by Addison Cole
Too nervous to read either yet, she closed her laptop. Pepper scratched at the door as Bella barreled in behind him, wearing her bathing suit beneath a sarong, her thick hair tamed in a high ponytail.
“Hey there, girlfriend. You’re finally up. Were you up having phone sex all night?”
“No. Mental sex. Oh gosh, you know what? Kurt doesn’t even have my phone number. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure where my cell phone is.” She looked around the cottage, trying to remember the last time she’d used it.
“That’s the thing about the Cape. No one uses their cells.” Bella turned on the teakettle.
Leanna ran her hand through her hair. “Weird, isn’t it? It’s like when we’re here, watches and cell phones don’t exist. I swear I only use my email for checking on those proposals, too. But I really like living less electronically.”
“Do batteries count? Because I’m not giving up that little electronic toy anytime soon.”
Leanna shook her head as she filled Pepper’s bowls with clean water and fresh food. “I got emails from the two grocery places.”
Pepper shoved his nose in his bowl until half of the food fell over the rim and onto the floor. Then he lay down and ate the pieces off the floor.
Bella’s eyes widened. “And?”
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t opened them.”
“Well, why not?” Bella reached for the computer, and Leanna gripped it tight.
“Because. What if they both aren’t interested? Then I’m screwed.”
“Screwed? You’re kidding, right? You know that those are just two tiny places in this big wide world. You could submit proposals to hundreds of places anywhere in the United States.”
“I know. I’m just nervous. I really love making jam. Isn’t that completely crazy? I mean, it’s messy, sticky, not anywhere near a real career, and something about it makes me happy.” She shrugged.
“Most things in life that are fun are messy and sticky.” Bella winked and handed Leanna a cup of coffee. “Speaking of which…”
Leanna turned back to her computer to avoid answering Bella’s need for details about sex with Kurt. “Let’s see what the markets said.”
“That bad, huh?”
“No.” Leanna looked up at her with a smile. “That good.”
“Whew. After what you said about being off with your timing, I had awful images in my head of things a friend should never think of.”
“You’re so weird.” Leanna laughed.
“So? It wasn’t awkward? I told you, guys don’t care about all that.”
Leanna sat back and sipped her coffee. “I think they do care. At least the ones I’ve been with. Most guys get all irritated, like you just ruined all their fun. But Kurt didn’t.”
“Maybe you’re not as awkward as you think and the other guys were jerks.”
“No.” Leanna shook her head. “I’m definitely out of sync with most men, but Kurt…Oh geez, this is kind of embarrassing. Can we just look at the emails?”
“Nope.” Bella reached over and closed the laptop. “I haven’t had a date in weeks. Let me live vicariously through you.”
Leanna sighed. “He helped me. He was tender, and attentive, and sexy, and…” She felt herself smile. “I don’t know. It was just different with him. I’ve never felt so close to anyone in my life.”
“Wow. That good, huh? I want one of those. Does he have a brother? A father? A cousin?” Bella crossed her legs. “You wouldn’t want to share, would you?”
“No way. Not a chance. But you know me. He probably won’t be around for long. He’s got his whole life in order, and I…”
“Oh, stop it. Open your computer and let’s see what’s going on with your life.”
Leanna checked the email from Mama’s Market first. “Oh. My. Gosh. They want to meet with me this week.” She looked up at Bella. “Oh no. Bella!” She jumped to her feet and paced. “Now what? I never thought they’d want to actually meet with me.”
“What did you think? That you’d just give up? That you were wasting your time? Then why’d you send the proposals?” Bella turned the laptop toward her. “Let’s see what the other one said.” She clicked on the email from Daisy Chain.
Leanna held her breath.
“Check it out, Lea. They want to meet with you next week!”
