Sweet Talk Boxed Set (Ten NEW Contemporary Romances by Bestselling Authors to Benefit Diabetes Research plus BONUS Novel)

by Novak, Brenda

  “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or concerned.”

  “Flattered, I hope. I’m not the jealous type. I just know how special you are. I screwed that up when I had the chance the first time. But I’m a man now. A man who won’t let that kind of love slip away again. I’d love it if you’d give me another chance. Now that I’m more grown up and can really appreciate you.”

  Her heart fluttered, although her head was telling her to calm the heck down. What he said was sweet. Absolutely. Even kind of romantic, but she was not in the market for a relationship and darn sure not for one with someone who’d already broken her heart before. A do-over of that part of that summer was definitely not in her plans. And there was Nana. She was the priority right now.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Holden.”

  “How about dinner? Tomorrow night? My place. I cook an awesome lasagna.”

  “You remember my weakness for Italian food?”

  “I remember everything about you, Elli.”

  He stepped closer, and now it wasn’t just her heart teaming against her. Her knees suddenly felt like Jell-O on a warm day.

  Well, truth be told, she hadn’t forgotten one thing about him either, but she wasn’t up for another heartbreak like that in her lifetime.

  “Please. One dinner. If you never want to get together again, I’ll honor that. I promise.” He bent his knees a little to get down to her level and look her eye to eye. “Please?” And there was that smile. “Seven?”

  She felt herself sink under the pressure of the invitation. “Fine. One dinner.”

  He pulled her into a friendly hug and held her for nearly a four-count. “You’re not going to regret this. I’ll pick you up.” He turned and left, probably to be sure she didn’t have time to back out.

  And she was already regretting it.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Elli tossed and turned all night long. First, waking up in a sweat from the good memories from that summer with Holden, and then in a panic from the bad ones, followed by crazy, mixed-up dreams of worst dates ever. Probably a premonition for tonight’s dinner with him.

  Why had she said yes?

  She got out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She plodded out to the kitchen at six, and Nana was already up, sitting with a mug of coffee in front of her.

  “Good morning, dear. You’re up early,” she said.

  Elli poured a cup of coffee and joined Nana at the table. “Didn’t sleep last night.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  She shrugged. No sense telling her about Holden. She sure didn’t want to talk about that. “I was just excited about house hunting for you. I’m going to pull some listings this morning.”

  Nana looked around. “There’s a lot of stuff here to move.”

  “You got that right. But we can just move what you want to move and donate the rest if you want. Don’t let it worry you.”

  “I think downsizing is good. Maybe we could do a yard sale.”

  Doubtful. She wasn’t much on yard sales, and who was going to come? “It’ll be fine,” she said just to reassure her. No one else in this town needed Nana’s stuff any more than she did, but she’d let her hang on to that thought for now and then just handle it.

  “I thought I’d make chicken pot pie tonight. Your favorite, and I thought Brody might like it too.”

  “You’ll have to save me some. I have something to do tonight.”

  “Really? Like a date?” Her eyes danced with mischief and hope.

  “No, Nana. Not a date.” Nana always did seem to have an intuition about this stuff. Maybe it was a date, but she’d decided it was more of a closure meeting. Putting that whole mess behind her. “Just catching up with some people in town. I won’t be late, but I’ll grab dinner while I’m out.”

  “A date wouldn’t be so bad, you know. You’re too young to be working so hard, and too old to still be single.”

  “Well, then I’m just out of luck, aren’t I?” She’d already decided she wouldn’t tell Pam or Nana about her dinner with Holden so she wouldn’t have to listen to all the questions they were bound to have. Besides, she didn’t have any answers to those questions.

  No. Some things were better left quiet. It would have been even better if she’d just said no to begin with. She’d fallen under his spell, but that wouldn’t happen again. They’d do dinner. Just friends. One night to get him out of her system and her out of his. Over and done and then everything would be fine.

  The only trick was going to be getting away with Nana not seeing that it was Holden picking her up tonight. She hadn’t quite figured out how she was going to pull that off yet.

  Brody walked in, and Nana looked like she was having a fan-girl moment. “How are you? Can I get you some sweet tea? A snack?”

  “No, ma’am. Thanks.” He turned his attention to Elli. “I did some sample boards.”

  “I loved the one you did that was on the workbench. It was perfect.”

  “Oh, you saw that? It was just a test run. I did the first twenty names in a couple different styles with the router bits your Pops had. You want to come down and see which you like best? I’m going to need some new bits. Those have seen better days, but it’ll give you an idea of what your options are.”

  “That would be terrific. You want to grab some breakfast first?”

  “No. I’m good. If you have time now we can finalize that decision and I can let you know which bits to buy. Should be smooth sailing from there.”

  “Let’s do it.” She rinsed out her coffee cup and met Brody on the front deck. They walked down to the shop down the lane instead of the beach.

  He’d cut the straps on the lumber, and now there were several boards lying across sawhorses. “I’m not sure exactly what you promised. I couldn’t find the details on the campaign online anymore. So I did some with just one sponsor name, but then I was thinking that putting multiple names on each board might give you more flexibility in how you use these for all of the repairs? Plus, it kind of looks impressive with the names side by side. What do you have in mind?”

