Seaside Sweets

by Melissa Chambers

  He did the same. “Seanna—”

  She let out a huge sigh and pressed her hand against his chest. “Oh, Blake. I think this is fate laughing its ass off at us. Sometimes you’ve just got to take the beating and move on.” She walked toward the door.

  He followed. “I can wait. I’ll go tomorrow.”

  She held up her hand. “Oh, God, please no. Please do me the huge favor of a clean break. Will you? Because I can’t sit around in la-la land for another minute.”

  She headed out the door and toward her car, and he followed, running his hand through his hair. He couldn’t back out on Kevin, not days before he was supposed to start. Could he? She opened her car door and started to get in.

  “Hang on,” he said. “Just…hang on.”

  She stood there, hand on her hip, looking up at him. When he didn’t say anything else, she reached up and pressed her lips against his. She pulled away, hands on his shoulders. “I love you, Blake. Goodbye.”

  She slid into the driver’s seat and started her car. As she backed out of the driveway, he cursed himself for not parking behind her and blocking her in. Why hadn’t he done that?

  As her car disappeared down the street, a piece of his heart he wasn’t sure he could live without went with it.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Seanna gripped the napkin in her lap with her clammy hands. She should not be this nervous, but she’d been this way since the plane touched down in Kansas City.

  Chase looked over at her. “You okay?”

  “Yes,” she answered quickly. “I’m just thinking about the presentation.”

  “Hey, it ain’t all that. We’re here to present an opportunity, not cure cancer.”

  “I know. It’s just…it’s important.”

  He smiled over at her. “I know it is. I want this to work out, too. I haven’t had anybody to take poker money from.”

  “What about Bo?”

  “Who do you think takes all my money?”

  The door to the restaurant opened, and her blood pressure went up again. When a middle-aged couple walked in, she relaxed.

  “Go to the bathroom,” Chase said.

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re making me nervous. Besides, you’ve got something in your teeth.”

  Her hand went up to her mouth. “I do?” He gave her a look, and she frowned at him and headed that way.

  She let out a huge breath, checking herself in the mirror. She adjusted her boobs in her bra and checked her perfectly empty teeth, thank you very much, Chase. “It’s just a presentation,” she said to the mirror. “You’ve done like six of these in the past five months.”

  A commode flushed, and she straightened up and smiled at the woman who walked up to the sink beside her. “Hello,” Seanna said.

  The woman smiled back. “Nervous about something?”

  “Yes,” Seanna said. “I’m making a presentation to a potential…key player.”

  The woman took a cloth towel from the stack of them. “Aren’t you supposed to imagine the person in their underwear?”

  Seanna huffed a laugh. “Unfortunately, in this case, that would make this ten times harder.”

  The woman smiled. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks,” Seanna said, and inhaled one last deep breath.

  When she followed the woman out of the bathroom, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of Blake and Chase hugging it out at their table. He was just as yummy as she’d remembered, yummier, actually. He’d cut his hair to a respectable length. She’d loved his waves, but now she could see more of his face, which was a marvelous thing. He was paler than the last time she’d seen him…a consequence of working inside instead of out in the Florida sun. His nose was more prominent now that he didn’t have so much hair down in his face. She wanted to kiss it…and his cheeks, and his neck, and his lips…

  A thin, blonde woman came up behind him, putting her arm on his back. Seanna’s stomach dropped as Blake returned the touch, reaching for her arm. He turned to Chase and made introductions, both of them beaming with smiles.

  She wanted to crawl back into that restroom and stay there until they closed. Then she wanted to beat Bo Harrison upside the head for telling her Blake wasn’t with anyone. How would Bo have known that for sure, anyway? It wasn’t like Blake was a flowing river of information about himself, particularly his love life.

  Blake’s gaze met hers, and she swore her heart stopped beating for the moment. With Chase keeping the woman busy with chatter, Blake just stared at Seanna and lifted his hand in greeting.

