Authors: Vanessa Devereaux
Duh, it was David.
The same guy who ran off with the woman who sold them the restaurant’s bakery
products? Yeah, he’d turned into one big surprise after another.
One of Kate’s tears
splashed down onto the gold wedding band on her left hand. Why was she still
wearing it? Oh yeah, that’s right, she’d been stupid enough to think this had
all been some silly mistake and that he’d come to his senses and waltz back
into her life. She was a dreamer, always had been. And it wasn’t so ridiculous,
was it?
Some guys did that,
right?
Who am I kidding?
She tugged at the ring,
with a sudden urgency to be free of the last reminder of her pathetic marriage.
The damn thing wouldn’t slide off. She tugged some more, the ring scraping her
skin as it came over the top of her knuckles.
She looked at it
before throwing it across the room. It hit something hard but she couldn’t be
bothered to check out exactly what. She never wanted to see David or that ring
ever again. All she had left was her restaurant, which unfortunately wasn’t in
much better shape than her marriage.
In the last year, business
had slowly gone downhill because of the economy. Former customers were watching
their pennies more these days and ate out fewer times, if at all. To make
matters worse, the number of tourists had fallen off too, leaving her with half
the usual clientele.
A tear ran over her
lip and she wiped it away before it reached the inside of her mouth. Selling
this place probably wasn’t even an option, even if she wanted to or was lucky
enough to get a buyer. She’d probably be underwater with the loan on the
restaurant and building anyway. One good thing was that it had an apartment
above it where she could live while she got her finances sorted out.
She dug in her jeans
pocket for a tissue and blew her nose. The only thing she wanted to do was go
to bed and cry, but she had a restaurant to run. In another hour her workers
would be walking through the door to get ready for the lunchtime crowd.
That was a joke.
A crowd?
More like
a trickle.
Kate leaned back and
closed her eyes, hoping that would stop her tears. Her parents weren’t in any
financial position to help her. Her father had just retired. She couldn’t ask any
of her brothers, either. In fact, one had recently lost his job.
A
loud bang made her jump and open
her eyes. It
shook the table she was sitting at and also knocked two books off the nearby shelf.
Maybe the world’s coming to an end and I won’t have to worry about
paying back the loan after all.
There was another
noise like a car backfiring, and then one following shortly after.
What was happening outside?
She walked to the
window. Smoke poured from that piece of junk known as a boat. The eyesore moored
directly opposite her restaurant.
Jimmy had promised he’d
move it one of these days when he actually got the thing running. Wonders never
ceased, because it looked like he was trying to keep his word.
Nice to know someone in my life is.
A small explosion
shook the windows this time, and Kate was sure she’d also seen a flash of light
coming from inside the boat.
The last thing she
needed was for that heap of junk to explode or catch on fire. And yeah, even
though she hated the old boat, she liked Jimmy a lot.
She went into the kitchen,
pulled one of the fire extinguishers off the wall, and headed through the door.
Kate sprinted across the road before crossing the pebbled sidewalk to race down
the steps that led to the mooring. She hurried along the wooden dock to the
boat. She couldn’t see Jimmy onboard so she stepped onto the deck. Smoke
drifted up toward her from down below.
It quickly irritated
her nose and throat. She coughed. Jeez, she’d been right. He was really trying
to start the thing. Her eyes stung, so she wiped them and made her way down the
stairs.
Smoke and a few small
flames shot out from the boat’s control panel.
Without giving it any
more thought, she unleashed the extinguisher on the panel. Kate hoped it would
hit its target but right now there was too much smoke to see even a foot in
front of her.
“What the shit?”
It was a man’s voice.
It wasn’t Jimmy’s.
The engine died. The
smoke slowly cleared and there stood a man…the most gorgeous man she’d ever set
her eyes on. He was dressed in white shorts and a navy blue T-shirt that were covered
in foam. He’d obviously been the main recipient of the extinguisher, and not
the smoking control panel.
“I’m sorry. I thought
you were someone else— No, wait. I didn’t mean that I wanted to purposely point
a loaded extinguisher at someone else….”
Geez
I’m tongue-tied and yeah, I’m sounding like a complete idiot.
He wiped some foam
away from his forehead.
Wow, those were a
gorgeous set of eyes, almost the color of the ocean outside the window. “I…I….”
Get a grip on yourself.
She held the extinguisher
awkwardly in her hand as she searched for something intelligent to say.
He scraped some foam
from his T-shirt, lifting it up from his belly in the process.
Muscles, a six pack….
Don’t look. Don’t think about them.
Oh no
. He’d opted to take the T-shirt
off.
Wow, nice chest with,
in her opinion, the right amount of hair.
Can you hear what you’re thinking? Better introduce yourself.
“I’m Kate
Byrne, by the way.”
Without giving it any
thought, she’d used her maiden name. Guess in her mind it really was over
between her and David. She held out her hand.
He shook it as he
looked her up and down. “You’ll excuse me if my hand’s a mess,” he said.
Definitely sarcasm in that short sentence.
He took two paces
toward her.
Heart pumping faster…and yes, panties getting damp
…. She’d only been without a man for two months and was already
acting like…just what was she acting like?
He slipped his hand
into hers.
“Brock Dolan.”
Why are we still holding hands?
“I’m
sorry about the foam. I thought you were Jimmy trying to start the boat to move
it. He promised me he would one of these days.”
