Tryst by Cambria Hebert Page A

shorts he wore. They hung low, exposing a deep V shape low on his waist. I didn’t know what those lines were called, but I had a serious hot flash thinking about licking them.
    Gavin seemed completely unaffected by my closeness as he opened up the medicine cabinet beside my head and withdrew a pair of tweezers.
    “I’ll do this,” I said, trying to take them.
    “Shh,” he shushed. “I know what I’m doing.”
    “Oh, so you’re an expert splinter remover?”
    His eyes flashed up to mine. “I’m an expert at a lot of things.”
    Oh my.
    Did I mention I ha dn’t had sex in six months? It was this moment when my body decided to remind me of that and how utterly sexy this man was.
    No! I told myself. No, no, no.
    “Don’t fidget,” he said, palming my hips and stilling my body. I hadn’t even realized I was moving.
    He lifted my hand and turned it palm up. Then he pinched the skin with one hand (which hurt really bad!) and used the tweezers to pluck out the splinter. He got it in one try.
    He held it up between us and I noted it had some blood on the end.
    “Ow,” I said.
    He smiled.
    My stomach fluttered uncontrollably. “Thanks.”
    “Might want to wash that off,” he said, motioning toward it. There was a small bead of blood welling in the center.
    I hopped down off the counter and washed my hands, ignoring the sting. When I was done, I glanced in the mirror. My hair was almost completely dry, and despite being outside on the windy beach, it wasn’t a knotted mess.
    Instead , it waved around my head naturally tousled and beach ready. A few of the ends were still flipping out, but it appeared they were styled to do just that. My cheeks were flushed and Gavin was the reason.
    My eyes met his in the mirror. We stared at each other for one long , charged second. Suddenly, this bathroom seemed too small. The sparks between us were so tangible it felt as if we couldn’t all fit in this space. Overwhelming energy burst around us, and a fine tremor started in my hands.
    “I’m going to go,” he said, breaking our eye contact first.
    I nodded without moving. He left without delay, almost like he was running and couldn’t get out fast enough.
    I didn’t bother to chase him down.
    I was too shocked to move.

10

    Talie
    Two days later, I got up with the sunrise to walk along the sand. All the best seashells could be found early, as the tide was just going out.
    I was hoping to find a shark tooth. Not the ones that everybody finds, the small black ones with the sharp end and jagged side. Those seemed like a dime a dozen. I wanted to find a truly remarkable one. As big as my palm, something that showed me just how big the world out there was.
    Before heading outside, I dressed in a navy-blue tankini with a plunging neckline (Claire said if I refused to wear a bikini, the tankini had to be sexy) with turquoise trim. I added a thin, white linen cover-up dress with a rope tie around the middle and grabbed a large-brimmed turquoise hat to keep the sun off my face.
    Salty and I had settled in a hate-hate relationship that included me feeding him and him showing me his displeasure before running off to hide for most the day. The last thing I did was put on a pot of coffee to brew so the rich, dark wake-me-up in a cup was ready when I got back.
    Outside , the sun was low in the sky, white, puffy clouds were tinted pink, and overhead the sky was already a brilliant blue. The sound of ocean waves crashing against the shore was like music to my ears. It was so loud it drowned out most of my thoughts. And the ones that were most persistent, the thoughts that threatened to bring down my mood? I let the breeze carry them behind me to be lost out to sea.
    I wandered down the beach, pe eking up at Gavin’s beach house as I walked past. It was a blue house with white shutters. It looked very similar to Aunt Ruth’s, but it appeared bigger. Propped against the back sliders was a large surfboard. An image of him wet and