547. Chapter 547

The mornings when Alex just runs on the beach, Maggie can handle herself.

Mostly.

Those are the mornings when her shift has just started and no one is really out yet. She’s got no one to watch out for, and no one to look at except this gorgeous woman with short hair – is it red? she never can tell, but god, does she want to find out – doing sprint intervals on the sand in the midst of her longer run.

She loves the way the woman smiles haphazardly when an unexpected wave crashes up and soaks into her shorts.

She loves the way the woman runs with complete focus, complete dedication, perfect strides, perfect form.

She loves the way the woman stops to stretch right down the beach from Maggie’s lifeguard tower.

She wonders if she does it on purpose.

A few weeks ago, she started to think she does, indeed, do it on purpose.

Because a few weeks ago, she learned the woman’s name.

“Hey,” she’d called up, panting slightly and sweating through the bandanna around her forehead. “I’m Alex. Looks like a lonely shift for you, huh?”

“I… it… s’still early,” Maggie had sputtered, because why was this woman talking to her, squinting up at her, shading her eyes with her ridiculously toned arm, a grin on her face.

“Well, whoever comes by to swim later’s gonna be pretty lucky. Get watched over by someone as beautiful as you. I surf, you know. So I can swim worth a damn. We should do it together sometime. Swim, I mean.”

Maggie’d nearly dropped out of the tower, and Alex – Alex, Alex, Alex – seemed to relish what a mess she was making her.

“I didn’t catch your name,” she offered, and Maggie had gulped. Hard.

“Sawyer. Maggie. Maggie Sawyer.”

“Well, Sawyer Maggie, Maggie Sawyer – I’ve gotta get to work, but uh… I really hope to see you again tomorrow.”

Maggie had just nodded, had just watched Alex saunter away with parted lips.

She’d spent the rest of the day cursing herself for being such a bumbling mess.

But Alex didn’t seem to mind.

Because now, they’d talk every day after Alex’s run.

Because Maggie – after some practicing with Adrian, anyway – finally figured out how to speak around this gorgeous woman with such intensity of focus, such immense dedication, such a life-changing smile.

That is, except on the days when Alex went surfing.

Those days, she’d come up to Maggie with her board tucked under her arm, her wetsuit still on, her hair still sopping. Her face would be flushed with triumph, with exhilaration, and Maggie would still be trying to calm down from how damn turned on she was by Alex’s command of the ocean, of her board, of herself.

The way the wetsuit would cling to all the right parts of Alex’s body didn’t help in the slightest.

“You took some risks today,” Maggie somehow manages to say, this latest time Alex jogs up to her tower, panting, a gleam in her eyes and her hair and body still marvelously soaked.

Alex nods and they both look out to the ocean, raging today after last night’s rare storm.

“Yeah, it’s a lot today I guess. But no risk no reward, right? And anyway, I knew I had the best lifeguard in town watching my back.”

Maggie scoffs at that, face reddening as she shakes her head. “You’ve only ever seen me sit up here doing exactly nothing.”

Alex plants her board in the sand and grins. “My sister was here yesterday. In the afternoon. Blonde girl, tall, beautiful? Anyway, she saw you rescue that little kid who got too far out. She said it was amazing. She said you were amazing. Which I don’t find at all hard to believe.”

Maggie lowers her eyes and gulps. “Just doing my job.”

“Your job is brilliant, and so are you. I uh… listen, I’ve been trying to get the guts to do this for like a month now, but um… can I take you to dinner or something, Maggie? There’s this great pinball bar – “

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you can take me to dinner. I was beginning to think you’d never ask.”