“Next week? This week? I have the flea market Friday, so that leaves tomorrow or Thursday. I have so much to do. What should I do?” She sat down, then popped right back up again. “I need to answer them. I can meet with them Thursday, and that gives me today to go pick fresh berries and gather supplies and tomorrow to make fresh batches of jam. Good.” She paced again with Pepper on her heels. “I can do this. I can definitely do this.” She stopped pacing and looked at Bella.
“You can do this, Leanna. You can definitely do this.”
KURT HAD BEEN riding the dark torrent of his villain all afternoon, and by the time his alarm chimed at four, his muscles were so tense that his fingers ached. Thrillers were emotionally intense, and after spending all day writing, he was often in too dark of a mood to climb out of easily. That was the danger of writing thrillers and, Kurt admitted to himself, one of the reasons he never sought out relationships. He was also a smart man, a man who did his research and thought things through before jumping into them. He liked to know where he was heading in his life, and his belief in always having the best-laid plans rarely led him astray, which is why his attraction to Leanna totally threw his equilibrium off.
He stood on the deck and looked out over the water. The tide was on its way out, leaving trails of shells and seaweed behind. He thought about making love to Leanna on the beach, and a thrum of excitement ran through him. She was a little awkward, and her timing was a little off, but with his help and the right encouragement, they’d found their rhythm and fell into wonderful, blissful sync. The truth was, he loved that she was a little off. That’s what made Leanna, Leanna. Real. Unique. More special than any other woman he knew. Anyone could study the art of lovemaking and learn sensual tricks to heighten the experience, but not many women were brave enough to allow themselves to be who they were without extra layers of fabricated sensuality.
He made a mental check of his current emotional state as he stretched the tension from his limbs. Thinking of Leanna helped put him in a lighter frame of mind, but the villain was still tugging at the fringes of his nerves. He went inside and up to the small weight room, where he ran through a quick workout of his biceps, triceps, and chest, and for good measure, he worked in a few sets of abs exercises. Forty minutes later, his head was much clearer and his body craved Leanna.
He took a cold shower, threw on a pair of khaki shorts and a white T-shirt, and headed over to Seaside. He heard the music as he pulled into the community, and as he neared Leanna’s, he realized it was coming from her cottage. He followed the sound onto her deck and to her screen door. The music was so loud he could barely hear her and her girlfriends talking. Every square inch of counter was covered with cooling jars of jam, and on the stove was a giant pot. Leanna wore a bikini top and a miniskirt—and about a pound of jam.
Pepper barked, and Leanna turned with a spoon in one hand and a streak of dark red jam across her cheek that Kurt wanted to lick right off.
She gasped. “Is it five or six already?” She turned down the radio and let him in, then lifted up on her tiptoes to kiss him.
“You taste sweeter than sweet.” Kurt licked his lips and then went in for another kiss.
“I taste good, too. Wanna taste?” Bella hollered above the music with a wiggly wave of her fingers.
“No,” Leanna answered for him. She took his hand and led him farther inside the crowded cottage. “I’m so sorry. I lost track of time, but I came up with a new flavor.”
“She’s meeting with Mama’s Market on Thursday,” Jenna explained while struggling to confine her breasts in a bikini top that looked like two thongs trying to trap Beyoncé’s butt against her chest.
With the smell of sugar in the air, her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, and wearing streaks of jam like camouflage, he couldn’t help but wrap his arms around Leanna from behind and kiss her cheek.
“Mama’s Market? That’s impressive. Congratulations.”
Feeling proud, she turned to him. “Guess what else?”
“You came up with a new flavor?” Then he leaned down and kissed the jam from her cheek. “Strawberry and something?”
She blushed and stumbled backward, knocking the spoon from her hand onto his white shirt. “Oh gosh.” She reached for a towel.
Kurt gently grabbed her wrist. “Slow down and tell me.”
“Strawberry-apricot, but that’s not what I was going to tell you. Daisy Chain wants to meet with me next week about carrying my jams.” Her smile reached her eyes, and Kurt pulled her close.
