Tessa laughed. “No. The beach is fine. Just how many houses do you have?”
“Only two. The Crosswick Island house and my townhouse. The bay house is an old family home. The Crosswick house is one I bought several years ago. It’s my escape.”
“From your family?” Tessa asked, already having an excellent idea what his answer would be.
“Yes. Since Anna left…” Seth didn’t finish what he was going to say, but there was a brooding quality to his expression as he drove.
“Zach is the only family I really have anymore,” Tessa said. “But I can understand the need to get away every once in a while.”
Seth glanced at her before returning his gaze to the highway. “What about all those Loudoun Edwards? Don’t you get some support from them?”
The mention of them brought up bad memories. Tessa didn’t answer for so long Seth glanced at her again.
“I haven’t seen them since I was twelve.”
“Did they toss you out the family door when your mother remarried?”
“No.”
When Tessa didn’t say anything else, Seth reached over and took her hand where it was clenched in a fist on the console between them. She relaxed her fingers and let her hand rest in the curve of Seth’s big palm.
“I sense a whole lot more to this story than what you want to talk about, but that’s okay. This isn’t some true confessions weekend. If you want to tell me…fine. If not, that’s fine too. I want us to relax and have some fun, okay?”
His gaze was still on the road, but she saw the tension in the line of his jaw. She studied his profile and swallowed hard. The fact that he was nervous warmed her and made him seem more human.
“Okay.”
“And Tessa?” His fingers shifted on the steering wheel.
“Yes?”
“Let’s go ahead and get the sex thing out in the open.” Now she couldn’t mistake the tightness in his voice.
She jumped, she was so startled by what he said.
“Seth…” she began, feeling awkward again and wondering if she had somehow made her attraction to him obvious, embarrassing them both.
He glanced at her, his smile a little lop-sided. “I don’t want you to do anything that doesn’t feel right for you. I am not some hormone-crazed adolescent, but I won’t deny I want to make love to you.”
Thank you, God. He felt the same way–well, except for the hormone-crazed adolescent part because she did feel just about like that. Tessa laughed a little shakily. If they were going to get things out on the table, then she had a confession of her own. “Then I must be, the hormone-crazed part, because I’ve done almost nothing but think about making love to you.”
A tremor shivered through his hand. He fidgeted in the seat. “Jesus, Tessa. You pick some time to make that announcement.”
“Well, you said you wanted to get the whole issue of sex out in the open,” she responded logically.
“Well it is now,” he groaned. “Since I now look like a hormone-crazed adolescent.”
Tessa’s eyes dropped to his lap. She saw the way his dress slacks were tented and glanced back up at his face. She sucked in a shaky breath and wondered if he’d laugh if she fanned herself.
“Exactly!” He chuckled ruefully. He squeezed her hand and released it, putting both his on the steering wheel. He cleared his throat. “I-I want you to know, this isn’t something I do…taking women to my beach house for the weekend.”
“Seth? I’m not sure…well, what I’m doing.”
He took a deep, breath and blew it out. “Don’t worry about it, Tessa. I’m a big boy.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to agree with him on that score, but she decided to keep her mouth shut for a change. He was a very big boy. Instead, she watched the scenery as they headed to Crosswick and tried to calm the jittery, aching heat suffusing her. She and Zach went to the beach farther north on the Delaware shore where they could camp, but that also meant beaches and beach communities that could get a little rowdy.
As Seth used a remote control to open the gated drive nestled between windswept pines, Tessa took in the house. It was tall, but not as large as she’d feared.
Seth pulled the Escalade into the carport underneath and said, “I had the cleaning service come open the house yesterday and stock the fridge for us, so if you’d like to change into your swimming suit, we can go right out on the beach.”
Tessa nodded and smiled. “That sounds great. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
Seth led the way, carrying their bags with him up the steps and into the large, airy combination kitchen and great room. Tessa’s eyes widened as she stepped around him. The house was as informal as his office was the epitome of corporate elegance. Overstuffed, overlarge furniture and tile floors with scattered throw rugs. Several photographs of the ocean and sailing ships decorated the walls. It was a masculine atmosphere without being overpowering.
