Only Her Best Friend - Cami Checketts Page 0,3
by people involved with human trafficking. She used to think she was brave and independent but now she had trouble sleeping at night. The past few years she’d occasionally heard footsteps outside her window and always written it off as teenagers or animals but now everything concerned her. She’d recently upped the security at her house with the help of Iris’ boyfriend Devon, the man who had rescued the three of them that fateful day.
She turned. The man immediately averted his eyes, but she felt relieved.
“Hi, Zane,” she said kindly. Zane Naylor was a friend from high school who often came into her ice cream parlor. He was such a nice, humble person. His parents worried about him having a crush on Meredith and had expressed their concerns to her dad. Zane had always been kind and he usually couldn’t look straight at her. She had nothing to worry about from Zane.
“Hi, Meredith,” he mumbled before hurrying off through the crowd.
Meredith’s eyes were rooted back to Cruz. His boat glided across the smooth lake, coming within feet of the dock lined with girls in bikinis. Cruz flipped a backflip, shimmied his board to the side, and drenched the bikini girls on the dock with a large wave. They squealed predictably, and everyone cheered.
He let go of the rope, letting his momentum carry him close to shore. Sinking down into the waist-deep water, he undid his boots, pulled off his wakeboard, and unclipped and unzipped his vest.
Meredith’s breath caught in her throat as his glistening, well-defined chest was revealed. He got his darker coloring from his mom and his blue eyes, angular face, and build from his dad. In her mind, he was perfection, and from the sighs radiating from the dock, those girls agreed. As a group, they rushed off the dock to meet him as he waded onto the sand, setting his wakeboard and life vest down.
Cruz stopped at the edge of the lake to talk to the little boys surrounding him. They looked up at him with hero worship. Meredith was afraid her face reflected the same awe and adoration. She glanced away, frustrated with herself that she couldn’t control how drawn she was to him. If he had any clue that she allowed herself to earn “Google Cruz” time, would he think it was amusing or think she was a stalker?
People were starting to walk toward her shop, and her teenage employees were gawking at Cruz. Meredith didn’t want to watch Cruz’s next interactions. The bikinis were edging behind the little boys, chomping at the bit for their turn to flirt with Cruz. She forced herself to turn back to work. She’d promised Cat that she’d be at the family and friends barbecue at their house tonight. She could say hi to Cruz then. Pretend they were good friends like they’d always been. Pretend she didn’t dream of him on a regular basis. Pretend they’d never kissed because he had no clue they had.
“Meredith! Mer!” Cruz’s deep voice echoed across the open park area next to Main Street.
Meredith bit at her lip, felt her stomach flip happily, and slowly turned to face him. He was jogging across the grass to her, looking glorious in only his blue floral swimsuit and his smile. She heard murmurs around her and knew the town was going to love this, but all she cared to focus on was Cruz approaching her. He was so good-looking she could hardly look directly at him, especially that picture perfect chest. She could relate to how Zane felt.
She should’ve walked toward him, but she was frozen a few steps from her shop. He was forced to jog across the blacktop to her, and she winced thinking about the pounding his feet would take. He didn’t seem to notice or care as his broad smile never disappeared.
“Mer!” he exclaimed, crossing the last few steps and gathering her against him in a hug.
Meredith’s breath rushed out, and she didn’t waste a nanosecond as she slid her arms around his bare, broad, muscular, perfect back and leaned in. She clung to him, letting her cheek rub against the top of his chest, which was every bit as perfect as his back. It would’ve been embarrassing if he’d pulled away, but he didn’t. He kept on hugging her, and it was absolutely perfect in her mind. The memory of their one shared, stolen kiss, when he hadn’t even known it was her, surfaced. She felt warm and tingly all