  He handed her a carpenter’s pencil.

  She twisted the big squared-off pencil in her hand. “It’s like a first-graders pencil. Yeah, so what they were promised was their name prominently displayed on a board used in the renovation. So, we can do multiple names on the boards if you think that will work better. I hadn’t really thought about that. I ordered a board for every donation.”

  “Come take a look.”

  She stepped up next to him and looked at the different designs. “I really like the one with the multiple sponsor names together with the sand dollar in the middle. Did you do that freehand?”

  He nodded. “It’s kind of stylized, but the best I could do.”

  “I love it. We have a lot of them to do, so keeping it simple will be better. I wouldn’t change a thing. I kind of like the one that looks more freehand than the perfect Times Roman letters. What do you think?”

  He took the pencil from her, used a T-square to draw two straight lines, and sketched out her name. Then he picked up the router and pushed it against the wood, and for a moment Elli was just twelve years old again, standing by Pops’ side here in the shop. She’d loved hanging out with him.

  The router screeched, and the smell of wood filled the air. Brody shut down the router and blew the sawdust away. “Like this?”

  Her name, Elli Eversol, gleamed back at her. It was as perfect as if Pops had been here to do it himself. “Yes! Even better. Relaxed, but clear and legible.” She clutched his arm and let out a little squeal in excitement, and when she looked up at him and he smiled back, the kindness behind his green eyes seemed to touch her soul.

  “Good, then I think we have a plan.”

  She let go of him and looked away, feeling a bit awkward for the long stare. His biceps seemed to wink at her as he put the tools away. Elli pushed the unexpected attraction aside.

  “Great. Yeah,
I’m just going to go back up to the house. I have so much to get done today. If I’m going to get to town and back I better get going because I have someplace to be at six.” Like he even needed to know that? Just quit talking, Elli.

  “Cool. I’m going to knock a few more of these out. I’ll catch you at the house later.” He tucked the pencil over his ear.

  She skedaddled toward the door, stopping one last time to watch him move easily among the tools. She was lucky to have his help.

  ***

  At 5:45 that evening Elli was doubly thankful for Brody’s arrival at Sol~Mate. Not only had he already made a plan to get the work that she needed done in record time, but also right now he was in the kitchen showing Nana how to make fish tacos out of the frozen mahi-mahi she had in her freezer. He swore he learned how to season them to perfection from the locals while surfing off Cabo. That seemed to impress Nana, and she’d put off making her famous chicken pot pie until Elli would be home to eat with them.

  Elli had no idea if Brody was making up the story or not, but if it kept Nana occupied while she slipped away with Holden…she was all for it.

  One less worry for her. If fairy godmothers came in chilled-out beach-bum handsome-guy bodies…she’d swear she’d just met hers.

  At just before six she slipped out the front door to meet Holden. He was right on time, pulling into the driveway as she took the last step down from the house.

  He jumped out of the driver's seat and ran to open the passenger door for her. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you.”

  He shut the door and jogged around the front of the car. A quick three-point turn in the drive and they were headed into town, and Nana hadn’t seen a thing. Elli’s nerves began to tingle from the anticipation as he drove along the main beach road.

  She had to admit she was duly impressed when he pulled up to the one gated community in Sand Dollar Cove. A new area, it hadn’t been there just five years ago, but as more and more people discovered their little town this was where the exclusive who had money to afford new custom homes but didn’t care about being on the water were building these days. They’d even put in bike routes and a crossover to the beach. A pricey solution to beach access.

  “We’re here,” he said.

  “It’s lovely.” Holden’s house sat high on a dune. The light color stucco exterior gave it a sandcastle look. Houses that were taller than they were wide always tended to look grander, and this one didn’t disappoint.

  As they stood in the cone of porch light, a memory ruffled through her mind like wind on water. Moments, close like this when he’d kissed her goodnight under the porch light at Nana's and Pops’. She pulled her drifting thoughts together as he invited her inside.

  An enticing aroma of garlic and herb-rich sauce dominated the air. “Oh my gosh, I think I just landed in Italy. It smells like heaven in here.”

  “Told you I bake a mean lasagna.”

  “If it tastes even half as good as it smells, you’re getting a blue ribbon from me.”

  “I’d settle for a second chance.” His gaze held hers. “Come on in. Everything is ready.”

  She followed him inside. Decorated in the natural colors of the sand and water, it was clean and modern, maybe bordering on an unlived-in look, but beautiful just the same. Across the living room a wall of sliding glass doors opened out to the deck. She stepped outside. There was a water view from up here. She was pulled toward it. “I hadn’t realized you had a view from this side of the street.”

  “Only from the houses up on this ridge.” On the deck a table was set for two with hurricane lanterns gently lighting the area. The decking was a shimmering sandy-textured concrete that gave her the feel of being right on the beach.

  He’d obviously gone to a lot of trouble. “Can I help?”

  “Everything’s ready, but you can help me carry dinner out. I thought we’d eat out there.” She took a covered casserole dish from him and carried it outside. The table was set as perfect as if a Girl Scout were going for her first Etiquette & Manners Badge.

