Chapter Four
A run was a run. At least that’s what Camryn tried convincing herself. It was four o’clock on Christmas Eve and now she was facing the nine flights of stairs that led to the beach. Teague might not even be at home, but she was still driving herself crazy with anxiety. Maybe what she felt was fear, but she was trying her best to ignore it. She was interested in Teague—which was understandable since he was sexy as hell—but she did not like how off-balanced he made her feel. After one run-in with him—one, damn it—he had her thoughts jumbled up instead of nicely arranged with logic. That hadn’t happened since Zach, and Camryn was taken by surprise that she had actually met someone she couldn’t stop thinking about.
“It’s called lust,” she decided, and she descended the stairs in record time, breaking into a jog the second she hit the sand. But she wasn’t going to kill herself this time. The tide was out and she had no reason to hurry.
She didn’t even look directly at his house as she got closer. She could see the stairs were empty, but he was never there on her first trip by anyways. Out of the corner of her eye she couldn’t tell if anyone was on the deck, either.
Damn, she was tempted to push herself, just to get through her run faster so she could pass by his house on her way back. She did urge herself to hurry—just a little—but didn’t want to overdo it. When she was finally close enough to see his stairs on the way back, she didn’t like the disappointment that rushed through her. He wasn’t there, and she was mad at herself for even caring.
To hell with pacing. She pushed even harder, passing his house and using the memories of her crashing into him on the sidewalk to punish herself. She’d been utterly humiliated, but landing on his body like that had been entirely worth it. She wondered what it would be like to have his arms wrapped around her. Better yet, what it would feel like to rub her own hands all over his body, and to find out if he really did look like how she’d pictured him naked.
Definitely lust.
Camryn glanced out toward the water, trying to place that image in the surf. She could even hear his sexy deep voice but couldn’t tell what he was saying—
Her shoe hit a rock and she pitched forward. A large pair of hands grabbed her arm and her waist, pulling her upright before she did a nosedive into the sand.
“What the—”
“Fuck?” Teague finished for her with a laugh, as they awkwardly lurched to a stop. “Yeah, it’s me again.”
She whipped around with wide eyes, wondering how he’d suddenly appeared right next to her. Was she hallucinating? She couldn’t even catch her breath, she was breathing so hard.
“Jesus, where’s the fire?” he asked, also breathing heavy. “You were just… Hey, were you running away from me?” he wondered, raking a hand through his dark hair.
“What?” she exhaled, leaning onto her knees. “No I wasn’t running from you. I didn’t even see you.”
He reached over and nudged her shoulder upward. “Even I know not to hunch over like that. Come on, runner girl. What’s the deal?”
She barely scoffed out a laugh. “What’s the deal? I just ran almost four miles.” She glanced down the beach to where his house was a football field away. “You only ran a hundred yards. I surely hope you don’t need to keel over.”
“I’d like to curl into the fetal position right now. I just sprinted those hundred yards in sand. I don’t think I’ve ever run that hard in my entire life. Not to mention almost breaking my ass jumping down entire flights of stairs at a time till I hit sand.”
She laughed again as she studied his face. He was smiling and looking beautiful of course. But she glanced down the length of him, realizing he was wearing shorts and a pair of running shoes with his sweatshirt.
He noticed her onceover and grinned. “Yes, I was gonna run with you. Thought if I could impress you by keeping up, you’d give me your name.”
She pretended to consider it as her breathing began to slow a bit. “And you ran those hundred yards to catch up with me?”
“I sprinted them. Fiercely. With determination. And passion.”
“Passion?” she repeated, raising her eyebrows.
“It just slipped out. But it must mean something for sure.”
“Hmm, I guess so.” She tried not to smile as she deliberated a response. “Okay, fair enough. It’s Camryn. Spelled C-a-m-r-y-n.”
Teague picked up a stick a few feet away and started writing it in the wet sand.
“What are you doing?” she smiled.
“Making sure I’ve got a visual.” He finished the last letter and looked it over. “Camryn,” he repeated, eyeing her next. “It suits you.”
She stifled a laugh.
“What, you don’t like your name?” he asked. “I like it a lot.”
Shaking her head, she went with the truth. “I thought the same thing about you when you told me your name. Teague seems to fit you.”
“Huh, interesting. I never spelled it for you, though. Maybe you’d feel differently if you saw it spelled. I mean even saying the letters out loud sounds weird to me. T-e-a-g-u-e. Really? G-u-e? Sounds kind of stupid.”
“I already figured it was spelled that way,” she told him with a chuckle, writing it in the sand below her own name.
“Really? I’ve never met anyone with my name. I’ve met a Teagan, but that was a chick.”
