London decided it was too late to jump over the side or slide under her seat. Colton was the one who spoke up, though. “Jim? Chris? Is there a problem?”
His familiarity with the two didn’t settle London’s jittery stomach. Their serious expressions didn’t ease. “Are you London Jennings?” the oldest one—grandfather-age—asked.
“Um...yeah.”
Then she’d wished she’d taken that swan dive into the lake when she’d had the chance. The man informed her that her father was concerned, told Colton the boat had been taken without permission and said they must return to the dock immediately.
Colton had sent her a puzzled look but agreed in an instant. The older man’s manner had turned more kindly, it seemed to London, and he’d said he’d be taking the wheel.
“It’s all on me,” London had declared then. “This was my idea.”
“Hey—” Colton had begun
“He didn’t know.” London had spoken over him, coming to her feet in the boat, despite its slight pitch and roll. She’d held back her hair with one hand and directed her gaze at the man in charge, meeting his eyes. “I told Colton it would be okay.”
The head patrolman had nodded at that, then clambered into the Fun & Games. He’d directed Colton into the other patrol boat, telling him he’d be dropped closer to his home. The boy’s protest had been cut off. “I’ll handle it from here, son.”
On a sigh, Colton had turned to London. “Are you going to be all right?” he’d murmured.
If only the mortification would kill her, she’d thought, right then and there. “Of course,” she’d whispered. “But...but I’m really sorry.”
He’d smiled, touched her nose and vaulted from one vessel to the other. As both boats powered in opposite directions, he’d flashed her a grin followed by a jaunty salute.
And she’d known she had to see him again.
Had to.
For the magic. For the freedom. To take the next step into her own life.
But did he want to see her again, too?
She’d spent the return trip to the dock on her phone. Before, she’d stumbled upon a teen relationship app. Calling it up, she’d tapped on “How to Tell if He Likes You?”
Pay attention to what he does.
At the old boathouse, he’d worked to make her smile. He’d suggested they do something together. Before leaving her, he’d touched her. A nose tap, but a nose tap. That had to mean something.
Pay attention to what he says.
This gave her pause. He’d told her black wasn’t her color. He’d suggested a hoodie and jeans wasn’t her best look. She’d known that. She just didn’t know what to do about it.
Now, the prow of the Fun & Games gently bumped the dock. The patrolman threw over one of the lines to a grim-faced Jace, who started tying it down. London looked to Shay, but she was smiling at the patrol guy in the other boat. He was idling close to where she stood on the dock, and he swept off his hat to scrub his hand over his crew cut. If he’d been closer, London wouldn’t have been surprised to see him nose tap Shay.
She glanced over at Jace, saw he was now watching the conversation. His expression had gone from grim to foul. Interesting.
When her tutor let out a light laugh, London’s gaze shifted back. Whether Shay noticed it or not, as she chatted, her hand was sifting through her hair. Its color was so pretty, the sun catching gold threads and bronze ones, too. Frowning, London held up a hank of her own. It seemed dulled by the same light.
Another laugh from Shay. Her head was tilted back and there was a sparkle in her eyes. Her lashes were long and curled, but natural-looking. Her outfit was simple, a thin white V-necked T-shirt, a knit skirt of blue-and-white stripes that clung to her hips and fell just above her knees. She was wearing turquoise flats that matched the stones hanging from her ears and the bracelet wound around her wrist.
She looked stylish. Young. Not as young as London, but not as old as London looked in her baggy black clothes and her black dead-head hair.
Still contemplating that, she let out a startled “eep” as her father lifted her out of the Fun & Games and set her down on the dock. “Well?” he demanded, planting his hands on his hips.
He was big. More than a little angry-looking.
But the anger barely registered as her mind was on other things. Colton. Their brief time together this afternoon. The app on her phone. How do you know he likes you?
The last piece of advice bubbled up in her mind. Follow your heart.
Jace made an exasperated sound. “London,” he said. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Follow your heart. She half turned, waved to get Shay’s attention. “Hey, will you take me shopping?”
* * *
POST HIS A.M. mug of coffee, Jace paced the boundaries of the upstairs study area, stewing as he waited for London to join him. Yesterday afternoon, following her boat adventure, he’d been so nonplussed by her nonexplanation of her behavior that he’d marched off to his quarters to regroup.
At dinner, he’d told her they would have a meeting the next day, first thing.
Still striding back and forth, he studied the paper in his hand. It was a solid, short set of rules. No boys. No leaving the property without permission. No boys.
He was going to get the young female in his life under control.
The sound of footsteps had him spinning around. “Oh,” he said to Shay. “You.”
She gave him a half wave and started sorting the books and papers on the table. “Sorry. I’m just here to gather some materials so I can work on lesson plans in my room.”
“You’re not staying?” He figured he could use her support.
“Jace, it’s a family meeting.”
