Last Call (Book #2 - Heat Wave Series) Page 11

  He had a nagging suspicion if he looked real close, he’d also find he lost touch with himself, as well as the values instilled in him as a child. But it wasn’t the time to start dissecting his life. He had more pressing things to worry about.

  It seemed they’d both lost their appetite, and he was getting restless. He thought through problems and found solutions better when moving; he needed to walk. “What’s down that way?” he asked, pointing toward the far end of the island.

  “More of what’s right here. A few houses and beach.” Her body language was still stiff and guarded, but her voice was calm and impassive.

  Gavin stood and offered her his hand. “Show me.”

  While they walked in silence, he took the time to appreciate the natural beauty and peaceful solitude of Anticue. It was beautiful now, but when the resort was built, the beach would be crawling with people and the dunes would be damaged, despite warnings to stay off of them.

  From the corner of his eye, he watched Sunny work a Dum-Dum around and around and around. He figured she was rolling this situation around in her mind at the same frantic pace she was wearing out the candy. He imagined her fortifying her mental walls, figuring out all the angles to make sure her home and business were untouchable.

  The same thing he’d be doing if the situation were reversed.

  After walking for what seemed like a week, they turned and headed back toward her place. “When did you move to North Carolina?” It was the first time either of them had spoken since they started walking, and her question startled him.

  Satisfying an annoying craving for constant contact with her, he took her hand and laced their fingers together. “I was ten.”

  She swiveled her head so she could see him and waited for more information. Apparently, she wasn’t satisfied with the simple answer and was willing to stare him down until she got more.

  He wasn’t used to sharing anything about himself, especially not this part of his life, and a lump formed in his chest, blocking the words. “My parents…” His voice cracked like a prepubescent teen, and he had to clear his throat and start over. “My parents disappeared in a boating accident when I was ten. After that, my grandfather moved me to his farm.”

  “You don't look like a guy raised on a farm.”

  Her words weren’t derogatory, but his brain registered them as such. Half afraid to ask but curious enough to risk it, he said, “Okay, I’ll bite. What do I look like?”

  She didn't immediately answer, and the longer she studied him, the more his gut twisted with unease. He never worried what others thought, and it surprised him to realize how much her answer meant.

  “The farmers I know don’t wear designer suits and shoes.”

  As he considered her words, he tried to understand the agitation he felt over this ridiculous subject.

  She tugged on his fingers and smiled. “It's not a bad thing. You just don't look like a farmer.”

  True enough, he supposed, but her answer still irked him. They stopped and grabbed the picnic gear, then headed back to Sunny’s. As they approached the house, Gavin saw Robby’s Ford Ranger in the parking lot.

  “Well, shit,” Sunny said, as her shoulders slumped forward.

  Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” Maybe she was thinking like him and planned on sex for dessert. But with Robby home, that was probably off the menu.

  She pointed to the parking lot. “Robby’s home.” She gasped, then tensed. “Oh shit! Robby’s home.”

  Jesus, he knew her brother didn’t like him, but he didn’t think it should cause her this much distress.

  Panic settled over her features. “I left the box of condoms on the bed, and your clothes are in my bedroom.”

  Gavin bit his lip to keep from smiling. “How old are you?”

  She cringed. “I know it’s ridiculous to feel like a teenager who’s gotten caught making out with her boyfriend while her parents were gone. But I’ve never had a man over, or had to deal with this situation before.”

  Several things about that statement stood out and caused a stir of emotion in his gut. She said last night she hadn’t been with anyone in three years, and this supported that claim. But it also sounded like she never had a serious boyfriend who spent time with her and Robby. His male pride liked knowing she didn't have a rash of lovers over the years, and it also wanted to be the first to make himself at home in her living room.

  And wasn’t that fucked up given their current situation.

  “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he said. “I’m curious. How old are you?”

  “Oh.” She dipped her head to hide her face as a blush settled over her cheeks. “I’m twenty-nine. Robby’ll be twenty-one in two weeks and can finally help me serve alcohol. It’s not that big of a deal because he’s the dishwasher, and he helps in the kitchen if they get backed up. But it’ll be nice to have a little relief behind the bar.”

  She shrugged. “But then he’ll leave for the university in the fall, and I’ll be back to flying solo. I’m nervous about doing it on my own.” She turned to him, eyes wide, as if realizing she’d revealed a great secret. “I never want him to know that.”

  Gavin nodded in understanding. “Where's he going?”

  “He's supposed to go to East Carolina University, in Greenville. He wants to do something with art, and they have a great art program.”

  “Did he make these?” Gavin asked as he stopped at the copper windmill and pushed on one of the paddles, sending the propeller into motion.

  Sunny smiled and ran her fingers along the edge of a dogwood leaf on another piece. “No. Well, he helps me sometimes. I make these in my spare time.”

  He cut his eyes to her. “When could you possibly have spare time?”

  "Now that we’ve gotten all the renovations taken care of, I have a lot of time during the day to work on them.”

  Gavin’s mind jumped to the future, when Robby was gone and Sunny lived alone. He could think of a million ways to fill her… time.