“This is wonderful, Seth,” Tessa breathed in genuine pleasure. “I can’t imagine a better place to relax.”
He grinned, those dimples of his once more making an appearance. She looked around again. Perhaps this house was a truer reflection of the real Seth, not the chrome and glass version he reserved for Barrett Newspapers.
“I’ll put your bags in the oceanfront guest bedroom. The master bedroom is to your left. If you want to change first, you can meet me on the deck in a few minutes. We’ll have a drink and go down to the beach. That sound okay?”
“Wonderful.” She sighed in complete contentment. His home was beautiful. The view was gorgeous and the weather equally so.
Tessa shut the door behind her and looked around her room. The tile floors continued in here, but the rugs on either side of the queen-sized bed were large and thick enough to sink her toes into. Sliding glass doors led onto the deck. To the right was an airy bathroom with a garden tub and a separate shower cubicle roomy enough for two. Tessa blushed at the thought, but she was also relieved he’d given her a room of her own. It underscored the fact he was trying to keep the pressure to a minimum.
After hanging up the one other dress she’d brought with her and putting away the rest of her clothes, she changed into a turquoise bikini cut high in the legs but low enough to show off her flat stomach. The halter-top was sturdy so it would stay on in the ocean, a lesson she’d learned a long time ago. She twisted her hair up under a neon pink baseball cap and slipped her feet into her Crocs. While nothing was ideal for walking through deep sand, these at least let the sand out as well as in.
She slipped through the sliding glass doors and stepped out on the deck. Seth was already there, a beer dangling in one hand as he leaned on the deck rail and looked out to sea. His smoothly muscled back was bare and brown. Tessa admired the way it tapered down to narrow hips. The faint indentations at the top of his butt were visible right above the low-slung waistband of his board shorts. Two dimples just begging for the touch of her fingers. She swallowed, once again a little breathless. The breeze lifted and ruffled his golden hair, which glinted in the glare of the summer sun. She must have made some noise because he turned his head to look at her, his gaze taking her in from head to toe as he smiled with a slow laziness that made her stomach flutter. He held his beer bottle aloft.
“Can I get you one?”
“Sure.”
Tessa took a long swig, closing her eyes and savoring the cold, malty taste of it.
Seth laughed. “If you look any more ecstatic over that beer, I’m going to find myself jealous of a drink.” He extended his bottle and clinked it against hers as he had done on her front stoop. “Here’s to a weekend where we can forget for a while who we are and just be Tessa and Seth.”
“Sounds good.”
It set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Seth rubbed sunscreen down her back, and if his hands lingered in a couple of spots, Tessa chose to ignore it–at least her mind did, even if her body instantly stirred, pulsing in places she wasn’t used to.
The
part of the beach where Seth’s house was located was not crowded, giving them a feeling of isolation. Aside from the cry of the gulls and the sound of the surf, it was peaceful, without the overwhelming screeching and laughter always present at the places where she’d taken Zach. Seth took her hand to steady her across the loose sand beyond the dunes, and then didn’t release it as they walked along the water’s edge. Tessa noticed little things that endeared him to her even more. As tall as he was, he shortened his long strides to make it easier for her to keep up. When a couple of kids with boogie boards almost crashed into her. Seth moved between her and the boys to keep them from running her over.
They had tossed their towels and shoes farther up the beach. When they returned to them, Seth spread out the king-sized blanket he’d brought. Tessa lay down on her stomach and sighed. He stretched out next to her, his head propped on one elbow. As she watched him through her dark sunglasses, she saw his gaze travel down the length of her with a hungry expression in his golden eyes that sent a tingle of awareness through her.
“Do you want more sunscreen?” Seth asked in a gruff tone. “Or would you like to go swimming first?”
