by Sarah Morgan
Unfortunately they did know her, which was why neither was prepared to accept that explanation.
Skylar sliced fresh bread into chunks. “Is Zach the reason you’re upset? Did something happen when he flew you to the hospital?”
Before Brittany could reply, the door opened and Ryan walked into the kitchen.
“Do you need any help with the food?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Emily’s face was pink from standing over the stove, wisps of hair falling around her face. “I may not be an experienced cook but I can follow a recipe.” She glanced nervously at the pan. “At least I think I can.”
“It smells delicious and that was a genuine offer of assistance, not veiled concern.” Ryan strolled across the room and wrapped his arms around his fiancée. “Don’t turn into one of those women who imagine things that aren’t there.”
Skylar cleared her throat pointedly. “You’re in a room with three women and hot liquid. Think before you generalize based on gender or we might add certain delicate parts of you to the chowder.”
Wincing, Ryan kissed Emily and then released her, hands raised. “Hey, I’m as simple as I look. All I want is food.” Dodging Skylar, he reached for the bread. “We can start with this. The three of us are dying of starvation.”
“The three of you?” Emily tasted the chowder. “Lizzy is supposed to be asleep.”
“She is asleep. I checked her ten minutes ago.” Ryan found some plates for the bread. “Zach is here.”
Brittany felt her insides turn over. Those were the three words she least wanted to hear. “Zach?” Her voice didn’t sound like her own. “Why is he here?”
“Because I invited him.”
“You—? Why would you do that?” Emily stared at Ryan, appalled, and he raised his eyebrows.
“Because he’s our friend,” he said slowly, “and as our friend, he’s welcome in our home.”
“But—” Emily shot Brittany an agonized look. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea he’d be here or I would have warned you.”
“Why does she need warning?” Ryan looked baffled. “He flew her here on her first day, drove her home from the store the other day, flew her to the hospital and back—I assumed everything was cool between you guys.”
“Oh, Ryan!” Emily looked at him reproachfully and he looked at her blankly.
“What? If there’s a problem here, then you need to spell it out.”
“For a start it would have been nice to have known I was catering for six, not five.”
“Whenever you cook you always make enough for the entire island but you’re right, I should have mentioned it. I would have done but I just happened to bump into Zach a few hours ago.” Ryan put the bread and the plates down on the table, then walked over to her, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “Forgive me.”
Emily melted, murmured a few words that the others couldn’t hear, and then eased away. “It’s not me you should be asking for forgiveness, it’s Brittany. This is awkward, Ryan.”
Ryan smoothed Emily’s hair back from her face with a gentle hand and then glanced at Brittany. “Is it awkward? Am I in trouble?”
Brittany managed a smile. “Of course not. It’s fine.”
“There. I told you. They’ve been divorced for a decade. They’ve both moved on. Is this ready? I’ll carry it through. It’s heavy.” Ryan reached for the chowder. “You can bring the bread and bowls, Sky.”
Skylar waited until he’d walked through the door and shook her head. “Men,” she said slowly as she juggled the bread and the bowls. “Utterly clueless.”
“I’m not arguing with that, but in this case he’s right. I’ve moved on.” Keen to avoid a conversation, Brittany grabbed the bread. “I’ll take that before you drop it.” She didn’t know which was more stressful, facing her friends or facing Zach.
How should she handle it?
Did she smile and pretend nothing had happened?
Did she just ignore the whole thing?
Deciding she might as well get it over with, she walked through to the dining room and almost fell over Cocoa, Ryan’s spaniel, who was running around, excited at having so many visitors in the house.
“Sit.” Ryan placed the chowder in the center of the table and glared at the dog. “Do not jump up.”
Ignoring him, Cocoa wagged her tail hard, almost vibrating with the effort not to jump and put her paws on his legs.
The distraction gave Brittany a moment to compose herself.
Zach was lounging in tense, brooding silence at the far end of the table.
