Chapter 3
BLAIR
“Are you the other diver? I should leave.” I sighed.
Tate grinned. “No, by all means, stay.”
“Is this your daddy?” Pete chuckled.
“She fucking wishes,” Tate said.
I glared at him, and he smirked, seeming all too amused by this coincidence.
As awkward as it was, I had to appreciate the universe’s sense of humor. And secretly, I’d been regretting how things went earlier and welcomed the chance to prove to Tate that I wasn’t just some silly little liar. This was my opportunity to turn his impression of me around.
The instructor got us suited into lifejackets before the boat took off.
“Now is probably not a good time to mention that I get seasick,” I yelled over the motor.
“There’s a lot you keep under wraps until inopportune moments,” Tate shouted. “What made you go helmet diving if you have a tendency to get seasick?”
“I wanted to challenge myself. That, and it was the only available excursion. I was sort of looking for a distraction after a botched hookup with some old dude earlier.”
“You shouldn’t be hooking up with older men who want to take advantage of you anyway.”
“You’re basically warning me against men like yourself?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I am.”
“That’s great.” I chuckled.
“What the hell are you doing here alone anyway?” he asked.
“I’m nineteen, not twelve.”
“That’s beside the point. Most people go on vacation with a group.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you here alone?”
“I needed to get away and reevaluate my life. This isn’t about excursions or adventure for me. It’s about taking time off from the daily grind to figure out my next move.”
I tilted my head. “And you came to the conclusion that a one-night stand with me was the answer?”
“That was a moment of weakness and boredom, and thankfully, in the end I used the right head when determining what to do with you, which was walk the fuck away.”
I rolled my eyes.
He crossed his arms. “I told you why I was here… Now you have to tell me why you’re here.”
“I just went through a bad breakup and needed to get away from the scene of the crime.”
“Pretty expensive getaway.”
“A friend gifted me the trip.”
“That sounds like a nice friend you got there.”
“I needed to get as far away from home as possible for a week.”
“Where’s home?” he asked.
“Western Massachusetts. You?”
“Texas right now,” he said. “Has being away helped you?”
“I think it has, actually.”
“But you found yourself feeling lonely earlier?”
I looked into his eyes. “Lonely isn’t exactly the right word for what I was feeling when I went on the app.”
“I see.” He grinned mischievously. “Well, probably wasn’t a good idea looking for a solution to loneliness on a hookup app.”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing the old man I chose turned out to be a fuddy duddy,” I teased.
Tate shook his head. “Who uses words like fuddy duddy at your age? You’re not very cool, Doris-Delores.”
I laughed, and he smiled. Tate’s white teeth gleamed, his eyes almost glowing beneath his baseball cap. I sighed. The hat really worked for him. But almost anything would look good on that chiseled face.
I can’t believe how close I came to having it between my legs. My mind was not a team player. Stop it, Blair. He’s not into you, and you have to get over it.
The boat stilled, and Pete turned to face us. “Okay, folks. Given that it’s just the two of you, I’m gonna suggest that you stick together down there and try to put your bickering aside long enough to enjoy the dive.”
“This should be interesting,” I muttered.
He then geared us up, placing the gigantic helmets over our heads.
“I’m a little scared,” I told Tate.
“Well, you’re lucky I’ve done this many times before. Stick with me, and you’ll be fine.”
“You guys have underwater mics built in to the helmets so you can communicate,” Pete said.
“Oh joy.” I rolled my eyes. While I was pretending to be annoyed, I was certainly grateful that I wasn’t doing this alone.
My pulse raced as I looked down into the great unknown.
As I lowered myself into the water, the helmet felt overwhelming.
But once the water helped manage its weight, things got better.
By the time we’d reached the bottom, I’d begun to forget my worries as dozens of colorful fish surrounded us.
It was unlike anything I’d experienced before.
“Oh my God. This is so freaking amazing.” My voice sounded kind of robotic under here.
“It is,” Tate agreed, his tone muffled. “Gets me every time.”
“Clearly there are plenty of fish in the sea, Tate. You don’t have to resort to picking up women you deem too young.”
“Sadly, I still find you the prettiest.”
Well, well, well. Could you see someone blush under water? “Are you actually complimenting me?”
“You’re a lot of things, Doris-Delores, but unattractive ain’t one of ’em. And I’m positive I don’t need to tell you that.”
I waded over to the reef. When I turned, I found Tate right behind me, smiling beneath his helmet. We were surrounded by colorful fish that wove in and out of the space between us.
One of them swam over to Tate and looked like it was trying to kiss him through his helmet. It wouldn’t leave him alone.
“What the fuck?” He laughed.
“She likes you. She has poor judgment, like me. She’ll find out soon enough that you’re a curmudgeon.”
He spat. “Oh my God. It’s aiming for my mouth. Imagine if there was no barrier?”
“She would’ve been the only living being in your mouth today.” I winked.
“You got a fresh mouth on you, Doris-Delores. Trust me, I did you a favor.”
“Well, the joke’s on you, since you accidentally ended up on a date with me anyway.”
“A date? Hardly. What…are we out for seafood?”
“Don’t say that too loudly in front of them.” I looked around. “This is the most unusual but awesome date I’ve ever been on.”
He groaned. “Not a date, but okay.”
What an ass.
We were just inches apart, and his gaze moved down to my breasts briefly before meeting my eyes once again. Perhaps all was not lost.
