Chapter Four
“THAT WAS QUITE the PDA.” Amy looped her arm around Jenna’s as they walked down Main Street toward the Wellfleet Library.
“Tell me about it. That man knows how to kiss.” Jenna had been floored when Charlie showed up earlier that morning, even more so when he took her in a deep, passionate kiss. She’d been trying to convince herself all day that she’d enjoyed it. “But it just felt nice.”
“Oh, Jenna. I want a nice kiss like that.” Amy leaned her head on Jenna’s shoulder and sighed as they passed Town Hall.
“Want me to set you up with Charlie?”
“What? He’s your date tonight, not mine.” Amy laughed. “I’d never take another woman’s man.”
“Yeah, he is my date, but…”
“Oh no. What is it?”
“Charlie’s a great guy, but I still didn’t feel sparks. It was a good kiss. A great kiss, even, but it wasn’t a mind-numbing kiss.”
“Oh no. No, no, no. Jenna.”
“I hoped it was going to be. Believe me, I tried. I even deepened the kiss with the hopes of feeling that tingling sensation that would bring me up on my toes.” Jenna shook her head. “Nothing. Zilch. He had his hands in all the right places. His body…oh my gosh. It felt so good against mine, but the kiss? Eh.” She held her hand level with the ground and wiggled it from side to side.
“Why? It looked amazing. Even Pete was gawking at you two.”
“I’ve been trying not to think about Pete, thank you very much.” But he was all she could think about as they walked into the library. “I made a point of not looking at him when I crossed in front of his truck. I thought he’d just drive by, you know? But I heard his truck slow down, and then when Charlie kissed me, I was so focused on trying to feel something that I lost track of Pete altogether.”
“Hi, ladies.” Candy Taylor waved from behind the desk. Candy was in her late twenties and she’d worked at the library during the summers since her junior year of high school. Now she was married, with a little towheaded boy named Jason. Jenna thought she’d probably still work behind the front desk thirty summers from now.
“Hey, Candy. How’s Jason?” Jenna leaned over the desk and picked up the framed picture of Jason that Candy changed every few weeks.
“He’s on a lobster kick. I gave him a taste of mine one night, and now he thinks he should have it every night.” Candy set down the book she was reading and tucked her blond hair behind her ear. “I swear, I’ve never heard of a four-year-old even liking lobster.”
“It could be worse. He could want all of your chocolate.” Jenna wiggled her eyebrows. “This is adorable. Was it taken on the pier?”
“Yeah. He loves to go fishing there. Hey, I don’t suppose either of you wants to volunteer to help at the annual book sale this year? We’re shorthanded, and, Jenna, I know how you are about organizing. We could really use you.”
The annual book sale was a big event in Wellfleet. People planned their weekends and vacations around it. The sale was held in the front yard of the church and overflowed into the alley between the church and Abiyoyo, a novelty store on Main Street. Jenna and her friends enjoyed going to the sale, and Jenna had volunteered a few times. Working hadn’t been on her agenda for this summer, but it might be a good distraction from her mother and Pete.
“What kind of help do you need?” Jenna asked.
“We need people to handle the sales, organize the books, and you remember how it was when you volunteered. People drop off books all day long, so we also need people to coordinate the incoming books. If you want to help and have the time, we could also use some help in here getting ready before the sale.”
Amy and Jenna exchanged a glance. Jenna had no interest in giving up her time in the sun, but she wouldn’t mind helping later in the day, and she could tell that Amy was thinking the same thing.
“Can we help in the late afternoon or early evenings?” Jenna asked.
“That would be awesome. Whatever you can do. A day, a few days. Whatever works for you two. We appreciate any help we can get.” Candy wrote down her phone number. “Just let me know.”
Amy and Jenna spent the next two hours working their way through the romance and suspense titles, and after they’d each chosen a handful of books, they went around the corner to the Juice Café and shared a veggie pizza. Then they went back to Seaside and lay out in the sun, enjoying their newly borrowed books.
Vera was gathering her things when they arrived.
“Oh, I’m sorry I missed you girls, but I’ve had enough sun for one afternoon,” she said with a smile. Vera wore her hair in a pixie style, similar to Jamie Lee Curtis’s hairstyle. She wore a beach cover-up over her bathing suit and a big floppy hat.
“Want me to walk you up?” Jenna asked.
“Goodness, no. I’m fine. You girls enjoy your time, but the next time you go to the harbor, I’d love to join you. I fear Jamie’s not going to be up for a while.” Duck Harbor was one of Vera’s favorite beaches, as well as Jenna’s.
“You’ve got it, Vera.” Jenna waved and watched her walk back up to her cottage.
