No Place Like You

by Emma Douglas

  Bubbles tingled down her throat as she swallowed. She wasn’t entirely convinced she liked champagne. Her parents drank Prosecco sometimes and she’d tasted that—sort of sweet and fruity—but this was dry and almost reminded her of … toast. It had an edge she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for. She set the bottle down. Zach didn’t drink champagne as far as she knew. Didn’t drink much of anything. Neither did Faith. And the small amount she’d had was just enough to give her a little more courage.

  She was finally eighteen. There was nothing stopping her doing what she wanted.

  Other than the man she wanted.

  She moved around the lighthouse and there he was. Zach Harper, sitting cross-legged on the grass, guitar in his lap, staring out to sea. The perfect picture of the moody musician. It should have been a cliché. It would have been a cliché except he looked too damn good to be a cliché.

  It was weird. Zach looked like a surfer on the surface, longish brown hair streaked from sun and salt water, skin always looking slightly tanned—and now in summer actually tanned—easy smile, seawater eyes. You’d think the sun was his element. But really, he was a creature of nighttime and moonlight. Something in him only came truly awake after sundown. In the silvery light, the angles of his face—that she’d seen morph from boy to something older over the last few years—were sharper, the lines of them adding up to something more than just the handsome guy he was in daylight.

  She’d seen him on stage, and somehow the stage lights did the same thing. Transformed him. Making him something not quite real but at the same time primal. Something that made her blood heat and her heart want. Rock star genes. Potent things.

  One more step and she was out of the shadow of the lighthouse.

  “Hey, Zach.”

  The music died and he swung around, face startled. It eased when he saw who it was.

  “Hey, birthday girl.” He put the guitar down in the case lying open on the grass. “Isn’t the party back that way?” He tipped his head in the direction of the house.

  “It’s winding down. I wanted some air.”

  “Too much champagne?”

  She shook her head. She wanted him to be clear on that point. “No.”

  “Young people today, no idea how to party.”.

  “Tell me, oh ancient twenty-one-year-old, of the ways of your people.”

  He laughed at that. “That’s ancient twenty-one-year-and-four-month-old to you, grasshopper.”

  “I bow to your superior knowledge,” she said and sat down on the grass next to him, choosing a spot maybe a smidge closer than she would usually. Her shoulder, bared by the strapless dress she wore—she spent hours choosing exactly the right one in her favorite new-leaf shade—was only a few inches from his. The warmth rising from him was a startling contrast to the night air.

  It made her want to lean closer. But, no. Not yet.

  This was enough to start. At least her heart thought it was from the way it was suddenly pounding in her ears. God. What was she doing? She stared out at the water, trying to remember how to breathe.

  What she was doing was what she’d wanted to do since she’d been about fifteen, looked up one day, and realized, to her horror, that she had a hopeless, ridiculous, full-blown crush on Zach. Her best friend’s brother.

  Zach was looking out at the water too. “Score lots of good birthday loot?”

  “I haven’t opened any of it yet,” she said. “But Mom and Dad got me a car.”

  “That’s cool,” Zach said.

  “Yes,” she agreed. She doubted he understood how cool. Her parents had refused to buy her a car when she’d first started driving, arguing that they lived a whole fifteen-minute walk from the high school and that nowhere on the island was far enough away that she couldn’t ride her bike. Which was true but deeply uncool. Faith and Zach, of course, had cars. Plus Grey owned a bunch of them, so really, they had their pick. Which was good for them and good for her because Faith never minded giving her a ride. And face it, usually wherever Leah was going, Faith was going too.

  But that wouldn’t be true much longer.

  Faith was leaving. So was Zach.

  And she’d need a car in L.A.

  She took a breath. No letting the conversation get sidetracked. If she started a nice friendly chat with Zach, then she’d lose her nerve.

  “Of course, there’s one thing I really want for my birthday,” she said.

  “Oh?”

