When It's Love (2 page)

From the magazines Morgan had left around the house while she was doing research on Nicholas, Rachel knew he had finely honed muscles, windswept blond hair and a couple of tattoos. Not to mention a gorgeous grin that had probably done more to get him this TV deal than anything else. His smile seemed so confident, so easy. A little too easy.

Or maybe it was just that Nicholas’ carefree grin reminded her a little too much of another man with a similarly easy grin. One who had been quick to smile as long as things were fun, but who had walked away the moment things got serious. Because when Rachel had told Guy that she was pregnant with his child seven years ago, he hadn’t even had the guts to say good-bye to her face. He’d simply hopped the next plane to Thailand and disappeared out of her—and her unborn child's—life forever.

No, you definitely couldn’t trust a grin like that.

Bang!

The sound of her front right tire popping came a beat before the car went into a skid, swerving onto the dirt shoulder. Thankfully, she knew to steer into the skid, lightly touching the brakes until she was able to bring her car to a juddering halt by the side of the road. She sat there for a moment or two, letting the adrenaline fade, as much as it was likely to for the time being. Then she groaned. Having a flat meant the odds of making it to the docks by the time Nicholas’ ferry arrived had gone from bad to nearly nonexistent. Unless, of course, she could do the world's fastest tire-changing job.

“There’s no point in complaining,” Rachel reminded herself aloud. “Just do the next sensible thing.” She’d lived that motto for the past six years, knowing firsthand that no matter how hard things got, wishing things were different never changed a thing.

She got the spare out of the trunk along with the jack and the wrenches. One good thing about being cautious: It meant that she was generally prepared for those moments when something did go wrong. Rachel set about getting the jack into the special chassis socket, then began cranking the car up bit by bit. When she'd finished jacking up the car, she started work on taking the old wheel off so that she could switch it out for the spare. The nuts holding it in place were tighter than Rachel had anticipated, and the wrench scratched her palms as she worked them loose. Finally, she wrestled the old wheel off, stowing it in the trunk before hoisting the spare into place and bolting it on.

The whole operation probably took ten minutes, and though she was pleased with how much easier the job had been than she'd expected, Rachel winced when she looked at herself in her car’s rearview mirror.

How was it that grease and dirt always managed to get into places she was sure they hadn’t touched? There was grease in her hair
and
on her cheeks, her clothes had tire tread marks on them, and her palms were red and chaffed from her efforts with the wrench.

In other words, she looked
horrible
. On the other hand, as a mother she was pretty used to being covered in paint or food or worse, so she supposed that by those standards a little grease was nothing.

Rachel got back on the road, heading toward the docks. Now that she was way behind schedule, it was incredibly tempting to go a little faster than the posted speed limit. Nothing major, just maybe take a few corners a little harder than she normally would have. That urge became almost overpowering when she found herself stuck behind a tractor. Rachel crawled along at a snail’s pace, waiting for it to pull over to let her pass. Mere minutes seemed like hours now that she was officially fifteen minutes late.

She was considering the idea of pulling out into the oncoming lane and passing when, suddenly, a car zipped past going in the opposite direction. What if she had pulled out just then? And what if she’d been going faster when her tire blew out? What would happen to Charlotte if something happened to her?

It was the perfect reminder to Rachel not to take unnecessary risks just so she could gain a little time.

Finally, the tractor pulled into a field, and she was able to get past, making pretty good time for the rest of the journey to the ferry terminal. As she pulled into the parking lot, she sent up a silent prayer that she wouldn't bump into anyone she knew. Between the grease and the dirt, she definitely wasn't looking her best.

She soon spotted Nicholas at the end of the jetty, and her stomach immediately knotted up. He had looked impressive enough on magazine covers, but seeing him in the flesh?

Oh my...he was
gorgeous
!

Nicholas had a couple of bags at his feet, and he was holding on to a surfboard. There was a small crowd of onlookers around him, people who had clearly been caught up by his charisma. As Rachel began to make her way over, she realized Nicholas was telling his adoring crowd a story.

