Page 52 of Swept Up In You

Belle barked as a shag swooped low to their left, landing on the water then diving in headfirst in search of a feed. Belle went to jump in after, but Taylor grabbed her silly pup by the lifejacket handle, the paddleboard wobbling at their antics.

“Yeah, no, you’re not going in the water right now. Sit. You don’t evenlikethe water.”

Belle did what she was told, then slid onto her stomach, face smushed between her two paws, sulking. Taylor just shook her head and kept paddling them through the marina.

Sam’s idea had been a good one. It was much calmer in here with no swell to drift the board out to sea and no waves to knock her overboard. She took in all the moored boats she passed on one side, expensive stilt houses built right out over the water on the other.

Work had ramped up for the rest of the week, so she hadn’t had a chance to see Sam again, though she wasn’t far from her mind. They’d texted on and off, a little flirting here and there that had her itching to see Sam again. When they’d sailed the other morning, she felt like she’d been away on holiday and enjoyed riding the bliss for the rest of the week.

She was still a little wary about what she was getting herself into, especially after Liz, but all cohesive thoughts and rules seemed to fly out of the window when she was in Sam’s vicinity.

Speaking of, she was definitely on this little paddleboard adventure for herself andnot at allthinking about accidentally spotting a particular blonde over by the marine shop.

She ended up turning down the last row of boats before the fuel berth, catching a couple of voices on the breeze.

“It’s backwards.”

“No, it’s not. I checked the manual.”

The two old men sat on Larry’s deck, arguing over some kind of contraption laid in pieces between them.

“Gentlemen!” she called out to them both.

“Taylor? What are you doing down there?” Larry shielded his eyes from the sun, squinting down at her on the water. “And who’s that handsome fella?”

“This is Belle,” Taylor gently corrected. “She’s my not-so-little-anymore staffy pup. She doesn’t like the water but loves being on the board, it turns out.”

“Good on her.”

Dave stood up alongside him. “Nice to see you again, Taylor. I hear you did a great job on Larry’s boat. Might get you to do mine next month.”

“I’d be happy to help, Dave. Larry’s got all my details if you need. Speaking of, everything going all right there?” She jerked her head towards the pile behind them.

Larry practically growled at it. “My grandson ordered some bird scarers to put around the boat, said to put them together because ‘they’re easy’, before he gets back this weekend.”

“Bullocks,” came from Dave as they nodded at each other in agreement.

“I’m sure you two will have it all figured out in time before he’s back,” Taylor reassured them as she readied her paddle to take off.

“Oh hey!” Larry called before she had a chance to turn around. “Did you hear my grandson got a hot date with Sam last weekend? I knew my plan would work.” Larry all but jumped up and down with glee, high-fiving Dave while he was at it.

Taylor gave a strained smile. “Nope, no I hadn’t. Not since we spoke.”

“With any luck, here’s hoping there’ll be a second.”

Taylor gave a lame thumbs-up and an even lamer smile.

“Righto, gentlemen, I better keep going and keep Belle here occupied before she tries to dive in the water again.”

“Oh, no worries Taylor,” Larry said as they waved her off, oblivious to the abrupt change of subject, thank god.

Her smile dropped as soon as she got the board turned around.

Did his grandson—Jackson? Mason? Jase!—think he and Sam were still dating? Dread worked its way up her body, unbidden. What if Samwasjust trying things out with her? What if she left just like Liz? If she thought about it, she didn’t really evenknowSam.

Stop.

This wasnotthe time to spiral. She just had to ask Sam like a normal person. She’d said she wanted to be friends with him, and she had to trust that.

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