Playing for Keeps (Heartbreaker Bay #7)(29)

Caleb walked her and Lollipop to the courtyard and seemed to be planning on escorting her all the way to the Canvas Shop. “You don’t have to walk me to the door,” she said.

“I want to.” He looked at her and smiled. “Afraid you won’t be able to resist me?”

“No.” Yes . She went for nonchalant, but on the inside she was trying not to collapse from the look of desire that crossed his face as they got to the door. He slowly slid one arm around her waist and pulled her into him as he cradled her head with his other hand. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with a tenderness she’d never before experienced.

When the kiss ended, she just stared at him. “Still don’t know what that is.”

He didn’t look concerned as he kissed her once more, not gently this time. She was panting when he pulled free and turned to go.

“Are you serious?” she asked his back. “You’re just going to leave it like that?”

He faced her. “Like what?”

Unbearably turned on. And she could see he was too, hard for a man to hide it. “You could come in,” she said, the words escaping her before she could stop them. “Everyone’s gone for the night.”

He walked back to her and her heart skipped a beat at the thought of what was going to happen now. And when he kissed her again, deeper this time, it was so good that she heard herself moan.

But then he pulled back again. “Not yet,” he said.

She gaped at him.

One of his thumbs stroked over her bottom lip. “You haven’t decided if you like me or not,” he said and then he dropped his hands from her, bent to kiss Lollipop on top of her snout, and walked off.

“And what does me liking you have to do with anything?” she asked and heard his low laugh as he vanished.

Damn. Her heart was still pounding, body aching for things she was absolutely not going to give in to. Ever. The ratfink bastard. “It was definitely insanity,” she whispered to Lollipop. “Temporary insanity.”





Chapter 10





#WhatAboutSadie



A week later, Sadie was sitting in the bridal shop on the ground floor of the Pacific Pier Building listening to her mom, her aunt Thea, and her older sister, Clara, go on and on—and on and on—about Clara’s upcoming wedding.

The shop was new and tastefully decorated. The owner of the shop, Addie, was actually a client of Sadie’s. She’d tattooed over some scars Addie had wanted to not have to look at anymore.

Sadie had recommended the shop to Clara, but now she felt a little sorry for Addie, who was stuck dealing with the chaos that was the Lane family women.

“Sadie, are you even listening?” her mom asked.

“Of course.” She totally wasn’t listening. She was eating from a big bag of salt and vinegar chips and daydreaming about the way Caleb had kissed her against the Canvas Shop’s door last week. No, wait, she’d kissed him. She’d kissed him and it’d been . . . She shook her head, still dizzy from the feel of his mouth on hers.

It’d been a-maz-ing.

Every time she thought about it, she got a hot flash. Either she was going through the change of life at twenty-eight, or she had it bad.

Neither option appealed.

So she stuffed another chip into her mouth and went back to daydreaming about how it’d felt to be hauled up against Caleb’s hard body, his hands gripping her like he didn’t want to let her go, and his mouth, God that mouth—

“Well then?”

Sadie jumped a little and glanced up at Clara, who was in her bridal gown looking . . . well, white. And perfect as always.

A seamstress and Addie, as well as Sadie’s mom and aunt, fluttered around the bride, all of it reflecting back at Sadie, the sole audience, through the six huge floor-to-ceiling mirrors in a half circle around the bride-to-be.

“Yes or no?” her mom asked Sadie.

“Um . . .” She’d zoned out thinking about Caleb and wondering why she’d been stupid enough to avoid being alone with him for a long week. To stall, she made a show of looking around. “Anyone have ranch dip? No? Maybe a margarita?”

Her mom sighed. “Will you be serious for once?”

“I am serious. I’m starving.”

“You keep eating those chips and we’ll have to order up a size when we order your bridesmaid dress.”

Addie sucked in a little breath of shock, but managed to say calmly, “We don’t size-shame here.”

“It’s okay,” Sadie told her. “I’m fairly un-shameable.” And that was true. For the most part, the things her well-meaning family said didn’t get to her. Except for once in a great while, in the deep, dark of the night when she lay in bed, replaying every stupid thing she’d ever done instead of sleeping, including stress-eating a big bag of chips so that her yoga pants—which had never seen an actual yoga class—became too tight.

With a sigh, she set aside the chips and carefully picked off a few crumbs and those too so as to not make a mess. The gesture made her miss Lollipop, who had turned out to be a great companion and a most excellent vacuum cleaner.

For the past seven days she and Caleb had been co-parenting the adorable three-legged dog by handing off custody each day, the time varying depending on whether or not she worked at the spa. It’d been shockingly easy. This morning Caleb had picked up Lollipop early, leaving Sadie without a buffer between her and her family at the moment.