Epilogue
GONE WERE THE hot afternoons of summer, replaced with the crisp coming of fall. It was the end of September, and Jenna had moved in with Pete three weeks earlier. The school where she’d worked in Rhode Island had thrown her a lovely farewell luncheon, and her landlord was able to find a new tenant quickly and relieved Jenna of the last two months that remained on her lease. Her mother had been excited about Jenna and Pete’s news. She’d come full circle and was more like the mother Jenna had always known. Jenna would miss her today, but her mother and her new boyfriend, Carlos, were on a cruise to the Bahamas, and Jenna was happy that her mother had settled down and seemed happy again.
Pete’s father had done well at rehab and he’d been home for almost a week. Sky was living with him now and running the hardware store until he was ready to go back full-time. He’d helped Pete put the final coat of antifouling paint on the bottom of the schooner. Today they were taking it out for the first trip on the open water, and all their friends returned to the Cape to celebrate with them.
Jenna leaned against Pete’s kitchen counter, watching Leanna pull a tray of warm muffins from the oven. The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and felt like home with Leanna and Bella tooling around as they waited for Amy, Jamie, and Tony to arrive. After a summer of not seeing the guys, they were all excited to spend the afternoon together. Amy was over the moon. She’d talked Jenna’s ear off on the phone last night, gushing about seeing Tony again, and Pete was excited to show off his handiwork to the men of Seaside. Unfortunately, Kurt was in New York for the weekend meeting with his editor, Caden had to work, and Evan was busy with his part-time job.
Jenna’s stomach got all fluttery when Pete walked into the kitchen looking sinfully sexy wearing nothing but his favorite pair of Levi’s. Bella and Leanna called Jenna’s reactions to Pete, and his to her, their honeymoon stage, but as far as she could tell, Bella and Leanna were still in that stage, too, with Caden and Kurt, and she hoped it never ended for any of them.
Pete folded her in his arms and kissed her.
“Hey, you have guests here,” Leanna teased.
“Sorry, Leanna, but I don’t think Jenna would approve of me kissing you, too.” He kissed Jenna again. “Hey, babe. I noticed that you made your way through my drawers, and I appreciate it, but where can I find my white tank tops?”
She hooked her finger in the waist of his jeans and raised her brows. “I love making my way through your drawers.”
Pete pressed his hips to hers. “You have free rein to my drawers anytime you want it,” he said against her lips before stealing another kiss. “Tank top?”
“On the closet shelves, with the rest of your white shirts. You had too many whites for the drawer, so I took over a shelf.”
“Your house will never be the same,” Bella said.
“I knew what I was getting into,” Pete said. “And our house has never felt more like home.”
Our house. Jenna hugged him tightly and shot a cheesy grin in Bella’s direction. She watched Pete walk away, embarrassed when a dreamy sigh—the kind Amy was known for—escaped her lips.
“Careful, swoongirl. You’re going to burn a hole in the man, looking at him like that. I can hardly believe that all three of us are living at the Cape now. You and Pete will still stay at Seaside during the summers, right?”
“Of course. We’ll live here the rest of the year. The same way you and Leanna have done with Caden and Kurt.”
“Good. Now we need to work on Amy. And you know, if Amy and Tony ever do get together, we’ll have to find a woman for Jamie, too. He’s too great to be without a woman.” Bella reached for one of Leanna’s muffins, and Leanna swatted her hand. “You’re so testy.”
“I want there to be enough for everyone,” Leanna said. “And you always pick at the tops and leave the rest.”
“First we have to get Jamie away from his computer. Good luck with that,” Jenna said.
Leanna turned to set the hot pad on the table, and Bella snuck a muffin. Without turning around, Leanna said, “I saw that.”
Bella laughed. “Hey, they’re here!”
They hurried out the door in one mass, pushing past one another on the way to greet Amy, Tony, and Jamie. It was a chilly morning and, as if they’d compared notes before dressing, the girls wore hoodies and jeans, and the men wore jeans and T-shirts. It might set women back fifty years, but Jenna secretly loved that men could brave the cold while women needed warmth.
Pete walked outside in his tank and jeans as Jamie hugged Jenna.
“Hands off my woman,” Pete said with a smile.
“I believe that’s, hands off my princess.” Jenna touched her tiara, because who wouldn’t wear one if she had one?
Pete embraced Jamie. “Great to see you, man.”
“It was a long summer, but the new project is off the ground with a great management staff in place, so I’m on track to spend more than just weekends here next summer.” Jamie pulled Bella into his arms. “I missed everyone.”
Pete went to greet Tony, who was still hugging Amy. Jenna gently touched Pete’s hand.
“Give them a sec,” she whispered.