“So there I was, I’d lost sight of land and I wasn’t sure which way I was supposed to be heading. All of a sudden, this crew of oceanographers shows up, and we get to talking about the waves over on the next island, so I end up taking a ride out with them to go check them out. Only, when I get back, I find out that half the Coast Guard was out looking for me, thinking that I’d drowned.”

His hands were animated as he talked, and he flashed that easygoing smile at the crowd around him as they hung on his every word. The ocean breeze picked up a little, ruffling his hair and lifting up his shirt just enough for Rachel to see a hint of perfect washboard abs.

Not that she was purposely looking, of course. After all, he was clearly an adventure-seeking show-off who’d never grown up. After Guy, she was all too familiar with guys like him, and they were definitely not her type anymore. In fact, the whole image Nicholas presented to the world left her cold.

At least, it
should
have left her cold and disinterested. Instead, she couldn't seem to stop hanging on his every word, while trying not to think about just how messy and untidy she must look.

Of course, it was right when she was trying to run a surreptitious hand through her hair that he looked straight at her and smiled. A smile that made him look even
more
perfect, darn it.

CHAPTER TWO

Nicholas had always been told that he could surf before he could walk, since one of his uncles used to hold him on a board in the very shallowest water when he was just a few months old. Honestly, he couldn’t remember a time when he
hadn’t
been surfing. Growing up in Hawaii, that wasn't so unusual, given that swimming and surfing were things that nearly every Hawaiian did. Nicholas was only exceptional inasmuch as he surfed professionally, did occasional stunt work, and generally found ways to keep life exciting wherever he went. There were so many things in the world that allowed him to get his adrenaline pumping by pushing himself a little further every day…and he loved it.

Even coming to this little island in the Pacific Northwest was an adventure. Places like Walker Island tended to bring out the drive in people to try to be so much more. Just like it had with Morgan Walker—she'd grown up here and had become a huge success with both her locally grown organic makeup line and now her TV show as well.

Walker Island was twenty degrees cooler than Hawaii, and the waves were much smaller, but as far as he could tell from chatting with some locals on the ferry ride over, it had the same close-knit community feel to it. And, just like in Hawaii, he bet people here spent as much time outdoors as they did inside.

“What is your first impression of our island from the ferry?” one of the people on board had asked him after they'd recognized him sitting on deck with his surfboard.

“It reminds me of home. There’s nothing as good as island life.” He spent much of his time traveling to all corners of the world, but he always loved being on an island best.

“What’s the best wave you’ve ever ridden?” someone else had asked. “Was it that one you caught at Mavericks this year?”

If there was one thing that Nicholas took seriously, it was waves. Which was why he’d brought his board to Walker Island despite the fact that it was not a well-known surfing destination. He wanted to be ready if it turned out that the perfect wave was just around the corner.

“The best wave so far this year was one I caught not far from my house in Hawaii,” Nicholas had replied. “I was out surfing with some buddies, and there it was. The right height, the right curl, everything. The conditions hadn’t even been all that great until then, and it reminded me of what life is all about—if I only put myself out there when things seem to be perfect, I'll miss out on the times when they unexpectedly
are
perfect. It was great the way it all worked out.”

“Will you actually be trying to surf around Walker Island?”

Nicholas smiled. “Like I said, I’m always searching for that perfect wave. And you never know where—or when—it will show up.”

Nicholas turned then to look out over the crowd for his ride...and saw what looked very much like the perfect woman. There was no other way to describe her. She was blond-haired, beautiful in a way that made it almost impossible for Nicholas to look anywhere else, and best of all, she was coming straight toward him.

As he’d just said, you never knew when perfection would show up.

Morgan had texted to let him know that her sister Rachel was going to be picking him up from the ferry, and he could easily see the family resemblance. Looked like it was his lucky day.

“I’ve got to go, guys,” Nicholas said to the fans who had gathered around. “I’m pretty sure my ride is here.”

