Seaside Embrace (Love in Bloom

by Melissa Foster

  “Thank Christ and Moses and the stars above. It’s about damn time, pretty girl.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  THE NEXT MORNING Jana was on fire during boxing practice. She felt lighter on her feet, invigorated with enthusiasm. Every punch felt stronger, more effective, and her mind was less cluttered. And she realized as she wrapped up the last thirty seconds of a sparring match that she no longer felt trapped.

  “That was awesome,” Brock said as she and her sparring partner knocked gloves and left the ring. “You were strong in there today. Quicker, less aggressive but more focused.”

  She removed her gloves and mouthpiece and gulped down water.

  “My life is finally falling into place. It feels good.” She looked up at her big brother and realized she hadn’t told him about Hunter yet. She waited for panic to set in, and when all that came was a nervous flutter in her stomach, she knew she’d made the right decision—about the space for the studio and about Hunter.

  “I accepted Hunter’s offer for the space on Route 6.”

  “Jana, that’s great.” Brock wrapped her in his strong arms.

  “Yeah, now all I have to do is give Marco my notice. I’m not looking forward to that, but I’m doing it today so I don’t chicken out.”

  “You never chicken out of anything.” Brock picked up her gear and she followed him up to the front of the gym.

  “That’s not exactly true.”

  “Pfft. Right. Jana, you wanted to do musicals, so you learned how to sing and dance—when you were six. You wanted to prove you could fight, and you nailed it. And now you want your own studio, and you’re going for it.” He touched the tip of her nose as he’d done a million times when she was a little girl and said, “You’re unstoppable.”

  She gathered her courage, and before she could overthink his potential responses, she said, “I’m seeing Hunter.”

  “No shit.” Brock said with a serious tone.

  “You knew?” Did everyone know?

  “The guy called me at six thirty in the morning that day you were drunk off your ass, remember? I can put two and two together. I wouldn’t have batted an eye if Sky had called me, but Hunter? Shit.” He laughed. “I was sort of tipped off when Sawyer asked if Hunter got you home safely, too. I’m not an idiot.”

  “Apparently I’m the only idiot around, because I was trying to save our friendships and not clue anyone in, but everyone apparently already knew.” She grabbed her bag from the counter. “So? Aren’t you going to tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t date him?”

  Brock smiled and began leafing through papers on the desk. “Nope.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because a certain someone told me to stay out of her personal life. For what it’s worth, I like Hunter. And from what I can tell, he’s really into you.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  He leaned across the counter so they were nose to nose. “Hunter left about ten minutes before you arrived this morning and asked me if I would mind if he dated you.”

  Jana’s jaw dropped open. “He came to see you when I was trying to keep it quiet? That little—”

  “Before you go all bat-shit crazy on him, he said you’d already told everyone else. Besides, if you told him not to speak to me specifically, then you’ve got to give the guy credit. He’s got bigger balls than most.”

  “I never told him not to talk to you specifically, and I told him last night that I already told the girls.”

  “Listen, if it helps, I already knew that you two were together, like I said. The guy risked the wrath of the Beast coming down on him, which is bad enough. But it sounds like he also risked an argument with you for asking. Want to hear what he said that won me over?”

  “Oh God. Do I even want to know?” Jana closed her eyes for a beat. When she opened them Brock was chuckling. “Just for the record, he’s going to be sorry for going behind my back.” She was only half kidding.

  “Hey, the guy did a stand-up thing. And it sounds like he waited until you told everyone else.” Brock narrowed his eyes. “Which, by the way, tells me where I stand with you, little sister.”

  “No, it doesn’t. I just hadn’t seen you since I told the girls. Besides, they pretty much guessed. It’s not like I announced it.”

  “Fair enough.” Brock smiled, and she knew his feelings weren’t really hurt. “He said he’d wanted to talk to me sooner but that you weren’t ready, and he apologized for keeping it from me. He could have hidden your relationship forever, but now that I know that it was you trying to keep it a secret, I guess I can see how that would be hard for a guy like Hunter.”

