Lakeshore Love: The McAdams Sisters (By The Lake Book 3)

by Leah, Shannyn

  The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky just as Joan planned so she wasn’t steering the boat in the dark.

  Joan headed to the cockpit. “Here’s the surprise!”

  Sydney was digging for her cell phone. She needed to send Kate a text about Abby so she could stop by her house before she opened the shop. That girl needed a good swift kick in the...

  As Sydney causally glanced up at Joan’s big surprise, she saw it wasn't just the three of them on board.

  Jake? Jake! What was Jake doing on board? What kind of pleasant yet miserable surprise was this!

  He wasn’t looking as tired as she felt, nor was he looking even remotely close to miserable. His bright eyes matched the white knee-length casual shorts and polo shirt he was wearing. White shorts? Polo shirt? What on earth was going on!

  Jake had never joined them on one of their annual boating trips and he had certainly never worn white shorts.

  “What’s Jake doing here?” Sydney asked when Joan walked back, passing an excited Haylee who was heading up to greet her Uncle Jake.

  “You always want me and Jake to communicate better and he showed some interest in coming, so I invited him.” She shrugged and went below, like it was no big deal. It was a huge deal!

  Showed some interest? What an hour ago? Why did he suddenly after all these years show an interest in joining them on a trip? What did he want? And why was he smiling at her like an excited child holding in a million things to say to her?

  Now the monster of a boat didn't seem all that big.

  ***

  “UNCLE JAKE!” HAYLEE shouted. She tossed her bag on the sun seat. “This is awesome. You've never been to Hastings Port with us before. This is going to be so much fun!”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. At least someone was glad to see him.

  She smelled like the suntan lotion from Sydney’s store. He recognized the coconut smell after testing a sample Sydney had left for him at the Cliff House a few weeks ago.

  “It sure is. Your stories every year intrigued me to come along.” That was half the truth. Their stories were always full of excitement, but he'd never been invited along. He hadn't exactly been given an invitation this time either, but after a long few hours without a wink of sleep, and unable to get Sydney out of his head, he called Joan up and she was more than thrilled to have him along. Very surprising.

  “It takes six hours to get there, depending on what kind of mood Grandma is in. Sometimes she heads straight there and sometimes she stops and cooks, sits in the sun, then starts up again. So if we head straight there we will be just in time for their luau themed lunch that is extending into the evening with a luau themed supper followed by a dance.” She took a breath. “They have themed days every long weekend and I looked up the themes so I could bring some stuff from home to dress up. Tomorrow is the casino theme and I brought decks of cards to staple together and make like these necklace collar things. Sunday night is a masked ball theme so I made me, Mom and Grandma feather masks already, but we can go into town and find you something. Then...” Haylee continued into fireworks and food and more. He tried to pay as much attention to her very specific details as he could, but his eyes kept wandering to Sydney.

  She was back to wearing the flowing summer dresses that he appreciated so much. They were made from a teasing, torturous material that left his mind fascinated with what might be underneath. The white halter dress today was leaving little to the imagination, it was almost see-through, flashing a pink bikini that sparked heat straight through him.

  Sydney sent him curious look. Of course she did. He had shown up on their vacation, last minute, after a terrible evening of arguing and she was probably wondering what the hell he was doing. If he’d gotten enough sleep, he might not have picked up the phone at the early hour and instead opted to wait until she got back to talk and by then he might have talked himself out of it. He didn’t want to talk himself out of it. He had to talk to Sydney.

  After she drove away that morning, which felt like a lifetime ago, he was left with this sinking feeling knowing all he had to do was open up to her, give her an inch and he could have all of her...if he wasn’t too late...that’s exactly what he’d always wanted.

  Jake was prepared to tell her everything she needed to know and planned on walking off this boat in four days with her on his arm. Her as his. That was his plan and he could tell by the looks Sydney was casting him, she wasn’t on board with the plan.

  Sydney didn’t shy away from him like he suspected that she would. She walked to the cockpit looking ticked as all hell. Haylee grabbed her bag and went under the deck with Joan, making a comment to Sydney as she passed about how great it was to have Jake aboard. By Sydney’s stare he would guess she didn’t agree with her daughter...but by the end of the weekend he would convince her otherwise.

  “Hi,” he said. Just her deep blue eyes were supporting his decision to board this boat. He needed to win those blue eyes back and to think if he had only agreed to talk to her hours ago, they might have been boarding this boat together, hand in hand.

  He noticed the dark circles around her eyes from lack of sleep and it was at his hand.

  “What are you doing here?” she snapped, very unlike Sydney. It would seem he had pushed her buttons to the max.

  He didn’t want to play games with her about why he was aboard this boat. He wanted her to know that he had come to talk, resolve and look into whatever was conspiring between them. “I don’t like the way we left things between us, Syd.”

  She crossed her arms and he noticed the way the motion boosted up the top of her breasts in the pink bikini. Very distracting...pleasurable but distracting.

  “So what? You thought coming on a boat with Joan and Haylee was a good place to...well...not talk about it. Obviously we all know how you feel about talking, so what are you doing here? And, besides what would we talk about...since your life is none of my damn business.”

