Falling for June

by Heather B. Moore

  Sydney only laughed, and then she and Maria started walking toward the water.

  June held back, needing to calm her heartrate and let her body temperature go back to normal. She found herself looking toward Lance’s bungalow, and to her mortification, he’d propped his surf board against the patio wall and turned.

  Their eyes met, and when Lance smiled this time, she knew it was just for her.

  “You have to come see this this guy,” Sydney told June.

  June crossed to the open patio door of their rented Maui bungalow. Apparently, since Sydney was engaged, and Maria had a serious boyfriend, June was the only “available” one of the three.

  So her friends had taken to “man-watching” in order to set June up for a vacation fling.

  June didn’t do flings. She was an accountant, for heaven’s sake.

  And the man in the next bungalow over—Lance—was recently divorced. Which meant he was most definitely not “fling” material. Unfortunately, he’d become the object of her friends’ notice over the past twenty-four hours.

  But as she joined her friends on the patio, her mouth nearly dropped open. The sun was rising, and Lance was jogging along the beach. Well, running, because it was at a pace that June knew she wouldn’t be able to keep up with. There was something to be said about a man who took care of his body. Of course, there was also something to be said about a man who obsessed over his body.

  June wondered if Lance was that type of man. Like Office Mike back at her corporate job. He’d dated nearly every available woman in the office and wasn’t afraid to regale his dates with the number of miles he ran over the weekend and the amount of weight he could bench press. June could admit that Office Mike had a great physique, if one liked the thick-neck look and beefy arms that didn’t even hang straight because his biceps were so large.

  But Lance was more lean and muscular. And June needed to stop checking him out.

  “Isn’t he fine?” Sydney asked June.

  “He is fine,” June agreed. “But we’re acting like a bunch of teenaged girls standing here, salivating.” She gave Sydney a playful shove. “And you are engaged.”

  Sydney laughed. “Looking never hurts.”

  June blew out a puff of air. Sometimes looking did hurt. That’s what her last boyfriend Kevin had done. Looked. And looked. His looking had turned into finding himself another woman.

  “So what are the plans today?” June asked, hoping to turn her friends’ attention away from Lance before he saw the three of them ogling him from the patio.

  “Absolutely nothing,” Maria said, stifling a yawn. “I hardly slept last night because of jet lag, and I plan to lie on the beach and sleep under the sun.”

  “Sounds perfect to me,” Sydney said. “I brought a bunch of bridal magazines we can go through. I’ve narrowed my wedding cake down to three potential decorators.”

  Everything about Sydney’s wedding would be elegant, that June did not doubt. Her friend had impeccable taste, and it didn’t hurt that Sydney and her fiancé both had magazine-model looks.

  June made her way back into the bungalow and changed into her swimsuit. Only in Maui did it seem normal to wear a swimsuit to eat breakfast in. But she didn’t want to change twice. After a breakfast of a fresh pineapple and a bagel, she joined Maria and Sydney out on the sand.

  Sydney had already ordered a large umbrella and three beach chairs from the resort office. It wasn’t quite hot enough to tan, or to burn, as the case would be with June, so she left her swimsuit wrap on.

  As Sydney and Maria pored over bridal magazines, June opened her latest Regency novel. She knew her friends would give her grief over reading a romance that would never be her life—but hey, she was on vacation.

  “Oh, a Sarah Eden romance,” Maria said, tilting her head to read the title. “Avoiding Miss Lancaster? Isn’t that the one you told me to read?”

  “Yes,” June said. “And it’s called Courting Miss Lancaster. Did you read it?”

  “Not yet, but haven’t you already read it?”

  “I have.” June met Maria’s gaze, daring her friend to comment further.

  Maria smiled, and Sydney added, “Someday, June, you’ll realize that you’ll have more fun actually dating than reading about people dating.”

  June flipped to the previous page so she could start a little before she’d left off. “Did you know that most of the marriages in Regencies are arranged?”

