by Melody Grace
And there it was. The man just couldn’t help himself. Letitia sighed, shaking her head. What was she so worried about? She wasn’t in any danger of falling for his charms.
And she did love s’mores.
“Sure, why not?” she decided. “Let me go grab a blanket. I’ll see you out there. On one condition.”
“Name it.”
“No more cheap cracks about my summer plans,” Letitia warned him. “OK? For the sake of the marshmallows, I’m calling a truce.”
Chase tossed another log on the bonfire, and took a deep breath of sea air. Salty, crisp, and singeing at the edges, just the way he liked it. It was after midnight, and the beach was completely empty and dark, just the flickering flames of the fire casting shadows across the sand, and the faint glow of moonlight, reflecting off the waves.
This was why he loved life on the road. Sure, you made do without some of the creature comforts for a while, but the natural beauty of the world more than made up for it. Why spend an evening behind closed doors, with the TV blaring and your phone chirping constant updates, when you could be enjoying all of this, instead?
Chase poked at the fire, feeling content as he waited for Letitia to come join him. Which was crazy, he knew. He’d just said goodnight to a sure thing, and now he was going to spend his evening with the one woman he knew for sure was off the menu? It didn’t make any sense, but then again, Chase wasn’t looking for logic. He had a bottle of whiskey, and a package of marshmallows, and Letitia seemed like fine enough company to him.
Besides, he wanted to know what had happened with the Professor.
“Great minds.”
Chase looked up to find Letitia approaching, with a blanket – and a bottle of whiskey. He raised an eyebrow. “I had you down as more Veuve Cliquot than Jack D.”
“I’m a complex woman of mystery,” she shot back, and Chase laughed, recognizing his own words.
“Well, pull up a lawn chair, and let’s get toasting,” he said.
Letitia settled by the fire, wrapping the blanket around herself as Chase tore into the packages of graham crackers and chocolate. “S’mores are a serious business in the Kinsella family,” he told her, selecting two skewers he’d already whittled down from stray twigs. “We had annual contests, all fighting for the trophy.”
“There was a trophy?” Letitia asked, looking amused.
“A big, shiny one,” Chase grinned at the memories. “I told you, we’ll make a competition out of anything. Anyway, Luke and Jackson would always try to construct the biggest ones: ten layers of chocolate and marshmallow, like a Jenga tower.” He speared a couple of marshmallows, and held them closer to the flames. “Aidan played it smart,” he continued. “He’d test the filling-to-cracker ratios, trying to get the optimum blend. Cassie liked to get creative, she was always trying weird concoctions with gummy bears, and flavored fillings.”
Letitia smiled. “And what about you?”
“Ah, see, I’d keep a low profile and sneak up from behind,” Chase replied. “Sometimes, the smartest thing to do isn’t try to win, but wait for the rest of them to fail. Luke and Jackson’s monster s’mores would fall apart, and Cassie’s experiments all tasted kind of burnt, and Aiden… Well, he played it a little too safe. Leaving me to take the prize. Voila!”
He withdrew the perfectly-toasted spears from the fire, and slid them onto the crackers he had waiting on a plate. With a square of chocolate, and another cracker to top the whole thing off, it was the perfect gooey melted treat.
“Mmm,” Letitia exclaimed, taking a bite. “It is good. I haven’t had one of these in forever,” she said with a sigh. “God, I must have been a kid. Why don’t we eat them all the time, not just on vacation?”
“Beats me,” Chase demolished his in a single bite, and set another couple of marshmallows to toast on the fire. “Too many things get written off as kids’ play. Like bounce houses. And water balloon fights.”
Letitia smirked. “Let me guess, the Kinsellas had a contest for that, too?”
“Have,” Chase corrected her. “Present tense. So if you see my brothers coming with a bucket, run.”
She laughed. “Thanks for the warning.”