“Ah, babe. That’s fantastic. I’m so happy for you.” When he pulled back, the streak of red jam that was on his shirt left a trail between her breasts. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it as all sorts of dirty, sticky ideas came to mind. Dirty and sticky had never been words that he’d found alluring, but when he was with Leanna, everything he thought he knew about himself was beginning to look different, and after last night, he doubted there was much he wouldn’t consider trying with her.
“So, what’s your plan?” he asked.
“Plan?” She washed the spoon that had fallen and was dabbing at his shirt with a wet sponge, deepening the stain in the process. “I’m going to bring the new stock of jam with me and talk to them.”
“Do you have brochures? A marketing plan to show them?”
She looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language and went back to work on the jam on his shirt, which was now ground into it.
He pulled the shirt over his head and was rewarded with gasps from the other women as he rinsed it under cold water.
“Now we’re talkin’,” Bella teased.
“Where have you been all my life?” Jenna added.
“You guys, that’s Leanna’s boyfriend. Give him a break.” Amy placed her hand over the tattoo on his arm. “Sorry, just had to touch him once. Now he’s all yours.”
“Oh my gosh. Sorry, Kurt. And he’s not my boyfriend,” Leanna said.
Kurt’s hands froze beneath the water. He looked up at her and saw the worry in her eyes. “I’m not?”
“Well, I mean, we didn’t talk about it.”
“Hey, girls. Let’s go walk Pepper.” Amy dragged the others out of the cottage. Pepper followed on their heels.
“You’re right. We didn’t talk about it. I’m sorry.” Kurt rinsed his shirt, trying to ignore the tightening of his gut. Maybe he had jumped the gun. He grabbed the baking soda he’d given her and worked his shirt clean. “I didn’t mean to assume…”
Leanna leaned her back against the counter, her eyes trained on the towel clenched between her hands. “I know. Do you want that?”
“To be your boyfriend?” Oh, yes.
Her eyes remained trained on the towel. “I haven’t had a real boyfriend in forever.”
“I haven’t had a real girlfriend in years, and I didn’t realize I was even thinking in terms of boyfriend and girlfriend until just now.” He leaned his hip against the sink and placed his hand on top of hers. He felt them relax beneath his touch.
“Yes. I want to be your boyfriend, Leanna. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I feel something for you that I’ve never experienced before.”
Her lips curved up. She lifted her worried hazel eyes.
“Even after I ruined your shirt?”
“Even after you ruined my shirt.”
He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her like he’d been wanting to since he left last night. Leanna dropped the towel to the floor and cupped the back of his neck, deepening the kiss. Her touch sent heat right through him. He buried his hands in her hair, kissing her hungrily. Without thinking, he lifted her into his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Bedroom,” she said against his lips.
He carried her into the bedroom and kicked the door shut. Kurt couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman the way he wanted Leanna. He longed to be close to her. Her friends’ voices filtered through the window screen, and he pulled back, breathing heavily.
“We can’t. Your friends. Your jam.”
She nodded. “Right. Bad idea, unless we want three sets of eyes watching us while they eat popcorn outside the bedroom window.”
“Popcorn?”
“My friends, they’ll…Never mind.” She leaned her forehead on his. “The bathroom.”
“What?” Oh yes. Of course, yes. Anywhere.
“Bathroom. There’s no window in there.”
“Your jams?”
“They’re cooling. The stove is off.” She kissed him and said, “Bathroom,” in a breathy voice.
He carried her into the bathroom, and with the door closed and locked—because Bella knows no boundaries—Kurt hooked his thumb into Leanna’s skirt and drew it down, then stepped from his shorts.
Leanna whispered, “I want to be your girlfriend.”
It was another first for him. He wanted Leanna in his life, even if it meant giving up a few hours of writing each day.
