Page 82 of Arranged To Be Mine

She laughed and darted away, running toward the water. “Catch me if you can!”

I stood there for a second, stunned, watching her sprint across the sand. Her hair had come loose from its bun, streaming behind her. She was laughing, the sound carrying back to me on the breeze.

“Oh, you’re going to regret that,” I called after her.

I pulled off my tank top and took off running, my feet pounding against the packed sand near the water’s edge. She had a head start, but I was faster. I caught up to her just as she hit the surf, the cold water splashing up around our ankles.

She shrieked and tried to dodge, but I grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off her feet. She kicked and squirmed, laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

“Put me down!”

“You started this!”

I carried her deeper into the water, the waves hitting our thighs now. She was still laughing, her hands gripping my arms, her body pressed against mine.

“Beau, I swear to God⁠—”

I dunked us both.

We came up sputtering, the cold water shocking the breath from our lungs. She gasped and shoved at my chest, but she was grinning.

“You’re insane,” she said.

“You love it.”

“This isn’t so bad,” she admitted.

“Told you.”

And then a wave snuck up on us and buried us under the water. When I surfaced, she had just popped up, sputtering and pushing her hair out of her face. The look of shock on her face would have been hilarious. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t read her expression.

Was she pissed? Would she storm out of the water and forever curse the ocean? Was my mermaid fantasy officially dead?

26

DARCY

Isurfaced, gasping, salt water streaming down my face. My hair was plastered to my cheeks. I could feel my eyelashes stuck together. Sand was definitely in my buttcrack. The wave had knocked the wind out of me.

But I was laughing.

When was the last time I’d laughed like this? Really laughed without worrying about how I looked or what people thought?

Beau was watching me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Relief, maybe. Like he’d been bracing for me to storm out of the water and never speak to him again.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m great.” And I meant it.

Another wave rolled toward us, gentler this time. I let it lift me off my feet. The sensation was strange and wonderful. A moment of weightlessness. Surrendering control to something bigger than myself had never felt so freeing.

Beau moved closer. The water pushed against his lower body. The sun caught the droplets on his shoulders. His hair was slicked back from his face. Water streamed down his chest in rivulets that traced every ridge of muscle.

God, he was nice to look at.

Coming out here was worth it just to see him like that. Shirtless and glistening was a very flattering look for him. I’d seen him naked, obviously. I’d touched every inch of that body. But there was something about seeing him here in his element that did something to me.

My brain kept trying to remind me of all the reasons this was complicated. Getting involved with Beau right now would muddy everything. Mix business with pleasure in ways that could blow up spectacularly. But when I looked at him with that easy smile on his face, it all seemed really simple.