“They’re just friends, Jenna,” Pete reminded her.
“So were we.” She smiled up at him, and he draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close.
“What’s with all the touchy-feely stuff?” Pete’s father and Sky had taken a walk together on the beach, and judging by their smiles, it had done them both a world of good. Joey trotted along beside them. Joey and Neil were as close as Pete and the lovable pup.
Neil had looked relaxed in the days since he’d come home, and now his eyes had a sparkle in them that Jenna hadn’t seen when they’d visited him in rehab. He had a long road ahead, but he was working closely with his counselor to ensure his transition into living a sober life went as smoothly as possible. Pete, Jenna, and Sky attended weekly meetings for families of alcoholics to learn how to support him in ways that would make sobriety easier for him, and it had brought all three of them closer together.
Sky smiled at Pete, and Jenna saw a silent message of something positive pass between them. Pete had told Jenna that Sky had grown up over the past six weeks. The hardware store customers loved her, and although Pete visited her daily and helped her with shelving supplies and handling the books, she was already putting her own touches on the shop with plants on the counter and in the window and colorful knickknacks that should look totally out of place in a hardware store but somehow warmed it instead. Pete must have told Jenna a hundred times in the last few weeks how proud of Sky he was, and Sky seemed to flourish with his praise.
“Mr. Lacroux, how was Florida?” Jamie asked.
Jenna had kept Pete’s secret about his father’s rehab. He hadn’t asked her to, but she’d known it was the right thing to do. Even friends could make a mistake and let something slip out in the wrong company.
Pete’s father slung an arm over Pete’s shoulder. “It wasn’t what I expected. You know, helping my cousin care for his wife and all. It was touch and go for a while, but they pulled through and were even stronger than they’d been before the whole nightmare arose.”
“Glad to hear it.” Jamie held a hand out to Sky. “We’ve never officially met. I’m Jamie Reed.”
“Oh gosh.” Jenna ran over to Sky. “I’m sorry. It feels like you guys all know each other. Sky, this is Jamie, and the guy glued to Amy is Tony.” Jenna hoped that the endless hug was a sign of more to come for Amy and Tony.
Tony set Amy on the ground and they joined the group.
“Hi. Pete’s talked about you guys forever. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Sky crossed her arms over her long-sleeved cotton shirt. She looked like she’d walked out of a summer clothing magazine with her long skirt, sandals, and layers of bangles on her thin wrists. “I’m going to grab a sweater.” She headed for her car, and both Tony and Jamie watched her walk away.
Amy swatted Tony. “She’s too young for you.”
“Pfft. What’s age but a number?” Tony bumped her with his elbow and winked.
Amy rolled her eyes.
They took two cars over to the marina. The boat looked picture perfect in the water with a bright red ribbon running along the railing. It had leaked for the first few days until the wood swelled into place. Jenna had fretted over the leaks, imagining the boat sinking while they were at sea, but both Pete and his father had assured her that minor leaks were normal in older wooden boats that had been out of the water as long as his had.
She stood on the deck of the schooner, watching Pete and his father talk on the dock. Pete’s head kicked back with a loud laugh, and his father’s shoulders moved up and down with a chuckle.
“I missed your whole courtship.” Jamie leaned on the railing beside Jenna.
“No, you didn’t. Pete still courts me every day.” She smiled at Jamie as their other friends gathered around them.
“I’d say you’re a pretty lucky lady, then, Jenna.” Jamie glanced at Sky, talking with Amy and Bella. “At least now Bella and Amy can stop sneaking into your cottage to break things.”
“Yeah, as much as I’d like to bonk them on their heads for turning off my hot water, I can’t.”
“And the dishwasher last summer. And the roof the summer before…”
Jenna’s jaw dropped open. “What? Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. They’ve been working their magic for years.” Jamie laughed.
Jenna narrowed her eyes and glared at Bella. “Nope. I still can’t be mad at them. They deserve medals for not giving up on us.”
Jamie draped an arm over her shoulder. “You know better than that. Seaside friends never give up.”
“Get your own girl already.” Pete’s smile told Jenna he was kidding. He knew how close she and her friends were, but she also knew that Pete had at least one jealous bone in his body, though he hid it fairly well most of the time. She didn’t mind, as she felt the same pangs of jealousy when other women ogled her man.
“Ready to christen this baby?” Pete asked. He helped his father onto the deck of the boat and stepped on behind him.
“I thought we already did that,” Jenna whispered.
Pete patted her butt and leaned in for a kiss. “How about we name it, then?”
Pete hadn’t even revealed the name of the boat to Jenna yet, and she was dying to know what name he and his father had chosen. His brothers had come to visit the day his father came home from rehab, and even after hours of brotherly pressure, Pete hadn’t caved.
