Page 89 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

Thursday

I tied the string tight to my nicest bikini and looked in the mirror.

This bathing suit always made me feel sexy.

Probably because of the extra padding in the top.

Luckily Kristen was at work, or else she’d be badgering me nonstop about wearing such a slinky bikini.

She could read me like the back of her hand.

I stared at my reflection for a few more seconds. I was being ridiculous. Why was I trying to look good for a guy I didn’t even really know? And had no desire to know. I turned away from the mirror and pulled on a tank top and jean shorts.

Stop lying to yourself, he’s gorgeous and you want to get to know every inch of him. My mind came to a halt at my own thought. What the hell was that? Every inch of him? God, I had been reading too much romance.

But I was excited to see him. I had to find out his name.

It was driving me crazy not knowing. Even though it was kind of fun referring to him as my lifeguard or Kristen’s favorite…

hot lifeguard. If I could just find out his name, I could be like, “Bye Blankity Blank. See you later. My heart has recently been stomped on and I’m not dating anyone… not that you asked to date me.”

I grabbed my beach bag, locked the door behind me, and walked down the wooden steps outside.

In just a few minutes I was on the boardwalk and then in the sand.

I ran to my usual spot and sat down on my towel.

I looked over at my lifeguard. He was preoccupied watching all the people in the water.

I wasn't sure what I should do. I could go over and say hi. But I didn't want to bother him. And it wasn’t like I knew how to be super casual. I’d probably end up face first in the sand and need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Not that the thought of that sounded so bad.

It would definitely be embarrassing though.

I abandoned the thought of saying hello and decided to read instead.

He continued to ignore me for hours. Or maybe he was just respecting the fact that I was reading.

Or maybe he thought I was ignoring him. Before I knew it, I was halfway done with my book.

I knew it was supposed to be a romance, but I didn't realize how sexual it was going to be. I was a little hot and bothered.

"Hey, Stalker!"

I looked up from the pages at my lifeguard.

He was gesturing me over. Seriously? That's what he's going to call me now? I put my book down and walked over to him. A few girls nearby stared at me as I approached him. They were probably jealous because they thought he was sexy too. Take that, beauty queens, I’m friends with the hottest man on the planet.

"You know, I like Jellyfish Girl better,” I said.

"Okay, fine, Jellyfish Girl. Your stings look a lot better, by the way.

" The way he said stings made it seem like he had seen the one on my butt too.

Which meant he had looked over at me when I had been reading on my stomach.

I smiled to myself. I was very aware of his eyes on my legs. And I liked the attention.

"So much better. Thanks again for that."

He looked at the watch on his wrist. "It's getting pretty late, so if you're going to swim, do it now so you have time to dry off."

And he thought I was the stalker? He truly did know my schedule.

"Time to dry off for what?" My only plans were to go back to my apartment to cook for Kristen.

I usually dried off on the walk home. Wait, did I just invite myself somewhere with him?

What is wrong with me? I was about to open my mouth to clarify when he started talking again.

"Lifeguards get free drinks on Thursdays at Grottos. You're coming with me."

Oh my God, he's asking me out. Or did I force him into asking me? God. "Umm..."

"Come on, Jellyfish Girl. It'll be more fun if you come."

"Okay." I didn't hesitate nearly as long as I thought I would.

That I should have. I don't know if it was because of the erotic romance I was reading or because he was the most handsome guy I had ever talked to.

Probably both. "I guess I'll go in the water now then.

" I quickly walked away before I had a chance to say anything weird.

"Be careful of jellyfish!" he yelled after me.

"Okay, smartass." Oh shit, did I just curse at him?

I heard him laughing as I made my way to the water.

I shook my head. Every time we interacted I did the weirdest stuff.

But he wanted to go out with me anyway. There must be something seriously wrong with him.

I ran into the water and dove into a wave.

I made my way past the breaking waves and treaded water.

Part of me wished I'd get stung by another demon jellyfish so he'd have to touch me again.

I laughed at myself and looked back at him.

He was so handsome. And maybe tonight I'd finally get to learn his name.

