Page 28 of The Billionaire Love Match

“Colt!” She knocked her hips into him, sending him stumbling toward a small boy building a sandcastle.

“Sorry, little architect,” he said to the little boy with a green plastic shovel. His tiny glare was nothing compared to Casey’s. Though he knew she was joking with him, her fierce joking look made him want to avoid seeing her actually furious. It might be deadly.

“You can’t blame me,” Colt said with his hands up. “You’ve fainted and fallen in a pool since I’ve known you.”

He took her hand again and they continued their walk.

“Fainting was low blood sugar. And I fell because I was distracted.”

“By?”

She looked coyly at him. “Just some pretty face.” He felt a glow of pleasure and couldn’t help a grin from spreading across his face. “So. Want another guess?”

“The lie is...the tattoo.”

Casey giggled and tugged his hand, pulling him to a stop. She kicked off her flip flops. “Wrong again! You lose!”

Colt had to take a moment to compose himself as he looked at her, his mind locked on Casey in a wedding dress and a hidden tattoo. “So, you, um, have a tattoo somewhere...”

“Special. Somewhere special.”

He exhaled in a quick breath. Get your mind out of there, buddy. Back to safe spaces.

“Okay. So you didn’t get your handgun license on your 18th birthday?”

“I did. But I go my first pistol at 12.”

“Hey! That’s cheating! You had half a truth in there!”

She laughed and began to run along the shore, but a little deeper into the waves. He came running after, following the laughter trailing out behind her. She stopped in shin-deep water, the waves crashing around her feet. He caught her and picked her up. She squealed, still laughing, but stopped when he moved to swing her over the deeper water. Her fingers dug into his arms.

“Don’t throw me in,” she said, and her voice was suddenly serious. “Please.”

“Okay,” he said, pulling her close. “But the fact remains: you cheated, Boots. That was a half truth.”

Her face was just inches from hers and he could stare into those blue eyes all day. They were the color of sky on a cloudless day, down near the horizon where it was hazy and lighter. A bright, light-soaked blue. He brushed sand from her cheek, his touch lingering on her skin.

“Busted,” she said.

“We didn’t cover cheating. So who kisses who?”

“Whom.”

“You’re going to correct my grammar at a time like this?”

“Wrong is wrong, anytime of the day,” she said. “What can I say? Grammar should be a priority.”

He pulled her to him, covering her grin with a kiss. Her lips softened under his, but he could still feel the laughter shaking in her chest. He pulled away, laughing too, and spun her around in his arms. She felt so light and so warm and so...right.

“So is this better than Mr. Casual?” he asked.

“Mm. Infinitely.”

“I’m anything but casual around you,” he said, his voice dropping. “I feel both lighter when I’m with you...and more serious.”

Her gaze was intense now, holding what felt like a promise. She didn’t respond and for a moment he felt foolish for what felt like an intimate confession. And then he felt her fingers on his back, tapping out a message.

I L-I-K-E Y-O-U

He pulled her closer and brought her mouth to his for a kiss that he hoped showed her exactly what he felt in return. It was the kind of kiss that made him wish to change those four letters from “like” into something more serious.

“Casey,” he whispered in her ear, feeling her body tremble at his breath so close. “I hope one day to learn more about that tattoo.”

And as the producer stepped in to tell them that their time together was up, Casey threw her head back and laughed. The sound was like music to him and he again fought the urge to take her by the hand and run.

---