Anything Goes...

Carly groaned. “He knows my parents.”

“So? You just said he has no reason to go to Oroville or talk with anyone there.”

“But he could.”

“That’s lame.”

Carly rolled back over and glared into the darkness toward Ginger. “Would you? If a guy popped up who knew you and your parents and where you went to church and shopped for groceries, would you go for it?”

After a lengthy silence, she said, “Well, I might skip the anything goes approach…”

“Then your answer is basically no.”

“I see your point.”

“Thank you,” Carly said tightly, so wide-awake it was pathetic.

“Carly?”

“Yeah?”

“Since you’re not interested, do you mind if I have a go at him?”

Carly’s eyes widened. Why should she care? Yet she had a sudden urge to pull every one of Ginger’s red hairs out one by one.

WET SAND squished between Carly’s toes and the sun beat down on her shoulders. She’d applied a copious amount of sun block all over her body but it wasn’t really the sun’s harmful rays she was worried about. Parts of her that would be exposed once she removed the sarong should never see the light of day.

“I can’t do it,” she said, and came to a dead stop.

Ginger took a couple of extra steps and then turned to glare at her. “Do what?”

“You know what.”

“Are you still fretting over that swimsuit?”

“It’s not a swimsuit. It’s dental floss and two cotton balls.”

Ginger groaned. “For God’s sake, it’s not like everyone on the island isn’t wearing them.”

Carly slid a sideways glance at two young women, both blondes, out of the bottle was Carly’s guess, sprawled on hot-pink beach blankets only a couple of yards from the water. One lay on her stomach, and the other on her side. They both had perfect butts. Round and firm-looking, as if they worked out daily. On them the dental floss looked good.

Too good.

“I’m going back to the room and changing.” She got as far as turning around before Ginger snatched hold of her arm.

“No way. That suit you brought is hideous. I’d be embarrassed if you wore it.”

Carly gazed up at the clear blue sky and shook her head. “I can’t believe I just paid eighty bucks for this darn thing to ride up my crack.”

Ginger laughed and pulled Carly along. “You’ll get used to it. I promise.”

“Look, if I decide not to take off the sarong, just shut up. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Everyone else is in bikinis and you’re going to sit there all covered up?”

Carly glanced down at the brief strip of material tied around her breasts and ending at the top of her thighs. “All covered up? I wear more clothes than this to bed.”

“Yeah, but you usually aren’t looking to get laid.”

Carly’s gaze darted left, then right.

“Nobody heard me. Come on. If the guys left without us, I’ll be pissed.”

“What do you mean left?” Carly dug in her heels. Ginger had talked her into meeting up with the guy she’d been dancing with last night. He apparently had come with two friends, both of whom, according to Ginger, were gorgeous. “I thought we were just meeting them on the beach for a drink.”

“We were thinking we might go water skiing.”

“You know how to water ski?”

“No, that’s why I need you with me. So I won’t look so bad.”

“Thanks,” Carly muttered. She would have been better off hanging around the lobby hoping to catch Rick. She wanted to talk to him one more time before making any rash decisions. Maybe they could work something out…have a little fun.

She was still wildly attracted to him and there was the advantage that she knew he was safe, as far as not being weird or perverted. After a week, he’d probably be just as ready to move on as she would. Him back to his job and fast city life, and her back to Oroville.

As many downsides as there were to small-town life, she truly loved the pace, the familiarity, the safety. So she had to trade off some excitement. Heck, life was a tradeoff, wasn’t it?

“Come on.” Walking backwards as she tried to motion Carly to hurry, Ginger nearly ran into a guy with shoulder-length dark hair and orange swim trunks.

“Hold on there, sweetheart.” The guy grasped Ginger’s shoulders, preventing the collision.

With a startled cry, Ginger spun around. “What the—” Her voice died on the warm salty breeze when she caught sight of the hunk she’d crashed into.

Right beside him in red trunks with a smooth bare chest was Rick.

Carly’s breath caught.

Carly could barely keep her eyes off Rick. She’d seen him without a shirt before, but he’d been sixteen and a little too thin. Not anymore. Holy—

“Hey, Carly.” Rick smiled. “So we meet again.” Without taking his gaze off her, he inclined his head toward the other guy. “This is Tony Marretti, my buddy from college. Carly’s a friend from way back.”

A friend. She sighed to herself. That’s all he’d ever considered her, even when she’d had an impossibly mad crush on him for the entire summer.

“Nice to meet you, Tony. And the bulldozer is my friend Ginger Robbins.”

The guys grinned. Ginger glared at her. But only for a moment and then her attention was directed solely on Tony.

“You two just cruising the beach?” Tony asked, obviously interested in Ginger, as well.