“Why? You want to know if I have a younger sister you can date?” she teased. She grinned at him. “I don't have a little sister. I have a little brother, but he's married.”
“Aw shucks,” Wyatt replied with a fake disappointed look.
“You?” Cassie asked. “Any siblings? Divorces?”
“No divorces and I'm an only child,” he replied. “My mom died when I was little, so it was just my dad and me for a long time.”
“That sounds like you are close,” she said, looking down the beach like she was looking for something.
He nodded. “We were. He died when I was in college.” His throat tightened, but he kept his head up.
“I'm sorry,” she said softly.
“I wanted to be just like him for a long time. He was everything I wanted to be, and then he was gone.” Wyatt didn't usually tell people this. He didn't talk much about his dad. The man had been a force of nature. He was always moving, always working. Wyatt had tried to do that for a long time, but it only burned him out.
That was why he was here. He wasn't his father. He didn't want to work himself into an early grave like his father had. He had to learn from his father's mistakes.
She looked thoughtful, taking him in again. “What kind of business did you have?”
“A small one,” he said, waving his hand like he could brush the question away. He'd given her too much information about himself without realizing it. “I sold it.”
“And now you're serving drinks in the Caribbean for fun. You just keep getting more interesting,” she told him. “Layers and layers.”
“Like an onion or a parfait?” he asked, referencing the movie Shrek.
“Parfait.” She grinned at him. “You like making waffles?”
“You saying you want a sleep-over?”
“Maybe.” She flushed a little bit and looked down at her feet. They'd walked the whole of the island several times, and they were back where they started with their life-jackets.
Wyatt grabbed the small cooler and towel from the jet-ski, took off his shirt, and sat in the warm sand. “Come sit with me.”
She hesitated for a moment. Her face said it all. She didn't hesitate because she didn't want him, but because she couldn't believe this was real. He'd seen that look before, but it had never looked as good as it did on her. Her expression was innocent and excited. There was wonder in her face that made him feel like a god among men.
She settled in the sand beside him. Close enough that it was flirting, yet still enough distance to show she was nervous. She didn't do this kind of thing. She was a good girl, and the idea that he was helping her be bad was a powerful aphrodisiac.
“Here.” He handed her a bottle filled with pink liquid. She held it and took a cautious sip.
“Sex on the beach.” She grinned and took a bigger sip. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked at him. “Are you trying to get me drunk all the way out here on our own little beach?”
“Maybe,” he replied with a shrug. Her eyes went wide, and he chuckled. “These are virgin drinks. I have to be able to drive you home.”
She laughed and drank again without hesitation. “When you said we'd have 'sex on the beach,' this wasn't quite what I had in mind. It's good, just not quite what I was expecting.”
“And what were you expecting?” This was the part where things got good. He could feel it in his bones. His voice came out low and deep.
She chewed on her bottom lip again. Desire flared up in her eyes, and he could see it battling her self-control. He hoped she would let the desire win.
“I was hoping for some sex on the beach like this.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It was more peck than kiss. It went so fast that it didn't even register in a kiss in his mind before she had already pulled back.
Chapter Seven
Wyatt
Her lips pressed together, and her eyes were full of nervousness as she waited for him to respond. He could tell she wasn't used to being the one to initiate. If anything, the fact that she would do something so far out of her comfort level made it clear how much she liked him.
She swallowed hard, still waiting for his reaction.