  Sydney wrinkled her nose. “Yuck. How would that be? I mean, having your parents choose your husband?”

  Maria put down her magazine. “My parents would love to marry me off to their neighbor, a fifty-year-old widower with two teenagers.”

  “And my mother would marry me off to our dentist,” Sydney said with a laugh. “Mom’s always telling me we need a dentist in the family.”

  June shook her head, letting a smile escape. “That’s because you were born with the most crooked teeth I’ve ever seen.”

  Sydney slapped June’s leg. “How do you—” Sydney fell silent, and June looked over where she was staring.

  Lance was walking straight toward them, carrying two boogie boards.

  “He’s coming this way,” Maria practically squealed.

  “Shut. Up,” June whispered. “He’s not deaf.”

  “Hi, ladies,” Lance said, slowing to stop.

  June smiled up at him, unable to miss his lean but sculpted physique, but then refocused her gaze on the ocean. She could already feel her skin heating up.

  “I’ve got a couple of boogie boards if any of you want to give it a try,” Lance said, an adorable half-smile on his face.

  June almost laughed out loud at the image popping into her head of her trying to boogie board. She’d end up with a face full of sand and salt water.

  “Sorry, I’m out,” Sydney jumped in first before anyone else could respond. “Maria’s going with me to the hotel gift shop to get a few things. But June was saying how she wanted to try boogie boarding this week.”

  June snapped her head up and stared at Sydney, who completely ignored her.

  “Great,” Lance said in a smooth voice, obviously not noticing that June was about to commit a homicide.

  Before June knew what had happened, her friends were striding off toward the bungalow, and she was standing next to Lance with a boogie board in her hand. “Um, I’m really not all that coordinated, or athletic, or even in that great of shape.”

  One side of Lance’s mouth lifted. “You’re in great shape. Besides, it’s not like surfing. You lie on your stomach on the board and let the waves push you to shore.”

  “Right.” June bit her lip, thinking. She really didn’t want to make a fool of herself, but Lance’s blue-green eyes were kind of hard to look away from. Would it be so horrible if she just stood here and talked to him? No boogie-boarding required?

  He grasped her boogie board, his warm arm brushing hers. “You probably want to wear your swimsuit though. You’ll get plenty wet.”

  June looked down at her cover-up, and a rush of heat swept through her. Lance was inches away from her, and he didn’t look like he was about to avert his gaze. She released a sigh and pulled off her cover-up, hoping that every strap and string of her swimsuit was in the right place. It was too late to start a twice-daily regimen of sit-ups and push-ups. She’d have to reveal her pale, soft self to the public viewing of the citizens of Maui.

  At least the good news was that the bungalow was a gorgeous-enough place to hide out in the rest of the week if this turned into a disaster.

  Lance led the way, and that gave June a chance to give herself a discreet once-over. Her swimsuit seemed to be covering what it was supposed to cover. When Lance reached the edge of the water, he turned to her. “Ready?”

  “I guess,” she said, trying to sound cheerful. It came out more as a half-hearted sigh.

  Lance chuckled. “We can quit anytime. But try it at least once.”

  The first wave of surf water that rush
ed over June’s feet made her shiver. She continued walking beside Lance, and the next wave hit her mid-knee. She nearly stumbled, and Lance grasped her arm.

  “Thanks,” she said. If she couldn’t even walk into the ocean, how was she supposed to boogie-board?

  When they reached the water to about waist deep, Lance let go of her arm. “Okay, now we turn and get our boards ready. When the swell gets close, we lie down on the boards and start to kick.”

  The next wave that came was too flat, so they waited for another one.

  “Where are you from?” June asked, fully expecting him to say California or some other sunny place.

  “Vancouver,” Lance said.

  “Washington?” she asked, her heart nearly stopping. Vancouver was less than an hour away from Portland.

  “Yep,” he said, looking at her, curiosity in his gaze. “And you?”

  “I, uh, work in Portland.”

  He let out a laugh. “Small world.” He looked behind them. “This one’s a good one. Let’s go.”

