My cereal suddenly tasted horrible.
I quickly stood from the table and dumped the cereal, no longer able to eat. I pressed a kiss to the top of Alex’s head. “I need to go open the store,” I told him. “Meet me out in the store when you’re done.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I quickly made my way into the store and began unlocking the doors and doing my daily morning routine. Emily walked in as I was pushing the rolling cart of discount books onto the porch. “Hi!” she greeted, chipper this morning. But then again, she was always chipper. It was one of the reasons I’d hired her.
“Hey,” I greeted, forcing a smile to my lips.
She frowned at me. “Are you okay, Tawney?”
I nodded. “Just fine,” I tried assuring her. Alex came out at that moment, saving me from deflecting more questions. This time, a true smile graced my face. “You ready to go?”
“Yep!” he exclaimed, handing me the heavy beach bag.
I took it from him and shouldered it. “If you need me, call me,” I told Emily over my shoulder. Alex already had my hand in his and was tugging me out the door.
She nodded. “You guys have fun.”
“We will!” Alex cheered over his shoulder.
I laughed and quickly followed after him so he wouldn’t drag me down the steps.
* * *
Slater
I scannedthe beach from my seat on the tower, doing a double-take when my eyes skimmed over Tawney and Alex.
I groaned.
She was killing me—knife straight to the balls.
She was wearing a simple one-piece black swimsuit that more than covered everything, but it was glued to her body like a second skin, letting me see every single curve that she had been graced with. Perfect breasts were held up by what was clearly underwire in her swimsuit, and her waist dipped in before flaring out to wide hips and a fucking delectable ass that I wanted to sink my teeth into.
And Ilovedthat she wasn’t tiny. She had a slight belly that she wasn’t even trying to suck in, and her thighs jiggled with every step she took towards the water, Alex running along ahead of her.
Shades rested over her eyes, and she had a sunhat on, her long dark hair tumbling down her back in messy tendrils.
“Bro, you just zoned out hella hard,” Colwyn said, breaking me from my reverie.
I jerked my head around to look at him and then scrubbed a hand down my face. “Sorry,” I muttered.
Colwyn looked out where I’d been looking and released a low whistle. “That who almost made you late last weekend?”
I nodded. He grinned. “She’s hot as fuck.”
I scowled at him. He barked out a laugh. “I’m just messing with you, man. She’s good-looking, though.”
I rolled my eyes and focused back out on the water. Colwyn was usually mostly quiet, and I was hoping he stuck to that for the rest of the day because I really didn’t want his ribbing about Tawney when I was currently sporting blue balls from Hell.
* * *
I knocked lightlyon the back door of Tawney’s place. She swung open the door, surprise lighting up her eyes. She looked tired—drained, really—but she perked up when she saw me.
“Hi,” she greeted, offering me a small smile.
I held up the bag of take out in my hand. “You up for food?”