Even without looking she was aware of him, as if her body had some sort of internal radar that sent off signals whenever he was nearby.
Deciding that the longer she left it, the worse it would be, she glanced at him and acknowledged his presence with a brief nod.
Those volcanic dark eyes focused on her for a brief moment and she felt as if she’d been fried alive. Dark lashes shielded his expression and his slim, sensual mouth was unsmiling.
Remembering everything he could do with that mouth made heat rush from her toes to her neck.
Last time she’d seen him, he’d been stripping her naked in less time than it took most people to switch on their phone. And she would have done the same to him if she hadn’t been a fumbling wreck. Fortunately, he’d had enough skills for both of them, which was why they now found themselves in this embarrassing situation.
The level of physical intimacy contrasted starkly with the emotional distance between them.
Awkward? No, it wasn’t awkward. It was so much more than awkward, there wasn’t a word for it.
She deposited the bread on the table.
What should she say?
She wanted to leave, but that would stimulate questions she didn’t want to answer. It would also potentially create a problem between Ryan and Emily and she didn’t want to be the cause of friction.
She slid into the only vacant chair, wishing it wasn’t so close to Zach.
Alec and Ryan were locked in an argument about one of the yachts moored in the marina and Emily was busy ladling creamy chowder into the deep bowls. The atmosphere was warm and relaxed, laughter and conversation flowing around her. Brittany was aware of nothing except the pounding of her heart and the incredible stillness of the man seated at the end of the table.
She couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
She kept her eyes down, reminding herself that these were her friends. Four friends and one ex-lover.
Except he was no longer an ex.
Brittany’s studied contemplation of the table was disturbed by a clatter and a gasp as Emily stepped forward to pass a bowl and almost fell over Cocoa.
Ryan’s hand shot out and he caught the bowl with one hand and Emily with the other. “She isn’t used to having so many people in the house at once. I’ll put her in the kitchen.”
“No.” Finally Zach spoke and he snapped his fingers gently to attract the dog’s attention. “Come.”
He’d said the same thing to her, Brittany thought. Right in the middle of the most mind-blowing sex of her life, he’d said the same thing. And she’d obeyed without hesitation.
Apparently Cocoa was equally seduced by his charms. Or maybe she was equally lacking in willpower. Sensing an ally, the dog went to him instantly, pressed her face to his palm and looked up at him hopefully.
Zach smiled at her.
Brittany felt the breath jam in her throat.
He smiled so rarely that when he did, she found it impossible to look away.
“You need to calm down or someone is going to fall over you.” He spoke quietly to the dog, his tone gentle. “You stay here with me.”
Cocoa pressed closer to him and the moment he tried to withdraw his hand she nudged him, so he continued to stroke her ears with gentle, casual rubs of those long, strong fingers.
Brittany’s heart started to pound a little harder.
He’d always been good
with animals. Animals and vulnerable people.
Ryan looked amused. “From now on you’re in charge of animal taming.”
Zach’s fingers continued to stroke and soothe. “She’s tame enough.”
“She’s usually pretty good.” Emily carried on serving the chowder. “She gets overexcited sometimes, that’s all.”
Who wouldn’t? Keeping that thought to herself, Brittany reached for the bowl Emily handed her. If Zach were stroking her like that, she’d be overexcited, too.
Heat spread through her body and pooled in her pelvis.
That first time they’d had sex, he’d been so careful with her. So gentle.
Her mouth felt dry and her mind woolly.
“I was speaking to Rachel today.” Ryan picked up his spoon. “She said they could do with help up at the camp. They’ve lost a couple of counselors and one instructor who had a wilderness first-aid certificate.”
“Can’t they recruit?” Alec gave an appreciative sniff. “Smells good, Emily.”
“Too late in the season to recruit. They’re managing to cover water sports, but they lost their archery instructor last week and they’re short of people to help with outdoor adventure activities.”
