by Addison Cole
He grabbed the food from the cab of the truck and blankets from behind the front seat and carried them around to the back, where he opened the tailgate and reached for Lizzie’s waist again to lift her up.
“We’re eating in the bed of your truck?”
He lifted her easily and climbed in behind her. Gently turning her shoulders so she was facing the ocean, he said, “Look. This is why we’re eating here.”
The moon was almost full, glowing orange and yellow against the gunmetal sky, casting a streak of light across the dark water. A single light illuminated the tip of a sail as a boat moved past the shore, and on the beach, two bonfires cut through the night.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said just above a whisper.
He lifted her chin and gazed into her hazel eyes. “I’m not a bad guy, Lizzie. I’m not sure why you’re dead set against dating me, but if you give us a try, you might enjoy spending time together.”
He moved away from her to spread out the blankets and to keep from doing something or saying something he shouldn’t. He’d wanted to get closer to Lizzie from the first moment he’d set eyes on her as she hustled around the beach preparing for their friends’ wedding. Even when Bradley Cooper showed up at the wedding, she didn’t falter for a moment. She had insurmountable grace, and there was something about the way she moved, with confidence and focus, that had sucked him right in, and it had only gotten more powerful every time he saw her.
She stood with her back to him, her arms wrapped around her middle as she ran her hands over her arms. Not only did she have grace and class, but there was no denying that she had a great butt, shapely legs, lean shoulders, and—heck, everything about Lizzie was exquisite.
He spread the blankets out in the bed of the truck and noticed she was trembling. He wanted desperately to tuck her against him to keep her warm, but he didn’t want to chance moving too quickly and scaring her off. After all, this wasn’t a date. Blue jumped from the bed of the truck and grabbed one of his zip-up sweatshirts from the cab, then climbed back in and draped it over her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said, turning to face him as he helped her slip her arms in.
He rolled up the sleeves four times, and she looked crazy cute. Curbing the urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her smiling lips was torture.
“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” she said as she sank down to the blanket to eat.
“Lizzie, seriously. How long have you lived here?” He handed her a lobster roll.
“I grew up here.” She took a bite of the sandwich, her eyes quizzical.
“Then you know that eating dinner at the beach is never trouble. Toss a blanket in the truck, grab a sweatshirt, and you’re good.” He leaned in closer and said, “And if you’re lucky enough to bring the prettiest girl on the Cape with you, then you’re way better than good.”
Lizzie smiled and her shoulders relaxed. “You do know how to flatter a girl. Blue, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“You were friends with Sky for years and you guys never took it further, or at least according to Sky you guys never did. She’s beautiful, smart, funny.” Her eyes rolled over his face, as if she were searching for an answer. “Why didn’t you two ever date? And why do you want to date me so badly?”
Their friends often wondered why he and Sky had never dated when they were close enough to spend the night on each other’s couch and before Sky met her fiancé, Sawyer, they’d hung out more often than he hung out with his guy friends. He didn’t understand it very well himself, and he wasn’t sure his answer would make any sense, but he had only one thing to offer Lizzie—the truth.
“That’s like asking why someone likes chocolate ice cream but doesn’t like vanilla. I’m not sure of the exact reasons, but from the moment Sky and I met, we were friends.” He shrugged, because to him, it was that simple. “Sky is all those things you said, and she has been my best friend for a few years, but for whatever reason, I was never attracted to her in that way.”
He touched Lizzie’s hand, and when she didn’t pull away, he held it. “Unlike what I’ve felt since the moment I saw you. I was, and am, attracted to everything about you. Not just your looks, Lizzie, although you’re off-the-charts sexy and more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever seen.”
She blushed, and it made his chest go warm.
“It’s you, Lizzie. All of you. The way you were so focused and organized at the wedding. And when I come into the shop, you’re always trying to tend to everyone so no one is left out. You watch over Maddy with a fierceness that belies your sweet personality. And the way you move like you have no idea you’re the cutest girl on the planet—”
“Oh my gosh.” She covered her face with her free hand. “Laying it on thick, aren’t you?”
He pulled her hand away from her face and held it, too. Her hands were delicate and soft, and they fit perfectly in his, as he’d known they would.
“No,” he said, holding her gaze. “I’m laying it on truthfully.”
THE HONESTY IN Blue’s eyes was captivating. How could he see so much in her? Then again, hadn’t she seen as much in him from the first time she’d laid eyes on him? He’d been the most handsome man at the wedding, and she’d seen him eyeing her—felt the heat of his stare, the sultry effects of his smile. That’s when she’d known she had to keep her distance. And since then, every time they were together she played a mantra in her head, reminding herself of her secret life and how much she didn’t want to try to explain it to anyone. Certainly not to a man like Blue, who could have his pick of any woman around. He’d definitely want to steer clear of a woman who secretly played the Naked Baker in her basement.
The thought of him finding out made her feel a little queasy.
They finished eating in silence, the weight of Blue’s confession hanging between them and somehow drawing them closer, then went down to the beach to join the others at the bonfire. Lizzie hadn’t realized how many people would be there. She was surprised to see Sky. Sky owned the tattoo shop next to P-town Petals, and they usually saw each other for at least a few minutes each day, but today Lizzie had been too busy to stop by. Sawyer was playing the guitar, while Sky talked with her older brothers Hunter and Grayson.
