by Elks, Carrie
Just A Kiss
Carrie Elks
Contents
Join Me!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Dear Reader
About the Author
Also by Carrie Elks
Acknowledgments
Just A Kiss by Carrie Elks
Copyright © 2019 by Carrie Elks
221019
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
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1
Brecken Miller stomped the dust from his black leather construction boots and pushed open the door to Déjà Brew. Almost immediately the aroma of coffee and pastries spilled out, mixing in with the salty ozone rising up from the Atlantic Ocean. It wasn’t even eight in the morning but the coffee shop was already busy – full of commuters and tourists inhaling their first caffeine shots of the morning.
Behind the counter, Ally Sutton raised her hand in greeting. He waved in return, a grin curling his lips. He’d been back in the small beach town of Angel Sands for almost six months now, but he was still getting used to everybody knowing who he was. He shouldn’t have been so shocked that everybody remembered him from when he was a kid, but he’d been living in Boston for most of his adult life. Yet as soon as he’d stepped foot back in Angel Sands, thirteen years since he’d last been here, he’d found himself surrounded by old friends.
As he joined the six-person line for coffee, Breck stared out of the huge picture window facing the beach. Water was lapping against the sand like a lazy cat, the waves big enough to attract the early morning surfers out on their boards, but not so choppy they provided much of a challenge.
“A latte and a coffee donut, please,” the man in front of him ordered. Breck leaned on the counter and idly sorted through the leaflets different companies had placed there. A new car cleaning service that offered the first wash for free, a magician who guaranteed to set any party alight – literally. And a printed piece of paper asking for volunteers to help out at the official Angel Sands Christmas light switch on.
“You interested?” a voice from behind him asked.
Breck turned around to see Frank Megassey standing there. As well as running the local hardware store, Frank was well reknowned for being the unofficial Angel Sands organizer. If it needed volunteers, Frank was always at the front of the line.
“It’s only October,” Breck said, hastily putting the leaflet back down where he found it. He tried to find the right word to say no, he really wasn’t interested. But all he could come up with was, “It’s a long time until Christmas.”
“Not if you’re organizing an event like this,” Frank told him. “We have to apply for permits, make a start on fundraising for the electricity, and of course there’s the entertainment to organize. We could use a strong man like you to help us out. What do you say?”
“I…ah…” Breck raked his hand through his hair. “I go away every Christmas. I probably won’t be here.”
“Frank, are you press-ganging my customers again?” Ally asked, grinning at him. “Can’t you let them have some coffee in peace?” She turned to Breck and gave him a sympathetic look. “Your coffees are all ready. We’re bagging up the donuts now and I’ll have someone carry them to the car for you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Breck handed her his credit card. It was Friday, which meant it was his turn to buy breakfast for the team he had working for him at the Silver Sands construction site. Six cartons of coffee and a hundred donuts for his hungry workers was a small price to pay for the dedication and hard labor they’d put in over the past few months, bringing the old 1920s derelict resort back into its resplendent glory. There were still six more months of work ahead of them, and he’d learned from experience that keeping his workers happy was an important part of coordinating a project like this.
“Add Frank’s order to my bill,” Breck said to Ally. “Whatever he wants is on me.”
Ally raised an eyebrow. “Guilt coffee?”
Breck grinned. “Something like that.”
A couple of minutes later he was back outside, opening his truck up and loading the coffee and pastries inside. Like the rest of the vehicles that regularly parked outside the Silver Sands construction site, it was covered with dust that never seemed to disappear no matter how often he cleaned it. Even through the sandy particles you could see the name of his family’s company, Miller & Sons Construction, proudly emblazoned on the side. He was proud to be part of it, and to be running their Californian operations, while his dad ran the company over on the East Coast.
“Hey man!” Lucas Russell called from across the parking lot. “You still on for tonight?” He was carrying a surfboard, his hair and shorts wet from a morning out on the water, and from the grin on his face it had been a successful one. Leaning his board up against his own truck, he crossed the blacktop to where Breck was standing, reaching his hand out for their own version of a handshake.
Lucas was one of Breck’s oldest friends, and yet the two of them had only recently reconnected. That had been Breck’s fault. When he’d left town at the age of seventeen, he hadn’t wanted to talk to any of his old friends. Hadn’t wanted to think about the way his mom had died, or how he and his brother had to leave town to join their father in Boston.
But now he was back in the town he grew up in, spending time with friends who didn’t give a damn he’d disappeared for years. It gave him a little buzz to be so readily accepted back into the fold.
