Kimberly Meter - Like One of the Family

He’d torn into the basket and eaten the entire pâté before Lora’s astonished eyes with great gobbling bites, stuffing his mouth until he thought he might choke but he hadn’t eaten anything aside from what he could scrounge from the restaurant scraps for the past month. He might’ve been two steps away from death, if it hadn’t been for Lora’s basket.

And then, clutching the basket to his chest, he’d run away.

He’d come back the following day, seeing her at the marketplace buying fresh fruit. She’d caught sight of him and waved him over. He’d shyly thanked her for the food, but stopped short of telling her just how bad things were for him. She seemed to understand that he was holding something back and must’ve known what it was like to need to keep some things private, because she didn’t mention it again. In no time, they’d become fast friends. He’d meet her in the plaza and they’d spend the day romping around, swimming, fishing, sharing smoothies.

Until the day came when he’d come home and discovered his parents had truly taken off for good this time. He’d been terrified. So he’d tried to follow. With disastrous results.

It would be a year before he saw her again when Pops brought him to the resort on the guise of needing a young strapping boy to do the heavy lifting for him in the form of odd jobs.

That’d been the year Pops had unofficially adopted him.

Lora hadn’t been happy. In fact, she was so cold and closed off, he almost wondered if she remembered that he was the same boy that she’d saved from starving only a year prior. She’d rebuffed any attempt he’d made to explain, sending the message quite clearly that whatever they’d had before he left, hadn’t survived the absence. Which, honestly, if he hadn’t developed feelings for her, would’ve been fine. But that’s not how it had turned out. He’d been doomed to fall for Lora Bell because fate had decided his life hadn’t been filled with enough turmoil.

Man, when he thought of how many nights he’d stayed awake thinking about Lora…good God. It made him sick to think of all that wasted time.

Shaking off the memory with effort, he exhaled and walked from the water, startling Lora with his appearance, as he headed for the towel he’d hung on a tree. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as an involuntary, gasped squeak gave away her distress.

Probably because he was nude.

* * *

“WHAT©ARE©YOU©DOING?” Lora managed to blurt out, squeezing her eyes shut and wishing she could scrub her brain but it was no use, nothing would erase what she’d seen—Heath in all his morning glory—and she was fairly certain she was scarred for life. A growing heat in the center of her belly caused her to squirm as disquiet at her own reaction made her want to run away. But she couldn’t very well turn tail and run like a scared little rabbit just because she’d happened to catch Heath in his birthday suit. His wasn’t the first penis she’d ever seen, for crying out loud. But… she thought miserably, clenching her fists at her sides, she’d be a liar if she’d said she’d seen a larger one. Admitting such a thing made her want to grind her eyes out—and her brain—for even allowing the unfortunate observation. “This is a private beach…with guests. Please put some clothes on!”

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