Meant to Be (9 page)

“
Sure.” She watched Wynn
twist the top and hand her the bottle. He wasn’t quite as tall as
Rad but was just as broad shouldered. His hair was dark, and even
with at least a week’s worth of facial hair, he was still
incredibly handsome.

“
Guess I have to get my
own.” Rad reached into the cooler, shaking his head.

“
Yeah, I’m not waiting on
you, bro. You’re on your own.”

“
Where’s your better half
anyway?” Rad straightened and twisted the cap before taking a quick
sip. “She leave you before the wedding?”

“
No, she didn’t leave me.”
Wynn shook his head. “She stopped to buy something on the
Boardwalk. You know how women are.”

Another one of the guys walked up and
nudged Rad. “Wondered where you’ve been all day.” He glanced over
at Lauren and gave her a big smile. “It just wasn’t the same
without Rad around.”

“
Yeah, right.” Rad slapped
the man on the back. “You probably didn’t even notice I was gone
until just now.”

“
Someone say there’s cold
beer in here?” Another one of the men strolled up to the
canopy.

Rad turned toward Lauren. “That’s Bipp
on the left and Reese looking for beer. And stumbling up the beach,
that’s Tork and Crockett.”

Lauren tried to memorize the names and
features. Bipp was a little shorter and huskier than the others but
still athletic looking. Reese had a couple of tattoos on his arm
and was as big as a bear. Tork and Crockett were shorter, but lithe
and trim.

She couldn’t help analyzing them
because it wasn’t hard to see they were all Alpha males. Probably
all cops—maybe even specialized SWAT.

“
Uh oh,” Reese said as he
lifted his gaze from the cooler. He locked eyes with Rad who stood
right beside Lauren. “Trouble at your four o’clock.”

Lauren automatically turned her head
over her shoulder to the right, as did Rad, and saw two young women
wearing very short shorts carrying a cooler between them,
struggling to walk through the sand.

“
You said you wanted to go
change. Right?” He started to lead Lauren away.

“
Hey, Rad!” The girls set
the cooler down with a loud thud, and one of them ran over to Rad.
“Where have you been all day?” She threw her arms around him,
though he didn’t exactly return the gesture.

“
Jackie, I’d like you to
meet a friend of mine. This is Lauren.”

Jackie turned around slowly and
studied Lauren as if noticing her for the first time. “Nice to meet
you.” Despite her words, there was no mistaking the animosity in
her gaze as she perused Lauren from head to toe.

Lauren nodded and forced a smile.
“Same here.” She sensed a history between this girl and Rad, and a
feeling almost like jealousy crept up her spine. She scolded
herself instantly. So what if Jackie was an old
girlfriend?

“
And that’s Jasmine.” Rad
nodded toward the other girl, who had taken a beer out of the
cooler and was already chugging it down.

“
We’ll be right back.” Rad
took Lauren’s arm and led her away. “Going to change clothes,” he
said over his shoulder to Annie.

When he took her hand this time, it
was with a tight clasp that afforded no refusal.

“
You seem to be in a hurry
all of a sudden.”

“
Just want you to get into
some warm jeans,” he answered curtly.

Lauren could tell he was lying.
“That’s nice of you.”

As if sensing her sarcasm, Rad relaxed
his grip, and by the time they made their way through the sand to
the Boardwalk, he was acting normally again. “Your hotel’s right
down there, right?”

“
Yeah, about two blocks. I
think I can make it.” Lauren grinned playfully, glad he was back to
his old happy-go-lucky self.

“
You sure?”

“
I’ll meet you here in
thirty minutes.”

Rad studied her a moment as if testing
the truth. “Okay. What time you got?” He looked at his
watch.

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Really? We’re
going to synchronize our watches?” She glanced down at her phone.
“See you at 1730.”

“
Okay. Don’t be
late.”

Lauren turned but could still feel his
gaze on her. She wondered what he would do if she didn’t show up in
thirty minutes. She began to hurry.

Back in her hotel room, she hopped in
the shower to rinse off, and then threw on a pair of jeans and a
tee shirt. After running the hair dryer over her hair, she pulled
it back into a loose ponytail and left the ball cap behind. With
time running out, she applied a little mascara and some lip gloss
and still had a few minutes to walk the two blocks back to where
she was supposed to meet Rad.

Chapter 7

When Lauren was about a
half a block away, she saw Rad pacing in front of a bench. When at
last his gaze met hers, he quite openly studied her with eyes that
were piercing in their intensity, but with an expression she could
not read.

“
Where have you been?” He
smiled in a careless manner when she reached him, but his tone had
revealed emotion.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You’re late.”

“
Not according to my
phone. You worried about me?

“
Let’s just say I was
getting ready to knock down the door of every hotel room on the
block.”

Lauren chuckled even though Rad did
not appear to be joking. “Yeah, right. You were probably getting
ready to leave, and I was only a minute late.”

She started to walk down to the beach,
but he pulled her to a stop. “Don’t underestimate what I would do
to find you.”

His voice sounded serious, and the
strength he exuded felt overwhelming, but when Lauren met his gaze,
his expression was again unreadable. Maybe he was feeling what she
was feeling. And maybe he was as mixed up and confused about it as
she was.

“
Anyway,” he said, smiling
now, “you just said you were on time.”

“
Okay. Perhaps I was a few
minutes late. You can’t expect me to be under the scrutiny of your
friends without cleaning up a little.”

His eyes swept her up and down
appreciatively. “You win. It was worth the wait. I see you’re
taking this meeting-my-friends-thing pretty seriously.”

She glanced down at what she’d thrown
on. “It’s just blue jeans and a tee shirt for heaven’s
sake.”

“
Um-hmm. But you make it
look good.”