His father came to Jenna’s side and placed his hand on her elbow. “Son, can I have a moment with you and Jenna before we do this?”
“Sure, Pop.” Pete said something to the others and followed Jenna and his father to the far end of the boat.
Jenna had gotten close to Neil over the past few weeks, and she saw Pete in many of his mannerisms—the way he ran his hand through his hair when he sighed, the dichotomy of his soft tone to his masculine breadth when they were having a private conversation, and maybe the most striking of all, his protective nature toward his family. The last one struck her, because he seemed to have forgotten that one when he was drinking. Luckily, Pete had a long memory, and he’d never given up on his father finding it once again.
“I have spent six weeks trying to figure out what I wanted to say to you,” his father began. “At first, I was pretty pissed at you, Pete, and at you, Jenna. I figured that Pete’s demand for me to go into rehab was because of you.”
Oh no.
“Pop, please.” Pete reached for Jenna.
His father drew in a breath and set a serious stare on Pete. “Peter, I’m going to have my say, so settle down and have a little faith, will you?”
Pete tightened his arm around Jenna’s waist.
“Into rehab. I can say that now without feeling like I want to choke someone.” He smiled at them. “When you lose someone you love, you have two choices. Handle it like a man, or run from the pain. I ran. Straight into the bottle. Pete, I know I put you through the type of torture that no son should ever have to experience, and heaven only knows how, but you managed to keep our family together, and you never gave up on me.” He slid his gaze to Jenna. “I know now that it was your relationship with Jenna that finally pushed you to give me that ultimatum.”
Jenna swallowed hard, unsure of what was coming next.
He continued and held Pete’s stare. “And I’m sure glad she did.” He turned a soft gaze to Jenna. “Jenna, I owe you my life as much as I owe it to Pete, and in the end, to Sky, too.”
Pete had told Jenna that when Sky and Pete were working together one morning at the hardware store, Pete had come across his father’s stash of alcohol. He hadn’t even realized he’d had one there at the store, but he wasn’t surprised. By then he’d read the books Jenna had bought at the book sale and he’d spent time with his father’s therapist and learned of the many ways alcoholics hide their drinking. Finding a box marked VARNISH full of bottles of alcohol was par for the course. Pete, Jenna, and Sky had scoured every inch of the store after that. Turned it upside down and cleaned out every hateful reminder of the two years that nearly ruined their family. Sky had gone through every emotion in the book—anger, sadness, guilt—and finally settled on not taking apart what she felt, but honoring each of those feelings until she came back to her normal self. She spent most evenings with Pete and Jenna, talking through her feelings, which had been good for all of them. She and Pete had become even closer right before Jenna’s eyes.
“I didn’t do anything other than fall in love with Pete. It was his efforts that made the difference.” Jenna smiled up at Pete and he kissed her forehead.
“No, Pop’s right. It was my love for you that made the difference. You were my eye-opener, Jenna.”
“And you were mine, Peter,” his father said. “I guess I just wanted to take a moment to say that I love you both, and, Peter, your mother would be proud of you for standing up to an old, stubborn goat like me.” He embraced Peter, then extended that embrace to Jenna.
“I haven’t had a chance to say it before this, but welcome to the family, Jenna. You deserve a lot more than a plastic tiara.”
“I love my tiara.” Jenna reached up and touched the accessory she cherished the most.
His father nodded at Pete and headed back toward the others.
Jenna took a step to follow him, and Pete gently pulled her back to him.
“We should join them.”
“We will. I just want a second to say my two cents.” Pete pressed his hands to Jenna’s cheeks—she loved when he did that, and smiled in response.
“Jenna, you changed my world. You opened my heart and my eyes, and Pop’s right, you do deserve more than that tiara.” He kissed her forehead. “That’s why I’ve gotten the permits to add another structure to our property, a smaller one. An art studio. For you.”
“Pete. That sounds expensive, and I don’t even have a new job yet.” Holy cow. Jenna was used to living on an art teacher’s salary, a shoestring budget. She had enough savings to help with a few household expenses—which he continuously told her was ridiculous, but still she offered. She was enjoying settling into their new life together, and she’d planned to start looking for a job the following week.
“Shh.” He kissed her. “This is my gift to you. You can get another job if you want, but you don’t need to. I make enough money to take care of us, and Kurt hooked me up with his friend Blue Ryder, the guy who renovated his cottage for Leanna. He gave me a great deal in exchange for my refitting his brother’s boat. That’ll be mine and Pop’s next project.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
Pete dug his hand into his pocket and reached for Jenna’s left hand. He sank to one knee, and suddenly she felt like she was in a vacuum, her eyes fixed on Pete’s. The sound of the water splashing against the boat, the din of their friends, and the heartbeat that had been thundering in her chest—silenced.
