Seaview Inn

by Sherryl Woods

  “You don’t look it,” he said, winking at her. “And I’ve always had a fondness for older women.”

  “You’ve only had eyes for Greta since the day she came to town,” Grandma Jenny retorted. “Now, stop your foolishness and get us something to eat.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jack said, grinning at her. “Your table’s right over here. I’ve had to fight a few folks to keep it open.”

  “Thanks for doing that,” Luke said. “And to save time, I think we’re all agreed on the seafood special.”

  “Not me,” Hannah said. “I’ll have a Caesar salad.”

  “Me, too,” Kelsey said.

  “Since Jack looks swamped right now and there’s no sign of Lesley Ann or another waitress, why don’t I go up to the bar and get our drinks?” Luke suggested.

  “Iced tea for me,” Hannah told him. “And I’ll come along to help you carry everything.”

  “Just water,” Kelsey said.

  “And I’d like a beer,” Grandma Jenny said, grinning at their stunned expressions. “Well, I would,” she added with a touch of defiance.

  “A beer it is,” Luke said.

  Hannah squeezed through the path he created en route to the bar. When they got there, he nudged her until she was standing in front of him, then kept a protective hand on her shoulder as he placed their order.

  He leaned down to murmur in her ear, “I could have carried these by myself.”

  “I know. I just wanted to thank you for convincing me to come tonight.”

  “That’s not what you were saying earlier.”

  “I realized that getting out has benefits.”

  He leaned in so close that his breath fanned across the back of her neck. “Such as this?”

  Hannah trembled, then jolted when his lips brushed the same tender spot on the back of her neck. “What…Luke, what are you doing?” She turned enough to meet the smoldering heat in his eyes, then looked away. Stupid question. It was obvious what he was doing. He was going back on his word. He was tossing caution to the wind. Defying her grandmother. However she described it, she knew it was a very, very bad idea.

  But it felt so good! It felt amazing to know she was desirable. Since her surgery she hadn’t felt that way at all. In fact, she’d been terrified to even accept a date, because she’d feared what might happen next. She didn’t want to see the look of dismay or, worse, disgust in a man’s eyes when she told him about the mastectomy or, if he was brave enough to say it didn’t matter, when he saw the scar where her breast had been.

  Besides, it was too soon. Her body was still healing, the scar still too vivid a reminder of what had happened and the uncertainty that lay ahead.

  Oddly, though, none of those things seemed to matter with Luke. She had a feeling it was because she could almost pretend that she was the same person he’d known years ago, that he wouldn’t look at her any differently because he knew who she was inside and that, at least, hadn’t changed.

  Not that it was going to go one bit further than these heated glances and stolen kisses, she told herself. Brave as she felt, she still wasn’t strong enough to take the risk that she’d gotten it all wrong and he wasn’t the kind of man who could see past the scar and its implication. Truthfully, she wondered if she’d ever see herself as just plain Hannah again, rather than Hannah who’d had cancer.

  Right now he grinned at her. “You want to know what I’m doing? I’m making a pass at you, Hannah.”

  “But you said you wouldn’t. You said it was a bad idea, and you were right,” she said, sounding a little desperate even to her own ears.

  He shrugged. “Changed my mind. I’ve done all this thinking about what happens next and the only thing I’ve figured out so far is that I can’t imagine you not being a part of it. Couldn’t we just for one night not think about the complications or what happens next, but just live in the moment?”

  She gave him a rueful look. “That’s exactly how my daughter wound up pregnant.”

  He chuckled. “I have an entire box of condoms in my room.”

  That startled her even more than the pass itself. “You were planning this? You intended to seduce me tonight? In front of my daughter and grandmother?”

  “I intended to try,” he admitted. He studied her intently. “Are you angry?”

  She thought about it. How could she be angry that an incredible, gorgeous guy wanted to seduce her, even if the timing did suck?

