by Lori Foster
Honestly, other than regretting the interruption, she felt absolutely nothing at all.
What about that?
* * *
BRICK PACED IN the kitchen. Damn it, he did not want to leave Merrily alone in the living room. Not with Kyle.
Especially not now that he’d stopped thinking of her ex as a villain.
Seated at the kitchen table, Tonya and Jesse watched him with something close to sympathy. It irked.
“He’s a big guy,” Jesse noted.
“So?” Brick didn’t care if he was a linebacker. He wanted to kick him to the curb. Right now. Before he had a chance to schmooze his way back into Merrily’s good graces.
Over and over in his mind, he kept hearing her say she’d loved the guy, that she’d been hurt when he broke the engagement.
“From what I knew of him,” Jesse said, “I expected...I dunno...a dweeb, maybe.”
“He’s handsome,” Tonya stated, then caught herself. “I mean...well, like Jesse, I expected something different.”
“I don’t know why.” Both dogs followed Brick as he continued pacing the kitchen floor. “Merrily could have her pick of men.” And damn it, she’d picked him.
He hoped like hell she remembered that.
“He said he heard that her mother had passed,” Tonya whispered. “That’s why he’s here now.”
“He’s hoping to worm his way back in,” Jesse added. “Why are you in here?”
Brick shook his head. “She asked for a moment with him.” But even now, she looked a little distant, a little confused and he didn’t like it. “Gotta respect her wishes on that.” Even if it killed him.
When their voices rose, everyone froze to listen, even the dogs.
“You moved in with someone else, Kyle.”
“Only because you kept me at an emotional distance.”
“It was the physical distance you objected to.”
“Any man would, Merrily. Look at you.” Oozing sincerity, Kyle murmured, “It was torturous not having you.”
Merrily snorted.
But damn it, Brick had to agree—that would be torturous.
And because Jesse suffered it firsthand, he shifted easily. Tonya got up from the table to get a drink from the refrigerator.
“Merrily, honey, we were both different people then.”
“I haven’t changed,” she said.
“But you have,” Kyle argued. “Your situation has.”
Face going red and eyes narrowing, she whispered, “You mean because my mother is gone now?”
Kyle had the good sense to hesitate, but then he forged on. “You’re...free now.”
“Actually...I’m not.” She looked over her shoulder at Brick.
Taking that as a cue, Brick surged in. “No, she isn’t.” He put an arm around her and hauled her to his side in a possessive show. “Sorry, bud. Snooze, you lose.”
Kyle looked between them. He worked his jaw. “That didn’t take long.”
“Long enough for you to be a distant memory, pal.”
Merrily elbowed him for that brutal bit of truth—at least, it better be true.
She gave a sweet smile to her ex. “Really, Kyle, it’s past history. I’ve moved on. I don’t hold any ill feelings, and I hope you don’t, either.”
“I have only wonderful memories of you, Merrily.”
“Course you do,” Brick said. “Because she’s wonderful.” He crowded her in closer to his side. “And now she’s mine.”
“You don’t own her,” Kyle insisted.
“Nope, but I’m hoping to get her legally tied all right and tight, so don’t hold your breath waiting for me to screw up like you did.” He felt Merrily stiffen beside him, but so what? She had to find out his long-term intentions sooner or later. Now seemed like a really good time to him. “Then again, go ahead.” Brick smiled at her flummoxed ex. “Hold your breath, why don’t you?”
Merrily turned to stare up at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Send him away, and I’ll go to one knee to expound on things.”
With high color in her face, she rounded on her ex. “Sorry, Kyle, but I need you to go now.” She put a hand to his shoulder and half urged, half shoved him toward the door. “Thanks for stopping by, but you probably shouldn’t do that again.”
When Kyle suddenly planted his feet, Brick said, “She’d like you to go.” And just because he did pity the idiot, he said, “Sorry. Tough break and all that.”
Kyle gathered steam, bunching his shoulders, fisting his hands. He opened his mouth—and Brick stepped in front of Merrily.
Very quietly, he said, “Don’t do it, dude. Take my word for it—any insult from you won’t end well. Keep your dignity intact. Close your mouth, turn around and mosey on away.”
Luckily for all concerned, Kyle did just that, slamming the door on his way out.
“Huh.” Brick looked down at Merrily. “You like ’em big, huh?”
Tears welling in her eyes, she touched his chest, then his shoulders and nodded. “Obviously.”
He frowned at the tires squealing out of her driveway, but Merrily still had hands on him, still waited, so he forgot all about Kyle.
“Am I big enough to keep?” Gently, he cupped her face. “Because I want you to keep me, Merrily.” He kissed her trembling lips. “C’mon, honey. Tell me I can stay. I mean, stay with you. Not necessarily stay here.”
“Hey,” Tonya complained.
“Not that I don’t like the house. I do.” He shrugged. “I just meant—”
“You love me?”
The smile pulled at him and happiness expanded. “How could I not?” Dundee jumped up against his leg, and the happiness escaped as a laugh. Dolly circled them both, trying to find a way to worm in. “The dogs love me.” He glanced toward Eloise, Tom and Stan, lazing on various pieces of furniture. “I think even the cats are fond of me.”
