The Summer Getaway: A Novel(64)

“You’re an interesting woman.”

They stared at each other. Robyn was pretty sure she read interest in his eyes. She hoped so, because she was definitely leaning in that direction. She dropped her gaze to his hands and wondered how they would feel on her body. Anticipation made her want to squirm.

“Okay,” she said, coming to her feet. “I need to check on the pork chops.”

He rose as well. Their chairs were pulled relatively close together, so standing, she and Mason were practically touching. Stepping to the side made the most sense, and was even the polite thing to do, but she couldn’t seem to move. Not when looking into his dark eyes felt really good.

He was taller than her, and broader. Fit, with plenty of muscle and that capable air she liked so much. He was always controlled, which made her wonder what he was like when he was out of control.

Hunger burned and not for pork chops. She wanted him to kiss her, but wasn’t sure how to get the message across. After a second of frustration, she realized she could kiss him. Why did the man have to initiate things? She knew he thought she was attractive, so it wasn’t as if he was going to run screaming—

“You’re killing me,” Mason said, his voice a low growl, right before he put his hands on her upper arms, leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers.

Surprise morphed into pleasure as his lips lingered against hers. There was plenty of warmth and the right amount of pressure. He didn’t demand or take things too far or grind into her. Even more exciting was the heat that quickly built up inside of her.

She got lost in his kiss, in the feel of his hands settling on her hips, the warmth of his body and how much she wanted to rub against him like one of the cats. The image of that was just disconcerting enough to allow her to pull back and breathe in a little sanity.

They stood less than a foot apart, looking at each other. She wondered if she looked as stunned as he did.

“That was nice,” she murmured.

One eyebrow rose. “Not the way I would describe it.”

His voice was low and gravelly, with more than a hint of passion.

“What’s a better word?” she asked, trying not to smile.

“Seismic. Epic. Life-altering.”

“Those work, too.”

He drew in a breath. “They’re different than nice.”

She stepped toward him and lightly brushed her mouth against his. “I’ll go with epic. It was very epic. And now I have to go see about some pork chops.”

She walked back into her room, then slipped on sandals. As she made her way downstairs, she realized she was smiling and humming and generally acting like a very happy woman. Which, it seemed, she was.

Unexpected, but very, very epic.





eighteen



HARLOW WAS HOT and tired. Her charter had run over by two hours—not all that unusual, but she hadn’t slept well the night before, so the longer day had bothered her more than usual. Plus, the heat and humidity were getting to her. She grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator in the break room, then made her way to her office, where she booted up her computer.

Maybe she was dehydrated, she thought, typing in her password. Or exhausted. She’d spent the past couple of days working on long charters with Enid, making sure her friend knew everything she needed to for her job.

Fortunately her BFF was a natural sailor. As Harlow had suspected, Enid was great with the clients, and the various captains liked her, so it had been an easy transition. Her dad had calmed down about Austin leaving and was now wondering aloud why he hadn’t hired Enid years ago.

Harlow watched her email load. She was off for two days, something she was usually grateful for, just not this time. Oh, she wanted to not be working, but now she and Kip were going to have their sit-down, and she wasn’t in the mood for that at all.

She knew getting to the heart of what was going on was important, but she didn’t think she could survive the “discussion” that would go with it. What if they had bigger problems to deal with? Although she couldn’t imagine something worse than him having been married before. That little shocker was part of what kept her awake.

What was she supposed to do with that information? How was she supposed to feel? Yes, Kip and Tracey had eloped, so he hadn’t had a big wedding, but still. She wasn’t going to be his first wife. For the rest of their lives together, she was his second wife. Nothing was going to be new for them.

Worse, he hadn’t told her. She’d reached the point where she understood the omission was a bigger deal than the marriage itself. Which explained her wanting to avoid the serious conversation she knew they had to have.

She worried about what else was he hiding. What if whatever it was turned out to be so bad, she had to end things? She didn’t think she could handle that. Not with both her mom and Austin gone. She would be totally on her own, with all the crap going on.

She should have gone with Austin, she thought, opening an email about a charter request. Not that her dad would have given her the time off. So that was a nonstarter. Still, it would have been nice to see Aunt Lillian and spend a few days at the house. She could have cleared her mind and hung out with her mom and talked to her about Kip and what was happening.

She saw an email from the attorney handling the purchase of the kayak business and felt a jolt of guilt. She hadn’t even thought about the kayak business in days. No wonder he was writing her—she’d practically dropped off the face of the earth.