His gaze ran over her, diverting him for a moment. Once again, she was a spot of brightness against the drab backdrop of the house. There was that vibrant color of her hair, the sky-blue of the tank she wore with slouchy pants rolled at the hem. A delicate chain circled her ankle and tiny silver shells hung from the links. A matching bracelet looped one wrist.
He wanted to see her wearing only the jewelry, he thought, the wish striking deep. There’d be nothing else to hide her apricot skin, the gold-red of her hair, the pale pink parts of her that he’d only explored during a short shadowed night.
He wanted to discover her in sunlight. She’d be completely revealed then, under a cloudless sky, in summer temperatures that burned as hot as the lust she spiked in him. He’d stretch her naked on the beach, and cup the lake water in his hands to dribble it over her bare torso. The cool liquid would pearl her nipples, pool in her belly button, run into the soft place between her thighs.
“Is there something wrong with the way I look?”
He jerked out of the fantasy. “What?”
“You’re staring.”
Clearing his throat, he shifted his gaze and willed his south-rushing blood to switch direction. I was thinking, he wanted to say, about you. Nude. At the mercy of my touch. He cleared his throat again and wrenched his mind back to business. He had called a meeting. There was an important purpose to it.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said. “It’s...it’s just that it’s all new to me, this father-daughter thing.”
“I know.” Shay hesitated. “Look...teenage girls...they can be vulnerable.”
“Why do you think I’m going to lay down the law?”
She returned the papers she held to the table and leaned back against it. “I have an older brother. I remember Brett’s teenage angst. It came out in punishing sports competitions with his friends, marathons of violent video games, the consumption of incredible amounts of junk-food calories.”
Jace remembered late-night runs to the local pancake house with his buddies, where they’d battle to see wh
o could eat the most orders of buttermilk pancakes deluged with syrup. “What are you trying to warn me about?”
“Girls can go inward. Tuck disapproval—or perceived disapproval, any kind of negative feedback, really—deep inside. They’ll keep it too close. Think about it too much, too often.”
Jace groaned.
“They might become quiet, and be shy about speaking of their dreams and their desires.”
His fingers tightened on his sheet of rules, crumpling the paper. What did he know of a fifteen-year-old’s dreams and desires?
Shay turned and scooped up the materials she’d set down a few moments before. “Tell London I took her Dickens book, okay?”
“Oh, no,” he said, catching her arm as she began to sweep past him. “Now I really can’t do this alone.”
“Sure you can.” She tugged, trying to escape.
Jace only drew her closer, pulling her sweet scent into his lungs. Her skin was warm and soft beneath his palm and she was close enough that he could get a peek at a little cleavage if he let his gaze drop.
Maybe she was afraid of that, because she yanked free of him and stepped back. “Jace—”
“I’m not kidding,” he said, catching her hand. “I need your help.” Holding up his paper, he rattled his list in her face.
“What’s this?” she asked, slipping her fingers free.
“My rules. Tell me what you think.”
She frowned, dumped the things she carried back on the table again and swiped the sheet out of his hand to peruse the three items he’d written. “You named one of these rules twice.”
“Because it’s the most important.”
Her response was an extravagant roll of her eyes. “She’s fifteen—”
“Exactly.”
“Jace, it’s natural for her to be interested in boys.”
“On television. In books. From far, far away.”
“You remember what I told you about Colton Halliday, her boat adventure companion of yesterday, right?”
“I stopped listening after you confirmed he has an X and a Y chromosome.” It was almost true.
She huffed out a sigh. “I know him and his fam—”
“How well?” he asked.
“Very well. And if you don’t trust me, think about the lake patrol. They’re acquainted with him, too, and aided him in avoiding your wrath because they judged the boy blameless in the situation.”
That was actually true, he thought grudgingly, though Jace wasn’t sure that both officers had been exclusively focused on their jobs the day before.
“That younger patrol guy...”
Her brows drew together. “Chris?”
“On the short side, blond, couldn’t drag his gaze off of you?”
“Chris.” She frowned. “And he’s plenty tall. He’s just not built on your massive proportions.”
Jace ignored that. “You dated him, didn’t you?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Of course it wasn’t, but what the hell. Jace tilted his head, watching a faint blush tinge Shay’s cheeks. “You broke it off with him.” Yesterday, she’d confessed she’d never been in love. Well, good ol’ Chris couldn’t say the same. He’d been staring at Shay as if she were the first meal following a long fast. “Too bad, because he looks like just your type.”
Her blush deepened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s Officer All-Good. Apple pie, Mom and eight hours of continuous, guiltless sleep every night. Not a solitary sin or single rough edge.”
Annoyance snapped in her glacial blue eyes. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Jace shrugged. “You tell me. You’re the one who broke up with him.” Why was he needling her? He had no idea, except maybe he wanted to get what she was doing to him under control, too, and because that worshipful expression on Officer Upright’s face had rubbed Jace entirely the wrong way.
“He’s very nice,” Shay said, her tone prim.
“I get it now.” He grinned. “You dumped All-Good because he’s just too virtuous. Too respectful. Too polite.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m experienced.” Leaning near, he lowered his voice. “I know you good girls like your panties torn off on occasion.”
