Chapter Thirteen
BY THE TIME they took a quick shower and dressed, the sun had nearly set. Thankfully, Leanna knew her friends would allow them whatever privacy they needed and care for Pepper without complaint. She had enjoyed showering with Kurt and dressing together, though Kurt remained shirtless. He was so much more relaxed than when they’d first met. She began noticing all sorts of things she had missed, like the way he watched her when he thought she wasn’t looking and the quirky smile when she caught him staring. She loved the way his eyes went dark and intense before they kissed and how his hands were always finding their way to her in some way—reaching for her hand, her hips, her shoulder. Now he was reaching for a jar. She knew it had to be killing him to have the kitchen in such disarray. She touched his hand.
“We can’t move them. They have to cool overnight.”
“Really? You’ll just leave them out here? What if you need your counter? Or your table?”
He furrowed his brow in the serious way that Leanna was quickly coming to love, because what seemed serious in his eyes was never serious in hers.
She shrugged. “I have the table on the deck.” She moved to the sink to scrub the big tub, and Kurt embraced her.
“Let me do that.”
“I can do it.”
“I know you can. I want to. You can do whatever else needs to be done.”
She felt his eyes on her as she moved through the cottage gathering the utensils she needed to run through the dishwasher and the dish towels she needed to wash.
“I like having you here,” she admitted.
“Yeah? I like being here.” He smiled over his shoulder at her.
She was drawn to his thoughtfulness, this man who had a whole life without her and was finding ways to fit her in. She ran her hands up his flanks and over his shoulders; then she pressed her cheek to his back. His skin was warm, his muscles firm, and though he’d used her body wash, his masculine scent came through.
“Do you need any help preparing for the meeting with the market?” he asked.
Preparing? Even the thought of preparing made her stomach queasy. She sucked at preparing, and besides, this was a jam and jelly business, not a million-dollar corporation. “No, I’m ready. Just nervous.”
“They’ll love you.”
“It’s my products I hope they love.” She leaned on the counter beside him as he handed her a tub to dry and began washing another. She hoped the market did love her. It would be that much easier to sell them on carrying her product if they liked her as a person.
“How was your writing today?”
He turned off the water and began drying the tub he’d just washed. “Great. I was really inspired and wrote a few suspenseful chapters. Dark and scary.”
“How can you write dark and scary? Doesn’t it creep you out?”
He set down the tub and picked up his T-shirt from the counter. “Nope. I mean, it puts me in a dark frame of mind for a while, but it doesn’t scare me.”
Leanna placed her hands on his gloriously sexy chest. “I should tell you that while it’s totally cool that you write thrillers, I am so not a thriller reader. I don’t like scary stuff, but I respect what you do.”
“Somehow that does not come as a surprise.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Where’s your laundry?”
She knew he was expecting her to have a central laundry basket with a tidy little pile of laundry. She trapped her lip in her teeth instead of answering.
“This, I have to see.”
She took his hand and brought him into the bedroom; then she led him to the far side of the bed, where there were two piles of clothes. She pointed to them as she spoke. “Clean. Dirty.” She wondered if he might turn and leave. Just like that. See ya. It’s been fun, but you’re a mess.
“You’re kidding, right?” He had an amused look on his face—eyes wide, lips curled slightly up in disbelief.
“Nope.”
In one swift move, he picked her up and laid her on the bed, then settled in on top of her. “You need me in your life.”
Oh, yeah, I do. “I don’t need any man in my life. But I want you in it.”
“Fair enough.” He eyed the laundry. “Does your laundry room take quarters or dollars?”
“Quarters.” She pointed to a plastic container full of quarters on the dresser.
“Mind if I throw in your whites?”
“That’s like me asking if you mind if I sweep your deck.” Only better, because you’ll do a good job and I can’t sweep worth a darn.
He kissed her again and pulled her up by her hand. “I know better than to ask you to sweep anything. Come on. We’ll do it together, so your girlfriends don’t think you’ve hired me as your houseboy.”