Brittany was only half listening. She kept reliving the moment Zach had slid his hand into her hair and stared down into her eyes.
Her breathing grew shallow.
She couldn’t take her eyes off his hand, hypnotized by the slow stroke of his fingers as he calmed the dog.
Cocoa was in a coma of ecstasy.
Brittany dragged her eyes from his fingers but only made it as far as his biceps. Unsettled, she forced herself to look up and collided with the heat of his gaze.
She waited for him to look away, but he didn’t. He kept looking at her until her heartbeat was like a pounding drum and it felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room.
Through a fog of desire she could hear Ryan’s voice, but not the words.
Then she heard her name and realized everyone was staring at her.
Everyone except Zach, who finally turned his attention to Emily’s chowder. He picked up his spoon in one hand while with the other he continued to gently soothe Cocoa.
He was calm and relaxed whereas she was a simmering ball of tension.
Aware that she’d missed an entire conversation, she tried to focus. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“That you could have taught archery if you hadn’t broken your wrist. This chowder is delicious.” Ryan smiled at Emily, an intimate glance that briefly excluded everyone around the table.
“Thanks. It was Kathleen’s recipe. Brittany gave it to me.” Emily looked across at her and frowned. “You’re not eating. Something wrong with your appetite or are you just scared of my cooking?”
Brittany blinked. “I— Neither. I was watching Cocoa.” She ignored Skylar’s raised eyebrows. “So what happened to the camp staff? It’s unusual to lose people this late in the summer season. Usually if they’re going to drop out they do it early on.”
Ryan reached for his beer. “Family emergency in one case, illness in another. Why don’t you call Philip? You often helped out in the past and you have all the qualifications.”
It wasn’t her ability to do the job that worried her. It was the fact that spending time at Camp Puffin would increase the likelihood that she’d bump into Zach and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “I can’t teach archery with one hand.”
“Do you have to demonstrate? You can push and pull the kids into position. Use your good hand.” Ryan pushed the bread towards Zach. “Do you want me to take Cocoa? Is she bothering you?”
“No. She’s fine.”
She was more than fine, Brittany thought. Cocoa was in doggy heaven.
“Zach, you know more about what’s going on at the camp than I do.” Ryan cleared his bowl. “You should be trying to persuade Brittany to help out.”
Zach put his spoon down slowly. “I believe people should make their own decisions.”
He didn’t want her there.
It was clear in his tone and his body language.
He might as well have told her bluntly to stay away.
“I loved camp.” Skylar’s cheery voice cut through the tension. “The alternative was spending the summers at home playing mock trials with my brothers so I talked my parents into letting me stay the whole summer. It was at camp that I first made jewelry. Right there and then I knew what I wanted to be.”
Alec glanced up from his food, his gaze lingering on Sky’s silver-blond hair. “Ballerina? Fairy princess?”
Sky’s eyes flashed. “Artist.” She spoke through her teeth. “I wanted to be an artist, although for your information, ballet is a seriously athletic sport and definitely not for wimps. Did you want to be something else when you were younger or was ‘asshat’ always your goal?”
“That’s not a career,” Ryan said mildly but neither was paying attention.
Knowing how easygoing Skylar was, Brittany was puzzled by the tension pulsing between her and Alec. They seemed to have temporarily forgotten everyone else in the room.
Alec’s gaze was fixed on Sky’s face. “For about two terms in junior school I wanted to be a submarine captain. After that, an academic.”
Sky gave him a witchy smile and reached for another piece of bread. “Professor Asshat.” She turned back to her food, missing the appreciative gleam in Alec’s eyes.
“You were telling us about camp, Sky,” Emily said hastily. “You spent your whole time painting and making jewelry?”
Hearing Emily’s conciliatory tone, Brittany concluded this wasn’t the first time Alec and Sky had clashed.
“I found a camp that focused on art and spent most of the time covered in paint or up to my elbows in clay. Bliss.”
