“It’s hard losing a parent, no matter your age or circumstances.”
Violently.
He couldn’t seem to get that word out of his head. How had her parents died?
“Anyway, enough about me. We were talking about you watching your nieces. You’ll be fine. It’s only one night and they’re both old enough to tell you how their mom does things.”
“I’m not sure that will be a good thing. I’m not anything like the amazing Rachel McBride.”
“Just be yourself, Auntie Jess. I’m sure you’ll all have a great time.”
Her smile warmed him through the layers of his wet suit. “Thank you.”
He wanted to kiss her.
The urge had hit him hard the other night but he had pushed it away. Now, in the fledgling morning light, the hunger was almost overpowering.
Almost.
“I should probably head up and start the day,” he said, jumping to his feet and grabbing his board.
“Same here.”
They walked together up the path with Cinder in the lead, racing ahead to explore something on the path and then returning for validation and affection.
“Would you like some breakfast?” Jess surprised him by asking when they reached her trailer. “I bought some fresh eggs at a roadside stand yesterday and have some veggies in the refrigerator. I could make a quick omelet.”
“Sounds great but I better not. I need to get Sophie off to school. Thanks, though.”
“Another time, then.”
He liked that idea, of meeting her again down by the ocean and spending the morning together. Better yet, maybe they could spend the night together and could share breakfast the next morning...
No. She was leaving soon. He had to put that idea right out of his head.
“Good luck with everything on your plate today,” she said.
She smiled again, eyes warm. She looked so lovely in the pure May morning that he couldn’t seem to look away. Their gazes met and he saw something in her eyes, an answering heat that made him instantly aroused.
Walk away, a voice inside him cautioned. Just grab your board and head home.
He ignored it. He had no choice, did he? He set his board against her trailer and took a step forward.
To his shock, she met him halfway, her mouth warm in the cool morning air. She tasted of mint and coffee and he couldn’t seem to get enough.
On some level, he was cognizant enough to know his wet suit would be cold, uncomfortable, so he purposely only touched her with his mouth.
It was enough.
Heat sparked between them, taking away any chill from the morning.
He had always thought surfing a few waves as the sun climbed the mountains was the best way to start the day. He was now prepared to reevaluate that. Kissing Jess Clayton, her mouth soft and willing beneath his, beat paddling in cold water any day of the week.
12
Jess
She had never wanted a single thing in her life more than she wanted in that second to drag Nate Whitaker into her Airstream, strip off his glossy black wet suit and spend an entire week exploring all those luscious muscles.
What was wrong with her?
This wasn’t the kind of thing she did, kissing a man she barely knew.
The morning beside the sea had been magical, just the two of them alone with the waves and the sky. Even before she had known the early-morning surfer had been Nate, she had loved watching him choose his break and then ride it to shore with effortless ease.
And then they had sat together on Eleanor’s bench, as they had that night the previous week, and talked with the same kind of comfortable affinity.
What was it about the cove that created this sense of intimacy?
So much for all her protestations to herself that she didn’t become personally involved with her clients or their families. She couldn’t get much more involved than tangling tongues with Eleanor’s entirely too appealing son.
As his mouth explored hers, touching only there, hunger seemed to build between them. What would be the harm in dragging him inside?
She knew the answer to her own question. She didn’t do quick and casual flings and that’s all she could have with Nate, no matter how delicious she might find him.
She had to stop this. It couldn’t go anywhere.
She was trying to find the strength of will when Cinder suddenly barked nearby.
Nate lifted his head and she saw a dazed sort of arousal there, which she found immensely gratifying, even though she knew she shouldn’t.
“What is it?”
“Squirrel, I think.”
She let out a shaky laugh. “Just as well.”
He sighed, raking a hand through his still-damp hair. “Yeah. You’re probably right. I don’t quite know what happened there.”
“One minute we were talking about omelets, the next you were kissing me.”
“Breakfast doesn’t usually turn me into a rampaging beast but I guess there’s a first time for everything. I’m sorry.”
She had wanted the kiss as much as he did. Maybe more. “It’s no big deal, Nate. Really. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I don’t like to make assumptions. I’m a big believer in asking a woman before I kiss her.”
“I wanted you to kiss me,” she admitted. “I probably would have kissed you if you hadn’t started it first. Now we have it out of our systems and can forget it ever happened.”
“Can we?” He raised an eyebrow, hair tousled and morning stubble on his jawline, and it was all she could do not to go for another round. “I’m not sure it will be that easy.”
“Well, we can try, anyway.”
He smiled suddenly, his eyes warm and still aroused.
“I’m not looking for an affair, Nate,” she said, though she wasn’t sure if she was trying to warn him or remind herself. “It complicates everything, especially when I’m leaving as soon as the job is done.”
“Fair enough. I don’t disagree. I’m not looking for one either. Especially not with my impressionable teenage daughter sleeping a few hundred feet away.”
“Good. Then we’re on the same page.”
“I suppose we are.” He let out a breath that sounded like a sigh and his gaze flickered to her mouth one more time then away.
“I’ll still have a tough time thinking about anything else all day. See you later, Jess Clayton.”