Hearts at Seaside (Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers Book 3) Read online

  No. I want you to kiss me again. “You’ll dance with me?”

  “Babe, I’d do anything with you.”

  Zing!

  Groups of people gathered around the band, dancing and swaying to the music. Pete pulled her close, and she slid her hands beneath his shirt and up his muscular back, memorizing the feel of him. The temperature was warmer with the crowd blocking the breeze from the bay—or maybe it was from Pete’s body pressed against hers. His hands slid to the curve of her butt and pressed lightly. Jenna’s nerves were on fire. She wanted to kiss him and touch him until she had her fill. She felt herself breathing hard, and when he gazed down and searched her eyes, pressing his hips to her, she was as aroused as he was.

  He was so much taller than her that lifting up on her toes would never get her close enough for a kiss, but oh, how she wanted to kiss him. Years of wanting him rushed forward. She might not be able to reach his lips, but she could sure give him the signal he was searching for. She slid her hands around to his rock-hard abs and then ran them up his chest. His skin was hot, and his heart thundered against her palm. When he lowered his cheek to hers and whispered, “Let’s get out of here,” she had to stop herself from thanking him.

  They hurried along the beach hand in hand, closing the distance toward Pete’s house and stopping every few feet to kiss. Pete’s kisses were like a force unto themselves. His arms engulfed her, making her feel feminine and safe, as he explored every bit of her mouth with deep, lush strokes of his tongue. He didn’t just kiss her; he consumed her, claimed her with kisses that held promises of so much more. She’d never felt so desired in all her life.

  Waves crashed against the rocks along the shore by his house. Jenna had known that he lived in Eastham, but she’d never been to his house, and when they’d dropped off the truck, they’d gone straight down the beach toward the music. Now, as they followed the sandy trail up the bluff to his house, she took it all in. The dark shingled home and enormous barn were outlined with white trim. Set against the backdrop of the night sky, his property felt welcoming. Pete’s hand tightened on hers, big as a bear paw, and if the way he’d held her when they were dancing and kissing was any indication, just as lethal.

  When they reached the door, the bay breeze tousled Pete’s hair, and his eyes bored into her. His full lips curved up, and he pulled her into another deep kiss. A shiver ran down her spine at the realization of where they were heading. She hooked her finger into the waist of his jeans to keep her legs from wobbling. He didn’t say a word, and it was a good thing, because she was sure her nerves would have silenced her voice.

  He opened the door and Joey bounded out, climbing Pete’s legs and whimpering with excitement.

  “Hey, girl.” He crouched beside her and loved her up. Joey rolled onto her back, and Jenna joined him, petting Joey’s belly as she tried to lick her hands. Her nerves eased, until she glanced at Pete and their eyes locked. The space between them heated with unspoken desires. He reached for her hand, and Joey bounded away as Pete led her inside.

  “Joey?” she said.

  “Doggie door.” His voice was raspy and deep.

  They walked through a tidy kitchen and into a warm living room. Sheer curtains billowed around open French doors that overlooked the bay. The breeze carried the crisp, salty scent of the bay, and when Pete drew her into his arms, it picked up his masculine scent and lust clutched her again. A whisper of worry floated through her mind. Erotic, sensual. It faded as quickly as it had come. She felt safe with Pete, and she knew he’d never force her to do anything she didn’t want to.

  He swept her hair from her face. “You’re so beautiful, Jenna. I haven’t been able to think of anything but you for days.”

  She felt her cheeks flush as he lowered his lips to her neck and trailed kisses to the sensitive skin just beneath her ear. She closed her eyes and slid her hands beneath his shirt again. His kisses spread heat through her body like an inferno, and she went a little wild, plucking at the buttons on his shirt until it fell open, exposing hard planes of tanned flesh. She ran her hands up his ribs to his pecs. His mouth was working magic on the curve of her neck, sending goose bumps down her arms. She had to taste him. As if reading her mind, he pulled her against him. Her lips pressed against his chest, earning her a low groan from him. He kissed her again as he adeptly untied the top straps of her halter dress. Standing before him with her breasts exposed, while he was still dressed, shirt open, should have made her feel vulnerable and nervous. Instead she felt empowered, and the wanton look in his eyes bolstered her confidence.