“Say you’ll marry me.” Pete’s eyes never left hers.
Ohmyohmyohmy. She couldn’t breathe. Her legs turned to wet noodles, and it was all she could do not to cry. She placed her hands on his shoulders for stability.
“Say you’ll let me love you forever in the ways you deserve. Say you’ll bear our children and raise them in ridiculous matching outfits and shoes. Say you’ll fill our house with rocks that speak to you, and—”
“Yes! Oh yes, Pete. Yes! Yes! Yes!” She launched herself into his arms as he rose to his feet, and covered his face with kisses, causing him to stumble backward.
“Oh my gosh.” She kissed him again. “I never expected…” Their lips met again. She hung from him like a monkey, arms locked around his neck, legs dangling a foot off the ground. With his help, she moved down his muscular body until her toes hit the ground, and she clutched the waist of his jeans for support as Pete slid the sparkling ring on her finger.
“This was my mother’s. If you don’t like it, then we’ll pick one out that you love.”
Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks. “Your mother’s? Is your dad okay with this?”
“I love that you’re worried about my father instead of yourself, but yes; Pop gave it to me. I asked him to come with me to pick out your ring and he offered Mom’s. I asked Sky, of course, in case she had hoped for it, and she said Mom would have wanted you to have it as her first daughter-in-law.”
“Oh, Petey.” Jenna looked at the gorgeous square-cut diamond surrounded by several smaller rubies and was powerless to stop the flow of tears spilling down her cheeks. “I’m honored to wear your mother’s ring, and there’s nothing I want more than to be your wife.”
Their lips met again, and the sounds of the morning came rushing back in.
Sky ran toward them with Joey on her heels. She squealed with delight. “You gave it to her! I’m going to have a sister-in-law!”
“We can have a triple wedding!” Bella hugged Jenna.
Jenna glanced at Amy, her smile genuine, her eyes alit with sincere excitement, but Jenna knew her heart must be aching at the idea of not being included in the wedding.
“I don’t think a triple wedding works,” Jenna said as she pulled Amy into her arms. “Either we wait for a quadruple wedding, or we each have our own.”
“No, have the triple. It will be fun,” Amy said.
Tony moved to Amy’s side. Jenna wanted to smack him into loving Amy, but as she felt Pete’s hand touch her lower back, she knew there was no rushing love.
“Jenna’s right. Sorry, Ames. I wasn’t thinking.” Bella hugged her while Jamie and Tony congratulated Pete, and his father stood off to the side, taking it all in.
After being passed around from friend to friend, Jenna joined him.
“Thank you for allowing me to wear your Bea’s ring. I’ll cherish it forever.”
“I wish she were here to be part of this.” He glanced at Pete, and Jenna saw a worried look flash in Pete’s eyes. She knew that look. She’d seen it many times over the past few weeks. Pete was worried about his father turning back to the bottle. Every day took renewed commitment from his father, and they were all bound together, equally committed to helping him through it. She realized how this emotional time could be overwhelming for him and send him spiraling backward and was relieved when Pete came to his father’s side.
Two men with a world of worry between them—and a world of love to pull them through.
“You okay, Pop?” Pete placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Fit as a fiddle. Now, get that worried look out of your eyes. I want to be sober every second of the rest of my life. I missed two years. I’m not going to miss another minute. Let’s name this boat.”
Pete and his father had nixed the idea of breaking a bottle across the bow or holding a traditional naming ceremony. Instead, they stood arm in arm before the group, with the sun shining down upon their shoulders and smiles on their lips.
“We never had any doubt about what we should name this boat. It was just a matter of when it would happen.” Pete glanced at his father.
“Sheesh. Let’s not get all sappy,” his father grumbled. He handed Pete one side of a vinyl banner and they stretched it out between them. “Without further ado, we give you New Beginning.” The banner read, NEW B-E-A-G-I-N-N-I-N-G.
“Uh-oh. I think they spelled beginning wrong,” Bella said with a furrowed brow.
Jenna’s heart swelled with the value that Pete placed on family and the thoughtfulness of the name they’d chosen. She didn’t think it was possible to love him more than she did, but in that moment, when their eyes met, the pride in his was palpable, and love blazed an unyielding connection between them.
Pete mouthed, “I love you,” and Jenna knew that he would always honor their love, and the family they were bound to have, with the same conviction as he did his nuclear family.
“No,” Jenna said. “They spelled it just right.”
