“Yes. It’s great to see everyone, and I’m working with Jade’s brother, Steve, on the project next month, so I’m looking forward to that, too. Oh my God, Cole, you have got to see Treat and Max’s kids! I wish you guys would hurry up and get married and have babies so I could have nieces and nephews to play with.” Shannon laughed, and Cole pictured her dark eyes wide with excitement. Shannon had a zest for life that came with a knack for nosing into her siblings’ love lives. Cole had a feeling that if she could, she’d direct their love lives like a cruise director facilitated activities. He smiled at the notion.
“Well, Nate’s on his way now that he and Jewel are living together. I bet they’ll tie the knot before too long.” Jewel, their brother Nate’s girlfriend, had recently moved in with him. He’d been in love with her for years, but he’d also been her older brother Rick’s best friend. Nate and Rick had enrolled in the military together, and when Rick was killed overseas, a piece of Nate had died, too. It had been a long road back for Nate, and Jewel’s love had pulled him through.
“How about you, big brother? Any beach bunnies in your life?”
“You’ve only been gone a few weeks. Not much has changed, Shannon. Except Dad’s sailboat. We’re all working on getting it in shape.” He rubbed his elbow, which was aching from the constant pressure of the sanding he’d done earlier. When Cole was in high school he’d been an all-star pitcher. He’d even contemplated going into pro sports rather than the medical field, but thanks to a coach from hell—and his own obsessive drive to be the best in everything he did—he’d given in to playing through a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. After rehabbing his elbow back into shape, he’d given up on the idea of pursuing a sports career, foreseeing more overuse injuries in his future and a short pitching career, and had gone into medicine instead. He figured if he couldn’t play, he could at least heal those who could.
“I know. Sammy told me, and he also said that you’re still working your butt off. Don’t you remember the talk we had before I left?” The tease in her voice made him smile. She was always lecturing Cole about how he’d never find a woman if he was always working. “I swear, when I’m home for the charity auction, I’m finding you a date. Maybe we should auction you off instead of Sam.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening, sis.” Every year the town held a bachelor auction fundraiser. Funds from the auction went to the local homeless shelter, and this year their parents were hosting it at Mr. B’s, the microbrewery they owned by the marina.
“Well, Sammy hardly needs auctioning off. He’s got women lining up to go out with him. You, on the other hand…”
As picky as Cole was, Sam was the polar opposite. His idea of a fun night was a blonde and a brunette for dinner and a redhead for dessert. He was smart as a whip, kind as the day was long, and though he was in his late twenties, he was as horny as a teenager. Of all his siblings, Sam was the one Cole expected would never settle down.
Cole rubbed his elbow and glanced down the beach, catching sight of a woman walking along the shore. She had something in her hand, and when she stopped to gaze out over the water, she hugged whatever it was to her chest. He watched her for a minute, feeling a tug of familiarity, and he realized it was hope he felt. Hope that it was Leesa.
Damn, she’d done a job on his brain. He shifted his gaze away and turned his attention back to the conversation with Shannon, who was saying that she needed to call Nate. They talked for a few more minutes, and after ending the call, Cole thought about what she’d said. His siblings were great at taking time off to enjoy life, but Cole didn’t settle down easily. When he wasn’t at work, he was thinking about it, researching, reading journal articles, staying up–to-date on the latest medical findings and treatments. It’s what he’d always done—worked harder than everyone else to be the best at what he did.
He rose to his feet as the woman down the beach came into focus. Leesa. He felt as though he’d conjured her up and smiled at the coincidence. She froze, still as a stone, as if she’d just recognized him, too.
“Leesa?” He closed the distance between them. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, rolled up above her ankles, and a loose sweater. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders in natural golden waves, giving her a softer, even more feminine look than she’d had earlier in the day. And her eyes, those gloriously green havens of emotion, once again perplexed him as they darted away. He couldn’t decide if she was shy or evasive.
“Hi.” She tucked a notebook beneath her arm, slid her fingers into her pockets, and shrugged her shoulders. “Are you out for a walk, too?”
“I was out for a sit, actually.” He pointed to his house on the dune. “I live there. How about you? You’re staying with Tegan? Does she live nearby?” He realized that just seeing her again made his body thrum with desire. It had been too long since he’d been this attracted to a woman, and man, did he like the tripping of his heart and the heat coursing through his veins.
“She lives on Second Street.” She pointed back the way she’d come. “It’s not far from the beach.” She shrugged her shoulders again with another tentative smile, and he realized that the look in her eyes was one of careful assessment rather than shyness.
“I know Second Street. I grew up here.” He lifted his chin toward his house. “Want to come up for a glass of wine?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her gaze to the water. “Um, no, thanks. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean, I barely know you.”
He smiled. Careful, definitely careful. “True. A walk, then?”
She looked up and down the beach, then back at him with a genuine smile this time. “Sure.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes, and Cole tried to focus on the sounds of the breaking waves and the breeze as it tickled over his skin, instead of Leesa’s sweet scent, but even the salty sea air that he loved so much couldn’t distract him from his attraction to her.
“So, what brought you to Peaceful Harbor?”
She didn’t answer for a few minutes, and although Cole didn’t push her, he’d learned to read as much into what people didn’t say as what they did. He wondered what she was hiding.
“I needed a change, and Tegan suggested I visit to see if this was someplace I’d like to move to.”
“Where are you from?” Her brows knitted together, and he said, “You don’t have to share that with me.”
“It’s okay. I don’t really like to talk about myself very much. I’m from Towson.”
He changed the subject to try to put her at ease. “What do you think of Peaceful Harbor?”
She stopped walking and stared out at the water again. “It’s pretty here. A world away from Towson even though it’s only a few hours away.”
“Want to sit and talk?” He reached for her hand without thinking and felt her fingers stiffen.
She looked at their hands, then sank down beside him in the sand, leaving a good six or eight inches between them. She set the notebook in her lap and pulled her knees up to her chest. Sometimes Cole wished he didn’t read so much into what the actions or silence of others meant, but that came with being a physician. He learned as much from a person’s facial expressions and breathing as he did from their words, and Leesa’s discomfort was palpable. He hadn’t meant to make her uncomfortable, but he definitely wanted her right there beside him.
“Sorry for grabbing your hand.”
She closed her eyes for a beat and sighed. When she opened them, she met his direct gaze. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually this weird.”
“I don’t find you weird. Guarded maybe. Beautiful definitely. But not weird.” He smiled, and the tension in her face turned to embarrassment. Her lips curved up and she dropped her eyes again.
“What are you usually, if not who you are right now?” Cole asked, intrigued by her evasiveness.
***
IF I COULD answer that, my life would be a lot easier. Wrongly accused ex-teacher? Defender of my reputation? That’s what she’d felt like for most of the past year, and even though she knew she was so much more than that, she was having a hard time separating who she’d had to become in order to survive from who she was at heart.
Not wanting to share her past, she told him what she knew to be true. “I’m a nature lover, a runner, and probably not the best friend in the world, since I left Tegan alone to come out by myself tonight. Oh, and a bookaholic.”
“A bookaholic? That sounds like serious business.” He bumped her knee with the tease. “Is that who you usually are, or just who you are now?”
It was an interesting question, but then again, this was Cole Braden, and in the short time she’d known him, she’d already realized that he wasn’t like most men. He had a serious look in his eyes that even when he was flirting never seemed to disappear completely. She liked that about him.
“All those things are who I usually am, except the not-a-great-friend part. I’m usually a really good friend, but tonight I needed a little solitude to think—” Realizing she was revealing more than she was comfortable with, she cut her sentence short.