“Jimmy sold me the
boat. I’m the new owner.”
“You’re the new
owner?” She was sounding like an idiot again, this time repeating what he’d
just said. They finally let go of each other’s hands. Kate took a step backward,
noticing that his shorts had become almost transparent due to the foam. She
tried to look elsewhere but the nice-sized bulge in them kept drawing her back.
Here, Kate, here, take a look.
She turned her
attention to his face.
By the way he was
glaring at her it was obvious she’d been caught staring, but his lips eased
into a grin of amusement.
“I wasn’t aware that
Jimmy was selling the boat.”
“Yep, he told me he
was moving in with his sister because she’d recently had a stroke and needs
constant attention.”
“So you’re going to
move it…I mean the boat?”
That’s it, get
back to business.
“Well, yes, but not permanently.
I
kinda
like this spot. It’s not too crowded and has
a great view. I’m starting it, well trying to start it, so I can give tours
around the harbor.”
He was joking, right?
Did he see what it looked like? Chipped paint, deck in urgent need of some new planks?
“I know it needs some
work and it looks like I’m going to have to fix the engine, too.”
Oh no, she was
looking at his crotch again.
Kate, come on. You know you want to check it out.
She coughed. “So
you’ll be my new neighbor?” Why had her heart beat faster when she’d asked him
that?
“You own one of the
boats, too?”
“No.
The restaurant, Sunsets.
Across the way
there.”
She pointed out the porthole.
Brock walked over to
it. “Hope all my neighbors don’t have bad aims with fire extinguishers.” He
turned back to face her, reached for a towel, and rubbed it over his hair.
“Well, I need to get
back but to the restaurant but if you need anything, you know where I am. And
once again, sorry for the misunderstanding with the….” She didn’t think she
should mention it again, so she trailed off.
“Oh, don’t be.
Fun way for us to get acquainted.
I mean, seeing as we’re
neighbors.”
Kate turned and made
her way back up the stairs. It was then she realized that in her rush to save
Jimmy from maybe burning to a crisp, she’d left the restaurant in her
short
shorts. Normally they were for
wearing around the house and for her eyes only. They’d fit her once but had been
washed one too many times. And okay, she might have gained a pound or two since
she’d first bought them.
She could put the extinguisher
behind her. That would definitely cover things up but probably draw more
attention to her butt, too. Maybe if she hurried up the steps he wouldn’t see a
thing. Plus, he might not even be looking.
Kate took two steps
and then slipped on the third. She managed to prevent herself from crashing to
the floor but not before his arms went around her waist.
Despite being wet
from the foam, his body was hot and it radiated
into her own
.
And yeah, he smelled so good, too.
Spicy cologne, aftershave
maybe?
Her nipples hardened. Her lower belly and pussy had a familiar,
pulling sensation in them.
“You okay?” he asked.
His mouth was close to her right ear. His voice was deep.
She closed her eyes
not wanting to move.
Ever.
All of a sudden it seemed
so comforting to have a man asking about her welfare. “I’m fine. The steps must
have gotten some foam on them.”
“I’ll stand at the
bottom here and watch…I mean to make sure you get to the top of them in one
piece.”
He let her go. She
wished he hadn’t, because being held by this man, hearing his reassuring voice,
had turned her awful day into a not-so-bad one after all. But she had to get
back to the restaurant and reality. If only she could get to the top of the
steps without breaking her neck or him peering up the legs of her shorts. She’d
take it slow and make sure not to fall again.
Kate made it to the
top. She glanced back down below and saw him grinning again.
He probably was
enjoying every second of her obvious discomfort.
Dear God, he was so
cute, and that cheeky look on his face. He waved to her. She waved back before hurrying
to the safety of the restaurant.
***
Brock rushed to the
window, almost slipping on the floor. Despite losing his footing, he managed to
get there in time to see her walking across the cobbled stones back to her
restaurant.
He’d never had such a pretty
neighbor before. The long, dark hair tied up in a ponytail, very haphazardly he
might add, with tendrils poking out here and there was somehow alluring.
Yeah, very sexy.
She had deep blue eyes and long legs that
went on forever. Well, not exactly. In fact, they disappeared up under her
shorts where they merged with one cute ass, each cheek seductively peeking out
from under the hem.
Even
more spectacular than the view outside my window.
He whistled, pulling
on the front of his own shorts and not because they were wet and sticking to
his balls. He had a hard-on like never before. Had since the moment the smoke
cleared and he’d seen her standing there. She’d disappeared out of sight but his
erection hadn’t.
Brock turned and
walked toward the engine. A woman had thrown him off course yet again, and he’d
only been gone three days. Maybe the old man was right in giving him this test.
The engine of the
boat was obviously busted and his brilliant idea to give harbor tours was also
dead in the water. No pun intended.
Buyer beware
.
He should have
checked out the boat, especially the engine, before he’d handed over the
$4,750 to the seller. However, that sort of
money had seemed like a real bargain in exchange for someplace to live and a
way to make some cash for six months. Brock hadn’t quite believed how lady luck
had shined upon him when he’d seen the ad in the paper. And
mother’s side of the family when he was a young boy so it seemed fate was
beckoning him here. However, it seemed that not all ladies were so lucky for
him. He’d still need to find a job and earn some money so he could fix the
engine. Maybe Kate would know of some place around here.