Chapter Four

 

* LUKE *

 

The sun was just peeking up from the eastern horizon, changing the gray light of dawn into a blaze of pink and golden yellow. This island had some of the most magnificent sunrises and sunsets I’d ever seen. Perhaps it wasn’t very manly of me to swoon over a sunrise, but I didn’t care. How could anyone look at nature’s glorious displays on Driftwood Island and not be at least a little bit moved by it?

I picked up my pace as I jogged through the sand. I had started my morning run late today, and I was only a little more than halfway done. I had to get home and write a decent amount of words today. I was worried that if I reported another big fat zero to my writing coach, she might literally come to the island and kill me.

But focusing had only gotten harder as the days went by. All I could think about was Kelsey. I fantasized about a month-long romance with her on this beachy island, and then I fantasized about that romance turning into something more. I dreamed of whisking her off to San Francisco with me, and moving her into my sunny penthouse. I would introduce her to all my friends, and they would all be wild with jealousy that I’d managed to snag such a beautiful woman.

Of course, this was all just fantasy. For one thing, I didn’t have time for an island romance. I had a book to write. For another thing, I doubted Kelsey was interested in moving to San Francisco with me. She seemed pretty integrated into the local community here on the island, and I doubted she would give up this laidback island life to move to a big city with me. Heck, I couldn’t blame her. I was half-tempted to move to the island myself to get away from the stresses of life in a busy city. I felt free here, like I could inhale and actually breathe.

The salty, fresh air had gotten into my system, and I knew I was going to be more than a little sad when the time came to leave.

I tried to push away my melancholy thoughts and focus on my run. For now, I was here. I could enjoy the peace and quiet of wide open beaches. The only sound on this beach, other than my bare feet pounding into the sand, was the rush of the waves against the shore. The only person was me.

Or so I thought. A moment later, I glanced over and saw a woman sitting in the sand and leaning against one of the many large rocks that dotted this beach. I slowed my pace and squinted, trying to see if it was someone I’d met already. I suddenly realized that my beach runs might take me across other people’s land, and I hoped I wasn’t intruding. I didn’t want to cause any trouble with the locals—I’d been warned by a few friends who had visited Driftwood Island that the locals could get pretty territorial about their beaches.

I decided the best thing to do in this situation was to run over and introduce myself. If this beach belonged to the woman, I would apologize profusely for intruding and promise not to do it again. Hopefully that would be enough to keep her from being angry and complaining about me to all the locals.

As I jogged closer, though, the woman started to look more familiar. I picked up my pace and squinted even harder to see if it was true. By the time I was close enough that the woman looked up and saw me, I knew.

It was Kelsey. And she did not look happy to see me. She’d been reading a book, which looked suspiciously like the original hardcover version of my very first novel, but when she saw me approaching she hurriedly shoved it into her beach bag.

Part of me thought it might be better to just keep on running by, with a quick wave of acknowledgement. That was clearly what Kelsey would have preferred. But part of me also thought that this was a great opportunity to force her to talk to me. I felt like she might like me better if she would just give me a chance. If she could see that I really was just a normal guy, despite my strange behavior at the bar, and despite being rich and famous, then maybe we could start over and actually have a chance to get to know each other.

“Hey,” I said, slightly breathless as I jogged up to her. “Funny meeting you out here.”

She frowned at me, her eyes wary and alert. She’d backed herself up against the rock like she was some sort of cornered animal that I was hunting.

“Are you stalking me?” she asked in a confusing tone.

“Not at all. I’m not good enough at sneaking around to actually stalk someone. I was just out for a morning run. I hope this isn’t your land, by the way. I wasn’t meaning to intrude.”

“It’s public land. Most of the beaches around here are.”

“Oh. Good.” I stared at her awkwardly for a moment, trying to figure out what to say next. You would think, since I’d written five bestselling novels, that I would be good with words. But I was at a complete loss as to what to say right now. I finally settled for a clumsy. “So, uh, what are you reading?”

I realized my mistake as soon as I said the words. She clutched her beach bag tighter against her chest and her cheeks turned slightly pink. “Nothing interesting. Just reviewing some texts for work.”