Chapter Thirteen
BY THE TIME they took a quick shower and dressed, the sun had nearly set. Thankfully, Leanna knew her friends would allow them whatever privacy they needed and care for Pepper without complaint. She had enjoyed showering with Kurt and dressing together, though Kurt remained shirtless. He was so much more relaxed than when they’d first met. She began noticing all sorts of things she had missed, like the way he watched her when he thought she wasn’t looking and the quirky smile when she caught him staring. She loved the way his eyes went dark and intense before they kissed and how his hands were always finding their way to her in some way—reaching for her hand, her hips, her shoulder. Now he was reaching for a jar. She knew it had to be killing him to have the kitchen in such disarray. She touched his hand.
“We can’t move them. They have to cool overnight.”
“Really? You’ll just leave them out here? What if you need your counter? Or your table?”
He furrowed his brow in the serious way that Leanna was quickly coming to love, because what seemed serious in his eyes was never serious in hers.
She shrugged. “I have the table on the deck.” She moved to the sink to scrub the big tub, and Kurt embraced her.
“Let me do that.”
“I can do it.”
“I know you can. I want to. You can do whatever else needs to be done.”
She felt his eyes on her as she moved through the cottage gathering the utensils she needed to run through the dishwasher and the dish towels she needed to wash.
“I like having you here,” she admitted.
“Yeah? I like being here.” He smiled over his shoulder at her.
She was drawn to his thoughtfulness, this man who had a whole life without her and was finding ways to fit her in. She ran her hands up his flanks and over his shoulders; then she pressed her cheek to his back. His skin was warm, his muscles firm, and though he’d used her body wash, his masculine scent came through.
“Do you need any help preparing for the meeting with the market?” he asked.
Preparing? Even the thought of preparing made her stomach queasy. She sucked at preparing, and besides, this was a jam and jelly business, not a million-dollar corporation. “No, I’m ready. Just nervous.”
“They’ll love you.”
“It’s my products I hope they love.” She leaned on the counter beside him as he handed her a tub to dry and began washing another. She hoped the market did love her. It would be that much easier to sell them on carrying her product if they liked her as a person.
“How was your writing today?”
He turned off the water and began drying the tub he’d just washed. “Great. I was really inspired and wrote
a few suspenseful chapters. Dark and scary.”
“How can you write dark and scary? Doesn’t it creep you out?”
He set down the tub and picked up his T-shirt from the counter. “Nope. I mean, it puts me in a dark frame of mind for a while, but it doesn’t scare me.”
Leanna placed her hands on his gloriously sexy chest. “I should tell you that while it’s totally cool that you write thrillers, I am so not a thriller reader. I don’t like scary stuff, but I respect what you do.”
“Somehow that does not come as a surprise.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Where’s your laundry?”
She knew he was expecting her to have a central laundry basket with a tidy little pile of laundry. She trapped her lip in her teeth instead of answering.
“This, I have to see.”
She took his hand and brought him into the bedroom; then she led him to the far side of the bed, where there were two piles of clothes. She pointed to them as she spoke. “Clean. Dirty.” She wondered if he might turn and leave. Just like that. See ya. It’s been fun, but you’re a mess.
“You’re kidding, right?” He had an amused look on his face—eyes wide, lips curled slightly up in disbelief.
“Nope.”
In one swift move, he picked her up and laid her on the bed, then settled in on top of her. “You need me in your life.”
Oh, yeah, I do. “I don’t need any man in my life. But I want you in it.”
“Fair enough.” He eyed the laundry. “Does your laundry room take quarters or dollars?”
“Quarters.” She pointed to a plastic container full of quarters on the dresser.
“Mind if I throw in your whites?”
“That’s like me asking if you mind if I sweep your deck.” Only better, because you’ll do a good job and I can’t sweep worth a darn.
He kissed her again and pulled her up by her hand. “I know better than to ask you to sweep anything. Come on. We’ll do it together, so your girlfriends don’t think you’ve hired me as your houseboy.”
“They’re more likely to think I’ve hired you as a sex slave.” She swatted his butt as he bent over to pick up her laundry.