He took a swig of his beer. “I still have an opportunity to do that.”
“Happy to hear you haven’t given up all your delinquent ways.” We shared a laugh but it was plain to see that he meant what he’d said about struggling. “What’s happening with the family?”
“Everyoneknows what’s happening, Sunny. Everyone in this town talks about it all the damn time.”
“That’s not true. Not even a sweet corn kernel of truth there.” I held up a hand to stop his protest. “From what I’ve heard, no one actually knows what’s going on but they’re positive your parents had nothing to do with it.” I leaned in. “But they’re not surprised to hear the lobster guy was involved. Apparently he’s shady as hell.”
He arched a brow and gave me that same stoic look as always. “You really don’t have to protect my feelings.”
I brought a hand to my chest. “I cannot think of a single reason to concern myself with your feelings.”
That wasn’t strictly true but he didn’t need to know that.
“Well.” A sigh rumbled out of him. “My dad is facing a load of federal charges and he’s approaching it with anI just hope both teams have funattitude. Thank god for ruthless criminal defense attorneys.” He scoffed. “And the fact I can afford him.”
“Yeah. How did that happen?”
He eyed me as he shifted the beer bottle to his other hand. The newly free hand rested on his jeans, his pinkie barely grazing my knee. Probably an accident. “I manage other people’s money. If I grow it well enough, I keep a bigger percentage of it. The percents add up.”
“From the looks of things, it’s a lot of percents.”
He lifted his shoulders. “I do all right.”
I had to give him a ton of credit for taking the truly humble path when he could’ve whipped out a bank balance or last year’s bonus check. “I’m happy for you. Even if you aren’t happy to be here.”
His finger swept over my kneecap. Not an accident. “You have to admit the circumstances are not ideal.”
I nodded. “Of course, although you have to admit that messing with my café is not a healthy form of stress relief.”
He dropped his entire hand to my knee and squeezed. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? Because—”
I burst out laughing. Beckett glared at me like he wanted to strangle me but he didn’t move his hand.
“I never thought—” He stopped himself, shook his head. “I figured you’d leave Friendship.”
“I did. Several times. I’ve lived in a bunch of different places.”
“But you came back.” He said this like it was unfathomable.
“The universe brought me back—and before you roll your eyes about that, you should know I won the bait shop in a poker game. If that isn’t the universe sending me home, I don’t know what is.”
“You won—what?”
He set his beer down and shifted his arm to the back of the swing, his knuckles brushing my arm. In the depths of my mind, I registered that he was claiming more of my personal space than I usually preferred to share with anyone but I didn’t want him to stop. It didn’t feel like he was taking anything from me. It felt like he was giving something and that made all the difference.
“I managed a tavern in Newport, The Soggy Dog, where a bunch of real estate guys from all around would get together every few months. They always played for big items. Properties, boats, cars. Stacks of cash. There’s a reason they bought out the back room and were picky as hell about who served them, but they left incredible tips. Sometimes, after closing up, I played a hand with them. One night, I walked away with the bait shop.”
He trailed his fingers along the edge of my sleeveless shirt, right in that tender spot where my arm met my shoulder. A breath caught in my throat and I had to fight off a shiver.
“That’s amazing,” he said. “And you knew you wanted to turn it into a vegan café?”
He leaned in and dropped his other hand to my leg, right above my knee. His thumb stroked in small circles, edging my skirt up with each rotation. There was no oxygen left in the world.
“That wasn’t my first reaction, no.” I tried to sound as even as possible considering my brain was splitting its focus between my shoulder and knee and nothing else mattered. “It’s a long story, actually, and—” And I didn’t know what I wanted to say next but I knew I had to make a decision. Either this continued or it didn’t, and I had to be willing to accept the consequences no matter what. I had to make the right choice because I wasn’t getting another go at this moment.
If this stopped right now, I had to brace myself for months of awkward tension between us. I had to be willing to shove down this attraction and cling to the last chunks of my iceberg.
But if it didn’t stop, I had to acknowledge that I was risking a spider web of relationships. This wasn’t just about the two of us, not when he was my brother’s best friend and forever entwined in my world. Not when his family restaurant was on the same edge of Friendship Cove as my café and we lived in the same cozy town. And not when his life was up in the air—and based on another continent.
