The Beach Reads Book Club: The most heartwarming and feel good summer holiday read of 2021! (The Kathryn Freeman Romcom Collection, Book 5)

by Kathryn Freeman

  His groin tightened in response, his pulse quickening.

  You’ve agreed to hang out, not to have quick and dirty sex. And let’s face it, quick and dirty was all it would be, it had been so long. She was worth more than that.

  Yet could he give more?

  Taking in a breath, he took that step back again. ‘I’d like to hang out.’

  She angled her head, considering him. ‘Have you been in the sea yet?’

  He barked out a laugh. ‘I’m not mad.’

  ‘You live on the coast now, city boy. Going in the sea is practically compulsory. I don’t suppose you’ve got a wet suit?’

  ‘Err, no.’ His idea of hanging out was to meet for a drink. Take a walk in the park. Neither required getting cold and wet.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll ask Shaun.’ Her eyes ran up and down his body, assessing. ‘I reckon you’re about the same size.’

  He thought back to Shaun and decided he’d take the remark as a compliment. ‘Can I ask what you’re planning?’

  ‘Nope.’ Her expression was one of pure mischief. ‘What are you doing this Sunday?’

  ‘Apparently I’m wearing Shaun’s wet suit.’

  His answer was met with a burst of laughter. ‘Now that I can’t wait to see. Meet me near the beach huts around midday. We’ll do some of that unwinding you’ve moved here for.’

  He was pretty sure she was kidding about the wet suit – in nobody’s mind could a dunk in the sea ever be termed relaxing, so he nodded. Whatever she was up to, this was the reason he’d moved here, to live a different life than the one he’d had before.

  To make friends.

  Yet as he closed the door behind her, he knew he wanted to be more than friends with Lottie. Whether he was ready for it, whether she was ready for it, whether she even wanted it. They were all unknown.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lottie helped Shaun haul his board out of the garage and wedge it into the back of her van, alongside hers. The rigs and harnesses were already in, plus a couple of helmets, buoyancy aids and wet suits, complete with shoes.

  Shaun eyed it all up with an amused expression. ‘Are you sure he’s up for this?’

  ‘Why wouldn’t he be?’ Inside, Lottie could easily see why taking the formal, serious, Matthew Steele windsurfing might not be one of her brighter ideas.

  ‘Have you met the man? Walks around with a stick up his arse. Can’t see him enjoying being tossed in the sea somehow.’

  She gave him a sly glance. ‘Watch it. That’s Amy’s brother you’re talking about.’

  He grinned back. ‘Looks like we’ve both got a thing for the Steeles.’

  She elbowed him in the ribs. ‘You’re the one with the thing. I’m just using this glorious sunny Sunday to show Matt what seaside living is all about.’

  Shaun let out a big booming laugh. ‘Tell yourself that all you like. I know you’ve cooked up this idea so you can see the guy in a wet suit.’ He jiggled his eyebrows up and down. ‘Then give him the kiss of life when you rescue his sorry arse from the Solent.’

  Laughter spluttered out of her. ‘Oh God, I’m not sure what it says about me, but you’re not wrong.’ She imagined Matt’s athletic form in a wet suit and heat flooded between her thighs. To distract herself, she turned the conversation back to Shaun. ‘How are things going with you and Amy?’

  A slow smile spread across his face. ‘We passed first and second base on Friday.’

  ‘Please tell me you’re not just fooling around with her. I don’t want you breaking her heart. She deserves more than that.’

  ‘Chill.’ His face sobered. ‘I know she’s special, so that’s how I’ll treat her.’

  Lottie relaxed again. For all his cocky bluster, Shaun was a decent guy and as she waved him goodbye, she knew he would be careful with Amy. As for her brother, she wasn’t so sure what to make of him. It was clear he was still carrying scars from his marriage and if she had to guess, she’d say he was after company, not a passionate affair. A real shame, because a fling was exactly what she needed. She wasn’t in a rush for anything deep and heavy, not with her heart still bruised from Henry, but sex…

  ‘God, I really miss it,’ she told Chewie as she drove along the seafront.

