“He won’t bite.” Leanna stopped beside Kurt as he crouched next to Pepper.
“I know, but kids get scared. This way we’re near Pepper in case he tries to jump up on them.”
The woman and child were walking toward them. She had kind, dark eyes and a friendly smile. Holding her son’s shoulder, they stopped a few feet from Pepper. “He loves dogs. Is it okay for him to pet yours?” She wore a floppy green hat and a black one-piece bathing suit.
“Sure. He doesn’t bite,” Leanna assured her.
Kurt held Pepper’s collar while the little boy pet him and giggled.
“His name is Pepper.” Kurt smiled at the boy.
“Pepper,” the little boy said as he held his hand out for Pepper to lick.
“How old are you?” Kurt’s eyes bounced between the little boy and Pepper.
“Free,” the boy answered.
“Wow. You’re a big guy. Is this your first time at the beach?”
The boy shook his head.
Leanna felt her heart squeeze at Kurt’s tender tone. He’d be a great father someday. Oh my gosh. What am I thinking?
“Me either.” Kurt glanced up at the boy’s mother. “He’s really sweet.”
“Thank you.” She touched her son’s blond hair.
“Thank you.” The little boy reached for his mother’s hand as they walked away.
“He was sweet, wasn’t he?” They headed back toward the cottage.
You sure were. “Adorable.”
Back at the cottage, Kurt settled into writing and Leanna sat on a lounge chair a few feet away.
Kurt’s cell phone rang, and when he answered it, he spoke quietly. “Hey there.” He listened to the person on the line and then said, “I know. Okay. Yeah, I’ll get them something nice.” He paused. “Really, Siena? I think I can handle picking out a gift. What does that mean? A woman’s touch?” He paused again, then laughed.
Leanna was trying not to eavesdrop—no, that’s a lie. She was blatantly eavesdropping. Who is Siena?
“Okay, fine. Yes. I’ll look for something that’s not too manly. Do you want to just buy it and say I picked it out?” He paused again. “You’re a pain. I love you, too. Okay. Uh-huh. Bye.”
He ended the call and went back to writing. Leanna couldn’t see his face, and she wondered who he loved. Who was a pain? They were boyfriend and girlfriend. Didn’t that give her the right to ask? She watched him typing and resisted the urge.
“Leanna?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You’re burning a hole in my back.” He rose from the table and moved her hip over, then squeezed in beside her on the lounge chair. “Siena is my sister. My family always says, I love you, and she was giving me a hard time about buying my brother Jack, who is getting married, a wedding present.”
“You didn’t have to tell me who you were talking to.”
“I didn’t have to, but I felt you worrying.” He ran his finger along her thigh, and it sent goose bumps down her leg.
“You felt me worrying? I didn’t even say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. We’re in sync, remember?”
Chapter Fifteen
THE SUN SET, leaving a warm streak of blue against the night sky. An evening breeze swept across the deck. Kurt had been writing all afternoon, and it had taken all of his focus to continue writing with Leanna wandering around in her little pink bikini, touching his shoulders as she passed by. He liked knowing she was there with him. He heard the French doors open, and her sweet scent surrounded him. He glanced at his word count: 8,289. Not bad. He just wanted to finish this one paragraph; then he’d put the computer away for the night.
Leanna leaned against the table, and Kurt’s eyes slid from the keyboard to the curve of her hip. He continued typing as his eyes followed the line of her body up to the playful smile on her full lips.
“I missed you.” She leaned forward and kissed his neck.
Her hair tickled his bare chest, causing his fingers to still on the keyboard. Two. More. Sentences. She slid her hand down his chest to his thighs. He held his breath.
She flicked his earlobe with her tongue. “I missed you a lot.” Her lips grazed his cheek, and then she pressed kisses along his lips as she moved in front of his computer and pushed his legs apart, seductively positioning herself between them, and looking at him through heavy eyelids, hair falling loosely over her shoulders. She leaned in close and ran her hands down his chest. Kurt saved his work and pushed the laptop back, unable to even remember what he had wanted to write. Her chest lifted and fell with each desire-filled breath. He brushed his lips along her sun-kissed shoulder and ran his hands down her ribs to her rounded hips. Oh, he loved her hips.
“Leanna,” he whispered. His pulse kicked up. He shot a look at the empty beach despite knowing they were too high up to be seen.
“Shh.” She pressed her finger to his lips as she unzipped his pants, and promptly lost her balance, toppling to the right. He caught her midfall with one strong hand and helped her find her footing again. She covered her face with her hands.
“I am so bad at this whole seductress thing.”
He caressed her cheek. “You’re amazing at the whole seductress thing.” And she was. He couldn’t have been more turned on by the way she looked at him, her tentative movements, or her sensuous body.
“Let’s pretend that didn’t happen.”
“Already pretending.” He had no idea that a woman could be so hot and so cute at the same time, but she pulled it off perfectly.
She nodded and closed her eyes for a beat—long enough for Kurt to take a deep breath and try to calm his racing heart.
He untied her bathing suit top and watched it fall away, exposing her milky-white skin, strikingly beautiful against her deep tan. He pulled her to him and kissed her hard, while drawing her bikini bottom down.
He drew Leanna to him and held her tight. Three words lay on the tip of his tongue, and he held them back. Trapped them in his mind like butterflies under glass, where they flapped and fluttered, trying to set their magnificence free. They hadn’t known each other long enough for him to even think the three words that, when strung together and spoken from the heart, were the three most significant words in the English language, yet they were there, as clear and present as he knew his own name.