  “What does that mean? A guy like Hunter?” Feeling protective of Hunter, her fingers curled tightly around her bag.

  “Just that he said hiding your relationship wasn’t in the game plan for him. That he used to be a guy who would do that, but that with you, he wanted to be a better man. A stand-up guy was how he put it. And while he might not have told me the whole truth—that you two were already dating—what he did say, baby sister, said it all.”

  Half an hour later Jana walked into Hunter’s shop, determined to talk to him about telling Brock before she had a chance to. Regardless of the wonderful things he’d said, she was still slightly annoyed.

  “Hey, Jana.” Clark turned from where he was working on the computer. “Thanks for helping Hunter out the other night. Nina and I really appreciated the time together.”

  “It was fun. Billy is really cute, and I hope you and Nina are doing okay.” She glanced at the photo on the desk of Clark, Nina, and Billy, and it warmed her to see them smiling.

  “We’re working on it. At least we’re talking now. That’s a start.” He rose from his seat and pushed open the door to the shop. “Go on back. Just stay away from the forge.”

  Jana peeked around him at the interior of the shop. She’d always been fascinated by their work and had been thrilled when Hunter told her that he’d designed the dresser handles and curtain rod she had in her bedroom. But she’d never actually seen Hunter in action. She’d never been inside his workshop, and it was nothing like she’d expected. The walls were made of old barn wood and the floors were concrete. She thought it would feel cold, because she’d always assimilated metal with cold in her mind, but there was nothing cold about the space. Besides the large pieces of equipment that looked complicated and sturdy, there were several long tables, both wooden and metal. Heavy anvils were set upon enormous tree trunks, giving the workshop an old-fashioned feel.

  She spotted Grayson first, standing at the forge, holding something over the red-hot coals, and then she saw Hunter leaning over a table near the back of the room. His back was to her, his shirt stretched tight over his muscles. She suddenly felt like she was interrupting him for something that wasn’t nearly as important as concentrating on his work.

  Grayson turned to set the glowing red metal clamped in the end of what looked like heavy iron tongs on an anvil. He lifted his safety goggles and raised his chin. “Hey, Jana. Come on back.”

  Hunter turned, and the surprise in his eyes quickly faded as a smile spread across his lips, instantly warming her all over. Her annoyance at his talking to Brock faded with each step as he closed the distance between them.

  “Hey there.” He leaned in for a kiss. “I wasn’t expecting to see you. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I, um. I just came from boxing practice.”

  “Ah,” he said, as if he knew why she’d come. “Let’s go into my office and talk.” He turned to his brother and said, “We’ll be right back.”

  He led her around the equipment, and when they passed the table he’d been leaning over, she glanced over and stopped to get a better look.

  Hunter followed her gaze. “It’s just something I was working on for you.”

  “For me?” she asked softly, her eyes focusing on the script lettering, which read, Jana’s Dance Studio. Her eyes shot to his. Ohmygod.

  “There’s only
you, pretty girl.” He placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her toward the table.

  Her heartbeat quickened as she took in the distressed metal mounted on planks of rustic wood. Delicate metal flowers were sprinkled over the upper right corner of the sign, and beautiful lettering that curled at the edges spelled out her hopes and dreams. Hunter had created an image of a dancer with her hand over her head and her legs crossed as she stood on her toes and arched back gracefully. The time he must have put into the sign and the thoughtfulness of the design brought her emotions rushing forth. Her eyes dampened, and when she lifted her gaze to his, she felt herself tumbling into the well of affection she saw there.

  “Do you like it?” His eyes filled with hope.

  “Hunter,” she said breathlessly. “Like doesn’t even come close to how much I adore it. You must be so busy, and you still went to all this trouble.”

  He stepped closer, tucking the lock of hair she was nervously twirling behind her ear. “Baby, you have revitalized my creativity.” He lowered his voice and said, “In more ways than one,” with a seductive tone. “There’s nothing I’d rather do than make a sign for my girl.”

