Page 39 of Ravished By Her

By the time we made it all the way to the tidepools on the leftmost side of the beach, she had rocks in both hands. “I should have brought my bag with me.”

“I had no idea you were going to become a pebble hoarder,” I said, and she glared at me.

“I’m not hoarding,” she said, dropping a few of the stones onto the sand.

I picked them up for her. “Why don’t you put them down here and I’ll show you the tidepools?”

Lacey set her stones down and made sure no one was going to swoop in and steal them. I sat down on a rock and peered into one of the tidepools.

“They seem like magic to me,” I said as I watched a naked hermit crab shove itself into a new shell.

“Hmm,” Lacey said, perching next to me.

The two of us fell into silence as we looked into the tidepool. I couldn’t stop looking at her reflection in the water instead. Several kids nearby screamed as they ran into the water, and a very irate seagull sat in the branches of a tree and yelled as if in response.

Uncomfortable, I shifted on the rock and Lacey looked up at me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said, blinking a few times. “I was just having some ideas about new designs.”

“For jewelry?” I asked.

She nodded. “Do you mind if we go back so I can get my ideas down?”

I stood up immediately. “Of course not. Let’s go.”

She gathered up the rocks she’d picked up and we headed back to our chairs. Lacey dropped the stones next to her chair and pulled a tablet out of her bag, as well as a stylus.

Not wanting to disturb her, I sat in my chair and pulled out my ereader, but kept half my attention on her as she dragged the stylus over the screen of the tablet.

Lacey was absolutely focused. Even when a frisbee thrown by an overzealous kid landed right in front of us, she didn’t even look up.

I had to admit, seeing her so enthralled with what she was doing was sexy as hell. She moved the stylus with a sure, bold stroke.

“There,” she finally said, turning off the tablet and tossing it back in her bag. “I just had to get that out of my brain or else it was going to annoy me for the rest of the day.”

“There are no rules for beach day. If you have to stop and make some art, then stop and make some art,” I said. “And if you need ice cream, then you should get ice cream.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Is that your way of telling me that you want ice cream?”

“Why? Do you want ice cream?” I asked and she grinned.

“Now that you mention it, absolutely.”

We grabbed our wallets, put our bags under our chairs, and walked to the snack bar.

“I’m also getting fries,” I told her as we stood in line.

“Good, because I’m definitely getting onion rings,” she said. “Will you share?”

“I will if you do,” I said, bumping her with my shoulder. She grinned and I knew that beach day had been the right idea. Not only had I gotten her out of her head about all her family and house bullshit, but she’d let go enough to get inspired to draw some new jewelry. That was a win in my book.

“You didn’t tell me beach day included ice cream and onion rings,” she said. “You should have led with that.”

I laughed. “I’ll know that for next time.”

We got up to the window to order and Lacey told them to put my order and hers together.