Please enjoy a preview of the next Sweet with Heat novel
Chapter One
JESSICA AYERS COULD hold a note on her cello for thirty-eight seconds without ever breaking a sweat, but staring at the eBay auction on her iPhone as the last forty seconds ticked away had her hands sweating and her heart racing. She never knew seconds could pass so slowly. She’d been pacing the deck of her rented apartment in the Seaside cottage community in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, for forty-five minutes. This was her first time—and she was certain her last time—using the online auction site. She was the high bidder on a baseball that she was fairly certain was her father’s from when he was a boy.
“Come on. Come on. Come on.” Fifteen seconds. She clenched her eyes shut and squeezed the phone, as if she could will the win. It was only seven thirty in the morning, and already the sun had blazed a path through the trees. She was hot and frustrated, and after fighting with her orchestra manager for two weeks about taking a hiatus, and her mother for even longer about everything under the sun, she was ready to blow. She’d come to the Cape for a respite from playing in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, hoping to figure out if she was living her life to the fullest, or missing out on it altogether. Finding her father’s baseball autographed by Mickey Mantle was her self-imposed distraction to keep her mind off picking up the cello. She’d never imagined she’d find it a week into her vacation.
She opened her eyes and stared at the phone.
Five seconds. Four. Three.
A message flashed on the screen. You have been outbid by another bidder.
“What? No. No, no, no.” She pressed the bid icon, and nothing happened. She pressed it again, and again, her muscles tightening with each attempt. Another message flashed on the screen. Bidding for this item has ended.
No!
She stared at the phone, unable to believe she’d been seconds away from winning what she was sure was her father’s baseball and had lost it. She hated phones. She hated eBay. She hated bidding against nonexistent people in tiny little stupid phones. She hated the whole thing so much she turned and hurled the phone over the deck.
Wow.
That felt really, really good.
“Ouch! What the…” A deep male voice rose up to her.
Jessica crouched and peered between the balusters. Standing on the gravel road just a few feet from her building, in a pair of black running shorts and no shirt, was the nicest butt she’d ever seen, attached to a tanned back that was glistening with sweat and rippled with muscles. Holy moly, they didn’t make orchestra musicians with bodies like that. Not that she’d know, considering that they were always properly covered in black suits and white shirts, but could a body like that even be hidden?
He turned, one hand rubbing his unruly black hair as he looked up at the pitch pine trees.
Yeah, you won’t find the culprit there.
His eyes passed by her deck, and she cringed. At least he hadn’t seen her phone, which she spotted a few feet away, where it must have fallen after conking him on the head. His eyes dropped to the ground…and traveled directly to it.
Jessica ducked lower, watching his brows knit together, giving him a brooding, sexy look.
Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me.
He looked at the cottages to his left, then to the pool off to his right, and just as Jessica sighed with relief, he crossed the road toward the steps to her apartment. His eyes locked on her. He shaded them with his hand and looked back down at the phone, then back up at her, and lifted the phone in the air.
“Is this yours?”
She debated staying there, crouched and peering between the railings like a child playing hide-and-seek, hoping he really couldn’t see her.
I’ve been seeked.
Darn it! She rose slowly to her feet. “My what?” She had no idea what she was going to say or do as the words flew from her mouth.
He laughed. Wow, he had a sexy laugh. “Your phone?”
He stood there looking amused and so sexy that Jessica couldn’t take her eyes off of him. “Why would that be mine? I don’t even have a phone.” Great. Now I’m a phone assaulter and a liar. She had no idea that being incredibly attracted to a man could couple with embarrassment and make her spew lies, as if she lied every day.
He looked back down at the phone and scratched his head. She wondered what he was thinking. That it fell from the sky? No one was that stupid, but she couldn’t own up to it now. She was in too deep. As he mounted the stairs, she got a good look at his chest, covered with a light dusting of hair, over muscles that bunched and rippled down his stomach, forming a V between his hips.
He stepped onto the deck and raked his hazel eyes down her body with the kind of smile that should have made her feel at ease and instead made her feel very naked. And hot. Definitely hot. Oh wait, he was hot. She was just bothered. Hot and bothered. Up close he was even more handsome than she imagined, with at least three days’ scruff peppering his strong chin and eyes that played hues of green and brown like a melody.
“Hi. I’m Jamie Reed.”
“Hi. Jessica…Ayers.”
“How long are you renting?” He used his forearm to wipe his brow. She never knew sweating could look so sexy.
“For the summer.” She shifted her eyes to her phone. “What will you do with that phone?”
He looked down at it. “I guess that depends, doesn’t it?” The side of his mouth quirked up, making his handsome, rugged face look playful and sending her stomach into a tailspin.
Jessica needed and wanted playful in her too prim and proper life, but she needed her phone even more, in case her orchestra manager called.
