The wind fanning through the Jeep windows felt more like someone had a hairdryer trained on them. Seeing the wild ponies had been totally worth slumming it in the heat, though. Ti’d never seen Spanish mustangs before. Such a unique breed. Their carefree roaming was almost liberating. As if that same peaceful freedom was within reach for her, too.
The way Drew’s face had lit up watching her, it was like he could see inside her. Knew what she craved, needed. More than that, it was almost like seeing her reaction had brought him joy.
Ti warded off the ball of emotions always hovering nearby, stuck her hand out the window to wave ride the wind, and redirected her thoughts. “I know it sounds weird, but the terrain through this stretch reminds me of Africa.”
Drew’s foot slipped off the gas pedal. “You’ve been to Africa?”
“Once. On a safari photo shoot.”
“Right.” The clipped word kept him face forward.
“It’s nothing like being here,” she ribbed. “I still can’t believe we went somewhere today we actually had to drive to.” She stretched across the console to poke him in the arm.
A sidelong glance careened into her from the driver’s seat. “We’re not done yet. You haven’t experienced Ocracoke until you’ve explored its full sixteen miles.”
“From a bona fide highway, no less. I’m impressed.”
“Forget the highway, City Girl. Wait till I show you what going off-road really means.”
Both brows reached for her bangs. “I knew it. That ten p.m. noise ordinance in the village is just a ruse, isn’t it? You’re all really a bunch of bad boys up to no good.”
His husky laugh curled around her with the wind. “You figured me out.”
Not even close.
She raised her feet to the dashboard and crossed her arms over her knees as sand dunes passed beside them. Whatever had gotten into Drew today, she had to admit she liked it. Maybe things could work between them after all. Was it insane to hope?
The wheels crunched over sand as he slowed the Jeep to a stop beside what looked like a trailhead. He opened his door. “Ready?”
“You promise you’re not trying to coerce me into the water, right?”
His dimples sank into his cheeks. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Mm-hmm.” When Ti bent behind her for her hat and bag, a magazine tumbled onto the floorboard. She raised her sunglasses to her head and did a double take. Oh. My. Word. She snatched it up and rushed outside. “Is this what I think it is?”
“What?” Drew met her around the passenger side. Face dropping, he grabbed for it. “It’s nothing.”
Ti backed up, waving it out of reach. “A J. Crew catalog? You were scoping out the Henleys, weren’t you?”
“No.” He stretched an arm behind her, but she skirted around the bumper.
Whipping her head up, she jabbed a finger at a dog-eared page. “Ha! You were so thinking about getting one.”
“And you’re so gonna get a good swat with that thing if you don’t give it to me.”
She handed it over but held on, looking him up and down.
His eyes circled to the sky. “What are you doing?”
“Picturing you in a Henley. Very attractive.” Oh, she loved turning his cheeks that crimson color.
He yanked the catalog back, tossed it inside the Jeep, and concentrated on untying his surfboard from the roof rack. “I rescind my earlier comment, by the way.” He cut her a mischievous glance. “You better run when we get to the beach.”
“Good thing for me, I get a head start.” With that, she tore off down the trail past a sign for Springer’s Point. It’d take him at least another minute to get his board down. Sucker.
A canopy of live oaks shrouded a sandy path leading her deeper into what could’ve been a Bob Ross painting. Undeveloped, tranquil beauty enveloped her the farther she jogged. Past a gravesite, past an old brick cistern until she finally wandered onto Pamlico Sound’s quiet shoreline unfolding before her.
Drew came up from behind. “You’re lucky I have a longboard slowing me down.”
She turned, unable to curb the setting’s effect. “It’s gorgeous, Drew.”
“I had a feeling you’d like it.” The same joy that’d overtaken his expression when they were with the ponies replaced his playfulness now. “Thought it’d be a good spot for some inspiration.”
He’d picked this place out for her artwork? She looked down and dug her camera out of her beach bag. “That’s really sweet.”