“They all adore you, and you know it.”
“Sounds like you’re outnumbered then, huh? You may as well give up and adore me, too.”
She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. He felt her soft breath on his throat when she said, “I love you so much.”
“Thank God.” When he pretended weak knees, the dogs scattered, then surged back with excited barks. “Way to drag out the suspense, woman.”
“Good work, Brick.” Jesse leaned on the wall, a big smile on his face. “That was incredibly smooth.”
“I try.”
Tonya stood a few feet from Jesse, her hands together and her gaze soft. “You succeed.”
“So...” He nodded at them both. “If you two will excuse us for a bit—”
Another knock sounded on the door. Thinking her ex had returned, Brick turned, then stiffened at the sight of the police officer standing there.
What now?
* * *
IT WAS LATE at night, and moonlight filtered in through the open window. At the foot of the bed, two cats snored. On the floor, Dundee and Dolly curled up together. Eloise sat in the window, watching the night sky.
Brick knew Merrily wasn’t asleep yet. After the busy evening, they’d only been in bed a short time.
He kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”
She nodded, snuggled a little closer. “Poor Tonya.”
“Yeah.” The cop had come for her. Really bad news, news that made him crush Merrily closer. “She’ll be okay. Jesse is still with her.” They’d been with her, too, and they’d done what they could.
“She knew her sister had problems. She said she’d lived with constant worry for a few years now, always waiting for this day.”
“That’s rough.” It seemed Tonya’s sister had taken a bad path. Too much drinking, too much partyin
g. “Doesn’t sound like she’d been much of a mom to her kid.”
Merrily’s hand wandered over his chest. “Tonya tried to help out where she could, but she and her sister were estranged. And now...”
“Now she’ll be the one raising her nephew. At least he’s not a baby.”
“He’s twelve, Brick. That might be even harder.”
Remembering himself at that age, Brick nodded. “Yeah, probably.” He had a brother, and he knew he’d die for him. He couldn’t imagine what Tonya must be feeling.
Merrily levered up over him, her arms folded over his chest. “Thank you.”
He smoothed his hands down her back to her plump behind. “For what, exactly?”
“Being you. And being here with me.”
“There’s nowhere I’d rather be. I love you.”
She bent to kiss him. “You know, I pretty much fell in love with you the first day I saw you.”
“Same here.”
Disbelief beetled her brows. “Baloney. I had to practically throw myself at you.”
Silly woman. “I knew you were different. How you made me feel was different. I knew if I ever once had you, there’d be no going back.” He lifted to take her mouth, then said against her lips, “And I was right.”
She settled against him, her cheek to his heartbeat, her fingers toying with his chest hair. “Tonya said now, she wishes she’d taken advantage of Jesse’s attention when she had the opportunity.”
“Who says she can’t still?”
She lifted up again to blink at him. “She’s going to have a twelve-year-old boy to care for.”
Brick nodded. “She’ll have her hands full, that’s for sure.”
“Well...” Merrily considered everything. “Tonya said no man would want a part of that.”
“So you both expect Jesse to bail, huh?” Brick snorted over that. He was starting to think Tonya knew even less about men than Merrily did. “He won’t. If anything, he’ll be more determined to hang around.”
Stunned, Merrily stared at him. “You’re serious?”
“Jesse isn’t a dummy. And after a month of celibacy, it’s obvious he cares for her. Otherwise he’d have moved on long ago.” Brick touched her cheek. “I’m not saying he won’t date. Or...find relief somewhere. But he’ll want to help Tonya if he can. Count on it.”
She bit her lip. The tears glistening in her eyes caught and held the moonlight. “You think Tonya is doing the right thing?”
“Absolutely. Family is there for family, always.”
“You’d have felt the same about my mother? About the time I had to give to her?”
Catching her shoulders, Brick rolled her beneath him. The cats scattered with a meowing complaint, but otherwise the room remained quiet. “You did the right thing, honey—the only thing you could do. For my family, I’d do the same.” He didn’t know if he’d have been able to wait, but he did know one thing—he was glad Kyle hadn’t. “Tonya and her nephew will have a rough road ahead of them. But we’ll be here for her and for him, too. And no matter what happens, you will never again be alone.”
“Because I have you.” She wrapped her arms around him. “I’m so glad you were my first.”
“And your last.” Brick kissed her. “And best of all, your one and only. Forever.”
* * * * *
BEACH HOUSE BEGINNINGS
Christie Ridgway
Dear Reader,
I want to take you away! I have a special place for you to visit, with sun and sand and magic. Not the hocus-pocus kind of magic, but the kind of alchemy that occurs when two strangers meet and know instantly the moment is a game changer. Their hearts beat faster and there’s an exuberant lift in their bellies and even if they don’t want to feel like this, they just…do.
Beach House Beginnings is also connected to three full-length works available now: Beach House No. 9, Bungalow Nights and The Love Shack. I hope you’ll enjoy this first look at Crescent Cove as the sunshine breaks through the coastal fog to reveal a gem of a setting and a man and a woman who are about to uncover treasure…in each other. Both Caleb McCall and Meg Alexander have fractures of the heart that only the act of committing to each other can fully mend. I hope you’ll root for them and return for more Beach House No. 9 books.