  She had to move, go over there and see him, meet his girlfriend…fiancée?...wife? With each step she took, the pain in her heart expanded until she wasn’t sure she could carry it around in her chest anymore.

  “Hi,” she said, approaching their group.

  “Hi,” Blake echoed, and then silence hung between all of them.

  The woman, her eyes so kind and oblivious to the awkwardness that consumed Seanna, smiled. “Hello.” She looked at Blake for an introduction.

  Blake blinked, waking up from staring at Seanna. “Kelly, this is Seanna Perry.” He left it at that, no further explanation of who she was. What should he have referred to her as, his ex? A girl he almost had a relationship with? A woman who once professed her love for him, and then he left for a new life minutes later?

  “So nice to meet you,” Kelly said. “How do you know Blake?”

  Seanna’s mouth opened but no words spilled out. Thankfully, Chase had plenty of them. “We both knew Blake when he lived in the Florida panhandle. Do you know South Walton?”

  She pointed. “30A, right? We stayed once in Rosemary with some friends.”

  We?

  She waved at someone across the restaurant, and then took Seanna by the arm. “It is so nice to meet friends of Blake’s. You have no idea how much he is adored and appreciated at the hospital. I feel like I left the staff and the patients in extremely capable hands.” She turned back to Blake. “Please tell Kevin hello.”

  Blake nodded. “I will.” She waved and headed off. Seanna met his gaze with so many wordless questions. “That was the doctor I replaced at the hospital.”

  The life flowed back into Seanna’s bloodstream. “Oh. She seems really nice.”

  “Yeah, she’s great. She must be taking a night away from the baby.”

  They glanced over to see her hugging a group of women about her age.

  Chase clapped his hands. “So, I brought my associate with me. I hope that was okay.”

  Blake stared at Seanna. “Of course.” He moved toward her and brought her into his arms for a hug. She inhaled the clean scent of his button-down shirt, wanting desperately to move over to his neck to get a good whiff there, but she’d have to save the mauling for later…if she ended up so lucky.

  “Shall we sit?” Chase asked, offering Blake a seat across the table from them. The server appeared holding a bottle of wine. “I ordered wine, but if you want a beer, it won’t hurt my feelings.”

  Blake nodded at the bottle. “Wine sounds great.”

  He met Seanna’s gaze as the server went through the ritual of opening the bottle and pouring a taste for Chase. Seanna smiled at the server, and then messed with her napkin. She couldn’t get over the fact that Blake was right there, inches away from her after all these months. He’d consumed her thoughts day and night. Even with her mind filled with the new job with Chase that had kept her busier than she’d ever been, there was no shaking him from her brain or her heart.

  “So let’s get the business stuff out of the way so we can focus on catching up,” Chase said.

  “There’s business stuff?” Blake asked.

  Chase winked. “You know me. Always working.” He gave Seanna a significant look, and she went for her bag while he talked. “I’ve been working with a group of investors. We’re looking to open an emergency care facility in South Walton, right there on 30A. Not a hospital, but one of those quick care places, somewhere tou
rists and locals both can drop in unannounced when they step on a piece of beach glass or wreck their bike on the path. We’ll have nurse practitioners like they do at the clinics attached to the drugstores, but we’re looking to staff one to two doctors during business hours. No on-call. When we’re closed, we’re closed, but we’ll look at the hours—make sure we’re open enough to meet the needs but not work our staff to death.” Chase nodded at Seanna.

  “Here’s the plans if you’d like to take a look.” She handed him the blueprints, and he glanced over them, his eyebrows going up.

  “Looks nice.”

  “These are rough,” Chase said. “We’ve got a medical consultant working with the architect, but all opinions from those who are in the business are welcome.”

  Blake looked up at Chase. “You want me to look over your plans?”

  Chase cut his eyes at Seanna, and she took in a deep breath, her heartbeat galloping. “We want you to practice there.”