I didn't stay in the water nearly as long as I normally would. Knowing my lifeguard might be watching me made me nervous. All I could think about was the fact that he had asked me out. And how I hadn’t even hesitated to say yes.

What happened to my summer plans of no dating?

I wrung my hair out and walked back toward my towel.

I lay down on my stomach and pulled my book back out.

Stupid romance book, messing with my head.

***

"So nothing stung you today?" I opened my eyes. My lifeguard was sitting on my towel beside me. I must have fallen asleep reading.

"Oh." I quickly sat up. "No, not today." I wiped the side of my face, grateful that there wasn’t drool everywhere. I put my book in my bag before he got a chance to see what I was reading. Why is he sitting next to me? I thought him asking me out had been part of a bad dream. Well, actually a really great dream that involved some of that turkey business Kristen had mentioned. Of the non-anal variety. But I couldn’t seriously go out with him. That wasn’t part of my summer plans.

"Darn, I really wanted more free ice cream."

I laughed. "I can give you free ice cream whenever you want. I usually take some home with me after work."

"Your job definitely has better perks than mine. So are you ready to go?" He stood up and put his hand out for me.

I stared at his hand. A tiny voice in the back of my head warned me that this was a bad idea.

Touching him should be a no-no. But my hand started moving on its own accord.

"Yeah." I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet.

"One sec." I quickly pulled on my tank top and jean shorts. "Is this okay to wear?"

"Yeah, you look great. We all just wear our bathing suits." He was still wearing his lifeguard swim trunks but he had also put on a t-shirt.

"Are you sure it's okay that I come? You know…since I'm not a lifeguard?"

"It's fine. It just means I have to pay for your drinks." He smiled at me.

"You don't have to do that."

"I'm pretty sure I just scored free ice cream all summer. So yes, I do."

I smiled at him. It was hard not to smile when perfection in male form was staring back at you.

"Okay." I shook out my towel and put it into my bag.

We started walking toward the boardwalk.

I kept stealing sideways glances at him.

He was at least six inches taller than me.

He was as tan as I expected a lifeguard to be.

And he was lean yet muscular. He was starting to get a 5 o'clock shadow.

For some reason I found myself wanting to reach out and touch it. I forced my hands to stay by my sides.

When we reached the boardwalk, he stopped and rinsed the sand off his feet at the little shower.

"So all I really know about you is that you come to the beach every Tuesday and Thursday around one o'clock.

Jellyfish love you. And you work at an ice cream shop with really sexual flavor names.

Maybe that means something. I don't know.

" He held the shower lever down for me so I could rinse the sand off my feet too.

I laughed. "No, it doesn't. I just needed a job to pay my rent. I'm renting this really cute, tiny apartment over this old lady's garage. I love it."

"Do you live there by yourself?"

"No." Oh crap. “Actually I have a roommate who I always have dinner with. I need to text her.” Kristen would probably starve if I wasn’t there to cook for her. I paused when I pulled out my phone. I knew nothing about my lifeguard. Maybe he was a murderer. He was probably going to get me drunk and kill me. Maybe he was a freaking cannibal. I could be seconds away from being in his tummy. “Umm…you said a bunch of people were going right? Do you care if she comes too? She’d kill me if she knew I was going to be hanging out with lifeguards all night and didn’t invite her.

She’s violent like that.” I stared at him, trying to see if he was sympatico with her murderous ways.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

What a normal answer. I shot Kristen a quick text telling her to meet me there.

She was going to lose her mind. It was good I’d invited her, because after her toast to hooking up with sexy lifeguards all summer, I’d be on her shit list for sure.

This way I wouldn’t wind up dead in a ditch and I’d make Kristen happy too.

Plus it would make it less date like and more like a friend date. Which my mind could handle.

We started walking again.

"You are so lucky. I live in that big apartment building over there." He pointed to a building in the distance. "And I have three roommates. It's fun, but it's also kind of annoying."

He's not a murderer. He's a nice, apartment-living guy with living roommates.

"So, you just needed a job to pay rent, which means you're not saving up money for school?"