Tempted by Love: Jack Jock Steele (The Steeles at Silver Island Book 1)

by Melissa Foster

  They ate the lunch that Daphne had packed, and she was glad she’d thought to bring extras for him. Jock tossed a wink here, a caress of her cheek there, and a tease to make Hadley giggle just about every chance he got. He stole kisses and cast so many of those steamy looks her way, Daphne would probably go home ten pounds lighter just from sweating. She tried not to make too much out of his efforts with Hadley, but it was impossible not to fall a little harder for him.

  “What’s in your backpack?” Daphne asked as she zipped her cooler closed.

  “A notebook, a novel, my phone, water, sunscreen. The usual. I’d love to get your number, by the way. I keep forgetting to ask you for it.”

  He took out his phone and she programmed in her number. As he put it away, she said, “I checked your book out of the library this morning.”

  “Really?”

  “Mm-hm. Hadley’s staying at my mom’s tonight, and I have a date with It Lies. I’m nervous about reading it, though. It might give me nightmares.”

  “You have a free night, and you’re spending it reading?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  “Because you could spend it with me.”

  Her pulse skyrocketed.

  “You’re used to reading romance. You can’t just jump into horror. You need to ease into it, with a little help from a friend.” He put his hand on hers and said, “You need to go slow, enjoy the thrill of anticipation, the heightened sensations, the fear and excitement as your pulse quickens and your skin grows hot, so you’re ready for the rush of adrenaline when it pumps through you.”

  “Yes please,” she said in one long breath.

  A slow smile crept across his face.

  She realized how she’d sounded and quickly said, “I mean, that sounds like the right approach.”

  “I liked your other response better,” he said, making her blush feverishly again. “How about I take you to dinner, and then we can go back to my cottage, and I’ll show you my collection of horror movies.”

  “I’d rather see your romance collection” slipped out under her breath before she could stop it.

  “Even better.”

  Ohmygosh! “I didn’t mean to say that.”

  “Mean what, Mommy?” Hadley asked from a few feet away, where she was playing in the sand.

  “Nothing. Let’s go down to the water for one last swim.” Mommy needs to cool off.

  As she stood up, Jock held her hand and said, “Pick you up at seven?”

  “Okay,” she said, and hurried down to the water with Hadley. See your romance collection? Ugh. She was so bad at this. Jock was watching her and Hadley, as he’d been doing all day, looking out for them. Chloe’s voice traipsed through her mind. I haven’t seen him look at anyone else the way he looks at you…That man knows true goodness when he sees it.

  There were plenty of pretty women lying in the sun, frolicking in the water, and walking along the shore. He could have his pick of any of them, but he’d chosen her, and he hadn’t walked away last night when she’d said Hadley had to come first. He’d also been with them all day. Did he even know what baby steps meant?

  Daphne knew true goodness when she saw it, too, and he was pushing to his feet and heading straight for her.

  “Dock, look!” Hadley jumped into the ripples of a broken wave, splashing sand and water everywhere.

  “Watch this, Had.” He picked up Daphne like she was light as a feather, making her squeal, and strode into deeper water. “Mommy needs to cool off.”

  “Don’t do it! Please don’t do it!” Daphne pleaded.

  “Mommy!” Hadley ran toward them.

  Jock spun around, rushing back toward Hadley. “You’re so lucky,” he said as he set Daphne on her feet and Hadley barreled into his legs.

  “Me! Cawwy me!” Her grabby hands shot up. “Up! Up!”

  Jock’s jaw clenched, and he said, “How about I hold your hand?”

  “Up! Please! Up!” Hadley begged.

  Daphne reached for her, but Jock touched Daphne’s arm, stopping her.

  He crouched, meeting Hadley eye to eye, and said, “Sometimes all I can do is hold hands.”

  “Why?” Hadley asked.

  “It’s just hard for me to pick people up sometimes,” he said. “But maybe one day it won’t be so hard.”

