When I get situated, I look over at Sara, but it’s not Sara I’m looking at.

It’s Samson.

He’s asleep in her lounge chair.

I sit up and look out at the water. Sara and Marcos are on paddle boards a good ways out in the ocean.

I grab my phone and look at the time. It’s four o’clock. I slept for an hour and a half.

I lie back down and glance over at Samson while he sleeps. He’s on his stomach, his head resting on his arms. He’s got a ball cap on turned backward and he’s wearing a pair of sunglasses. No shirt, but that’s not a bad thing.

I roll onto my side and rest my head on my arm, and I stare at him for a while. I know very little about the pieces that make him up as a whole, but I feel like I know what kind of person all those pieces have made him.

Maybe you don’t have to know a person’s history to realize who they are in the present. And who I’ve started to realize he is on the inside makes him even more attractive on the outside. Attractive enough that I think about him almost every waking second.

I find myself focusing my attention on his mouth. I don’t know why I freaked out while he was kissing me last night. Maybe because I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this past week has been real.

It’s a lot at once and it seemed to all culminate and scream at me during our kiss last night. It makes me wonder if he kissed me again tonight, would I react the same way? Or would I allow myself to actually see it through and enjoy the entire kiss like I enjoyed the first few seconds of it?

I stare at his lips, convincing myself that it’s worth a second try. And a third and maybe a fourth. Maybe if I kiss him enough, it’ll eventually only feel perfect.

“You realize my eyes are open, right?”

Shit.

I thought he was asleep. I cover my face with my hand. There’s no hiding my embarrassment.

“Don’t worry,” he says, his voice hoarse, like it’s scratching its way up his throat. “I’ve been staring at you the whole time you’ve been sleeping.” He reaches out and touches my elbow with his finger. “How’d you get this scar?”

I turn onto my side and face him again. “During a volleyball game.” His lounge chair is only about a foot from mine, but it seems like a mile away when he stops touching my arm.

“How good was your team?”

“We won our state championship twice,” I say. “Did you play any sports in high school?”

“No. I didn’t go to a typical school.”

“What kind of school did you go to?”

Samson shakes his head, indicating he’s not going to answer that.

I roll my eyes. “Why do you do that? Why do you ask me questions and then I ask you the same thing and you refuse to answer?”

“I’ve told you more than I’ve told anyone. Ever,” he says. “Don’t be greedy.”

“Then stop asking me questions you aren’t willing to answer yourself.”

He grins. “Stop answering my questions.”

“You think me knowing where you went to high school is somehow more personal than you having your tongue in my mouth? Or me telling you about Dakota? Or you telling me about your mother?” I pull my arms up behind my head and close my eyes. “Your logic is quite stupid, Samson.”

There’s really no point in trying to have a conversation with him if all he’s going to do is dance around every topic like he’s some kind of ballerina.

“I went to boarding school in New York,” he finally says. “And I hated every second of it.”

I smile, feeling like I won this battle somehow, but inside I’m kind of saddened by that answer. Boarding school doesn’t sound fun. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about it. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I swivel my head and look at him. He’s removed his sunglasses and the reflection of the sun makes his eyes look almost clear. It doesn’t seem like someone with eyes as transparent as his could be as closed off as he is.

We stare at each other, much like we always do, but it’s different this time. Now we know what each other tastes like. He knows my darkest secret, yet he’s still looking at me like I’m the most interesting thing on this peninsula.

He drops his gaze and looks down between our chairs. He drags a finger in the sand. “How do you spell your name?”

“B-e-y-a-h.”

I watch as he writes my name in the sand. When he finishes, he drags a finger across it and strikes it out, then wipes his whole hand across it until my name disappears.

I don’t know how I could possibly feel that beneath my skin, but I did.

Samson glances toward the water. “Sara and Marcos are coming back.” He puts his shades on and then hops up.

I keep my hands behind my head, pretending to be relaxed, despite feeling like I’ve just been electrocuted. Samson walks to Sara, who is struggling with her board. He takes over and drags it the rest of the way out of the water for her.

Sara pulls at her ponytail when she reaches me and takes a seat on the lounge chair Samson was just lying on. She squeezes water out of her hair.

“You have a good nap?” Sara asks.

“Yeah. I can’t believe I fell asleep.”

“You snore,” she says, laughing. “Did you ask Samson if he wants to double date tonight?”

“No. It didn’t come up.”

Marcos and Samson are walking the paddle boards toward us. “Samson, we’re all going on a double date,” Sara says to him. “Be ready at six.”

Samson doesn’t miss a beat in his response. “Who’s my date?”

“Beyah. Idiot.”

Samson looks at me like he’s considering it. “Is this like a friend date?”

“It’s food,” Marcos says. “Don’t let Sara put a label on it.”

“We doing seafood?” Samson asks him.

“Would you even allow us to eat anything else?”

Samson looks back at me. “You like shrimp, Beyah?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever had it.”

Samson tilts his head. “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic.”

“I’m from Kentucky. We don’t have a lot of affordable seafood restaurants.”

“You’ve never even been to a Red Lobster?” Marcos asks me.

“Y’all forget things like Red Lobster are fancy to a lot of people.”

“I’ll order for you, then,” Samson says.

“How very chauvinistic of you,” I tease.

Sara pulls on her bathing suit cover-up and stands. “Come on, let’s go get ready.”

“Now? We aren’t leaving for another two hours.”

“Yeah, but we have a lot to do to get you ready.”

“Like what?”

“I’m giving you a makeover.”

I shake my head. “No. Please, no.”

She nods. “Yes. I’m doing your hair, your nails, your makeup.” She grabs my hand and pulls me out of the lounger. She points at all the stuff we brought to the beach earlier. “You two strapping men take care of this, will ya?”

We get halfway to the house and she says, “He’s into you. I can tell. He doesn’t look at girls like he looks at you.”