“You have an incredible talent, Ti. It deserves a stage.” Thoughtful eyes angled under hers. “Don’t ever doubt that.”
The only thing she doubted right now was her ability to breathe when he looked into her soul like that—made her feel treasured, whole. Spoken with such sincerity and encouragement, his words wove inside her and fanned the kind of belief she’d always grappled to make her own. Her mouth turned drier than the sand burning her feet.
As usual, he seemed to read between the lines and didn’t press. Instead, he staked his board in the sand, tugged his shirt off, and motioned to the water. “Sure you don’t want to go in?”
Ti forced her eyes off his defined abs and lifted her camera. “I’ll enjoy it from here.”
“This isn’t the ocean. You can walk out a good fifty feet before the water reaches your waist.”
“It’s all you, Surf Champion.”
He nodded in concession. “Fair enough.”
Nothing was fair about him or this island she was beginning to wish more and more were her home.
“Settle down? You ain’t that kinda girl, Russo. Do yourself and every guy you’re with a favor. Remember who you are.”
Memories from her last fight with Murray before leaving London squelched any hope of his being wrong.
“You all right?”
Ti blinked toward Drew, thankful for the reminder to avoid making a mistake. “Fine. Yeah.” She raised her camera and focused on what she was here to do. Create art. Nothing more. “You go on. We’re losing daylight.”
With visible reluctance, Drew headed into the water.
She took multiple shots of him paddling out, sun glistening over him. They’d make perfect prints for what she had planned. The more she gave herself to her creative drive, the more she became one with it. No dark memories. No tainted thoughts. Just life and joy that the escape of art always provided. Minutes lapsed, but she wasn’t ready to let go.
Seated on her blanket, she scrolled through the frames until a shadow brought the guy she’d met at Drew’s shop the other day into view above her.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” Carter staked his board in the sand as Drew had done earlier. “How’s that painting we talked about coming along?”
“It’s getting there. You sure you want to buy it?”
“No question.”
Out on a paddleboard, the same woman with him the day they met waved to shore. Carter nodded. “My wife, Sue, and I loved what we saw in your portfolio. Hang tight, and we might have more to offer than just a bid on a painting.” His eyes glinted with intrigue as he tipped his head. Instead of expounding, he grabbed his board and turned to jog to the other end of the beach.
Drew trekked out of the water, gaze locked down the shoreline. “New friend?”
“That was the gallery owner from Cali. Remember?”
He mumbled something that sounded like, “Unfortunately.” Evading her eyes, Drew raked his wet hair off his forehead. “He make you an offer?”
“Not exactly.”
His jaw flexed in and out. Yet rather than say anything, he traded his board for a towel and dragged it over his face and hair.
Apparently, that conversation was over. Even if Drew hadn’t ended it, Ti wouldn’t have been able to carry it on. Or any form of intelligent communication, for that matter. Not with his muscles, sculpted by years of mastering the waves, rippling in front of her. The way he filled out his button-downs had given her enough to imagine as i
t was. She didn’t need real-life visuals stoking the fire.
She looked away. “I, um, got some takes that should appeal to the competition clientele.” And a few she wouldn’t mind keeping for herself.
“Good.” He took a swig from his water bottle while plunking onto the blanket beside her.
Live currents filled the almost-nonexistent space between their arms. She curled in her bottom lip, wishing for his lips instead.
Stop. Just stop.
Damp wind blew off the endless stretch of water onto her flushed cheeks. He, on the other hand, probably wasn’t hot at all. Her eyes followed the water droplets carving paths down his tanned skin.
After one ridiculously long minute of silence, Ti elbowed him. They needed levity. Fast. “You know, you could throw on a Henley right now if you had one.” She tugged him down when he started to stand. “All right. I’m dropping it. I do think you’d make a good J. Crew model, though.”
He made it all the way up this time.
Ti clambered to her feet and caught his hand a few paces down the shore before he got away. “Okay, okay. I’m done. I swear.”