  For the second time that day, she decided to ignore what was smart and logical and go for what felt good. “You can try,” she told him, giving him what she hoped was a flirtatious look over her shoulder as she grabbed a couple of drinks from Jack and slipped past Luke. She turned back with a grin. “Don’t expect me to make it easy for you, though.”

  If Grandma Jenny had pinned him to a chair and threatened him with torture, Luke couldn’t have said why he was breaking every one of the rules he’d made about steering clear of Hannah. There was just something about the way he felt when he looked at her. He felt young again and carefree, which was ridiculous considering all the baggage both of them had.

  Spending time with her now, he couldn’t imagine why he hadn’t been drawn to her all those years ago, rather than Abby. Probably because he’d been young and stupid and more interested in the kind of fun Abby was likely to agree to. Even then, he’d known that Hannah wasn’t someone to toy with, that she was worthy of respect and consideration, something of which he was incapable at seventeen with his hormones on a rampage.

  He smiled at the irony. It seemed his hormones were on a tear once again, and he didn’t even have a seventeen-year-old’s good sense about ignoring temptation and keeping his hands off Hannah.

  He assured himself he wasn’t going to let this go beyond some heavy-duty flirting, partly because Grandma Jenny would skin him alive and partly because even he knew deep down that it was a bad idea. That didn’t explain why he’d taken the ferry to the mainland earlier to buy those condoms, hoping to avoid the speculation that purchasing them on the island would have caused. Maybe he’d just realized that good intentions could easily go up in flames. Or maybe he knew his resolve wasn’t worth anything when Hannah looked at him with the kind of longing that matched what he was feeling. Every now and again her careful composure slipped away, and he could read the same desire in her eyes that was turning his blood hot. They were adults. Despite what Grandma Jenny obviously feared, they could act on their feelings and do it responsibly. He hoped.

  He was relieved when their dinners came and he could concentrate on the seafood instead of the woman sitting next to him.

  “I haven’t had shrimp this good in ages,” Grandma Jenny declared.

  “Me, neither,” Luke agreed, then caught the expression in Hannah’s eyes as she regarded her salad with distaste and his food with unmistakable interest. “You want a bite?” he offered.

  “Would you mind?” she asked, already taking one of the shrimp off his plate. She ate that one and reached for a piece of fish. “This is good,” she murmured. “Really good.”

  Luke shook his head and gestured toward Jack, who came over a few minutes later.

  “I seem to have lost my claim on my dinner. Could you bring another seafood platter and more fries?” He glanced at Kelsey, who was also eyeing the food with undisguised hunger. “You, too?”

  She nodded sheepishly.

  “Two more platters coming up,” Jack agreed. “Don’t know why you didn’t order ’em in the first place, at least for Hannah. As I recall she was always stealing food off your plate when she was here with you and Abby.”

  “I was not,” Hannah retorted indignantly.

  “Were, too,” Luke said, suddenly recalling exactly how she would always order a healthy, inexpensive house salad, then proceed to snatch food from his plate. He’d been so absorbed with Abby, he’d never paid much attention to it. “You’d wait until I had my back turned…”

  She gave him an impudent look. “Until you and Abby had loc
ked lips,” she corrected.

  “And then you’d take whatever you could get your hands on. I never understood why you didn’t just order the burger in the first place.”

  Kelsey grinned. “Because, according to her, women are supposed to be dainty eaters, so men won’t think they’re pigs.”

  Hannah frowned at her. “I never taught you that.”

  “Yes, you did. I can’t recall one single meal we ever had in a restaurant with whomever you were dating that you didn’t order a salad and nothing else.”

  “Did you steal their food, too?” Luke inquired, barely containing a laugh. “Is that why you’ve never remarried, because all the men feared starvation because of you stealing their meals right out from in front of them?”

  Hannah set the shrimp back on his plate. “I had no idea that taking a couple of shrimp was going to turn into this big a deal. You offered. Do you remember that?”

  “I did, and that seafood is yours. Enjoy every bite of it. I have my own on the way.”

  “Oh, please, take this one back. I wouldn’t want you to faint from hunger.”

