" . “Hi,” I said to her swollen lips. “Hi,” she said back, trying to contain her giggling. I met her eyes, my lip twitching as I admonished, “Took you long enough to get here.” I’d been waiting all morning for her to get down to the beach, but I’d been waiting a helluva lot longer than that to get her into my arms. Layla picked up on the double meaning of my statement. “Yeah, I know,” she said, smiling wickedly. “It feels like it took forever. "