On the Rocks (Mixology #2)(9)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Because you’re an expert on the guys I hang out with?” Colin hadn’t met any of my college boyfriends. Admittedly, there were only two.

Maddy laughed. I think she enjoyed listening to our sibling banter. She had a brother too, but she never really talked about him.

Colin gave me one more long look. “Just be smart.”

Macon joined me in the doorframe. “What do you think I’m going to do to her? Seduce her out of her panties on the beach?”

I could feel the blood rush to my face. The thought of Macon and losing my underwear was too much to handle standing in my brother’s presence.

“Just shut up, Macon.” Maddy shook her head. She and Macon sounded like brother and sister themselves sometimes.

“We’ll be fine. Have a good night you two,” Macon put a hand on my shoulder and turned me toward the door. I gladly let him lead me through the condo. After a quick goodbye and thank you to Brody we headed down the steps.

“Fun dinner, huh?” Macon’s shoulder brushed against mine as we turned toward the beach. Their condo was on the ocean side of the island, and it was only steps from the sand. The nice thing about the Outer Banks is that the island is so narrow it’s hard to get too far away from the water.

“Surprisingly, yes.” I slipped off my sandals, enjoying the feel of the cool sand on my toes.

“Surprisingly?” Macon watched me the way you’d look at something you didn’t understand. Either he thought I was confusing, or he really cared about my answer. I hoped it was the latter.

I gazed out at the water, giving myself a moment before answering. “Yeah. I’m used to dinners going badly.”

“Oh really?” He kicked off his flip flops. “Care to expand on that comment?”

I kept my eyes fixed on the water. Telling Macon about what happened wasn’t exactly high on my list. Then again, it would probably sound better if I told the story then if I waited for the inevitable visit from Kim. Her hatred for me knew no limit; she’d probably try to run off any friends I had.

“Ok. Maybe that wasn’t fair of me. I’m asking you to divulge a private story without sharing one myself.”

I turned back toward him. The setting sun gave his brown hair almost a glowing effect. “You’re going to share a story with me?”

“Sure.” He smiled. “You ready for it?”

“Yeah.” I was definitely ready to learn more about Macon. I couldn’t believe he was willing to share something personal with me.

He took both of my hands in his. “I wasn’t always this cool.”

“Uh, what?” I let out a small laugh.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but I wasn’t. Ask Maddy. I was kind of nerdy at one point in my life. And to be honest, I’m probably not even cool now. I’m weirder than you’d think.”

“Good to know.” I didn’t make a move to pull my hands away. He had a strange sense of humor, but then again, so did I.

“I’m telling you this so you’ll realize that you don’t need to be intimidated about sharing anything with me. I can assure you that no matter what your story is, I’ve done something worse or even more embarrassing.”

“I don’t know why you’re telling me what I already know.”

He laughed. “Ok. Now that that’s out of the way, are you ready to talk?”

“It depends. How much time do you have?”

He released my hands, as though suddenly realizing he was holding them. I missed the contact immediately but tried to hide it.

He unhooked his watch and shoved it into the pocket of his shorts. “Our time is limitless, my dear. We have all night.”

I looked out at the water again. Why was he so curious? He barely knew me.

“So? Am I going to have to pull it out of you?”

“Pull it out of me? I’d like to see you try that.”

“Oh yeah?” He got a twinkle in his eye that made me a little nervous.

I ignored the nerves. “Yeah.”

“You’re going to wish you hadn’t said that.” He put his hands around my waist and picked me up. My stomach dropped. What was he doing? Before I could think about it for long, I was met by the cool ocean water as he tossed me into the waves.

“Macon!” I shrieked once I recovered from the shock.

He laughed. “Now are you ready to talk?”

“You’re insane!” I treaded water before trying to stand.

“Maybe, but can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I’ll talk if you join me.” Two could play at his game. If I was going to be soaking wet and swimming in my clothes, then so was he.

“Fine.” He pulled off his t-shirt and slipped out of his jeans. I tried not to enjoy the view too much, but it was impossible. His chiseled chest was just too hard to avoid staring at. I finally shook myself when I noticed we were no longer alone. Macon’s actions attracted the attention of some tourists.

He smiled at the women. “Sorry ladies, shows over.” With that he jumped in.

“That’s not fair you know.” I gave up on standing. The wind made it too cold to have any of my body out of the water. I wasn’t looking forward to getting out.

“What isn’t fair?”

“That you are just in your underwear. You won’t have to walk around in wet clothes.”

“You’re more than welcome to take yours off,” he said in a low seductive voice that had my chest tightening.

“Yeah, I’d prefer not to get arrested for indecent exposure.”

“Excuses, excuses. Now where’s that story you promised me?”

“I didn’t promise you.”

“Sure you did.” He dove under, resurfacing closer to me. “You told me if I got in you’d tell me.”

“Fine. Why not?”

“All right, I hope this is as good as the buildup.”

“It’s not.” I looked up at the darkening sky. “The short version is my brother-in law came on to me. I told my sister and she took his side.”

“What?” Macon swam over to me. “Your sister’s husband tried to get with you and she didn’t kick him to the curb?”

“He convinced her that I was the one trying to seduce him.”

“And I’m guessing this all happened at a dinner?”

“It did. By dessert she was calling me a whore. She’d convinced herself that it wasn’t just an attempt and that I’d actually slept with him.” Just saying the words made me so angry I wanted to scream. I could feel tears welling, and I hoped I could play them off as ocean water.