  As they rounded the back of the house, Gavin asked, “Why do you say, ‘he’s supposed to go?’”

  “Because I think he’s hesitant to leave me. He’s done two years at the community college, getting all of his general classes out of the way. But now that it’s time for him to leave, I think he’s afraid of abandoning me. That’s why I’d never tell him how nervous I am about doing this on my own.” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and glanced up at the apartment door. “Even though the thought of him leaving makes my chest feel like it’s filled with wet sand, I need to get up the courage to talk to him about it and let him know I’ll be fine.”

  “I can't believe a lack of courage has ever kept you from doing anything. You're a remarkable woman, Sunny.” Before she could respond, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and dipped his head. With his lips against hers he added, “A sexy, beautiful, amazingly remarkable woman.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sunny pushed the kitchen door open, slowly stepped inside, then glanced around the corner.

  Gavin bit his lip to keep from laughing when he realized she was holding her breath and practically tiptoeing across the kitchen. She oh-so-carefully set the blanket on the counter, then soundlessly dipped into her jar for a grape Dum-Dum. When she turned around and saw the big, stupid grin spread over his face, she frowned and whispered, “What?”

  His grin grew wider.

  Meaningless relationships had burned Gavin out on dating long ago. On the rare occasion he did go out, it was usually with someone he met through work. Aggressive, assertive, out-to-prove-something-to-the-world women with huge chips firmly settled on their shoulders.

  He bet Sunny was stronger than all of them put together. Yet here she was, shifting from foot to foot, afraid her younger brother would find out she had sex. “You're absolutely adorable. Especially when you're nervous.”

  She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I’m not nervous.”

  He set
the picnic basket on the kitchen table, then stepped in front of her. When he rested his hands on either side of her, boxing her in, she sucked in a breath and stiffened. Leaning over, he whispered in her ear, “Yes, you are. You're afraid you've been caught doing the nasty in the middle of the day.”

  From the corner of his eye, he watched the sucker stick jerk as she worked the candy around in her mouth. Her cheeks drew in as she gave a long pull on the Dum-Dum, and his body tensed in response. If she sucked on him like those damned suckers, the fun would be over before it even began.

  “I'm almost thirty years old. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, with whomever I—” She jerked back and cocked her head, listening. Gavin made out the sound of footsteps on the stairs at the same time Sunny pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him away from her.

  He stepped away, laughing. “You want to tell me that again?”

  The door opened and Robby stepped into the kitchen. His gaze landed on Gavin, then traveled to Sunny. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to assume a tough-guy stance. “I thought you’d been kidnapped.”

  “We were on the beach,” Sunny said, nervously glancing from Robby to Gavin and back again. She waved her hand between them. “Robby, this is Gavin McLeod. Gavin, this is Robby. My brother.”

  While they shook hands, Robby sized Gavin up. Again. He did some of this last night, and again on the steps, but Gavin understood Robby’s need to do it over and over until he was comfortable with the situation. Gavin was in their personal space, and he needed to let Robby do his protective-brother thing.

  After a moment, Robby said, “I noticed the pile of clothes in the chair in Sunny's room. I'm glad to see you're not naked.”

  Gavin glanced at Sunny's pale face. He could read her thoughts. If Robby discovered the clothes in her room, he saw the condoms. She might have been able to fudge around the truth before, but not now.

  Gavin smiled and winked at Sunny as he took a step closer to her. He didn’t know what would happen between the two of them, but he wanted her to know he was with her in this.

  The big question remained: Would he be with her in the fight against Max?

  Pushing the unpleasant thought aside, he said, “She thought these would be more appropriate beach attire.” He glanced back to Robby. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  Robby relaxed his stance and dropped his hands to his side, the moment of examination and challenge over. Apparently, Gavin passed the test. This time. “No problem.” Robby leaned against the doorframe and switched his attention to Sunny. “I've got some things to do downstairs. I'll be in the bar if you need me.”

  Sunny blew out the breath she probably hadn’t even been aware of holding, and frowned. “What are you working on?”

  “I need to figure out what's causing the kitchen sink to leak.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Robby and Sunny turned to Gavin with identical, incredulous expressions that broadcast their thoughts loud and clear. How could you possibly help?

  On top of the discussion with Sunny about not looking like a guy raised on a farm, their attitudes chapped his ass. “Don’t let appearances fool you. I’m more useful than I look.”

  Sunny narrowed her eyes. “I need to talk to Gavin for a second.” She cast a glance at Robby. “Alone.”

  “Sure.” He stopped with his hand on the door handle and swiveled his head toward Sunny. “Make sure you keep both feet on the floor. And he’s not to be in your bedroom without me in here.”

  Sunny crossed her arms and glared at the closing door.

  Gavin laughed. “Let me guess where he's heard that before.”

  “What are you doing?” she asked, pinning him with an intense stare.

  He thought she would relax in direct proportion to Robby easing off, but something had gone off kilter. She was tenser now, and he was confused. “I was teasing you.”

  “I mean, why are you being nice and offering to help Robby? Do you think you can get close to him, talk him into selling, then use him to convince me?”

