“Yes. All right. Dinner,” I stuttered. He was just too damn cute to say no to.
Noah beamed. “Excellent! What would you like to eat?”
“You mean you didn't have that planned already?” I teased. He hit the quiet button on his phone again.
“Nope. Just knew that I wanted to see you again today. Dinner seemed like a good reason. Anything you want?” He focused those blue eyes on me again, and I felt my temperature rising. Anything I wanted? I wanted him.
“Anything I want, huh?” I thought for a moment, but my brain just wasn't on food. “I want your favorite food.”
Noah's dark brows came together in a question. He ran a hand through his dark hair as he clarified, “My favorite food?”
“Yup.” I nodded.
“What if my favorite food is anchovy pizza with mustard sauce?”
“Then I will be eating pizza crusts for dinner tonight.” I gave him an impish grin.
“You know I'm half-tempted to do that now, right?” Noah's blue eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Please don't! That actually sounds terrible, and I would like to eat tonight.” I put my hand on his and my heart jumped in my chest.
“Okay,” Noah said with a grin. “How does seven sound?”
“Works for me,” I replied, going over my schedule in my head. No other plans for tonight, and Brooke would be busy with tagging her sharks.
“Where can I pick you up?” he asked, silencing his phone again.
“How about the parking lot of Adele’s?”
“What? You don't want to give me your home address? Are you afraid I might be a serial killer?” Noah narrowed his eyes as though he were serious, but his voice told me he was still playing.
“No, I don't want to give my roommates a reason to point and laugh.” I remembered the last tourist I had pick me up. The wolf whistles from the boys had followed us out into the street, and that was after Brooke had questioned his motives and made sure he had appropriate protection.
“So, you're embarrassed by me?” Noah gave a pretend pout.
“No!” I exclaimed and then took a breath. “I'm embarrassed of wolf whistles and embarrassing stories. My coworkers are like family and they think it's funny whenever I go out on a date. It took them two weeks of teasing before they realized that I was actually working at the bar and not just getting dressed up for fun.”
“They sound charming,” he said with a laugh.
“I love them, but they've decided that I'm their innocent little sister. They like to tease, but they're also very protective of me. They're like the older brothers I never had.” I shook my head and smiled. “I'm really just saving you from interrogation.”
“I don't know, I could go for some embarrassing stories of you,” Noah said thoughtfully.
I punched his arm. “You have to earn those stories. I don't let just anyone hear them anymore.”
“They must be good.” Noah shot me a wolfish grin, and I could feel the blush heating my cheeks. Luckily, the buzz of his phone saved me. “They're starting to get desperate.”
He hit "silence" once more and then brushed a strand of hair from my cheek and back behind my ear. In a graceful motion, he leaned forward, letting his lips graze the tender patch of skin at my temple in a gentle kiss. “I'll see you at seven.”
I nodded, flood of want coursing though my stomach and stealing my words. Noah somehow had the ability to remove any coherent thought in my head and send my insides tumbling in the most pleasant way. I found myself wishing it was already dinnertime.
Noah stood and brushed the sand from his board shorts before giving me one last grin. If I hadn't been sitting, my knees would have gone weak at his smile. I waved as he turned, finally answering the phone with a curt greeting.
I watched him walk down the beach, checking out his perfect ass the entire way. In addition to being tall, dark, and handsome with eyes that could make a harpy melt, he also had a fantastic ass. He was as close to perfect as I could imagine.
I turned back to the sandcastle and put the last finishing touches on it. A few shells, some seaweed pennants, and finished digging the rest of the moat. I snapped a picture of it on my camera, wanting to save this sandcastle forever. It was perfect.
The waves were starting to creep up the beach with high tide. I dug the moat a little deeper to try and fend off the approaching waves, but I knew sandcastles were temporary. That was part of the beauty of them. They were only there for a short amount of time.
I stood and walked away, heading home. I didn't want to see the waves destroy our work. I knew that the sandcastle was the perfect metaphor for whatever was going on between Noah and me. Beautiful and amazing, but destined to fall apart. He was a tourist, and tourists leave. That's just what they do.