by Evie Jordan
“Sorry.”
Growing up the way he had, Trace wouldn’t fully appreciate the whispers that carried through a small place like Martha’s Vineyard—especially among the wealthier home owners. “I’m endlessly surprised by both the goodness and judgement from the people I grew up around.” Which is why she hadn’t checked her phone.
“You royalty or something?” His voice was teasing.
“Only for the crowd with mansion-sized vacation homes on Martha’s Vineyard.” She was only half-teasing.
“Well, yeah…” he trailed off. “That’s not my crowd. I don’t think.”
“You’re new money. Not your crowd.” Her words came out more bitter than she expected. “That’s what my parents would say.”
“Both of them?”
“Maybe just my mom, but Dad would probably go along with it to keep the peace.” Where was this even coming from and why would it matter what her parents thought of Trace?
They walked in silence again, the darkness around them almost complete. The moon was a small sliver, and only a few stars peeked through the wispy clouds that scattered across the sky.
His shoulder brushed hers, and she felt his eyes on her.
“I’m glad all the time that my parents had such a good relationship,” he said. “I didn’t realize how unusual that was until I went to college.”
“Hmm.” Funny, Katy had no idea what her parents’ marriage was really like. They seemed fine, but neither had ever been good about talking feelings or anything deeper than whatever in-the-moment project one or the other had going on. Katy needed more.
Neither Katy nor Trace spoke. The soft padding of their bare feet on the sandy path filled the air until the gentle hiss of waves across the beach took over the night.
The beach spread out in front of them. They’d walked over the island in what felt like seconds.
“It’s nice to find someone you can be silent with,” she said before thinking about what her words may imply.
They walked until the water lapped over their feet.
Katy let her eyes fall closed. Tightened her fingers around his. She shouldn’t gain so much comfort from someone she just met. Someone who’d annoyed her only days ago.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. “And—”
Her eyes fluttered open so she could study him. “Why me? Why be interested in me?”
“You…” He blinked a few times, and his lips curved up. “You got off that boat, looking soaked and furious, when I’d have been puking and terrified.”
A lot to admit from a guy as cocky as she imagined him to be.
“And then I learn that you’ve held your own on a boat with three guys, all of whom have that bored look that says they may not be the most thoughtful of men.”
“Now who’s making snap judgments?”
He nodded once in concession of her accusation. “Guilty.”
She rested against him, their fingers still interlaced. “I’m not sure how long I’m here, only that I’m far from being ready to stay somewhere for any real amount of time.”
His cheek rested against the top of her head. “And I don’t generally know what I’m doing with myself from one minute to the next.”
“Not encouraging,” she teased.
His hand slipped from hers and his arm rested across her back. Their toes touched under the water. Katy peered up at him—at the way his face was angled toward her, and how he studied her as their eyes met. He wanted to kiss her. Did she want the same? She held her breath as he drew closer. How long had it been since she’d let someone kiss her? A year? Her body shivered in anticipation.
His lips feathered over her cheek in a touch so soft, she wasn’t sure she could call it a kiss. And then he sighed. “I’m rushing. I don’t want to rush.”
“What?” she asked just as he stepped away, ran a few steps, and dove into the ocean.
“What?” she yelled as laughter bubbled up her throat. “Are you serious?”
His head emerged from the water, only the ripples in the ocean and his teeth showing in the dim light. “Serious about what?” he asked with mock innocence.
“I kinda thought we might kiss!” she protested, already feeling the smile tug at the corners of her mouth.
“Well, I’m just doing everything I can to not be the terrible, predictable person you thought I was.”
She folded her arms. Impossible. He was impossible.
“Also,” he continued. “You’ll learn that I’m possibly the worst tease in the universe.”
Infuriating but also maybe a bit irresistible.
“And…” His expression softened. “I like you. No point in rushing anything.”
Definitely full of surprises. Katy followed Trace’s example and jumped in.
Pulling her arms through the warm saltwater, she swam deeper before coming up for air.
Another wave came through, pulling her feet off the ground and planting a smile on her face. The darkness surrounding them had heightened her other senses—making each wave and slight breeze more intense than normal.
Fingers touched her wrist in the water, once again turning her brain to mush. This guy…he was something.
“Want to swim for a while or head back?” he asked, keeping more distance between them than she wanted.
“Swim.”
He gave her hand a light squeeze before diving underwater. Katy followed.
No, she wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, but she was nowhere near ready to stop.
Chapter Nine
Trace sat at the breakfast table, staring at his email. Of course the few investors he’d wanted to work with, wanted to know what he and Colby were putting their minds into next. Good question. They’d tinkered with a few games, and some other small ideas, but he wanted something else massive. Something like the COLLEGE LIFE app to keep his mind running at all hours of the day and night. He needed an obsession. A travel app might be that obsession, but maybe they’d all been done before.
“You have that constipated look on your face,” Colby teased as the screen door slapped closed behind him. “All okay?”