  My girl. The words swirled inside her.

  “Thank you. I…No one has ever done anything like this for me before, and you’ve already given so much of yourself. You’re letting me rent the space, and—”

  “Baby, don’t you get it?” He searched her eyes. He did that a lot lately, searching for answers that she thought only he could see. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” He lowered his lips to hers.

  “Grayson?” she said against his mouth, wondering how she could have ever doubted that they were right for each other.

  Hunter smiled. “He left when you looked at me like you wanted to tear my clothes off.”

  His mouth moved over hers, swallowing her laugh in a smoldering kiss that left her head spinning and her body humming.

  “What did you come to tell me?” he asked, gazing at her sweetly.

  His words were still swirling in her mind—Baby, don’t you get it? There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you—making any further thought, beyond her need for another kiss, impossible.

  “Nothing important,” she whispered as she went up on her toes, and he met her in another soul-binding kiss.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  THE COOKOUT WITH their friends and siblings was exactly what Jana needed. Hunter was glad he’d pushed her to go, when he knew all she’d really wanted to do was climb into bed and forget about the hellish time she’d had giving her notice to Marco. He watched her laughing with the girls as she bounced baby Hannah on her hip.

  “She looks pretty natural with a baby.” Pete draped an arm over his younger brother’s shoulder and lowered his voice before saying, “You know, babies are contagious.”

  Hunter laughed. “Funny. When my oldest brother gave me the sex talk, he made it perfectly clear how to avoid that situation. Maybe you should have taken your own advice.”

  Pete looked down at Bea sleeping soundly in the playpen. “She’s the best thing that’s ever happened in my life, besides Jenna, of course.”

  “I never thought I’d say this about any woman, but that’s how I feel about Jana. My girl has changed my life in too many ways to count.” Bea sighed softly in her sleep and Hunter’s heart squeezed, knowing, without a shadow of a doubt, that if Jana were to get pregnant, he’d be proud to step up to the plate, marry her, and raise their children together. His eyes sought Jana again, and when he saw her whispering something to Amy, he imagined coming home to her every night, waking with her every morning, and he realized…they were already there.

  “That’s how you know she’s the one. Before Jenna, I never really gave women the time of day, like you.” Pete leaned in closer and said, “Grayson’s the same way. Matt and Sky are the only normal ones in our family when it comes to dating.”

  “The hell with that,” Hunter said. “I think it’s totally normal to wait for the right woman.”

  Blue and Grayson crossed in front of Jana as they neared.

  Grayson’s eyes jumped between Hunter and Pete. “Why does it look like you guys are talking about me?”

  “We were. I was thinking that since the sculpture and the model of the gazebo are almost done, I could swindle you, Blue, and Pete to help me get the space out on Route 6 ready for Jana’s studio.” He knew that seeing progress, having her vision come to fruition, would help ease the pain of still having to finish out her four-week commitment to Marco.

  “I can swing it,” Grayson said.

  “For Jana? Absolutely,” Blue said. “I can move my schedule around and clear a few days, but you need a permit.”

  “Already done. I got it when I first mentioned it to her.”

  “Pretty sure of himself, isn’t he?” Grayson said to Blue.

  Hunter lifted his chin in a silent miss you as Jana smiled from across the quad. “Always.” He nudged Pete. “You free to help?”

  “Why not. This could be fun.” Pete eyed Caden, who was bouncing Summer on his shoulder a few feet away. He raised his voice and said, “As long as Caden will be there wearing his sexy tool belt and boots.”

  “Anything for you, sweetheart,” Caden called to Pete.

  Ten minutes later they’d recruited Jamie, Kurt, Sawyer, and Tony and had a plan to meet the next morning to begin the renovations.

  ***

  “IT’S TIME,” JENNA whispered in Jana’s ear. It was nearly midnight and the babies were asleep in their playpens on Bella’s deck.

