Page 59 of A Beach House Beginning

“Okay. Well, um, have a good night.”

He pushed down a hundred things he wanted to say. EspeciallyCan I carry you to my bed after the girls are asleep and keep you there all night long?

“Thanks,” he finally managed. “If you need help with Theo after Addie goes to sleep, let me know.”

All evening, the girls had been taking turns holding the dog’s leash so Jenna didn’t have to risk reinjuring her wounded hand.

She nodded. “If I need help, I’ll call. But I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Before she headed toward the house, she shocked him one last time that day by reaching up and brushing her lips against his cheek.

It was all he could do not to turn his mouth to meet hers and devour her. Desire for her seemed to have become a steady beat through his veins.

“Good night,” she murmured, then hurried into the house, leaving him to watch after her and ache.

Chapter Fourteen

She couldn’t sleep.

Jenna opened one eye and glared at the clock on the nightstand. It was after 1:00 a.m. and she had been tossing and turning for an hour.

She was so tired but her mind couldn’t seem to shut down. While she wasn’t scheduled to work at the store the next day, Saturday, she had a packed agenda anyway. She and her friend Kim were cohosting the Brambleberry Book Group, consisting of twenty friends who gathered monthly, taking turns to be in charge.

She thought it would be fun to have dinner in the garden, shaded by the trees and the pergola. Kim was handling the meal, street tacos and taco salad catered by their favorite Mexican food place in town.

While Jenna was only baking a couple dozen cookies, she had plenty of other things to do. Cleaning off the lawn chairs. Setting up tables. Picking up the margarita mix.

She flipped her pillow over to the cool side, punched it with her good hand a few times for more fluff and rolled over.

She needed sleep so she could take on her chores the next day. But sleep still seemed a long way off. Instead, she couldn’t seem to stop rehashing the evening spent with Wes and his daughter.

What was wrong with her?

She knew the answer to that, even before she asked it of herself.

She was lonely.

She wanted someone to hold her, to touch her, to cherish her and make her feel wanted.

And not any someone. She wanted Wes Calhoun.

Her mind kept replaying the hot, hungry look in his eyes when she had kissed his cheek several hours earlier.

He shared her attraction, which made it even harder for her to continue resisting him.

What was she going to do about Wes? She was developing feelings for the man, even though she knew anything between them was completely impossible.

Not feelings, she told herself. She couldn’t be coming to care for him. They were friends. That was all.

Even as the thought popped into her mind, it rang hollow. Friends didn’t make each other yearn. Friends didn’t think about each other all the time. Friends didn’t kiss each other until they were achy with need.

Wes made it so blasted hard to resist him. That evening with the girls had been magical. Even with her hand aching, she had loved spending time with him and his daughter. He had teased the girls, made them laugh, protected them.

Jenna sighed, turning over again before she finally sat up and pulled off her duvet. She had struggled so much with insomnia during the worst of Aaron’s assault on her peace of mind that she was all too familiar with how it worked for her.

She likely had no chance of falling asleep anytime soon, not until she climbed out of bed and tried to do something else to distract herself and calm her mind for an hour or so.

Reading worked best for her, especially if it was something dry and uninteresting. While she focused on something else, all the worries keeping her awake either receded or sorted themselves out.

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