“Let’s say it was my phone. Let’s say it slipped from my hand and fell over the deck, purely by accident.”
He stepped closer, and suddenly playful turned serious. His eyes went dark and seductive, in a way that bored right through her, both turning her on and calling her on her fib. He placed one big hand on the railing beside her and peered over the side. His brows lifted, and he stepped closer again. She inched backward until her back met the wooden rail. He smelled of power and sweat and something musky that made her insides quiver.
“That’s quite an accident.” His voice whispered over her skin.
Jessica could barely breathe, barely think with his eyes looking through her, and his crazy, sexy body so close made her sweat even more. The truth poured out like water from a faucet.
“Okay. I’m sorry. I did throw it, but it’s not my fault. Not really. It’s that stupid eBay site.” Her voice rose, and her frustration bubbled forth. “I don’t know how I could lose an auction in the last ten seconds. My bid held strong for forty-five minutes, and then out of the blue I lost it for five lousy dollars? And it was all because the stupid bid button was broken.” She sank down to a chair. “I’m sorry. I’m just upset.”
“So, let me get this straight. You lost a bid on eBay, so you threw your phone?” He lowered himself to the chair beside her, brow wrinkled in confusion, or maybe amusement. She couldn’t tell which.
“Yeah, I know. I know. I threw my phone. But it must be broken. I hate technology.”
“Technology is awesome. It’s not the phone’s fault you lost your bid. It’s called sniping, and lots of people do it.”
“Sniping?” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I know I sound whiny and not so nice, but I’m really not like this normally.”
He arched a brow and smiled, which made her smile, because of course he didn’t believe her. Who would? He didn’t know she was usually Miss Prim and Proper. He couldn’t know she never used words like stupid or even visited the eBay website until today.
“I swear I’m not. I’m just frustrated. I’ve been trying to find the baseball my father had as a kid. It was signed by Mickey Mantle, and somewhere along the line, his parents lost it. His sister had colored in the autograph with red ink, and I think I finally found it…and then lost it.”
“That’s a bummer. I can see why you’re upset. I’m sorry.”
“How can you be so nice after I beaned you with my phone?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been hit by worse. Here, let me show you some eBay tricks.” He scrolled through her apps, of which she had none other than what came with the phone. He drew his brows together. “Do you want me to download the eBay app?”
“The eBay app? I guess.”
He fiddled with her phone, then moved his chair closer to hers. “When you’re bidding on eBay, and other people are bidding at the same time, you need to refresh your screen because bids don’t refresh quickly on all phones.” He continued explaining and showing her how to refresh her screen.
She only half listened. She simply didn’t get technology, and she was used to sitting next to men in suits and tuxedos, not half-naked men with Adonis-like bodies wearing nothing but a pair of shorts with all their masculinity on display. She could barely concentrate.
JAMIE COULD TELL by the look in Jessica’s eyes that she wasn’t paying attention. As the developer of OneClick, the second-largest search engine rivaling Google, he’d been in his fair share of meetings with foggy-eyed people who zoned out when he started with technical talk. But refreshing a screen was hardly technical, which meant that either beautiful Jessica was really a novice and had lived in a cave for the past ten years or she was playing him like a cheap guitar. She sure didn’t look like she’d been living in a cave. She was about the hottest chick he’d seen in forever, sitting beside him in a canary-yellow bikini like it was the most comfortable thing in the world. Maybe she was a fashion model with handlers that did these kinds of things for her.
Her light brown hair brushed her thighs when she leaned forward, and her bright blue eyes, although looking a little lost at the moment, were strikingly sexy. She had a hot bod, with perfect, perky breasts, a trim waist, curvaceous hips, and legs that went on forever, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d tried to avoid admitting that the phone was hers. The last thing Jamie needed this summer was to be played, even by a beautiful woman like Jessica. This was his first summer off in eight years, and he intended to relax and spend time with his grandmother, Vera, who was in her mid-eighties and wasn’t getting any younger. If the right woman came along, and he had the time and interest, he’d enjoy her company, but he had no patience for games.
“Either your phone is new, or you don’t use many apps.”
“No. To be honest, I don’t even text very often. I’ve been kind of out of the swing of things in that arena for a while. And after this I’m not sure that I really want to dive in.”
He handed her the phone. “You can do this on your computer. Some people find that easier.”
She closed her eyes for a beat and cringed. “I get along with my computer even worse than I get along with my phone.”
He still couldn’t decide if she was playing him or not. She sounded sincere, and the look in her beautiful baby blues was as honest as he’d ever seen. He might as well offer to help.
“Then you’ve met just the right guy. I can give you a crash course in computers and phones.”