  The air left Gavin's lungs in a whoosh, and he stumbled backward as if she'd physically punched him. “What? No, I would never…”

  The thought died a painful death as another, truer thought rushed in. Bullshit. That’s exactly what you’d do.

  That realization stung more than Sunny’s words because, yeah, in any other situation, that would have been his MO.

  He scrubbed a hand down his face and turned to the window. Watching the waves roll onshore, he felt like a tiny seashell, tossed and turned and swept away in the current of the vast ocean. “No,” he said, barely loud enough for her to hear. “That’s not what I was doing. I honestly just wanted to help. It’s obvious he doesn’t like me, or at least, isn’t happy with me being here. I thought it might help if he got to know me better.”

  “Why?”

  He looked over his shoulder at her. “Why what?”

  “What difference does it make if he likes you? Your business is finished. I assumed you’d be leaving.”

  Jesus, she swung a verbal switchblade with alarming accuracy. He didn’t think it was intentional; she simply spoke the truth as she saw it. But intentional or not, her stabs hurt like a bitch.

  He sat on the seat under the kitchen window, rested his forearms on his knees, and looked up at her through his lashes. “I’m not sure what I’m doing. I enjoy being with you, and I guess I’m not in a hurry to leave. This is a complicated situation, and I’m only making it more complex, but… there you go. The honest truth.”

  Slumped against the counter, arms crossed over her chest, she opened her mouth, then closed it. Anger, frustration, and what appeared to be sadness crossed her face before her expression settled on wary. “Is this like the saying, ‘keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?’”

  “What?” He waited, hoping she was kidding. But neither her expression nor demeanor changed, and he realized she was serious. “We’re not enemies, Sunny.”

  “Yeah, we kind of are. You still want my land. I’m not selling. We’re definitely not teammates.”

  He stood and went to her. Sweeping a lock of hair away from her face, he said, “We have…” He averted his gaze and took a deep breath. “Had different goals. I’m not sure what I’m doing at this point. But that doesn’t mean we’re enemies.” He couldn’t think of anyone he considered an enemy, but if he did have any, he knew with absolute certainty he’d never rolled around naked with them.

  He turned away from her and paced the kitchen floor. “There has to be a way to work this out. I just have to figure out what it is.”

  The first step would be calling Max to report in, but he didn’t know what to say. Gavin couldn’t grab hold of a thought long enough to figure out what needed done, let alone devise a plan. He was flailing without direction, but that needed to change ASAP. Max would be expecting a report, and Gavin needed to give him one.

  Christ, that conversation was going to be as much fun as running his nuts through a grinder.

  ***

  Hours and hours of shopping left Callie famished.

  And with a nervous twitch in her right eye.

  For the most part, she stuck with her plan to plunge necklines and raise hemlines. She even bought what she considered to be a few obscenely short skirts—although the idea of wearing any of them in public caused cold sweats and severe dizziness.

  The low-cut, ruby red Valentino she got for tomorrow night’s retirement party was a whole lot racier than anything she normally wore, but she was excited about it and couldn’t wait to see Gavin’s reaction. If his jaw didn’t come unhinged and a small amount of drool didn’t escape the corner of his mouth, she’d be terribly disappointed.

  Her big failure of the day was at Benedetti’s.

  She’d been on board with getting one of those ridiculous nipple necklaces… until she went into the dressing room with Jen and saw how the clips attached by twisting around her nipples. Owww.
She’d grown feathers and had the urge to peck at the ground and lost all desire to buy something resembling a medieval torture device.

  Jen, of course, did not chicken out.

  “It doesn’t hurt at all,” Jen said, with glassy eyes and a dreamy smile. “In fact, it feels really good.” She left the dressing room, went back to the display case, and picked out three different styles.

  Despite Callie’s begging and attempts at bribery—and she spared nothing on either count—Jen insisted on wearing one to lunch. If they’d gone back to Callie’s, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But they weren’t at Callie’s.

  The three of them were at the Seaside Pines Country Club, where their parents were long-time members. Callie would expire on the spot if they saw someone they knew. Just thinking of seeing a familiar face made her stomach turn, and she wasn’t even wearing the damned thing.

  “Why are you so nervous?” Jen asked as they waited for the host to return to his station.

  Callie, who’d been holding her breath while checking out the dining room to make sure the coast was clear, jumped. “I’m not.” Okay, that was ridiculous; obviously she was. “It’s that necklace,” she hissed. “What if we run into someone we know?”

  “What if we do? Look…” Jen pulled the edges of her jacket aside to reveal her sweater and, in Jen’s opinion, the lack of evidence. “Even if I wasn’t wearing a jacket, you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s there.”

  Callie slapped Jen’s hands away, then smoothed the lapels back into place.

  “That’s why I say you’re a prude,” Jen whispered harshly. “You’re not even wearing it, and you’re freaked out.”

  “Good afternoon, ladies. I’m sorry you had to wait.” At the sound of the deep-voiced greeting, Callie jumped again.

  Her heart tripped, just a little, when she saw him—the dining room host with the dark chocolate eyes and legendary, high-wattage smile. And he was smiling directly at her.