  He glanced over at her, tongue hanging out of his mouth. ‘Yeah, you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, have you?’ She gave his head a quick pat. ‘Maybe it’s just as well. Don’t want to corrupt your sensitive soul.’

  Sex wasn’t the right thought to have rolling through her mind as she parked up by the beach huts where she’d agreed to meet Matt, the van doing its usual splutter as she turned it off. The temperature gauge was right over into the red again. Damn it, she’d have to bite the bullet and ask the garage to have a look at it soon, especially now they were going into summer. Maybe it wouldn’t be as expensive as it sounded.

  At least the money worries had stopped her thinking of sex. But as she jumped down onto the pavement she caught sight of Matt striding towards her, shades hiding his eyes, dark hair blowing in the wind, hands in the pockets of a pair of smart chino shorts that revealed a seriously sexy pair of legs. By the time he reached her, sex was right at the forefront of her mind again.

  ‘Hi.’ She had trouble prising her tongue from the roof of her mouth. ‘The thought of wearing a wet suit didn’t scare you off, then.’

  His mouth curved and though the sunglasses gave him a debonair appearance, she missed seeing those dark-chocolate eyes. ‘I’m not sure how nervous to be.’

  ‘That depends. How good is your balance?’

  His forehead wrinkled as he turned and looked out at the sea. ‘There aren’t enough waves to surf.’

  ‘True.’ She wetted her finger and raised it up to feel the direction of the wind. ‘But the weather is perfect for windsurfing.’

  ‘Ah.’

  His Adam’s apple bobbed and Lottie unconsciously licked her lips. What was wrong with her today? Why did he seem even more attractive? Maybe it was just the sun, the first real hint of summer they’d had. ‘Can you translate ah for me? You usually give me at least a couple of words to go on.’

  His face snapped round to hers, expression pained. ‘Am I that bad?’

  ‘You’re not bad, at all.’ Right now you seem very tasty. She hugged the thought to herself. ‘You just use words sparingly.’ She eyed him thoughtfully. ‘Have you got other siblings besides Amy?’

  He looked puzzled at her question. ‘No, why?’

  ‘I thought it could explain your care with words. You didn’t get much chance to talk as a kid, so when you did, you made the words count.’

  He shook his head and it looked like he was going to leave it at that, but then he spoke again. ‘I went to boarding school.’

  She’d not expected that. ‘Maybe that’s it then. All those other boys yakking away, not letting you get a word in edgeways.’

  He smiled, but she didn’t need to see his eyes to know it was forced.

  Silence settled between them. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but the fun from earlier had gone and she needed to get it back. ‘Let me have a go. At translating ah,’ she added when he looked confused. ‘It means fan-dabby-dozy, Lottie, I can’t freaking wait to squeeze myself into a wet suit and go windsurfing with you.’

  Laughter rumbled from his chest and when he lifted his shades to rest them on his head, she could see crinkles around his eyes. It wasn’t the sun making him more attractive, she realised. It was the fact that, bar the last few minutes, he was looking more relaxed today. If he ever really let go, she was in trouble.

  Those deep-brown eyes – warm, amused but with a hint of something darker – found hers. ‘Actually,’ he said, ‘I was thinking how much I’m looking forward to seeing you squeezed into a wet suit.’

  His lips curved upwards and the heat in his gaze caused tingles of awareness across her skin. ‘That can be arranged.’ She nodded towards the beach huts. ‘Mine is the yellow one, second from the left. Let’s grab what we need
from the van and get this show on the road.’

  The smile stayed on his face until she opened the back of the van. Then his face visibly paled.

  ‘Chewie’s promised not to laugh.’ When he didn’t say anything, just kept staring at the boards, she winced. ‘You thought I was kidding about the windsurfing, didn’t you? That this was just you and me, prancing about on the beach, paddling.’

  ‘No, no.’ He ran a hand over his meticulously clean-shaven chin then glanced sideways at her. ‘I didn’t put you down as a prancer.’

  ‘But you did put me down as a hoaxer.’

  ‘Maybe?’ He looked back into the van. ‘I’m not sure what I thought. Only that it didn’t involve me getting on something that looks like that.’

  He didn’t look terrified, she thought. Nervous, yes, but she could handle that. ‘Can you swim?’