  Maybe he’d heard something in her voice because his head turned. Which put his face very close to hers. Those famous gray-green Harper eyes turned an odd luminous moonlit shade at night.

  She’d never seen them this close.

  She could fall right into them. Never come up for air.

  Drown herself in Zach.

  Even if it was for just one night.

  Her heart pounded harder, her body caught between bravery and terror as they just stared at each other.

  This was the moment. The one she’d pictured. Time to find out if she was brave enough to see if she could get to the things she’d pictured happening after this one.

  Now or never.

  Damn.

  She shouldn’t have left that champagne back there. She could use another hit right now. She swallowed. “Yes. Yes, there is. This.” And she leaned toward him. Closed those last few vital inches. Such a small distance. And such a huge one at the same time.

  And then she kissed him.

  She heard his half-surprised noise, felt the shock of it to run through his body even though the only thing touching was their lips. For a moment his mouth stayed still beneath hers, not responding. But then he kissed her back.

  chapter fourteen

  “Earth to Leah?” Zach said, watching Leah as she stood, staring down at the picnic basket, her expression oddly … well, he wasn’t exactly sure.

  “What?” she blinked at him, clearly miles away.

  He gestured at the blanket he’d spread. “Dinner is about to be served.” He knelt and started pulling food out of the basket. With a party to go to afterward, he hadn’t wanted too much. But he hadn’t wanted Leah to get suspicious either, so there was plenty. Plus a birthday cake, just big enough for two, courtesy of Stella. She’d made a bigger one for the party, but this was just for him and Leah.

  “Leah?” he said. “Food?”

  She blew out a breath. “Food. Right.” She focused on him, eyes catching his. Was he imagining things or were her cheeks pinker than they had been?

  He’d chosen the lighthouse because it was the best view of the ocean. He hadn’t thought about the memories that came with it. Leah. In that green dress.

  She was wearing green again tonight. A sundress or whatever women called it. Cotton. Straps. Not much to it. It skimmed around her body leaving plenty of tanned skin on display. Legs, arms, collarbones. All calling to him. If he had his way he’d take it off. But that wouldn’t get them to the party. Though it might make it easier to keep his hands off her once they were there.

  He patted the blanket. “Come here.”

  “You trying to get friendly, Harper?” she said as she sank to her knees with a smile that told him she wouldn’t be against the idea.

  “How about we refuel, then we can think about that part?” he said, grinning back.

  Leah nodded and reached for a plate. They ate mostly in silence until Zach rolled onto his back, staring up at the just darkening sky. “This is the life,” he said.

  “It’s hard to beat Lansing in summer,” Leah agreed. She put her plate aside and eased down beside him.

  “You never wanted to leave?” he asked, curious. After all, she’d gone away to college. But she’d come back. And stayed.

  “Like you said, hard to beat. I love my job, my family’s here. I’ve traveled when I wanted to. Why would I want to leave?”

  He waved a hand toward the horizon. “See what’s out beyond that?”

  “Lots of ocean, Hawaii, and then Australia,” she said. “Seen th
ose.”

  “Where’s your spirit of adventure?”

  “Outnumbered by my spirits of contented and happy.” She rolled onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows so she was looking at him.

  “You could work anywhere,” he said. “You’re talented, you’ve got a solid rep as an engineer. When this album comes out, hopefully you’ll have an even bigger one as a producer. Do you really want to stay here?”

  “Artists travel to work with producers all the time. Not hard to coax people to come work on an island, after all.”

  “I guess.” He probably shouldn’t push. After all, it wasn’t as though he was asking her to come with him. She wanted temporary after all. He just wasn’t sure why that was getting harder to swallow.

  But he didn’t want to ruin the mood, so he pushed himself up and went back to the picnic basket for the birthday cake. “Right. Cake—then I have a surprise.” He passed the box to Leah.

  “You got me cake?”

  “You said you wanted cake. You ask, I deliver.” He leaned down and kissed her.