  “Jenna,” he said roughly. He touched his lips to the edge of her mouth. “I can’t believe I was so blind to us for so long.”

  “Me either.” She giggled at her candor. “If I had known a little competition would get your attention, I’d have dated a construction worker years ago.”

  He tightened his grip until she could barely breathe. “Let’s not talk about other guys.”

  She laughed again, and he took her in a needful kiss.

  In the next breath, she was in his arms, being carried down the hall and into his bedroom. Her lips were so close to him, and his scent was so intoxicating, she placed an openmouthed kiss on his neck, and it still wasn’t enough. She licked, then nipped and licked some more, until he tore his neck from her grasp with a loud exhalation.

  “You’re driving me insane.” Heat flared in his dark eyes.

  He lowered her to the bed and came down on top of her, kissing her deeply. She wanted him, needed him. All of him. She didn’t care that this was their first real date. She’d waited a very long time, and as he lavished her face with kisses, she was completely, utterly, his.

  He touched his forehead to her shoulder and just breathed her in. Jenna stilled. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop. When he lifted his head and their eyes met, his desire was layered with hesitation.

  “I’m sorry, Jenna. I got carried away. You’re so beautiful, and when we kissed…” He shook his head. “Do you want this with me? We can stop.”

  There was no question in her mind what she wanted. She ran her fingers through his hair. Oh, she loved his hair. “I’ve wanted this with you forever.”

  His eyes darkened and narrowed with an animalistic, possessive look. She touched her lips to his, urging him to continue the heavenly things he’d been doing before his beautiful conscience took over.

  Chapter Eleven

  PETE LOVED THE sound of Jenna’s hampered breathing as she tried to calm down from their lovemaking. He loved that he had that effect on her—they had that effect on each other. He came up on one elbow and she smiled up at him. He loved her mouth, her eyes, the softness of her skin. He loved that she was in his bed, finally, where he felt she belonged. Pete traced a line down the center of her body, took her hand in his and brought it to his lips.

  “This doesn’t feel like a first date, Jenna. It feels like you’ve been with me all my life.”

  “If I’d been with you all your life, your closet would be organized.”

  He glanced into his closet, which was neat and orderly, but not color coordinated, and the thought that her mind had gone there so soon after making love made him laugh.

  “You have a point.” He lowered his forehead to hers. “I’m serious, though. All these years we’ve known each other, and this. You being here with me. It feels so right.” He kissed her cheek and loved the way she closed her eyes the second his lips touched her skin, like she was savoring his touch.

  “In my heart I was with you all these years; you just never noticed.”

  “I noticed, but you confused the heck out of me.” He searched her eyes for a reaction, hoping he didn’t annoy her with his honesty, but it had been on his mind, and he wanted to get it out in the open, because so many other things needed to fill that space. Images of Jenna trying to catch his attention flashed into his mind, but he couldn’t hold on to them. They were overpowered by her other confusing reactions.

  She laced th
eir fingers together. “You made me nervous, but you don’t anymore.” She looked down at their bare bodies. “Obviously.” Her cheeks pinked up again.

  “Why did I make you so nervous?”

  “Because I was so attracted to you.” She shifted her eyes.

  “Jenna, talk to me.”

  She looked at him with a serious gaze. “You made me all flustered, and the harder I tried to get your attention, the less attention you paid to me, so I got nervous.”

  “And then you gave up and went out with that guy.”

  “Charlie.”

  “That guy.”

  The side of her lips cocked up. “You know, you come across as this quiet, well-mannered, slightly mysterious guy. But you’re much more aggressive and possessive.”

  He pulled her closer, so her legs were pressed against his.

  “That’s because I wasn’t dating you.”

