Page 9 of Dreaming at Seaside
“So you don’t think I’m nuts? And I’m serious about not dating, too. I think I need to make sure my life is in order before I become some guy-who-can’t-be-honest-or-keep-a-commitment’s girlfriend.”
“I think you’re brilliant and fearless, not nuts.” Jenna pointed down the beach. “Look, don’t you love when the fishermen head back to their cars like little soldiers in a line? It’s like the minute the gray sky turns black, they have some secret wave, or nod, or something that alerts them all to fall in line.”
Bella squinted at the fishermen with their long surf fishing poles over their shoulders and white buckets hanging from their thick, bare arms.
“Show me a man who’s not a jerk and I’ll go searching for rocks with you every day of the summer.” Bella nodded to two men as they walked past. She turned to check out their butts and walked backward. “I love rugged men.”Okay, so maybe I won’t swear off men completely. I just won’t get involved.“What’s better than a guy in a pair of cargo shorts and a tank top who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty and isn’t overly concerned with his looks? A man who can take the cold night air against his skin? You know they can keep you warm.”
“How about a hot cop without his uniform?” Jenna tugged Bella’s arm.
Bella spun around just in time to see Caden Grant’s profile as he leaned in close to a teenage boy. Even while he spoke, he had a smile on his lips. It lit up his eyes. He and the boy each carried a fishing pole over one shoulder and Caden also carried a bucket in his other hand. Bella reached for Jenna’s hand as she drank in his faded jeans, rolled up at the cuffs. His feet were bare and his gait was as casual as it was confident. And—holy mother of hotness—his white T-shirt hugged his broad shoulders in a way that practically made her drool. He leaned toward the boy, giving him his full attention in a way that felt to Bella like an embrace.
Caden threw his head back with a hearty, deep laugh.
Jenna squeezed her hand. “Close your mouth,” she whispered.
Bella followed her advice, or at least she hoped she did. Her brain was busy studying the man who, even without the uniform, had an in-control edge about him that wasn’t dangerous or mysterious, but so self-assured and warm that she wanted to be part of his inner circle.
Caden’s chin came back to center, and a breath later their eyes connected. The easy, sexy smile that followed did her in.
CADEN STOPPED IN his tracks at the sight of Bella wearing a powder-blue hoodie and a pair of jeans that accentuated her figure. He tried to name the startlingly unfamiliar feeling in his chest.Full, was the best he could come up with. He felt full.
He’d been wondering if in his mind he’d exaggerated the instant attraction he’d felt when he’d seen her the night before, but his quickening pulse was all the confirmation he needed to know that what he’d felt was definitely not a fluke.
“Bella. Hi.” Caden had been playing a game with himself all afternoon. He told himself that if he ran into her again, he’d ask her out, and if not, then he would stop thinking about her altogether. Then he’d driven by Seaside about six times throughout the day, hoping to spot her so hecouldask her out.
The breeze blew her blond hair back from her face, revealing thinly arched brows above the warm eyes that had sucked him right in last night. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.
“We didn’t really get properly introduced last night. I’m Jenna.” The short brunette ran her eyes between Caden and Evan.
“This is my son, Evan. Evan, this is Bella and Jenna. I met them while I was on duty last night.” He watched Bella look from him to Evan, then back again. Even at twenty Caden had never felt anything but pride for his son, but now he wondered if Bella felt the same attraction he did, and if so, did his having a son change that?
Evan arched a brow in a look that translated as,You met a woman?It seemed too old for his teenage son to be casting his way.
“Hi,” Evan said.
Caden stifled the urge to reach over and move his son’s hair out of his eyes.
“Did you catch anything?” Jenna peered into the bucket.
“Mung,” Evan answered. Mung was fisherman’s speak for thick seaweed that tangled in their lines.
“Gross. I hate that.” Jenna scrunched her nose.
“Yeah, it’s pretty gross,” Evan said.
“Are you just out for a walk?” Caden gripped the bucket tighter to ease his nerves. It had been so long since he’d been interested in a woman that it took him a minute to get used to his quickening pulse and the tightening in his gut.
“We’re having a bonfire.” Bella pointed to the fire down the beach. Her friends waved, and Bella waved back.
“Want to join us?” Jenna asked.
Bella shot her a look that Caden couldn’t read—she was either pissed or excited—and the two emotions were so far apart that he went with a safe answer, giving her an easy out.
“That’s okay. We don’t want to impose.”
“A bonfire might be fun,” Evan said.
“Of course it’s fun.” Jenna grabbed Evan’s arm and pulled him toward the bonfire. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
