He smirked at that last part, flashing me a set of dimples that were sexy as hell, both of us knowing exactly what he had been looking for. “Yeah, well, Danny really is a good guy, he can just be a little of an ass sometimes. I’m Nick Bennett, by the way.” He stuck out an oversized hand, making mine feel so tiny in comparison.
“Ally Sam—” No, that name was never coming out of my mouth again. That Ally is history. Time to go back to the real Ally, the one that I failed to realize had slowly been disappearing. “Ally James, nice to meet you.”
“Ally James,” he repeated, my name rolling off of his tongue, in that deep, gravelly voice of his. I liked how it sounded, and it felt good to have a little piece of my old self back. “Well, I promise I’m not looking for the same thing Danny was looking for.”
I looked at him sideways and he gave me a smirk, almost reading my mind even though I had no clue why I was thinking it. “Not that I wouldn’t be hitting on you. If I had to pick one girl in this bar...” His eyes landed on my face again, and he stared straight at me while his tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip. “It would definitely be you.”
Chapter 6
Ally
I hadn’t really planned on talking to anyone besides Remy when she insisted on dragging me to Clammy’s, which apparently was the place to go around here. But Nick was different, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to get to know him just because I was in a bad place in my life. We could be friends; I had plenty of guy friends over the years. Friends, yup, totally friends.
We talked for what felt like hours, getting to know each other. After a while, Remy got bored, and after reassuring me several times that she wanted me to stay and have fun, she headed for home, giving me a wide, know-it all smile before she left.
I wasn’t complaining, because for the first time in almost two weeks, I hadn’t thought about Teddy and that whole situation one time. So when Nick suggested we take a walk on the beach that ran right along the front of Clammy’s, I didn’t even hesitate.
He said goodbye to his friends who were looking at him the same way Remy was looking at me. They all seemed like they knew what was going on, when really it was just nice to talk to someone. Someone who didn’t know me, someone who didn’t know anything about my situation. We both mentioned that we had just gone through breakups, but we also both skirted around that whole topic, which was fine with me.
We both rolled up the bottom of our pants, kicking our shoes off and leaving them in a pile near the end of the walkway that led right onto the beach. I breathed in the salty fresh air, relishing the calming effect it seemed to have on me ever since I had arrived in Gulfport. Nick inched closer, hands shoved in his pockets, as we walked near the edge, the water just trickling against our toes.
“So, you just moved here—”
“Just visiting,” I interrupted, stopping to pick up a shell that caught my eye. Nick held out his hand, and I watched as he bent down to clean it for me. “I’m not really sure where I’ll end up. I’m just trying to figure things out.”
“Yeah, I guess I can understand that.” He pulled his hand through his dark hair, something that I had noticed all night. There was no way he spent hours in the mirror perfecting that look, which made it even sexier. “I’ve lived here my whole life though, and I’ve never really gotten the urge to leave. I’ll probably end up being a lifer.” He sucked in his bottom lip, the expression on his face looking as if he was ashamed of that or something.
“If I had to pick one place to be a lifer at, it would totally be here. The water, the sand, even this town…it just has such a great atmosphere, a real small town charm. You don’t find that at many places right on the beach. Who would want to leave here?”
He muttered something before plopping down in the sand and resting his elbows on his knees. “You’re right. I can remember when I was younger, and wondering why in the hell anyone would want to live anywhere else. All the tourists come here for a week of vacation, and then have to go back to reality. Who in their right mind likes snow?”
I giggled as he reached out a hand and pulled me down into the sand with him so I was wedged between his knees. “It’s really not that bad. In fact, it can be fun most of the time as long as you avoid driving a car anywhere. Snowball fights, building snow men, hot chocolate with those tiny little marshmallows to warm you up once you come inside.”
“Really? When was the last time you did any of that? When you were like ten?” I turned around to see him smirking at me.