Chapter 27
brEAKING: FAKE COUPLE DISCOVERS THEY MAKE A REAL TEAM Denial levels dropping faster than ocean tides
Alaia
Tanner places his hand on his hips and draws in a deep breath. “It’s a beautiful day to spend at the beach.”
I frown. “We’re here to work, not play.”
He waggles his eyebrows. “We’re still spending the day on the beach.”
Is everything a game to him? Football is serious and the rest – including me – is all a game?
He grasps my hand and leads me toward the group of volunteers. “This is going to be fun. And maybe when we’re finished cleaning up the beach, you’ll change into a bikini and we’ll go swimming. I solemnly swear to try to pants you.”
Swimming in the ocean with Tanner sounds dangerous – in a sexy way. He wouldn’t hesitate to not only pull down my bikini bottoms but steal them. But we’re not here to play.
“We’re here to help, not flirt.”
He winks. “I can multitask.”
We reach the group. “Hi, Sophia. They’re letting you be in charge this year?”
She rolls her eyes. “Letting me? This is community service.”
Community service? What did she do? And why didn’t I hear about it?
Sophia and her friends, who own the Five Fathoms Brewing Company together, are some of the biggest troublemakers on the island. For a while there, I considered naming the gossip column after them – Five Fathoms Unfiltered. But then they all fell in love and ruined perfectly good material.
“What did you do?”
She grunts. “It wasn’t a big deal. We accidentally did an autopsy on the mermaid at Mermaid Mini Golf.”
“How do you accidentally perform an autopsy on a plastic mermaid?”
She waves a hand in dismissal. “Moonshine and bets, and asshole fiancés and husbands were involved.”
I giggle. “I need the full story.”
Tanner raises his hand. “Me too.”
Sophia’s eyes widen. “Aren’t you Tanner Long?”
He bows. “In the flesh.”
Sophia’s husband, Flynn, hurries toward us. “No flirting with famous NFL players.”
Tanner puffs out his chest. “It’s me. I’m the famous NFL player.”
I slap his chest. “Can you be serious for one minute? Cleaning up the beaches is important.”
He wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t you worry, gorgeous. I can clean beaches, flirt with you, and show off for my fans at the same time.”
I push his arm off. Does everything have to be this easy for him? I’ll need to soak in a hot bath after a long day of bending over picking up trash. He’ll probably go for a ten-mile run to ‘loosen up his muscles’.
“You have your hands full with him.” Sophia laughs as she hands me a roll of trash bags, two sets of gloves, and two trash grabbers. “You and Tanner have the northern part of the beach.”
“Alrighty. Let’s do this.”
I walk toward our area of the beach with Tanner trailing behind me. He waves at everyone as if he’s the main attraction in a parade.
“Come on, homecoming king, we have work to do.” I hand him a trash bag.
“I bet I can pick up trash faster than you.”
“This isn’t a contest.”
“Everything’s a contest.”
He scrambles around the beach picking up the big, obvious trash as fast as he can. He misses the microplastics and glass shards.
I follow him and pick up all the stuff he misses. Which is a lot. I should have known better than to bring him with me today. He’s not taking this seriously.
Of course, he doesn’t understand. Why would he? This isn’t his home. And he’s probably never cleaned anything important in his life.
“Tada!” He does a pirouette before bowing and offering me his trash bag. “I’m done. I win.”
“Are you kidding me?” I explode.
“What?”
“What?” I inhale a deep breath in an effort to control my temper. It doesn’t work. “There is no winning. This isn’t a contest. We’re cleaning a beach. And you’re doing a crappy job.”
His brow wrinkles. “A crappy job? But I filled my trash bag.”
I lift up my trash bag. “And my trash bag is filled with all the trash you missed.”
“The trash I missed?”
“All the glass and microplastics. You ignored them and went for the big trash.”
He stares at me for a moment before blowing out a breath. “Okay. Show me how you want it done.”
I wait for the punchline but it doesn’t come. He’s serious. For now. We’ll see how serious he is once he realizes how much work this is.
“You’ve been ignoring the seaweed. Fishing line, glass, and plastics get caught in it. It’s easy to miss, but it’s potentially harmful.”
His nose wrinkles. “The seaweed is gross.”
I blink up at him. “Can the big football player not handle a bit of seaweed?”
He straightens his back. “Of course, I can.”
“Come on.” I wave him forward. “Let me show you how it’s done.”
I expect a joke, but he’s quiet as he watches me sift through the seaweed and pull out pieces of glass and fishing line.
I show him the line. “This is one of the most dangerous items on the beach. Animals get trapped in them.”
“I didn’t even see it.”
“You have to slow down and really look. Not run around grabbing the cans and bottles and think you’re done.”
“Okay, boss. I’ve got it.”
“I’ll watch you search the next piece of seaweed.”
I expect him to bristle. I’m not his boss after all. But he nods before moving to the next piece of seaweed. He painstakingly removes the glass shards.
“I don’t see any fishing line, but maybe you could double check. I don’t want any animals getting caught.”
Is he joking? Humoring me? I meet his gaze. His eyes aren’t twinkling. He’s actually listening.
I check the seaweed. “No fishing line. Good job.”
His smile is full of pride. He’s taking this task of cleaning a beach on the island I love seriously. This Tanner is irresistible.
We continue to work. I spot a net in the water and go to grab it. I tug at it but it doesn’t move. I grunt with the effort.
Tanner surveys the situation before wading into the water. He trails his hand on the net. He stops when he reaches a piece of driftwood.
“The net is snagged on the wood. I’ll untangle it and you can pull the net out of the water.”
He untangles it and gives me a thumbs-up. I try to pull the net out of the water, but it’s heavy. I strain but it’s not budging.
Suddenly, Tanner is there. He grasps the net next to me and together we pull until it’s out of the water.
“Can you…”
I trail off when I notice he’s already folding up the net. We finish folding it together and carry it to the truck, already piled high with garbage bags. We throw the net in the back.
“You guys done already?” Sophia asks.
“Not yet. I need to go back over the seaweed I skipped the first time.”
I don’t know who’s more surprised – me or Sophia? Because this isn’t the Tanner Long the world knows. This is the sweet man he keeps buried away from the rest of the world.
I expected goofball Tanner to show up today. And he initially did. But once he realized how important the beach is to me, the joking disappeared, and he focused on the task.
For me. His fake girlfriend. Except nothing about today feels fake. Not the gentle touches he gives me. Not the smiles he makes. It feels real. It feels as if Tanner cares for me as much as I care for him.
“Come on, gorgeous. Let’s get back to work.”
I notice he’s sweating. I bite my bottom lip. “Should you be out here sweating after the hit you got in training the other day?”
His hit has caused me way too many sleepless nights worrying about him. He got checked out by the team’s medical unit and they cleared him to continue playing. But what if they were wrong? What if they missed something?
Tanner palms my cheek. “I’m okay.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. If I feel faint or nauseous, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, but you need to hydrate.”
We make our way to the refreshments table laden with bottles of water and cookies. I grab a cookie and a bottle of water. Tanner sticks to water.
He drops his arm over my shoulders as we return to our area of the beach. “We make a good team.”
“At picking up trash?”
He shrugs. “Picking up trash, bowling, whatever. We’re a good team.”
Yes, we are. The question is – how long will this team operate? I’m fairly certain Tanner cares for me. But is it enough for him to abandon his playboy ways and try a real relationship? Or is he going to break my heart?
And what happens when training camp is over and he leaves the island to start the regular football season?