And look for the first book in my new Cabin Fever series, Take My Breath Away, coming soon!
Christie Ridgway
www.ChristieRidgway.com
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
CHAPTER ONE
TWO MILES OF magic.
Trudging through soft sand, Meg Alexander remembered that’s how she’d thought of her childhood Neverland, Southern California’s Crescent Cove. Even after ten years away, she recalled how lucky she’d felt growing up here.
Meg’s great-great-grandfather had purchased the land as a location to make silent movies such as The Courageous Castaways and Sweet Safari, and the tropical vegetation he’d trucked in for authenticity in 1919 continued to thrive at the cove today. The buff-colored bluffs rising up from the beach were made more colorful by the bright green fronds of date palm trees and the salmon-and-scarlet flowers of bougainvillea that nestled beside the native sagebrush. Closer to shore, floppy-leaved banana plants, chunky Mexican fan palms and colorful hibiscus shrubs surrounded the fifty eclectic cottages, most of which had been built during the 1920s through 1950s.
Each of the beach houses at Crescent Cove was different, their form-following whims now long forgotten. Their paint schemes were as varied as their shapes and sizes, though the colors selected blended well with the landscape of sand, earth and vivid flora. The single similarity was that in every one, windows peered oceanward.
Meg didn’t dare look in that direction, herself.
Growing up, her mother had told Meg and her little sister, Skye, that merfolk lived in those waters offshore, protecting the cove with their supernatural powers. Growing up, Meg had believed in that, just as she’d believed that sand dollars were the merpeople’s currency and sea glass the discarded pieces from some mysterious merchildren’s board game.
But Meg didn’t believe in magic or mystery anymore.
“Good morning,” an elderly male voice said.
Startled, Meg looked up. “Hey, Rex. Good morning, yourself.” Rex Monroe, ninety-some years young, was the only full-time resident at the cove other than Skye, who had managed the property since their parents’ move to Provence, France. Yesterday, for the first time in a decade, Meg had met up with the nonagenarian as he walked along the sand. Like now, the clouds had been low and damp, the typical gloomy “May Gray” weather conditions. “Getting in your daily constitutional?” she asked.
Rex patted his belly, covered in a flannel shirt tucked into soft chinos. “It’s not just you ladies who have to watch your figures. Are you settling in okay?”
“Oh, sure,” Meg said, waving a hand. It was actually weird being back in her childhood bedroom, ten years after leaving the cove at nineteen, but her sister had been invited to the out-of-town wedding of a former college roommate. How could Meg have refused to step in? Memorial Day weekend was the kick-off of the Crescent Cove summer season. Someone had to be on hand to pass out keys to the bungalows and handle minor crises.
Even if it was a major crisis, in Meg’s mind, to be back here.
“I see you have a satchel of tools,” Rex said, pointing to the canvas bag she carried. “Something need fixing already?”
“Not really. Just trying to keep busy.” Anything to prevent her from thinking of the last summer she’d spent at the cove. “I’m going to scrape the deck railing at Beach House Number 9. I understand that Griffin Lowell has been staying there the past c
ouple of months, but since he’s away for a few days, Skye hired a contractor to take care of the blistering paint while he’s gone.”
Rex gave Meg a piercing look that reminded her he was a former war correspondent, one who’d won a Pulitzer during World War II. “What? The man Skye hired doesn’t have some sort of electric paint-removing machine?”
“Uh, well...” Meg glanced at the simple metal scraper at the bottom of her bag, sitting beside a few other basic tools and her bottle of water. “You know what they say about idle hands. I thought I’d do the work myself.” An idle mind was even more dangerous, Meg had decided. She had to stay busy to avoid thoughts of that last summer. Of Peter.
Rex nodded as if he understood all she didn’t say aloud. “You come visit me if you’d like some company, all right?”
“Thanks, I will,” Meg said with a bright smile, though she knew she wouldn’t. She didn’t want company. Company might bring up Peter. Company might ask her why she’d run away from her childhood home and never returned. Company might make her admit how much she’d lost, including the happy-go-lucky girl she’d once been.
Meg was too smart to allow that to happen.
“Enjoy your walk, Rex,” she said, and then continued down the beach.
The south end of Crescent Cove was bounded by a sea cliff that pushed into the Pacific. Though the top of it was wide and flat, there were steep trails snaking up its side that led to various outcroppings from which, she remembered, daredevils used to launch ocean jumps. Skye had posted warning signs against the practice, but from the look of those clearly defined routes, it remained an enticement. The last cottage in the cove snuggled next to the bluff, a two-story, brown-shingled building with blue-green trim and a large deck extending over the sand.
A driftwood sign was tacked to the outer railing, words painted in the same color as the trim. Beach House No. 9.
Meg mounted the steps that led from the sand to the surface of the deck. She dropped her bag on the umbrella-topped table and took in the rest of the patio accessories: single chaises, a double lounger, a stack of extra chairs and a barbecue.