Just being at the pool made Jenna think of Pete. It had taken all of her willpower to look away from him this morning, and—heaven help her—when Charlie kissed her, she’d wished it was Pete kissing her like she was all he ever wanted and holding her like she was all he ever needed.
They stayed by the pool until the sun began to set and they saw Bella walking around the quad. They carried their towels and books and joined Bella on her deck.
“Hamburgers?” Jenna asked.
“Yeah. I don’t have any tomato, though. Do you?” Bella pointed to a plate of lettuce. “I need mayo, too. I probably should have gone to the grocery store today.”
“I’ll get some. Can you throw one on for me?” Jenna called over her shoulder as she crossed the quad—the grassy area between the cottages. She noticed Amy and Bella whispering to each other. She was sure they were talking about her and Charlie’s kiss. Ugh. The kiss. The kiss that should have set her world on fire but instead set her mind spinning in circles. She’d invited Charlie to join them tonight with the hopes of stirring some sort of feelings inside her stupid body, but it was like her private parts were on vacation. She didn’t even get a fluttery belly when they’d kissed, and she hadn’t been able to stop wondering what it would be like to kiss Pete ever since.
She brought a plate of tomato and mayo back to Bella’s and found her and Amy whispering again.
“Why do I feel like I’m missing out on something?” Jenna asked as she walked into Bella’s cottage.
“You’re not,” Bella called through the screen door. “Margaritas are in the bucket in the freezer. Bring ’em out?”
Amy went inside to help Jenna. “I’ll get the glasses.”
Jenna carried the bucket of margaritas out to the porch with Amy on her heels.
“When is Charlie getting here? Should I cook him a burger?” Bella asked.
“He’s meeting me there. He had to go home and shower after work, and he had to run a few errands. Where’s Evan?”
“He’s at Bobby’s. They’re meeting us there, and Leanna said she and Kurt are meeting us there, too. She had to fill a rush order this afternoon, and she said Lacy is going to hang out with us. Should be fun.” Bella loaded the burgers onto a plate, and as they sat down to eat, Caden pulled up. “There’s my handsome hubby-to-be.”
“You guys need to come up with new pet names. You make me feel very single.” Jenna took a bite of her burger.
“Hey, babe.” Caden leaned down and kissed Bella, then patted Jenna on the shoulder. “Heard you had a magnificent kiss today.”
Jenna covered her mouth, which was full of burger, and glared at Bella.
“What? It looked pretty magnificent to me.” Bella laughed.
Jenna rolled her eyes.
“Uh-oh. You mean a kiss that looks that good to one woman might not actually be that good to another? I don’t think I want to know this.” Caden went inside the cottage.
“She didn’t feel a zing,” Amy whispered.
“No zing?” Bella’s eyes filled with worry; then they widened. “See? You aren’t over Pete. I mean, unless this guy has a forked tongue or something, what else could it be? He had the whole possessive hold thing going on, and, girlfriend, your body was plastered to his, so I’m sure he was doing all the right things.”
Jenna pushed her plate away. She wasn’t hungry after all. “When you first kissed Caden, you knew, right?”
Bella glanced inside the cottage and leaned closer to Jenna. “Don’t you remember? He turned me inside out. Still does.”
“Charlie didn’t even fold down my edges, much less turn me inside out.” Jenna sighed. “I’m gonna go shower and get this date over with.”
“Why did you even invite him to come with us if there wasn’t a spark?” Amy asked what Jenna had been asking herself all day.
“Because it must be me. If Charlie had kissed either of you, you’d have felt a zing. I want a zing! It isn’t fair. I want a zing so badly I’m ready to fake it.”
Jenna let out a frustrated breath. “I keep hoping something will kick in. He’s hot and sweet, and…” She stepped off the deck.
Bella shifted her eyes to Amy, and as Jenna walked across the lawn to her cottage, she was sure they thought she was just as nuts as she did. She went inside and stared into her closet. She had no idea what she wanted to wear. Did it even matter? She was with a hot guy and felt nothing. Maybe her body really was broken. It had been a long time since she’d had a real date. Could a person’s body just turn off like that?
No. She completely lost all semblance of intelligence around Pete, and her body went all tingly. She was still alive in some way, even if it was a mindless way.
Mindless. She mulled the word over, then went to the window and gazed out at the pool. She’d missed peeking at Pete when he was cleaning the pool that morning, and now that he’d seen her not only practically throw herself at Charlie, but then kiss him in what apparently looked like a magnificent kiss, he probably wouldn’t want anything to do with her. Thinking about Pete made her stomach quiver. Was that out of longing for what she’d never have, or was it something more?
Jenna wanted it to be so much more. She wanted a kiss that made her mindless. I want Pete to make me mindless.