  She smiled happily at him as she opened the small cake box. “Chocolate?”

  “With salted caramel frosting and chocolate cream.”

  “Awesome.” She took the knife he passed her and lifted it toward the cake.

  “Hey, make a wish first,” he said, putting his hands over hers.

  She rolled her eyes. “I wish that this surprise of yours involves you naked.”

  “You’re not supposed to tell anyone what your wish is. And I’m serious,” he said, “you have to make a wish on your birthday. Bad luck not to. Grey used to make us all close our eyes and make a wish every year.”

  “Bossy,” she said, but she closed her eyes and her face relaxed for a minute before her eyes sprang open again. “And now, cake.”

  * * *

  Cake for two took time, Zach torn between wanting to stay here enjoying himself with Leah and needing to make sure they got to the party so all his—and Faith and Lou’s—hard work wouldn’t go to waste.

  It was close to eight. They really needed to make a move. But looking at Leah in the sunset light, he was very tempted to stay right where they were.

  But nope. Hopefully if the party went the way he wanted, the smile on Leah’s face would be even wider when they got there. And after the party was done, he could take her back to the guesthouse and take that oh-so-tempting dress off her and do all the things he’d been thinking about.

  “You look like you’re plotting something evil,” Leah said.

  He shook his head. “Not evil. Hopefully good.” He started gathering up the food and the plates and glasses. “But for my plan to work, we need to get going.”

  Her eyebrows lifted but her smile widened. “Is it time for some of those things we were discussing earlier?”

  “You really do have a one-track mind, Santelli.”

  She stuck out her tongue. “And you still like that track.”

  “Absolutely. But no, I have something else planned before we get to those particular things.”

  Leah pretended to pout. “If you wait too long, my mind may change.”

  He snorted. “I doubt it. Face it, you want me bad.”

  “That goes both ways,” she retorted, but didn’t look annoyed.

  “Truth. But anticipation makes things better, or so they tell me.”

  “Who’s ‘they’? Not Grey. Grey wasn’t a big believer in delayed gratification.”

  That was true. His dad had been of the “see it, go for it, get it” school of life. He’d died too young, but no one could accuse him of having missed out on much in the time he had.

  Other than being a better dad perhaps.

  Zach shook off the thought. Tonight was about Leah.

  He put the last glass back into the basket and climbed to his feet, holding out his hand to help her up. “Come on, Santelli, it’ll be fun.”

  * * *

  When they got back to the guesthouse and he just put the basket on the front steps and came back to her, pulling the keys to Grey’s old truck—which Faith had loaned him for the duration of his stay—from his pocket, Leah laughed.

  “That old thing? Doing it in style, Harper.”

  “Don’t knock a classic.” He patted the truck’s hood. It was old and kind of ugly, and Faith should have traded it in by now, but he was glad she hadn’t. He had too many memories of Grey telling him to get in the truck and taking him off on some wild escapade to want it gone. “Hop in,” he said to Leah.

  “Where are we going? Down to the harbor?” she asked as they headed down the drive.

  “You’ll see when we get there.” Short of blindfolding her again—he wasn’t sure she’d go for that twice in one night, not to mention that if any of the locals spotted him driving a blindfolded Leah, it was going to attract the kinds of questions she wanted to avoid—there wasn’t really any way of hiding their destination once he headed toward Billy’s place. There were only four houses on this tip of the island and Leah knew them all.

  “Billy’s having a Fourth of July party?” Leah said as they turned into the drive.

  He made a noncommittal noise, hoping she’d take it for a yes.

  “And we’re stopping in?” she said, sounding confused.

  Understandable when he’d told her they’d spend the day alone.

  “It won’t take long.” He parked the truck.

  Leah looked puzzled when he came around and opened the door for her but she didn’t protest. “Sounds like they’re having a good time.” The sounds of music and laughter were spilling from the house.

