Page 29 of Dreaming at Seaside
“It’s you,” he said easily.
“Tsk. I’m the naughty one?” She glanced at the teenage girl behind the counter, who appeared to be too busy texting to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“No. You make me want to be naughty,” he teased.
“Oh.” She hooked her finger in his jeans, trying to remember how to breathe.
“You’re torturous,” he said. He took her finger from his waistband and turned back to the books. “Books. Focus.” He slid his eyes toward her, and she licked her lips. “Holy cow, Bella.”
That was too fun of a reaction not to do it again.
He snagged her hand and hurried down to the lower level. Her pulse quickened as they wound their way through two aisles of books and he cornered her against the bathroom door. She loved this game of cat and mouse, and when he pressed his hips to hers and she felt his desire, she couldn’t help but hook her finger in his waistband again. He glanced up at the security camera in the corner of the room, and when their eyes connected again, a streak of lust spiraled through her core. He tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her like he was a soldier who’d just come home from the war.
“I…This…” He scrubbed his face with his hand and turned away. It was all she could do to watch him close his eyes for a breath, then turn back, looking as hot and flustered as she felt. Through gritted teeth and a harsh whisper, he said, “I don’t want just hot sex with you, Bella.”
She felt playful, and seeing him so flustered sent a thrill through her. “So youarea fetish guy.”
His eyes darkened and narrowed, pinning her to the door. “No. I want hand holding and talking and whatever the heck else people do to get to know each other. I want to cook you dinner and watch stupid movies that make you cry.”
Her heart melted a little. She wanted all those things, too, but she knew if she opened her mouth, she’d deflect his words with something stupid like,I don’t cry. She didn’t want to deflect Caden.
He ran his fingers along her cheek, then through her hair as he brushed it away from her face. His hand came to rest on the back of her neck.
“I want the other stuff—the hot sex—too,” he admitted with a tender gaze.
That made them both laugh.
She forced herself to push past the deflection that came so easily. “Me too.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, sealing their sentiments.
They left the bookstore forty minutes later with two books about computers, so he could get a feel for Evan’s hobby, and a novel she’d wanted to read. When they got in the truck, he handed her a pink bookmark with a lacy ribbon on the end.
“I thought you might need this for your book.”
“Thank you.” She ran the ribbon over her fingers. He’d given her two pink things in less than two hours. No one, not even her friends from Seaside, bought her pink things, and they knew she loved pink, but they also knew that the Bella she presented to everyone else in the world wasn’t a girlie girl. She’d leftthatBella behind ages ago—at least publicly. She looked down at her dress.Until now.She wondered what it was about Caden that made her feel safe enough to bring out a part of herself that she’d hidden for so long.
She studied him as he drove around the corner to the harbor and parked by the pier. He seemed very aware. Aware of her, aware of everything around them, the other cars on the road, people walking down the sidewalk. She assumed that came with being a police officer—and a father—and it made her feel a different type of safe than the safety she felt with regard to being herself.
Caden turned off the truck and leaned across the seat. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re beautiful when you’re contemplating?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re handsome when you’re…being?”
He shook his head. “For a woman who doesn’t date and doesn’t want a commitment, you sure say things that seem girlfriendy.”
Oh boy.
“Huh.”Girlfriendy.She made a mental note to calm her comments as she watched him come around and open her door.Girlfriendy. He reached for her hand, and she shifted in the seat and pulled him in close so they were nose to nose.
“Girlfriendyshould not be in our vocabulary. It’s likedating. Got it?”
“Is that the toughest voice you’ve got?” He pressed his lips to hers. “Because I’m not buying it.”
She wasn’t buying it either. She liked being with him too much, and she was about as good at hiding it as a leopard was at hiding its spots. Behind Caden, the sun was setting, casting reflections of the boats on the still-as-glass water in the harbor. Peaceful would describe the scene for most people, but the way Bella was swooning, romance-inducing seemed more fitting.
She stepped from the truck, and Caden draped his arm over her shoulder. She snuggled right in before she realized that it wastoo easyfor them both.
“Excuse me.” Bella looked up at him with a tease in her eyes. “That is veryboyfriendy.”
“I’m calling your bluff. So smile and put your stupid arm around me.”
“That whole take-charge thing is pretty sexy.” She slid her arm around his back and hooked her thumb into the waistband of his jeans.
“Babe, I’m pulling out all the stops. Full-on picnic tables for dinner and plastic wineglasses. You’ll fall so hard for me you’ll be wishing you met me ten years ago.”
I already do.
