Chapter 13
Where. The. Fuck. Was. She.
Shawn’s heart was thundering. They never had a set time they met, but usually it was shortly after the sun went down. She’d been a little later than usual last night, but he knew she taught sunset yoga classes on Thursday nights. Plus, she’d told him she’d grabbed a drink to get to know the bartender, a woman who’d attended her class last weekend.
But tonight? He didn’t know where she was.
Thirty minutes after the sun went down, he started to get antsy. All the lights were off in the house and even though the LED light was on at the end of the wharf, she was nowhere to be seen.
Then thirty minutes turned into forty-five. That turned into fifty. And here he was now, an hour after sunset and she’d still shown no sign of turning up. His skin crawled with worry. He couldn’t stop himself from imagining worst-case scenarios.
Maybe she got in a car accident on Highway 98. That road was notoriously dangerous during tourist season. He would know—it was the highway where his parents died in a car accident.
He felt stupid for never asking for her number. But then again, he’d never needed it.
Shawn roughly picked up his insulated bucket of shrimp and started jogging.
Back down the wharf.
Across her backyard.
To his backyard.
Into the back door.
“I need her number,” he ground out.
Grams was reclined in her favorite chair. She had the news on a volume so loud that it should”ve been illegal, and in her hands was a knitting project she started a few days ago. She looked up at Shawn briefly, then went back to her knitting.
He growled. Picked up the remote. Turned off the TV. Looked at her.
“Watch it, Scoob,” she said, a scowl on her face.
“Grams,” he said, attempting and failing at patience. “I need Willa’s number.”
“What makes you think I have it?”
“She told me she texted you the other day when she ran out of eggs.”
“Hmm,” she said, squinting her eyes at him. “What makes you think I’ll give it to you?”
Shawn’s jaw ticked.
“Dammit, Grams,” he said, pulling a hand across his face. “Usually we fish off the back of her wharf around this time every night. She never showed. I’m just worried that?—”
He cut himself off and looked away. Grams sighed.
“I’m sure she’s fine, Scooby,” she said. “It’s Friday night. She probably has plans and forgot to mention it.”
He tried to ignore the pang of disappointment that coursed through him at the idea of her having plans that she didn’t bother to mention to him.
And then the mortification hit—that he’d entertained worst-case scenarios before realizing it was Friday, and Grams was right.
She probably did have plans.
Plans that didn’t involve him.
Shawn tried not to think about the idea that these plans might involve another guy. One who could give her what she wanted: no-strings-attached sex.
“Here,” Grams harrumphed, handing her phone to him. She’d opened up Willa’s contact information.
He sent it to himself, then saved her contact.
“Sorry, Grams,” he said sheepishly.
“Turn my TV back on if you know what’s good for you.”
Shawn did as she said and went to his room. It was on the second floor of the house, and used to be a guest room. It still had the remnants of what it used to be—a decadent, white comforter, a trunk at the foot of the bed filled with extra blankets, a barely-used desk against the wall.
Since he’d moved in, Shawn had added little touches to make it feel more like his. Pictures of him and his grandparents. A taxidermied fish someone gave him as a thank you for a great tour. Fishing supplies, tools, and a few books were scattered across the desk he rarely used.
He sat on the edge of his bed, opened his phone, and started a new text. He stared at the blinking cursor for a few minutes, debating whether to text her. If nothing was wrong, he’d look like an idiot. But if she had plans and forgot to tell him, he was pretty sure she’d feel bad. And he didn’t want to make her feel bad, even if it was her own damn fault.
His curiosity got the better of him. He had to know where she was. Why she didn’t show up.
He started typing.
Hey Willa, it’s Shawn. Just checking in to make sure everything’s alright since I didn’t see you on the wharf tonight.
That was good, right? Casual. Didn’t come off like he’d been waiting for her like a lovesick fool for over an hour. Which he had. But she didn’t need to know that.
He sent it before he could overthink anything.
A few agonizing minutes passed before she responded to him with several texts in rapid succession.
Shit!!!
OMG I suck. I’m so sorry!!
Out with some girls from work
I forgot to mention it last night
I’m really sorry!!!!!!
He sighed in relief. She was fine.
He was not going to lie to himself and pretend like he wasn’t equally relieved that she wasn’t on a date, she was just having a girl’s night. His phone buzzed again. She’d sent a selfie of her and her friends, each of them with a large margarita in their hands. God, she was gorgeous. Wearing a low cut, white dress and bright pink lipstick. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
Probably the tequila.
No worries
But there were, in fact, worries.
