Read Online Take Me All the Way by Toni Blake - Free Book Online Page B

the day for something like that, though,” Reece added. “Might want to keep it a little more G-rated for the little kids headed to the beach.” He finished with a good-natured wink, but Tamra could scarcely recall a time when she’d been more embarrassed in front of her friends.
    â€œThat was no show,” Tamra assured them. “That was the Neanderthal Cami hired being a clumsy lout and using the opportunity to be totally inappropriate.”
    At this, Reece’s eyes narrowed. “Inappropriate how? Did we make a mistake here? Do I need to have a talk with him? Or get rid of him altogether?”
    Tamra hadn’t expected Reece to come flying to protect her honor, and now she almost felt bad about the accusation. Mr. Scruffy Beard had been inappropriate—but . . . did it still count as inappropriate if it had made her heart beat faster with excitement? She didn’t like admitting that to herself, but she couldn’t deny the truth—the hard, cold reality that it hadn’t been completely one-sided. “Well . . . he was just very flirty when he fell on me, that’s all. But I handled it and I’m sure it won’t happen again.”
    In response, Cami still sat there smiling, looking almost as if she had a secret.
    Tamra lowered her chin and squarely met her gaze. “What?”
    â€œYou just look . . . flushed or something. Maybe a little flirting isn’t a bad thing.” Cami finished with a wink, as if to emphasize the point. Ugh, why had Tamra spilled her guts about her sexual needs? It was so much easier to just keep private things private.
    She tilted her head and said, “Really, Cami? Have you seen him?”
    Cami just shrugged. “Under all the hairiness, he might be cute. Christy says so anyway.”
    â€œAnd he’s got some nice muscles on him, that’s for sure,” Polly said. “Hubba-hubba.”
    Reece spun to look at Polly. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Polly, but I don’t think people say ‘hubba-hubba’ anymore.”
    She planted her hands on the hips of her rust-colored uniform. “Well, they might if they saw him .”
    â€œBut back to Tamra and Jeremy,” Cami said, switching her attention from Polly to Tamra.
    Rats, Tamra had thought maybe she was off the hook. And she was extremely uncomfortable with this whole conversation. “Let’s get something straight. There is no me and Jeremy. The guy works for me. Which I didn’t even want, if you’ll recall. And he’s a handful, but I can manage it. And that’s all there is to it.”
    â€œHandfuls of some things can be fun,” Polly mused.
    But Tamra didn’t return her playful expression, even as Cami laughed out loud. Instead she just said, “Can I please have a Coke? I need to restore my energy before the handful gets back from Home Depot.”
    As Polly stood up to get Tamra’s soda, Reece rose from the table, too. “I’m gonna go check on Fifi, work on getting her habitat winterized today.” Fifi was Reece’s six-foot-long giant iguana who lived in a room behind the Happy Crab’s check-in desk.
    And as soon as he was gone and the two of them were alone, Cami said, “Don’t get mad at me, but you really do look a little flushed, and I really do think he’s cute underneath the hair. And given that you’re—you know—feeling certain urges, maybe you should just be . . . more open-minded.”
    â€œLet me get this straight,” Tamra said. “You think it’s a good idea for me to hook up with an unkempt, impolite, homeless guy who was arrested for attacking a stranger.”
    Cami pursed her lips. “Well, when you put it that way . . .”
    â€œThank you,” Tamra said with a terse nod of victory.
    â€œBut he’s a war veteran. So he has reasons for . . . not being at his best,” Cami argued. “It really doesn’t