Love Lines

35: Matter of Perception

"I—I—" Blinking at his comment and when his words finally registered, I popped him on the arm. "Cecil McCourt!"

He busted out laughing and just as I made to swing at him again, he let go of my hand and started backpedaling towards the ocean. "The first hit was free, sweetheart. You'll have to catch me if you want to do it again."

A wicked grin spread across my face as I took off my sunglasses and tossed them back on my towel. "Challenge accepted."

I took off after him as he turned around and bolted. Sucker was fast, I had to give him that. He had us running up and down the beach, never far from where Allie sat propped up on her towel watching us. She actually looked amused the few times I remembered to look over to check on her. I didn't want her getting snatched at the beach.

Just as a powerful wave came crashing onto the sand, he caught me up, lifting and twirling me so the water passed under my feet before setting me back down. The muscles I used to smile were aching because I was doing so much of it, along with laughing. I don't think I'd laughed this hard in a long while. There was an equally big smile spread across his face before he leaned down and kissed me. The roar of the ocean was drowned out by my own heartbeat and rapid breathing from running after him. Even though I wanted to enjoy this particular lip lock, I was still in a playful mood so I plucked the sunglasses off his face just as I pulled away.

My smile was back on my face as I waved the sunglasses at him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"You want them back?"

A smile started creeping back on his face. "I would rather the kissing but..."

He bolted in my direction and I squealed at the suddenness of it. I managed to escape his clutches but I knew it wouldn't last long. Cecil was definitely faster than me and even the water wouldn't slow him down. The sand hadn't.

That's how the rest of the afternoon went, the pair of us playing around like we were kids again and the past three years hadn't happened. Not to mention the random stolen kisses. It was nice. It was better than nice, really. It was perfect. Allie eventually took the stick out of her ass and joined us in a game of water tag, of which Cecil was never it because he always seemed to be just inches out of reach.

When we got back to the clubhouse, Allie went her separate way to get ready for a dinner date she set up with one of the other caddies. That left Cecil and I alone for dinner since my father had plans with some of his old golfing buddies. I was sure they would spend most of the evening sitting around a table talking over old tournament wins and getting semi-intoxicated. He'd invited me along but the gleam in his eye told me I didn't have to and he needed some alone time. So I declined, telling him to have a good evening and be in before midnight.

Cecil came around to collect me for dinner at eight wearing a navy blue blazer over a polo shirt and jeans. I'd seen him in this ensemble quite a few times over the past three years at various events we both managed to attend at the same time.

I wasn't completely ready yet since my father did stop by to find out my plans for the evening. He was the perfect dad if I do say so myself. Cecil waited patiently as I slipped on some heels that Allie had graciously lent me. I swear that girl didn't go anywhere without ten pairs of high heels.

And just as the two of us were about to set out to go to dinner, two things happened simultaneously. I got a phone call and someone knocked on my door.

It was a blocked number but I didn't see any harm in it. Sometimes Schylar would call me randomly from unknown numbers when he got drunk and needed a ride. He would borrow some random person's phone and I always had to remind him by the end of the conversation to hand the phone back. But he would never be drunk this early. So I answered the phone call just in case something was wrong and asked Cecil to answer the door.