“They’re more likely to think I’ve hired you as a sex slave.” She swatted his butt as he bent over to pick up her laundry.
“You’re pretty cute.”
“You won’t think I’m so cute when you’re picking up the pile of laundry for the seventeenth time, or when I turn all your clothes into jam rags, or—”
He captured her words in his mouth with a passionate kiss.
“Let me determine how long I’ll think you’re cute.”
“Okay,” she said dizzily.
BELLA COOKED CHICKEN on the grill, and Jenna and Amy made a salad. Leanna brought out homemade bread and jam, and Kurt shared the wine he’d brought with him for the evening. They ate dinner by the fire in the grass behind Leanna’s cottage and talked. The air smelled sweet and ashy, and Leanna’s cheeks were pink from the warmth of the fire. Her friends were warm and in good spirits, and Kurt noticed how comfortable they were with one another. They passed knowing looks like inside secrets, and they welcomed him into their tight-knit fold seamlessly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent time relaxing with friends. In fact, he wasn’t sure he really had friends who were as close as these friends were to Leanna, and he wondered if he was missing out on something. But friendships like theirs took nurturing and time, and time was something Kurt hadn’t been able to spare—until he met Leanna. He thought about the time he spent with his siblings and the family dinners with his parents. Those were events he enjoyed, but they were different from this. Sitting by a bonfire under the moonlight, enjoying the company of people other than his family, with his arm around his girlfriend? Another first.
He was surprised that Bella hadn’t razzed them for disappearing earlier in the evening, but he assumed that although she was brazen, she also knew when not to embarrass Leanna.
“So, Kurt, can you tell us about the book you’re working on?” Jenna asked.
“It’s darker than my others, set in an old mining town in West Virginia.” And I don’t really want to talk about it because then I’ll start thinking about the next chapter, and then I’ll want to write it. He pulled Leanna closer to him. She wore a sweatshirt and shorts, and when her leg pressed against his, her skin was hot from the bonfire.
“Do you base your characters on real life?” Amy had on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and her feet were tucked beneath her on the bench where she sat.
“Only the ones I don’t like. Then I kill them off.” That brought a round of laughs, as was to be expected. He needed to change the subject. “So, how long have you known one another?”
The women exchanged smiles and glances.
“Years,” Bella said. “There are other people who own here in the community, but this summer has been weird. It’s been so empty here. Jamie Reed’s grandmother owns that cottage.” She pointed to the cottage on the corner. “She’s eighty, and Jamie’s our age, but he usually comes down to take care of his grandmother, and Vera hasn’t been well this summer. Then there’s Tony, who owns the blue cottage that faces the pool.”
“Tony,” Jenna and Amy said with dreamy smiles.
Bella continued. “He’s the community hottie, and he’ll be down in a few days, I think.”
Kurt made a mental note about Tony being the community hottie.
“Yeah, that’s right. He had that thing in Maui this week, remember?” Leanna said.
“Maui?” Kurt asked.
“Yeah, he’s a motivational speaker and a pro surfer.” Leanna ran her finger in circles over Kurt’s thigh, and he silently noted her nervousness.
“And, of course, Clark and Vanessa. They own that three-bedroom over there.” Bella pointed to the cottage next to Amy’s. “And Grumpy Gus, but he’s almost never here.”
“And Pete,” Jenna added. “Our maintenance and pool guy.”
“Yeah, we can’t forget Pete, can we, Jenna?” Leanna poked Jenna with her toe. “She’s sweet on Pete.”
“Oh, please.” Jenna swatted the air.
“Anyway, we’ve known each other forever. Where do you live, Kurt?” Bella asked.
“New York,” Jenna answered.
Kurt laughed. “Yes. I do live in New York, just outside the city.”