Did she have a designated driver? Catching an Uber in this area was laughable. It got touristy, sure, but never touristy enough that finding a ride back to their rural paradise was easy late at night. There were only a handful of Uber drivers in the area.
Looks like y’all are having fun. Call me if you need a ride home tonight.
She responded with a thumbs-up and a heart emoji. He laid back in his bed and stared up at the ceiling, unsure of what to do with the time on his hands when all he could do was think about Willa.
Willa laidher head on the table and groaned.
She was officially the worst.
Layla had offered to pick her up for their night out. It was a little out of her way, but she said Willa could drive next time. They’d been at the Mexican restaurant gossiping and eating their weight in chips and salsa for a couple of hours.
When she got ready earlier this evening, she gave herself a pep talk. She wasn’t going to think about Shawn, or the way he looked at her like she was something to be consumed, or the sexual tension that she felt when she was within a 100-yard radius of him. Last night, they’d fished together for only 30 minutes before she told him she was tired and went inside to hang out with her vibrator.
But today was a new day. She was going out with girlfriends and since Layla was DD’ing, Willa was ready to get her buzz on.
Which she had.
Thoroughly.
The margarita she ordered was the size of her head, and it was delicious. But now, she thought she must’ve done too good of a job putting Shawn out of her mind. Or attempting to. Because she hadn’t even had the decency to tell him she would be out tonight, and therefore unavailable to fish off her wharf with him like they usually do.
She didn’t even have the decency to leave him a goddamn note.
Willa groaned again.
“Tequila getting to you, babe?” Amanda asked.
Willa sat up and rested her head in her hands.
“Remember that hot neighbor I told you about?” Willa asked.
She nodded.
“Apparently she’s got some weird sexual tension with her sexy neighbor but they refuse to bang it out,” Amanda said to Layla, who looked confused.
“Well,” Willa covered her face with her hands and groaned again. “Fuck.”
“Let it out,” Amanda said. “Want us to order you a shot?”
Willa let out a humorless laugh.
“No,” she said. “I don’t deserve it.”
“And why is that?”
“For the past few weeks, my hot neighbor and I fish off my wharf after the sun goes down. It’s never been, like, a thing we talk about. It just started kind of organically. But I forgot to tell him I had plans tonight and he just texted me worried that I didn’t show up.” Willa eyed her phone. “That means he probably waited on me for an hour!”
Amanda and Layla shared a look, then turned back to Willa.
“So wait, am I missing something?” Layla asked. “Why do y’all refuse to—as Amanda so delicately put it—bang it out?”
“Yes, do tell,” Amanda said before sipping the straw of her margarita.
Willa sighed and took a big gulp of her own marg.
“Because,” she said, swirling her finger around the edge of the ginormous glass. “He doesn’t do casual, and that’s all I’m looking for.”
“Explain.” Amanda commanded.
“After everything with my ex,” she’d already filled them both in on the gory details surrounding her awful breakup with Leo, “I just don’t want anything serious for a while. I really don’t want any sort of relationship with a man, but honestly? I’m dying here. This is the longest I’ve gone without sex since I was a teenager.”
Layla blushed, choked on her drink, and started coughing. Amanda studied Willa steadily.
“And how long has it been?” Amanda said.
“A little over a month.”
“A month?! Girl, that’s not even a real dry spell.”
“Okay, well it is for me. And Shawn…” Willa sighed, rubbing her temples with her forefingers. “He’s just had some bad experiences with women. Tourists who use him and lose him, basically. He doesn’t do casual anymore. We talked about it, realized we want different things, and decided to stay friends.”
“And how’s that working out?” Amanda asked, a knowing glint in her eye.
Willa deadpanned, “The other day, he saw me hurt myself and fireman-carried me out of the water before tending to my wounds. I had to take, like, ten cold showers afterward.”
Amanda laughed, then looked at Layla.
“You know where we should go?”
Layla’s eyes widened, then she closed them and tipped her head back.
“Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.”
Amanda’s devilish smile grew.
“Flora-Bama,” she said.
Layla groaned.
“The club?” Willa asked, crinkling her brows. “The tourist spot? Why?”
“You need casual sex.”
“I don’t know how I feel about a one-night stand,” Willa said. “I’ve never done that before. That’s why I wanted to try it with Shawn. I know him. I trust him.”
“Okay, well maybe you can dance up on some hot tourists and make out with one to scratch the itch.”
Willa wasn’t sure if that would help or make things worse, but she figured she’d give it a try.
“Alright, let’s do it,” she said.
Amanda smirked.
“Let’s get you some sex.”