She forced a smile and hurried off down the beach. Isaac caught up to her and trailed along. Neither of them spoke. A week in a cozy beach bungalow might not be so ideal if it was going to be like this. She tried to remind herself that she wasn’t in the market to date, not after the last nightmarish experience. It didn’t help, as all she wanted to do was pin Isaac down and kiss him, but if Vance was right, she stank at kissing and Isaac would leave her regardless.
Her irrational dreams with Isaac couldn’t happen, so she just kept walking.
“Do you want to race?” Isaac asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.
“Excuse me?”
“Race. If I remember right, you used to love to run, and dance, and pretty much be adorable.”
Adorable. So Isaac did think of her as a little girl. Dang it. A studly man like him would never want to kiss a little girl. It was fine. “Let’s go,” she challenged. She pushed off and sprinted down the sand.
Isaac laughed loudly behind her and then took up pursuit. Cosette gave it her all, arms pumping, legs rotating as fast as she could make them go. She wasn’t as fast as she’d been as a teenager, but she still ran every chance she got and sprinted at the end. The warm wind rushed past her face, and she reveled in the beauty of this stretch. The soft sand cushioned every step, and the view of palm trees to her left and the ocean to her right was gorgeous. She could smell salt, wet sand, and some unfamiliar earthy plant scent. Sprinting in such a perfect locale was glorious. She had fabulous running routes in San Fran, but all of them were crowded with people, and none of them had a handsome man chasing her.
She could hear Isaac’s footsteps pounding behind her. Her heart was already racing from the sprint, but when she imagined him catching her, sending them tripping and getting all tangled up together, it thumped out of control. Gasping for air, she risked a glance over her shoulder and found that he was almost upon on her. His face was a mask of determination, and his body was a walking billboard for tough military man. His muscles worked in synchrony as he sprinted. They were long and lean, and she just wanted to touch one …
She tripped on who knew what and rolled through the sand.
“Cozy!” Isaac yelled. He was instantly upon her, helping her to a seated position and studying her with concern. “Are you okay?”
Cosette pushed her hair out of her face and patted at her arms and abdomen. “Everything’s still here.” Her heart rate was still elevated, but that was to be expected from that sprint, not to mention the warm way this incredible man was staring at her. Could she yank him down to the sand and roll around for a while? No, that might be socially inappropriate. If only she could call Mar.
Isaac chuckled. He shook his head and brushed some sand off of her face. “Adorable,” he murmured.
Cosette didn’t need the reminder that he thought of her as a precocious child. She struggled to her feet, and he grasped her elbow and helped her up. “Do you concede defeat?” she asked, tossing her long hair back.
Isaac grinned. “Never.”
She wrinkled her nose at him and took off sprinting again. His deep chuckle reverberated behind her, and he quickly took up pursuit. Cosette laughed and upped her pace. Even before the Vance debacle, she’d been getting far too serious and finding less enjoyment in her work or running or even being with Mar or her dad. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this free and happy. Isaac might not be interested in her as a woman. She could convince herself that she wasn’t ready for romance anyway. It was enough she could feel like herself again, at least for the moment.