  She leaned forward onto the boogie board, and the cool ocean water soaked her as she started to kick. The wave lifted her, then propelled her forward, right alongside Lance. By the time they reached the shore and flat-bottomed on the sand, June was laughing. “Okay, that was fun. Except I feel like a little kid.”

  Lance grinned at her. “Kids always have the best time. Let’s do it again.”

  The sunset splashed orange and pink across the Maui sky as June sat next to Lance. She couldn’t believe she’d spent the whole day with him. After boogie boarding for a couple of hours, June had practically collapsed onto her towel, and Lance had ordered lunch to be delivered from the resort café. They talked and ate, Lance telling her about his career of owning and managing a couple of health food stores—which completely intimidated June. Not only was the guy in great shape, he was kind, good-looking, and successful. He had to have some deep dark secret, some major flaw.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” Lance asked her in an easy voice.

  June was curious about him too—knowing he was divorced—but she hadn’t expected this question quite so soon. “Not currently,” she said with a sigh, thinking of Kevin and the way she’d been attracted to him from the start. She’d soon learned that many women were attracted to him, and Kevin never deterred them.

  “Is there a story in that sigh?” Lance asked, his eyebrow lifted. Lance was lying on his stomach as the sun’s rays baked his already tanned back. His chin was propped on his hands as he looked over at her.

  She turned on her side to escape the full heat of the Maui sun. “Well, his name was Kevin. We dated about a year, and when I thought we were moving to the... next level... I inadvertently answered his phone when he was in the shower since I knew he’d been waiting for a call from his sister.” Her face warmed, and it had nothing to do with the sun.

  “Let me guess,” Lance said. “The woman calling wasn’t his sister.”

  “Right.” June felt her eyes burn. It was silly, really, to still feel the hurt after all of this time. It had been more than six months. Six months, two weeks, and three days, in fact.

  “Hey,” Lance said, turning so he was propped up on one elbow. He reached out and grasped her hand. “Breaking up is never easy. I should know.”

  June swiped at her eyes, feeling embarrassed that she’d gotten emotional—over Kevin, of all men. He was probably on his third or fourth girlfriend after her, and June knew better than to take his cheating personally.

  “So, what about you, then?” she asked, unable to help noticing that he was still holding her hand.

  “Me?” he said, flashing a half-smile. “Ex-girlfriends or ex-wife?”

  “Whichever is the best story,” June said, returning his smile.

  “Ah, ex-wife it is, then.” He removed his hand and scrubbed his hand through his hair.

  June didn’t mind the view of his arm flexing as he moved it. What woman would leave a guy like Lance? She nearly held her breath waiting for him to explain.

  “Kerri saw through me I guess,” he said in a thoughtful tone.

  June rolled her eyes. “Really. That’s all there was to it?”

  “All right,” Lance said, returning his blue-green gaze to June. “I bought Kerri’s workout training DVDs and sold them in my stores. We started dating, got married probably too quickly, and then... she met Robert.”

  “Robert?”

  “One of my store managers,” Lance clarified. “While I was off running marketing campaigns and doing trade shows, Kerri apparently spent a few late nights helping Robert with uh... inventory. At least, that’s what she told me at first.”

  “Sorry,” June said, feeling subdued. They were sitting on a beautiful beach in gorgeous Maui trading sob stories.

  Lance gave a nonchalant shrug that wasn’t entirely convincing. “It was rough for a bit, but looking back, it was for the best.”

  “How so?” June didn’t know if her question was too personal, but she’d told him some personal stuff.

  “I don’t think we were entirely each other’s type, you know.”

  June arched her brow this time, waiting for him to expound.

  “I mean, they say opposites attract,” Lance said. “Kerri and I have a lot in common—both outgoing, both competitive, and both a little bit conceited.” He gave her an exaggerated wink.

  June laughed. “Only a little bit conceited?”

  “Hey.”