  Blake stared at her, and then shifted his gaze to Chase, his expression too hard for her to read. Confusion? Apathy? Contained excitement? He ran his hand through his shorter hair, leaving it tussled and sort of cute. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Look,” Chase said, “I’d want you to oversee the staff. We’ll hire someone to run the place—do the scheduling and all that mess, but I’d want you to be the head doctor there. I just need someone I trust to be in charge of the medical stuff. You can name your salary, you know I don’t care about that.”

  Chase had been nothing but kind, supportive, and giving to Seanna, but when he said stuff like that she could slap him around for how rich he was.

  Blake eyed Chase. “How can you know you trust me when you have no idea what kind of doctor I am?”

  Chase jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I got my first reference a minute ago from that woman we just met.”

  Blake rolled his eyes, shaking his head at Chase. Seanna had done that approximately eight thousand times during the last five months she’d worked closely with him.

  “Why the hell do you want to get into this business?” Blake asked.

  “I see a need.” He cut his eyes at Seanna, and her cheeks filled with heat.

  “It was one of a few ideas Chase’s financial team presented,” Seanna said. She’d made sure Chase wasn’t doing this as some sort of matchmaking scheme, and he’d sworn up and down he wasn’t. He said he would move forward with or without Blake, and she believed him. Blake gave him a doubtful look.

  “It’s something to think about,” Chase said. “I don’t expect an answer tonight. First thing in the morning is fine.” He grinned at Blake and stood. “Well, I hate to order wine and run, but I’ve got a date.”

  “A date?” Seanna said, her heartbeat racing. “When did you make a date?”

  “Earlier today. Girl who works the front desk at the hotel. She’s off at seven. She’s gonna show me around KC,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. He drove Seanna up the wall. She still couldn’t tell the difference between a joke and the truth when it came to him. She found it infuriating and understood more about why he was single in his mid-thirties the more she got to know him. She also adored him like a brother.

  He nodded at Seanna. “Pick up the tab on your company card. And make sure he orders something expensive.” He clasped Blake on the shoulder and was off.

  She watched him walk out, and then pointed at the door. “He was my ride.”

  “I’m pretty sure I can get you back to your hotel.”

  She huffed a laugh, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be dumped in your lap tonight. I had no idea he was going to do that.”

  He smiled at her. “I’m okay with it, trust me.”

  She exhaled a deep breath, her stomach knotted up like a hammock. “How have you been? Are you liking practicing again?” No matter how much she thought about it, she still had a hard time processing the fact that Blake was a doctor. She couldn’t get the images out of her head of him working with his hands, his tool belt strapped around his waist, sweat on his brow from manual labor.

  “I like it, a lot. It’s what I’m supposed to be doing. What about you? What are you doing for Chase?”

  “Everything. I’m sort of apprenticing under him. He’s teaching me, constantly. I’m going to meetings with him. He’s showing me the ropes of his business, putting me in charge of all sorts of projects. I’m having a hard time keeping up.”

  “Do you like it?”

  She laughed. “I love it. It’s a fun office, and I feel like I’m really valued there. He’s investing in me. I think I’ve finally settled on what I’m supposed to be doing.”

  He gave her a closed-mouth smile. “I’m so glad.” He scratched his ear, inspecting his wine glass. “So, you and him…”

  She lifted her eyebrows. “Chase and me?”

  He shrugged, his face flushing.

  She huffed a laugh, rolling her eyes. “That’s a big fat no. I love him to death, but I’d freaking kill him if we were a couple.” She twirled her wine glass. “What about you? Have you been seeing anybody?”

  “No. Nobody.” He gnawed on his bottom lip, and then met her gaze. “What about you?”

  She shook her head. “Nobody.”

  His features visibly relaxed. “I’ve missed you.”

  She swallowed hard. “I’ve missed you, too.”

  The world around them seemed to melt away as he stared into her eyes in this dark restaurant in Kansas City. She might as well be on another planet with him.