Being mindless would be so much better than being mindful while kissing. So mindful that she couldn’t put her finger on what was missing. A great kiss should steal my ability to think. She sighed loudly, and then she went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She’d give this one more shot. Dress sexy, act sexy, and darn it, no more evaluating. And she was going to kiss sexy! When had kissing become such a pain?
She stepped into the shower and relaxed her head back—until the water turned ice-cold. Jenna screamed and scrambled from the shower. She wrapped a towel around herself and pushed the lever all the way to hot. She stuck her finger under the stream of water and still it was ice-cold. She turned it off, stomped out of the bedroom, yanked a picture off the wall, and flipped open the fuse box. No fuses were tripped. Great. Now what? She threw open the door and ran over to Bella’s cottage.
“Bella? I need Caden,” she said as she breezed through the cottage door.
Bella ran her eyes down Jenna. “He’s not here. What’s wrong, and why are you in a towel?”
“My hot water isn’t working. If Caden’s not here, and Tony and Jamie aren’t here, what the heck am I going to do?”
Bella grabbed her keys and dragged Jenna outside. “You have to call Pete. He’ll come fix it. But I have to leave. I’m meeting Caden. Now. I’m meeting him now.”
“Can I use your shower?”
Bella’s eyes widened. “Um. Of course, but you need hot water. You should call Pete.”
“But—”
“Call him. He’ll come fix it, and you never know. If the hot water doesn’t work, the toilet could be next.” Bella climbed into her car.
“The toilet? Why?” No toilet? Overnight? This cannot be happening.
“Plumbing,” Bella said out her car window as she backed out of the driveway. “Call Pete before he goes out for the night.”
“Ugh!” She waved to Bella and turned to go to Amy’s, but she was backing out of her driveway, too. Darn it. Jenna wanted to cry. She glanced at Vera’s cottage, but what could an eighty-year-old woman do to help? Maybe she should just shower at Bella’s, then not worry about the stupid hot water.
Or the toilet.
She dragged herself back to her house and called Pete. She hadn’t exactly been nice to him lately, and she wouldn’t blame him if he ignored her call. She hadn’t tried to be a jerk. She was afraid that if she fell into their normal friendly pattern, her crush would seize her and she’d never get over him. She’d spend every summer in the future longing to rip his clothes off and acting like she didn’t know how. She knew how. Oh, did she know how! She was no stranger to being the aggressor in a relationship, but with Pete, her stomach got all fluttery, and she spent more time staring at him than anything else. It was ridiculous, really, and it kind of pissed her off. She was a grown woman, not a teenager. She should be able to walk right up to him and say, Pete, let’s go out for a drink. Then make a move during the evening. But they were friends, and they’d gone for drinks plenty of times with the rest of their friends, and she’d never once made that move. Neither had he. Maybe he doesn’t feel the same.
Her call went to voicemail. She tapped her foot as she waited for the beep. “Pete, this is Jenna, over at Seaside.” Duh. Like he doesn’t know that? Even on the phone she was a nimrod around him. “My hot water isn’t working. Would you mind coming over to fix it? I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but Bella said the toilet could go next, and—” The voicemail recording cut her off. She stared at the phone. Stupid phone. Stupid shower. Stupid Peter Lacroux.
This summer was supposed to be about Jenna finally taking charge of her life and finding her own happily ever after—with someone other than Pete. She’d found a really great guy. A really hot one, too, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it was Pete that was messing with her ability to detect zings in their kisses. She’d spent too many years ogling him, hoping and praying to make something happen, and all the while, turning into a shrinking violet around the one man who did more than make her body zing.
She hurried back over to Bella’s house and showered, only realizing after she stepped from the shower that she’d forgotten to grab her clothes to change into. This was totally not her night. Wrapped in her towel, she hurried back outside and across the quad to her house, stopping cold at the sight of Pete’s truck in her driveway.
Oh no.
She’d had so many fantasies about Pete in her house when she was naked, but absolutely zero of them had anything to do with him repairing anything. Maybe breaking a bedspring or two, or crashing into a wall with her in his arms—Oh my. She needed another shower. A cold one.
Jenna fanned her face as she took one hesitant step after another across the deck to her screened door, where she peered inside. Pete was nowhere in sight. Thank goodness. He must have run down to the pool or over to Theresa’s. She could run in and dress quickly. She pulled open the door and ran through the living room, looking over her shoulder in case he showed up—and she slammed into a wall.
“Ack!” Jenna screeched. Her hands flew up to push her cheek from the wall—a wall with legs. Shoot. Double shoot—as her towel fell to the ground. She clenched her eyes shut and ran her hands over the wall of muscles she’d smacked into, then fisted her hands in the soft cotton shirt that covered them.
Nonononono.
Please be a stranger.
Please, please, be a stranger.
“Hi, Jenna.”
