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***

Cole was blown away at Wendy’s reaction. He’d never witnessed anything so beautiful in his entire life. He’d heard the saying that women glowed with beauty, but had never experienced it firsthand.

He wished he had a camera to capture the moment. Her long blonde hair was fanned out on the sofa cushions, and her shirt was bunched up around her gorgeous chest, exposing her flat, tan stomach. Her white silk panties were soaked from his mouth and her excitement, only making him harder than before. He could see her chest moving quickly with each breath and couldn’t wait to see what she looked like after he’d made love to her.

Her eyes opened and he watched her frown a little.

“
Cole?” She reached for him only to have him shake his head.
 

“
We have time.” He slowly pulled her shorts back up her long legs, enjoying the silkiness of them as he went. “I bet you didn’t know that I’m an ass man.” He smiled up at her. She was still frowning at him and he almost laughed when she looked shocked.
 

“
No, most men…” She broke off and shook her head as she tugged her shirt back into place.
 

He laughed. “Yeah, I’ve seen them stare at you. Not that I don’t appreciate…” His eyes went to her ample chest. “But, this…” He let his hands slide over her hips then down farther to her ass and groaned.

She chuckled. “It’s good to know I’m not lacking in that area.”

He smiled and nodded as he helped her sit up. “I’d better get going.” He stifled a yawn. “My brother is an ass to work for and I’m beat.”

He watched her lips form an O. Her eyes went to his shorts and he felt like laughing again.

“
Honey, I’d love to stay, but I’m afraid I couldn’t give you all the attention you deserve. Not after the day I put in.” He pulled her close and kissed her for a while. “Trust me, I’d rather be taking you back to your bed than driving a few miles and crawling into an empty one.”
 

She nodded and then chuckled when he yawned again. “You could stay…”

He rested his forehead on hers. “Tell me that again some other time.”

She smiled and then got up. When he moved to get off the sofa, his hip chose that moment to spasm, so he fell backwards and landed on the cushions with a groan.

“
Are you okay?” She rushed back down to him, a frown on her face.
 

He nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, taking several deep breaths. He really was beat; every muscle in his body was screaming at him. He wanted to get back and swallow a few pills and clock out for the night. “Yeah, I guess I’m not used to a full day of hard labor.” He smiled back at her and stretched his legs for show.

She chuckled and helped him up. “You should really think about doing yoga. It helps loosen your body. I can show you a few moves if you want.”

He laughed. “Me? Doing yoga?” He shook his head as he laughed. Wendy put her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

“
Suit yourself.” She shrugged her shoulders. “You know, it could help out with your surfing.”
 

He laughed harder. “Right. That sounds like something my brothers would say, right before I became the butt of a long string of jokes.”

Wendy smiled at him. “I happen to know that Shelly has convinced Marcus to go with her to yoga classes. They hold them above Ray’s place.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “But, if your brother is a bigger man than you…”

He chuckled. “Nice try. If Marcus is doing yoga, I’ll…” He shook his head.

“
You’ll what? Do it too? You might be surprised. It could help.” She nodded towards his hip. “Don’t think you’ve fooled everyone, because ever since your accident, I’ve noticed your limp.”
 

He frowned. “What do you mean?” He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

She sighed. “I bet you didn’t even go to physical therapy like you were supposed to.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve been busy.”

“
Right.” She laughed. “What was the last one’s name?” She chuckled.
 

“
Wendy.” He smiled and pulled her close as she frowned.
 

“
Don’t remind me.”
 

He leaned down and kissed her before she could disappear into her thoughts again. He didn’t want to give her a moment to doubt starting a relationship with him. Now that he’d had a taste of her, he wanted to make sure he didn’t lose her.

“
Dream of me,” he whispered against her lips. “When you crawl into bed, remember how this feels.” He closed his lips over hers until he felt her shiver with want. Then he backed away slowly and left, leaving her standing in the middle of the room, her lips swollen from his.
 

When he got back to the apartment, the first thing he did was swallow a few pills and suck it all down with a cold beer. Then he made his way into the shower and stood under the hottest water he could stand on his skin. By the time he stepped out, his muscles were relaxed and he felt almost human.

That was until he heard the message from Roman.

“
Hey man it’s me. Um, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve found her. Marissa, that is. I’m staying longer. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Keep covering for me will you? Oh, don’t tell the family. Not yet. I’ll be in touch.”
 

That was it. The line went dead. Roman’s voice had sounded off. Instantly, he picked up his phone and shot a text off to his brother.

-
What the heck? You’d better call me back.
 

He waited a few minutes and then sent another.

-I’m not covering for you too much longer. I want answers. Is she okay?

Finally, ten minutes later, as he was crawling into bed, he heard his phone beep.

-
She’s fine. I’ll tell you more later. Pls just cover for me.
 

-Okay. Where are you?

-later. Night.

Cole slammed his phone down before he threw it. How was he supposed keep covering for him? Already that day Marcus had cornered him and demanded to know what was up. Thankfully, the day had been so busy, he’d been able to avoid answering.

He knew he wasn’t going to be as lucky next time and dreaded having to explain that Roman had gone off and found Marissa and kept it a secret from everyone else.

T
he next day Wendy was back at work and loving every minute of it. Monday mornings were usually slower, but since it was the weekend before July Fourth, and they had a week full of live bands playing, the place was jammed.
 

