“If we’re such a bad idea,” he whispered, leaning just close enough for her pulse to jump, “why does it feel like we’ve already started?”
Her eyes widened at his boldness. Kelsey came running back in the perfect interruption, and Rowan finished the hike sticking close. By the time they reached the parking lot, she was a mangled bunch of emotion.
Everett opened the car door for Kelsey, then hesitated, turning back to Rowan. “I’ll book the luau. Thanks for the hike. I had a good time.”
She forced nonchalance. “Sure. Just let me know when and I’ll check my schedule.”
His gaze pinned hers, unreadable and charged. “I’ll try to come to Kelsey’s next lesson.”
Not knowing how to respond, she nodded once and walked away, pretending she didn’t feel the heat of his stare lingering between her shoulder blades long after she’d gone.
And for the first time, Rowan admitted something she’d been avoiding.
She was in trouble.
The real kind.
The kind that felt a lot like the edge of a wave right before it breaks.
Everett opened his laptop three separate times and typed exactly nothing.
Numbers usually calmed him. Columns made sense. Cells obeyed the logic he fed them. He could have gone into finance, but his ability to manage people had served his ambitions more easily.
But tonight?
Every spreadsheet blurred into this morning’s hike; into Kelsey’s wild laughter and the woman who’d walked right past his defenses before he even understood she was a threat.
He snapped the cover down and leaned back on the couch.
Her words drifted into his mind.You and I are a terrible idea. We’re too different, Suit. It’d be a disaster.
Of course she was right. Everett looked out the glass doors. The moon hung ripe and full. The pool offered cool, blue water for a good swim. Beyond that, he could walk barefoot across a powdery beach and listen to the roar of the waves. Everything lay right there, beyond the barrier.
He was used to staying put. Used to shutting those instincts down to do the responsible thing and take care of his daughter. But tonight, Rowan was a ghost, haunting him with possibilities he rarely allowed himself to think of.
He got up and peeked into Kelsey’s room. A sliver of hall light showed the slope of her cheek against the pillow, hair still damp from the shower, phone face down. He should’ve been relieved Kelsey was trying to stay off her phone lately. Her lecture for him to do the same disturbed him. Not just because she was right, but because Rowan had put those ideas into her head. Somehow, the woman made the world interesting for his daughter in a way he couldn’t duplicate with better Wi-Fi and ambitious promises.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and replayed the past few days, combing for the moment when everything changed. Was it seeing how ambitious her palate was as she devoured bone marrow with expert ease? Was it the way she got Kelsey to laugh and chatter? Was it the fall of thick, dark waves of hair that his fingers itched to touch?
It couldn’t be her smart mouth and banter. Or her refusal to back down on anything she didn’t like. Rowan Delaney was a pain in the ass. Distant, cool, and judgmental of his lifestyle. They were complete opposites, yet he’d give his soul to the devil to kiss her, just once.
When he’d seen her this morning, his entire body had surged like a circuit breaker switching on. The tiny white shorts and cropped T-shirt covered more than her bathing suit, but something had changed between them. Things felt more ... intimate. He’d wanted to tuck the stray tendrils of hair behind her ear and hold her hand at the rail. Their banter had less bite and more fun. Even when she called him Suit, it was less of an insult.
The urge to kiss her beat in his blood. His mind whirled with sexy questions he craved answers to.
Would she open her mouth under his and wage her own battle with the kiss?
Or would she melt and moan for him, allowing him to drive her pleasure?
Muttering a curse, he walked down the hall and stepped out onto the deck. The perfumed air seduced, just like her damn voice and glittering green eyes.
He shifted uncomfortably. The air was too warm to help. He needed a cold shower and a mental reset, because this woman was supposed to be off-limits. It would be too complicated, with the way Kelsey felt. He couldn’t blur the lines and get everyone confused.
Just once . . .
A few stars poked through the dark. He watched the sky alone and thought of how she’d told him about missing her father and not knowing who she was without surfing. She’d looked so vulnerable. Everett wanted to do anything to ease her pain, so he’d opened up at dinner, feeling the urge to share. He rarely spoke about his father. His memories were best locked in the vault.
Unfortunately, the door sprung open, uninvited. The scene came into sharp focus and unspooled with a clarity he hated.