Letitia took another bite, licking chocolate from the edge of her lips. The firelight was glinting gold in her hair, and dressed down in casual sweats, she looked about as relaxed as he’d ever seen her. Cozy. Comfortable.
Kissable.
Chase looked away.
“So, another future husband bites the dust, then?” he said, trying to remind himself of all the reasons why Letitia Prescott was off-limits. The woman was looking for a diamond ring and a white picket fence, not a roll in the hay.
Even if he suspected that roll would be truly spectacular.
She gave him a look. “I thought we had a truce?”
“I’m not giving you a hard time,” he protested. “Well, not much. I’m genuinely curious, why wasn’t he up to the task?”
Sure, the guy was a dull, pompous idiot, but he seemed smitten with Letitia, and wasn’t that enough for her to lock it down?
But Letitia didn’t seem so easily satisfied. “You met him,” she said. “Can you imagine having breakfast every morning with a man like that?”
He winced. “That depends. Do you like lectures on the historical significance of toast?”
“No, thank you. Never mind,” she added in an upbeat tone. “It’s early days. The plan is to find the right man, not just the first one to come along.”
“Ah yes, the grand plan,” he said, amused. “How’s that working out for you?”
“I’m… narrowing the field,” Letitia replied carefully. “It’s all part of the process.”
Plans… lists… processes… He was tired just thinking of the hoops she was jumping through. “I don’t see why you need some big strategy,” Chase said, popping another marshmallow in his mouth. “What happened to meeting somebody the old-fashioned way?”
“You think I haven’t tried that?” Letitia’s voice twisted with a sudden note of vulnerability. He looked up, surprised. She was clasping her hands around the whiskey bottle, face shadowed in the dim light.
“You think I want to be calling up everyone I’ve ever known, asking for introductions to their single friends?” she continued. “Taking time away from work, right when I need to be proving myself the most? Or, winding up the butt of all your jokes,” she added. “Believe me, I’ve been trying the old-fashioned way for the past ten years, but here I am. Still alone.”
She raised the whiskey bottle in a bitter toast, and took a long drink.
Chase didn’t know what to say. He felt bad for teasing her, she seemed so put-together and invincible, he hadn’t realized there was real emotion behind her crazy quest. But still… Letitia was gorgeous, and quick-witted, and had a passionate streak a mile wide lurking under that polished surface. Sure, her obsession with marriage and commitment wasn’t to his taste, but there had to be a thousand guys who would kill for a chance with a woman like her.
So what was the problem?
“And before you say anything, I’ve tried,” she blurted, before he could reply. “I’ve been on a thousand dates, with all kinds of guys. It’s not like I have an impossible list of demands, like I’ll only consider men over six feet tall, who make a certain income and can do a hundred push-ups. I just want someone who I connect with, whoever he may be.”
“And you haven’t met anyone you could picture a future with?” he asked, still skeptical. OK, so she said she wasn’t picky, but if she was expecting Mr. Perfect to waltz through the door, she would be waiting a long time.
But Letitia gave a wry smile. “Sure I have. I’ve been in relationships with some great guys. We laughed together, they were kind, and thoughtful, and sexy. I could really see us making it work,” she said, her voice wistful.
“So what happened?” Chase asked, wondering how these guys could mess it up.
“The same thing that always does.” She sig
hed, toying with her s’more. “I started asking about the future, if they’re open to marriage and kids one day, and suddenly, it’s all, ‘I don’t want to put a label on this,’ and, ‘I’m not ready to think about the future just yet,’ and then, surprise! They need some time to figure themselves out before settling down. I don’t know if they really don’t want commitment… Or if they just didn’t want to commit to me.” She glanced down. “I guess it doesn’t make a difference, in the end.”
“See, then that’s your first mistake,” Chase said, relaxing. “If you put pressure on a relationship like that, it’s no wonder things didn’t work out. What’s wrong with just letting things unfold at their own pace, seeing where it leads?”
