"It must have been fun growing up with sisters." He'd had a good time with Mark when they were little. He'd missed that when he'd become an only child.
"It was wonderful. Even though they often drove me crazy, especially when we lived on the boat together."
"What was that like?"
"Ashley taking our pictures every other minute. Caroline sneaking into the food rations. Card games that went late into the night, flying fish that landed on our deck when we least expected it, dolphins that were so friendly we could swim right along with them." She let out a sigh. "We were a tight group. We got used to having only one another. We didn't need anyone else."
And apparently they'd kept everyone else away, Tyler thought, especially while one of them was pregnant. Otherwise, someone somewhere would have said something about it.
"Sometimes it's hard to let go -- even now," Kate continued. "But we have our own lives to live. Caroline reminds me of it often enough. And Ashley has been pulling away lately. With my father wanting to race again, I think I'm the only one trying to keep us together."
"Everyone grows up and sometimes apart. That's the way of families."
"You're right. I've actually been thinking about making some changes in my own life."
"What kind of changes?" he asked with interest.
"Well, when I turned twenty-eight three weeks ago, I looked at all those candles on my cake and thought about the years that had passed. Maybe it wasn't a midlife crisis, but it was a wake-up call to break out of my little cocoon, take a look around, figure out what I want to do, where I want to be, that kind of thing."
Three weeks ago? She'd had this revelation three weeks ago? The same time that Mark had received the first contact from Steve Watson? Tyler's pulse sped up. It had to be a coincidence. It had to be.
"What kind of things, exactly?" he asked carefully, trying not to sound too eager.
She hesitated, then said lightly, "I signed up for an exercise class for one."
"That's it?"
"What did you expect?"
"How about a trip or a move, maybe looking up an old friend, someone you hadn't seen in a while?"
She looked at him through narrowed, thoughtful eyes, and he realized that he sounded much too intense for what she probably thought was a casual conversation.
"Sorry," he said quickly. "It's not for me to say how you should change your life. But I thought you meant something on a grander scale than an exercise class."
"I think I'm ready for the potato salad now."
He handed her the container and a fork.
"What about you?" she asked. "Ever had one of those life-changing moments?"
"Not while blowing out the candles on my birthday cake," he replied. "But, yes, I did have one. Fairly recently, in fact."
"What happened?"
He shouldn't tell her. He absolutely should not tell her. He tapped his fingers against his thigh. "My brother was hurt in a car accident," he said shortly. "He could have been killed. And I realized how little time we'd spent together lately. I'd spent years of my life wanting to be with him, and then wasted the opportunity when I had it. I won't let that happen again."
"Is he all right now?"
"He's getting better."
She tilted her head, giving him a thoughtful look. "Why are you here, Tyler? Why aren't you home with your brother?"
Damn. He'd known confiding in her was a mistake. He tried to think of a plausible excuse. "My brother is very interested in sailing and sailboat races. He's the one who first told me about you and your big victory."
"So I have your brother to thank for your intrusion into my life?" she said with a dry smile. "I hope I meet him someday."
He offered a weak smile in return. "It's possible. Hey, aren't you going to share some of that potato salad with me?"
She handed him the container. "Help yourself."
He looked down at the potato salad, then set it back in the basket.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you eating?" Kate asked.
He cupped her face with his hands. "I just realized it wasn't potato salad I wanted."
"What do you--"
He cut off her question with a long, deep, wet kiss that turned into another and another. He liked the way she kissed him back, the way her tongue played with his. She smelled like vanilla, and she tasted even better. He ran his hands down her back, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her up against him. He wanted to feel her soft breasts. He wanted to touch every inch of her.
"Oh, God," she murmured as his mouth moved down the side of her neck. "We have to stop."
"We're just getting started."
"I -- this is crazy," she said breathlessly, pulling away from him. "We're on a public beach. Tyler, stop."
He sat back, knowing she was right. He watched her fidget with her blouse and her hair and whatever else seemed out of place. He wanted to tell her to stop. He liked her loose and messy and a little out of control. He liked her passion and her spirit and, well, pretty much everything else about her.