  “Which begs the question…Why weren’t you interested in me?” She blinked up at him expectantly.

  “Because I was stupid.” He smiled and she rolled her eyes. Of course she wouldn’t buy his bull, and she deserved the truth. He lay back and arced an arm over his head, but he felt too far away from her, so he moved closer again.

  “The truth is, when you’re with everyone else, you’re yourself, but with me, you were so nervous that I didn’t know what to make of it. I wasn’t sure we’d be compatible. You see how I am. The real me. I’m not someone who’s terribly gentle or coy. But when I saw you with that guy—” He shook his head. “I don’t know, Jenna. I saw you actually pick up a guy. In all these years, I’ve never seen you do that. And suddenly the threat of losing you was real. I realized how much I looked forward to seeing you every summer, and…” He flopped back on the bed again and threw his arm over his forehead and groaned.

  “Go on. I’m liking this whole alpha Pete gets embarrassed thing you’ve got going on.”

  He rose over her again and kissed her nose. “Be careful or I’ll show you just how alpha I can be. We’re friends, Jen. Pretty darn good friends, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that. I didn’t want a fling with you, but seeing you with him at the bar and then again on the boat…I lost sight of right and wrong, and all those years crashed together.” He looked deeply into her eyes, needing her to understand what it had taken him forever to grasp. “I realized how much you meant to me and how stupid I’d been. Then we kissed, and… Jenna. There was no turning back. At least not for me.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “So, this is a fling?”

  His chest tightened. Is that what she wanted? “No way. Not for me it’s not. Is it for you?”

  “I just thought when you said—”

  He shifted her in his arms, pinning her against him. “Let me be very clear. I don’t want a fling, and I’m not into sharing. So if you were looking for a fling, gather your slinky little dress and I’ll drive you home.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And if I’m not looking for a fling?”

  “Then let’s get cleaned up and eat some dinner so I can enrapture you with my seductive ways and claim you again and again.”

  Jenna pushed at his chest. “Would you mind getting off of me?”

  Her words sent a sinking feeling to Pete’s gut as he moved off of her and watched her scoot to the edge of the bed.

  “Did I really misread you?” He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the back of her neck—just in case it was the last taste of her he’d ever get.

  Jenna hopped from the bed—literally—and turned to face him. Her eyes were wide, her smile mischievous, with every sweet curve on display, making him instantly aroused. “Who are you kidding?” She strutted to the bathroom. “Get your butt up. Let’s rinse off and get you fed. You’ve got a girlfriend to satisfy.”

  He followed her into the bathroom, making her laugh as he swooped her into his arms and turned on the shower.

  “Girlfriend? So you don’t mind that I’m a little possessive?” He kissed her neck.

  “Little?” She arched a brow and dragged her eyes down his body. “There is nothing little about you, and I’ve been lusting after you for years.” She met his gaze again. “I’ve been yours for years. It’s about time you owned up to it.”

  “Man, I really like you, Jenna.”

  “Fair warning. I’ll drive you crazy.” She held on to his waist and stared at him with a serious look in her eyes. “I’ll organize everything in your life, and if you think golden-brown marshmallows are a pain, you should see—”

  He kissed her.

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  An hour later they were dressed and sitting on his deck, eating cheese and crackers and sharing a glass of wine, when Pete’s cell phone rang with his father’s ringtone. Are you kidding me?

  “Excuse me.” He rose to his feet and grabbed his phone from the living room table. “Hey, Pop.” He eyed Jenna on the deck. She kicked her bare feet up on his chair and rested her head back.

  “Where is she, Peter?” His father’s speech was slurred and slow. Pete’s heart ached. No one outside of his family knew about his father’s drinking, and just this one night he’d hoped to escape his father’s call. Sometimes he went days without calling. Of all the bad luck…

  He turned his back to Jenna and rubbed his temples. “She’s gone, Pop. But you’re okay. Can you get into bed?” He knew his father wouldn’t be able to without stumbling, and the thought of him getting hurt worried Pete.