Sky noticed Lizzie and squealed as she dashed across the sand and threw her arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re here! Hunter called me an hour ago and said he was having a bonfire. I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer.”
“I must not have heard my phone. We were out buying something to fix my oven.” Lizzie watched Blue spread out a blanket for them to sit on, still thinking of what he’d said in the truck. He’d opened right up to her, like he’d been thinking about all the things he’d said for a long time.
Sky lowered her voice. “And you’re with Blue.” She raised her brows as she zipped her hoodie. A breeze swept up from the ocean, sending Sky’s long white skirt flying around her legs.
“It’s not a date, Sky,” Blue said flatly as he sank to the blanket and patted the spot beside him for Lizzie to join him.
Sky leaned down and hugged Blue as Lizzie sat beside him. “You’re a buzzkill. This should be a date.”
When he shrugged, Lizzie wondered why he didn’t tell Sky that she was the one who wouldn’t allow it to be called a date. She hadn’t told Sky about Blue asking her out over the last few months because she didn’t want to explain her reason for not going—or be pressured into accepting. As it was, at least once a week Sky urged her to go out with him. She could only imagine what she’d do if she knew he’d asked her out. She didn’t keep much from Sky, just this and the Naked Baker. She didn’t even want to think about what Sky would think of that little endeavor.
“I wondered if you’d changed your mind about the bonfire,” Hunter said, tossing a drink to each of them.
“Nah. We just had to buy a heating element,” Blue explained. Lizzie found it interesting that he wasn’t pressuring her or flirting wit
h her in front of their friends, and she wondered why. “Sawyer, that song is great. Is that a new one?”
Sawyer set his guitar down and pulled Sky onto his lap. “I wrote it last weekend, for Sky.” He gathered her hair over one shoulder and kissed her cheek. Sawyer had retired from professional boxing and worked as a trainer, and songwriting was a hobby of his. He and his father, a published poet who had Parkinson’s disease, had recently collaborated on a book of poetry.
Lizzie tried not to feel envious of their relationship, but there was no denying the longing she felt. She’d never imagined that by twenty-six years old she wouldn’t have had a serious boyfriend. Then again, she’d never thought she’d be prancing around naked beneath an apron to pay for Maddy’s education, either. Life had a way of throwing curveballs, and she was good at batting them out of the park, but that didn’t mean that at a moment like this the tweak on her heartstrings didn’t make her wish for more.
“Blue, when’s Jeremy’s wedding?” Sky asked.
“On the sixteenth.” Blue smirked at Sawyer. “Thanks to you, I have no date. I’ll be going to the Big Apple alone and will have to fend off women left and right.”
Sawyer nuzzled closer to Sky. “She can go to the wedding with you. I’m marrying her, not putting her in jail.”
“Like I’d take your fiancée away for a weekend so I don’t have to go alone?” Blue shook his head. “I’m not that lame.”
“Take Lizzie!” Sky’s eyes widened with excitement, and Lizzie’s heart nearly stopped.
The hopeful look in Blue’s eyes tugged at the part of her that wished she didn’t have the commitments of her webcast. A weekend in New York City with Blue sounded like the best escape ever.
“I have the flower shop to run.” And a Naked Baker webcast to film.
“The wedding is on a weekend,” Sky pushed. “I’ll watch your shop for you.”
Will you do the Naked Baker program, too?
Her show had picked up so much momentum that she couldn’t even skip an episode. Doing so caused views and income to drop dramatically. How nice would it be to hand over the program to someone else and enjoy life without the embarrassment and constant commitment of it hanging over her head?
Pipe dreams.
She needed the money for Maddy, and she’d do the program for as long as it took. With every show she held out hope that it would be the big one. The one that earned her enough money that she could quit hosting it altogether. Her schedule was exhausting: She taped shows on Mondays and Thursdays and edited them on Tuesdays and Fridays. The show aired on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which meant watching the first few minutes to make sure there were no technical glitches, and that left Sunday as her only day off—and that was only if the programs didn’t need refilming.
“I can’t really afford to take off Friday or Saturday, and leaving you to watch my shop will cut into your income from your business.” Lizzie felt Blue’s hand brush over hers on the blanket. The hope in his eyes turned to understanding.
“It’s okay, Lizzie. Sky’s just being pushy.” He glared at Sky. “I don’t actually need someone with me. It’ll be nice to focus on my family.”
“I love your family,” Sky said.
“Speaking of family,” Lizzie said. “I just remembered that I have to pick up Maddy next weekend to have dinner with my parents.” Maddy went to college in Harborside, about an hour away from the Cape.
“How are your parents?” Sky asked with a teasing smile.
Margaret and Vernon Barber had been stable forces throughout Lizzie’s life. Her mother was sweet and never pried too deeply, and her father was a big man, weighed down with a strict set of morals.
“As proper as always,” Lizzie answered. Every time she saw her family she worried that they’d find out about her webcast—and she knew her parents would not react well. The word disown came to mind, and that was not something Lizzie wanted to think about.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Blue touched her hand again, and her insides warmed.