“Sorry. I Googled you,” Jenna admitted. “You have four brothers and a sister who’s a famous model. One brother owns a gaming company, another’s an Olympic skier, and then there’s a survivalist, and…” She snapped her fingers.
“You’re good at the PI stuff. My other brother, Sage, is an artist.”
“When do you go back to New York?” Amy asked.
“In about two weeks.” Kurt kissed the top of Leanna’s head.
“Gosh, if I had a house on the beach, I’d live in it year-round,” Amy said.
“That might be nice, but my life is in New York. My family, agent, all of my publishing contacts. It would be inconvenient to live here year-round.”
“That makes sense.” Amy moved closer to the fire to warm her hands. “Leanna? If you get these contracts, are you staying at the Cape or…? Where will you live?”
“I haven’t thought about it.” She sat up and yawned.
Kurt felt a pang of curiosity. Where would she live? How would he see her? He tucked the worry away. He’d make darn sure he saw her.
“I don’t know how you can not know where you’ll be living in a few weeks. I’d go crazy. I need to know where I’ll be and when I’ll be there.” Jenna joined Amy standing by the fire.
Leanna shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me.”
“That’s because you have a trust fund and we don’t.” Bella stood in her jeans and sweatshirt and stretched with a loud yawn.
Not that Kurt cared about her money, but this surprised him. “You don’t strike me as a trust fund kid.”
“That’s because I’m not. My great-grandfather left money to my dad, and he put it all in trust funds for me and my brothers and sister. I used it for college, and I’ve never touched it since. I figure I’ll leave it to my kids someday, and eventually, someone who really needs it will have it.” Leanna shrugged as if she’d just said what anyone might.
Kurt and each of his siblings were comfortably wealthy, though they’d each earned their way through hard work and dedication in their chosen fields. Knowing that Leanna relied on her own efforts endeared him to her even more.
“You’re remarkable.” He pulled her a little closer.
“Hardly.” Her cheeks flushed.
“Most people would use that money to kick-start their business, or to travel, or something else. People can always find reasons to spend money.” Kurt thought of his own finances. He didn’t spend foolishly, and he traveled only when it was thrust upon him. He owned his house in New York and the one on the Cape and kept one car at each. He gave generously to Sage’s company and to other charitable organizations, and beyond that, his money was well invested. He felt like another layer of Leanna was stripped away, revealing the empowered, determined woman beneath.
“I don’t think my great-grandfather worked hard so I didn’t have to.”
Leanna smiled up at him, and in that moment, he knew everything he needed to about who she was. It didn’t matter where she lived or what she did for a living. A person didn’t become as lovely as her by being pretty or owning the right things. Leanna might be beautiful on the outside, but she was stunning on the inside.
She stifled another yawn.
“What are your plans for tomorrow?” Kurt brushed her hair from in front of her sleepy eyes.
“I was going to make the batch of jam I made today, so I don’t have much on my agenda at this point.”
“Come home with me. Stay with me tonight.”
She sat up and searched his eyes. “You’re serious?”
“More than.”
“What about your writing?”
He loved that she thought of his schedule. “I’m going to do what I always do. I’ll get up and go for a run, and I’ll write, but I thought it might be nice to have you there with me. You can work on your presentation for Thursday, or hit the beach, or read, or do nothing but lounge around. I just want to wake up with you in my arms.”
He realized Amy, Jenna, and Bella were watching them, and he cleared his throat. “Sorry. I don’t mean to take her away from you guys.”
“No, no. Take her, please,” Amy said, motioning with her hands for him to take her away.
“We’re just drooling.” Bella wiped her mouth.
“Geez, Bella.” Leanna looked down at Pepper, asleep by Kurt’s feet. “What about Pepper?”
“Package deal. Pep comes, too.”
“Okay, but are you sure I won’t interrupt your writing?” She traced the outline of his pocket on his shorts.
He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to it. “No. I’m about eighty percent certain that you will interrupt my schedule, but I want you with me.”