“Mr. Mason’s asking for an update.”
Colby flopped into the chair next to Trace, an apple in hand. “Downside of managing our own empire, huh?”
Empire. One app hardly equaled an empire. “Yeah. We’d talked about doing something with travel, but to do it right…”
Instead of finishing Trace’s thought, Colby took a large bite out of his apple. “Travel. I mean, we’d be attempting to be the next AirBnB or something else. We have to be different—that’s what’ll sell. Instagram has the market on travel pictures. And the few vacation rental places mean that there’s not a need for something new there.”
Trace listed off a few other apps designed to help travelers. Colby sighed.
“What about…” Trace trailed off. The idea was there, starting to form in his mind. “Something for a specific area of the world? Comprehensive? Or…something designed for boaters? Or shoestring—for people on a budget.”
“I like the last one,” Colby said. “This island is a great example of a place that would be super cheap, but until I’m fully up and running, I’d rather charge far less so the expectations are low.” He ended with a light chuckle.
“We’ll keep thinking.” Trace slumped lower in his chair. “Or we’ll give them back their money and just sit on this dock until the end of time.”
Colby scooted a chair with his foot until it rested in front of him. He kicked his feet on the chair and sat back. “I like option two.”
“Seriously?” Trace asked, his heart leaping. He couldn’t do this without his partner.
Colby laughed. “Not seriously, but for tonight, that sounds pretty good.”
Trace hadn’t been lying when he’d talked to Katy about her brother and his friends having that perpetually bored look about them. That look was what had set the scholarship kids, or working-through-college kids apart from the kids whos
e parents were sporting their education .
The three guys ambled about on the deck of Three Degrees, slowly prepping the boat to sail. Even though the boat wasn’t large, all the mechanics looked to be top notch. Not that Trace knew anything about sailing.
“Don’t sink the boat,” Katy teased as she helped them undo the last of the lines.
Her brother smirked. “I don’t think you’d be all that sad if the boat drowned.”
The two other guys laughed a little. Katy waved. The slowly maneuvered out of their slip.
“I’d be sad if you drowned!” she called after them.
He gave her a salute before steering their boat out of the harbor.
No one Trace had known in high school was able to take a year, or several, off of work after going to college. They had student loans to repay. Careers to start. And in his case, a family to help.
Katy’s fist lightly bumped his shoulder. “What’s that frown for?”
“We come from very different places, I think.” His attention was still focused on the boat, growing smaller as she moved away.
“Hmm.” She turned toward the harbor entrance. “Is it weird that I’m a bit envious of your life?”
“My life now?”
She shook her head. “Having a family who grew up close.”
“Our closeness wasn’t always by choice,” he answered. “And it’s hard watching your parents work long hours. I’d wait until my toes were getting bruised from my shoes before asking for new ones because I knew what a sacrifice it would be.”
Her small fingers wrapped around his bicep, and he felt his shoulders relax. He hadn’t even realized how much tension he’d held watching those guys move around.
“You should stop being less awesome,” she said, only a hint of tease in her voice. “It’s messing with my head.”
“And why”—he leaned closer, her hair tickling his lips—“would I ever want you to think I’m less awesome?”
Katy peered up at him. “Because everyone falls, Trace. And the higher you get, the further you have to go.”
The seriousness of her tone made him pause. He studied her face for a moment. “I like you, Katy. I’m not going to hide that. And everyone has their imperfections, but isn’t there a saying out there that as much as we choose our joy, we also choose our problems?”
She blinked a few times but didn’t speak. “Maybe.”
“Well, that’s how I’ve always seen things. There are always downsides, but we can choose the downsides that we’d like to live with.”
She licked her lips. He stared at the soft pink. The smoothness. His heart jumped. Being the good guy wasn’t easy, but he really hoped it would be worth it in the end. “I promised Colby I’d help caulk…something.”
A corner of her mouth lifted. “You’d better get on that then.”
He ran a finger down her arm, slowly taking her hand in his. “I think it’ll be nice for you to have some time away from them. I can’t imagine that being on a boat with those three, feels all that different from being at home.”
Her attention shifted to the exit of the harbor. “I suppose you’re right.”
With one last squeeze, Trace headed to his dune buggy. Windows. That’s what they were caulking. And if he remembered correctly, there were a ton of them to go.
“Or…” she trailed off. “You could help me finish mapping the island.”
His smile grew. “I’ll check in with Colby, but I say that’s a plan.”
Chapter Ten
Guys weren’t supposed to be so…good. The second after that thought passed through her head, she wondered where it had come from. No one had ever seriously broken her trust.
Katy allowed herself a laugh as Trace tugged her against him, making her fall in his lap. His dune buggy sat under him. They’d driven the whole island fifteen times over “to help with mapping”.
Resting against him, she watched the sun dip lower in the sky from Crescent Beach. Her hands rested over his. Her body was hyper aware of every place their skin touched.
