Page 1 of Summer on Sunshine Bay

Chapter One

Lila Rosetti Sinclair raised her gaze from her phone to her fiancé. He could pass for Matt Damon if the actor wore thick, black horn-rimmed glasses and had a weakness for argyle sweater vests. But at that moment, it wasn’t David’s handsome face that captured her attention, it was the black silk blindfold in his hand. “You can’t be serious?”

She’d had the same reaction when he brought the blindfold home four months earlier and suggested that it was time to spice up their love life. Only she’d laughed then. She couldn’t help it. Wearing a roguish grin while talking about their sex life was completely out of character for David.

They were boringly vanilla in the bedroom and outside it. Something they took pride in. No over-the-top emotions for them. Grand passion was overrated in their minds. They preferred the comfort they derived from their quiet, loving relationship.

Except David hadn’t been joking.

Lila had swallowed her disappointment that she wasn’t getting her standard Valentine’s Day gift of a heart-shaped box of chocolates and went along with David’s efforts to spice up their love life. She’d put his role-playing suggestion down to stress. It wasn’t as if she could blame it on a midlife crisis. David was thirty. But he had been stressed about the sale of her father’s London-based hotel group, where they’d worked together for the past three years—Lila as director of branding and David as director of sales.

Lila supposed her inability to set a wedding date had been responsible for at least some of David’s stress. He’d grown impatient with her unwillingness to commit to a date. She had no idea why the thought of marrying him had kept her awake at night. David was everything a woman could want in a husband—smart, ambitious, and dependable—and they shared common values and goals.

It was a moot point now. That silky black blindfold and their uptick in sexy times had taken care of her indecision. They had a baby on the way.

“Come on, honey. Don’t be a spoilsport. Put it on.” David leaned over, raising the blindfold to her eyes.

Seriously? They didn’t do PDA, and now he wanted to get kinky on the commuter plane they’d boarded at Logan International Airport thirty minutes earlier?

She tugged the blindfold from her eyes, lowering her voice so as not to draw the attention of the five other passengers on board. “I’m not a spoilsport.”

She was a rule follower, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t fun. She thought back to the beach parties she’d dragged her cousins away from when things had gotten out of hand, or, more to the point, when Sage and Willow had. Her cousins would probably agree that she was indeed a spoilsport.

But joining the Mile High Club was a horrible idea with high potential for arrest and even higher potential for embarrassment. “You’re taking this role-playing a little too far, don’t you think? We’re not Anastasia and Christian, and this is not your private jet, David.” She handed him the blindfold.

He frowned as if he didn’t understand what she meant, and then his serious blue eyes widened behind his glasses. “No, that’s not why I want you to wear the blindfold.” He huffed a self-conscious laugh. “I can’t believe you thought…” He shook his head and then whispered, “It has nothing to do with…you know—” He glanced around the plane. “Sex.”

Was it any wonder she’d thought he was joking when he brought the blindfold home? He couldn’t even say “sex” without blushing. She felt a rush of affection for him. They really were the perfect match. “Then why do you want me to wear it? You’ve been acting weird ever since you insisted we join your parents for dinner tonight.”

David’s parents had invited them for a celebratory dinner at their spectacular vacation home in Hyannis Port. Lila knew the Westfields were excited that they’d finally set a wedding date, but she’d tried putting the dinner off until she and David were settled. They’d arrived in Boston the week before, and they needed to find jobs and a place of their own.

“I’ve been acting weird? You nearly had a panic attack when I mentioned the dinner.”

“Because I had to cancel three viewings with the Realtor.” The woman hadn’t been shy about voicing her displeasure. Lila didn’t blame her for being upset. She’d hated canceling at the last minute but David had been adamant they join his parents for dinner. “You know how tight the market is. At this rate we’ll be living out of our suitcases at your parents’ condo for the foreseeable future.”

She was stressed about finding a place to live and a job, but that wasn’t the reason for her near panic attack. It was David’s parents wanting to celebrate their upcoming wedding at their vacation home. Lila hadn’t broken the news to her family, and Hyannis Port felt a little too close to her hometown for comfort. Her family lived on the northern tip of Cape Cod in the small town of Sunshine Bay.

She added “call Sage and Willow” to the next day’s to-do list on her phone. She couldn’t put it off any longer. She’d need backup when she broke the news to her mother about her upcoming wedding. She was invoking the Cousins Pact, a verbal contract she, Sage, and Willow had agreed to as children. No matter how the others personally felt about whatever news one of them had to break to her mother—and their grandmother—they’d back each other 100 percent.

Except this would be a harder sell than the last time Lila had invoked the Cousins Pact. To say her family didn’t believe in marriage was an understatement. And that included her cousins.

“Stop stressing about where we’ll live. It’s not good for the baby, and I’ve got a… Just trust me, honey. It’s all going to work out,” David said as he glanced out the window. He got anoh craplook on his face and slammed the blind shut.

“What’s going on? Is something wrong with the plane?” She wasn’t a nervous flyer. She’d been flying across the pond on her own since she was twelve. But she’d rather know if there was a problem. Her motto was “Be prepared.” Even as a little girl, she hadn’t liked surprises.

“No, we’re landing, and I want it to be a surprise,” he said as he replaced the blindfold and tied it at the back of her head.

She cringed. He knew how she felt about surprises. But wait a minute… “How is us arriving at Hyannis Port a surprise?” They’d visited his parents at their vacation home before, several times in fact. Then a thought hit her, and she groaned. “Please tell me your parents aren’t meeting us with balloons and a banner.” It was something his mother would do. Jennifer was a sweet woman who looked for any excuse for a celebration. She should’ve been an event planner.

Even though Lila couldn’t see David through the blindfold, she turned to face him and lowered her voice. “You didn’t tell them about the baby, did you? You promised—”

He gently rubbed her flat stomach through the beige linen slacks she’d paired with a short-sleeved beige peplum jacket. “Of course not. We agreed to wait until you were twelve weeks,” he said. “My mother will be over the moon.”

David had been too. No doubt Lila agreeing to set a wedding date the morning after the stick turned blue had added to his excitement. She was still adjusting to the idea that she was carrying a tiny human…and getting married. Of the two, the idea of having a baby was easier to adjust to. She’d been raised by a family of single mothers.

And they’d be just as thrilled that she was expecting. Lila had considered leading with the baby news and keeping quiet about the wedding news. It wasn’t as if their wedding would make the society pages. David had agreed, albeit reluctantly, to her request that they get married at the courthouse. But she was avoiding the inevitable. As much as she dreaded breaking the news to her family, she had to tell them.

As David guided her down the aircraft stairs, Lila realized he hadn’t confirmed or denied her suspicion that they’d be greeted by his parents carrying a banner and balloons.

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