  Grandma Jenny chuckled. “Now, children, stop bickering.”

  Kelsey gave her great-grandmother a high-five that had Hannah scowling. “Not you, too.”

  “Me?” Grandma Jenny asked. “What did I do, except try to bring some order to the table before people start wondering what the two of you are fussing about?”

  “Lovers’ spat, that’s what I’m hearing,” Kelsey teased.

  Luke watched with fascination as color bloomed in Hannah’s cheeks. “An interesting observation,” he told Kelsey. “What about it, Hannah? Is that what’s happening here?”

  “Oh, go suck an egg,” she retorted, spearing each and every one of them with a sour look as she grabbed his entire plate and finished the remaining fish.

  Luke heard the edge in her voice and suspected they’d just tested her patience beyond its limits. Thankfully Jack returned with the rest of the food and the teasing died down as Luke and Kelsey started to eat.

  “Jack,” Hannah called after him. “Is there any apple pie left?”

  “Just one slice and I was holding it for Luke. I know it’s his favorite.”

  “Is his name actually on it?” she asked.

  Jack gave Luke an amused look, then turned back to Hannah and shook his head. “No.”

  “Then I’d like it, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top,” she said.

  “Hey,” Luke protested, then spotted the glint in her eye. “Never mind. Jack, bring the lady the pie.”

  “I’ll have peach,” Grandma Jenny said, then glanced at Hannah. “Unless you’re planning to stake a claim on that, too.”

  Hannah beamed at her. “Nope, the peach is all yours. Luke, what about you?”

  “Nothing for me yet. I’m just starting on my meal. I think I’ll just see how this plays out.”

  Jack regarded them all as if they’d gone a little crazy, then went off to fill their dessert orders. When he came back and set them on the table, Luke watched as Hannah dug into the pie with gleeful enthusiasm that he suspected had nothing to do with her love of apple pie.

  “Any good?” he asked, losing interest in his food.

  “Delicious,” she said. “Best ever.”

  He leaned forward until his eyes were level with hers. “Are you going to share?”

  “I wasn’t planning to,” she said, deliberately taking another bite.

  “How about if I ask nicely?”

  Her expression turned thoughtful. “Maybe. Try it.”

  He tucked a finger under her chin and kept their gazes locked. “Hannah, please let me have a bite of your pie.”

  She swallowed hard, then blinked. “No, I don’t think so.” Another bite went into her mouth.

  “Ah, so you want me to beg,” he concluded.

  Her eyes lit up. “Begging would be great.”

  He opened his mouth as if to beg, then muttered, “Nah. The pie’s probably cold by now.”

  “It is not,” she protested. “It’s warm and oozing with vanilla ice cream. It’s perfect.”

  He laughed. “You really, really wanted to hear me beg, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

  He winked at her. “You will eventually,” he assured her. “But it won’t be for pie.”

  Kelsey giggled, but Grandma Jenny scowled at him and at Hannah. “Stop it, you two! There are others present.”

  “Sorry, Gran,” Hannah murmured.

  Grandma Jenny’s stern expression wavered. “Well, all I have to say is thank goodness neither one of you was after my peach pie. I don’t think my heart could have taken it.” She stood up. “I’m going to pay the bill. Try to compose yourselves while I’m away from the table.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Luke said, though his lips were twitching.

  “You two are very bad,” Kelsey accused, after Grandma Jenny had walked away. “What kind of example are you setting for the children?”

  “And that would be you?” Hannah asked, then laughed. “Apparently I’ve already blown my chance to set a proper example for you. Come on, kid, let’s go outside and wait for your grandmother. Luke?”

  “I’ll meet her at the bar and walk her out,” he said. “I need to try to wrestle the bill away from her, anyway. I told Jack earlier I was paying. He already has my credit card.”

  Kelsey’s expression brightened. “You and Gran are going to fight over the bill? That should be fun. We should stay, Mom.”

  “No. We’re going outside in case there’s bloodshed. It would be bad for the baby to hear your grandmother hitting Luke with some umbrella she grabbed from behind the bar.”