She loved it when The Whalers, a local band who’d been playing at the bar and grill since opening, played. Mike, the guitar player and singer had tried many times to get her to go out with him, but she just couldn’t get past the fact that he was stuck in the 80s. Besides, he just wasn’t her type. No, her type seemed to be blond, bad-boy surfers who had a knack for pissing her off. She glanced at the doorway and frowned when he walked in with Shelly on his arm. She knew that Shelly was completely devoted to Marcus, but the least Cole could do was not flirt with her so much.

She turned her eyes back to the beer she’d been building and scowled when it flowed over, soaking her hand in the process.

“
Got something, or should I say someone, on your mind tonight?” Alan chuckled behind her back.
 

“
No! Shut up!” she whispered as she slid the drink across the bar and took the next order. She lived for busy nights and had a knack for always getting her orders right. No matter how many people were standing on the other side of the bar, she kept track of each and every one. Tonight wasn’t going to even be a challenge, but it was still fun in her book.
 

“
Hey,” she heard Cole’s voice behind her. She turned to smile at the pair.
 

“
Hi.” She made a point to look towards the door. “Missing someone?”
 

Shelly laughed and hung her arm over Cole’s shoulders, causing a little shiver of jealousy to rush down Wendy’s spine. “Marcus will be along shortly. Cole was nice enough to walk me over.”

She nodded, not trusting her voice. “What’ll you have?” It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Shelly; it was more like she didn’t trust Cole with Shelly.

“
Club soda. I think I got food poisoning at
lunch.” She rubbed her stomach. “That’s the last time I let Marcus convince me to try something new.” She rolled her eyes. “FYI, don’t try the new Thai place at the edge of town.”
 

“
Noted.” She handed over the club soda and looked at Cole, who was just staring at her.
 

“
You?”
 

“
Hmm?” He smiled at her.
 

“
What’ll you have?”
 

His smile grew bigger. “You know what I want.”

She actually felt her cheeks turn pink so she quickly turned around and started making the girlie drink that he liked. When she was done, she hoped her face had gone back to normal as she set the drink down in front of him.

His hand reached out and took hers, holding her still. When her eyes met his, she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on her lips.

“
What?” She chuckled.
 

“
Later?” She knew what he meant and even though Shelly was standing right next to him, she nodded quickly before pulling her hand away and taking the next order.
 

She didn’t notice her feet or back hurting, not when she was enjoying the music so much. Her hips bounced along to the good tunes and she even stopped a few times to shake her booty during a favorite song.

Marcus showed up less than fifteen minutes later and the three of them made their way to their favorite booth near the back. She found it hard not to glance that way all night. Cassey had made her rounds and headed towards the booth. She knew her boss would be on her feet as much as anyone else in the place, which made her respect her even more.

She’d worked for plenty of people before, but none she’d liked as much as Cassey.

“
Hey, baby, can I get a beer here?” When she turned around, she almost groaned out loud. Brad, one of the locals, was leaning on the bar with two of his buddies. Brad, Mark, and Joseph were Surf Breeze’s local troublemakers. The three men caused more trouble in a season than most tourists did all year.
 

“
What’ll you have?” She prayed that they would have a beer each and then leave, but when he tossed down his credit card and opened a tab, she knew it was going to be a long night.
 

Sure enough, less than an hour later, right as the band decided to take a break, a small fight broke out between the trio and another group of men who had just walked in. Brad said that the newcomers had stolen a bar stool, which had caused Joseph to fall directly on his butt. But Wendy had been looking that way and had seen that Joseph had moved the stool aside to tell a story and had just been too drunk to remember.

It took Tyrone, a bouncer that worked on busy nights at the bar, along with Mike, two other band members, and both Marcus and Cole to clear the group out of the bar area. She was at least thankful that the cops hadn’t been called. When they got involved, it usually shut the place down for a while.

After that, Cole took up residence at the bar instead of heading back to the booth.

“
Does that happen a lot?” He frowned towards the doors.
 

She shrugged her shoulders. “The three of them usually only come in once a month. We’ve made it clear to them we’re not going to deal with it.”

He nodded and then looked back towards her. “I guess I never really thought about this place as a
bar
bar before.”

She laughed as she started building a Guinness. “What did you think I do back here?”

He smiled and nodded. “You know what I mean.”

She slid the Guinness across the bar to its owner. “Yeah, like I said, it doesn’t happen often.” She turned and took the next order and was happy to note that things were slowing down. The band was packing up and with no music to distract her, she was feeling every bit of pain from standing on her feet for the last eight hours.

“
Does it bother you? Standing so long?” He leaned over the bar and snatched a handful of cherries from behind the bar.
 

She shrugged her shoulders and slapped at his hand. “Not so much. I like my job too much to care.” She started cleaning up and closing down the bar. When she glanced at the clock, she smiled when she noticed that it was only a few minutes to one.

“
But, you’re feet have to be killing you.” Cole said, shoving a handful of cherries into his mouth.
 

She glanced at him and shook her head. “I’m sure there’s still something in the kitchen to eat.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

She rolled her eyes at him and placed her dinner order of cheese sticks and a turkey sandwich. Just for him, she added another sandwich and a side of chips and salsa and then made it all to-go instead of dine-in like she normally did.

“
You were going to tell me what was so funny,” he reminded her when she started wiping the counter down.
 

She glanced up at him and tried to remember what she was thinking about. “Oh, it’s just funny that after so many years, I can gauge when it’s time to start closing down without glancing at a clock.”

She watched Cole tilt his head a little and nod. “I guess it’s a lot like the way I can tell that a good wave is coming.” He smiled at her as she chuckled.

“
I guess.” She allowed herself to lean against the bar for a moment. “It must be nice to have a job where you are out in the sun all day.” She sighed.