“You’re looking for an excuse to put your hands on my butt again, aren’t you, Mr. Barrett?”
Seth threw back his head with a full-throated laugh. “Sweetheart, it’s not just your butt I’d like to get my hands on.”
Tessa rolled onto her side and pulled off her glasses and hat. “Then maybe we should go swimming first to cool you off. This is, after all, a family beach.”
Seth jumped up before extending his hand to pull her to her feet. The feel of the salt water against her skin and the sound of the surf rolling in were experiences Tessa could never get enough of. If she could, she would live near the ocean.
As the water reached her waist, she dived forward and came up with a big smile. It felt good to get back in, to feel the motion of the tangy seawater. She always felt a sense of peace moving through it, being gently rocked and rolled. She struck out, slicing the surface with arms and legs accustomed to swimming. As she turned her head for a breath of air, Seth swam beside her, his motions as fluid and graceful as if he’d spent most of his life around the water. She supposed he had. She’d seen how comfortable he was aboard his boat and in the waters of the bay, and he spoke as if sailing was an integral part of his life.
* * * *
Seth stopped when he saw Tessa had rolled onto her back and was floating with the rolling swell beyond the breakers. The expression of utter, carefree joy on her face was entrancing and arresting. She fit here, so much so it frightened him.
“I love the ocean,” she said on a deep, contented breath.
I love you, he almost blurted, and was somewhat shocked that the thought had even occurred. He’d engaged in few serious relationships and never told a woman he loved her. It had always been business first. Sure, he’d escorted plenty of women to different social functions, even engaged in some casual flings, but never had he felt like this. Even the age difference between them seemed meaningless. Tessa was mature for her age, no doubt in part from having responsibility for her younger brother. Yet the fact he felt as he did made him a little uneasy. Tessa was comfortable in any social milieu. Beautiful, intelligent, kind–and too good to be true? For God’s sake, even his mother liked her.
“I feel so at peace when I get away from DC,” Tessa continued. “Life here on the ocean seems to move more in tune with the rhythm of the seasons and the sea.”
“You can feel that even more out in the open ocean on a sailboat,” Seth commented. That was his true love when it came to sailing, not the competitive hustle and bustle most of his family loved. Seth enjoyed the sound of the wind. The aloneness. The sometimes aimless drifting without the noise of a motor or even a crew, if he could get by without one. “It gives you a perspective on how small and insignificant we are compared to the vastness of the sea.”
Tessa smiled at him, her eyes as clear as the ocean he loved. “Too bad your sailboat is moored on the bay.”
Seth grinned. “I keep one here too–a little larger than Wistful, but she’s designed so I can still sail her without a crew if I want to.”
He felt an odd tug again as her eyes lit up.
“Seth! Can we….”
“I’d like nothing better than to spend the day with you on the ocean,” he murmured as he reached out and brushed her lips with his.
He intended the kiss to be light, but as her mouth softened beneath his, Seth caught his breath. Hunger crashed through him, making it difficult to restrain the desire to take her right then and there. He broke away, taking in her startled expression.
“Perhaps we should go back,” he suggested, his tone harsher than he intended, as he wondered how he could leave the water with the raging hard-on he sported.
* * * *
Tessa didn’t like Seth’s closed expression. The lean planes of his face were once again set in austere angles that gave no hint of the sudden flair of passion they’d shared. She started to say something, but Seth turned away, his long arms and legs cutting through the water. She followed him, wondering what had happened and if she’d somehow done something wrong. His moods were mercurial–certainly more than hers–and she was the redhead!
He waited for her at a spot where the ocean still hit him about waist deep. Tessa swam up to his side and stood up. The swim had given her a chance to think and get a little angry. He had invited her down here to get to know her better, so why was he going all moody?
“Just what was that?” Tessa demanded.
“What?” Seth’s casual tone made her wonder if he was keeping his feelings hidden on purpose.
“Back there? You kiss me and then act like I’ve done something wrong. What was that?”