  ‘If I say no, can I sit on the beach and watch you?’

  He gave her one of his slow, devastating smiles and Lottie felt something inside her chest shift, like her body was a flower, starting to bloom. This man, with his serious good looks, his quiet ways and careful use of words, was really starting to grow on her.

  Mesmerised, Matt sat on the beach next to Chewie and watched Lottie race across the sea on her board. It made his attempts to windsurf look pitiful. Shaun’s wet suit had certainly been put to good use.

  ‘She’s pretty great, isn’t she?’

  The dog ignored him, eyes on his owner. He’d noticed Chewie was more wary around him now, as if he sensed he had a rival.

  Twenty minutes later she waded out, dragging the board up the beach. He marched down to help her, eyes greedily raking over her curves in that tight, tight wet suit. Her blonde curls were plastered against her face, her cheeks pink and her eyes brimming with life.

  Sexy didn’t begin to describe her. She made other women seem two-dimensional in comparison.

  ‘You were incredible.’ He knew she’d take the words to mean her ability to windsurf, though actually he meant it more literally.

  ‘Thanks, but I’ve had years of practice.’ Seawater droplets fell from her hair and ran down her cheeks as she bent to fuss over Chewie. ‘You weren’t bad for your first session. By the tenth I’ll get you surfing all along the bay.’

  He baulked. ‘Tenth? I was hoping my next venture to the beach would be a little less … wet.’

  She shook her head as she laughed, the movement shaking a few drops of water onto him. ‘We can do less wet.’ Her eyes darted towards his. ‘That is, if you want to hang out again.’

  ‘I’d like that.’ The surprise wasn’t that he wanted to, but how much he wanted it. ‘Maybe we can try this again next Sunday. Without the windsurfing.’

  Her teeth nibbled at the bottom of her lip as she looked up at him, and he felt an answering throb in his groin. He wasn’t a man driven by lust, but right now all he wanted to do was follow her into that beach hut and have fast, heart-pounding sex.

  ‘If you agree to give windsurfing another try some time, it’s a deal.’

  It was a measure of how full of sex his head was that he readily agreed. ‘Deal.’

  She put out her hand and though his fingers happily curled round hers, it felt inadequate. ‘We could kiss,’ he found himself murmuring. ‘To seal the deal.’

  Grey eyes rounded, wet lashes glistening in the sunlight. ‘We could.’

  His mouth hovered over hers. Hadn’t he done this before, and decided not to repeat it? But his body pulsed with desire, his blood was running hot and Matt didn’t want to be that guy he’d always been: cautious, circumspect. For once in his life he wanted to be reckless. To not think about consequences, to be ruled by his body, not his head. ‘Fuck.’

  A smile tugged at her lips. ‘Maybe we should try kissing first.’

  Horrified he’d said the word out loud, he lurched backwards. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean… It was a curse, not a suggestion… Shit.’ He heaved in a breath, told his rapidly beating heart to calm. ‘I want to kiss you, but I don’t want to confuse either of us. I’m not sure I’m ready…’ Unbalanced, he dragged a hand through his hair. ‘Hell, I’m making a huge assumption here. You’re probably not, either.’

  ‘Stop over-thinking,’ she said softly. ‘It’s just a kiss.’

  She was right, of course she was. What sort of guy has a gorgeous woman in front of him, willing to kiss him, and doesn’t make the most of the opportunity? A fucking robot.

  He shoved Patricia’s damning assessment to the back of his mind and focused instead on the naked pink lips in front of him. Cupping her face, he bent to touch his mouth to hers. Immediately he felt a zap, like an electric bolt, that sent sparks shooting through him. It emptied his head of everything but her, allowing his body to do what it wanted. Unerringly his tongue slipped through her lips, finding her heat, revelling in her taste. She smelt like the ocean, with a hint of coconut.

  But he was on a public beach and Chewie was making that low growling noise again in the back of his throat. With a sigh Matt forced his mouth away, and dropped his hands to his sides, when what he really wanted to do was run them all over the wet suit that moulded to her body. Then unzip it and run them over her skin.

  ‘Well.’

  He didn’t know what to say, his mind too tangled. ‘Well indeed.’