“I’m up for tonight,” Breck told him. “Do you need me to bring anything?”
“Nope. Just yourself. We’ll have some drinks and some food, and some dancing. Ember’s got it all covered. I know it’s an engagement party, but we want everybody to have fun.”
“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” Breck said, grinning. “Surely we’re not old enough.”
“We’re thirty,” Lucas pointed out. “A good time to settle down. Speaking of which, Ember’s friend was asking about you.”
“What friend?” Breck frowned.
“Rachel. She’s another teacher at the school. You remember her, right? She was at our place a couple of weeks ago when we had the cookout.”
Breck blinked, trying to place her. But wheneve
r Lucas and Ember hosted parties, their little cottage and the beach beyond was always full of their friends and coworkers. They had a way of drawing people in, and they always wanted to make sure their friends were taken care of. That was one of the things Breck liked about them both.
“Rachel?” Breck said. “Is she the dark haired one?”
“Nope. She’s blonde.”
Not that her hair color mattered. Breck wasn’t looking for a relationship. He’d been burnt too many times. No woman wanted to be with a guy who wouldn’t let her in. Whatever way he tried to cut it, they always tried to get under his skin, exactly where he didn’t want them.
“Blonde?” Breck said, wrinkling his nose. “Nah, I really can’t remember her. And anyway, I’m too busy for that kind of thing. I’ll leave the romance to you.” He leaned against his truck, grinning. “By the way, did you set a date for the wedding?”
“Yeah, we did. The twenty-third of December.”
Breck blinked. “At Christmas?”
“Yep.”
“This year?”
“That’s right.” Lucas raised his eyebrows. “The way I see it, the sooner the better.”
“Sounds like a good plan. You don’t want somebody to snatch her out of your grasp.” Breck laughed, trying to hide his dismay. Another reason relationships never worked for him. Try telling a girl you didn’t want to celebrate Christmas. In fact, you’d prefer to hide away for the whole festive season and pretend it didn’t exist.
He hadn’t met a woman yet who didn’t try to make him change his mind.
“Like Beyoncé says, I gotta put a ring on it.” Lucas grinned. “But don’t tell Ember I said that.” He cleared his throat. “So, I was wondering if you’d be one of my groomsmen, along with Griff and Jack. Only if you feel up to it, I know it’s not everybody’s cup of tea.”
Breck felt his chest tighten. “I’d be honored,” he said, ignoring the growing unease in his chest. “But you don’t have to ask me to be kind. I know you’ve got a lot of friends who’ll want to help.”
“You’re family, man,” Lucas said. “You and Griff and Jack are the only three people I want up there beside me. We grew up together, and in a world like this it means a lot to know you’ll be there for me.”
A wave of emotion crashed over Breck. “It would mean a lot to me, too.”
“Excellent, that’s agreed.” Lucas slapped his back. “Now we only need to persuade Caitie to help us organize the wedding.”
“Caitie?” Breck asked. “As in your sister?”
“Yeah. She’s flying in today for the engagement party. All the way from New York.” Lucas shrugged. “It’ll be good to see her.”
“I bet she’s changed a bit.”
“She’s twenty-eight now.” Lucas widened his eyes. “Can you believe it?”
“No.” Breck shook his head. “The last time I saw her she was a kid. I can’t imagine her any older.”
“Yeah, well she’s all grown up.” Lucas didn’t look happy about it.
“Like Daniel,” Breck murmured. His own brother was twenty-four, old enough to be finishing up his master’s degree at Harvard. Growing up, the two of them had spent a lot of time at the Russell house. Lucas’s parents – Deenie and Wallace – had been like second parents to Breck and Daniel. Feeding them when their mom was working her ass off to keep a roof over their heads, and helping them with homework when school was threatening them with detentions.
And of course, there was the year their mom died, and Deenie and Wallace had taken them in for Christmas. Breck swallowed hard at the memory. He’d been seventeen and Daniel had been eleven, and both of them had been bereft. Their father had long since divorced their mom and had relocated to Boston where he still lived now. Thanks to the holidays it had taken him two days to fly to California to pick up his sons.
Two long, painful days that Breck tried not to think about too often. The same way he tried not to think about his mom. And yet he couldn’t forget the kindness the Russells had shown to him and Daniel, nor the way fifteen-year-old Caitie had tried everything she could to make Daniel smile. She had such a soft voice and caring eyes.
“I need to head off,” Lucas said, giving Breck’s back a final slap. “Ember has a to-do list as long as my arm. I’ll see you at the Beach Club later, okay?”