  Hadley took his hand and reached for Daphne’s as a wave rolled in. Jock’s eyes connected with Daphne’s as they lifted Hadley above the rolling wave and she squealed. When they lowered her toes to the water, she cheered, “Again!” As their laughter joined her daughter’s, Daphne didn’t even try to tamp down the joy filling up her hopeful heart.

  Chapter Eleven

  “DAMN…” JOCK STOOD in Daphne’s doorway, spellbound and speechless, Saturday night. Every time he saw her, he thought she couldn’t possibly get more beautiful. Then she proved him wrong.

  Every. Damn. Time.

  She was beyond stunning in a rust blouse with white polka dots, tied casually just below the waist of her gauzy black skirt, which drifted above her knees. Her skin held the glow of a fresh tan, her hair cascaded over her shoulders, begging for his fingers to thread through it, and she’d done something with her makeup that made her blue eyes even more alluring.

  She looked down at her outfit and said, “Oh, stop.”

  He swept his arm around her and crushed his mouth to hers, taking her in a long, slow kiss. He’d been waiting all day to do it. Holding back as she pranced around in that sexy black bathing suit had been torture. Did she know how incredible she was? How amazing of a mother? How all of her stolen glances had sent his heart into a tizzy when she’d look at him like he was the best dessert on the planet? And these kisses. Holy hell. His body burned with desire. He wanted to ravage her warm, willing mouth and put his on every inch of her. She was right there with him, clutching at his back, making those sinful noises that made his body throb and ache. He felt so close to her after they’d spent the day together. He didn’t even know how that was possible after only a few short hours, but his burgeoning emotions had seeped into every part of him. He kissed her longer, deeper, more passionately than he’d ever kissed a woman, and he didn’t want to stop. But he knew he had to, and he forced himself to break their connection. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips dark pink from the force of their kisses.

  “I’m sorry,” he panted out. “I had to get that out of the way if I’m going to sit across from you at dinner and keep my hands to myself.” He tightened his hold on her, craving another kiss, and said, “I learned something today.”

  “Was it how to greet a woman, because…wow.”

  He grinned. “I learned that going to the beach with you is as dangerous as everything else.” He brushed his lips over hers, tasting her desire, and said, “I had to keep my hands off you all day as you ran around in that sexy suit, your carefree laughter shining brighter than the sun.”

  She made a whimpering, needy sound that drew his lips to hers in another intoxicating kiss. He splayed his hand over her ass, pressing her to him so she could feel what she did to him, earning a long, sensual moan. He wanted to say fuck dinner, carry her into the bedroom, and make love to her until they were both too spent to move. But what he felt for her was too big, and she was too important, to allow her to think he only wanted sex.

  He drew back, both of them breathless, and said, “You know I want to take you into the bedroom and make you mine, right? But you’re too special, Daph. I’m not going to cheat either of us out of a real date.”

  She blinked, looking a little hazy. Her tongue swept over her lower lip, leaving it slick and enticing.

  A hungry sound left his lungs. “We’ve got to go now or we never will,” he practically growled.

  Daphne was quiet for the first few minutes of the drive to the restaurant, nervously fidgeting with the edge of the seat. Jock reached across the console and held her hand, loving the mix of innocence and hunger in her eyes.

  “I had a good time today.” He pressed a kiss
to the back of her hand.

  “We did, too,” she said a little breathily.

  Seeing Hadley running toward him on the beach had been nerve-racking when he’d first arrived, but he’d made the decision to do everything within his power to conquer his anxiety, and in the end, it hadn’t been as difficult for him to jump over some of the hurdles and navigate his fears as he’d thought it might be. He had a long way to go, and he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but Daphne and Hadley were worth whatever pain he had to endure.

  “When I dropped Hadley off with my parents, she couldn’t stop talking about her friend Dock,” she said more confidently. “I had to rush out of there before they started asking questions.”