Blue was so attuned to her, to everything she said, and every time they were close sparks flew. She tried not to think about those things as she answered. “It’s not a bad thing, just something I’m very aware of. My parents never let me or Maddy date, even in high school. They monitored what we wore—‘Button up, girls; don’t want to give anyone a show.’” She cringed at the memory. The Naughty-Love list had opened a door for Lizzie. When her father had taken ill and a friend had mentioned making money off of webcasts, she’d immediately nixed the idea. But later that evening, when she was adding to her secret Naughty-Love list, she realized that maybe she could help raise money for her education after all—with a secret webcast. It was a far cry from her upbringing, but it was also an outlet for a side of her she wasn’t comfortable publicly playing with. And as the money came in, Lizzie became more and more embarrassed about what she was doing, and she feared her parents and friends finding out. But just when she was ready to give up the program, they’d needed money for Maddy’s education. There was no way she could walk away from it then. She’d do anything for Maddy, even if it meant putting her own relationships at risk.
“I love my folks. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” She rose to her feet, feeling antsy thinking about her parents and the Naked Baker.
“Worried about your oven?” Blue asked as he rose beside her.
Not for the first time, she wished she had someone to confide in about her double life, but deep down she was so embarrassed by what she was doing that every time she thought about even confiding in Sky, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
She shrugged.
“I have an idea.” Blue picked up the blanket and shook it off. “Hey, guys. I know we just got here, but we’re going to go for a walk before we need to get back to fix Lizzie’s oven.”
A walk?
“Go. Have fun.” Sky shooed them with way too much enthusiasm. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lizzie.”
“Sounds good,” Lizzie managed, trying not to think about taking a walk with Blue, or the way his hand had already taken up residence on her lower back again. She’d spent so many months avoiding a date with him, and in one night she’d already spent more time alone with him than she had in the last year. And to her surprise, she liked the fluttering in her stomach and the anticipation that was tickling up her spine.
Chapter Four
AS THEY WALKED away from the warmth of the bonfire, a breeze blew off the water, bringing with it the scents of the sea. Lizzie’s brows furrowed, and Blue knew he was pushing her a little harder toward being alone with him than he’d planned, but she’d looked like her mind was going a million miles an hour. He knew her nature was to handle sixteen things at once, but even the Energizer Bunny needed a break sometimes.
“So, you grew up in a conservative home?” he asked to break the ice, loving the fact that she hadn’t tried to shake off his touch yet.
“You could say that. How about you? I’ve met a few of your brothers, and they don’t seem very conservative, but…” She obviously didn’t want to talk about her childhood. Lizzie looked down at the waves crashing along the shore, and the moonlight caught her profile, highlighting her slightly upturned nose, her high cheekbones, and her incredibly distracting, kissable lips.
Blue took a moment to regain his focus before answering. “My father had strong beliefs about family loyalty and work ethics. He drove home the idea of what a man should be with each of us, and I think he forgot that my sister, Trish, was a girl, because he expected the same tough standards from her as the rest of us. That’s probably how she’s gotten so far in her acting career—on sheer will and wanting to be better than everyone else.”
“I knew she was an actress, but when you say better than everyone else, do you mean stuck-up?”
Blue laughed. “No. My sister is anything but stuck-up. She’s very competitive. Even growing up she tried to keep up with me and our four brothers, and we’re a tough group. We wer
e always roughhousing and racing around.”
“It sounds like you had a lot of fun with your siblings. What do your parents do?” Lizzie stopped walking and gazed out over the water.
“My father is one of the founders of East Coast Search and Rescue.” Blue had always been proud of his father and of the way he’d been raised. “I think it’s safe to say that he has a no-bull policy on all things, ranging from taking responsibility to how we treat others. My mother was a little looser with us. She was a stay-at-home mom, and she was always baking and tinkering around with our school projects, building forts out of sheets with us. That kind of thing.”
“That sounds wonderful. My mom isn’t like that at all. She loves us, but she wasn’t a sit-down-on-the-floor-with-your-kids type of mom. I’m going to be, though. I’m going to be the type of mom who bakes and makes forts for sure. I want my kids to smile every time they think of me.”
“Don’t you smile when you think of your mom?” Blue watched her eyes drop to the sand again, and his chest burned. He would do anything to give her a reason to smile. He wanted to fold her in his arms until she smiled again, go back in time and give her the childhood she wished she’d had. But he was thankful that she was here, taking a walk alone with him on the beautiful beach in the moonlight. He didn’t want her to feel pressured for more, so he held back.
He’d been careful not to give any indication of his feelings toward Lizzie to their friends. She’d turned him down enough times that he didn’t want to embarrass her, even though it had been torture fighting his desire to reach out and pull her into his lap, as Sawyer had with Sky. When Lizzie had first turned him down for a date, he’d purposely not told Sky he’d asked her out. What guy likes to admit defeat? The last thing he needed was Sky putting pressure on Lizzie to go out with him. He knew in his heart that if Lizzie ever came around and went out on a real date with him, she’d fall for him on her own, the same way he’d been falling for her all along.