Into the Tide (Cottonwood Cove #1)(73)

“Guess we’re going to have to keep filling that list with new things to try. We’re knocking them off too fast.”

“Yeah, it’s been really great being home this summer. There aren’t going to be a lot of days to knock things off the list once I start the new job. All work and no play.” She shrugged, and the mention of her leaving had my chest squeezing.

I wasn’t that guy.

I didn’t get attached.

I needed to be careful because this was temporary.

I’d always been good with temporary.

“We’ll have to remedy that while you’re home, yeah?”

She nodded, tucking her lips beneath her teeth and looking away before her gaze returned to mine.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Cage told me that when you found out your dad had cancer, you changed your whole plan about what you wanted to do with your life. I didn’t know you wanted to be a sports agent.”

My shoulders stiffened at the mention of it. It was a terrible time in my life—in my family’s life. My father tried hard not to make it a big deal, but he’d gone to hell and back, and his battle with cancer was not an easy one. He was a very proud man, and asking for help was not in his nature. “Yeah, it wasn’t something I was dead set on. I didn’t mind changing the plan to keep the restaurants going. And we all rallied around him during that time, and thankfully he’s cancer-free today.”

“Cage said that you rallied the most.” Her eyes were welled with emotion.

“Cage has a big mouth.”

“Looks like we have a few things in common, Bear.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“We’d both do just about anything for our family.” Her tongue slipped out to wet her lips, and I hardened at the sight.

“What else?”

“We both love sex, right?” She chuckled, and I leaned down and kissed her.

Because I couldn’t get enough of this woman.

But I had two months with her, and I planned to take advantage of every last minute of that.





twenty-two





Lila





“You know this makes you kind of clingy, right?” I teased. Hugh and I had been back for over two weeks since returning from the wedding, and he’d started cycling with me when I ran in the mornings because he said he didn’t like the idea of me being out here alone.

“I don’t give a shit what it makes me. It’s still dark some mornings when you leave for your runs, and it’s not safe. Plus, you’re so warm and toasty that when you leave my bed, I can feel it.”

Yes, we spent our nights tangled up in his bed together. Travis had only been over a few times since we’d returned, and it was easy to just act like we always did.

Because nothing had changed outside of the fact that we couldn’t keep our hands off one another now.

The day we’d come home, I’d gotten the call from Lauren that they were ready for Dad to be admitted. Travis had stuck to his guns about not going with us, and Hugh had stepped up and driven my father there with me once again.

The man just kept showing up for me, time and time again.

Dad was hopeful and grateful and willing to try, and I couldn’t ask for more than that. He had two weeks under his belt as of today. I’d gotten a few emails, but we weren’t allowed to visit in person the first two weeks, which meant they were focusing on him. It was exactly what he needed. He’d never delved into the reasons that he’d spent most of my life numbing himself. We’d always just been trying to clean up the messes that followed his addiction. And maybe Travis was right, and it wouldn’t make a difference, but what if it did? Wasn’t it worth a try?

I would be visiting him for the first time next week, and I was looking forward to it.

I turned down the final stretch of my run and glanced over my shoulder at the sexy man on a black beach cruiser pedaling along, and I started pumping my arms because we always raced the last two hundred meters before his house. I could hear him laughing from behind me, and I knew he was closing in.

“I’m coming for you, Snow!” he shouted as he pulled up alongside me, and I pressed on, the driveway sitting just a few feet away.

I came to a halt at the bottom of his driveway, with him right next to me as I bent over my knees, gasping for air and blinking at the sight in front of me.

My little piece of crap Honda Civic was parked in his driveway. Once I caught my breath, I looked up at him.

“I think I beat you today,” he said, as if there wasn’t a big elephant in the room.

He could beat me every day on that bike if he wanted to, but he never did. He just stayed beside me no matter what speed I went; he was always right there.

“We tied,” I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead. “Do you know why my car is in your driveway?”

“Oh, that thing? Is that yours?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and raised a brow. “I’m fairly certain it is.”

“Hmmm.” He nodded. “Well, I bought it a while back. Would have given it to you sooner, but it needed some work. Roddy’s had it in his shop, and he said he’d be dropping it by this morning. The keys are under the mat. You can’t drive an old car into the ground, Lila. You need to get the oil checked regularly and make sure the brakes are working.”