  As he turned toward the restaurant, he said, “So I’m going to be your dirty little secret?”

  She gave him one of her sweet smiles and head shakes that said she knew he was kidding. “You could never be a little anything.”

  “Good thing you’ve accepted the dirty part.” Oh, man, her blush was going to do him in.

  A little while later, they were sitting at a table on the second-floor balcony of the Bookstore Restaurant overlooking Wellfleet Harbor, the heat between them crackling like live wires. They made small talk as they shared stuffed-mushroom-cap appetizers and scallop and lobster dinners, exchanging steamy glances and furtive touches. It was all he could do to keep from hauling her into his lap and devouring her.

  Daphne teased him about looking like a catcher at a baseball game when Hadley had run down to the water, though the appreciation in her eyes was unmistakable. He made her blush, raving about how lucky he was to be seen with the sexiest woman on the beach. They talked about music and found they liked some of the same groups, and as they waited for dessert to be served, they talked about growing up as twins.

  “My parents never dressed us alike or any of that. They always encouraged us to have our own identities,” Jock explained. “We’re pretty different anyway. I was a really positive kid, and Archer always had a chip on his shoulder.”

  “Even before the accident?”

  “Yes, but before the accident his attitude wasn’t usually aimed at me. We were competitive, but we were also best friends. You know how it is with a twin. You said you and Sean are close.”

  “We are. But we’re also close with our sister, Renee. Sean and I didn’t have to worry about having separate identities, since he’s a guy and I’m a girl, but he did get to take liberties that Renee and I weren’t allowed to take.”

  She sipped her wine, their eyes connecting over the glass, and as her cheeks burned pink, he realized why he loved seeing her blush. Most women he knew were overtly flirtatious, like they did it all the time. He loved knowing that he was as special to Daphne as she was to him.

  “Ah, the old double standard. My sisters hated that,” he said as the waiter brought their chocolate-dipped fruit for dessert.

  Daphne picked up a chocolate-covered strawberry and bit into it. She closed her eyes and said, “Mm.”

  She had no idea how her moans and that look of sheer pleasure on her gorgeous face sparked images of her lying naked and blissed out beneath him. He ate a piece of fruit, too, because if he didn’t keep his mouth busy, he was going to take the kiss he was dying for.

  “Now that I have Hadley, I understand why my father had a double standard. But he was really strict about it.” She licked chocolate from the corner of her mouth and said, “He wouldn’t even let us date until we were seventeen. Of course, my sister found ways around it. She was always rebellious. I swear she had boys chasing after her from the second she turned thirteen.”

  “And you?” he asked, trying to picture bashful and beautiful Daphne in high school.

  “I wasn’t a rule breaker. But I also didn’t have a line of boys after me like she did.” She picked up a slice of chocolate-covered pineapple and bit into it, sharing another eyes-closed appreciative moan.

  If she kept this up, he’d never make it through dessert.

  “I can’t believe that. I think you must have been as clueless to cues from boys then as you are now from men.”

  She pointed the remaining piece of pineapple at him and said, “I think you’re on a sugar high.”

  He wrapped his hand around her wrist, and their eyes locked. Her jaw dropped as he drew the pineapple into his mouth and then kissed her fingertips, desire glittering in her eyes. Every touch of his lips brought a sexy little gasp. He’d never met a woman who was as genuinely sweet and unknowingly seductive as her, and he wanted her to know it. “Then I’ve been on a sugar high since we met last year.”

  She grabbed her wineglass, finishing the wine in one gulp, and said, “You should see a doctor about that.”

  “I’m not looking for a remedy.” He paused, letting his words sink in, and went for a less intimate comment before they combusted. “But if you’re right about not missing the cues, then your brother was keeping boys away from you.”

  “You’re crazy.” She laughed.

  “Is he protective of you now?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then I’m sure he was always protective of you. I did the same thing when guys flocked to Sutton, and I would have done the same for Leni and Jules if I were around, but they’re much younger than me. Levi usually cracked that whip.”