“Sure.” Breck grinned. “I should head off, too. Before my workers refuse to work over the lack of coffee. I’ll see you tonight.”
As Lucas crossed the parking lot to his truck, Breck climbed into his own, turning on the engine and backing out of his space.
So Caitie was coming back. That was interesting. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of woman she’d grown up to be.
* * *
The moment Caitie Russell stepped out of the airport and onto the sidewalk she could feel the warmth of the Californian sun beating down on her. Though she’d left good weather behind in New York, somehow this heat felt different. The rays looked brighter as they bounced off the windows of the airport buildings surrounding her. It felt different, too. Not the muggy heat every New Yorker complained about in the summer. But a lighter, clearer happy-kind-of-heat that made people smile as they passed her to get to the taxi line.
Even though she’d grown up here, it had been years since she’d been to California, thanks to attending an out-of-state college, and then setting up her business in New York. Life had become so busy she never found the time to visit home.
But now she was here, and it felt strange. No, that wasn’t right. It was her who felt strange. As though she was trying on old clothes that no longer fit, stretching them out until they were threadbare and worn.
She picked up the rental car her assistant had booked for her, and slung her luggage in the trunk, grabbing her phone to see if she’d missed any messages between the arrival gate and the rental office. There was only one message – from her best friend, Harper. Caitie read it with a resigned grin.
Remember what I said. You’re the sister of the groom, you get first dibs on all the hot guys.
There are no hot guys, Caitie quickly typed back. And even if there were, I’d probably be related to them.
She climbed into the car and threw her phone into the cup holder right as it buzzed in reply. Harper would have to wait until she got to Angel Sands. Right now she had to concentrate on the road.
Caitie steered the car out of the lot and headed toward the highway, ignoring the way her phone kept vibrating in the cup holder. Harper must have given up on messaging and was trying to call. Caitie grinned at the thought of how impatient her best friend could be.
She’d first met Harper Hayes at school. They’d been assigned as roommates at the private arts college they’d both attended. Caitie had been a Fine Arts major, Harper had studied Fashion Design and Dressmaking. The day they’d first met, Caitie’d walked into their shared bedroom to find Harper curled up in a ball, sobbing dramatically about the boy she’d left behind, proclaiming she’d never find love again.
Later that night, Harper had dragged Caitie out to some drunken dorm party, and proceeded to kiss at least twenty boys, in an attempt – so she told Caitie – to forget Mr. Hometown.
That was Harper. Emotional, dramatic, always looking for love. She was the yin to Caitie’s calm and organized yang. No wonder when they’d both relocated to New York after college, they did it together, moving first into a dingy apartment in Williamsburg, before working their way up. She stopped Caitie from taking herself too seriously, and in return, Caitie gave her the steadfast support she’d never had growing up. Together they worked.
As her traveling progressed and she joined the Pacific Coastal Highway, Caitie felt her pulse rise up at the sight of the ocean. It unnerved her, being so close to the deep blue water and crashing waves. The smell of the salty ozone made her stomach do a flip-flop, and she tried to push down the anxiety that rose every time the road curved toward the shore.
She switched the air conditioning to circulate and took a
deep breath, keeping her eyes on the blacktop ahead. It was fine. She was fine. She wasn’t a kid anymore. The ocean wasn’t something to be afraid of.
It had been years since she had a panic attack. The last one she could remember was when she’d gone to stay with a client in Michigan, near the waterfront. They’d asked her to join them on their boat, suggesting dinner moored up in the water. Once aboard, she’d felt the familiar rush of fear and adrenaline shooting through her veins. She didn’t have to feign her headache that night. She’d lost the contract, too. Another reason to avoid relocating to California. She wasn’t sure her business would survive it.
Her heart rate calmed as the road curved inland, and the coastline became a pinpoint in her rearview mirror. She could do this, she really could. Just two days and she’d be on a plane back to New York. Back in the concrete jungle and far away from the Pacific coast.
It was late afternoon when she pulled off the highway and onto the small road leading toward Angel Sands. To her left were the familiar hills, which led to her hometown. The abandoned brick buildings of Fort Bradley stood proudly at the top, guarding the town like an old soldier. On the other side – in contrast – were the shiny glass towers of Newton Pharmaceuticals. Caitie knew those towers well. Her father had worked there for most of his life, before he retired. Newton Pharmaceuticals was the biggest employer in Angel Sands, and half of her graduating year had gone on to work there.