The Stone Family Heart - Taylor Hart Page 0,8
for him to even say. Dang it. “You’re right. Never mind.” He bent and picked up his shirt.
“Hey,” she said, sounding disappointed. “You don’t get to call me a fraidy-cat, then refuse to race me.”
The inkling of fun and flirtatiousness hit him again. He dropped his shirt. “Okay.”
“Fine.” Her lips pursed and she dropped back into a runner’s stance. “Remember, don’t cry when you lose to a girl.”
Now it was on. He crouched to her level. “I’ll let you call it.”
“Fine. On three. One, two, three!”
Chapter 3
The race couldn’t have been fair. Or Tim was slower than molasses, which didn’t make sense, because they were neck-and-neck at one point and then he pulled ahead of Kensi after the rock.
Alas, she found herself beating him into the ocean.
As she came out of the water, she put her hands into the air. “Rocky Balboa, ladies and gentlemen, the heavyweight champ of the world!” She cupped her mouth and bowed to an imaginary audience, just what she and her brothers and Tim had always done as kids. Then she pushed one hand into the air and did an impression of Rocky IV. “Adrienne!”
Tim followed her out of the water, laughing. “Congratulations.”
She splashed him, feeling strangely weird and nervous. She slipped her body back under the water.
He bent back into the water, splashing her back. “So when are you going to collect, Kens?”
The man was handsome, especially without the mustache he’d sported at her brother’s wedding. “Your mustache is gone.”
He put his hand to his face. “Yep. I shaved it a couple of weeks ago when Darla, my assistant at the station, told me I looked like an idiot.”
Not expecting his bluntness, she laughed. Darla was kind of right.
He pointed at her. “All you can think about now is my ‘stache, right? It was hot. Tell me how hot it was.”
She giggled. It was crazy that she and Tim had picked up right where they used to be all those summers ago.
When he splashed her, she turned away from him. “Stop splashing me.”
He chuckled. “So are we kissing or not?”
Unable to stop herself, she stared at his lips, then his eyes. “Do you want to?”
He moved closer to her, then stopped. “You know, I didn’t think I would ever want to kiss again, but tonight I want to.” He shrugged. “But I’ll let you make the decision.”
Smoldering—that’s what this moment was. Tim was smoldering, and she was falling for it.
His hand touched her shoulder, and she flinched away.
He put his hand up. “Easy. Are you demanding a victory kiss or not?”
That was when she realized what he’d done. She pushed his shoulder and marched out of the water. “Oh my gosh; you threw the race.”
He hurried to catch up to her. “What? I wouldn’t do that.”
The air hit her wet arms. She ran her hands up and down them. “It’s gotten even colder.” She rushed for her towel. She couldn’t even see the stars anymore. The only light came from the pool house next to the inn.
Tim scooped up his shirt in his hands. “I didn’t throw the race.”
“Yeah, you did.” It was plain as day. She wagged her finger at him. “You wanted to do some little test on me to see if I would kiss you or not. You’ve always been one for social experiments.” She got to the gate and keyed in her code, but it wouldn’t accept it. She stabbed at the keypad again, but it didn’t work.
“Let me.” Gently, he pushed her hand out of the way and entered in the code. He laughed as he held the gate open for her. “I haven’t done social experiments in ages.”
“I don’t believe you.” She spun to face him. “Don’t follow me.”
He lounged against the gate and flashed her a familiar cocky smile that she wanted to slap off his face.
She had indeed slapped him on that fateful day. He’d deserved it for what he said to her. It’d been mean, very mean, and it had taken her a long time to forgive him.
She stared at him. Had he even meant his apology at the beach?
Out of the blue, the wind kicked up. She looked up at the sky. “It’s getting bad.”
Jerking as if he’d emerged from a reverie, Tim glanced up. “That hurricane slated for two days from now is going to hit sooner rather than later.” Without asking, he moved past her, letting the gate drop and taking off in a jog to the door. “I’m going to borrow