“Didn’t see you at the dock,” he said.
“I stood you up.”
Well. That’s honest.
“I didn’t know how to get a hold of you,” she blurted as she shut the door behind her.
“Lou knows.”
“I didn’t want to tell Lou I was being a jerk.” She squinted one eye as she studied the lake behind him. She was damned adorable. “Where’s the boat?”
“I came on a Jet Ski.” He pointed at Lou’s dock. “Any reason in particular you stood me up, Elli Bean?”
“I didn’t think it was a good idea.”
“To take a tour of the lake?” He was officially confused.
“To start something with you I couldn’t finish.” Before he could ask what she considered starting and finishing, she added, “My ex wasn’t great to me. He didn’t hit me or anything, but he controlled me with guilt, and sometimes that’s just as bad.”
“Sometimes it can be,” Brady said gently.
“I’m not in Evergreen Cove to date. I’m here to learn how to be independent. To remember who I am.”
“How very Lion King of you.” He winked to show her he was teasing, and she smiled and covered her face with one hand.
“I overreacted, didn’t I?” She let out a muted ugh. “You were being neighborly by offering to show me around.”
“In your defense, I was being more than neighborly,” he admitted.
“So the bolt of attraction I noticed between us didn’t escape your attention.”
He had to laugh. She had a way of surprising him at every turn, which was not common. “Yeah, okay. I noticed that, too.”
She bit her lip and looked past him at the water.
“Look, Elli. Our lake tour isn’t going to end up being more than that unless you want it to. But if it works out that way,” he added with a grin, “that’d be the best news I’ve heard all summer.”
Chapter 9
Elli turned over what Brady said while running her eyes along his exposed arms. Biceps bulged. He had attractive forearms, nice hands. Great knees. She’d never seen him in shorts before. It wasn’t a bad sight.
“You’re thinking about it,” he accused.
She was. She’d surprised herself by admitting her attraction to him, but she was even more surprised to hear that he was willing to act on it. There was only one problem…
“I’m trouble,” she blurted. “I’ve been in therapy.”
“Okay.” He nodded.
“My ex was a narcissist,” she continued explaining. “I went along with his wishes, which was completely out-of-character for me.”
“And you’re worried if we go out that I’ll take over your life given this daunting and immediate attraction?” He wasn’t laughing, so he must not be kidding.
Chewing her lip, she turned the question over in her head. No, she wasn’t worried about him “taking over” her life. For whatever reason, she trusted him. Maybe it was the uniform, or maybe it was her gut, but to her, Brady was a tantalizing combination of safe and exciting. A rare mix.
“Once I stole a magazine from a library,” she told him. “Tucked it into my backpack and walked out with it.”
“Elli—”
“And another time, I didn’t pay a parking ticket for three entire years.”
“Is this supposed to dissuade me?” His eyelids lowered to half-mast as if he were bored. He rested a hand on the railing of her deck like he could stand there all afternoon while she ogled him. Sounded great to her.
Wait, no. Resist.
“You don’t have to build a case for not going out with me,” he said. “Tell me no, and I’ll leave. I won’t make you do anything. I don’t think I could.”
He might not know it, but that was the most flattering thing he could’ve said. That he respected her answer. That he couldn’t sway her once her mind was made up. And he was right. She was strong.
She was just out of practice.
“What if my answer is not yet?” She took one step toward him and then another. Now that he might leave, she wasn’t sure she wanted him to. On the second step, eye to eye with him, she felt the attraction to him tenfold. He must’ve felt it, too. His gaze snapped to her mouth and then back to her eyes.
“Like I said. I can’t make you,” he repeated, “but that doesn’t mean I’m done trying.” His mouth flinched into the barest smile before he touched her, a gentle tip of her chin with his knuckles. “See ya, Bean.”