Her eyes flared and her pink cheeks turned red. “You don’t know what I want.”
“I know exactly what you want,” he said in that near whisper. “A family man who’ll make the rounds at the end of the evening, checking the doors to ensure you and the little ones are safe. Then he’ll slip into your bedroom and lock that door, too, so he can make uninterrupted monkey love to you until the clock strikes midnight.”
She moved back, reclaiming her personal space. “You’re wrong.”
“Yeah?” His eyebrows rose. “Which part?”
Her next move startled him. She stepped close, going up on tiptoe to put her mouth near his ear. “For your information,” she said, her breath blowing warm against his cheek, “on occasion I want that monkey loving to go on way past midnight and into the wee hours of the morning.”
Heat shot up his spine. His libido ignited, firing his blood. He cupped her shoulders, ready to yank her even closer so he could take her mouth and then he’d—
“I’ll be right there!” London’s voice floated from the direction of her bedroom.
Jace dropped his hands as if they’d been burned. Shay, her expression somewhere between smug and saved, slapped his list of rules to his chest. “Good luck, big guy,” she said, and left.
He didn’t make a grab for her this time. If he were going to win against one of the females in his life, he had to get his head in the game—and Shay’s presence directed his attention to the wrong effing head.
Seating himself at the table, he took a few deep breaths and put himself into CEO mode. He managed employees all around the world and was known for his effective, hands-on style. Hell. Glancing down, he flexed his fingers and tried dispelling the lingering sense of Shay’s skin beneath his palms.
Prepare to run a meeting, he told himself. Think of your agenda. He studied his three-item list. Time to take the lead.
“Sorry I’m late,” London said, rushing into the room. She had her tutor in tow. “I asked Shay to join us, okay?”
He wouldn’t give either one of them the satisfaction of balking, but he avoided looking in the woman’s direction. “No problem,” he murmured as they pulled out chairs. When they were settled, he lined up his paper in front of him. “Shall we begin?”
“Let me go first,” London said, whipping out her own sheet and placing it onto the table.
“What? I called the meeting—”
“And I have new business,” she said, smiling. For the first time he saw the excellent outcome of those orthodontist bills he’d paid. He was so startled by the effect, he just stared, which gave her an opening to continue.
“I want only a few things,” she said.
“Wait a minute—”
“Don’t I have the floor?” she asked, glancing over at Shay.
The tutor seemed to consider, apparently not in the mood to do Jace any favors. “Well...”
“This is a family meeting,” he said from between his teeth.
Shay’s brows shot up and she sent him a pointed look. Isn’t that what I said?
It was imperative that he wrest back power. “London, you’ll get your chance. But first—”
“I want a car,” she said in a rush. “And a driver’s permit, a boat driver’s license—you can get those at twelve, you know—and a sailboat.”
It took several moments for all that to sink in. “What?”
“A car, a—”
“I heard you.” He rubbed at the pain starting to
throb at the base of his skull. It wasn’t a lingering effect of his concussion, he could tell, but instead your average, everyday, teenager-induced headache. “Anything else?” he asked, his tone dry.
“Now that you mention it.” She turned her cheeky grin on Shay. “I have some old business, too. About that shopping trip...”
Control was lost, Jace decided on a silent groan. He crumpled his list of rules between his palms and threw the paper over his left shoulder like it was spilled salt. Maybe that would neutralize the trouble he sensed he was in.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SHAY SAT IN the passenger seat of Jace’s car, trying not to release any more emotion into the already thick atmosphere inside the SUV. He drove along the road leading to the Walker family cabins, hands at ten and two, determination pumping off of him. In the backseat, London’s usual strict pains to project pure boredom had been replaced with a distinct adolescent sulkiness. The moods of the two Jenningses tussled silently with each other, making the drive anything but relaxing. But years of feeling like a family gate-crasher had made Shay feel obligated to take on the role of smoother of choppy waters.
“Lovely day,” she said, in an effort to perform her usual function.
Jace grunted. London didn’t bother to respond, clearly still peeved about her father’s plan.
Though the girl had hijacked Jace’s meeting the morning before, he’d had a new scheme by evening. As punishment for taking out the boat without permission, he’d announced London was sentenced to some hard labor. And he knew just the place where she’d serve her sentence.
Shay had been astonished when he’d revealed his idea of putting in some hours at her family cabins—and also somewhat impressed that he’d remembered them. “I owe you, remember?” he’d said in an undertone, and her mind had rocketed back to that bittersweet morning in her room at the Deerpoint Inn. She’d been standing at the window when he’d come up behind her to say goodbye and she’d never, ever expected to see him again.
But here he was, for a little while longer smack-dab in her life. She flicked a glance at him now, and experienced that same overwhelming rush of “oh, my” as that night when he’d slipped onto the bar stool beside her. It had been simple, from-inches-away female appreciation, with no expectation of how he would later kiss her, stroke her...and needle her, she remembered with a grimace.
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