As he moved closer to her, he noted that she had grease on her face and in her hair. “Hi, I'm Nicholas.”

He wanted to reach out and wipe away the grease on her cheek with the pad of his thumb. Partly because he didn’t like the idea of anything marring her beauty. Mostly, though, he just wanted the excuse to touch her. He stopped himself, though, because he always liked to take his time when it came to women. He didn’t want to rush things when he could savor them. “You must be Morgan's sister Rachel. Thank you for coming to get me.”

For a moment or two, she didn’t say anything, simply stared back at him with eyes bluer than even the bluest ocean waters. Her gaze, however, was slightly wary, and he immediately wanted to know why.

“Sorry I'm late,” she finally said. “I had a little tire trouble on the way here.”

Morgan had told Nicholas all about her four sisters, saying he would need that much information to survive staying at the family house with her grandmother and sisters. But she hadn't told him that he was going to fall head over heels for Rachel from nothing more than one glance—and a few softly spoken words.

“Ah, so that's why you’ve got grease on your cheek.” This time, Nicholas did reach out to wipe it away, forgetting whether or not it was too soon to make a move like this. “Is everything all right now?”

That first touch of her skin against his was electric, just as he'd known it would be. But instead of moving closer, she took a step back before saying, “Everything's fine.”

From the way she said it, a little too fast and slightly breathless, he guessed that she'd felt the sparks jump just as much as he had from the one simple touch.

“I’ve left my car down by the next jetty, so we’ll have to walk over there. I know my grandmother is looking forward to seeing you up at the house, and my sisters Emily and Paige will be there later today, too.”

“And you?” Nicholas asked hopefully.

“I have my own place for just me and Charlotte, my little girl.”

He remembered that Morgan had told him Rachel was a single mother and that she was doing a really great job of raising her daughter. “It must be nice to have that big family of yours nearby.”

“It is, most of the time.”

“When your sister isn’t having you pick up strange guys from the docks?” Nicholas suggested with a smile.

“Something like that.” He thought he saw her lips twitch before she said, “We’d better get going. Grams will be expecting you, and Morgan will want to know that you got to the isla—”

Rachel stopped as her phone rang. She answered, and Nicholas could see the concern on her face when she looked at the number on the screen and picked up. “Yes, this is Rachel Walker. Oh no, she is? She seemed fine this morning, although her aunt isn’t very well either. Yes, I’ll be right there. I'm at the ferry terminal, so it will be less than ten minutes.”

As she slipped her phone back into her pocket, Rachel looked over at him. “It’s Charlotte. She’s sick, and I have to go pick her up at school immediately. Which means we’re really going to have to hurry so that I can drop you off at Grams’ place on the way.”

“There’s no need to do that,” Nicholas said. It was obvious how much Rachel wanted to get to her daughter, and he couldn't stand the thought of a sick little girl shivering in the school office as she waited for her mother to come get her. “Just take me along with you.”

“Take you with me?” She looked more than a little stunned by his suggestion. “I'm sure you don’t want to be around a sick child.”

“Why not?” He'd already decided that he would take more time with Rachel any way he could get it. “Especially if it will work out better for you to head straight there.”

Apart from her little girl getting sick, it seemed that everything really
was
working out. He’d already had a great ferry ride over to the island, seen a couple of whales, met the most beautiful woman on the island, and now he was getting to spend more time in her company. What could be better than that?

Though she was still clearly surprised by his offer to go pick up her daughter together, a moment later she finally smiled and said, “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

Nicholas had seen many beautiful things in his travels, but he'd never seen anything as pretty as Rachel's smile.

CHAPTER THREE

Nicholas quickly tied the surfboard into place on the roof of Rachel's car with some bungee cords and rope that he pulled out of his bag. While he worked, she thought about all the places he must have been with this surfboard. Hawaii, Brazil and hundreds of beaches around the world. Places she’d always wanted to go...but once she had Charlotte, traveling to new places, and seeking out new adventures, wasn't at the top of her list anymore. Not even close.