Page 27 of Blame It on the Bikini (Ocean Shores #4)

"My father felt the same way. He always treated his big clients to luxurious dinners, trips, and box seats to sporting events.

I know he had fun doing it, because who wouldn't have fun?

But it seemed like a lot of money was going toward people who did not need it.

And trust me when I say, I am not against having money.

I like it just as much as anyone. I just don't want to do certain things to get it.

In my case, that was being a lawyer. Now, I'll probably be a starving artist who turned up her nose at being a wedding photographer. "

"But you'll be happy."

"If I'm not, I'll do something else. One thing I have realized is that nothing has to be finite. Life has twists and turns, and different paths make the journey more interesting."

"Did you make that up, or did you read it in a book?" he teased.

She laughed. "I don't think I read it, but maybe. Things have a way of sticking in my head."

"Well, I like it," he said with a nod. "You can't be disappointed if you end up somewhere different than you expected."

"Because it might be better," she finished, her body tingling as his warm gaze swept across her face. And she couldn't help wondering if maybe his journey to sell Ocean Shores could take a left turn, but she didn't want to get into that now. "Are you done? Shall we go?"

"Let's do it."

When they arrived at the park entrance, Grayson rolled down his window, fed bills into the automated kiosk, and grabbed a park map from the dispenser.

"Here," he said, handing her the map once they were moving again.

"Look at all these places," she said, unfolding it. "Hidden Valley, Skull Rock, Cholla Cactus Garden... the names alone sound like poetry."

"Where do you want to start?"

"Everywhere," she said with a laugh. "But let's see what calls to us."

Entering the park felt like entering another world, Lexie thought, sitting up straighter, her breath catching in her chest as Grayson drove them past the first grouping of Joshua trees.

"They don't look like trees," she murmured. "More like monsters with spiky arms, in strange poses, each one different from the other. They almost look like they could come alive, don't they?"

"Yeah, like the trees in a nightmare," he said, pulling off to a vista point.

She jumped out of the car with her camera, taking pictures of the trees from far away before getting closer. She glanced back to see Grayson leaning against the hood of the car, watching her.

"Take your time," he said. "We're in no rush."

She loved that he was willing to let her take whatever time she needed because her creative juices were flowing, and she wanted to find the perfect angles to show different views of the trees.

After almost thirty minutes, she headed back to the car, and they drove deeper into the park, the road curving between granite boulders that rose like giant sculptures from the ground.

They stopped next at Hidden Valley, and as she got out of the car to take in the scene, she was mesmerized by the beauty of the rock walls that cupped the valley, the way the sunlight struck the stone, turning it into a canvas of gold and amber.

As they moved down the Hidden Valley trail, they found themselves walking behind a young family—parents with a maybe-five-year-old boy who stopped every few feet to examine rocks, lizards, or anything else that caught his attention.

"Look, Daddy! This rock looks like a dinosaur!"

"It does, buddy. What kind of dinosaur do you think?" the father said.

The boy launched into an elaborate explanation involving a T.

Rex and something called a "super-mega-saurus" while his parents listened with patient attention, asking follow-up questions that encouraged his imagination.

She noticed something wistful cross Grayson's face as he watched their easy interaction, and as they continued past the group, she wondered what personal memories the moment had stirred.

"Sweet family," she commented. "And a very talkative kid."

"Yeah." He was quiet for a moment. "My parents would have probably hired someone with paleontology credentials to explain dinosaurs to me."

"That sounds... thorough. But kind of sad."

He shrugged. "Some parents are hands-on; some are not."

"Did you like dinosaurs?"

"What child doesn't like the magic of a dinosaur story?" he returned.

She smiled, catching a glimpse of the boy he'd once been.

"But I don't think we're going to find any dinosaur bones here."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. This place is pretty magical."

He smiled. "I guess we'll find out."

As they moved down the trail, her interest was drawn to an outcropping of rocks.

She climbed onto one of the smaller boulders and knelt, her hair falling in her face as she adjusted the settings on her camera.