"You're staring again," she said. "And I'm embarrassed."
"Why? We just kissed."
"It felt like more than just a kiss." She darted a quick look at him, then glanced away.
He flopped down onto his back, closing his eyes against the bright sun. She was right. It hadn't felt like a kiss; it had felt like a promise.
"Tyler, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
Her words didn't come right away. "Are you connected to K.C. in some way? Are you part of a plan to get back at my father? Is this about revenge?"
His eyes flew open, and he sat up. "Why would you think that?" he asked, genuinely surprised at her conclusion.
"You both show up here unexpectedly. You want information about the race. You're going to sail with my father. It all adds up."
"That adds up? How far did you go in math?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"No, I'm not connected to K.C." He was glad he could tell the truth.
"Good." She put her arms around her knees and stared out at the water. "What do you want to do now?"
"Believe me, you don't want to know the answer to that question."
She turned her head to look at him, her gaze drifting down to his mouth. "I really want to kiss you again."
"Then come here," he said softly.
"I can't. I seem to go up in smoke every time you touch me."
"It's one of your most appealing qualities."
She scrambled to her feet. "I need to walk."
"Walk? You need to walk? Now?"
"Exercise would be good."
"I can think of a more interesting form of exercise than walking."
"Come with me," she said. "There's a cave on the other side of those rocks. I'll show it to you."
"Now you're talking." He held out his hand. "Help me up."
A smile curved her lips. "Do you think I'm going to fall for that?"
"Please."
"Fine."
She slipped her hand into his, and, for a moment, he was tempted to pull her back down on the sand and kiss her senseless. But two young children chose that moment to run by him, kicking up sand with their bare feet, and he knew this wasn't the time nor the place.
Once on his feet, he didn't let go of her hand, and, after a momentary resistance, she relaxed, and they walked along the water's edge together. Tyler had never been so aware of the details of his existence than he was at this moment with Kate. All of his senses were engaged. The sand was cool beneath his bare feet, the sun was warm on his head, and the woman beside him was soft, feminine, desirable -- and he was as hard as a rock. He needed to relax, too, he told himself, but the tension wouldn't go away. All he could think about was how easy it would be to lean over and kiss her again. He picked up the pace.
"Hey, what's the hurry?" Kate asked as she jogged to keep up with him.
"I'll race you to the cave."
"You don't know where it
is," she called after him, but he didn't care. He needed to run along the shoreline. He needed to burn off the sexual energy that was making him crazy.
He heard her footsteps behind him, then felt her draw alongside. Damn, she was fast. She flung him a smile and passed him by.
"What the hell was that?" he asked breathlessly when he caught up to her.
"That was a sprint. I beat you."
"I let you win."
"Liar."
He could think of only one way to shut her up. He tackled her. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't coordinated, but it was effective. Because her soft, squirming body was now under his, exactly where he wanted it.
"Tyler, I can't breathe," she gasped.
"I'll have to give you mouth-to-mouth," he said, moving his weight off of her at the same time his mouth came down on hers.
So much for burning off the tension. It was back with a vengeance, and now he was acutely aware of her legs and her thighs and her hips moving beneath his. He wanted to get closer. He wanted to touch her bare skin. He wanted --
"Oh, my God!" he yelled as a blast of cold water hit his legs. He rolled to the side abruptly, realizing his pants were now soaking wet.
Kate laughed. "That's what we call a rogue wave."
"That's what I call bad timing."
"Better than a cold shower."
"You can say that again." The water had definitely cooled off a very important part of his body.
Kate got to her feet. "We'll dry off as we walk. The cave is just up ahead."
He followed her down the beach, now very much aware of how cold and wet he was. But Kate didn't seem bothered at all -- probably due to all those years of living on a boat. The cold and wet were second nature to her. A moment later they rounded a curve, and he followed her pointed finger to a cave set into the rocks.
"There it is," she said. "When the tide comes all the way in, it fills completely with water. My mother used to warn me over and over again not to get caught here."
"Did you listen to her warnings?"
