With This Kiss (16 page)

“Careful.”

Any other time she would have jumped out of his arms and made sure that there was at least a handful of feet between them. But she was cold all over and his warmth was irresistible.

“I shouldn’t have left the box there.”

His eyes had shifted to her mouth as she spoke. “No, you shouldn’t have,” he agreed, but there was no censure to his words.

Neither of them said anything more, just as neither of them made a move to pull apart.

Suddenly, it all felt so inevitable, the kiss that was finally going to happen, and she didn’t know why she’d even bothered to fight it for so long. Wasn’t her life already a runaway train? Who did she think she was, trying to stop it before it hit a brick wall? Hadn’t she learned yet that the train she was on always hit the wall eventually?

Sean’s eyes grew even darker as he leaned in closer and she could almost taste his lips when the phone rang, loud and jarring enough for them to break apart so quickly that she almost tripped again.

She picked it up with a shaking hand. “Emerald Lake Inn.”

Oh god, was that her voice, all breathy… and disappointed at losing out on a kiss she’d wanted so badly… but knew better than to take?

In any case, hearing Sean’s mother’s voice broke the spell that had been weaving itself around her and Sean so successfully that it was frankly impossible to dwell on how much she’d wanted Sean to kiss her just seconds ago.

“Yes, Elizabeth, he’s right here.”

She held out the phone and it shouldn’t have mattered that Sean’s fingertips brushed against her knuckles as he took it from her, but her body didn’t seem to understand that.

It mattered.

“Hello.”

She couldn’t help but notice, just as she did every time she’d witnessed Sean interact with his mother, how still he became. As if he had to be prepared for disaster every second.

“Yes, I’ll be there for dinner at six p.m. Will there be enough for one more?”

Jealousy lit through Rebecca so swiftly it almost buckled her already weak knees. Here she’d thought he was going to kiss her—that he’d wanted that kiss just as much as she did—when all along he had plans to go to dinner at his parents’ house with another woman.

If hovering on the verge of believing in ghosts wasn’t proof enough that she was off her rocker, the fact that she’d actually thought of Sean’s dinner date as “another woman” was enough to make her certifiably loony.

Sean could see whomever he wanted to. He could kiss every last single woman in Emerald Lake for all it mattered to her. And the only reason she felt like she was going to cry was because it had been a hell of a day on top of a hell of a month.

Lie.

Lie.

Big fat lie.

And she hadn’t thought she was actually capable of telling lies.

Good one. Where Sean was concerned, she was becoming a master at it with all of her “I won’t fall for him” and “I’m going to be practical and stay strong” nonsense.

Truth: her foolish heart was already on the line.

Truth: Sean was sure to break it.

Truth: the mess of her life was only getting messier with every passing second.

A moment later Sean put the phone down. “Alice will be here at five p.m.?”

Rebecca nodded, not trusting her voice right that second. She didn’t look up from the pile of bills she’d already gone through earlier, not trusting her face to do anything but give her jealousy away. Or her resignation over what she was feeling for Sean.

“Good. Because I’d like you to come to dinner at my parents.”

Shock had her swinging her head around to him so fast that several strands of hair flew into her mouth and got caught on her tongue.

How was it that she always made herself look even more pathetic than she already was? It had to be her true gift. Especially when she was around gorgeous, perfect men like Sean.

“Me? You want me to come to dinner? With you?” Stop. She needed to stop babbling out questions. And still the words “Why would you want me to come with you?” slithered out.

“I think you could use something to take your mind off the festival. And”—she was surprised to see that hint of a smile on his lips again—“it’s the only way I can guarantee that you’ll actually eat something rather than work through your next meal.”

For all that she was telling her heart to stop fluttering at his almost-smile, at his teasing, her mind couldn’t deny how surprisingly sweet he was being. Sure, he’d come running to her rescue last night when they’d heard the horrible wailing. Still, they were so frequently at odds. Over her holding Stu’s secret. And over the festival.

Wanting to go to dinner with him more than she should have, especially given that Elizabeth was far from her biggest fan, she said, “I thought you’d be happy about the festival being off.”

“I honestly don’t know what to think about it right now.”

He never lies.

The thought hit her right between the eyes.

So many men had lied to her over the years—even Stu, by withholding the truth of who he really was—that she’d given up hope of finding one who didn’t.

“I don’t like the way Radin went about this, Rebecca. He should have come to you first, been upfront about his concerns, rather than weaseling in some loophole in the park’s policies.”

“That’s what I told him.”

His eyes lit up. “I would have liked to have seen that.”

He almost sounded proud of her and her heart warmed despite herself. Even though he’d made it clear that he didn’t want her to work on the festival, any more than Mr. Radin wanted it to take place.

She looked at the antique clock on the wall. Alice would be here any minute. The last thing Rebecca wanted was for the girl to witness this awkwardness between her and Sean. God forbid she read something into it.

“I really appreciate the invitation to dinner, but—”

“Please.”

The one word had the rest of her sentence falling away.

God, she was such a sucker for a beautifully masculine face. For the heat she could feel coming at her from across the counter. And especially for the need she saw in his eyes, a need that held hints of desire, but was far more about the mysterious darkness she’d read in Sean practically from the first moment she’d met him.

Tonight. She could give him tonight. Besides, she’d been to dinner at his parents’ house plenty of times before. It was no big deal.

“Okay.”