  “I came here to, believe it or not, talk to you.”

  Her eyebrows rose and she snorted. Snorted! He didn’t let the amusement show on his face. Maybe she needed to have a nap before they talked.

  “Right. Talk. Jake Stow wants to talk.” She said the words with a serious sarcastic manner. “See how all those words don’t suit each other.”

  Yes, she was definitely lacking sleep.

  “I didn’t come here to fight with you.” He almost offered to climb off the boat if that was what she wanted, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

  She cut him off before he could apologize. “I came to have fun and spend time with Joan and my daughter. Not sit around and talk...with you.”

  Ouch. She better have a full night’s sleep before they even attempted to have a talk.

  He decided that furthering this conversation would accomplish nothing. He said, “Alright. Let’s get this boat started and get you girls to your destination for a fun weekend.”

  He turned to controls. Hopefully in the six hours before they docked at Hastings Port, Sydney either slept or relaxed because he hadn’t come on board to ruin her vacation.

  Chapter Eleven

  TALK? TALK! DID Jake forget the definition of the word talk this morning when he crawled out of bed and made arrangements to crash her trip, with her family and throw around promises he wasn’t going to keep? Huh? Did he?

  Sydney jumped in the shower. After avoiding Jake for six hours, too piping angry to sit in the cockpit with him, and not wanting to lounge on the sun beds and let the comfort of his presence calm her down, she’d been forced into her cabin with a novel. After a few pages of not absorbing a single word, her eyes would no longer stay open and she’d fallen asleep until she felt the boat gear into reverse and knew they were at the slip.

  Finally getting a good sleep, she felt refreshed as she helped tie the boat to the dock before returning back below to get ready for lunch.

  Jake was in just as delightful of a mood now as he’d been at six
that morning when she finally emerged from below, showered and changed into a summer dress with wooden beaded straps. Her stomach growled for lunch.

  Haylee rose from one of the sun beds when she saw her mom and rushed over with a pink flower lei necklace she slipped over her head. “And, one for you.” Haylee was wearing a purple lei necklace and at a glance around she saw Joan and Jake also had color around their necks. They were a rainbow of lei necklaces.

  “Who is hungry for lunch?” Joan asked, rising from the table. She’d changed into a white A-line dress and matching heels. She finished her glass of wine and, without waiting for an answer, headed to the back of the boat.

  “It’s kebabs!” Haylee called over her shoulder rushing to follow her grandma.

  Jake was staring at Sydney. She could feel it without looking at him and her feet were frozen in place when she wanted to follow after the women and get out of his sight.

  Why wasn’t he moving? What was he doing?

  Finally she looked at him and sure enough he was watching her. He hadn’t changed like the rest of them, typical man, but he was handsome all the same. Handsome? How are you going to last the weekend if your mind keeps going down this path...

  “What?” It came out in a snap of irritation from her inner thoughts.

  “Do you mind if I join the three of you?”

  Why was he asking her? Who was she to dictate where he could and couldn’t go? He’d invited himself on this trip without asking her.

  “Why are you asking me?”

  “You were right about me bombarding your vacation. That was presumptuous of me and I definitely do not want to force you into anything you are not ready for. If you don’t want me to join you for lunch, I will eat here. I won’t mention anything to the girls, except some lame Jake excuse. Joan has packed so much food in this thing, you would think there were ten guys staying aboard.”

  Sydney couldn’t help the smile that found her lips. Joan always over stocked them on food like they were going to get stranded on an island on the way to their destination. “Sometimes we eat like ten guys.” Her joke relaxed the tense muscles in his face. “Of course you can come for lunch, Jake and you don’t have to ask me. This is your family too.”

  “I’m not worried about them or me. It’s you I’m thinking about. If you don’t want me to come Syd, I won’t.”

  His consideration for her was pulling chords in her chest. When had Jake Stow become such a fluent talker in thoughtful sweetness? Why was he being so darn sweet when she was trying to stay mad at him? How would she stay mad at him when he was being so darn sweet?

  “It’s kebabs. You can’t very well miss kebabs,” she said with a little nod.

  He smiled. “After you.”

  Sydney led the way to the barbeque picnic that was gathering by the yacht club building. Like every other year, the club had gone all out with the luau decorations. Hibiscus flowers, straw bunting, and tiki men were everywhere.

  Joan and Haylee already stood in the lineup for food, so they joined them and once they all sat down for lunch, Sydney’s mood shifted. She didn’t know if it was the appetizing smell of the barbeque kebabs, or the happy sounds of the tourists enjoying their lunch. It could have been the hot sun pounding down on them like a blanket of warmth. Whatever it was, the tension between her and Jake diminished and they both fell into their regular roles, laughing, joking, and smiling.

  Lunch turned into a day of events set up around the yacht club building. They had traditional ancient Hawaiian games converted with current day props such as spear throwing using lawn darts and a watermelon as the target. None of them sliced open or even stuck a dart in the watermelon.

  Rolling stones was a little easier and similar to horse shoes with sticks dug into the dirt. Only instead of horse shoes, you rolled rocks and the closest person to roll a rock to the stick, without touching it, won.

