Page 33 of Love At The Shore
“That’s it!” Lucas spiked a white ball over the net and fist-pumped as it landed in a spray of sand, just out of reach of the players on the other side.
After Ally returned Tank, he’d called a few friends and thrown together an impromptu beach volleyball game. He needed something to get his mind off the kids next door.
And their mother.
It wasn’t like him to get involved like this. Even Kayla had noticed, and his response to her teasing kept whirling through his thoughts.
It’s just one kid, just one time.
Suddenly one kid had become two, and he was starting to lose count of how many times he’d volunteered himself. He’d even managed to volunteer hisdog. What was happening?
You like her. That’s what’s happening.
The ball sailed toward him and he pounded it with more force than was probably necessary. Being attracted to Jenna Turner was out of the question. She wasn’t interested. Plus she was leaving in just a few weeksandshe had two children.
He wasn’t father-figure material. He’d pretty much organized his entire life to avoid that kind of responsibility.
The ball sailed past him, and when he turned to run after it, his gaze snagged on Jenna and her kids walking over the dune toward the beach house.
His favorite three complications.
Nick broke away from Jenna and Ally and ran toward him. Lucas gave him a wave. “Hey, bud.”
The boy grinned toward the group scattered about on the makeshift volleyball court they’d marked in the sand. “Lucas, do you need any more players?”
No, they didn’t. Certainly not a kid whose head probably didn’t reach the bottom of the net.
“I guess we could use another body.” What was he saying? “Why? You interested?”
Nick’s grin widened. “What about my mom?”
Wait. What?
Lucas snuck a glance at Jenna standing in the distance, facing the ocean. She was wearing her emerald swimsuit again, this time under a beige sweater and jean shorts. Hair tossed by the sea breeze, she looked like a mermaid on her way to the library.
Lucas rather liked the library. And mermaids. “What about her?”
“She used to play in college.” There was an unmistakable note of pride in Nick’s tone.
“Really?” Lucas tried to keep his jaw from dropping. It was a struggle.
He called out to Jenna. “Hey, you used to dig?”
She came toward him, eyeing him like he was speaking a foreign language. “What do you mean?”
The kid had to be mistaken. She wasn’t even familiar with basic volleyball jargon.
“I was just telling Lucas how you used to play volleyball in college,” Nick said.
Lucas waited for her to contradict him.
She didn’t. Not exactly, anyway. “That was like a hundred years ago.”
Nick shrugged. “You should play.”
“Right now?” She blinked.
Lucas bit back a smile. “Were you any good?”