He didn’t smile, but she swore relief moved across his face. And as he left her with the agreement that they’d meet downstairs at five forty-five p.m., Rebecca knew one thing with absolute certainty: she was a fool.

Quite possibly the world’s biggest fool.

Y
ou look beautiful.”

Rebecca’s heart, which was already beating too fast, jumped so hard behind her breastbone she was afraid Sean would see the front of her dress thumping to its beat.

She knew it wasn’t a date, and had eaten plenty of meals with his parents, but that didn’t mean she was any less nervous. The whole time she’d been trying on one outfit after another upstairs, she’d known she was being ridiculous. It didn’t matter what she looked like tonight. But still, she ended up settling on a long-sleeved knitted dress and tights, and even put the blow dryer and her makeup bag through their paces.

Not sure she should trust her voice not to give away how nervous she was, she simply smiled her thanks. That silence lasted through the drive to his parents’ house, and was only broken when they got to the front door.

Sean turned to her. “Thank you for being here with me tonight. Doing this alone would have been—” He shook his head. “Hard. Really hard.”

Did he have any idea how much it meant to her that he
appreciated her coming tonight, even before they set foot inside?

“You’re welcome,” she said softly, wanting to reach out to take his hand and give it a squeeze. If he were any of her other friends, she would have. Only, she wasn’t sure what they were, if friends was the right word for what was beginning to happen between them. “Just kick me under the table when you’re ready to go, okay?”

She was rewarded with one of his rare smiles, one full of surprise and something else that wasn’t quite as easy to define.

She shouldn’t care if he liked her. She shouldn’t hope that she could make him smile again.

But she did.

He was finally making a move to ring the doorbell when the door opened.

“Sean, what are you doing standing out here in the cold?” His mother registered Rebecca’s presence a moment later as she stepped into the light. “Rebecca?” Elizabeth shot a confused glance at her son before quickly saying, “Come in you two.”

Sean’s father was far more welcoming. “Rebecca, what a nice surprise. I’m so glad you could join us tonight.”

Rebecca managed a smile for Bill and let him take her coat. She could feel Sean’s eyes on her, could practically hear him worrying that he’d brought her into the lion’s den.

But these weren’t her parents. They were his. And he clearly had problems with them, big enough that he’d needed to bring her here as a buffer.

Knowing exactly what it was like to need someone at her side to help her out, she shot him a brilliant smile
along with the silent message not to worry about her. He looked like he wanted to pull her outside again to say something more to her, but then he was looking around the kitchen.

“Is something on fire in here?”

Rebecca sniffed the air. There was a distinct odor of smoke, but everything in the house looked okay.

“No,” his mother said in a clipped voice.

“Your mother burned the first pie she made.”

Elizabeth shot Bill a furious glance before saying, “I didn’t hear the timer. It was a simple accident.”

“I wasn’t implying anything else,” Bill said. But his curt tone said that he had.

“Well,” Sean’s mother said with a clearly forced smile that was all teeth with no real joy attached to it, “the second one I made looks much better.”

Rebecca had never seen Elizabeth and Bill act like this with each other. Sniping and going out of their way not to touch as they moved around the kitchen getting her and Sean drinks. Things were so obviously strained between them that it was all Rebecca could do not to hold her face in a permanent wince.

A few minutes later, they sat down to a delicious-looking meal. The only problem was, her stomach wasn’t exactly relaxed. It wasn’t even Bill and Elizabeth who were making her nervous.

It was sitting so close to Sean that was twisting her insides up in knots.

She hoped that if she ate slowly no one would notice that she wasn’t exactly mowing through her food.

Elizabeth turned to Sean. “How is your business doing, honey?”

“I sold it.”

His mother’s fork clattered on her plate and his father cleared his throat in surprise. “You did? When?”

“Just before I arrived in town.”

“Why would you sell your business? You were so good at venture capital.”

Bill didn’t give his son a chance to answer before saying, “Maybe he was ready to move on, Elizabeth.”

Rebecca swore she saw moisture flood the other woman’s eyes.

Oh my god, what was going on here? Were Elizabeth and Bill having problems? She knew Stu’s disappearance was difficult for them, but she’d assumed that it would draw them closer together.

Looked like she’d been wrong about that, too.

“I have a few other ideas I’m toying with,” Sean said. “Rebecca has been teaching me the ropes at the inn.”

Recovered now, Elizabeth said, “It’s so nice of you to help out your brother with his inn while he’s away.”

Almost choking on her food, Rebecca couldn’t stop herself from turning to look at Sean, a silent
Do they know?
passing between them.

He shook his head and she raised an eyebrow.
Come on, that’s ridiculous. Why not?

They stared at each other across the table for a long moment before he put down his fork. “When Stu decided to buy the inn, I made an investment in it, as well. I own half of it, actually.”

“
You
own half of the inn?”

Sean nodded. “I do.”

Elizabeth’s face creased into a humongous smile. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a very long time,
honey. I hope this means you’re going to be staying here with all of us from now on.”

Oh. Now Rebecca got why Sean hadn’t told them. He didn’t want to be pressured to stay in Emerald Lake.

“We’ll see,” was all he said.

Elizabeth’s smile fell and she opened her mouth to say something more, but before she could, Bill interjected, “I agree that’s great news, son. As for whatever you do next, we’re behind you every step of the way.”

The thing was, for maybe the first time ever, Rebecca actually was on Elizabeth’s side.

Even though she knew better, even though she knew the odds were almost nil against it happening, she wanted Sean to stay.