  “And who cracked the whip for you? What were you like in high school? Did you charm the pants off every girl on the island?”

  He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand and said, “I only made it through the fifteen- to twenty-five-year-olds.” Damn, he loved the shock rising in her eyes.

  “You dated twenty-five-year-olds when you were in high school? You are so out of my league.”

  He laughed. “I was kidding, and there are no leagues, Daph. If there were, you’d be out of mine. I wasn’t like that in high school. I know the guys at Bayside say gossip travels fast around here, but they’ve never lived on Silver Island, where it travels faster than the speed of light. I swear if I even thought about kissing a girl, everyone knew it. My parents’ closest friends are the Remingtons and the Silvers. They have big families like we do, and all the kids pretty much ran in packs. We all had our secrets, but our parents had eyes everywhere. My family owns Top of the Island Vineyard, the Silvers own the Silver House, where Gavin and Harper got married, and the Remingtons run Rock Harbor Marina. We were always traipsing around those places.”

  “That sounds like so much fun. I know a guy named Rowan Remington. He has a little girl named Joni. Do you think he’s related to your friends?”

  “Rowan and I grew up together.”

  “Really? Small world.” Daphne ate a slice of chocolate-covered apple and said, “Did you like growing up there?”

  “Oh man, did I ever. It was like our own world, with virtually no crime, so we could pretty much run wild. There was always someone to prank and something going on. I played every sport and had a great group of friends. We all watched out for each other. Like you do at Bayside with Desiree and the girls. And our parents were tough about grades and being respectful, but they also valued our childhood.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They supported our craziness. We didn’t get in trouble for pranking, unless we stepped over a line—like when Archer and I threw together homemade flight suits and went in search of a roof to jump off, my dad took us skydiving. We had to go with instructors, but they could have just punished us and been done with it. It taught us to appreciate doing things the right way. They were supportive in lots of ways. We used to love playing in the vineyard at night, popping out of the dark to scare each other. I think most vineyard owners wouldn’t want their kids running around the vines, but we were taught where we could go and where we couldn’t, and we listened, because we wanted to be there. By the time we were teenagers, half the kids on the island were running around there with us. Instead of getting upset, my parents made a Halloween event out of it and set up ground rules for the kids. That’s how they created the F
ield of Screams. They rope off part of the vines for a haunted walk, they make cider and cookies, do bobbing for apples. It’s a community thing now, but it all stemmed from our love of scaring people. The whole family dresses up, and my siblings and I used to hide in the dark and jump out to scare people. They still do it, but I obviously haven’t since the accident.”

  “Your parents sound incredible.”

  “Yeah. I’m lucky.”

  “But if you loved it so much, why wouldn’t you want to live there? You said when you left for college you had no intention of ever moving back.”

  He shrugged and ate another piece of fruit. “My plan was to become a screenwriter and make great movies. I assumed New York or LA were the places to be. Then my film professor put me on a path to novel writing and it felt like I’d found my niche. I never really thought about where I would write until after graduation, and then Kayla had her job in the city, and it made sense to stay there. And after the accident, home was off the table completely.”

  “That’s a shame, given how much you love it.”

  “Yeah, but I’m glad I ended up here. Otherwise I never would have met you. How about you? Do you see yourself staying at Bayside?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been asking myself that a lot lately. I love the people, but I miss event planning, and I can’t do that at Bayside anytime in the foreseeable future.”

  “What do you miss about it?”

  “Everything,” she said wistfully. “I miss working with brides and families, putting all the pieces of their events together, seeing all my hard work come to fruition. It’s exciting. When we went to Gavin and Harper’s wedding, it brought back so many memories of the work I did with the resort in North Carolina, so it made me think about it more seriously. And I love living at Bayside, but now that Hadley’s getting older, I worry about her not having friends her age around to play with.”