Page 49 of Sweet Heat at Bayside
“Laura said the last two senior designers left for bigger, better opportunities. Is this a stopover foreveryone? Is that why it feels like something’s missing?” She didn’t even realize she’d nailed down her feelings to something being missing until just then. She’d never felt like something was missing at the resort. Her need to move on was driven by her job, the one she’d been hired to do, being completed. She’d readied the resort for someone else to walk in and run the areas she’d set up and managed. But had she felt complete for so long there because of Drake? Because of her friends?
“Until you own your own business, I think everything is a stepping-stone.”
“I guess that’s true.” Wasn’t everything in life a stepping-stone tosomething? Like school was to a career and dating was to marriage?
“My guess is the reason it feels like something’s missing is because you’re looking for small-town friendships, loyalty, and comforts in the big city. Like I said, that might change. I’ve seen good people like you become hardened, disloyal, and impersonal in a matter of months.”
“How didyouescape it? You seem pretty down-to-earth.”
“I keep my eyes on the prize. I may not know what that prize is right now, but I have faith in myself. I know one day my future will become clear. My small-town roots have kept me grounded. I might want moreprofessionally, but the day I walk out the doors of KHB for the last time, it’s not going to be as a lesser man.”
DRAKE PACED AT the end of the resort driveway waiting for Serena to arrive home Friday night. She’d texted when she’d reached the roundabout in Orleans, which was only a few minutes away, and he’d been edgy ever since. The drive had taken her an extra hour and a half. He expected her to be tired and irritated, and he told himself to chill out and try not to devour her the second he saw her.
Headlights appeared at the end of the road, and he jogged into the street, every nerve aflame, his fingers curling in anticipation of holding her again.
Her window was down as she rolled to a stop beside him. “Hey, big boy—”
Her words were smothered with a ravenous kiss. So much for holding back. He couldn’t resist leaning through the open window and taking the kiss deeper. She clutched at his hair, holding tight the way she must have learned turned him on. Sinful sounds slipped from her lungs, and the car began rolling.
“Brakes,” he ground out between urgent kisses.
She slammed on the brakes, pulling him by his hair into another kiss. The sting shot darts of pleasure straight through him. His Supergirl was back, and he needed her in his arms. The car rolled forward again, and she grasped the wheel with one hand, still tugging his hair with the other, and slammed on the brake.
“Park,” he ground out. “Fast.”
He gave her a chaste kiss and sprinted down the driveway beside her car. The second she parked in front of the office, he pulled the door open and she jumped into his arms. Her mouth crashed against his, knocking their teeth together. They both groaned, but neither broke their connection as he carried her into the office and strode up the stairs to his apartment.
Halfway up she pulled back and pressed her hands to his cheeks, her eyes dazzling with heat as she said, “I swore I wouldn’t do this.”
He grinned. “You and me both. Everyone’s at the Beachcomber tonight, if you want to—”
“No! I need to be with you. It’s been alongweek.”
“Thank goodness,” he ground out.
He reclaimed her mouth as he opened the door to his apartment and pushed it closed with his hip. She wriggled from his arms, and they tore at each other’s clothes, stumbling toward the bedroom. They tumbled to the bed in a tangle of hungry kisses.
He buried his face in her neck, breathing her in. “How is it possible that I’ve missed you so much?”
“I don’t know. I look for you at every turn. When I’m in my office, I wish you’d come in after your morning run, shirtless and sweaty, with that look in your eyes that always made my heart go crazy.”
He kissed her cheek, then brushed his lips over hers and said, “You mean the darn-I-want-you look that was immediately followed by an I-need-a-cold-shower grimace?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
He lifted one of her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to each of her fingers. Then he settled her hand beneath his on the mattress and did the same with her other hand. “This is the first time you’ve been in my bed, and I want to remember everything about it. Your hair spilling over the pillows, the feel of you beneath me, the look in your eyes.”
“It’s not the first time,” she whispered. “When we finished decorating your apartment, I lay right across the bed, staring up at the ceiling while you were talking with Rick, remember?”
“I do, actually. I remember wondering if he’d think I was a jerk if I asked him to leave so I could try to seduce you.”
“Liar.” She grinned.
“You’re right. I wondered if he’d think I was a jerk if I told him to leave and flat-out took advantage of you.”
Passion simmered in her eyes. “Gosh, how I wish you had.”
She leaned up as he lowered his lips to hers, meeting him in a slow, sensual kiss. This, her, their coming together, was truly and utterly perfect. Her eyes opened, and she held his gaze, sending his heart into a spiral of emotions. His girl knew just what he wanted—what heneeded—to see and feelallof her.
