She glanced over her shoulder. "Are you really sharing with me? A big guy like you?"
"Big? Are you calling me fat?" I pressed my chest to her back and took the risk of sliding a hand around to her stomach.
"Yep. You should get the skinny tacos." She turned her face a little and took a short breath. "You're going to ruin me, aren't you?"
"Ruin you? Never. I plan on trying to make you better. You're awfully shy, though. We should bring you out of your shell." I nipped at her lips before releasing her and moving up beside her. My whole body was on fire for a long afternoon in the bed with her lips pressed to my skin, her cries filling up my ears.
She popped me in the chest and turned to order a taco plate from the attendant, leaving me with the opportunity to study her. I pursed my lips and took a subtle step back as she took care of getting lunch. Her white tank top sat against her tanned shoulders and left me wanting to run my fingertips over the pretty spray of freckles that covered her.
"You want anything else?" She looked over at me, looking far more innocent than she had up to that point.
"Just you." I licked at my lips as her eyes widened.
"Stop it." She turned back to the guy and handed him a card. I realized then that she was trying to pay for our lunch.
"No. I have my wallet.”
"I got it." She turned to face me. "It's the twenty-first century. I'm good paying. You bought dinner the other night."
"Yeah, and I fucked up the evening royally." I brushed my hand over the small of her back.
"Then, make it up to me." She smiled and turned back to the taco cart, grabbing the plate.
I picked up a few napkins and took our drink from her as we walked toward the sand. "And, what would the lady like for me to do to make it up to her?"
"You could start by grabbing us two straws." She sat the food down and nodded toward the drink. "Simple enough."
"Almost too simple." I sat the drink down and tugged my wallet from my back pocket. Girls liked flowers, and the small vendor beside the taco truck had a few, single flowers dancing in the wind from what I could see. I pointed at a pink one and smiled.
"I'll take that." I paid the cashier, grabbed the straw and walked back to the table.
Cora glanced up from leaning over to take a bite of the taco and gave me a look as she cleaned up the sauce running down the side of her mouth.
"What's that for?" She took the flower as I handed it to her and took my seat.
"You. I thought you might like it." I poked the straws into the drink and sat back, watching her. "You're making quite a mess with lunch. Am I supposed to eat the other half of that after you've mangled it?"
She laughed and pulled the flower to her nose, breathing in deeply. "No, I got two so we could each have one."
I took the other one from her and glanced out to the water. "It's soon to be the Fourth of July, huh? How much longer are you here after that?"
"Thank you...for this." She sat the flower down and leaned back. "I don't know. I was supposed to be her until the end of August, but my parents are asking that I come back early. Like in two weeks."
"Two weeks?" I was a little louder than I wanted to be. Two weeks? I only had two weeks to make a lasting impression on her? A lasting impression? What the fuck was happening to me?
She laughed. "Yeah, if we're going to have a fling, you need to come on with it."
"A fling? Is that what you want?" I took a bite of the taco and licked at my fingers.
"Is there anything else to have with a good-looking stranger that you might never see again?" She picked at the contents of her taco, nibbling on bits and pieces of it.
"I thought you swore off men thanks to your rotten-ass ex hurting you." I hated to bring it up, but if she was just down for a fling, I needed to figure out how to redirect my thoughts. For the first time in my life, I was trying to figure out how to get her to like me...like, really like me. Not just find me attractive enough to take me to bed, but actually want to know more about me, to invest in me emotionally.
"I did." She wiped her fingers and glanced out toward the water. "Man, he fucked me up good. Before him, I had a lot of fun just dating and doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, but then I found him."
"And?" My heart constricted in my chest. I'd yet to find a woman that made me want to turn in my wanton ways, but something told me that the beautiful girl in front of me would be quite capable of doing it to me.
"And he seemed like everything I could want in a man." She shrugged, the movement lifting her breasts and drawing my eyes down to covet her. I'd seen enough of her in the moonlight the night before to know that I wanted to see all of her, stretched out, eyes closed with a look of ecstasy on her face.