Page 13 of Man Glitter
Finnie flipped her huge dark sunglasses on her head. “You’re right. Vegetables are not disgusting. But juicing them all up together in some sort of concoction from hell is disgusting. It tasted worse than the damn moonshine!”
I grabbed my chest. “However can we be friends, Rudolfina?”
She climbed out of the car with an eye roll and I followed. “First of all, we’re not friends. Secondly, we’ll never be friends if you keep calling me Rudolfina.”
I took a deep breath of ocean air, my entire body relaxing with just one glimpse of the blue Pacific ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. “My sweet Finnie. First, we’re already friends. And secondly, the only thing I like more than that juice this morning is riling you up. It’s become my favorite thing to do. It’s just so easy.”
Her car door slammed, and I looked back to see her carrying her work bag, another bag full of towels and sunscreen, and two chairs. She made one hell of a beautiful pack mule, oblivious to the beauty around her. I stifled a laugh and came over to take all but her work bag out of her hands. She nodded her thanks and headed down the path to the beach below us. This was my favorite spot to catch some sun and jump in the water. Figured I’d get some fresh air while showing Finnie some of my favorite spots since she was new in town.
“You know you can’t get your hand wet, right?” Finnie squinted at me, her hands on her hips, her feet deep in the soft sand while I got the chairs set up.
“I know. I’m here for the moist air and sunshine. It’s good for healing.” I stripped my T-shirt off and had a seat in my red board shorts. I tipped my head back to the sun and took deep breaths.
Finnie was so quiet I finally looked over to see her still standing there just staring at me.
“What?”
She jumped and scrambled to put her work bag by her chair. “Nothing.”
She pulled her black cover up off to reveal a royal blue swimsuit that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. I choked, sitting forward to cough as spit went down the wrong pipe.
“You okay?” she asked me, squeezing sunblock onto her cupped palm and rubbing it up and down her arms, her full breasts bouncing in tiny triangle scraps of fabric held by a single flimsy string.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Holy hell, how had she been hiding that beneath her demure blouses and alpaca pajamas this whole time? She had the body of the perfect woman, all lush curves, smooth skin, and tantalizing valleys. I should make her model for me so I could sculpt her shape into wood, preserved for all eternity.
She sat in her chair, her legs crossing daintily and cherry red toenails bouncing as she swung her foot up and down. “Okay, you go breathe the fresh air and dip in the salt water and I’ll be over here getting work done.”
A huge stack of papers slapped down on the tops of her thighs, snapping me out of my shocked daze. Another few seconds of me staring at her and she’d be sure to take a swipe at me with the grumpy stick.
I swallowed hard and attempted normal conversation.Just picture her in alpaca pajamas.
“You’re seriously going to ignore the natural beauty surrounding you to stare at a bunch of papers?” The idea of not enjoying the beach was crazy to me.
Finnie flipped some pages over and ran her yellow highlighter over a line. “Yep.”
I shrugged. “Suit yourself.” I stood and adjusted my shorts discreetly. Good thing she wasn’t even looking at me or she’d see the proof my body was insanely attracted to her. Although I’m sure she felt my wood last night dancing in the pergola. There was just something about her that made me want to put my hand over her mouth and have my way with her. Silently. Nothing sexier than a silent Finnie.
The wind picked up, and I yearned to feel the sea spray on my face. I didn’t get more than two steps into the cold Pacific ocean before I heard a yelp behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see a wave of papers flying through the air from Finnie’s lap.
“My business plan!” she wailed, jumping up and flailing to capture the pages, making even more of a mess.
I shook my head and made my way over, dancing through the breeze to help her grab the papers.
“Goddammit!”
“It’s okay. We’ll get them back,” I assured her, snagging another from the sand.
Then another gust swept through and more pages went flying, dangerously close to the water’s edge. Finnie dashed over and I got distracted by the perfect heart shaped ass bending over in that tiny swim bottom. Then she straightened up and the panic on her face hit me in the gut. I couldn’t be perving over her body when her heart and soul was flying around in the wind, about to be ruined. I didn’t understand her obsession with work, but I could still respect it.
Finnie reached out, her fingers barely grasping a stack of the papers that had settled on the sand when the wind whisked them out of her hand and into the water. She cried out and threw her hands down at her side before spinning and running back up the trail with the pages she’d been able to save. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes and my heart lurched in my chest.
So I ran around like a madman, collecting every single sheet of paper, even if it was currently facedown in the surf. I knew what this business meant to Finnie, and I hoped she had everything backed up on a computer somewhere. If not, I’d dry out each sheet and help her piece it back together.
A seagull snatched up the last paper in his beak. I gulped. The seagulls around Auburn Hill were known for being assholes and this one was no different based on the way he stared me down as if daring me to fight him for it. Don’t know what a seagull would even want with a piece of paper, but they’d been known to hoard stranger things. I crouched down low and lifted a knee at a ninety-degree angle, arms out to the side in crouching tiger position. I hung there for at least a minute, holding his stare without blinking. Just when the burn in my leg got to be unbearable, I lunged forward with a loud “caw!” and he dropped the paper and flew away.
Worked every time.
You just had to be crazier than the seagull.
