Body Shot (Last Shot)(21)
“Then you have to know that some kinds of chemistry can’t be explained.”
“Everything can be explained.”
Their eyes met and held. The air pulsed around them, burning when Hayden pulled it into her lungs. “Seriously?” he said quietly. “Everything?”
“Okay, maybe not.” She caved. She couldn’t explain what had happened between them last night, or what was happening now. She understood hormones, but this was something inexplicable…a feeling like being high on a drug, like just the smell and taste of him was intoxicating. Addicting.
“Sometimes we can’t rationalize why our bodies feel a certain way,” Beck continued, almost as if he was telling himself that too. He reached out to stroke a hand through her hair. Tingles cascaded from her scalp down her neck and down the backs of her arms. “Sometimes we feel something instinctually, right in the gut, right in the heart—you feel it in your body, not in your brain. You can’t create sexual chemistry when it’s not there. So don’t analyze. Just go with it. Enjoy it.”
“What are you saying?” she whispered, every nerve ending in her body on fire, her pussy squeezing. Did he want to have sex again?
“I know you’re trying to cure cancer.” His smile mesmerized her. “But come out with me. Come to the beach. Just for an hour.”
“Th-the beach?” She blinked rapidly at him.
“Yeah.” His fingertips trailed over her jaw and her lips parted. “You know…there’s sand and water…um, H2O.”
She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. “Oh my God, Beck.”
He grinned. “I thought maybe I should appeal to the scientist in you. I don’t know what to call sand, though.”
“There is no chemical formula for sand, because it’s a mix of different minerals and particles. But most sand consists mainly of silicon dioxide.”
Oh my God. Why did she keep spouting this crap? Standing there in front of a gorgeous, sexy man who appeared to be attracted to her, it was like she was trying to turn him off. “I’m such a dork,” she muttered.
He laughed. “Adorkable. Come on, let’s go analyze some sand.”
“I have so much work to do…”
“I’m sure it can wait an hour.”
She huffed out a breath, and against her better judgment said, “Okay.” She turned. “I need to save some work and shut down my laptop. Be right back.”
“You don’t want to change?”
She stopped and her head whipped around. “You think I need to change?”
“No!” He held up his hands. “No, that’s not what I meant! You look great. But usually women…never mind. Fuck me.” He dropped his head, shaking it.
“Oh yeah. Usually women want to dress up and do their hair and makeup when they go out. I forget about stuff like that sometimes. Especially when Carrie’s not around to remind me. You’re right, I should change.”
“No, seriously. Unless you actually want to go swimming, you’re dressed perfectly for the beach.”
Perfectly fugly. Ah well. If she was going to take an hour off, she wasn’t going to waste half of it putting on makeup.
Moments later they were outside her condo, Beck leading the way to a black Jaguar convertible with the top down.
“Sweet Mary mother of God,” Hayden breathed. “This car is gorgeous.”
He smiled and opened the passenger door for her. “It is, isn’t it?”
She slid into the luxurious interior. Wow, bartending at Conquistadors must pay well for him to have a car like this. “Now I really wish I’d changed. Although I probably don’t have any clothes that would do justice to this beauty.”
He laughed as he started the car. “You look good in here.”
Such smooth words, and yet so sincere-sounding.
He headed down Grand Avenue, turning onto Mission Boulevard at Conquistadors, cruising along the coast to Mission Beach Park. They left the car in a parking lot and walked to the sand and then toward the ocean.
Hayden filled her lungs with fresh sea air, the breeze off the Pacific brisk and briny. Puffs of white clouds drifted across the blue sky and when her feet hit the sand, she paused to take off her flip-flops and hook them over a finger. She let out a brief sigh. “It’s beautiful.”
“Of course it is.”
They walked side by side toward the water, past people stretched out on towels, bodies gleaming in the sun, the scent of coconut drifting on the breeze. Children played at the edge of the water, letting the waves chase them onto shore, screaming with laughter when a big one came and soaked them.