  He was right behind her with a glass bowl filled with a beautiful salad in one hand and a basket with what, from the smell of it, must be fresh buttered garlic bread.

  “Go ahead and have a seat. I’ll just grab the wine.”

  She sat down feeling a little surprised by the rush the attention was giving her. She hadn’t expected this. In her mind it would be a quick dinner. No fuss.

  He came back out and poured them each a glass of wine.

  She took a sip. “Nice.”

  “It’s local. Guy down in Currituck County. Who knew we could do sophisticated wine around here? Made a believer out of me.”

  “I’m impressed.” She took another sip and set her glass down. “You’ve gone to a lot of trouble tonight.”

  “I wanted it to be a perfect night.”

  His smile was easy, and that wall she’d built around herself seemed to be as unsteady as the pier these days.

  “In fact,” he said, “if I timed this right, the sunset should give us a floor show in about twenty minutes, so dig in.”

  They sipped wine, ate, and made small talk. Holden’s phone beeped. He reached for it, hit a button and then took her hand. “Come on. That was my phone reminding me of the sunset time.”

  Elli dabbed her lips with her napkin and followed him to the deck rail. “Let me grab my wine.”

  “I’ll get it.”

  She settled in at the rail, and then he was right behind her, handing her the glass from behind her. She held the glass in both hands. His body felt warm standing behind her with both arms stretched forward on either side of her. If he weren’t so tall he’d have been able to rest his chin on her head, he was so close, but it felt good. Strangely familiar and for a moment it was like she was years younger, experiencing a sunset with him for the first time.

  He leaned down, speaking gently into her ear. “Do you remember that first sunset? Jockey’s Ridge.”

  She nodded. “I do. I couldn’t tell if it was the sunset or the magic of the ridge that night.”

  He seemed to breathe in the scent of her. “I think it was both.” He ran his hand up and down her arm.

  The shiver from his touch made her inhale.

  “And you,” he said stepping from behind her to beside her, leaning in close.

  “Three …” he said.

  It was just like that first time all those years ago when they’d counted it down as the sun dropped below the horizon.

  “Two …” she said along with him.

  “One,” they said, and he moved in ever so slowly and put his lips to hers.

  She’d known where he was going. She’d lived it once before. She could have turned away, kept it from happening, but she didn’t. Couldn’t, really. As his warm mouth met hers, she raised her hand to his cheek, drinking in the kiss and letting it last as long as it would.

  “No.” He turned away and looked toward the ocean. “No. I was wrong.”

  She stood there, her pulse racing. No? She couldn’t imagine that he hadn’t felt the same thing.

  His voice was soft. “That ridge had nothing to do with that feeling that night. I felt the same thing just then.”

  Well, two could play that game. “Oh. I get it. So that kiss. It was for science? Just a test.”

  “Absolutely. I mean if we were sitting on information about love and sunsets on Jockey’s Ridge, we owe it to the region to share that. Strictly from a tourism perspective, of course.”

  Thank goodness he’d lightened the mood, because moments ago she wasn’t sure whether to run all the way home or go in for another kiss and throw all caution to the wind. “I totally get it.”

  “One problem.”

  She was almost afraid to ask. “What’s that?”

  “One is not a representative sample.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that.” Well, hoping was more like it. “Maybe we should finish eating before our food is completely co
ld.”

  “Good idea.” He walked over and pulled her chair out for her, then he sat down.

  With the kiss out of the way the conversation came more easily.

  They finished dinner and cleared the table outside. “It’s still early. Want to go for a walk on the beach?”

  She rubbed her stomach. “I need to walk off that lasagna. Not that I’m complaining. It was worth every bite. You really are quite a cook.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you liked it.” He grabbed two windbreakers from the closet and handed her one.

  She pulled it on, the sleeves hanging a good ten inches beyond her hands. “My hands will be warm.”

  “I planned on holding one of them anyway.”

  They walked along the beach, and it didn’t take long to warm up as they hiked, just enjoying the quiet of the night. A million stars twinkled above.

  Holden broke the comfortable silence. “There’s a full moon on the fourth. Is it too soon to ask if you’ll join me for a walk on the beach that night?”

  “You mean like a date?”

  “Or like a walk. I remember how you use to love the phases of the moon.”

  “Still do. The moon. The tides. The beach. It’s part of who I am.” If she really believed that, then why did she live inland? Maybe it was time to reevaluate things. First things first though, like slowing this freight train down. Things were moving way too fast on this reckless course. “I’ll have to check my calendar and get back with you. I have a hundred things going on right now.”

  “Okay.” He squeezed her hand, like he was sure she’d clear her calendar for him. “It’ll be nice. Ready to head back?”

  She spun around, and he fell in step with her. Going back, the breeze was in their faces, and her nose stung from the chill.

  Being gone for so long, she wasn’t exactly sure where they were on the coastline to know where to turn in the dunes to get back to his house. Things had changed a lot over the past few years. The walk back seemed a lot longer.

  “Right here,” he said pointing to a small cluster of lights atop a pole that looked like a miniature lighthouse.

  He stopped her just before they climbed the steps to cross back over the road.