Zing! Pow! Bam! Pete’s deep, sexy voice slid through her ears straight to her toes, leaving a trail of fire on everything in between. She clenched her eyes shut tighter. “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me. Right? Please lie to me.” His chest felt amazing. Spectacular. Lickable.
She felt him lean forward a little, as if he were looking over her shoulder at her bare butt. He laughed, a low, sexy, zing-inspiring laugh that shot right to her naughty parts. Jenna heard a whimper slip through her lips.
“You’re sadly mistaken, Jenna. I can see a whole heck of a lot of you right now.” He whistled. It was the type of whistle construction workers sounded off as women walked by.
Jerk.
Sexy jerk.
Sexy jerk who smells like heaven wrapped in a soft cotton T-shirt.
“I guess you want your towel?”
She thudded her fist against his chest, unable to force another word from her throat. He’d seen her big butt. Her big white butt. She should have put on tanning lotion and…Oh my gosh! What am I thinking? I’m buck naked in Pete’s arms!
“Don’t freak out or anything when I bend down to get this towel.” His voice was calm, like he was in total control, which was totally unfair.
“Mm-hm,” she managed.
His big, strong hand slid down her side and stopped at her waist. How had she missed his hand gripping her arm in the first place? She felt her body begin to tremble, and she knew he could feel it, too. It was as obvious as a beach umbrella struggling to remain erect during a typhoon. She clenched her fists tighter in his shirt.
His grip tightened on her hip, and holy mother of grace did it feel good.
“If you keep hold of me like that, I’ll never be able to pick up your towel.”
Jenna’s fingers flew open.
He laughed again and—thankfully—bent a little, as if he were going to retrieve her towel. His other hand, still holding her waist, slid seductively lower. He made a sound in his throat. Something between a grunt and an appreciative Hm! Then he crouched down a little lower, his cheek grazing her chest, sending sizzling pinpricks through her entire body. She couldn’t help it. She gripped his shirt again. She needed support before she fell right over. She’d never stood buck naked before a man who was fully dressed before. Beneath a man in the bedroom, sure. Above a man in the bedroom? Sure, sometimes, though not as often. But full frontal nude in front of Pete Lacroux?
Shoot me now. Please, please, let me drop dead.
She felt him rise to his full height again, his hand slid back up to her waist, where it felt like it had settled in for the night. His thumb pressed just below her ribs, his fingers gripped her back possessively, and when she remembered to breathe again, she inhaled lungs full of Pete. Masculine. Sinfully sexy. Earthy.
She couldn’t believe what she did next. She gripped his shirt tighter and inhaled again, hoping that smell would permeate her skin, her hair, her eyelids, for goodness sake. She must have died and gone to heaven in the three minutes that this episode took place. That was the only explanation that made any sense, because suddenly she could breathe, she could hear noises from the cars on the main road, and holy smokes, she could feel a breeze coming in from the front door, which was wide open. Holy moly. Her door was wide open. Anyone could see her big white butt. She had it all wrong.
This wasn’t heaven. This was hell.
She felt the towel wrap around her from behind.
“Better?” Pete took a step back, her claws still attached to his shirt as he handed her the ends of the towel.
She nodded, eyes still closed.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t look.”
She opened one eye and looked up at him. That was so much worse. His chin was peppered with stubble, and his chest rose and fell with each breath. Now that she knew what those pecs felt like, each breath felt like it reverberated against her palms again. When she met his eyes, oh wow, those glorious pools of brown sucked her right in. Jenna bit her lower lip to keep from grabbing his chest again.
“I fixed your hot water.” Pete held her gaze, and he didn’t look embarrassed or rattled, which only made Jenna more nervous.
“Th-thank you.” Jenna couldn’t move. She needed to walk past him to get into the bedroom and get dressed, and her legs were stuck. Glued to the floor.
“Are you going to the movie at Town Hall tonight?”
Shoot. She was supposed to be there already. She managed a nod.
His mouth quirked up. “I’ll see you there, then.”
He walked toward the door, and it was all Jenna could do to remain standing. She closed her eyes, relieved and frustrated at once. She didn’t hear the screen door open, and she sensed him standing behind her in the small living room. Was he looking at her? What was he thinking? Why wasn’t he leaving?
All sorts of crazy thoughts went through her head, like turning around and launching herself into his arms and kissing him silly. Her heartbeat quickened at the thought.
“Jenna?”
“Mm-hm?” She couldn’t move.
He was silent for a long time. Maybe two full days; Jenna wasn’t sure. Or maybe two minutes.
“Call me if you need anything else.”
When the screen door closed behind him, Jenna let out the breath she’d been holding. Her insides were trembling. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes, a smile lifted her lips.
My zinger isn’t broken after all.