  “But Theresa is here, and she was nice enough to consider letting me use that space. I don’t want to upset her.” Jana had seen Theresa down by the pool earlier, locking the gate.

  “She went to bed hours ago,” Bella said. “We’re not going to wake her, and besides, I’m done pranking. Chunky-dunking is not a prank.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s definitely against the community rules,” Jessica pointed out.

  “Yeah, but I guess it’s not really a prank. Besides, it’s tradition. Come on,” Amy said, carrying a bunch of towels. “The guys will watch the babies, and I’ve got…” She pulled a tube of cookie dough out from beneath the stack of towels. “Cookie dough!”

  “Okay, but I’ll feel really bad if she catches us after how nice she was to me.” Jana followed them down to the pool.

  It was so dark that they couldn’t see but a few feet in front of them. They clung to one another, whispering about the babies and how they needed this break. They huddled together as Jessica unlocked the gate, because she was deemed to have the softest touch. And she did, because she made almost no noise whatsoever as she held it open for the girls to pass through. They pulled the gate closed behind them.

  Jenna began taking her clothes off right there by the gate, while the others hurried down to the other side of the pool, where the steps were, and stripped in silence.

  “Here I come,” Jenna whispered loudly as she ran naked from one end of the pool to the other, making the rest of them laugh.

  They descended the steps in a huddle of giggles and hushes.

  “This is frigging cold!” Bella whispered.

  “Shh. Just get in. You’ll get warm soon.” Amy gave Bella a little shove, sending her sprawling into the water, chest deep, earning more laughter and another round of shushes.

  They formed a circle in the middle of the pool, treading water while Leanna and Jessica gathered the Styrofoam noodles and handed one to each of the girls.

  “I feel so privileged to be included in your chunky-dunking, but I have to tell you. I can’t believe you do this all the time and the guys behave. Honestly, I can’t believe Hunter didn’t follow me down here.” Jana had never been chunky-dunking with them before, but Sky had told her all about their midnight jaunts into the pool.

  “Speaking of Hunter,” Jenna said. “Ames, grab the cookie dough. I want to ply her with sweets so she spills her guts.”

  “I’m on it!” A
my swam to the edge of the pool to retrieve the cookie dough.

  “He’s my brother,” Sky reminded them. “Please be discreet with the things I definitely don’t want to know.”

  “Like I’d share the yummiest parts of him with anyone?” Jana thought about the way he looked at her, like he wanted to consume her and care for her at once, and the things he said that made her heart turn inside out.

  Amy handed her the cookie dough. “Yummier than this?”

  “Sorry, girls, but…definitely!” Jana took a hunk of cookie dough and passed the rest to Leanna. “But don’t worry, Sky. There’s plenty of PG stuff I can share, like how in the heck we’ve come so far so fast. It seems like just yesterday we were fighting over everything, and we only fell into bed when we were arguing—”

  Sky held her hand up and said in a harsh whisper, “No bed talk. Brother, brother, brother.”

  “I wasn’t going there,” Jana whispered. “What I mean is, your brother surprises me every single day. I never knew I could care about anyone as deeply, or as fast, as I’m falling for Hunter.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Bella said quietly. “Love has a way of finding us even when we don’t want to be found.”

  “You can say that again,” Leanna said. “With Kurt I feel like I’ve discovered who I really am for the first time.”

  “That’s it exactly,” Jana said, forgetting to whisper.

  “Shh!” Jenna and Bella said in unison. “You’ll wake Theresa.”

  Jana cringed. “Sorry,” she whispered. “But that’s exactly it. He calls me on my shit, but he does it in the most wonderful ways.”

  “Aww.” Amy reached for the cookie dough. “That’s so sweet.”

  Theresa’s porch light went on, and all the girls gasped.

  “Get to the far end of the pool,” Bella whispered.

  They huddled together in the corner of the pool.

  “Get your boobs off of me,” Bella whispered to Jenna.

  “Oh, like I can control them?” Jenna giggled.

  “Shh!” Amy put her hand over Jenna’s mouth.