Kiss This (4 page)

Well, what the hell, right? Maybe Camryn
would find out that he was married or had seven illegitimate
children. Maybe he was the neighborhood man whore that wanted to
move on to unsuspecting visitors. Stalking the beach like that
could totally fit the profile. The only thing she knew about him
was that he was extremely gorgeous, and his wit was so charming she
couldn’t get his voice out of her head. She was hoping her mom
could tell her something that would extinguish her interest in
him.

“Do you know a guy named Teague that lives
nearby?” she finally asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Serena eyed her for a moment before shaking
her head. “I don’t believe so. Why?”

“Nothing. Just, um, ran into him today.
Wondered if he was a weirdo freak or anything like that.”

Serena smiled, and it was probably the first
genuine smile that Camryn had witnessed all week. “So this is a guy
that seems interesting to you?” she asked, putting down the scarf.
She left the bed and decided to walk down the hall with Camryn to
the kitchen. It was totally unexpected, but Camryn just went along
with it.

“Yeah, he was pretty good-looking.”

“And what was his name again?”

“Teague.”

She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
“Hmm, that’s not a name I’m used to hearing.”

“Mmhmm,” Camryn replied as she removed the
meat from the fridge.

“So did you exchange numbers or anything?”
Serena asked, preparing a pot for the noodles at the same time.

Since Camryn was so happy that her mom was
actually
doing
something, she decided to keep answering her
questions. “Nah, we didn’t. Maybe I’ll see him around again. Hey, I
met Kyah,” she added, changing the subject.

“Oh, did you? What’d you think of her?”

“She seems really nice. I think we really
should go over there for Christmas dinner.” She noticed her mom’s
frown and said, “Why don’t you want to go? It’s for Christmas, Mom.
Please?”

“Cami, I’m not ready to be around people.
Why don’t you go? You and Kyah are both twenty-two; you’ll have
someone fun to spend the holiday with. I really wish you didn’t
have to be here this time of year and…” The waterworks returned and
she grabbed a paper towel from the counter to blot her tears. “I’d
feel so much happier if you just went, Camryn.”

“Fine, I’ll go,” she agreed. It bothered her
that she was going to spend Christmas with a bunch of strangers,
but if it meant getting out of her mom’s house again, she’d do it.
She almost wished she hadn’t told Serena she could stay with her
for a couple of weeks, but being dishonest about stuff like that
wasn’t Camryn’s style.

For now she would just bide her time the
best she could.

Chapter Four

A run was a run. At least that’s what Camryn
tried convincing herself. It was four o’clock on Christmas Eve and
now she was facing the nine flights of stairs that led to the
beach. Teague might not even be at home, but she was still driving
herself crazy with anxiety. Maybe what she felt was fear, but she
was trying her best to ignore it. She was interested in
Teague—which was understandable since he was sexy as hell—but she
did not like how off-balanced he made her feel. After one run-in
with him—
one
, damn it—he had her thoughts jumbled up instead
of nicely arranged with logic. That hadn’t happened since Zach, and
Camryn was taken by surprise that she had actually met someone she
couldn’t stop thinking about.

“It’s called lust,” she decided, and she
descended the stairs in record time, breaking into a jog the second
she hit the sand. But she wasn’t going to kill herself this time.
The tide was out and she had no reason to hurry.

She didn’t even look directly at his house
as she got closer. She could see the stairs were empty, but he was
never there on her first trip by anyways. Out of the corner of her
eye she couldn’t tell if anyone was on the deck, either.

Damn, she was tempted to push herself, just
to get through her run faster so she could pass by his house on her
way back. She did urge herself to hurry—just a little—but didn’t
want to overdo it. When she was finally close enough to see his
stairs on the way back, she didn’t like the disappointment that
rushed through her. He wasn’t there, and she was mad at herself for
even caring.

To hell with pacing. She pushed even harder,
passing his house and using the memories of her crashing into him
on the sidewalk to punish herself. She’d been utterly humiliated,
but landing on his body like that had been entirely worth it. She
wondered what it would be like to have his arms wrapped around her.
Better yet, what it would feel like to rub her own hands all over
his body, and to find out if he really did look like how she’d
pictured him naked.