“I’ve taken up so much of your time already. I would feel guilty taking up any more on a beautiful day like today. But I really appreciate your offer.”
Are you blowing me off?
Jamie rose to his feet. “Okay, well, if you need any help, I’m in the cottage on the end with the deck out front and back. Stop by anytime.” He hesitated, knowing he should leave but wanting to stay and get to know her a little better. If she was playing him, she would’ve taken him up on his offer for sure.
Jessica rose to her feet, grabbed a towel from the back of her chair, and picked up a tote bag from beneath the table. “I’m heading to the pool, so I’ll walk down with you.”
They walked down to the pool together in silence, giving Jamie a chance to notice how nice she smelled. It took all of his focus not to run his eyes down her backside—he was dying to see her butt, but why rush things and make her uncomfortable? She’d walk into the pool and he’d have his chance.
Jessica dug through her tote bag. She placed a slender hand on her hip and sighed. “I forgot my key. Why do they keep the pool locked, anyway?”
He had no idea why, but she looked so curious that he made up a reason. “To keep the derelicts out.”
“Derelicts? Really? My friend suggested that I rent here. He said there was almost no crime on the Cape.”
Jamie wondered who her friend was. “We had some trouble with teenagers two summers ago, but other than that, your friend was right. There are no derelicts lurking about.”
“Oh, thank goodness. I didn’t think my coworker would lead me astray. I guess I’ll go get my key.”
She turned to leave and—holy mackerel—her bikini bottom was a thong. A thin piece of floss between two perfect buttcheeks. How had he missed that?
It was all he could do not to drool. “Nice suit,” he mumbled.
She looked over her shoulder. “Thanks! I saw the Thong Thursday flyer and thought, why not? I bought this suit when we were overseas and wore it there once. I brought it with me, but I never would have had the guts to wear it here, until I saw that you guys had an actual day for one.” She waved and disappeared up the steps to her apartment.
Jamie spun around and scanned the bulletin board where the pool rules were posted. A blue flyer had been tacked front and center: JOIN US FOR THONG THURSDAY!
Thank you, Bella.
Jamie jogged up to Bella’s cottage. The screen door was open.
“Bella?” Bella Abbascia owned the cottage across from the apartment Jessica was renting. She was the resident prankster. Her favorite person to play tricks on was Theresa Ottoline, the Seaside property manager. Theresa oversaw the homeowner association guidelines for the community—including the pool rules, which included a rule that clearly stated, No thongs on women or Speedos on men.
Bella’s fiancé, Caden Grant, walked out of the bedroom in his police officer uniform. “Hey, Jamie. Come on in.”
Jamie stepped inside. “Hi. I wanted to thank your fiancée for Thong Thursday.”
Caden shook his head. “She did it, huh?”
“Heck, yes, she did it, and…” Jamie looked out the window at the big house where Jessica was renting. The house was owned by Theresa. The apartment Jessica rented had a separate entrance on the second floor.
“Did you see the new tenant? Jessica Ayers?” He whistled. “Hotter than Hades.”
“I saw her sitting on her deck the other night when I pulled in, but I haven’t met her. Bella’s over at Amy’s with the girls.”
Evan, Caden’s mini-me teenage son, walked out of his bedroom. Evan was almost seventeen, and this year he’d cropped his chestnut hair short, like his father’s. Over the year he’d grown to six two. His square jaw and cleft chin, also like Caden’s, had lost all but the faintest trace of the boy he’d been two years earlier.
“Dude. You went running without me?” Evan, Caden, and their other buddy, Kurt Remington, whose fiancée, Leanna Bray, owned the cottage behind Bella and Caden, sometimes ran with Jamie in the mornings.
“Sorry, Ev. Vera wanted to get a jump on the day, so I went early.”
“That’s okay.” Evan glanced out the window in the kitchen and looked down by the pool, where Jessica was spreading a towel out on a lounge chair. “I was gonna go for a run, but if it’s Thong Thursday, I think I’ll go for a swim instead, then head over to TGG for the afternoon.” Evan had worked with Jamie for one summer, learning how to program computers, and he’d been working part-time at TGG, The Geeky Guys, ever since.
Jamie set a narrow-eyed stare on Evan.
“What?” Evan laughed.
“Behave,” Jamie said, before walking out the door and across the gravel road to Amy’s cottage. Now I’m jealous of a kid?
He glanced at the pool, tempted to put on his own suit and head down for a gawk and a swim. Instead, he headed across the gravel road to Amy Maples’s cottage.
“Hi, Jamie. Just in time for coffee.” Amy handed him a mug over the railing of her deck.
“Thanks.”
