Page 27 of Sweet Passions at Bayside
“I’ll call them whatever will make you give us a shot, so you can realize we belong together.”
“What if I say no?” she asked with pleading eyes—eyes that told him she didn’t want him to accept no for an answer.
“Then we’ll both be missing out on what I’m sure will be the best thing in our lives.”
“How can I even stay here with all this laid out between us?”
His gut clenched. “Because we’re still the same people we were last night when you fell asleep on my lap. Only now I’ve said what you probably already knew but were afraid to acknowledge.”
“Well, take it back,” she said playfully. “Ineedthat guy from last night. The one that doesn’t expect intimacy.”
“Em, don’t you see? It’s you I want, not just your body. Spend time with me and I promise, when we finally come together, it won’t be aboutsex.” He leaned in closer, and she breathed harder. “It’ll be about us.”
Dean held his breath as silence stretched between them. When Emery took a step back, the fear in her eyes fell away, replaced with strength and conviction. He prepared himself for her to storm away.
“How do you think Brody will take it when I cancel?”
He blinked several times, unable to believe his ears. “I don’t care how Brody feels. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
With a cheeky smile and a sway of her hips, she headed for the house. “I’m saying you better get your run over with fast, because if I’m going onexample outingswith anyone, it’s not going to be Brody.”
He had no idea what had flipped her switch, but his sassy girl was back, and he felt like he’d been given the gift of a lifetime. But he also knew Emery, knew what she liked, and a challenge was on the top of that list.
“Hey, doll face,” he called after her.
She looked over her shoulder, and man,those eyes,that smile…
“Real men have work to do. Get your pretty little butt cleaned up. You’re coming with me. I’ll take you surfing when I’m good and ready.”
Her eyes widened. “Wow, big guy. That’s some alphadisiacstuff you have goin’ on.”
“Darn right. Be ready in an hour.”
Chapter Seven
THERE WERE THREE things wrong with Dean’sexample outings, the first of which was…example.Yeah right.The second was that now his truck smelled like Emery, from the sweetness of her shampoo to the desire that practically seeped from her pores every time she stole a glance at him. She probably thought she hid it well, but she was seriously impaired in that department. She couldn’t hide squat, which created the third issue. There was no way he was going to be able to keep his hands, or his mouth, to himself if she kept looking at him like she was deciding if she should kiss him or pretend she didn’t want to, especially while she was wearing hot little cutoffs and a lacy yellow top over a blue and white tie-dyed bikini. Her top had enough decorative holes to be used as a fishing net.
He parked in front of Lower Cape Assisted Living, or as everyone called it, LOCAL, and cut the engine.
“I think I just figured out why you’re still single,” Emery said with a fair amount of snark. “I gave up learning to surf so I could help you landscape? You could have at least clued me in so I could change out of my bathing suit.”
“You gave upgoing out with Brodybecause you wanted to spend the day with me,” he reminded her. “And I like your bathing suit.” He stepped from the truck. He felt her watching him as he walked around to the passenger side and opened her door.
“Thisis your example outing? How you think guys should treat me? Take me to work with them?” She lifted her brows inquisitively.
He reached into the truck and, in one swift move, turned her by her hips, bringing them face-to-face. “Wipe that smirk off your face, doll. I’ll teach you to surf, but first I have work to do, and you need to network.”
“Network?” She gazed up at the building, and understanding dawned in her beautiful eyes. “You think I should put flyers out here? I didn’t even bring them with me.”
He reached behind the seat and waved a stack of the flyers he’d found, along with a stack of yoga magazines, two of his gardening magazines, and a tube of cherry lip balm, litteringhisbed.
When he’d returned from his run, Emery had been meditating in the garden. She’d looked so serene he could hardly believe she was the same whirlwind of a woman who moved from one thought to the next without skipping a breath. And when he’d gone inside, he’d found evidence of her inner chaos everywhere. A pile of hair ties, two kinds of hair product, and a wide-toothed comb lay on the bathroom sink. A flowered notebook on the kitchen counter with a fuzzy pink pen and two crumpled papers. Not one, butthreepairs of flip-flops in the living room, and his personal favorite, the charm necklace she’d worn the other day, lying on the living room couch. It was like she was marking her territory.
“Where did you find those?” she asked, reaching for the flyers.
“On mybed.” He slid his hands along her hips, bringing their mouths a whisper apart and earning a sharp and sexy inhalation. “What were you doing on my bed, Emery?”
“Um…” A surprisingly shy smile lifted her lips. “I haven’t put my clothes away yet, and I wanted to look at the flyers.”
