Carter’s brain whirled like a feather in a hurricane. Every piece of him wanted to have Hannah back. He’d had a taste of the heaven to be found in her arms only to be catapulted back to earth again. And with everything so tenuous between them, he had to rein in the surging sense of urgency thrumming in his veins to make everything certain between them. Instead, he had to deal with his mom.
Turning slowly from the door, he faced her. “You and I need to have a talk.”
His mom nodded and dropped her purse on the kitchen counter with her own special brand of attitude. “We certainly do.”
Carter sighed and flicked his eyes over the strange woman staring out his windows to the view beyond. “In private.”
She stared back at him, a challenge in her eyes, but he was not backing down on this point. At last, her eyes dropped and she shrugged. “Jenelle, would you mind if I have some time alone with my son? I’ll join you in the condo soon. Why don’t you rest or get ready for dinner?”
Jenelle turned from the window with fluid grace and smiled. He had to grant that her smile was beautiful with its snow-white, perfectly straight teeth and sculpted lips. But there was no warmth in it, only artifice. Her movements were too polished, too studied. He’d known his fill of such boring, flawless women, so her efforts were wasted on him. She passed by him, lowering her lashes in a way she likely thought seductive, and murmured, “I hope to see you later, Carter.”
He nodded curtly, holding his breath against the overpowering scent of her perfume. As soon as she was gone, he let his shoulders relax as he took a deep breath. Shaking his head, he went to the kitchen for a bottle of water. “Do you mean to tell me why you brought that decorative stranger with you?”
“I knew as soon as I saw that Hannah girl that you were going to go off the deep-end for her. What I can’t believe is that you two are carrying on around Addi. Where is she by the way?”
Carter shut the fridge and opened his water, taking a long drink. “Taking a nap. And we have not been carrying on, as you call it. I have to say, mom, your timing is incredible. That was our first kiss you walked in on.”
“I don’t believe it.”
Carter shrugged and grinned as he replayed the scene in his mind. “Well, first kisses I should say.” He met her eyes squarely, “And they won’t be our last if I can manage it. I hope you didn’t just ruin my chances.”
“Well I hope I did.”
“Of course you do.”
“What are you going to do? Have a fling with your nanny? Come to your senses. It’s time you took this seriously and thought about marrying. Addi needs a mother.”
“Aren’t you afraid my new wife would be a challenge to your influence in Addi’s life?”
It gave him a great deal of satisfaction when his mom gave an offended gasp. She pointed her finger at him. “How dare you think such a thing of me?”
Carter had been so caught up with thoughts of Hannah, that he only now put together the very obvious pieces of this puzzle. “Wait, I know why you brought Jenelle.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You can give it up now, Mom. I’m not remotely interested.”
“Of course not. Your head is too focused on that… that…”
“Careful.”
“… beach bunny that you aren’t thinking straight. Jenelle is cultured, educated, independently wealthy, and exquisite. I’m confident that if you got to know her, you’d agree with me that she’d make an excellent wife.”
“No doubt she will—for someone else. Let me make this clear—I’ll be the one to choose my bride.”
“That didn’t work out so well the first time, did it?”
Carter strode to the door and opened it. “I think you should leave before I say things I shouldn’t.”
But his mother didn’t budge. “And what do you know about Hannah anyway? Do you know her family? Where she lives? Her political leanings? Anything important?”
“None of those are important to me.”
“Well they should be, and you should consider that the next time she’s batting her eye lashes at you and luring you into a disastrous relationship.”
Carter let out a sharp laugh. “I’d be glad if she tried to lure me into anything. Now, why don’t you go find Jenelle.”
“But I want to see Addi.”
“You’ll have to wait till dinner, a meal that I will not be joining you for.” He put his hand on her back and shepherded her out the door. “And just so you know, I’ll be changing the code on this door immediately.” Then he closed it on her outraged face.
He heard a squawking sound on the other side but didn’t let it get to him. In fact, as he went to his room to shower and change, he did his best to remember that even if she was a controlling, judgmental trial sometimes, she was the only mother he had. Maybe somewhere, deep inside her, all of this was driven by genuine love and concern for him and Addi. Regardless, there was no way he was going to let her destroy the fragile relationship growing between him and Hannah.
Because when he’d held her and kissed her, something had changed in him. Or rather, something had awakened that he never knew existed. He’d never felt like this for any woman before, especially not Mandy for whom his feelings had been based on rebellion and hormones instead of something lasting and tender. But he felt in his gut that his mom’s arrival with Jenelle would prove more of a disaster than it had already been.