Lauren smiled at him
appreciatively while her eyes soaked in the sight of him.
You don’t look so bad yourself.
He wore a navy blue tee shirt that emphasized the
breadth of his shoulders, along with an unbuttoned denim shirt that
was so faded it was barely blue. It occurred to her she should have
brought something with long sleeves as well, but he soon
interrupted her thoughts.

“
Let’s go.” He casually
draped his arm over her shoulders and strolled toward the party
that had now grown even larger. Apparently a few females who had
been strolling down the beach had been given an impromptu
invitation by some of the guys—and there were a number of new male
faces as well.

“
Hey, Lauren.” Annie
beckoned her when they got near the canopy.

Lauren noticed that during their
absence another canopy had sprung up, along with more coolers and
food. “This is Heather, Wynn’s fiancée.” She had to speak loudly
over the music now blaring. “Heather, this is Lauren.”

“
Great to meet you.”
Lauren shook hands with the tan blonde who wore a camouflage ball
cap and a Duck Dynasty tee shirt with cut-off shorts. Petite and
slim, she gazed at Lauren with big, brown eyes that reflected
welcome and acceptance.

“
We don’t know what she
sees in Wynn, but apparently she’s here to stay,” Rad said as he
opened the lid to the cooler.

“
Geez Rad, that’s not very
nice.” Lauren shook her head.

“
Oh, that’s tame for him.”
Heather’s brown eyes twinkled. “He must be on his big-boy behavior
with you around.”

Rad spoke to Heather as he handed
Lauren a beer. “Some things are just between us, Heather. No need
to spread unfounded rumors.”

Heather spilled over with contagious
laughter, which drew Wynn and a few of the other men to the tent.
“Wynn, I think Rad is worried we will tell stories about him. Why
don’t you share what he’s really like?”

Wynn gazed at Heather a moment and
then his eyes shifted over to Rad, appearing to ponder whose side
to take—his fiancée’s or his friend’s. “You mean how he’s a perfect
gentleman at all times? Never late, organized, good manners, all
that?”

That made the whole group
laugh. Heather just shook her head and looked over at Annie, who
shrugged as if to say,
they’ve got each
other’s back—even here.

“
Come on Lauren, there’s
someone I want to introduce you to over here.” Rad turned with
Lauren in tow, but Wynn touched her on the shoulder to stop her. “I
can tell you one thing about him. He’s got the biggest balls of
anyone here.”

“
Good heavens, Wynn!”
Heather shook her head. “Sorry. He can be blunt—and
tactless.”

Lauren smiled and trotted to catch up
to Rad. “But it’s true,” she heard someone from behind her say with
a mixture of respect and joviality in his voice. “That’s the
modern-day John F’ing Wayne right there.”

Lauren usually hated parties, detested
trying to make small talk, and despised having to pretend she was
having a good time. The realization she was actually enjoying
herself hit her with an unexpected jolt. Rad had kept close tabs on
her at first, but now she was talking with Reese and Bipp about
different places they had visited in Ocean City while he conversed
with Pops.

Reese must have noticed Rad raising
his drink and winking at her in the midst of a conversation.
“What’d you do to him anyway? Cast a spell or
something?”

Lauren cocked her head. “What do you
mean?”

“
He’s like the most
antisocial man I’ve ever met.”

“
Really?”

“
I mean, don’t get me
wrong. He’d do anything for his friends—it’s just hard to become
one.”

Lauren laughed at that. It hadn’t
seemed hard at all. One moment she was sitting on the beach. The
next thing she knew she was attending a beach party and meeting his
closest friends.

Her sudden outburst must have drawn
Rad’s attention. He strode over and stood behind Lauren with his
hands on her shoulders. “What’s going on over here?”

“
Just talking to your
girl.” Reese cocked his head and stared at them. “So how long you
two known each other anyway?”

When Lauren glanced up at
Rad he shot her a “don’t tell him” look, so she provided an answer
without really answering. “Oh my goodness, it’s been so long, I
don’t even know.” She leaned back into him. “Do you remember how
long we’ve known each other…
honey
?”

Rad smiled and wrapped both his arms
around her. “All I know is, not long enough.”

Without warning, Lauren heard a
shutter click a few times and then noticed that the lens of the
beach photographer’s camera was aimed at her and Rad. Startled, she
wriggled out of his arms and turned her back. “Tell him to delete
anything he took.” She hoped he would take her tone of voice
seriously.

Before she walked away, she heard Rad
talk to the man in a low voice as the photographer nodded his
head.

Ocean City was well known for the
“Scopes” photographers who roamed the beach seeking families and
couples who would buy the pictures they shot. When she glanced over
her shoulder, Rad was already heading back up to her while talking
to Pops. The photographer was busy snapping photos of the other
guys posing with their new girlfriends.

Lauren wanted to make sure Rad had
watched the photographer delete the photos, but before she had time
to ask, he grabbed her around the waist from behind, leaned down,
and whispered in her ear—which made her completely lose her train
of thought.

“
Pops said we could use
some more beer. You okay here for a couple of minutes?”

“
Sure.” She turned her
head and stared up at him. “But hurry back.”

Rad winked at her. “You can count on
that.”

Before he was even out of sight, she
felt a tap on her shoulder from Reese. “I’m sure Rad would insist I
keep your mind off his absence.”

“
Oh, that’s very
chivalrous of you.” Lauren smiled up at the man who was even taller
than Rad. He had wild, unruly hair, and a mouth that curled as if
always on the verge of laughter.

“
Yeah, who says chivalry
is dead?” Reese nodded and belched at the same time. “Now, Rad,
he’s not like me at all.”

Bipp and Wynn wandered up just then,
each carrying a red cup that smelled of something stronger than
beer. “You can say that again,” Wynn said.