Jenna Ward, a big-busted brunette, and Bella, a tall, mouthy blonde, followed Amy out of her cottage. They wore sundresses over their bathing suits, their typical Cape attire. The Seaside cottages had been in their families for years, and Jamie had grown up spending summers with the girls and Leanna Bray, who owned the cottage beside Vera’s, and Tony Black, who owned the cottage on the other side of Leanna’s.
“Come on up here, big boy.” Bella waved him onto the deck and pulled out a chair.
“I owe you big-time, Bella.” He sat beside her and placed his coffee on the glass table.
“Most people do,” she teased.
“I know I do.” Jenna had recently gotten engaged to Pete Lacroux, a local boat craftsman, who also handled maintenance for Seaside—and had been the object of Jenna’s secret crush for years. Bella and Amy had secretly broken things in Jenna’s cottage for several summers without Jenna knowing, to ensure that she and Pete would have reasons to be thrown together.
“Thong Thursday?” Jamie shook his head. “You are a goddess, Bella.”
She patted her thick blond hair. “Thank you for noticing.”
“Leanna is going to be so mad at you for doing that,” Jenna said. “She doesn’t think our men need to see butt floss on any of us.” Leanna ran a jam-making business out of Kurt’s bay-side property.
Bella swatted the air. “She’s staying at their bay house for a few days. She’ll miss it completely.” The lower Cape was a narrow peninsula that sprawled between Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The cottages were located between the two bodies of water, and both Kurt and Pete owned property on the bay. Caden and Bella had a house on a street around the corner from the bay, and all three couples spent most of their summers at Seaside and the rest of the year at their other homes.
Luscious Leanna’s Sweet Treats had really taken off in the last two years, and since her business was run from a cottage on their bay property, she was spending more and more time there.
“I’m sure Tony won’t complain,” Amy said with an eye roll that could have rocked the deck. Tony Black was a professional surfer and a motivational speaker, and Amy had been hot for him for about as long as Jenna had been lusting after Pete, but Tony had never made a move toward taking their relationship to the next level. Jamie didn’t get it. He’d seen Tony eyeing Amy, and Tony took care of her like she was his girlfriend. Amy was hot, smart, and obviously interested—Tony was a big, burly guy with a good head on his shoulders. They’d make a great pair.
“Speaking of Tony, I saw him leave early this morning. He’s spending the day at the ocean.” Jamie sipped his coffee.
“Good, then maybe he’ll miss the thong show, too.” Amy leaned over the table and lowered her voice. “Did you guys see the chick renting Theresa’s condo?”
“All I know is that she’s smokin’ hot and she doesn’t talk much.” Jenna was busy resituating the top of her sundress, pulled tightly across her enormous breasts.
“I don’t know what her deal is,” Bella said. “But she was yelling at her phone the other day.”
“You mean yelling on her phone,” Jenna corrected her.
“No, I mean at. She was staring at it, smacking it, and yelling at it.” Bella made a cuckoo motion with her finger beside her head.
Nothing new here from the girls. A little jealousy over the new hot chick. Jamie picked up his coffee mug. “Mind if I bring this back later? I have to get going. I’m running into Hyannis to pick up a few things. You guys need anything?”
The girls shook their heads.
“You’re willingly going to miss Thong Thursday?” Bella put her hand to his forehead. “You must be ill.”
No kidding. “One look at my butt in a thong and she’ll be chasing me around the complex. I wouldn’t want to subject you three ladies to that. It could get ugly.” He smiled with the tease.
“Ha! Yeah, right. Like you’d ever wear a thong.” Jenna threw her head back with a loud laugh. “Are you guys coming to Vera’s concert tonight?” Vera had played the violin professionally when she was younger, and this summer a group of older Wellfleet residents had put together a string quartet and invited Vera to play. They never saw much of a crowd, but it got her out of the house and playing for an audience again, which she enjoyed.
“I wouldn’t miss Vera’s concert,” Amy said.
“Bella and I are going over together because Caden’s taking someone’s shift and Pete’s hanging with his father tonight, working on a boat. I’ll ask Sky if she wants to come, too.” Sky was Pete’s sister. She’d come to the Cape last summer to run their father’s hardware store while he was in rehab, and she’d never gone back to New York other than to pack up her things. Now sober for almost a year, their father helped Pete with his boat-refinishing business.
“Vera will be glad to hear it, and she loves Pete’s sister.” He glanced down at the pool, then headed for his cottage.
“Wanna bet who’s gonna bang the new chick? Tony or Jamie?” Jenna’s voice trailed behind him.
Jamie slowed to hear the answer.
A crack of hand on skin told him that Amy had shut Jenna up with a friendly swat.
(End of Sneak Peek)
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