***
Carter was ready early the next morning, simply because he was too tense to stay in bed. All he could do while he waited was pace along the balcony and worry over what would happen between them when Hannah arrived. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and pick up where they’d been interrupted the day before, but her expression had revealed all to clearly her shock and withdrawal. He’d need to tread carefully.
Pausing to collect himself with a few deep breaths, he looked out at the ocean. It was a deep slate grey today under a cloudy sky. The surf on the beach was choppy and red flags flew all down the beach in both directions. A massive thunderhead dominated the horizon, so there was no doubt that it would be a stormy morning. In fact, the weather app called for scattered thunderstorms throughout the day. Hardly ideal weather for his grand opening weekend.
As always, when he was plagued with stress about the success of his resort, his eyes went to the house on the beach. From here, he could just make out the back of the house that looked out over the beach. He’d been too distracted lately to think much about it, but his team should have been looking into the owner. Maybe Brenda would have more news for him when he went downstairs.
The concern worked to put his worries about Hannah to the background of his mind for a moment, until he heard someone come into condo. It had to be Hannah.
Striding down the balcony with his heart galloping like a racehorse, he had to pause a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dim light. Then he saw her.
He took a step forward to greet her, but something in the set of her shoulders and the way her eyebrows were drawn together gave him pause. In one glance, his fears were realized. There would be no sweeping Hannah into his arms this morning. Taking a deep breath, he moved slowly forward.
“Good morning, Hannah. Can we talk about yesterday?”
She moved into the kitchen with her long green skirt swirling around her long legs with every step. Her white t-shirt was again tied in a knot on her midriff, as seemed to be her preference. She looked fresh and lovely and… distant. “I’d rather we didn’t,” she said.
“But why?”
She moved to the kitchen and started pulling food out of the fridge. He’d never had so many groceries in his fridge in his life, but Hannah always seemed to be making food. It was part of her daily routine, but he knew she was using it as a shield today.
“Because I think things are best left where they are.”
Carter leaned against the breakfast bar, resting his folded arms on the counter top. “And where is that, exactly?”
She looked at him over her shoulder briefly before turning back to her work. “Saved from doing something stupid.”
He bit down, clenching his jaw against the cutting pain of her words. “Being with me is stupid?”
She turned then and he saw that she was in as much pain as he was. “Very. You’re my boss. And I don’t belong in your world.”
“My world? What does that mean?”
“You know what I mean. People like your mom and that Jenelle girl and Nate Haverton belong in that world. Not broke art teachers like me who can’t even afford to…Never mind.”
“Can’t afford to what? Do you need help with something?” Worry made his stomach clench.
“No. I’m taking care of it. But my point is, there are too many reasons it’s a bad idea for me to let myself care for you, and your mother is not the least of them. She hates me, Carter.”
“She doesn’t hate you. It’s complicated, and there are reasons why she’s acting the way she is, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t have the least interest in her opinions where my love life is concerned.” Carter straightened, longing to be closer to her, and moved into the kitchen. “Will you try to trust me, let me show you that whatever is between you and me is the only thing that matters?”
She relaxed for a moment, but her expression quickly tightened again. “I wish that were true, but these other things really do matter.” Then her voice dipped to a whisper. “And I don’t want to get hurt.”
Carter reached for her hand. “I won’t let you get hurt. Look, my mom is only here for a week. Can you just hold on with me until she leaves? Then maybe we can figure this out when she’s not around to complicate things.”
Addi came in then, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. She was attempting to brush her hair. “I heard your voice Miss Hannah. It’s raining outside.”
Hannah pulled her hand away from Carter and stepped around the counter to hug Addi. “Why are you so excited about that?”
“Don’t you remember? You said that you’d take me back to the aquarium when we had a rainy day.”
“Oh, well, perfect. Come help me make these blueberry muffins first so we can go. Let’s get your hair pulled back.”
Carter listened, both impatient and deeply touched watching the close intimacy between them. Even though Hannah busied herself pulling Addi’s hair into a pony tail, he wasn’t going to let her off that easily. “Hannah? What do you say?”
She looked up and met his eyes. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
Carter knew that with Addi there, he couldn’t push for more, so he nodded and gathered his things to go to work. At least there was hope. He could survive a week, surely. He went to Addi. “Give me a hug, sweetie.”
“Bye, daddy.”
He pulled her in for a big bear hug, smiling when her curls tickled his nose. “Have fun today.”
“I will.”
He released Addi and held his arms out. “I have plenty of hugs to go around.”
She almost smiled. “One week, remember?”
Walking past Hannah, he brushed his hand across hers. “Okay. But you’d better get ready for when that week is over, sea witch.”