head. The sweat that glistens off of his skin makes him look like a vampire from Twilight. While my hair probably looks like I just rolled out of bed and my skin is probably crimson – not from sunburn, but the heat alone is enough to make my fair skin turn a deep shade of red, especially after working out.

Before I can respond, Anna crashes into me, knocking us both down onto the sand. “We won, Hales!! Ha ha, suck it Dan!” she yells back to the groom.

Dan shakes his head and smiles at the woman he is about to marry. Even though Anna is acting like a crazed woman, all I see is love in Dan’s eyes. He knows exactly who he is marrying and he wants it all, and that is such a beautiful thing to witness.

She pulls me up from the ground and my ass and most of my upper thighs are covered in sand.

Great.

“Drinks tonight are completely on Dan. That was the consequence of losing this game. The loser has to buy all the drinks for the opposing party’s entire team. Now do you see why I wanted to win so badly?”

I honestly don’t think Anna needed an excuse for her competitiveness, but that would have sucked to pay for all the drinks the bachelor party is going to consume, which I assume will be an exorbitant amount. Anna’s party will be no different.

“Hey McHottie, why don’t you help your damsel in distress here get the sand off her body?” Anna says to Aidan.

“No, no I got it!” I start brushing the back and side of my legs frantically. Hell no, is Aidan Stone going to touch my legs or ass for that matter.

“Nonsense! You’ll help our girl out, right handsome?” Anna devilishly winks at me and prances away toward her man.

Aidan smiles, inches closer to me and responds, “Yes, ma’am. I’ve got it covered.”

Now I am turning bright red for an entirely different reason. I am melting with the thought of Aidan’s hands all over me, attempting to get the smallest speck of sand off my body.

Once Anna’s attention is completely on her own man, mine leans down and says, “Relax, Swann. I’m not going to touch you.” At some point during my mortification and getting into my own head yet again, Aidan must have gone over to where I placed my belongings and grabbed my cover-up. “Lift your arms, Hales.” I do as I am told, completely shell-shocked that a man didn’t capitalize on an opportunity to touch a practically naked woman. This is the second time in the past few days that Aidan has seen most of my body, especially my legs, and he seems completely unphased. He is either the world’s sweetest gentleman, or he is completely repulsed by me.

I am convinced that it must be the latter.

19

“Istill cannot believe you are here.”

Anna gives me a side-hug as we walk up the porch steps of the Hamptons house. We went into town to get some much-needed coffee before our wild bachelorette night.

“I wouldn’t have missed this, Anna, you know that.” I take a sip of my coffee as we sit down on the lounge chairs facing the gorgeous ocean. “No matter the circumstances.” Robert’s stupid smug face flashes into my mind.

“I was also honestly surprised that you brought someone. I still don’t understand why you didn’t Facetime me immediately when you first went on a date with that hunk.”

“No one says hunk anymore, Anna.”

“Well, I do. It’s gonna come back, you’ll see.”

I roll my eyes and smile.

“Speaking of,” Anna continues, “where is Prince Charming?”

“Um, he had to go run an errand or something. He got a call and said that he needed to run into town to go take care of some business.” I’m kind of worried about him, actually. He had that serious look on his face that I know all too well as his assistant. His eyebrows would furrow a little and his jaw hardened slightly as if he was holding back what he really wanted to say about whatever situation he was dealing with. I hope everything is okay, but I didn’t ask because I don’t want to pry. Just because we are fake dating doesn’t give me the automatic right to become privy to what is going on in Aidan’s brain. Even though I desperately want to know what he is thinking about me and my family and friends. He probably left because he wanted to escape this crazy circus, he was just too polite to say so.

“Ooooh, so mysterious. Maybe he is going to stop at a jewelry store and, you know, browse.” Anna raises her eyebrows twice like she is up to something mischievous– and, let’s face it, with Anna, she probably is.

I couldn’t help but maniacally laugh at the insane notion that Aidan would even think about looking at engagement rings for me. He did buy me jewelry the other day, but that was different–it was to help make me look like I belonged on the red carpet next to him. “I highly doubt that.”

“Why would you highly doubt that? It’s not so out there to assume that this man would buy you jewelry. Or maybe he is going to shop for some lingerie for you. Gosh, I can only imagine how that man is in the bedroom. With that body and those massive hands…”

I choke so hard on my coffee that some spills out of my nose.

Anna set her coffee down on the side table. “Okay, girl. Spill it.”

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