Alec took a last long look at that shiny waterfall of blond hair and then turned his attention back to his food. “You don’t seem the type to relish being messy.”
Sky put her spoon down with a clatter. “You think you know me but you don’t and, by the way, someone with your reputed brain power should know better than to judge on appearances.”
Alec carried on eating. “Like it or not, our unconscious minds take the available data and shape our perceptions.”
“And your unconscious mind has decided I’m a fairy princess? Based on what? The color of my hair? Carry on making comments like that and you really will be unconscious.” Sky caught Emily’s eye and subsided. “This chowder really is delicious, Em.” She was about to say something else when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID and immediately her spirit and energy evaporated. “Sorry, I know we have a ‘no phones at the table’ rule, but I need to take this. It’s Richard.” She mumbled the words and stood up, almost knocking the chair over in her haste. Mumbling apologies, she shot out of the room.
Alec’s gaze followed her to the door. “Who,” he said slowly, “is Richard?”
“Her asshat boyfriend,” Ryan said cheerfully. “You handled that well, Al. Your charm is second only to your tact. I can see why you’re in such demand as a dinner guest. And why you’re single.”
“He’s the perfect guest.” Emily served seconds of chowder. “But you have Sky all wrong, Alec. She’s not the person you seem to think she is.”
Alec stirred. “I’m single because, having sampled the alternative, that’s the way I prefer to live my life. And I don’t think about Skylar at all.”
“So her boyfriend calls and she answers no matter where or when?” Ryan frowned. “Doesn’t seem like Sky.”
“Richard is stressed about the campaign. Sky is being supportive.” Emily swiftly sprang to Sky’s defense but Brittany knew they were thinking the same thing—that with Richard Everson, Sky was a different person.
Ryan wisely changed the subject and soon they were engaged in a lively discussion on how they’d spent their summers during childhood.
Zach was the only one who didn’t participate.
Bri
ttany knew that camp for him had been an escape, not a luxury.
The links with the university and the marine center meant that they attracted a mix of children from different backgrounds. Camp Puffin offered a few sponsored places so that kids from the cities had a chance to learn more about the outdoors.
Zach had been one of those.
Ryan glanced at her. “So what do you think, Brittany? Would you consider helping in some capacity? You used to love it.”
Her brief moment of respite was over and the focus was back on her.
Camp was intimately entwined with her relationship with Zach. Their relationship had begun while she’d been helping out there.
“It’s not a bad idea.” Emily reached for her drink. “You’re bored, Brit. And you loved working with the kids. Why not do it?”
Her reason for not doing it was seated close to her.
His gaze connected briefly with hers. Those devil-black eyes gave no hint as to what was going on in his head, but she knew instinctively that he wanted her to help out at Camp Puffin as much as she wanted to be there.
She stood up abruptly. “I’ll clear the plates.”
Skylar reappeared at that moment. She made no reference to the call. “I’ll help.”
“And I need to prepare dessert. No—” Emily held up her hand as Ryan started to stand “—tonight is on me. You can do the whole thing next time.”
The three girls vanished into the kitchen.
ZACH PUSHED BACK from the table and rose to his feet. “Thanks for dinner.”
Ryan frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Back to my cabin. I shouldn’t have come.” Next to him, Cocoa gave a whimper of protest and he stooped to give her a last stroke. She pressed into his hand adoringly, apparently the only female in the world who didn’t sense that he was a bucket load of trouble.
“Dinner isn’t finished yet. Sit down.” Ryan pushed another beer towards him and Zach straightened and shook his head.
“I appreciate the sentiment but it’s awkward for you, me being here—”
“I said, sit down.” Ryan’s tone was polite layered over steel. “You’re not going anywhere. It will upset Cocoa and it will upset me.”
Zach thought about all the things Ryan didn’t know. “Look, you and Brittany have been friends a long time and—”