Definitely lust.

Camryn glanced out toward the water, trying
to place that image in the surf. She could even hear his sexy deep
voice but couldn’t tell what he was saying—

Her shoe hit a rock and she pitched forward.
A large pair of hands grabbed her arm and her waist, pulling her
upright before she did a nosedive into the sand.

“What the—”

“Fuck?” Teague finished for her with a
laugh, as they awkwardly lurched to a stop. “Yeah, it’s me
again.”

She whipped around with wide eyes, wondering
how he’d suddenly appeared right next to her. Was she
hallucinating? She couldn’t even catch her breath, she was
breathing so hard.

“Jesus, where’s the fire?” he asked, also
breathing heavy. “You were just… Hey, were you running away from
me?” he wondered, raking a hand through his dark hair.

“What?” she exhaled, leaning onto her knees.
“No I wasn’t running from you. I didn’t even see you.”

He reached over and nudged her shoulder
upward. “Even I know not to hunch over like that. Come on, runner
girl. What’s the deal?”

She barely scoffed out a laugh. “What’s the
deal? I just ran almost four miles.” She glanced down the beach to
where his house was a football field away. “You only ran a hundred
yards. I surely hope you don’t need to keel over.”

“I’d like to curl into the fetal position
right now. I just
sprinted
those hundred yards in
sand
. I don’t think I’ve ever run that hard in my entire
life. Not to mention almost breaking my ass jumping down entire
flights of stairs at a time till I hit sand.”

She laughed again as she studied his face.
He was smiling and looking beautiful of course. But she glanced
down the length of him, realizing he was wearing shorts and a pair
of running shoes with his sweatshirt.

He noticed her onceover and grinned. “Yes, I
was gonna run with you. Thought if I could impress you by keeping
up, you’d give me your name.”

She pretended to consider it as her
breathing began to slow a bit. “And you ran those hundred yards to
catch up with me?”

“I
sprinted
them. Fiercely. With
determination. And passion.”

“Passion?” she repeated, raising her
eyebrows.

“It just slipped out. But it must mean
something for sure.”

“Hmm, I guess so.” She tried not to smile as
she deliberated a response. “Okay, fair enough. It’s Camryn.
Spelled C-a-m-r-y-n.”

Teague picked up a stick a few feet away and
started writing it in the wet sand.

“What are you doing?” she smiled.

“Making sure I’ve got a visual.” He finished
the last letter and looked it over. “Camryn,” he repeated, eyeing
her next. “It suits you.”

She stifled a laugh.

“What, you don’t like your name?” he asked.
“I like it a lot.”

Shaking her head, she went with the truth.
“I thought the same thing about you when you told me your name.
Teague seems to fit you.”

“Huh, interesting. I never spelled it for
you, though. Maybe you’d feel differently if you saw it spelled. I
mean even saying the letters out loud sounds weird to me.
T-e-a-g-u-e. Really? G-u-e? Sounds kind of stupid.”

“I already figured it was spelled that way,”
she told him with a chuckle, writing it in the sand below her own
name.

“Really? I’ve never met anyone with my name.
I’ve met a Teagan, but that was a chick.”

Camryn would have responded, but Teague took
the stick from her hand and drew a heart around their names. He
pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a picture of it. “You
tell anyone I did something that sappy, I’ll throw you in the ocean
to never be found.”

She didn’t know whether to laugh at his
words or remain stunned by his actions. Either way, she decided he
was pretty good at this flirting stuff, so she only smiled as they
both started walking.

“So,
Camryn
,” he said, emphasizing
her name that time. “You weren’t even watching where you were going
when you almost biffed it in the sand. What was in the water?”

“Oh, you would have to ask that exact
question, huh?” she said with a laugh. “Really?”

He tossed her a quizzical look. “What’s
wrong with the question? You were booking it down the beach, not
even watching where you were going. If you ran like that any
further, you’d have run dead smack into that log,” he pointed.
“What was in the water?”

