by Donna Alward
He fell in step beside her. “Nice arm, by the way.”
“You weren’t expecting that, were you?” She laughed softly.
“No, I wasn’t. Where’d you learn to throw like that?”
She looked over at him. “I played competitive ball for a while. Even made the Canada Games team. Catcher. I could nail second from a squat.”
“You’re full of surprises, Givens.”
A warm curl of pleasure wound its way through her. “You have no idea, Symonds.” He’d been a good sport too. She hadn’t exactly been fair in her assessment of him, she realized. So far he’d made her breakfast, been cooperative, cooked hamburgers for charity and allowed himself to be publicly humiliated for the same cause. “I’m sorry about earlier,” she said. It had been easier to say than she expected. “I know you think it’s personal, but it’s truly not, Jake.”
He sighed. “Well, maybe it is, but it’s about you and not me. I’m smart enough to figure that out.”
Alarm jolted through her. How could he possibly see that? She’d never breathed a syllable to lead him to that conclusion, had she? But he was right. It was personal. She’d seen alcohol destroy first her family and then countless others. It was impossible to ignore that he played a role in that simply by owning the kind of business he did.
“Are you looking for me to tell you you’re right?” She forced a smile, trying to lighten things up. “It’ll never happen.”
“Oh, don’t say never. That just makes me want to prove you wrong.”
The devilish, teasing note was back in his voice. It was surprising to find she’d missed it. “Duly noted.”
“You got any friends, Constable?”
It was an odd question, and she popped the top of the can to prolong answering. She took a sip and considered. “Of course I have friends.”
“Good friends? Or acquaintances?” Puzzled, she paused and looked over at him. “I don’t understand.”
He shrugged, opened his own can with a pop and hiss. “Well, acquaintances are people you know, talk to, work with, yada yada. But friends…friends are people you actually share things with. Hang out with. Enjoy downtime. You got any of those?”
“Not really. There are my coworkers, but…”
“But?”
She sighed. “I’m not the besties type, that’s all.” She never had been either. It had been easier just to be alone, without having to explain anything. Easier when they moved time and time again if she didn’t have anyone to truly miss. If you never got close to someone, you never had to worry about saying goodbye, did you?
“Me either,” he said. “The closest I have to real friends are the guys I served with. And those guys are either still in, or gone, or live somewhere else.”
They were nearly to her car. “Come on, Jake. Everyone knows you, everyone likes you.”
“Not everyone,” he said knowingly.
“It’s not that I dislike you,” she clarified. “Maybe I just don’t understand your choices.”
“See? That’s what I’m talking about. After you left the other day I realized that it’s probably something personal for you.”
“That’s presuming a lot.”
“Maybe. Of course, I thought for a minute that there was a chance you just really didn’t like me, but then I knew that was impossible.”
“Your ego isn’t suffering, I see.” Oh my. She was bantering with Jake and she was enjoying it. This really should stop. Other than working his case, she should have nothing to do with him. They were too different. She could never condone his choice of living.
“My ego is just fine.” He winked at her, popping a dimple. “I don’t exactly believe that your…disdain is probably the best word I can think of. I don’t believe it’s about the night you put me in jail. I deserved it. I was an idiot. A drunk idiot who deliberately provoked you from the back of your cruiser.”
He had. The suggestion he’d made regarding her handcuffs still made her blush. “So that’s not the real you?”
“Oh, it was the real me then. I was pretty messed up. Home on leave, didn’t want to go back, my head screwed up… I was blowing off steam.”
The head-screwed-up bit was the part that caught her attention. She knew he’d done a few deployments, but he’d always seemed so carefree and, well, disgustingly charming around town. Was there more to him than the cocky ex-soldier? She wondered what he’d seen. What he’d done. If he’d really struggled when he’d come back.
If he still did. She knew better than anyone that you couldn’t escape your past.
“And you want me to know this why?”
They reached her car and she stopped, rested her butt against the back door of her cruiser. The angle made her that much shorter than Jake’s full height, and she had to look quite a ways up to meet his gaze.
“Damned if I know,” he said softly, his hazel eyes searching hers. “Except I think you formed an opinion that night. One that you still hold against me every time you get a call from one of my staff. I promise you,” he continued as one corner of his mouth quirked upward deliciously, “I don’t run around the parking lot in my underwear or make lewd suggestions about handcuff fantasies anymore.”
A smile flirted with her lips.
“At least not in public.”
Damn him. She didn’t want to laugh but couldn’t help it.
“That’s better,” he said, resting his weight on one hip and taking a long drink of pop. She watched his throat bob as he swallowed and her mouth went dry. There was no use pretending Jake Symonds wasn’t gorgeous. He was.
“What’s better?”
“A smile. I wasn’t sure if you remembered how. Well, except when you dumped me in the water this afternoon. You seemed to enjoy that well enough.”
She had, and there was no sense denying it. “Well, now I’ve smiled, so it’s time I left.” She boosted herself away from the door and took her keys from her pocket.
“What are you doing next Sunday?”