  “I guess it wouldn’t be too hard, looking like you do.” June stopped talking; she’d said way too much.

  His gaze intensified. “Did you give me a compliment?”

  June opened her mouth, but she dismissed any of the comebacks going through her mind. She shook her head, feeling lame.

  But Lance was smiling, and when he reached for her hand this time, the heat from his touch shot all the way through her. “Want to go out to dinner with me tonight?”

  June knew she should say no. She hadn’t seen her friends all day, friends she was supposed to be spending girl time with. She didn’t want a fling with a man on vacation, and she knew that the more involved with Lance she became, the more at risk her heart would be. He lived less than an hour away from her. But she couldn’t look into his blue-green eyes and say no. “I’d love to,” she replied.

  “Perfect,” he said, squeezing her hand, then letting go. “I need to get a couple of things done. I’ll come over around 6:00. Does that sound okay?”

  “Yeah,” June said, hardly believing this gorgeous man was so interested in her. Maybe he was looking for a fling. She exhaled, knowing she could hardly confront him with a bunch of paranoid questions. She was probably overthinking it. It was just dinner.

  She rose to her feet and brushed the sand off the places she could reach. Then she grabbed her towel and book. As she watched Lance pick up the boogie boards and his own towel, she said, “Boogie-boarding was a lot more fun than I expected.”

  “Wait until tomorrow,” Lance said with a quick smile. “You might be sore in places you didn’t know could be sore.”

  June rotated her shoulders. “I’m already starting to feel it, but it’s good for me.”

  Lance started walking with her toward the bungalows. “You never told me what you do. What’s your job?”

  “Oh,” June said, running a hand over her damp hair. “I’m an accountant.”

  Lance stopped walking.

  “What?” she asked with a laugh after seeing his surprised expression.

  He shook his head and started walking again. “It’s nothing.”

  “What is it?” June pressed. “You can’t leave me in the dark.”

  He slowed to a stop again and gazed at her for a moment until June started wondering if she had some sand on her face.

  “Just that...” Lance shifted the boogie boards in his grip. “You’re pretty much opposite Kerri in every way.”

  “Hmm... isn’t it a huge faux pas to compare another woman to your ex?” June teased,
although her heart was hammering with anticipation. What had he said about opposites attract?

  “In this case, it’s one of the highest compliments I can give,” Lance said, all teasing faded from his voice. His gaze moved along her face until it settled on her lips.

  “Well, thank you, then,” June said, trying to keep her voice audible. She turned toward the bungalows again and started walking before Lance could see the heat creeping up her neck. Had he been about to kiss her? She didn’t know. But would he really have kissed her in broad daylight on a public beach? Her pulse thudded, and she didn’t look at him again until she reached the path that branched toward her bungalow.

  “Thanks for everything.” June knew she sounded like a parrot. “6:00 works.”

  “Great,” Lance said.

  She gave him a quick glance and an even quicker smile. Then she slipped away, feeling his gaze on her as she walked along the path. When she reached the back patio, she looked over her shoulder to see if Lance had made it to his bungalow yet. He was nowhere in sight, but she could still feel the warmth of his gaze on her skin.

  June stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was definitely sunburned on her shoulders and arms, and her feet, of all places. Otherwise, her makeup hid the sun she’d gotten on her face, and she’d washed all the sand and seawater from her hair.

  “Maui looks good on you!” Sydney said, passing by June’s bungalow bedroom. Her soft laugh trailed down the hall after her.

  June couldn’t believe she was going on a date tonight with Lance when she’d come to Maui on an all-girls vacation.

  Rotating her shoulders, June realized Lance had been right—she’d have sore muscles in places she hadn’t known could be sore.

  “So, you’re going out to dinner?” Maria said, leaning against June’s bedroom doorway.

  June looked away from the mirror and over at Maria. “I wanted to ask you guys first, but you ditched me all day,” June said.

  Maria laughed. “That was our intention.” She walked forward and gave June a light hug. “You look great, and I’m not surprised Lance is totally into you.”