is hungry and impatient. His body is so big and warm. He was waiting for me and my head was in a book. How could I have lived in that library day in and day out and not realized Ben was out here talking with these lips and using these hands for things far less important than this?
Lights flash behind my eyelids and I think I’ve gone too long without air. I break free and heave a breath. I blink, forcing another deep inhale. There, again—red and blue lights swirl in my periphery.
I might have had some whiskey, but I know those lights, and they aren’t a result of our kiss.
“I’m sorry.”
I’ve said the phrase so many times, it sounds distorted. I can’t keep saying it. Besides, I don’t think Ben’s listening anyway. His attention is on my dad’s approaching figure.
Oh yes, that’s right: D-A-D, as in my father, as in the last person I want to see at this moment.
Let me rewind.
Ben was seconds away from tossing me down onto the sand and devouring me whole and I was seconds away from demanding he do just that when a police officer who was patrolling the seawall saw Ben and me in the ocean. Hence the swirling red and blue lights.
It’s not illegal to swim at night. However, it is considered indecent exposure to swim in the buff. Even at night. Even on a deserted beach.
Everything happened so fast once he parked his cruiser and shouted at us to get out of the water and cover ourselves. Ben reverted into lawyer mode, telling me I didn’t have to answer when the officer asked if I’d been drinking. Apparently, he thought I was drunk because I was stumbling around for my clothes. I might have been a little tipsy, but I was only stumbling because I was in such a rush to cover myself. Hello! It’s one thing to work up the courage to go topless around Ben, quite another to have one of my father’s police officers see me in that state!
Once we gave our names, the officer’s tone changed. He reared back in shock.
I should have lied and said the first thing that came to mind. Oh, my name? Sand. Sandy Palmtree. We could have laughed. Yes, ha ha. My parents are big hippies.
Instead, he looked at me with new, fresh concern.
“Hart?” he asked. “As in the chief’s daughter?”
I nodded as I tugged Ben’s jacket tighter around my front.
Then he nodded and stepped away, his hand hitting the radio on his shoulder.
My stomach dropped.
“Wait! Do you have to, y’know, call this in?” I asked with an air of hope. “Can’t we just keep this between us?”
Ben’s hand hit my arm—a warning to stay quiet—but I couldn’t just let this happen. In any other city, a cop would find the humor in the situation, tell us to get our clothes on, and move along.
In Clifton Cove, apparently every police officer is given strict orders to contact my father if I ever have a run-in with the law. It’s his way of protecting me, I suppose. As I watched his cruiser pull up to the beach, it didn’t exactly feel that way.
This whole thing is ridiculous.
I’m not going to accept the charges, and I tell that to Ben.
He has the audacity to smirk and rub his jaw. “Yeah, that’s not really how it works.”
I turn back to watch my dad walking toward us. I can feel his angry energy from a mile away. Every sea creature in the ocean behind us is probably swimming for its life in the exact opposite direction.
When he gets within earshot, I step forward.
“Dad, hi,” I say, trying for a genial tone just to see how far it will get me.
His eyes slice me in two. Okay. Right. He’s going for bad cop.
“James, thank you for the help. I can handle it from here.”
The other officer nods and heads for his car, leaving me alone with my dad and Ben. I guess his work here is done. Fine. Go! Get. Good riddance. I want to kick his tires.
“Dad…I think this has all been a misunderstanding.”
He ignores me and impales Ben with a searing glare. When he speaks, his finger is pointed at Ben like it’s a loaded gun.
“I told you to stay away from my daughter. In fact, I recall shouting those exact words at you a few months ago when you were on my front lawn.”
Ben stands quiet. Stoic. Pissed. In his black t-shirt and