Then she aimed the lens upward, framing the rocks above her against the sky.

When she was done, she turned back to Grayson. "This is so stunningly beautiful."

"I agree," he said as he snapped a photo with his phone, which happened to be aimed at her.

"Did you just take my picture?" she asked in surprise.

"Maybe."

"With all this magnificence around us, that's the photo you wanted to take?"

He gazed back at her. "Absolutely."

A tingle ran down her spine. "You're crazy."

"I'm not. I want you to see what you look like when you're doing what you love."

"Well, thanks," she said. "But you should take photos of the scenery."

"I don't need to because I'll see yours, and they'll be better."

"I hope so. I don't know if I can do this place justice. Maybe I'm not that good."

"You are that good, and remember what you said before, as long as you love what you're doing, it's all good."

"You're right. Let's go back to the car and drive to the cactus garden."

As they headed back to their vehicle, they passed by the family once more, and the kid was still talking about dinosaurs.

After sliding into the passenger seat, she checked the map and directed Grayson to the cactus garden, which was a ten-minute drive through canopies of trees that continued to make her feel like she'd been transported into another dimension.

They parked near the entrance to the garden and followed the short loop trail to see the chollas, which were called "teddy bear cactus" for their deceptively fuzzy appearance.

But each spiny creature was its own unique creation and glowed like it was lit by the desert sun.

It was quiet here, with only the whisper of wind through the cactus spines and the occasional call of a desert bird.

It made every sound more significant: the crunch of gravel under their feet, the click of her camera.

As she crouched to frame a shot of the densest patch of chollas with the distant mountains behind them, she noticed a young girl nearby, maybe ten, struggling with a small digital camera while her mother chased a toddler nearby.

The girl kept taking the same shot of a particularly large cholla over and over, frowning at the results.

"Try moving over there, closer to that smaller one," she suggested, pointing to a spot where a smaller cactus created better foreground interest. "Sometimes getting closer to something in front makes the whole picture in the back more interesting."

The girl brightened and moved to the suggested spot. When she looked at her camera screen this time, her face lit up. "That's so much better! Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

The girl beamed and ran off to show her mother.

"That was nice of you," Grayson commented.

"I just wanted her to get the best shot," she said with a shrug. "There's nothing better than that moment when you finally capture what you were trying to see."

"You do that a lot—help people without thinking much about it."

His words surprised her. "Do I?"

"You see things differently. Not just through the lens—in life. You put yourself forward, you reach out, you don't hang back, waiting for someone else to jump in." He gave her a smile. "You're as unique as these cacti."

"But not as prickly."

"Sometimes," he said with a laugh.

She grinned back at him. "You were being so complimentary a second ago… Let's keep walking. I think the ridge is only about a mile from here, and I don't want to get back in the car yet."

"Sounds good to me."

As the trail took them into the hills of the park, the air cooled, and a faint breeze picked up as the sun began to sink toward the tall peaks to the west. It was almost five now.

She couldn't believe how much time they'd spent in the park, but she still wasn't ready to leave.

When they reached the ridge, they found themselves looking out over the beautiful Coachella Valley surrounded by the rocky mountain landscape.

"I thought the sunset over the ocean would be impossible to beat, but this view has its own beauty," she murmured as Grayson's shoulder brushed against hers.

"Don't you want to take a photo?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I have enough. I want to take a minute to just be in the picture instead of behind the camera." As she glanced at him, his expression grew serious. And there was a look in his eyes that she couldn't quite decipher. "What are you thinking?"

"That when I kissed you on the beach the other night, I didn't think I could have picked a better setting." He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his thumb brushing her cheek as he slid it down her face. "But it feels like we should see how this setting compares."

He was so handsome in the late afternoon light, his thick dark hair falling over his forehead, his cheeks warmed by the sun, his lips ever so inviting… She wanted to kiss him more than she wanted to take her next breath, and when he didn't make a move, she did.