An incoming wave lapped over her ankles and lured her gaze across the water. She planted her hands on her hips, tilted her head, and stared at the horizon with the best existential expression she could assemble.
A sigh from beside her joined the wind. “What are you doing?”
“Shh.” She waved a hand at him. “Don’t make me break character. I’m being you right now.”
“What?”
“Your romance with the water . . . I’m testing it out.”
He shook his head at her. “I do not pose like that.”
“You don’t see yourself doing it. How do you know?”
“Because life pondering doesn’t look like a teenage girl waiting for her boyfriend to come back.” From behind, Drew straightened her head, took her arms in his, and crossed them in front of her.
“Excuse me, Siddhartha. I didn’t realize life pondering had to be so manly. Is this better for you?”
With his bare chest secured against her back and bulky arms over hers, he brushed his cheek to her temple. “Getting there.”
Any more so, and his masculinity would override everything around her. Even the beach’s salty aroma couldn’t match the traces of his aftershave mixing with the earthy scent of his skin. He smelled like summer. One she didn’t want to expire.
Ti stared across the vast expanse of water. No beginning or end. No answers. Just mysteries. But in Drew’s arms, she could almost believe life had a plan. That it could be safe, forgiving. Maybe even paint her into this dream permanently.
The setting sun doused the ocean’s canvas with watercolors no brush could replicate. She soaked it in. “Are you sure your sunrises beat this? ’Cause these colors are pretty amazing.”
“They’re a worthy opponent.” Though he kept his tone light, it held an unmistakable reverence.
“Well, this view is definitely on my top ten list.”
A stilted laugh rustled her hair. “No way this can compete with the places you’ve seen. You’ve been all around the world.”
Ti yielded to the urge to nestle deeper into his embrace and whispered, “But never right here.” In arms of strength and tenderness. No one had ever held her like this before.
She’d encountered a lot of things she’d never expected while traveling the world, but none more than wanting to stay on this shore. With him.
In the stillness, dragonflies zipped around them, as if dancing to music. Ti closed her eyes and listened along. The water’s gentle lull against the shore, Drew’s steady heartbeat, the wind’s sigh through the trees.
She wasn’t supposed to fall for this place, this life. It was temporary. With no more rumblings from Queens, she couldn’t justify staying much longer.
The thought of leaving dragged her heart out with the tide. This was exactly why she kept her heart off limits. Better to keep things light and uncomplicated. For everyone.
“Tell me something.” She turned on a mischievous tone. “How does a surfer become a business owner?”
“How does a model become a business owner?”
Her tight lips caved to a smile. “At least one of us got a sense of style out of it. You could use that in all areas of life, you know. I mean, look at your fellow surfers.” She motioned to another guy on a longboard.
“The dude with the man-bun?” Drew snorted. “If you ask me to wear skinny jeans next, this friendship is over.”
She laughed. “Hey, there are going to be lots of beach bunnies hopping around here soon. Don’t you want to be in the running?”
He released her from his arms. “Oh, I’ll be running, all right. In the opposite direction.”
She turned and cocked her head at him. “You’re telling me you have no interest in finding a relationship?”
“One based on how I wear my hair? Not particularly.” He pulled his T-shirt on. “Relationships are nothing but infatuation, anyway.” Intense green eyes roamed over her. “Physical desire. It’s intoxicating.”
He had no idea. Heat waves rippling off the sand commandeered her body a cell at a time when he looked at her like that.
He blinked away. “But it eventually fades like everything else.”
Ti hid the unfair reactions he ignited. “Yeah, sorry, James Dean. I’m not buying it.”
“Nothing to buy. I’m just being real.” A wry look tinted his eyes. “This outspoken girl I know taught me to call things like I see them.”
“Oh, really?” Ti hedged him backward like he normally did to her. “And you’re honestly trying to tell me you don’t believe in love?”