  If everything was according to plan, everyone would be gathered inside, waiting for them to arrive. He and Faith had agreed that no one actually wanted to walk into a darkened room and have the life scared out of them by their nearest and dearest yelling “Surprise!” at them, but he still wanted everyone there for Leah to see as soon as she got inside.

  “There’d better be fireworks,” Leah said as they walked into the house.

  “Billy loves blowing things up,” Zach said. “So, I think you’re pretty safe there. Besides, if he hasn’t organized anything, we can still make our own fireworks later.”

  Leah rolled her eyes at him. “You know, your rock star sex god thing needs work if that’s your best line.”

  “Oh, but I don’t need a line,” he said softly, bending down to kiss her fast while they still could. “Because you can’t get enough of me, remember?”

  Before she could answer, he opened the door that led into Billy’s huge living room and waved her through. “Happy birthday, Leah.”

  The smile that streaked across her face as she took in the crowd of people and the huge red and white and blue HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner strung across the room, told him he’d made the right decision.

  * * *

  About an hour later, Zach came back into the living room, looking for Leah, wanting to check whether she was actually as pleased by the surprise as she’d seemed. The first part of the party had passed in a haze of hellos and he’d soon found out that Caterina had taken charge of the caterers and Billy had the house entertainment system cranking and there was little for him to do but enjoy himself.

  But there was no sign of a green dress and long dark hair. Lou was standing near the door he came in, so he stopped to talk to her for a few moments, still searching the room.

  “Looking for someone?” Lou asked, eyes crinkling as she studied his face.

  Zach stiffened. He’d thought Lou was out of the loop as far as he and Leah were concerned, but it was possible that Faith or Mina had let something slip. But he didn’t know, so he was sticking to a strict “reveal nothing” policy. Faith was standing over near the doors to the deck, Caleb at her side, smiling and talking to Stella. Caleb looked like he was having a good time, but Faith looked a little tense. “I, um, need to talk to Faith about something. Recording stuff.”

  “At a party?” Lou shook her head at him, looking resigned.
She was used to musicians.

  “It won’t take long. Look, there she is. Excuse me, while I grab her.” He dropped a kiss on Lou’s cheek and left her, trying to work out the quickest way to make it across the room to Faith. She hadn’t moved, which was good, but she hadn’t relaxed either.

  She’d seemed happy when they had arrived at the party. So had something changed her mood or had she just been hiding it better then?

  And if it was the former, then what exactly had happened? She and Caleb were holding hands, and there was no sign of strain on Caleb’s face, so it didn’t seem likely they’d had a fight. He watched as Faith scanned the room. At first he assumed she was looking for Leah too, but when she spotted Mina standing in the far corner with Will and Stefan, she grimaced a little. That didn’t do anything to change Zach’s impression that something was bugging her.

  Maybe Leah had said something to her about the party?

  Crap. If he’d screwed this up, better to know about it sooner rather than later.

  He headed for Faith and after a minute or so of small talk, leaned over and said, “Can I talk to you?”

  He watched her face as he spoke and saw a flicker of a wince.

  There. He wasn’t imagining it. His gut tightened while he waited for her response.

  Faith nodded and they moved away from the others.

  “Something wrong?” he said once they were mostly alone. Or alone as they could be in a room full of people. “Did Leah say something to you about the party? Is she pissed?”

  “No,” Faith said, eyes widening. “Why would she be?”

  “I thought maybe she didn’t like the surprise.” She’d seemed pleased. But who knew? Maybe she was a very good actress.

  “Well, if she doesn’t, she hasn’t said anything to me about it.”

  “Okay, then why do you look like you’re not having fun?”

  Faith’s mouth flattened. “I’m having fun.” She shook her head at him, sending the fringey sparkly earrings she wore shimmying.

  “Faith, I may have been away from the island for a while but I still know you. And I know how you look when something’s bugging you.”

  “It’s nothing.”