To Love Someone (Baytown Boys #14) - Maryann Jordan Page 0,37
stopped and cut the engine, she hopped off awkwardly, her heel catching on the seat, causing her to stagger. He jerked his arm out and steadied her, a slight smile playing about his lips. Laughing, she said, “The trials and tribulations of being short!” Unsnapping the strap on her helmet, she handed it to him and turned, jogging toward the dog pen.
“Hey, boy!” She greeted Frodo as he frolicked around her, excited as always for her to come home. He sniffed her hands and pants as she rubbed him down, then loped along until he came to the bike, offering a deep baying bark before giving Joseph the same sniff-treatment. Seemingly satisfied that he had catalogued all the different smells, he galloped down the path toward the beach.
She walked over to Joseph as he pulled off his helmet and smiled up at him. “I really appreciate you coming to get me. And for towing my truck. And for bringing me here.” With a self-deprecating shake of her head, she added, “It seems like you’re always catching me at my worst. I’m really not such a mess. I’m just… I’m just…”
“Busier than one person should be,” he finished for her.
Shoving her fingers into her front pockets to halt the desire to reach up and brush his hair out of his eyes, she nodded. Hearing Frodo baying in the distance, she glanced toward the sand dune and hesitated.
“You need to go check on him?”
She shifted her gaze back to him and nodded. “Um… if you don’t have to rush back, we could take a walk on the beach. He won’t run off, but I do need to keep an eye on him.”
“Yeah. I got nowhere I need to be.”
Her breath had halted but rushed out as a smile crossed his face when he answered. They fell into step next to each other, walking past the scrub brush and over the dune, coming out onto the beach. Frodo was frolicking at the edge of the water, and she clapped her hands. “Frodo! What have you got, boy?”
“This view is amazing.” Joseph stood with his hands on his hips, looking out over the Bay.
“Yeah, it’s pretty special. I love being out here and wish I had more time just to do nothing but walk on the beach.”
“We’ve got time now.”
She nodded, nibbling on the corner of her bottom lip. Joseph seemed more at ease now. She’d actually witnessed him smiling several times this afternoon. She glanced down at his boots and said, “We can’t walk on the beach in boots.”
“Is that a rule I don’t know about?”
He was still smiling, and she laughed. “Yes… it’s one of my rules. As long as the weather permits, bare toes are a requirement. In the winter, of course, boots are acceptable.”
“Well, I don’t want to be a rule breaker.”
He bent and untied his laces, toeing off his heavy boots and dropping his socks inside while she did the same thing. Standing, her gaze slid from his windblown hair down his muscular frame, ending at his pale, bare feet at the bottom of his jeans. Sucking in a ragged breath, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anything sexier. And that included him on his motorcycle.
“No one ever comes out here, so we can leave them right here.” Forcing her mind back to the task at hand, she dropped her boots to the sand, noting the nasty smears. Blushing, she lifted her gaze to see him staring at her. “I’m sorry.”
His chin jerked back slightly as he cocked his head to the side. “Sorry? For what?”
“My job can get pretty… um… messy. I never think about it anymore, but I was on your bike with boots that weren’t very sanitary.”
His gaze left her face and dropped to her boots. A snort erupted before turning into laughter. She had no idea what he found funny, but the beautiful sound shot right through her.
“Samantha, my bike’s been through sand, dirt, mud. Hell, there’s nothing you could get on it that can’t be washed off.”
Still blushing, she stared at her boots, still examining them. “Yeah, but this is probably some blood and maybe a bit of—” His hand landed on her shoulder, and all her attention swung back to him.
“Seriously, Samantha, stop worrying. There’s not one thing about you that I don’t like. Even your work boots.”
“Oh,” she muttered, now blushing for an entirely different reason. They turned in unison and fell into step as they wandered along the shore. Frodo alternated