The question took her by surprise, and she hesitated with her hand on the door handle, turning her head to look at him. He wasn’t smiling now. In fact, he looked dead serious, his full, bowed lips unsmiling and his eyes earnest, without the saucy teasing she normally saw there.
“Why?”
“Just wondering if you have the day off. If you…well, hell,” he said sheepishly, after a long pause. “If you aren’t busy…”
“You asking me on a date, Jake?”
“And if I were?”
She shook her head. “Why on earth would you want to go out on a date with me?” It wasn’t like they had anything in common. They argued more than anything else. Though she had to admit, she was starting to sort of enjoy their arguing.
He took a step closer. “Oh, I don’t know.” He started ticking reasons off on his fingers. “We’re both single, about the same age, living in the same town. You’re beautiful, and even though we appear to argue a lot, I think we both enjoy it.”
He thought she was beautiful? But he always saw her in her uniform, which was about as un-feminine as it got. And her hair was always pulled back and braided for work. She was hardly what she would consider beautiful.
But the fact was she wanted to say yes, and that scared the hell out of her. Jake stood for just about everything she detested. How could she go on a date with him?
“Won’t you have to be at the pub?”
“We aren’t open on Sundays.”
“Why not?”
He smiled. “My employees have families and lives too. They deserve a day to themselves without having to worry if they’re on shift.”
Another surprise. Damned if he wasn’t busting through a lot of her preconceptions today.
“Come on, Kendra. We’ll keep it simple. A Sunday afternoon at the beach. A little R and R.”
It did sound good. And a few hours at the beach wasn’t really heavy-duty date material, was it? She’d been longing for such an afternoon for days now. He was making
it very difficult to come up with a really good reason to say no.
Of course, it would also mean seeing Jake without his shirt. The idea had a certain level of attraction—if her memory was accurate and today’s display was any indication. At least the beach would be public. Safety in numbers was looking pretty attractive right about now.
“I don’t know, Jake. You’ve taken me a bit by surprise here.”
“Hmm,” he mused, tilting his head like he was trying to puzzle her out. “You wouldn’t be chicken, would you?”
“Afraid of going out with you? That’s absurd.” She sniffed. “Fine,” she said. “The beach.”
“Meet me at the pub at noon, and I’ll drive from there,” he suggested. “And I’ll pack us a lunch.”
It was hard to argue with a man who looked like he did and threw a picnic into the deal. “Noon,” she confirmed, trying her best to look nonchalant. Inside there was a bubbly feeling fizzing around in her stomach, like she’d just been asked to the prom by the cutest boy in school.
She was nearly thirty years old. She should be too old for those sorts of feelings. Except she’d never been asked to the prom, or gone to any school dance…ever.
She got in the car and put the key in the ignition. As she drove away, she checked her rear-view mirror. He was still standing there holding the pop can in his hands.
She had just agreed to a date with him. What more confirmation did she need that she was crazy?
Chapter Three
There was no other professional reason for Kendra to see Jake now. The teens responsible for the break and enter and theft had been caught thanks to Jake’s description of the car. Someone else had given him the news while she was off shift. She’d also been right in that the money and alcohol were long gone. But with the investigation now closed, it was definitely clear as day that Sunday’s outing was a date.
A date with Jake Symonds. Lord help her.
She fiddled with her bathing suit straps in front of the mirror. It was a modest, cover-it-up type suit that wasn’t nearly as cute or sexy as the two-piece ones she saw on the beach these days or hanging from the hangers at the shops. Those scraps of fabric would be just about like standing in front of Jake—and everyone else—in her underwear. Right, like that was ever going to happen. Her suit was in two pieces, but the top was a black halter style that skimmed her ribs until it met the band of the bottoms. Only when she raised her arms could she see any skin around her middle, and that was a small strip only an inch wide.
She could add prude to her list of flaws, too, she supposed.
She checked her watch. Five to twelve. She had to get moving, so she pulled on a pair of cut-offs and a T-shirt, threw sunscreen and a towel in a tote bag, slid her sunglasses on her face and her feet into flip-flops.
When she got to the pub the front door was unlocked and she went inside, pausing to let her eyes adjust to the dimness. It was dark, but a radio played somewhere, the pop tune echoing through the lonely space. She shouldered her bag again and peered through to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Jake, putting items in a cooler as he whistled along with the music.
“Hey,” she said.
He jumped at the sound of her voice. The smile she expected to see was absent, replaced instead by a momentary wild look before he dropped his chin. He focused on whatever was on the counter in front of him, hiding most of his face from her view.
“Sorry,” she offered quietly. She’d seen that look before. Usually when someone was cornered. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
He shook his head. “Didn’t hear you come in. I’ve got the sat radio on. I’m almost ready here.”
He zipped the cover of the insulated bag and disconnected his satellite radio from the dock. When he came around the corner, he paused for a moment and looked her over from head to toe. “You look different without the uniform.”
“I would hope so,” she responded, shifting under the intensity of his gaze. The shorts and shirt were old and faded, and she’d left her curly hair out of the braid she wore to work. The ocean wind would likely leave it in tangles, but she wore it up so much that letting it hang freely down her back felt like a treat.
