Page 61 of The Plus Ones
She can look all she wants. A gentleman never tells—especially when he doesn’t want to get castrated—and I’ve got my poker face on. “I’m sure she’d tell you if we had.” I examine her reaction. She may have a poker face herself, this one.
“That’s true.” She shrugs. “Well, anyway.” She stands up and puts her sunglasses back on. “I’m gonna head back to the pool. I think Roxy’s sunning herself on the beach.”
I nod. “Cool. I’m gonna go for a walk. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Yeah.” She punches me on the bicep. “See you later.”
I watch Aimee practically skip away, and I am about ninety percent sure that Roxy told her that we had sex last night and one hundred percent certain that I have Aimee’s approval to pursue her. I just need to keep it from Chase until it’s a real thing.
I hang out at the pool with Matt and Bernie for about half an hour because Aimee and Chase have already disappeared back to their cottage. We talk about going sailing tomorrow, until it becomes crystal clear to me that Matt and Bernie have no intention of exerting any energy while they’re here except when they’re in bed.
Good for them.
They excuse themselves because it’s been like two hours since they last had sex with each other probably, so I decide to wander down to the beach to see what Roxy’s up to.
I mentally prepare myself to find her sunning herself, tits-up in that leopard print bikini, but instead I find her still in that white dress, kneeling on the sand, not far from the high tide line. She has a look of determination on her face as she pounds the sand in front of her into submission.
“You building a sandcastle?”
“I got on Aimee’s FaceTime with Finn, and he asked me to build a sandcastle and send him pictures. I got the buckets and shovels from the front desk and borrowed a knife and spoon from the breakfast bar.” She sighs while continuing to pummel. “It’s been a while since I’ve done this.”
“You want some help?”
She places a plastic bucket at my feet. “I need more water. Where’s everyone else?” she asks without looking up.
“Fucking in their cottages.”
“Already?”
“I guess some people are into that sort of thing,” I say as I kick off my flip-flops and stroll down to the water’s edge. When I return with a full bucket, I tell her, “You need a water hole. Dig down until you find water so you have a supply. So you don’t have to keep going to the sea for it.”
She passes me a plastic shovel. “Sounds good.”
I remove my shirt, drop to my knees beside her, and start digging with the shovel, and then I just use my hands. It does not go unnoticed that she keeps glancing over at my hands.
I survey the foundation she’s built. “What is this? A one-bedroom?”
“It’s going to be a box.” She grins up at me. “You can help me with the head.”
When I realize what she’s making, my head falls back, and I laugh so hard. A head in a box. “Finn will love it.”
“I know. I can’t wait to watchSevenwith him. How long do you think I should wait? Until he’s…?” She makes seven slashes in the sand and arches an eyebrow at me.
“Hey.Iwill be the one introducing him to that bit of cinematic genius. When he’s ten.”
“I called dibs.”
“I call bullshit. I don’t believe you want to watch that with him. I say we both have a movie night with him. Together.”
She gives me the side-eye. “Together? That doesn’t sound very cool to me.” Her voice is teasing but hesitant. “You aren’t still thinking about last night, are you?”
“What about it? I'm definitely not thinking about the way you taste or the little noises you make when you're kissing me or the way you lose the ability to stand when I kiss you on your neck, right—" I put my hand on the back of her neck and rub that spot just below her ear with my thumb "—there."
She closes her eyes and sways the tiniest bit.
"And I have no intention of trying to persuade you to let me kiss you right now, just once, just for show, or just for the hell of it because kissing's fun and good and we're both really good at kissing each other."
She's staring at my mouth and her lips are moving, and I think she may be trying to say something but nothing's coming out.
