Page 54 of Moonlighter

We dineon a terrace at a restaurant just a couple of miles down the beach from our hotel. I order the freshest sushi I’ve ever had in my life. Alex orders seared salmon because pregnant women aren’t allowed to eat raw fish. But she seems happy, anyway.

Especially when Gunnar texts us both to say that the gift from Tatum is clean. It’s just a fitness band. It doesn’t have evil superpowers.

“I feel like celebrating. What if we walked back?” she asks as I sign the check. “It’s such a nice night, and I spent the day holed up in conference rooms.”

“Sure. Let’s do it.” I don’t think my knee will complain. Much. And I love the beach.

Alex cancels the car that’s waiting for us, and we head down to the shore. The sun is setting, and the tide is going out, so the beach looks like a photo in a travel magazine.

And, fine, it’s the most romantic place I’ve ever been. I’m not the kind of guy who thinks much about romance, but I’d have to be dead not to notice the rosy pink sky and the way the breeze ruffles Alex’s skirt around her bare knees.

She bends down and removes her sandals, dangling them off one finger so she can walk barefoot in the sand. I stop to remove my shoes, as well, and just when I’ve got the first one off, she’s says: “Last one to that funny palm tree is a stink monster.”

Then she takes off running.

Aw, hell. I haven’t lost a race to Alex in twenty-one years, and I don’t plan to start now. I take off after her with one shoe on and one off. My knee complains immediately, but I’m a very competitive man. And, let’s face it, a hell of an athlete. I can outrun a girl even while taking it easy on my knee.

Alex squeaks as I gain on her. The leaning palm tree is within reach, so I dive for it like I’m sliding into home plate. “Yes!” I shout from the still-warm sand. “Guess who’s a stink monster?”

With a grumpy noise, Alex kicks some sand onto my bare foot. “Maybe this wasn’t the tree I was referring to.”

“Maybe you should be a better loser.” I remove my other shoe and then climb to my feet. “You still cheat, huh?”

She gives me a cheeky smile. “You’re still smug, huh?”

It’s the smile that does me in, I think. I step close and, dropping my shoes into the sand, I take her chin. My kiss is aggressive, but she’s ready for me. As my lips find her softer ones, she doesn’t hesitate. She wraps a smooth hand around the back of my neck, tugging me down, giving as good as she gets.

“Fair warning,” I say, pulling away. “When the joking is done and the races are run, we are going to end up naked on one of the many surfaces of our hotel suite.”

“Do I get to pick which one?” she asks, lifting the chin that’s still trapped by my hand.

“Only if you don’t give me any more of your sass,” I whisper.

“Probably not, then,” she says with a shrug.

Yeah. It’s her attitude that makes me so crazy. “I might need two surfaces.”

“Smack talker.” She takes my hand in hers, and we start down the beach.

“Hey, I can deliver. I’m very competent. You don’t know.”

“Uh huh.” Her eyes dart to mine. “You’re so competent you just left your shoes behind in the sand.”

“Aw, shit!” I say, dropping her hand. “Be right back.”

She laughs the entire time it takes me to collect them.

It’sall fun and games until we encounter a fence that partitions the beach. It’s well camouflaged as a rock wall, so we don’t even realize the problem until we’re upon it.

“Uh oh,” Alex says. “Private property?”

I stand up on my toes and peer over the top. “Yup. Someone’s mansion.”

“I guess we’ll have to go around?” she asks, peering toward the road. We can’t even see it from here, though.

“No way. Seriously? What would eleven-year-old Alex have done?”

She laughs. “I don’t know. Scale the wall?”