Page 58 of Infinite

“I’ll take him with me.” I mean what I say. “I was playing with him on the beach during the shoot. Throwing a stick, that sort of thing. He likes to run. I do, too. My place is big enough. It should work out just fine.”

I motion to the prissy dog. “What about that one?”

Becca cuddles her closer, growing protective. “What about her?”

“You think you’ll keep her?”

She considers the question, glancing back at Sam. “I don’t think we should separate them.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Where are you going?”

“To Charlotte,” she says. “I’ll be gone a few days, settling some things that need settling.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I say. “I was referring to you and me.”

“Are you talking about our kiss?” she asks, her attention on the dog’s head.

She’s feeling shy. I’m not. “You mean the hot one we had in bed naked?” I turn around as if I can see the bedroom and hook a thumb. “That one in there, when we were feeling each other up.”

She covers her face. “We didn’t feel each other up.”

“But we wanted to. Didn’t we?”

The wind picks up, sweeping her hair to the side and away from her face. When it settles, I don’t think her hair could lie across her shoulders like it does any better had I’d touched it myself. A gull caws overhead, peering across the dunes as if it sees something it likes. Another caw, and then another gull appears. It joins the first as they dive down into the sand.

It takes the wind sweeping in again before Becca answers me. “I wasn’t expecting this,” she says.

“You think I was?” I ask. “It’s only been a month since you fluttered back into my life, waving your arms and pelting me with glitter.”

“I didn’t flutter,” she says, grinning.

“Strut?”

She laughs. “Maybe. But there was definitely no glitter. That’s a Trin thing to do.”

“All right. Let me clarify. It’s only been a month since you strutted into my life, swinging your hips just so and tempting me closer until I gave in to you and your nymph-like charm, and kissed you hard like you wanted and deserved.” I smirk at her gaping mouth. “There. Was that better?”

“I didn’t strut . . . much.”

“Yeah, you did,” I say. “You have ever since you learned to walk in dem heels.”

“And I don’t have nymph-like charm,” she protests.

I throw my head back, laughing. “No, you don’t. You come across as fine and sweet as sugar until you open your mouth and cuss viciously enough to send a drunken sailor staggering off and screaming.”

“That’s better,” she says, seemingly satisfied.

My smirk fades, just a little. “Except when it came to me. In there,” I say jerking my head in the direction of the house. “You’ve always had this hold on me, Becks. But I don’t really think you’ve understood just how bad.”

“I might understand,” she says gently.

The way her gaze meets mine erases what remains of my smirk. This woman has me where she wants me, but she always has. After all these years, I still don’t think she knows just how easily I gave her my heart.

“Hale . . . I have to tell you something.” She adjusts her hold on her pup and reaches for a cracker. She tries to take a bite, but thinks better of it, offers it to the dog instead. “It’s about Denver. Mr. Singleton’s son.”

I’ll give Becca this, she’s always delivered a good kick to the balls. “You’re still with him.” I huff, a bitter grin cutting into my skin. I rub my jaw. “You let me kiss you like that and you’re with some other man?”

She smiles.Smiles. What the fuck?

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