Capture (Seaside Pictures 1)

I felt guilty that the first time I'd talked was with a Hollywood actor who was basically paying me to get his coffee, while I couldn't say one thing around my sister or brother-in-law, or even my best friends.

My brain hurt from trying to figure it out.

Was this just a special one-time thing? Or was I suddenly going to be completely fine? Was it the whale? Lincoln? The kissing?

Maybe that was it. He was my long lost prince, and I was the princess. His kiss was magic. Ha. Only in fairy tales. And in those, the mute girl didn't star or win the hot guy — she was usually the best friend to the princess or the maid.

My phone buzzed in my hand. A text from Demetri, because why call when he wouldn't be able to hear my voice?

"Just do it," I whispered to myself, staring down at the phone. Some part of me needed to test it to see if it was real. But I knew if I tried with Jay or Pris, they'd just freak out that I was calling. That was another thing. If I called, it meant I was basically dying.

If I called twice.

I was already dead.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed Demetri's number and brought the phone to my ear. It felt natural. Like it should. It rang, once, twice, three times.

"Holy shit, Dani. Are you okay? Just start yelling if you need me to call 911. Or play loud music. Shit, shit, shit. Clap your hands, you hear me, Dani? Clap one for ass dialing. Clap two for cops!"

"And if I clap three times?" I joked.

The phone went silent.

"Demetri?" I frowned and brought the phone down to see if I'd gotten disconnected, but he was still on the line. "Demetri."

"D-Dani?"

"Oh sorry, she can't come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?"

"You always were a smart ass." He chuckled and then laughed so hard I had to pull the phone away from my ear. "Holy shit, you're talking! I've missed that sexy voice of yours."

I rolled my eyes. "Seventeen."

"Please tell me that's not his nickname for you? Damn, I should have backed off with the whole seals are going to eat you if you seduce her thing."

"Wait, what?" Sometimes it was hard to keep up with him. And now that he was talking, not texting, I found it almost impossible.

"Linc." Demetri said his name like an expletive. "I basically told him if he touched you, I was going to throw his body to the starving seals, and they'd kill him."

"Seals like fish, not humans."

"He's an actor. It's not like he's the brightest crayon in the box."

"This from the guy who cried when a seagull landed on his head last year."

"HE KNEW MY NAME!" Demetri shouted.

"Heeee…" I drew out the word. "…was making normal seagull noises. Not once did he utter a D."

"Whatever. I'm not arguing with you over that seagull. He freaking stalks me, you know this. He has white on his head."

I sighed. "All seagulls have white… You know what? Never mind."

He was silent for a minute and then, "Dani?"

"Yeah?" My heart pounded against my chest.

"Don't go away again, okay?"

Tears welled in my eyes, threatening to spill over. "I'll try not to."

"I won't ask now… but I will ask later… about how this happened, because it matters to me, and it should matter to you, but the most important thing is you're talking. Want me to tell Jay and Pris?"

I wiped the tears from my cheeks. "I'll tell them, if I can. When I get home."

"Hey," Demetri said softly, "none of that. You'll be able to. I promise."

My throat clogged with more tears, tightening so much it was painful to breathe. "And if I can't?"

"Then we figure it out. But at least now you know one thing."

"Oh, yeah?"

Demetri laughed. "Yeah, apparently all you needed was a nice, hot kiss from Lincoln Greene to loosen those lips of yours."

"Two kisses."

Silence.

More silence.

"What the hell?!" he screamed. "That bastard! I'll kill him!"

Lincoln made his way out of the bathroom.

"Oops, gotta go. Love you!"

"He touch you? If he even lays one fing—"

I hung up on him and shoved my phone in my back pocket.

"Hey." Lincoln wiped some of the excess water from his neck and moved the towel down his chiseled abs.

Mouth dry, I didn't know where to look. If I made eye contact, it seemed like I was trying too hard not to stare at all of those tightly corded muscles just ripping around his midsection. And if I stared, then he'd know it.

I settled on an awkward flinch, a guttural moan, and turned around to watch the rain pound the window. "It was Demetri."

I knew the minute Lincoln made his way over to me; it wasn't just the smell of fresh lavender soap or the fact that he towered over me — it was him. His heat, his magnetism, his everything.

Swallowing my nerves, I turned to glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Still shirtless.

Still sexy.

I swallowed a gulp and met his amused gaze. "What?"

"I asked what he said."

"Oh…" Probably while I was checking him out for the second or third time. "… he was excited then started getting off topic. You know Demetri. One minute I can talk and a miracle occurs, the next he's yelling about seagulls and calling you a bastard."