  He pointed down at the blueprints in front of him. “Is he for real with this?”

  “Oh he’s dead real. And I swear this fell in his lap, or at least I think it did. He told me it did. But come to think of it, I wasn’t actually there when the investors presented it to him.”

  “How would you feel about having me back in Seaside?”

  She opened up in a smile for him. “Really good.”

  He took her hand across the table. “I haven’t known a lot of love in my life. I’ve known caring and affection, lust even, and something dysfunctional that I don’t even know how to name. But until I got to know you, I hadn’t understood what people meant when they said, ‘I love you.’ Those used to be just words I heard. But I understand them now.” He squeezed her hand. “I love you, Seanna.”

  Her heart filled to the brim, threatening to detonate in her chest. “I love you, too, Blake.”

  The server appeared in front of them. “Would you like to start with some smoked salmon crostini or a cheese and olive board?”

  “Umm,” Seanna said. “Can we have like two seconds?”

  “Sure,” the server said, but Blake must have read the question on her face, because he nodded confirmation before the server could even step away.

  She reached for him. “Actually, we’ll just take the check for the wine.”

  “Oh. Is there a problem?”

  “No sir,” Blake said, smiling at Seanna. “We just need to go.”

  A small smile of recognition came across the server’s face. “I’ll hurry.”

  The Next Chapter…

  For Bo Harrison, watching Blake dance cheek to cheek with Seanna in the middle of Seaside Sweets like nobody else in the world existed was like eating a really good piece of bitter, dark chocolate. He couldn’t be happier that Blake had found a woman who made him grin like a moron, but something about the way those two gazed into one another’s eyes like a couple of teenagers getting ready to hop into a back seat made the void in his own life seem even deeper.

  Marigold sidled up to him and pointed at Blake and Seanna with her beer bottle. “Let’s try to do that.”

  “Dance?”

  “No, be that way. Let’s get all gaga and starry-eyed about one another and make all these people want to throw up.”

  “I don’t think it works that way, darlin’.”

  “Oh, come on.” She took his beer bottle and set it on one of the tables along with hers. “Press
your cheek against mine and close your eyes and dream that I’m your fantasy girl, and we’ll make it be so. Come on.” She wiggled her fingers at him.

  “Am I your fantasy guy?”

  She pursed her lips at him and picked her beer back up. “Buzzkill.”

  Chase came up to the two of them. “Well, friends. I do believe we did good this time.”

  “Us?” Bo said. “You’re the one who’s spending millions of dollars to bring Blake back to 30A.”

  “What the hell else am I gonna do with it? Besides, it’s a good investment.”

  Marigold pointed at Blake and Seanna. “Why can’t you be like that over me? I could be your trophy wife.”

  Chase chuckled. “I’d be your trophy husband if anything.”

  Sebastian came over to them, happy as a lark. “Can I get anyone anything else? Something to drink? Barf bag?”

  “I know, right?” Marigold said.

  “I joke,” Sebastian said. “They are a beautiful thing, those two. We should let them go home though. They’ve probably only had sex eighty-five times since he got back, poor babies.” He grabbed for Marigold. “Come here.”

  He took her hand and twirled her around like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Only when he danced her in circles around Blake and Seanna did they notice.

  “Are you making fun of us?” Seanna asked.

  “Yes!” they all said in unison. The two broke apart, but still held one another’s hands.

  Ashe walked over. “You’ve done your time with us tonight. You may go home now and ravish each other.”

  Seanna’s cheeks went pink. “No, we’re having fun.”

  “Go, please,” Cassidy said. “A room full of single people can only take so much torture.”

  Desiree walked up, pulling her hair around her shoulder. “Anyone up for a movie? There’s a late showing of Love by Spain.”

  “Ooh, I want to see that,” Marigold said.

  “Me too,” Ashe said.

  “I’m out,” Sebastian said. “I’ve got houseguests…friends from high school. They just got in today. I need to get home to them.”