He turned and strode that long, lean body to the Jet Ski. She watched as he stowed his shoes, lost the shirt and, way too soon, covered his golden chest with a life jacket and climbed aboard. He took off like a shot over the waves. She watched him until the red blur of the Jet Ski was not but a memory. Sweat clung to her skin, either from the hot day or the interaction with Brady.
She wished she would have said yes, climbed on behind him, and wrapped her arms around that marvelous torso…
Good Lord.
She was an indecisive head case. Fresh out of a relationship and on her own for the first time in six years was no time to joyride on the water with Brady Hutchins.
Or kiss him. Which she also wanted to do very badly.
“Earth to Elliott.” Lou’s voice was outlined with laughter. “What was that about? Did he bail on you?”
Elli faced her neighbor. “Other way around. I turned him down.”
“If only every guy I’d stood up came over to beg.”
“He didn’t beg.”
“He didn’t kiss you, either, but you looked like you wanted him to,” Lou sang. “I wasn’t leering out the window like a weirdo. I saw a mysterious Jet Ski on my dock and came out to investigate. Then I saw you lean toward him like you were made of metal, and he had a magnetic mouth.”
“Ugh.” Elliott palmed her face. “Was I?”
“I don’t think he noticed, if that’s any consolation.” Lou crossed the lawn and stood where Brady had a moment ago.
“I don’t know what to do.” Elli turned her attention to the water.
“Poor thing.” Lou patted Elli’s hand. “A gorgeous guy with a sexy smile is hot for you. I feel for ya, honey.”
Elli laughed. “He’s not hot for me. Although he did say he wasn’t done trying.”
“That sounds promising. I mean, it would if you were open to having a little one-on-one fun this summer.”
At the insinuation of being one-on-one with Brady, Elli’s cheeks grew warm. She didn’t need sex. She certainly hadn’t come here looking for someone to have sex with, either. But if her body’s reactions were anything to go by, one-on-one fun with Brady was a pleasant thought, indeed.
Chapter 10
Lila’s toenails scraped the floor while Brady attempted to remove her leash. Once free, she bounded into the kitchen and nearly knocked Gramps over. He paused in his pancake making and bent to give her a nuzzle. The dog’s tail swept back and forth so fast she created a breeze.
After the two lovebirds greeted each other, Brady leaned on the kitchen counter and watched his grandfather flip pancakes. Gramps making pancakes always reminded Brady of his grandmother when he was a kid living in this house. There were good memories from those days, but they’d taken a while to manifest.
Growing up, Brady had talked to Gramps about everything from homework to sports to girls. And since he didn’t relish the reaction his buddies at work would give him when they learned he’d been stood up and shut down, Brady decided to run the situation past the old man in search of any takeaway wisdom.
“I helped a girl change her tire a few weeks back,” Brady offered.
“Uh-huh,” Gramps said distractedly while he watched over his pan.
“Then I paid Ant to patch her tire.”
Gramps looked up, interest in his deep-set eyes.
“She brought me coffee as a thank-you. Four kinds, since she didn’t know what I liked.” He smiled, remembering how sweet that gesture had been. “I invited her out to tour the lake, she accepted. But
when I showed up on the Jet Ski, she was nowhere to be found. Well, that’s not entirely true. I eventually found her. At her house. When I asked her why she was home, she admitted she stood me up.”
Gramps barked a laugh, and in response, Lila literally barked. “Almost done, Pancake,” he told her before turning back to Brady. “Win some, lose some.”
“She confessed to stealing a magazine and not paying a parking ticket. She told me she’s trouble.” Brady smiled to himself as he recalled the confession. Like he was a priest who could absolve her of her law-breaking sins. God, she was cute. “I told her I wasn’t done trying.”
“The best ones are always worth it, kiddo.” Gramps plated the pancakes before pouring more batter in the pan.
“Have a story about Gram for me?” Brady knew the story of his grandparents meeting, and he never tired of hearing it. It was as charming as a Norman Rockwell painting.
“Naw, but I have one about your dad and your mom.” Gramps smiled a sad smile Brady couldn’t quite return.
