Page 42 of Hearts at Seaside
There were windows along the top of the exterior walls of the barn, and a built-in workbench ran along the wall to her left. The barn smelled of freshly sanded wood, paint, and the distinct scent of Pete. She heard a giant fan whirring but didn’t see it until she walked around the boat to where Pete stood in a pair of low-slung cargo shorts. His body glistened with sweat, and as he reached above his head, applying something in a long line across the lower section of the boat, his biceps flexed and his abs tightened. Jenna shivered with the memory of wrapping her hands around those muscles. Pete wiped his brow with the crook of his arm and looked down at Joey, wagging her tail at his feet. Pete flashed an easy smile—then his eyes followed Joey as she came to Jenna’s side.
Pete’s smile widened.
“Jenna.” He set down the tools he’d been holding, and in a few determined steps, he folded her into his arms, lifted her up, and pressed his lips to hers, obliterating the worry that the phone call had been a means for escape.
When their lips parted, he still held her against him. Jenna didn’t care about the perspiration soaking her sundress, or the fact that Joey was circling them and barking. She was overcome with the love in Pete’s embrace.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I was going to call you later, but I didn’t want to smother you.” He kissed her again and then lowered her feet to the ground.
She hooked her finger in his shorts, not wanting to break the connection.
“Okay, that’s a lie,” he admitted. “I want to consume every second of your time, but I don’t want to scare you off.”
“You did scare me, but you didn’t scare me off.” Jenna followed Pete’s eyes down to her chest, where two enormous wet spots circled her breasts from being pressed against his chest. “You’ve marked me.”
He pulled her close. “Not well enough, I haven’t.” He kissed her again, a long, deep kiss, as he had last night.
Heavenly.
He took her hand and walked out of the barn with Joey on their heels. “Come on. We’ll talk.” They walked to the edge of the bluff, where Pete pulled her down by his side on the large rocks. “I’m so sorry about last night. It was a struggle not to show up at your cottage when I was done.”
Done?She didn’t want to sound like a jealous girlfriend, but…she was. She couldn’t help it. “Was everything okay?”
He ran his hand through his hair, and his eyes became hooded. “Yeah, I guess.”
“I was worried that the phone call was a setup. You know, from a friend, so you had a way out of our date.”
Joey flopped down behind them with a loud sigh.
He laughed. “Do people really do that?”
She wasn’t about to admit that yes, she and her friends did do that. Things were so different for guys, she assumed. They must not worry about escaping. She thought of all of the dates she’d had in recent years, and the ones that went poorly were easily ended without the emergency call. It was a silly idea, but it had been carried forward from their teenage years, and knowing the girls were at the ready had bolstered her confidence.
He slung his warm arm over her shoulder and pressed his lips to her temple. “I thought our date was anything but bad, and I want more time with you, Jenna. The last thing I wanted to do was escape.”
She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey.” He lifted her chin so they were gazing into each other’s eyes. “Don’t worry about that stuff. You’re not a fling. I told you that. I should have kissed you years ago, picked you up and held you tight and made you realize that you didn’t have to be nervous around me. Heck, Jenna, I should have forced myself to stop questioning if we’d work or not and push away all the outside influences.”
Pete’s eyes grew serious, and worry lines appeared on his forehead. He rubbed his hands on his shorts, then settled his hand over hers.
“But in all honesty, Jenna, there are some things that can’t be pushed aside completely. I think we need to talk about last night.”
Jenna swallowed hard. After everything he just said, she should feel calm and secure, but the tension in his hand indicated how heavy his thoughts were and made her nervous all over again.
He trained his eyes on their hands. “You know my dad.”
“Sure. I mean, I’ve met him a few times at the hardware store. He seems really nice. How’s he doing since your mom passed away?”
Pete turned away and drew in a deep breath. When he turned back, he tightened his grip on her hand.
“This is really hard for me to share, Jenna. He’s not doing very well, and no one knows about this but my family.” He paused, and the muscle in the side of his jaw repeatedly bulged.
“Pete, you don’t have to tell me—”
“I want to tell you, Jenna. I don’t want any secrets between us, and if we keep seeing each other, this will definitely have an impact.”
“If?” The word slipped out like a whisper. She closed her mouth tightly against the insecurity.
