Temptation (The Hunted, #1)(42)

He slowed down a little, but was still going faster than most of the other cars. "You don't break the rules very often, do you?"

"Not really. But I do sometimes."

"Give me an example."

"You."

He laughed. "Besides for me."

"Well. One time...no, that was okay. Well there was another time...hmmm..."

"Maybe you're right about me then. I am a terrible influence on you."

"Yeah, you're the worst."

"Then I'll have to learn to behave myself better."

"I guess so." I hoped he knew I was kidding. He was so hard to read sometimes. I liked that he was a bad influence on me. I felt alive when I was with him. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

"I don't actually want you to behave around me, Professor Hunter. I like that you're a bad influence on me. I think you're just what I need."

"Penny, I couldn't behave myself around you even if you begged me to." The convertible sped up again and he turned on the radio.

***

We arrived at the beach in record time. He drove to the end of the boardwalk and parked on a side street.

"Have you ever been here before?" he asked.

"I used to come here every summer when I was growing up." I grabbed my stuff and stepped out of the car.

"All the more special then." He got out of the car, reached into the back seat, and pulled out a towel and a cooler. He put the towel over his shoulder and grabbed my hand.

"What about you?"

"I've come down here a few times."

"So this is where you take all the ladies to impress them?"

He laughed. "No, I've only ever been here by myself."

"You're kind of a loner, aren't you?"

"I guess you could say that I have a hard time trusting people."

One of the first times I had texted him I had told him that I didn't trust him and he had gotten mad. Everything was different now though. I did trust him. And I wanted to know more about him. No, I wanted to know everything about him.

"Why?" I asked.

He squeezed my hand. When we stepped onto the boards, I heard a buzzing noise. Professor Hunter dropped my hand and reached in his pocket. It looked like all the color drained from his face. "I'm sorry, I have to take this." He walked a few paces away from me. I could just barely make out his conversation.

"This isn't a good time." He sounded angry. "I don't even know why we're still talking about this." He paused and listened to the person on the other end of the line. "I told you I didn't care about any of the specifics. Just sign the damn papers." He ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket.

He put a smile on his face as he came back over to me, but I could tell that it was forced. "Sorry about that."

"Is everything okay?"

"Just a business call." He grabbed my hand again and we took the few steps down to the beach.

"Something with your tech company?"

"Well, it's not mine anymore. But yes."

I looked out at the ocean. I had always imagined how cool it would be to come to the beach when there was no one around. Today was that day. There wasn't anyone on the beach down here except for the occasional passerby. I slid off my flip flops and picked them up in my free hand. The feeling of sand underneath my bare feet was exhilarating. We began walking toward the water.

"Professor Hunter? You didn't answer my other question."

He ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, what was your question again?"

"Why do you have a hard time trusting people?"

He took a deep breath. He seemed unsettled. "People have a tendency to wear many different masks. I've been bad at seeing people for who they really are until it's too late."

Shit. And he shouldn't trust me either. I was lying to him about my age.

He put his towel on top of the sand and sat down, pulling me on top of him.

"I barely know anything about you," I said breathlessly.

"You know that I like you and that you like me. What else does anything matter?"

He lightly tugged my hair so that our faces were only an inch apart. I wanted to tell him that it did matter. But I couldn't resist him when his lips were this close to mine. He was too good at distracting me. I leaned down and kissed him. After a minute, he rolled over so that he was on top of me. He gave me one last kiss and then sat up, pulling me into a seated position with him.

"So I couldn't bring the real thing, but..." he opened the cooler and brought out two bottles of pi?a colada cocktails. "I guess these are the next best thing." He popped off each top and handed me one of the bottles.

"Cheers," I said and clanged my bottle against his. I took a small sip. "This is so good."

Professor Hunter started coughing. "Ugh! It's disgusting."

"What? It's delicious."

"It tastes like the lovechild of a coconut and a bottle of Nyquil."

I started laughing.

"You can have mine too. I brought backup for myself," he said, handing me his bottle and replacing it with a bottle of beer.

"So pi?a coladas and getting caught in the rain aren't your thing?"