His parents had been gone for decades, but Brady still missed them with a fierceness he assumed would never end.
“They met here. In Evergreen Cove. Your dad was with a group of friends, and your mom was on vacation with family. He came to visit your Gram and me the day after he met your mom. He was so smitten he could hardly string a sentence together.” Gramps chuckled.
Brady smiled as he tried to imagine his strong, self-assured father falling over himself for a woman. At first, he couldn’t fathom it, then he pictured his beautiful blond mother, and he totally could. “They were meant for each other.”
“Yes, sir,” Gramps said. “Pancake!” Lila danced at his feet, and Gramps tossed a pancake into the air like a Frisbee. She caught it.
“New trick,” Gramps said proudly.
After turning down the offer of pancakes, Brady headed to Cup of Jo’s. On his drive to Endless Avenue, he admired the water. The lake was sparkling like someone had thrown diamonds onto the surface, and after spending most of Saturday on the back of a Jet Ski and Sunday boating with friends, he wanted to play hooky. He was as susceptible to summer fever as everyone else in this town.
He brushed a blond dog hair from his dark-blue uniform and entered the coffee shop, waving at a few regulars as he walked to the counter. Chin up, he perused the board, even though he always ordered the same thing. He was a simple guy, but curious about the new concoctions Jo invented. The iced peanut butter chocolate latte sounded…interesting.
“Let me guess. Coffee. Black.”
He jerked his attention to the barista. Elliott, as it turned out. She was standing behind the counter wearing a maroon T-shirt, a green apron tied at her waist. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her big eyes hadn’t yet left his.
“Elli Bean. You’re living up to your nickname.”
She grinned, which made his whole damn morning.
“When’d you start working here?”
“This morning. I only know how to make a few drinks though, which is why Zack’s here to babysit me.”
The other barista waved from where he stood stocking bags of coffee on a shelf behind the counter. “Hey, Brady.”
“Hey.” Brady reached for his wallet.
“It’s on me. I’m paying you back for the tire, remember?”
“I don’t want paid back, remember?”
Defiantly, she punched a button and stuffed money from her pocket into the cash drawer before closing it again.
“Maybe you’re right. You are trouble.”
A feisty glint lit her eye. “Does that mean you’re not going to try, Officer?”
Something in her had shifted. He could sense the tension simmering between them. She turned her back to pour his cup of coffee and snapped on a lid. When she handed him the cup, his fingers lingered on hers.
She didn’t pull away. And her smile endured.
“I haven’t yet begun to try, Elli Bean. When I do,” he dipped his chin, “you’ll know it.”
“Or maybe,” she said, her voice low and flirty, “I’ll beat you to it.”
Oh, she wants to play? It is on.
“Thanks for the coffee.” He held up the cup. “I’ll get out of your way since you have customers.”
“But there’s no one else—” The door dinged as a couple entered. She glanced at them and then back to Brady. “You notice everything, don’t you?”
“Especially what people don’t want me to notice,” he added with a tip of his imaginary hat. “Ma’am. Have a good day.”
It wasn’t until he was outside of Jo’s and halfway down the block that he realized he didn’t notice everything. He’d totally missed that Elli had written her phone number on his coffee cup.
Chapter 11
Turned out that Brady “trying” looked a lot like him arriving at her house in a white T-shirt and board shorts. He looked as good as he had the other day when he’d brought the Jet Ski by. Or almost as good. Lost in the vision of the glimpse she’d had of his naked chest that day, she forgot her manners.
“Morning,” he greeted. Likely because she hadn’t said a word yet.
“Hi.” She’d had a brief, daring moment of insanity when she’d written her number on his cup. When he didn’t call or text that day, she convinced herself she’d made a grave error in her assumptions. After a phone call with her therapist, though, she felt a lot better. Elliott had needed the reminder to trust herself. She’d been through a trauma with Neil, but she’d come a long way, and quickly.
Brady had finally texted her this morning. A simple “You home, Bean?” and chills had skated up her arms.