  “Gone? What d’you mean gone?”

  Pete turned back toward Jenna. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Stay put.”

  Jenna turned when he opened the screen door. Joey followed him out and rubbed against her leg.

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  He ran his hand through his hair and glanced over the bay. “I’m really sorry, Jenna, but I’ve got to go take care of something.” He did not want to end this night.

  “Oh.” Her eyes filled with disappointment.

  Jenna had woken up every part of his brain and body. He wanted to protect her, to love her, and the last thing he wanted to do was leave her. But she didn’t need to deal with his father’s garbage.

  He reached for her hand. His jaw clenched tight, and he knew he was being quiet and withdrawn. It was unfair to Jenna that he was acting this way, but he was pissed—at his father, for falling into the bottle night after night, and at himself, for not forcing him into rehab.

  “I’m sorry, Jenna. The last thing I want is to end our date, much less end it like this.”

  “It’s okay. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  He shook his head. There was nothing anyone could do. Once again he wondered if Jenna would be better off without him—and his father’s illness—in her life.

  And he knew there was no way he’d ever let her go.

  Chapter Twelve

  JENNA HUNG UP the phone from talking with her mother and banged her forehead on the table for the millionth time. That seemed to be a theme for the summer.

  “I’m the worst daughter in the world. Seriously.” It was Monday morning, and Jenna, Amy, and Bella were lying in the sun in the quad behind Jenna’s cottage, debating walking the hundred or so steps to the pool or driving to the beach, each too lazy to make a decision, much less get up and go.

  “No, you’re not. You’re dealing with a lot right now. Your mom knows that.” Amy shaded her eyes from the sun and reached for Jenna’s hand.

  “No, she doesn’t. I didn’t tell her about Pete.” Sadness welled in her chest as she thought about her mother, which always brought her mind to her father. Although she wasn’t in close contact with him, they talked every few weeks. A brief catch-up phone call, like he was checking off a to-do list, and though she didn’t hate him for everything that was going on in his life and he hadn’t left her mother for his young bride-to-be, every time she heard the pain in her mother’s voice, or saw her mother’s emotional turmoil masked by a forced smile and her ridiculous new costumes, it drove an a
rrow of anger through her, aimed directly at her father.

  “Why not?” Amy wore a light pink bikini, and she’d painted her toenails pink to match. She wiggled them now as she waited for Jenna to answer.

  “Because. I don’t know. She’s so in my face these days. She’d ask a lot of questions and want to talk about sex—and there’s no way I’m talking about that with my mother.”

  “Especially sex with Pete,” Bella added as she twisted her hair into a pile on top of her head and secured it with a clip.

  “I still can’t get over our mild-mannered Pete coming out of his shell. How did we not see that side of him? Ever?”

  “Seriously,” Amy agreed.

  “If I had seen it, I probably would have been even worse off around him.” Jenna sighed, thinking of being in his arms, the sheer strength of him, and the way he looked at her like she was the most delectable creature on earth. “What do you make of the sudden end to our date? I mean, we know he’s not married or anything, so what would send him running off like that when I was ready to spend the night? Do you think it was just an excuse? Like he’s second-guessing this whole thing?”

  Bella slid her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and looked at Jenna over the enormous brown frames. “You established boyfriend, girlfriend. There’s no way he reconsidered.”

  “He could have. Maybe he thought about it while he was on the phone and realized I am a pain in the butt. Oh no! Bella! What if that call was his emergency call?”

  Amy gasped and swung her legs over the side of her lounge chair, staring at Bella with worry in her eyes. Bella sat up, and Jenna followed, trying for the millionth time to ignore the worry over her parents. Is there really such thing as forever for a relationship?

  “You guys?” Jenna’s heart raced. “Maybe the connection we felt was momentary for him. I have to know.” She needed to talk to Pete, not wallow in her parents’ messy lives or let it screw up her hopes and dreams. Jenna jumped to her feet and gathered her towel in her arms.