Seaside Sunsets(17)

As Jamie pulled into Seaside, a painfully familiar thought pressed in on him. Had his father died saving his wife, or had he given himself over to the lions because he loved her too much to live without her?

Jamie wasn’t buying fate, no matter how well it fit his and Jessica’s lives at the moment. Fate was an invisible enemy with, in his eyes, an evil history that he didn’t care to have touch his future.





JESSICA BALANCED HER laptop on her hip and crouched at the bottom of the stairs to her apartment to pick a few wildflowers. She carried them across the quad toward Jamie’s cottage, intending to give the flowers to Vera and to ask Jamie for help finding the eBay seller again, since they got a little sidetracked last night. Deliciously sidetracked.

“Jessie, Jessie, Bo-Bessie!” Jenna waved from Amy’s deck. “Come on over and join us.”

Jessica loved that they included her. She stepped onto the deck and noticed that Bella and Amy were still in their pajamas. Bella’s nightshirt barely covered her ass, while Amy had on pink plaid pajama pants and a tank pajama top with a picture of a sexy cat with an hourglass figure, wearing a black bikini and holding a bottle of wine, and MAKE ME PURR embroidered above it. Jenna grabbed Jessica’s arm and guided her into a chair. She put her hands on her hips and looked pointedly up and down Jessica’s outfit.

Jessica swallowed hard. She and Jenna were both wearing cutoffs and white tanks, each with bikinis beneath. Of course Jenna was as voluptuous as Megan Fox while Jessica was less curvy, like Jennifer Aniston, but they looked like they’d coordinated their outfits, and from the look on Jenna’s face, Jessica guessed this wasn’t a good thing.

“Well, well, look at us.” Jenna narrowed her eyes and raked them down Jessica again as Amy disappeared inside the cottage.

Gulp.

“Now we’re total Seaside sisters!” Jenna leaned down and hugged Jessica. “Don’t worry. I can help you match your sandals a little better. Something blue to go with your suit would be nice.” She lifted her foot and wiggled her toes. “See? Green. Matches my suit.”

“It’s way too early for one of your OCD matchy-matchy lectures.” Bella rolled her eyes as Amy came out with a cup of coffee and set it in front of Jessica. “Sit down, Jen. Jessica, don’t let her anywhere near your apartment, or everything you own will be color-coordinated, alphabetized, and God only knows what else.”

Jenna flopped into a chair and stuck out her lower lip.

Amy patted Jenna’s shoulder. “We love your organizational skills. Don’t worry. Bella just didn’t get any last night, so she’s cranky.”

Bella slid her a shut up look.

“Did you get any?” Jenna asked Jessica with wide eyes.

“Me?” Jessica froze.

“Oh, come on. We know you spent the entire day with Jamie, and he’s such a doll. I mean, really. Easy on the eyes and sweet as pie.”

“Cliché,” Bella said. “Sweet as jam.”

“That’s a good one,” Amy said.

“Kurt gave me a thesaurus because I kept calling Caden hot and he got sick of hearing it.” Bella smiled and tucked her thick blond hair behind her ear. “So now I use other words, like sexy, smoldering, scorching…”

“Okay, okay, back to Jessica and Jamie.” Jenna touched Jessica’s arm.

“Jenna! She doesn’t have to kiss and tell,” Amy chided. “She’s nosy, Jessica. Sorry.” She sipped her coffee, then added, “But we are all curious. We love Jamie, and we only want him to be happy.”

“Yeah, so if you plan on using him and then tossing him aside, just forget it, because it’ll bring my claws out.” Bella blew on her fingernails with a serious, dark stare.

I wouldn’t know how to use a guy and toss him aside.

A smile spread across Bella’s lips. “We take care of our own.”

She didn’t know what to say, but her heart was galloping in her chest.

“They terrified me when I was younger,” Amy whispered to her.

Jenna playfully pushed Amy’s arm. “We did not. Bella’s all talk, Jessica. So, how was your date?”

Now she was afraid to answer, and she was pretty sure the word flying through her mind wasn’t appropriate. Orgasmic. She opened her mouth, intending to say something benign, like, It was nice, or, We had a lovely time, but her voice had a mind of its own, and out came a long, dreamy sigh, followed by, “A-ma-zing.”