Her response had been, “Just made coffee if you want a cup.”
“I came to collect,” he said now, gesturing to her coffee mug.
“Lucky you,” she told him as he stepped into her parents’ house. “I made a freshly ground, slow-dripped pot of Cup of Jo’s.”
His eyes warmed to a distracting degree. “You know what I like, Elli Bean.”
In the wide kitchen, he somehow filled the room. He exuded both competence and comfort, and both of those were distracting to the nth degree. An infectious smile, a wide chest—those were nice features on anyone. But a man who'd never mistreat her just to feel better about himself? Yes, please.
She poured a mug of coffee for him. When he took it, his fingers lingered on hers the way they had at the coffee shop.
“Is this you trying?” she whispered, unable to break the intense eye contact.
“Yeah. Is it working?”
She’d been nervous he might pressure or overwhelm her. Turned out his version of trying was earnestness and a whole lot of sexy.
“It’s working.”
He leaned a hip on the countertop next to her. “In that case, Jet Ski or boat?”
“Pardon?”
“I owe you a tour. It’s a cloudless, sunny day, and your chariot awaits.”
“And by chariot, you mean…”
“Jet Ski or boat,” he repeated.
It’d been so long since a guy had asked for and respected her preference she nearly hesitated. But once again, Brady had left her charmed and flummoxed at once.
“Jet Ski.”
He took a sip of his coffee, but not before he smiled down at her and said, “That’s a good choice.”
She wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of zipping across the lake at warp speed, but she’d been uncovering her braver side since she’d arrived in Evergreen Cove. Brady was part of that discovery.
Even if she hadn’t called her therapist, she could admit she was drawn to Brady’s confidence—something Neil never had. Neil had been manipulative and mean, both signs of a lack of confidence.
On the Jet Ski, she was as shaky as a newly born foal. But when she clutched her thighs tightly around Brady’s, smelled the coconut scent of suntan lotion on his warm skin, well, she was shaky for another reason entirely.
She clamped her inner thighs against his legs, and
he made sure she was snug in place by flattening his palm on her leg. When she rested her hands on each side of his waist, he reached back and hugged her arms tightly around his middle instead.
“You gotta hang on, Bean.” He patted her arm when she tightened her grip. The touch was respectful and quick, but tingles spread through her veins like wildfire.
He started the engine and she felt more than heard the rumble of laughter in his chest. Arms around his solid body, she held on as instructed. He gunned the watercraft and took off over the waves.
After several minutes of wind in her hair and laughter when he went faster—the Jet Ski really was fun—he slowed down long enough to let her catch her breath. She swept a few loose strands of hair back into her ponytail as Brady began his tour.
He pointed out huge mansions and other more reasonably sized houses and then puttered past the marina and the beach, where residents of the Cove flocked on hot days like this one. When they passed by a white house with a sprawling deck and in-ground pool, he floated and took a long look at the house. It overlooked the lake and the entire front—or was this side the back?—was a wall of shining glass windows.
“This one’s my favorite,” he told her, longing evident in his voice.
“It’s beautiful. I had no idea there were such opulent houses here. Granted, it’s been a while, but I remember the Cove differently.”
“It’s changed over the last few years. Not a bad thing. There is a lot more tourist money than before. We strive to keep an everyone-knows-everyone feel. People are friendly around here, and since the Cove is home to most of us, we try and get to know everyone.” He reached back and squeezed her leg. “Some more than others.”
“You’ve lived here your whole life?” she asked.
“Pretty much.” Slowly, he began puttering along the water again. “My parents passed away when I was five. I’m from Cincinnati, but grew up in the Cove with my grandparents.”
Wanting to soothe the hurt she heard in his voice, she touched his arm. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks, Bean.” He patted her leg, and she held his hand on her bare skin for a moment, wanting to comfort him further, and not quite ready to end what was happening between them.
Bad Boy Blues (Evergreen Cove Book 1) Page 5