Letitia looked at him like he’d grown three heads. “Because that’s not what I want,” she replied. “I want marriage, I want a family. I want to know that the man I’m with is on the same track. I mean, I’m not getting any younger,” she pointed out. “Am I just supposed to spend years of my life waiting on a guy to figure out what he wants, when he might just turn around and decide, ‘you know what? I think I’m going to stay footloose and fancy-free, after all’?”
Chase grinned. “Well, if he says something like ‘fancy-free’, you’re better off without him,” he joked, and Letitia finally broke into a smile.
“Maybe,” she agreed, with a low laugh. “But the rest of it is still true. I’m thirty-two. I need to know from the start that a guy is serious about finding a partner and settling down. I’m not going to waste my life – and my heart – on a man who doesn’t want the same things as me. Hence the plan,” she added, with a self-conscious smile. “I’m not expecting miracles, but I have to try. Right?”
Watching the naked emotion in her gaze, Chase realized something for the first time:
She was brave.
He’d written her off as crazy, but maybe he was the one who’d got it all wrong. She knew the life she wanted, and she was prepared to do whatever it took to make it happen. That wasn’t foolish, it was admirable – even if he still thought that a relationship based on logic instead of passion was doomed to fail.
What did he know about commitment? The only time he’d tried to make something last, he’d wound up with bruised pride and a broken heart – and a vow never to make the same mistake again.
At least Letitia wasn’t letting the past hold her back. She was out there, opening her heart time and time again, no matter how much it cost her pride. That was something to be admired, not mocked. And he’d been the asshole giving her a hard time about it.
Chase watched her gazing into the flames, her blonde hair tumbling around her face as she absent-mindedly nibbled on a marshmallow. She looked so wistful that something tightened in his chest.
Didn’t these guys realize what they were missing out on?
Imagine, being the one to wake up with her every morning – and lay her down, naked in bed every night? Chase was dizzy, just at the thought of it. Those lips parting with pleasure, that body pressing closer—
Get a grip, he told himself sternly. She was off-limits, remember? The sooner she found her perfect match, the sooner those tempting lips would be out of reach forever.
“I’ll help,” he found himself blurting suddenly.
Letitia looked up, surprised.
“You’re going to need a wingman,” he said, giving what he hoped was a casual shrug. “Save you picking any more losers.”
“They weren’t losers!” Letitia protested. “They were perfectly nice men. Just… Not the one for me.”
“Exactly: You need someone to help you screen these candidates,” Chase said, warming to the idea now. “These guys are going to be on their best behavior with you, but I’ll be able to spot the warning signs. It takes a man to know these things.”
She studied him suspiciously. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch.”
“Come on,” Letitia said, “You’ve been giving me a hard time about this since the day we met. Now, suddenly, you want to be my biggest cheerleader?”
Chase grinned. “Give me an ‘L’! Give me an ‘E’! Give me a T—”
She laughed. “Seriously!”
“Call it… neighborly concern,” he said finally. “I’m at a loose end this summer. Why not help you snare the perfect man?”
She paused, considering it. “You really mean it? No more teasing?”
“I can’t promise that,” Chase said. “But, I will try and help you find a decent guy from that list of yours. One who doesn’t think Paris is the center of the universe,” he added with a chuckle.
Letitia smiled. “OK then,” she said with a shrug. “What have I got to lose?”
“Absolutely nothing,” he replied.
And he didn’t, either. At least, that was his story, and he was sticking to it.
8
To Letitia’s surprise, Chase had been serious about his offer to help her on her quest. Over the next week, he kicked into full ‘wingman’ mode, and soon, she had more dates than she knew how to schedule. It turned out, all the things that got under her skin – his charm, the teasing quips, his annoying inability to take anything seriously – made him a born matchmaker, able to make friends with just about anyone. Wherever they went, he would return from the bar, or jukebox, or even the bathroom, with a single man in tow. “Have you met my friend, Letitia?” he’d ask, “She’s really interested in bee-keeping/deep-sea trout fishing/virtual reality technology,” before melting into the background, and leaving her to pick up the introductions alone.