  ‘I’ll consider the deal well and truly sealed.’ She gave him a shaky smile before walking back to the beach hut to change, her trusty companion lolloping beside her. Every now and again Chewie turned to look at him, as if to say, Loser, I’m the one going home with her. He wanted to reassure the dog he had no plans to do the same, but it felt like a lie just now.

  When she returned, hair a tangle, legs looking amazing under her brief denim shorts, she was unusually quiet. Had he upset her? he worried as they worked together to haul the equipment back into the van. Was his kissing technique so rusty, she was wondering how to turn him down next Sunday? Maybe she’d made allowances for him for their first kiss back at the shop, but after this one she’d realised it wasn’t for her? Yet he’d been blown away by them both. Surely she must have felt some of what he had?

  She slammed the rear doors to the van shut and turned to face him. ‘See you same time next week then?’

  Relief flowed through him. She might not let him kiss her again, but at least he’d get to see her. ‘Unless you need to make an urgent book purchase in the meantime.’

  ‘Nice try, but I bought July’s book from you last week.’

  ‘So you did. Sue Moorcroft. Summer on a Sunny Island.’

  ‘Yep. I can’t afford to go on holiday, so I’m going to let Sue take me to Malta.’ She winked as she jumped up into the passenger seat. ‘She’s got a gorgeous guy lined up for me, too.’

  He didn’t know what to say to that. He’d never been great at flirting – God knows how he’d ever managed to attract Patricia – and his dubious skills had felt even more shaky since the divorce. So he simply smiled as she lifted her hand in a little goodbye wave.

  Thankfully the walk home was so short he didn’t have any time to agonise over what the hell he was doing.

  There he found Amy in the kitchen, biting into an apple.

  ‘You look nice,’ he commented as he took in Amy’s flowery top and cropped white jeans. ‘Off out somewhere?’

  ‘I’m seeing a friend for a drink.’

  Her eyes avoided his and he sighed. Would they ever achieve that level of closeness where they could talk about things outside work?

  ‘Well, I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.’

  ‘Who said it was a guy?’

  You, he wanted to say, by the very fact she was hiding it from him. ‘Sorry, I just assumed.’

  ‘Girls get dressed up to meet other girls too, you know.’

  He decided the best way to avoid rubbing her up the wrong way was to nod and remove himself upstairs.

  He was nearly at the doorway when she spoke again. ‘I want to ask Heidi to make cakes for the café.’

>   Okay, so they were back to work talk again. Still, as he swivelled round to face her, he consoled himself with the thought that at least this time she’d instigated it. ‘That’s a great idea. I thought the same when I ate the carrot cake the other day. I tried to catch your eye to tell you.’ He was careful about what he ate – low fat, no processed meats – but cake was his one downfall. Perhaps because their mum had been such a fan.

  ‘I thought of it before that.’

  The defensive tone was back. ‘Have you asked her?’

  Amy’s face reddened. ‘Like I could do that without checking with you first.’

  ‘Amy.’ He thrust a hand through his hair, frustrated with the situation, with himself. This was his sister. Why couldn’t he get her to see how much he loved her? Wanted to help her? ‘I’m sorry if you’ve felt I’ve been interfering. I put you in charge of the café. You have the authority to make decisions, you don’t need to check with me. Not unless you want to.’

  ‘Right.’ She looked down at the floor, hands twisting in that familiar way.

  ‘Is there anything else?’

  Her shoulders lifted and she let out a deep breath. ‘I don’t know how to ask.’ Her face reddened again and when she finally looked at him, his heart lurched as tears welled in her eyes. ‘I started to, then I got cold feet. I mean, Heidi’s part of the book club. What if she’s offended? And even if she wants to do it, how do we sort it out? How many would she want to make? How much do I pay her?’ She wiped her cheeks with her hands. ‘I feel so stupid.’

  ‘Hey.’ Walking up to her, Matt brushed away the tears with his thumb. ‘Those are all good questions. The type a smart, sensitive person would ask.’ He smiled. ‘Truth is, I don’t know the answers. I’ve never run a shop before, either.’

  ‘Yeah, but you’re clever. You got a degree, earned lots of money.’