By the time the dive was over, I had butterflies swarming in my belly for this man. Apparently, I was willing to forgive his rudeness from earlier. Also, somehow, I wasn’t even nauseated on the boat ride back, just aroused. Was that the secret to combatting an upset stomach?
Droplets of water glistened on his perfectly sculpted arms. My eyes feasted on the colorful tattoos covering them.
The stubble on his chiseled jaw was also a little wet, enough for me to imagine other things that might cause it to look that way.
I was sick in the head to be thirsting after a man who’d humiliated me earlier today.
When I looked up at him, I could see that he’d been watching me watching him with a slight look of amusement.
I promptly turned away and continued to ruminate.
Was his reaction down at the kiddie pool warranted, though?
Had I deserved it for lying about my age?
Probably. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt.
That seemed more serious than giving a fake name.
Maybe if I’d been honest from the beginning, he might’ve given things a shot, despite our age difference.
After we stepped off the boat, I decided to clear the air.
I pulled in a deep breath. “That was fun.”
“Indeed, it was, Doris-Delores.”
“I feel a little wobbly now, though, like I’m still experiencing the motion of the boat.” I held my arms out to balance myself.
He placed his hand on the small of my back. “You okay?” The contact sent a shiver down my spine.
“Yeah,” I breathed. As we walked along the beach toward the main building, I said, “I want to apologize.”
He stopped for a moment. “For what?”
“For lying about my age. That wasn’t fair to you. You should have the right to make an informed decision about who you hook up with. I’m sorry to have put you in that position.”
“No skin off my back, Doris-Delores. It’s all good.” He sighed, looking up at the sky for a moment. “Actually, today has been the most enjoyable day of my trip thus far. I have you to thank for that. Even if none of it was expected.”
“The rest of your trip must’ve been pretty miserable.” I winked.
“No, but nothing made me smile until today. So…”
My heart felt like it skipped a beat. “Well, I’m glad to have made you smile, if nothing else. Obviously, I’d been hoping to make you more than smile. But that’s not in the cards for us.”
I immediately felt dumb. With this guy, I couldn’t stop myself from saying what was on my mind.
But then he surprised me. “What are you doing for the rest of the evening?”
Hope surged in my chest. “Going back to my room to swipe right on the sixty-five-year-old I passed up for you.”
Tate’s expression darkened. “Not while I’m here, you’re not.”
My eyes widened. “Oh really?”
“I feel sort of responsible for you, now that I know you’re alone and don’t have the best judgment.”
My brows drew in. “I don’t need a father.”
“What do you need?”
“Something you signed up for but then refused.”
“If only what I’d signed up for was real.”
“I’m very real. I think you’ve determined that after several sneak peeks at my cleavage,” I cracked.
He muttered something unintelligible and looked down at his feet. “I have a kid your age, Doris-Delores.”
My stomach sank. “You’re married?”
“No.” He looked up. “Never married.”
“You have only one child?”
“Yes.”
Not sure what compelled me, but I reached into my wallet and took my license out. I faced it toward him to show my birthdate but made sure to cover all my other information.
“Okay, so you’re really nineteen. Why are you showing me this?”
“I wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t any younger than nineteen.”
“Well, I sure as fuck hope not, because then I might have to ask if your parents know where you are.” He shook his head. “But nineteen is young enough. So proving you’re nineteen isn’t any help.”
“I’m almost twenty. As you might’ve noticed, my birthday is next month. So, basically twenty.”
He shook his head. “Still nineteen.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “Funny you think nineteen is so young. My mother was nineteen when she married my father. In my family, nineteen is not considered young. And someone your age should know it’s not a number that determines whether someone is mature, but their character.”
“You lied on a hookup app and had me meet you at the kiddie pool. Pretty sure your character age is about fifteen.” He winked, clearly trying to get a rise out of me.
“And you’re a grumpy old man who can’t get over a girl coming into her own, who’s just trying to have some fun on vacation. So I’d say you’re about sixty-five.”
“Sixty-five. Just like your Plan B.” He smirked.
As tough as Tate seemed, I sensed he was softening toward me, even if our bickering held strong.
Leave now.
Let him chase you.
But what if he doesn’t?
That would be my luck.
“Well…have a nice life, Tate.” I put one foot in front of the other and began walking away.
A few seconds later, he said, “Wait.”
Bingo. I stopped, turned, and batted my lashes. “Yes?”
“Have dinner with me.” He paused. “Just dinner.”
“What else would there be?”
“Nothing. But I don’t want to be alone and would appreciate the company.”
“Dinner with you… Why? So you can hand me a children’s menu and taunt me?”
“Come on.” He grinned. “I’ll buy you a Shirley Temple.”
My mouth fell open. “A Shirley Temple! Well, now it’s just too tempting to turn down. Sounds like a salacious night ahead.”
“Meet you in the lobby in a half hour?”
There was no way I wanted to spend the night alone, either. Having dinner with Tate was an easy yes—as easy as I would’ve been if he’d gone along with our original hookup plan.
“Well...” I sighed dramatically, pretending to hesitantly concede. “That would be okay, I guess.”
“Great.” He grinned. “See you then.”
Feeling like I was walking on air, I rushed to my room because I knew I’d need extra time to do myself up.
Not only did I want to look as mature as possible tonight, I wanted Tate to eat his heart out for having reduced me to some silly kid playing games.
While much of my behavior on this trip had been immature, it wasn’t a reflection of who I was.
I’d spent most of my life overly cautious and overly loyal, and it had gotten me nowhere.
It was time to have some fun.