The girls squealed. She felt her cheeks pink up, but she had no hope of keeping to her prim and proper upbringing. The girls were just as excited as she was. She sensed she could trust them as much as she feared Bella’s threat. She had a feeling that the threatening banter, the inquisition, and the smiles they were sending her way were all part of the sisterhood they shared, and she wanted in.

“He’s so…I need that thesaurus.” She laughed.

“Oh my.” Amy raised her brows.

“We didn’t do that.” Here came the prim. “He’s warm and kind, a great listener. Interesting and generous.”

Jenna and Bella rolled their eyes.

“And?” Jenna pushed.

Forget prim; she wanted girlfriend talk. She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “And the best kisser on the planet.”

Bella and Jenna high-fived.

“You guys, she’ll never talk to you again if you do that,” Amy warned. “Jamie never dates girls up here, and he never talks about the women he dates back home. He’s like our sweet, very private brother. We’re happy for you.”

“Thanks. Honestly, I’m happy for me.” Just thinking about Jamie made her smile.

“So were you going over to pretend that you needed computer help?” Jenna pointed to her laptop.

“Pretend? My computer hates me. I’m like the anti-geek. Give me a cello and I’m right at home. Give me a phone or computer? It might as well have dropped into my lap from Mars. But Jamie’s helping me. I’m trying to track down a baseball my dad had as a kid.”

“I knew you were some kind of musician. You were watching Vera with stars in your eyes the other night,” Amy said.

“She was looking at Jamie, goofus,” Bella added.

“Both, probably,” Jessica admitted.

“Speaking of Mr. Amazing Kisser.” Bella nodded toward Jamie’s car as it came up the gravel road and pulled into his driveway.

Jessica’s pulse ratcheted up a notch. “Please don’t say anything to him about what I said.”

All three of them pretended to lock their mouths and toss away the keys.

Jamie crossed the road, a lustful look in his eyes as they connected with Jessica’s.

“Hi, handsome,” Bella said.

“Want some coffee?” Amy asked.

He walked right past them, making a beeline for Jessica. “No, thanks.” He leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to her lips. “Hi, beautiful. Did you sleep okay?”

I can’t breathe. Heat swirled between them so thick she was sure it would sear the deck around their feet.

“Yeah,” she finally managed.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and eyed the girls’ wide-eyed gazes, the smirks on their pretty faces. His lips curled up.

“Did you get the scoop? Am I all that?”

Oh God!

“You’ve been all that since you were a kid.” Amy smiled at Jessica. “Now you’re all that with an awesome girlfriend who refuses to kiss and tell.”

She wanted to run over and hug Amy. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

“But we love her anyway.” Bella winked at Jessica.

She looked up at Jamie, standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders, that easy smile she adored on his lips. “I brought Vera flowers, and I was hoping you might help me with tracking down the baseball guy.”

He leaned down and whispered, “Already done. Come on. I’ll explain.”

When he kissed her cheek, all the girls awwed in unison. She must be getting used to them, because she didn’t feel her cheeks pink up this time. Thank goodness. It was embarrassing to be a blushing twenty-seven-year old.

Jessica thanked Amy for the coffee and followed Jamie across the gravel road to his cottage.

“His store was in Orleans, but he closed it a while ago. He lives in Plymouth, and you won’t believe this, but he works the bigger flea markets around the Cape in the summers, and of course sells his stuff on eBay.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Bread crumbs. Geeks know how to follow them. Anyway, I went to the flea market, and he wasn’t there, so I went to see Leanna. She’s going to talk to the Steves that are at the flea market today and figure out if one of them is the right guy. Kurt seemed to think one of them was. Anyway, she’ll text his info if he’s the right guy so we can call him.”

They were standing on his deck. Jessica hooked her finger into the front pocket of his shorts. “You did all of that for me?”

He smiled with a casual shrug.

“Thank you so much.” She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him just as the glass door slid open. Jessica stumbled back on her heels, and he caught her by the hip as Vera stepped outside carrying a beach tote.

“I’m sorry to have startled you. Please, continue.” She waved her hands with a conspiratorial grin and sat in one of the deck chairs.