"Absolutely. I'm the cautious one, remember?" She walked over to the rocks. "It's still here." She traced the carving of two names.
"Kate and Jeremy," he murmured. "Hard to compete with that."
She looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Jeremy is still very much a presence in your life. You go to his grave. You can see your names carved into rocks, probably all over this island. How can anyone compete with that?"
"Do you want to?"
He should say no. His life wasn't going to take place on this island, that was for sure. Once he found Amelia's mother, he'd be gone. Kate would be just a memory. He'd probably forget her in a week. And she'd forget him, too. It wouldn't be like their names would be carved into a rock anywhere.
"Never mind," she said quickly. "I don't know why I asked you that. Anyway, this is the only place that we carved our names." She walked farther down the rocks. "There are lots of other names, as you can see."
"Sean and Ashley, Mark and Connie, Paul and Rita," he murmured. "I guess this was kind of lover's lane, huh?"
"It was a good place to get a kiss. And once you'd gotten one, you carved your name into the rock." She put her hand up as he started to speak. "But we're not going to do that. That kind of permanence probably terrifies you. Let's go back to our picnic. I've worked up another appetite."
So had he, but it wasn't for food. And it wasn't even for a kiss. He cast a somewhat wistful look at the names and hearts scratched into the rocks next to him. For some damn stupid reason, he wanted to put his name there, too. His name right next to Kate's. Something that would last forever.
* * *
"That was fun," Kate said as Tyler took her bike and handed it back to the manager of Bill's Bicycles. "I can't remember when I've spent such a lazy Monday. I feel guilty."
"It's good to play hooky once in a while."
"But now it's back to reality. Unless ..."
"Yes?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
"The world's best ice cream parlor is just down the street."
"You can't possibly still be hungry."
"You've found out my biggest secret. I'm a pig."
He laughed. "I'd love some ice cream from the world's best ice cream parlor. Although I think that might be an exaggeration."
"Wait until you taste it. You'll see I'm right." She didn't resist when he took her hand. In fact, she liked it. She liked it all, the kissing, the touching, the laughing. She hadn't had such a good time in years. And, with Tyler, she felt free to be herself. It was nice to be with a man who didn't know everything about her. They didn't have a history, only a present, and the future wasn't important. Tyler would eventually leave, and she would stay. But today they were together.
Maybe that was enough. Maybe she could stop planning, worrying, analyzing for five seconds and just let it all be. It had been working pretty well so far, so well she didn't want it to end. She didn't really care if she had ice cream or not; she just wanted more time with Tyler. Now that he'd agreed to drop the article, she could relax even more. The fact that he'd made that agreement niggled a bit at her brain. It didn't seem entirely logical or probable that a man who had such determined purpose a few days earlier could so quickly change his mind, but she was reluctant to bring the subject back up.
They walked down the street, stopping at the corner as the light in front of the ferry terminal turned red.
"Doesn't it bother you that you can only get off this island at certain times of the day?" Tyler asked.
"Not at all."
"I live ten minutes from an airport that can get me to any country in the world about as fast as I can buy a ticket and board a plane."
"And you find that comforting?"
"I guess I do," he admitted. "I used to feel trapped as a kid. I couldn't get away from my father, couldn't get back to my mother. I spent a lot of time looking desperately at exit signs. Old habits die hard."
"You really had a terrible childhood, didn't you?" She couldn't imagine what he'd gone through.
"Not completely. My father didn't abuse me. He just wanted me with him in the most selfish way possible." He cleared his throat. "But we don't need to talk about him. Hey, isn't that Caroline?"
She followed his gaze to where the ferry was loading. Her sister was with Mike Stanaway. Kate tensed, not liking the way Mike had his hand on Caroline's arm. "What is she doing with him?" Worry gripped her as she watched them board the ferry. "I don't like the look of that. We need to stop her."
"What?"
Kate began walking rapidly down the street, breaking into a run when she realized that the ferry had finished loading and would no doubt pull away any second. Sure enough, it was fifteen feet into the harbor by the time she arrived at the dock. "Damn."
Summer Secrets Page 23