Page 27 of Summer of Love (Costas Sisters 2)
Chapter Five
After spending a few hours in a shopping mall with a fourteen-year-old, Ryan had been spent. First, he’d taken Sam for ice cream as promised, where she’d ducked behind him every time she’d seen a boy she knew from school. Then he’d had what he thought was a brainstorm and he’d asked her to help him shop for a birthday gift for Zoe.
Sam had dragged him into an all-natural beauty store that smelled ultrafeminine and too seductive for his peace of mind. Clenching his mouth shut tight, he’d stood back as Sam had chosen Zoe’s favorite scents in body scrub, body wash, body splash and he was sure there were more items he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t very well tell the kid that they were in way too intimate territory when she was so pleased with her selections, so he’d gone ahead and purchased her choices.
The store clerk had insisted on wrapping them in a gift basket with some courtesy products, including a loofah sponge he couldn’t stop envisioning running over every part of Zoe’s body, inch by tantalizing inch. His desire for her grew each time he saw her. His need to taste her again, to possess her body and learn her secrets, was with him day and night.
Now hours later, he was driving Zoe to a surprise destination for their date. His nerves were on edge as he waited for the phone call redirecting them to her aunt’s diner. Each time he inhaled, he took in her fresh-like-summer scent, forcing him to shake his head in an attempt to stop thinking about Zoe and sex. Sleeping with her would compromise his emotions, he knew, and in turn, he’d jeopardize his goal to take Sam to Boston with him.
Instead, he focused on the trip he’d made after taking Sam back to Elena’s. He’d gone back to the mall to purchase another, more practical gift for Zoe. One that had a purpose, but wasn’t in the least bit romantic. Though he knew he’d have to give both wrapped packages in order to protect Sam’s feelings, he hoped the more simple one would take away from the innuendo implied by the bath and body basket—even if his skin were tingling as if she’d used that loofah sponge on him, then followed it up with her hands, and then those luscious lips he’d tasted the other day.
Zoe placed a hand on his shoulder, her soft touch doing nothing to help him repress his desire to sleep with her as soon as possible.
“It was so nice of you to ask me out for my birthday, even if I’m certain Sam put you up to it,” she said, laughing.
He grinned. “The kid has a way about her, that’s for sure. It’s true she might have told me it was your birthday, but I would have asked you out, anyway.”
“Really?”
“Eventually,” he admitted. “When these things between us got more settled.” When there was no agenda between them.
Which might be never, he thought to himself.
She raised an eyebrow, her understanding as strong as his. “Settled isn’t necessarily going to be a good thing, so let’s just enjoy now, why don’t we?”
He nodded. “Good thinking.”
A glance at the road signs told him they were only five minutes away from the restaurant Elena had suggested for their “date,” and he wondered when the hell Zoe’s cell phone would ring and put the real plan into motion.
As if by command, he heard the distinctive sound of a cell-phone ring coming from her bag. She answered, spoke to the person on the other end, argued some and then finally agreed to do whatever was being asked of her.
“I said I’ll be right there,” she grumbled before she hung up and looked over at Ryan.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Only adolescent angst.”
He glanced at her questioningly.
“We call it the old stomp, stomp, slam. In other words, something set Sam off, and she stormed into another room and slammed the door.”
He pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, which faced the water and where they supposedly had an outdoor table reserved.
“I’m sure she’ll come out of her room eventually.” He put the car into park and turned toward her.
Zoe sighed. “She’s not in her room; she’s at Aunt Kassie’s restaurant. Apparently, she’s locked herself in the ladies’ room and won’t come out.”
Ryan tried not to laugh at Sam’s shenanigans to get Zoe to her surprise party. “Is this normal behavior for her?” he asked, playing along.
To his shock, she nodded. “It’s normal teenage, hormonal behavior. That’s why we call it stomp, stomp, slam, as in, stomp out of the room, then stomp down the hall and finally slam the door shut behind her.”
“I have vague recollections of my sister acting the same way.”
“So you understand why we have to head on over there?” She sounded truly disappointed, and something inside him lifted with the knowledge that she really had wanted to go out on a date with him.
