Free The Trouble With Flirting by Claire LaZebnik Page A

walk.”
    “Stop wriggling,” Harry says. “Or we’ll both fall on our faces.”
    Alex frowns. “Let me help. It’s hard to walk in the sand, and if you fall, you could hurt her.”
    “I’m fine,” Harry says. “If everybody would just get out of my way . . .” He takes an unsteady step toward the ocean. “It would help if you’d put your arms around my neck.” His voice sounds a little strained.
    “Sorry.” I sling one arm around his neck and the other in front and clasp my fingers loosely together.
    “Tighter,” he says.
    So I tighten my arms around his shoulders. It feels uncomfortably like I’m hugging him. “I really could walk.. . .”
    “I know. I’m proving a point here.”
    “Why?”
    He tilts his head back so he can look at me. We’re both wearing sunglasses, so I can’t see how green his eyes are, and I feel a funny twinge of regret at the lost opportunity to see them up close. Julia’s always talking about how beautiful his eyes are, but I’ve made it a point not to spend too much time staring at him. He’s vain enough as it is. “You know, there are girls who wouldn’t act like this was some kind of punishment,” he says.
    “I’m sorry. It’s really nice of you. I’m just embarrassed.”
    His arms tighten under my shoulders and knees. “Well, don’t be.” He staggers and lurches to the side with a swear, but steadies himself before we both go down. “Hole in the sand. Some stupid kid just left it like that. Sorry.”
    “Nice save.”
    “Thank you. Just think of me as your personal savior. And here we are.. . .”
    Is it weird that I’m sort of sorry we got here so fast? That I was starting to enjoy my ride in Harry’s arms? Yeah, it’s weird. Forget it.
    “Now I just have to figure out how to put you down. Hold on, I’ve got it.. . .” He drops to his knees so I’m pretty much sitting on his lap. I quickly scoot off him and onto the towels. “I’m fairly hopeful you’re going to survive this injury, Franny.”
    “Unless gangrene sets in.”
    “Gangrene always sets in,” he says darkly.
    “What are you talking about?” asks Julia as they all gather around us again. “No one gets gangrene anymore.”
    “They do in old books. If Franny were a Hemingway heroine or something, gangrene would set in and she’d lose her leg. Or her life.”
    “But I’d be very attractive on my deathbed,” I add.
    Alex touches my shoulder. “How’s the foot feeling?”
    “Fine. Really.”
    “Don’t try to walk on the sand. You don’t want to grind something in there while it’s still an open wound.” He looks around. “Anyone want to go in the water?”
    “Not me,” Julia says. “It’s freezing.”
    “You never like to go in the ocean,” Alex says.
    “Because it’s always freezing. Give me a heated pool any day.”
    “You’re so spoiled.”
    “You’re just as spoiled, so don’t pretend you’re not.”
    “Hey, look, volleyball,” Vanessa says, pointing to a net that’s set up a little ways down the beach. A bunch of other Mansfield students are already there, stripping off shirts and kicking off their sandals. “I’m going to go play. Anyone else?”
    “Me,” says Lawrence. He glances back. “You sure you’re okay, Franny?”
    “I’m so beyond okay that I’m going to scream if anyone else asks me that.”
    “Okay. Bye.” He trots after Vanessa, slipping his T-shirt up and over his head as his feet slide in the sand. His thin shoulders are so white they’re practically translucent in the sun.
    “Harry?” Julia says.
    He’s already made himself comfortable on the towel next to me, his legs stretched out, his face turned up to the sun. “Mmmm?” he murmurs absently.
    “Want to go for a walk?”
    “In a minute. I need to regain my strength. I just saved a girl’s life, you know. Takes a lot out of you.”
    Julia drops her beach bag onto one of the towels. “In that case, I’m going to run to the bathroom. I’ll be right