He looked down at her, raked a hand through his wet hair and sighed. “It’s not you. It’s me, Tessa. Every time I get around you, I revert to a hormone-driven idiot. Exactly what I said I wouldn’t be.” At her raised eyebrow he continued, “I don’t want to start something in the middle of the beach that we can’t finish. I don’t want to start anything at all if it’s not what you want.”
“It was one kiss,” she protested, still confused by his sudden and complete mood reversal.
Seth laughed self-deprecatingly. “For you, maybe, but I now find myself in an embarrassing dilemma. I can’t even get out of the water at the moment.”
He glanced down. Tessa followed the direction of his gaze and felt herself blush. “Oh!”
“Oh, indeed. Why don’t you get your things and go on up to the house. I’ll join you as soon as I can. Maybe reciting the Bill of Rights or doing multiplication tables in my head might help.”
Tessa wished they were alone. If the beach were indeed deserted, there would be no need to stop. What would it be like to make love out in the open, under the sun with the sound of the water and the birds?
“I-I’ll see you at the house.”
Chapter 9
He heard her in the shower in her room when he returned. He hung the blanket and towels on the deck railing and slipped through the sliding doors into the master suite. If he’d hoped to impress Tessa Edwards this weekend, so far he was a miserable failure. Seth stalked into the master bath and stripped off his trunks. He adjusted the shower to a cooler temperature, hoping it would help him regain some control. Shrinkage would be a bonus at this point.
For God’s sake. He was thirty-five years old, not some callow college kid, but something about Tessa ignited his senses. It took him another ten minutes to lose the hard-on he’d gotten from one kiss.
He washed away the film of salt and sand and shaved to rid himself of an all-too-obvious five-o’clock shadow. As he stared at himself in the mirror, he admitted it was in hopes he’d have his face nestled in tight against Tessa’s milky skin. Most weekends he came here, he didn’t even pick up a razor. After towel-drying his hair, he found a clean pair of boxers and a baggy pair of khaki cargo shorts.
He’d just slipped on a lightweight cotton shirt when the door opened. He turned in surprise as Tessa stepped into the room. She wore a silky wraparound robe that ended right below mid-thigh and her blown-dry hair fell thick and straight below her shoulders. Seth’s heated gaze took in the fact she wore nothing else.
“Tessa?” he questioned tightly, his body already reawakening.
She smiled with some uncertainty, but her voice was steady. “It occurs to me that ‘the sex thing’ is starting to be kind of an eight-hundred pound gorilla between us. I thought,” she continued as her hand went to the belt of her robe and slipped it loose, “perhaps we could get to know each other better, if we went ahead and…”
Seth’s gaze locked on the loosening belt, and his breathing hitched. “Are you sure?”
Beneath the parted edges of the robe, he saw the shadowy valley between her breasts, the sparkle of the diamond at her belly button and lower still, the dark red curls that hid her femininity. His glance traveled back up to meet her wide blue gaze. Her lips parted and trembled, but she did not drop her eyes from the lust he knew must be plain in his face. He’d never experienced such heat. Slowly, Tessa shrugged out of the robe. It slithered to the floor with a whisper of silk, leaving her bare to Seth’s alert, hungry perusal. He felt like a starving man presented with a feast. And, oh God, did he have every intention of gorging himself.
“Tessa.” It was a low, throaty growl.
In two strides he pulled her into his arms, cupping her bottom and lifting her against him. Her slender arms twined around his neck and her head tipped back. Seth groaned. His lips slanted across her soft mouth, tasting, touching and exploring.
“Wrap your legs around me, sweetheart,” he urged her, groaning again with desire as she pressed against his cock. The feel of her nestled against him made his balls ache. With one arm balancing her, he pulled back the covers on the master bed and lowered her onto the cool Egyptian cotton sheets.
He stood up, hands at his waist, to strip off the shorts and boxers he’d put on, then paused and looked down at her beautiful, creamy body. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
Balancing Act Page 11
