Page 22 of You Know You Wanna

“Oh, it hurts alright,” he replied with a hint of humor suddenly sparkling in those eyes. “Just this morning, I was accused of being a boring, middle-aged father who refuses to acknowledge that times have changed and that the outdoors aren’t cool anymore. Unless it’s on a beach, which is apparently a perennial favorite.”

I swallowed my surprise and laughed. “Well, she did want to go to the Hamptons with her friends this summer. I’m sure that’s all it’s about. She feels like she’s missing out. That’s perfectly normal for a preteen.”

“The Hamptons?” He frowned deeply. “What on earth does she want to do in the Hamptons with her friends? She’s twelve.”

“Twelve-year-olds are allowed to enjoy the beach,” I needled jokingly, nudging him with my elbow as dirt crunched beneath our feet and a bird called in the distance. “Besides, it’s not even about the Hamptons. It’s about the friends.”

“Right,” he dragged out the word. “The same friends whose parents will let them wear skimpy string bikinis and drink mocktails while letting them lounge in the sun all day, working on their tans. No thank you.”

“You know, maybe you are a boring, middle-aged father who refuses to acknowledge that times have changed,” I joked. “I love going to the beach and working on my tan as much as the next girl. I guess, to a certain extent, I understand the appeal.”

“Yeah, but you’re in your thirties,” he said, smirking as he glanced at me. “So am I, by the way. I’m hardly middle-aged any more than you are.”

“Perhaps, but maybe I’m just young at heart,” I teased, not paying attention to the path since I was so wrapped up in our mildly flirtatious conversation.

Naturally, as soon as his eyes hooked on mine, I tripped on a tree root and started falling, accepting in that moment that I was going to end up with a face full of dirt in front of the most gorgeous man I had ever spoken to. Before it could happen, though, strong hands wrapped around my arm and he caught me, the momentum of him pulling me back and making me smack into his chest.

My lips parted to thank him, but with his perfectly full mouth suddenly only inches away from my own, I forgot what I’d been about to say. Remington didn’t release me either, simply staring back at me for a long, quiet minute that we just looked into each other’s eyes.

From this close, I could make out the flecks of blue and gold in his, and I lost myself in the masculine, fresh sweat and spice scent of him. My heart started pounding, my body begging to melt into his.

Pulling away quickly before I gave in, I took a big step back and managed to flash him a slightly humiliated smile. “Thanks. I didn’t really feel like having dirt in my nostrils today.”

“You’re welcome,” he said gruffly, eyes narrowing just a touch as he continued on the path like nothing had happened.

I watched him for just a second before I scrambled to catch up, wondering why my heart was still racing and my skin was still tingling. One thing was for sure—as much as I told myself it was about something else, I was attracted to this grumpy man in front of me, and at this point, there was no more use denying it.

Grumpy or not, something about him was getting under my skin. We were opposites in almost every way, but I was slowly starting to accept that the old adage was proving to be true in this case.

Opposites really do attract.

Now I guess I just have to find out if the feeling is mutual.

11

REMINGTON

It was actually Laurene’s idea for me to take a yoga class with Birdie. She hadn’t stopped talking about the woman practically since the first time they had hung out together, and it had made me even more curious about the yoga instructor/kids camp counselor/general manager/potential someday owner of the whole resort.

She wore many hats around here, I’d noticed, but if Laurene liked her—or anyone really—it meant I should probably make an effort. So I’d gone to yoga, getting way more than I’d bargained for in terms of a workout, but now that I’d caught her before she face-planted, I was getting more than I’d bargained for in other respects as well.

For starters, touching her had only made my already inconvenient attraction to her skyrocket. What was more was that things were suddenly awkward between us. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was embarrassed or because she knew how close I’d come to kissing her before she’d pulled away, but where we’d been talking easily before, there was now only deafening silence.

Thankfully, we’d almost reached the kids and I could already hear laughter and chatting from the bluff where they were having a picnic. Birdie glanced at me as we approached what I assumed was the final bend in the path before we’d reach them. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she held my gaze for a long moment.

“Thanks again for catching me,” she said finally in a tone that made it sound like she was saying goodbye. “Let’s hope they have enough food that we can get a bite to eat ourselves, huh? That was quite a hike.”

I frowned. It had been a bit of a walk, sure, but it had hardly been strenuous or tiring. Before I could tell her that she didn’t have to make meaningless small talk with me, we broke out of the trees and walked onto the bluff.

Jenna spotted us first, her lips breaking into a wide grin when she saw Birdie. “Hey, you. Come join us. I packed you a sandwich.” Her brow furrowed slightly when she spotted me behind Birdie, and she grimaced. “I’m so sorry, sir. We may have some extra, but I’m afraid there aren’t many choices. I wasn’t aware we had a parent joining today.”

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” I said, hoping I was reassuring her. I lifted my water bottle. “This is all I need, but thanks.”

When Jenna had addressed me, the kids had started looking around one by one, and while Laurene had clearly been thrilled to see Birdie, she gave me a look that said she was somewhat glad I was here but not nearly as happy as she was about the woman I’d accompanied.

Birdie didn’t look back. She joined the circle they were seated in, fitting between Laurene and another girl around her age and happily accepting the sandwich Jenna handed over. I hung back while they talked, with Birdie quickly getting all the kids to tell her their stories about the morning and opening up like she was their best friend.

I felt a little bit like a lurking bodyguard, but I did some light stretches in an effort to be doing something less awkward than staring. Then I sipped my water and pretended not to be listening to anything they were saying.