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I fidget, rolling the beads of my bracelet between my fingers. “Any suggestions for what we can do until then?” Oh my God. Why did I say that? It sounds like I’m propositioning him.

He smiles and rubs a hand on the back of his head. His bicep flexes. “They always have a few fun events throughout the day at the beach.”

Never in my life have I had the urge to bite someone’s biceps before, but here we are. I swallow. “Oh, like what?”

“There’s a sand sculpture competition.”

I laugh. “That’s definitely outside my wheelhouse.”

He crosses his arms, and those biceps bulge now. “Kite flying and an ice cream eating contest—”

“Ice cream eating contest? Now that sounds like fun.”

He wipes a bead of sweat from his pecs. “Not as fun as you would think.”

I force my gaze back to his face. “Why not?”

“Brain freeze, and I speak from experience. I competed when I was fifteen or sixteen.” He grins. “Was trying to impress a girl. Let’s just say it didn’t end well.”

We laugh. I love seeing this side of Jake. His sense of humor shows now that his guard is down. “I want to try that. Ice cream is my weakness.” I point at Lynn over my shoulder. “Want to join us for the ice cream eating contest?”

His smile fades. “I can’t. Fourth of July is a busy day, and I’ll be on call from two until the morning. It’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of day.”

I press my lips together to keep from pouting like a toddler. “Hope to see you around while you’re doing cop stuff.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Silence stretches, neither speaking and yet the memory of last night’s events fills every nook and cranny of my mind like a hologram playing between us. He heaves a breath, and his broad chest expands. Another bead of sweat runs down his bare chest and gets caught on the ridges of his stomach.

My breath gets caught in my throat, and I have to force it down. Everything around us fades away. There’s only Jake and me standing under the sun, the scent of the sea on the breeze, the call of distant seagulls, and eyes filled with unfulfilled desire.

We inch toward each other—the screech of car tires on asphalt followed by a horn and curses invades our bubble, and we both take a step back. On the street, a man tosses insults at someone in a black sports car and points at the white pedestrian stripes on the ground. A cop appears and disperses the small crowd of curious onlookers.

Jake sighs. Tilts his head toward the commotion. “It’ll be a long day.”

Then, he turns and walks away. My gaze is fixed on his back until he disappears among the hundreds of people on the boardwalk.

I walk back to Lynn and plop on the bench next to her.

“I thought you guys were about to make out right here in the middle of everything and I was getting ready to take a video on my phone.”

Lynn . . . I look at her and brace myself for the barrage of jokes and teasing. “Okay, go ahead, say it. I know it’s coming.”

“No one is coming yet, but if you two had had two more minutes—”

I shove her playfully. “Let’s go find that ice cream contest. Maybe some brain freeze will cool me off.”

Chapter24

Avalon

That same copwho always lets me into the back waves me to the security door as soon as he sees me, and I go through without having to call Jake. The entrance to his office is open, and I step in, then close the door behind me.

He stands, eyes wide at my unexpected visit. We didn’t run into each other yesterday after all. There were thousands of people watching the fireworks. Even if he was looking for me, the odds were against us meeting by chance again. And he was working. Texting or calling didn’t happen either.

“I need to see all the evidence together. At the same time.” The whispered words spill as soon as the door clicks shut. “And sorry for just showing up without calling first.”

He walks around his desk and stops. Jake stares at me as if memorizing each inch of my skin. Silence grows until it becomes awkward, and I regret my rushed decision to just come without talking to him first. “I shouldn’t have come. You’re busy. Of course you’re busy. I’ll go. We can do this later. Another time.” I step back and grab the door handle.