  After supper the paper lanterns lit the marina and when it came time for the night scavenger hunt. Joan took a round out to catch up with some of the regulars who were also her yacht friends, while the other three grabbed a paper, their glow sticks and got to searching.

  Jake and Sydney ended up with a group of girls, most of who knew Haylee and before they even got halfway through the list the two snuck away from the group, who were doing a fine job without them.

  They walked back toward the low music coming from the dance at the yacht club and away from the bush where the girls were searching for a stick in the shape of an “S”. In the dark, that seemed like a lost battle.

  It had been a wonderful day, even better because Jake was there.

  Jake.

  What was she going to do about Jake? She could start by listening to what he had to say. He claimed he would talk about anything she wanted but she suspected there were “buts” involved in that statement. How could he change his mind so quickly from absolutely not discussing any of it to discussing anything she wanted? It didn’t make sense, so she was leery about getting her hopes up and fighting the urge to reach over and hold his hand.

  “Where did you get white shorts with such little notice?” She smiled realizing where she let her question hang. “Let me guess, you’re surprising closet.”

  He chuckled. “No comment.”

  “Who did you leave in charge at the Cliff House? You and Joan have never been away at the same time.”

  “Devon.”

  “Do you think he is ready to handle it for four days?”

  Jake nodded.

  That was good.

  They stopped at the edge of the party.

  “Do you want to go?” Jake asked.

  She shook her head. Her body felt drained, after yesterday’s fight with him, then picking Abby up and having another fight, then seeing him on the boat and having another battle inside her, she was beyond ready for bed. She also wanted to check her cell phone in case Kate had texted or called and, if not, she wanted to send a text to make sure Abby was alright. She was even considering calling Devon to keep an eye out for her, but felt that was asking a little much. If all else failed she would phone Riley.

  Jake walked back to the boat with her.

  “Where are you sleeping?” she asked, as they climbed aboard not even taking into consideration the three cabins were occupied until that very moment. Her mind had been on other things. Jake things.

  He nodded at one of the sun beds. Outside? He was sleeping outside?

  “No. You can have my cabin. I will crawl in with Haylee, she won’t mind.”

  “No, I don’t want to impose. Besides I like it out here at night.” He stepped toward her. “Close your eyes.”

  She sent him a questioning look.

  He grinned. “Just do it.”

  Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes.

  “Do you hear that?” His whisper was low and so close she felt his breath touch her ear. All she could hear was her thundering heartbeat.

  She shook her head.

  “Listen,” he whispered as his hands lightly moved her hair off her shoulders tucking strands behind her ears, giving them complete access to whatever he wanted her to hear. Her ears couldn’t hear anything as she stood still and wondered what part of her he would touch next. When his hands did nothing she inhaled the night marina air and slowly released her breath, listening to their surroundings. As she stopped thinking about how close they were standing alone under the stars she left room to listen to the soft hum from the dance, the insects singing a matching tune, the water hitting against the boat and she knew why he wanted to sleep outside with nature, it was beautiful.

  “When Dad took us boating, I would always sleep out here. I acted like it was because I was so angry.” He chuckled at his adolescent behavior and she smiled.

  “I could see that. You were such a stubborn Stow.” He had been as rebellious as Sydney had been obeying. “Still are.”

  She opened her eyes to find him closer than she’d expected. Without asking, he slid his hand around her back dra
wing their eager bodies together, while slowly slipping his hand in hers and moving them with nature’s music. This was not how she’d imagined this evening’s end when she dragged herself out of bed this morning. She liked it.

  As her head pressed against the side of his, she closed her eyes and let the feelings she was burying deep down in her gut free and, for just this evening, she let herself feel what it would be like to be this man’s woman: to be in his arms, to let him lead her, to trust him, and to love him fully. She felt the relaxing ambience she knew would consume and complete her. Why had it taken them so long to make a move for more than just friends?

  “When I left you I thought I was coming back that night,” he whispered into her ear resurfacing her fear and stomping the completeness back down. “That's why I left so early. I thought I could jump in my bike, drive the distance, get Adalyn and bring her back.”

  Why didn’t you call the next day? Or the next? Ask him. I can’t.

  “When I got there a day turned into weeks then months and suddenly a year had passed,” he said, as if reading her thoughts.

  He was opening up to her which was exactly what she needed at the beach, but right now, after the arguments from the evening before still fresh in her mind, she wasn’t as quick to just listen or want to understand.

  Sydney pulled out of his grasp and stepped back, breaking the physical connection. “Suddenly a year passed?” She shook her head. That was unacceptable.

  “I know you don’t understand. Hell, I don’t even understand what happened.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “I do understand that I never should have left you the way I did. I picked you up that night planning to tell you that I was leaving and then one thing led to another and when I woke up I couldn’t tell you.”

  “So you slept with me and bailed.”

  He looked hurt. “It wasn’t like that for me.”

  “It was like that for me.”

  He stepped toward her. “I’m sorry. I can’t take it back. I can’t fix it. If I could do it over, Syd that would be the first thing I would change. I would never have left you like that.”