She shook her head with a smile, but not
because she wasn’t going to tell him. It was because she
was
going to tell him. “I was picturing you naked,” she stated.

He stopped dead in his tracks and she had to
turn around to face him. His mouth was open in an “oh,” but then he
smiled like he was sure she was just pulling his leg.

“I’m being serious,” she added. “I was
picturing you naked.”

He pretended to cough his disbelief. “No
way. Like I was just…standing there naked in the ocean?”

She had to laugh. “Yeah, pretty much.”

He laughed out loud as he clutched his
stomach. “Oh my God, you totally rock my world.”

“Because I’ve pictured you naked?”

“Uh, pictured me naked, admitted it, and are
totally embarrassed by it. I love it.”

“I’m not embarrassed. Can’t exactly control
my thoughts sometimes.”

“Well holy fuck, and us guys get a bad rep
because of the same thing?”

“Well I’d say it’s because guys are a little
more vulgar when it comes to stuff like that. All I did was wonder
if you have a six-pack and that’s it. You, on the other hand, have
probably pictured me naked, pictured what you would do with me
naked, and pictured what
I
could do for
you
naked.
After all of that, you most likely felt a little bit turned on by
it and—”

“Oh my God!” he yelled with a laugh, waving
for her to stop. He doubled over with his hands propped on his
knees, laughing his ass off. “Please tell me you’re for real. I’m
not sure I can handle this if you’re not.”

She nudged him upward like he’d done to her
earlier. They were toe to toe, and with her looking up and him
looking down, their faces were only inches apart. “Yes, I’m for
real. But you’re only witnessing my very best angle. The rest is
nothing to be impressed by.” She left him standing there and
started walking again.

He only paused for a moment before he caught
up to her. “I have a Christmas present for you.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “A present? You
don’t even know me, Teague.”

“Exactly. This is gonna help.”

She chuckled uncomfortably. “Um, okay.”

Teague grinned and said, “Well maybe you
aren’t ready for it yet.”

“Probably not,” she countered wryly.

“I figured you’d say that. But what if I
told you I worked really, really hard on it for you?”

Camryn cast him a side-glance. “Is it
something you
made
?” She smiled and added, “Wait, is it bar
of soap carved into a heart?”

His smile slowly grew. “Hey, not a bad idea.
Next time, though. This is something very, very valuable.”

“Valuable, huh. I’m not sure I want it,
then.”

“Not pricewise.”

She glanced at him again before finally
stopping in the sand. He stopped too and faced her, pulling a piece
of paper out of the pocket of his shorts to hand to her.

Her eyes suspiciously remained fixed on his
before she finally took the paper and glanced down at it. Then she
tried not to laugh too hard.

“Very few people have that, you know,” he
told her, trying to keep a straight face. “I’m trusting you’ll keep
it safe but use it yourself as often as you can. And I have shitty
handwriting, so you can see how much effort I put into that to make
it legible.”

“Your
phone number
?” she finally got
out. “God, Teague, you’re really good, you know? This is… Wow, I
don’t know how to compete with you.”

He looked pretty damn proud of himself.
After giving her an elated grin, they continued walking.

But Camryn’s words were more devastating to
herself than she made them sound, and that scared the hell out of
her. Teague was gorgeous, smart, and humorous. She knew right then
and there that she had her work cut out for her. Keeping a casual
friendship with this guy until she left might prove to be a little
difficult.

“Oh, and Camryn?” he said as they walked
towards the public stairs. “I don’t have a six-pack,” he smiled,
shaking his head. “For you I have an
eight
-pack.”

***

Teague returned to his house an hour later,
a stupid ass smile on his face and a skip in his step. Jay was
sitting on the couch in the back room, watching TV while playing
his guitar.

“What the hell’s up with you?” Jay asked.
“You look like you just screwed the head cheerleader. You catch up
to her?”

“Don’t be such a sick perv. Yeah I caught up
to her. Barely. And no we didn’t,” he added, just before Jay asked
again.

“So what happened?”

Teague shrugged. “We talked. I walked her
home. Well, she’s just visiting her mom, I guess.”