She was embarrassed to be caught reading my novel, which struck me as somewhat funny. But I decided to change the subject a bit and give her something other than books to talk about. Or so I thought. I hadn’t considered the fact that her job might actually involve a lot of books.

“Where do you work?” I asked.

She frowned at me as though it should have been obvious. “The library. I’m the head librarian.”

“You’re kidding!” I said. And then, before I could stop myself, I stupidly said aloud, “So you really are a real life sexy librarian.”

Her eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”

For a moment, I started to stammer and backtrack. My first instinct was to explain away my inappropriate, forward comment. But my second instinct, which quickly took over, was to say to hell with it. I was here for a month, several days of which had already passed. I wasn’t likely to have many chances to spend time with Kelsey, and for once in my life I wanted to be a little bit wild and care more about myself than about meeting a stupid deadline. If my publisher wanted to fire me for being late with my manuscript, they could fire me. I’d return the advance money and move on to one of the dozens of other publishers who would be more than happy to snatch me up for their roster of authors.

I squatted down in the sand in front of Kelsey, and gave her what I hoped was a sincere look. “Kelsey, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I don’t know exactly what happened, but we seemed to be really hitting it off at the bar the other night. Then you left without warning, and you’ve been a bit hostile to me ever since. If I did something to offend you, I promise it was totally unintentional, and I wish you’d tell me so I could apologize. The truth is that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the moment I saw you. Which is a problem since I’m supposed to be here to sit my butt in a chair and finish writing my next novel. I don’t even care about that right now, though, because all I care about is you, and figuring out how to get back in your good graces.”

I took a deep breath and forced myself to stop rambling. I waited for Kelsey to respond, and I wasn’t exactly encouraged by the way she still glared at me.

“Don’t tell me that all you care about is me. You were checking out my friend! As soon as Ruby sat down at the table, you only had eyes for her.”

I frowned. “Ruby? You think I was checking out Ruby?”

Kelsey crossed her arms. “You can’t deny that you stopped talking to me and started staring at Ruby as soon as she sat down at the table.”

I flopped backward into the sand. “That’s what this hostility is all about? Kelsey, I wasn’t checking out Ruby. I was trying desperately to distract myself from you, because I’m not supposed to be thinking about a woman right now. I’m supposed to be thinking about writing my next novel. But from the moment I met you, I’ve been hopelessly obsessed with you. When Ruby came along, I thought maybe focusing on her for a few minutes would help me forget you. But it didn’t.”

Kelsey said nothing, and still looked up at me with crossed arms. Her expression did soften a bit, which I took as a positive sign, so I decided to plow forward.

“In case you’re wondering, staring at Ruby didn’t help me forget about you. I should have known better. How was I going to forget about the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met just by looking away for a few minutes?”

“Oh, stop,” Kelsey said, finally breaking her silence. “Now I know you’re making all of this up. There’s no way I’m the most beautiful woman you’ve ever met. Ruby herself is ten times prettier than me.”

My jaw actually dropped. “Are you serious, Kelsey? You really think Ruby is prettier than you? Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

“Um…” Kelsey looked confused.

“Ruby is a nice looking woman. I won’t deny that. But you, Kelsey. You are incredible. You have that natural, down-to-earth beauty that just shines out of you. It doesn’t require any makeup or fancy clothes. You’re just you, and it takes my breath away.”

Kelsey stared at me like I’d lost my mind. And maybe I had, but not because I thought she was beautiful. Any fool with two eyes could see that she was breathtaking. No, I’d lost my mind because I’d decided in that moment that I was going to do whatever it took to make Kelsey mine.

None of this made any sense. I had a book to write, and I had a plane ticket booked back to San Francisco at the end of this month. Kelsey was still looking at me like I was the world’s biggest liar.

It didn’t matter. Those problems were all fixable. All that mattered was that Kelsey was in front of me now, and her lips were beckoning to me. Without another word, I leaned forward and put my lips against hers.

The fire that shot through my body when our lips touched was unlike anything I’d ever felt. I knew in that moment that I’d made the right choice.

There was no one in the world like Kelsey, and I was going to kiss her and make love to her until she truly believed that about herself.