Jake looked just as she expected—T-shirt, a different pair of board shorts and his flip-flops. His hair was shorter, slightly longer than a military cut but not much. She found she liked the crisp lines—especially the way they seemed to accentuate his eyes. They were, she realized, his best feature. Better now that the cloud of suspicion was gone from them. After what he’d said—and hadn’t said—at the fundraiser, she wondered if he still had issues with the time he’d spent overseas.
“You ready?” He lifted the cooler.
“Why not? I’m hungry.”
He grinned. “Of course you are. I’ve seen you eat. Let’s go then.”
She ignored his teasing about her big breakfast the other day and pushed the door open. Sun and heat touched her skin. “You realized you left this unlocked, right?”
Jake paused and took out his keys. “I knew you were coming and left it open for you. I’ll lock it now, don’t worry.” He turned the locks and then swept out a hand. “Your chariot awaits.”
He opened the passenger side door and she got in. His truck wasn’t brand new, but it was spotless. Jake got in and put the cooler between them, shutting the door with a satisfying slam.
Jake turned the ignition and exhaled, trying to slow the rapid beat of his heart. First of all, she’d scared him when she’d come into the pub so quietly. He still didn’t do well with surprises. He wasn’t sure that jumpiness would ever go away completely.
Then he’d come around the corner and had seen her there, all long, bare legs and wild hair and everything had gone hard on the spot.
If he’d thought her attractive before, she was downright beautiful with her hair falling around her shoulders and faded jean shorts cut off to just the right spot to fire a man’s imagination. Between the two surprises, he was one big bundle of jacked-up nerves.
Maybe what he’d planned for this afternoon wasn’t the smartest move after all. It would be better to be in public, wouldn’t it? Surrounded by other people and less tempted to look. To touch. He could always give her the option, he supposed, so as he put the truck in gear he looked over at her. “Saltwater or fresh?”
She smiled tentatively. “Salt. I like the wind and the roar. The ocean’s more…untamed, don’t you think?”
Oh God. She would turn out to be a wild one in some respects, wouldn’t she? That left out the lake, and Kingsport was bound to be busy. There was Blomidon, but the swimming wasn’t that great.
Avoiding the touristy crowd was why he’d asked a favor of a friend in the first place, thinking it a perfect idea. Idiot.
He swallowed. “The ocean it is.”
He drove them out past Canning and towards Kingsport, stopping at a driveway on the right and pulling in. “Where are we?” she asked. “The beach is still a few minutes up the road.”
He shut off the truck and turned in the seat, feeling suddenly sheepish. He’d thought a little privacy might be good—away from the prying eyes of people who were too nosy for their own good, and the general busyness of a public beach. Now he wondered what the heck she might read into his idea. He cleared his throat.
“Warm Sunday like this, the beach is bound to be crowded. A friend of the family lives here and told me ages ago I could use his access whenever I wanted. I thought you might like it better than fighting for beach space.”
He grimaced inwardly at how lame it sounded coming from his lips, but there it was. For a moment Kendra hesitated, but then she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door. “Come on then,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “High tide isn’t going to last all day.”
He flashed a grin as he got out and grabbed the cooler. Mark and his wife were gone camping for the weekend—Jake had called ahead—so they had the place to themselves. Kendra had already found the rock-bordered path leading to th
e edge of the grass and then the natural steps that dropped to the sandy beach below. He watched her from behind, admiring her form. She might be small-town law enforcement, but she took care of herself. He didn’t exactly mind muscles in a girl, especially when they were packaged with some feminine curves like hers were.
She spread out a towel and put her tote bag on it. “Swim first?” she asked.
“If that’s what you want.” For a woman who was so hesitant, she sure was in a hurry to get to the water. He wasn’t about to complain though, or think too much about it, because the next thing he knew she was stripping off her shorts and T-shirt.
His mouth went dry looking at her, and his tongue felt twisted into knots. There was nothing spectacular about her suit. It wasn’t particularly revealing in the general way men liked a bathing suit to be revealing. It was simple and solid black. But the bottoms skimmed her butt, curving over her hips deliciously. He’d bet a week’s profits that her ass was tight and muscled, just like the rest of her.
Well, almost all the rest. As she dropped the T-shirt onto the towel, his gaze dropped to the demure hint of cleavage revealed by the V-neck of the halter top. Her breasts were fuller than he expected, and the lycra suit skimmed her ribs and waist.
He was in big, big trouble. The flicker of attraction he’d been feeling was suddenly an all-out flame. He had the hots for Kendra Givens. Wasn’t life just full of surprises?
“Well, are you coming or not?”
He bit back the suggestive reply that rose to his tongue—she’d already formed an opinion about him and he certainly didn’t need to reinforce it. “Right behind you,” he said, slipping off his flip-flops and pulling his T-shirt over his head. People swam every day. People wore bathing suits every day. But today—with Kendra—he was pretty aware there wasn’t a whole lot of clothing between them.
The water was warmer than he expected, and he followed Kendra out into the waves. The roar of the ocean filled his ears, followed by the rhythmic splash of the breakers on the sand. She turned around and smiled at him a moment before taking a huge plunge and disappearing beneath the waves.