This whole trip from home was supposed to be about relaxing, finding herself, sorting out what she wanted versus what her parents wanted for her—those two things sometimes got muddy. She wasn’t supposed to stumble onto a guy rich enough to suit her parents, even with his new money, much less find someone who held actual interest for her.
“Are you going to miss your brother?” he asked.
She shrugged. “No one is ever far away in the modern world.”
“True.”
But no, she wasn’t going to miss her brother—at least not much. He and his friends were probably happy to return to their slovenly ways.
“We should head back. My headlights suck. I have a lightbar on the way from…somewhere.”
“Of course you do.” She twisted in her lap and pressed her nose against his cheek. How long are you staying? Was on the edge of her tongue, but she held it back. Those were details. He was now.
She waited for him to take advantage of how close she was. To press his lips against hers. Instead his eyes didn’t waver from hers. A corner of his mouth lifted. “I feel like this is when we kiss,” he whispered. “Am I reading the situation wrong?”
“You always this forward?” she asked.
“Forward would be kissing you, rather than asking.”
Her cheeks pinched from smiling. “Fair.”
Their noses touched. His eyes fell closed. Instead of closing her eyes, she studied the softness of his lids. His lashes. Brows. And then, just like on her cheek, his lips barely grazed hers before moving away.
“I don’t think that counts, Trace,” she whispered. “Because yes, I think this is where we should kiss.”
He leaned back, and with anyone else, the gesture would have broken the moment, but that smirk she’d come to love on him was in full view. “No, you’re right,” he said seriously. “That really doesn’t count.”
She twisted in his lap to face him more fully.
His brows danced upward. “Well, now, I know for sure that another kiss is coming, so I feel like I have to prepare.”
“Prepare?”
His arm tightened. Her side pressed against his stomach. Her gut flipped in anticipation. And then, Trace smooshed his lips to one side and then the other. He opened his mouth widely.
“What on earth…”
He caught her eyes with his. “Stretching. Been a while,” he explained.
Katy laughed, grabbed the back of his head, and brought their lips together.
His mouth was soft, sweet, and achingly gentle as his lips slid over hers.
Goosebumps raced down her arms. His arms tightened around her waist, bringing them more closely together. His thumb stroked her neck. Their lips met again. Soft. Firm. Gentle.
Trace pulled back far too soon but rested his forehead on hers. “That was quite a kiss, Katy.”
Quite a kiss wasn’t the half of it. She brought their lips together again but was met with more softness.
“Something else I’ve learned from my friend,” he whispered, “is that I’m not rushing us.”
Us.
The sun dipped lower. His strong arms supported her body against his. A mix of teasing, quiet, and intelligent statements. Who even was this guy?
The night settled around them. No words. Just her sitting on his lap and his arms cradling her. Leaves and fronds lightly clapped in the breeze. An occasional light from a boat moved slowly over the dark water. She rolled her shoulders, still from how long they’d been still. There weren’t many people she could sit in silence with.
“Wanna drive back?” he asked.
She sat back, her eyes flickering to the suspension and roll bar across the top. “Serious?”
He stood, releasing her from the warmth of his lap. “The look on your face says that I’d better hold on.”
She jumped over the driver’s side door and plopped herself in the driver’s seat. Trace took the passenger’s side. The engine roa
red to life and she jammed her foot down on the accelerator. He laughed. She laughed. They followed all the same paths they had earlier, but this time she drifted sideways around each corner, and he screamed while she let out yells of excitement.
The drive didn’t take nearly long enough.
Hair windblown, lips thoroughly kissed, heart doing flips of both exhilaration and excitement, Katy pulled the car to a stop near her cabin, breathless from their night.
Colby stepped out. “I’m never riding shotgun with you at the wheel—at least not in that thing,” he teased.
A few guests were scheduled to arrive the next day, so Katy would have some actual work to do, rather than painting signs and mapping the island. “I should crash.”
His gaze drifted upward. “I can’t get over how fast the sun goes down here.”
She’d spent enough time in this part of the world for it to be a normal part of the tropics. “Thanks for the drive.”
“Thanks for sparing my life…barely.” He stepped in, tracing his fingers across her sides and to her back, bringing them together.
Her hands rested on his chest. She had almost written him off. Almost just decided to continue pushing him away until he gave up.
As he caressed her sides, their lips came together. Trace deepened the kiss, melting her body against his. She couldn’t believe that she’d almost not allowed this to happen.
Katy opened the door to her cabin, heart and head swimming with Trace. She wasn’t supposed to find a guy she connected with—not on her time away from home and real life. That was supposed to happen later, when she knew what on earth she wanted to do with herself.
A shrill beep shattered her daydream.
“What the…”
Another shrill beep.
Her phone! She’d had it off for so long, she’d almost forgot the wretched beep she’d found as a ring tone. Katy jumped forward and tossed discarded clothes aside before just grabbing the charger in the wall and gently tugging until her phone emerged.
Liv Mason.
“Liv!” she answered. “What’s up?”