Her prospects were looking up. This latest crop of dates were attractive and funny, and enjoying their summers, and even if the evening didn’t work out, nobody wound up choking for dear life in the ER.
Which counted as progress, in her book.
She was getting closer to her forever, she just knew it. As long as she could keep her eyes on the prize – and not the prize hunk of a man right in front of her.
“What about him, over there?” Chase lined up his club with the golf ball, and swung wildly. The ball ricocheted across the green, careening off a tree and into a bunker.
Letitia was too distracted by his terrible golf game to notice the man he was pointing out. “You can’t just wallop the thing!” she said, laughing. “Haven’t you been paying attention to a single word I’ve said?”
“I’ve been scouring the horizon for eligible bachelors,” Chase countered with a grin. “Isn’t that the point?”
She shook her head, still smiling, and stepped up to take her shot. They were spending the morning at the country club down the coast, enjoying the lush, rolling greens and cool ponds – and the scenery.
The male scenery.
“Who am I looking at?” she asked, casually glancing around. There were plenty of men out on the links today, and some of them were even under sixty years old.
“Over there,” Chase pointed. “In the blue.”
She glanced over, at the tall, tan blonde man standing in the shade. He was definitely handsome, but Letitia shook her head. “Oh, no, not him,” she said immediately. “I saw him yelling at his caddy earlier. Nearly made the poor kid cry.”
“Scratch the rage-o-holic,” Chase agreed. “Now, show me this perfect, expert, incredible swing of yours.”
He was teasing, but Letitia didn’t mind. She was used to his kidding by now. She took her position, lined up her shot, and swung. Her club connected perfectly with her ball, sending it in an elegant arc over the bunker, landing on the putting green with a light bounce.
Chase gave a round of applause.
She grinned. “It’s nothing. My dad lives to golf. He’s always out on the course with his business buddies,” she explained. “Learning to play was my way of getting to spend time with him – and eavesdrop on all his dealmaking, too.”
“He must be proud of you,” Chase remarked, as they strolled down to find his ball.
Letitia snorted. “I don’t know about that. My parents would be happier
if I was married, hosting charity lunches, and popping out grandkids. They’d understand it more, at least.”
Chase glanced at her sideways. “Is that why you’re in such a hurry?”
She shook her head. “No, I want this for me, too. Although, I’ll admit, it’s not exactly fun when you’re the only single one left among all your friends,” she confided. “Everyone’s paired off, with kids by now. It’s fun being the cool godmother… but only for so long.”
“Tell me about it,” Chase said with a sigh. “All my siblings are down for the count. It’s like they put something in the water here,” he added ruefully, and Letitia had to laugh. Chase raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Nothing, it’s just, I’ve thought the exact same thing,” she explained.
It was the whole reason she was there.
“You know, that could be a good test for your prospective husbands,” Chase said, jumping down into the sandy bunker. He kicked the dirt around, clearing space around his golf ball, and Letitia didn’t have the heart to tell him, he was technically cheating.
“What could be? Making them chug the Sweetbriar Cove spring water?”
He laughed. “No, ask them about their close friends and family, see if any of them are married yet. And listen to his tone of voice, too,” he added. “The way he talks about them will be a big clue if he’s thinking about settling down for himself.”
“That’s a great idea,” Letitia said, making a mental note. It was hard to raise the whole ‘marriage’ question casually on a first date, but asking them about their family and close friends? Well, that was just polite!
“Guys are pack animals,” he continued, raising his club for a swing. “Once their group starts settling down… It’s only a matter of time before they fold, too.”
Letitia watched him hack and swing at the ball, amused. “And what about you?” she asked with a smirk. “If your brothers and sister are all settled down, that means you should be next.”