Camryn would have responded, but Teague took the stick from her hand and drew a heart around their names. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a picture of it. “You tell anyone I did something that sappy, I’ll throw you in the ocean to never be found.”
She didn’t know whether to laugh at his words or remain stunned by his actions. Either way, she decided he was pretty good at this flirting stuff, so she only smiled as they both started walking.
“So, Camryn,” he said, emphasizing her name that time. “You weren’t even watching where you were going when you almost biffed it in the sand. What was in the water?”
“Oh, you would have to ask that exact question, huh?” she said with a laugh. “Really?”
He tossed her a quizzical look. “What’s wrong with the question? You were booking it down the beach, not even watching where you were going. If you ran like that any further, you’d have run dead smack into that log,” he pointed. “What was in the water?”
She shook her head with a smile, but not because she wasn’t going to tell him. It was because she was going to tell him. “I was picturing you naked,” she stated.
He stopped dead in his tracks and she had to turn around to face him. His mouth was open in an “oh,” but then he smiled like he was sure she was just pulling his leg.
“I’m being serious,” she added. “I was picturing you naked.”
He pretended to cough his disbelief. “No way. Like I was just…standing there naked in the ocean?”
She had to laugh. “Yeah, pretty much.”
He laughed out loud as he clutched his stomach. “Oh my God, you totally rock my world.”
“Because I’ve pictured you naked?”
“Uh, pictured me naked, admitted it, and are totally embarrassed by it. I love it.”
“I’m not embarrassed. Can’t exactly control my thoughts sometimes.”
“Well holy fuck, and us guys get a bad rep because of the same thing?”
“Well I’d say it’s because guys are a little more vulgar when it comes to stuff like that. All I did was wonder if you have a six-pack and that’s it. You, on the other hand, have probably pictured me naked, pictured what you would do with me naked, and pictured what I could do for you naked. After all of that, you most likely felt a little bit turned on by it and—”
“Oh my God!” he yelled with a laugh, waving for her to stop. He doubled over with his hands propped on his knees, laughing his ass off. “Please tell me you’re for real. I’m not sure I can handle this if you’re not.”
She nudged him upward like he’d done to her earlier. They were toe to toe, and with her looking up and him looking down, their faces were only inches apart. “Yes, I’m for real. But you’re only witnessing my very best angle. The rest is nothing to be impressed by.” She left him standing there and started walking again.
He only paused for a moment before he caught up to her. “I have a Christmas present for you.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “A present? You don’t even know me, Teague.”
“Exactly. This is gonna help.”
She chuckled uncomfortably. “Um, okay.”
Teague grinned and said, “Well maybe you aren’t ready for it yet.”
“Probably not,” she countered wryly.
“I figured you’d say that. But what if I told you I worked really, really hard on it for you?”
Camryn cast him a side-glance. “Is it something you made?” She smiled and added, “Wait, is it bar of soap carved into a heart?”
His smile slowly grew. “Hey, not a bad idea. Next time, though. This is something very, very valuable.”
“Valuable, huh. I’m not sure I want it, then.”
“Not pricewise.”
She glanced at him again before finally stopping in the sand. He stopped too and faced her, pulling a piece of paper out of the pocket of his shorts to hand to her.
Her eyes suspiciously remained fixed on his before she finally took the paper and glanced down at it. Then she tried not to laugh too hard.
“Very few people have that, you know,” he told her, trying to keep a straight face. “I’m trusting you’ll keep it safe but use it yourself as often as you can. And I have shitty handwriting, so you can see how much effort I put into that to make it legible.”
“Your phone number?” she finally got out. “God, Teague, you’re really good, you know? This is… Wow, I don’t know how to compete with you.”
He looked pretty damn proud of himself. After giving her an elated grin, they continued walking.
But Camryn’s words were more devastating to herself than she made them sound, and that scared the hell out of her. Teague was gorgeous, smart, and humorous. She knew right then and there that she had her work cut out for her. Keeping a casual friendship with this guy until she left might prove to be a little difficult.
“Oh, and Camryn?” he said as they walked toward the public stairs. “I don’t have a six-pack,” he smiled, shaking his head. “For you I have an eight-pack.”
***
Teague returned to his house an hour later, a stupid ass smile on his face and a skip in his step. Jay was sitting on the couch in the back room, watching TV while playing his guitar.
“What the hell’s up with you?” Jay asked. “You look like you just screwed the head cheerleader. You catch up to her?”
“Don’t be such a sick perv. Yeah I caught up to her. Barely. And no we didn’t,” he added, just before Jay asked again.
“So what happened?”
Teague shrugged. “We talked. I walked her home. Well, she’s just visiting her mom, I guess.”