  “She’s not going to hit me,” Luke said. “She likes me.”

  “She also likes getting her own way,” Hannah told him. “My money’s on Gran winning this one. She’s known Jack longer.”

  Sure enough, by the time Luke reached the bar, the bill had been paid—by Grandma Jenny.

  “What can I say? She threatened me,” Jack said.

  “Here’s your credit card, you sneaky man,” she said, handing it over. “Now, give me your arm. That beer has made me a little tipsy.”

  Luke tucked her arm through his and walked her out.

  “Who paid the bill?” Hannah asked as soon as they emerged from the restaurant.

  “I did, of course,” Grandma Jenny responded.

  Hannah immediately turned to Kelsey and held out a hand. “You owe me five bucks.”

  “You bet against me?” Luke asked indignantly as Kelsey handed over the money.

  Hannah beamed at him. “No, I bet on a sure thing, but if you play your cards right, maybe I’ll make it up to you before the night is over.”

  “Don’t tease if you don’t mean it,” he warned.

  Suddenly the entire clan of Matthews women seemed to be dedicated to making him edgy. And when he was, there was no telling what sort of outrageous thing he might do just to seize the upper hand once more. Lately he’d rediscovered the impetuous, reckless side of his nature, and something told him that he was about to give it free rein.

  12

  “Mom, the phone’s for you,” Kelsey called from the bottom of the stairs. “It’s Dave.”

  Hannah froze in mid-stride. She hadn’t counted on her boss calling the inn directly, rather than her cell phone, but of course he would. No doubt he’d tired of being ignored. Patience had never been one of his strong suits.

  “Mom!”

  “I’m coming,” she shouted back as she left her room, then walked slowly down the steps to where her daughter was holding the portable phone.

  “How does he sound?” she whispered.

  “Ticked,” Kelsey whispered back.

  Hannah sighed and took the phone. “Good morning,” she said cheerfully. “How are you?”

  “I’m unhappy, that’s how I am,” Dave grumbled. “Don’t you ever check your messages?”

  “I lost track of my ce
ll phone,” she fibbed. “I know it’s around here somewhere, but we’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to hunt for it. What are you doing working on Saturday, by the way?”

  “I’m trying to pick up the slack caused by having you take an unscheduled vacation,” he said.

  “I thought Carl was filling in,” she said.

  “Yeah, well, that hasn’t worked out, just as you predicted. I spend half my time cleaning up his messes. I’ve had enough. I’ve given him two weeks’ notice.”

  “Which is why you’d rather be in the office on a Saturday, instead of at home,” Hannah guessed. “Just how furious is your wife that you cut her nephew loose?”

  “Don’t even go there,” Dave said. “Bottom line, I need you back here this week. You are coming back on Monday, right? If I fill you in now, you’ll have time to rough in some thoughts on these new projects and be ready to hit the ground running first thing Monday morning.”

  “Actually, I need to talk to you about that,” she said, wincing at his uncensored curse, but plunging on, “I need more time.”

  “Hannah, no! Two weeks, that’s what we agreed to. How long can it take to pack up your grandmother’s things and move her?”

  “A lot longer than I’ve had,” she said dryly, “especially when she refuses to go.”

  Dave was a decent guy who’d been her friend almost as long as they’d worked together. Now he said, “She’s not going into a retirement community? I thought that was the whole point of you rushing down there.”

  “Me, too, but she’s flatly refused to go. I can’t make her. She’s not incompetent.”

  “So, what does that mean?”

  “It means she’s going to reopen the inn next week.”

  The announcement clearly stunned him into silence. When he finally spoke, there was a cautious note in his voice. “Has she dragged you into that?”

  “I’m helping out a little. So is Kelsey.”

  “Kelsey’s there? What about school?” he demanded, sounding more like a protective parent than an exasperated boss. He’d always taken a special interest in her daughter, treating her as if she were one of his own kids.

  “She’s decided to take some time off.”