“Bye.” I hung up and faced the mountain in front of me.
I drank my coffee and looked out the window in time to see Kaitlyn.
I could come up with a hundred distractions, but as long as she was in Padre I wasn’t going to forget last night.
Fourteen
Kaitlyn
I looked around my motel room. I couldn’t stay in here all day and hide out from Cole. I threw a bottle of sunscreen into my beach bag and one of the towels he had brought yesterday. A day at the beach was in order and I deserved this. It was my vacation.
I twisted the key in the lock and pulled my sunglasses over my eyes. The sun was blaring.
“No, I understand, but if you could just give me until the end of the month—” I heard Cole’s voice. It sounded like he was near the ice machine. ?
?I have reservations the rest of the month, if you would just let me keep the account open until then.”
He sounded like he was in the middle of a negotiation. It was unmistakably about the Dunes. “Right, I know you have a business to run. I’m just asking as a favor—only until the end of the month.”
The call must not have turned out the way he wanted, because I heard the ice machine take the brunt of his anger.
I clutched the beach bag tightly to my shoulder and took the steps to the boardwalk two at a time. I didn’t want Cole to catch me eavesdropping on his business call. Things at the Dunes must have been worse than I thought.
From the top of the peak, I could see South Padre beach spreading for miles in both directions. To my left was the spot of last night’s bonfire and to my right was the party mecca. I walked straight ahead, shook out my towel, and stretched out under the Texas sun.
I tried to take deep, relaxing breaths and focus on the warmth of the sun’s rays, the waves pounding the shoreline, and the gulls circling overhead, but every time I heard a wave crash, I thought about that kiss and Cole’s hands on my body. Damn it. I sat up.
It was just a crush—a crush that should be out of my system now. Nothing else could happen.
“Here you go! Party at Bottoms Up tonight.”
A runner with a messenger bag slung over his bare chest ran past while shoving a flyer in my hand. I looked at the fluorescent green paper.
Bottoms Up knows how to party
Be there—everyone else will be
It wasn’t the most creative marketing I had seen, but it was sure to draw lots of other grads like me. Maybe that was what I needed. I should get away from the Dune Scape and hang out with other people my age. I needed to integrate with the rest of the real world. A distraction from Cole and those lips was in order.
There was a long list of performers. Luckily, whoever had designed the Bottoms Up flyer had added a map at the bottom. Like Peabody’s, it was on the sound side of the island and not too far from where I was staying. I smiled before tucking the party invite into my bag.
The green sundress would have to be ok for the Bottoms Up party. It was the only dress I had, and I didn’t want to wear running shorts for my night out. I checked my reflection in the mirror. It hit my curves in all the right spots, and I thought about what Lisa had said about how I looked in it. I wasn’t above accepting a few free drinks tonight.
I grabbed my purse and the palm tree key chain, and jogged out of the door and straight into Cole.
“Oh, hey. Sorry. I was—” I looked at him. He was carrying a stepladder in one hand and his waist was wrapped in a tool belt.
“You in a hurry?” He set the ladder down against the wall.
“I thought I’d try the Bottoms Up party tonight.”
I brushed my choppy bangs to the side. I don’t know why he always made me fidget so much. I never did this around Branch.
“Right. I thought you said you weren’t a party girl.” I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me again or offended I was leaving.
“I’m not. I just wanted to see what the big deal is.”
I couldn’t tell him I needed a break from him. That if I stayed in my room tonight, I’d just think about last night.