Her stomach pinched at the question. At the hope of his saying he still did. That this man—who’d made room for his wayward brother in his home, who would give his daughter the sun and moon, who’d honored a widow by welcoming her into the center of his family—might open his heart to her, too. If she found the courage to tell him how she felt . . . If she were honest with them both, maybe he’d—
“Not anymore.” His voice barely crested the waves.
Ti’s feet sank deeper into the sand, his words into her chest.
Was there no chance she could change his mind?
Chapter Fifteen
Circumvent
On the front porch, Drew pulled his keys from his pocket. “Are you as hungry as I am?”
Ti slipped off her wide-brim beach hat. “Hungrier. You’re used to the sun zapping all the energy out of you.”
“Nothing a little coffee can’t remedy.” He winked while pushing the door open.
She followed. “You said the magic word.”
He flipped on the lights in the kitchen, dropped his keys on the sideboard, and headed for the cabinets. Cooper had to keep coffee in here somewhere.
As he rummaged around, Ti flopped on a chair and scrolled through the pictures on her camera. “I feel like I got the inside scoop of the island tonight. These shots are exactly what I’ve been looking for. I should probably be the one making you dinner in return, but, uh . . .” She made a clucking sound with her tongue. “Need I remind you of the peanut butter incident?”
He ducked into a bottom cabinet to confine his laughter.
Obviously, not far enough.
Something nailed him in the back. “Keep laughing, buddy. If you cook me something that doesn’t include saltwater taffy, I’ll be impressed. By the way, you gonna tell me what the story is with that, or what?”
Drew bumped his head on his way up. The girl never missed anything.
He dusted off his knees, words spewing out before he even realized it. “It used to be my thing with my dad. Every Saturday, we’d buy a pack from the Community Store and eat it while we worked the shop. When he died—I don’t know—I guess carrying on the tradition made it feel like I wasn’t letting go of him.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. Was he seriously telling her this right now? She’d basically said back
at the beach that she thought he was a hopeless small-town romantic. Admitting a codependency on a stupid piece of candy wasn’t exactly proving her wrong. Nice.
He twisted a dish towel in opposite directions and cut himself off from spouting out the rest. They needed a subject change.
A red container behind a loaf of bread on the counter beamed at him. Coffee. Finally. He pulled out the coffeemaker and an impish tone. “You know, you could think of cooking as making coffee with a few extra steps.”
“A few steps too many.”
“I thought all women could multitask.”
“I’m not all women.”
She could say that again. Ti wasn’t like anyone he’d ever met.
The thought almost capsized him. Did he really believe that? He scavenged for a tablespoon and his voice. “How many scoops?”
She spun around. One look at him holding the canister shot her up from the chair. “Uh, no. Hand it over. I’ve tasted your coffee before. Trust me. You need to promise mankind you’ll stay far away from all coffeemakers forever.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re overly dramatic?”
She bowed. “Why thank you.”
Shaking his head, Drew made his tea while Ti got her caffeine fix going. The fridge’s steady hum filled the room as he leaned back against the counter. “It’s weird when it’s this quiet.”
“Where’s Maddie?”
He took a sip from his mug. “At a friend’s house. Two very convincing little girls cornered me in the shop this morning.”
“Pushover.”
He nudged her in the shoulder.
“Ow.” Ti looked from her pink-tinged skin to the apparently useless hat on the table and grimaced. “How could I get sunburned that late in the day?” She twisted her head in an attempt to survey the damage. “I can’t see. Is it bad?”
Considering the sun looked incredibly sexy on her skin, yeah, it was bad. At least, for him. Light shades of pink peeked through the blonde hair dangling down her back.
Inhaling deeply, Drew curled her hair to one side and gently skimmed a thumb across her bare shoulder. Heat worse than anything sun-induced radiated through him. “You just need a little aloe,” he said, raspier than he meant to. He cleared his throat and retried. “You won’t even notice it tomorrow.”
Begin Again (Home In You Book 2) Page 13