“Ah, so a quick fling and then she’s out of your hair. Sounds perfect! I’m fucking jealous.”
Teague didn’t respond and made his way to the kitchen. Nothing about him screamed commitment these days. He liked it that way.
“She’s gonna be at Grady’s party tonight,” Teague couldn’t help but mention. “Kyah invited her.”
“Hey, that’s cool. You work your cards right, I’ll forget about hiring you a prostitute.”
Teague chuckled with amusement. “No way in hell.”
“What, the prostitute or getting blondie to tickle your love stick?”
The evening seemed to drag on, and when they finally left for Grady’s, Teague felt like doing everything double speed just to get there faster. They entered the house right before nine, and he automatically scanned the room for Camryn. He even looked for Kyah’s dark skin and jet-black hair, believing they were most likely with each other.
Finally he spotted Camryn when he made his way to the basement. There were about twenty people down there, dancing to music and mixing drinks at the wet bar. It looked like Kyah was introducing her to a few people, so Teague just hung back for a bit.
Jay stuck with him, wondering why he was lurking. “You gonna just watch her all night?” he joked to Teague. “You’re kinda being a creeper.”
“Shut up,” Teague smiled good-naturedly. “I’m just timing this right.”
“Man, you must want this girl big time. And shit, I can see why,” Jay added, looking her over. Camryn had on faded slim-fitting jeans that were very worn in a few places, and a dark green sleeveless top that tied around her neck. Her long hair was down and slightly wavy, and even from across the room they could tell she had a bit of makeup on her eyes. “She’s definitely boner worthy, I’ll give her that,” Jay nodded.
Teague was taking in her looks too, and he basically tuned out everything else in the room so he could absorb her entire presence without being distracted.
Jay grabbed a beer and a soda from a nearby cooler and handed one to Teague. “At least don’t look like you’re just staring at her.”
Teague shrugged. “I don’t care if she notices. Women like to know they’re wanted.”
At the same time, he saw that someone else was observing Camryn. Teague’s smile faded as he watched Garrett Daniels and another douchebag approach her. Kyah introduced them, and whereas Garrett looked as if he were ready to turn on the charm, Camryn only gave him a polite but totally uninterested smile.
Teague grunted his satisfaction. Then he moved across the room, away from the dance floor where he could hear a little better. Garrett was trying to get her to dance with him, but she kept turning him down.
“Ah, come on, don’t be shy. If you want, I’ll teach you some moves.”
Camryn took a casual sip of her drink but her smirk was unmistakable. “I’m neither shy nor incapable of dancing. I’d just rather not dance with you.”
The light in Garrett’s eyes dimmed just a bit and he gave her a scrutinizing stare. “Tell me why,” he asked, folding his arms across his chest. Teague didn’t like the way the guy’s demeanor changed, and he knew it had everything to do with his ego being slapped by a female.
“Don’t be such a dick, Garrett,” Kyah told him. “Back off.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to be social,” he shrugged. “But I guess your friend seems a bit stuck up for her own good.”
“There’s a difference between stuck up and confident,” Camryn smiled as she set the rest of her drink on the bar. “I know you’re not my type, so why waste my time?”
“Maybe you don’t know what your type is, sugar. I think you’re just playing hard to get.”
“Think again,” she cocked an eyebrow and stepped around him to walk away.
“That means we’ll catch up later.” He slapped her ass with an arrogant laugh and Teague’s entire body went taut with anger. But before he could take a step to intercede, Camryn instantly whipped around and sent her fist into the guy’s stomach, causing him to double over with a loud groan. Then she leaned over too, placing her palms on her knees as she tilted her head to look at him.
“Do it again, and next time it’ll be your cocky smile that I clock, asshole.”
Teague was frozen at first, and then he had to hold in a laugh while Jay continued to gape with wide eyes. They watched Camryn turn on her heel with Kyah, and the girls headed up the stairs.
“Jesus, you seriously want to get with that?” Jay finally asked.
Teague slowly nodded, staring at the empty stairs where her perfect ass had just climbed. “Oh hell yeah,” he answered with surety.
Jay shook his head. “You know why I call you a dumbass all the time, right?” It became a rhetorical question when Teague didn’t respond. He was still in a stupor, gawking at the stairs. “Well that totally just solidifies it,” Jay mumbled, shaking his head.
“Talk to you later,” Teague finally said, handing Jay his Pepsi. He was going to follow Camryn up the steps, but something Garrett said about her to another guy made him stop as he passed by. He turned to face the conceited bastard and said, “Stay the fuck away from her. If you bother her again, you’ll have me to deal with.”
Teague completed his trek for the stairs and Jay decided to follow him.