Page 20 of Sweet Love at Bayside
“…Summer Night, and Summer Romance,” the salesgirl said. “We also have Coconut Delight and Sandy Harbor.”
Rick gazed into Desiree’s eyes with as much heat as hope, and she felt herself disappearing into them.
“What do you think, Desiree? Are you up for a summer romance?”
Summer romance?She wasn’t a summer-romance girl. She was a first-date-dinner-and-a-movie girl with a polite good-night kiss. A three-week-rule girl. If she wanted a guy after three weeks of dating, she’d consider sleeping with him. But right this second, she was a holy-moly-please-light-my-fire girl.
No.
Just say no.
I’m going to say no.
She swallowed hard, stood up straighter, the way she did when she faced her students’ parents, reminding herself she took pride in being a responsible person.I can do this.
She gazed up at Rick, who had yet to take his eyes off her, and her inner sexy girl gagged that good-girl chick, and “Absolutely,” came roaring out.
RICK STRADDLED THE bench of a picnic table near the band where they’d chosen to eat dessert and guided Desiree into the same position, straddling the bench and facing him. He reached behind her, put his hand on her butt, and hauled her forward, until her knees pushed between his legs and the bench. “Much better.”
“Not very ladylike,” she said with a tease in her eyes.
He bit back the dirty, though honest remark that sat on the tip of his tongue.You could sit naked on my lap and you’d still look ladylike.What had gotten into him? He wasn’t a scumbag, and he didn’t say things like that to women. But Desiree was awakening primal desires he’d buried beneath seventy-plus hours of work each week for years on end.
Reminding himself to slow down, he said, “I want to see your face.”
He lit one of the candles they’d bought with the complimentary matches the salesgirl had thrown in as the band began playing a fast-paced song.
“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a romantic,” Desiree said.
“What would you have pegged me as?”
“I don’t know. You’re not like the guys I know.”
“Are they mostly teachers and single dads?” He tossed out a line, hoping she’d bite. He was dying to know if she dated often and what her life back in Virginia was like. He was all for blowing the competition out of the water.
“No, definitely not. I would never date one of my students’ fathers. I don’t date much, and according to Emery, the guys I usually go out with are a little boring. She calls them ‘nice.’ But you’re a nice guy, and you’re not at all boring.”
“Hey, nothing wrong with nice,” Rick said.
“No, she’s right. Nice guyscanbe a little boring.” She whispered the wordboring.
He looked around. “Are they here? The boring guys? Why are you whispering?”
She smiled, and he wanted to see that smile all day long.
“Because it feels rude to say it out loud.”
“That’s the preschool teacher in you speaking. People say Drake is a nice guy, and he’s not at all boring. Then again, he’s also persistent and opinionated, but not like me. I’ll get in people’s faces and speak my mind. It’s a bad habit of mine, learned it from my father.”
“Like Violet,” she said.
He nodded. “Probably very similar. I like her, by the way. She watches out for you.”
She squared her shoulders. “I don’t need watching over.”
“Everyone needs someone to watch out for them.” Thinking of how different his life had been since he returned to the Cape and how great it was spending time with his family and friends, he added, “Life gets lonely without close friends.”
“I have close friends, but I can take care of myself.” Her brow wrinkled, and she took a sip of the iced tea he’d bought with their dessert. “Who watches out for you?”
