Sweet Heat at Bayside(19)

"Serena," he said absently as the resort came into view. Wow. He really  had zoned out. He hadn't even registered turning around. "She happened  to me."

"It's about frigging time," Dean said.

"Does that mean you've given yourself permission to be a mere mortal?" Rick asked.

Drake was not in the mood to be given grief. "What … ?"

"The other day you said you were man enough not to mess with her head,"  Rick reminded him. "It took you four years, but you finally realized  you're only human? C'mon, Drake. If I'd have known that all it would  take was for her to get a new job, I'd have practically kicked her out  the door ages ago. Do you have any idea how painful it was to watch you  two together every time we went out?"

Try being in my shoes.

"There is so much sexual tension between you two, I'm surprised you  don't leave a trail of fire in your wake," Dean said. "That's obviously  why she's never gone home with any of the guys who hit on her."

Good. Drake had been the one to drive her most of those times, but he  wasn't fooling himself. She'd never hidden the fact that she'd gone on  occasional dates, and each and every time had been excruciating for him.

"Don't get your hopes up too high," Drake said as they slowed to a walk  by the inn. "She's on her way to Boston, and my life is here. I meant it  when I said I'd never make her choose or stand in her way."

"It's only a half hour flight from P-town," Dean reminded him. "An hour and a half by car without traffic."

"What's your plan? You can't just sleep with her and let it go at that," Rick said protectively.

"Don't you think I know that? I'm the one who"-loves her. Holy cow. I  really do love her-"has been watching out for her all this time. And we  didn't sleep together."

They looked at him like he wasn't making sense.

"Then what's got your shorts in a knot?" Dean asked.

Rick grinned. "That he didn't sleep with her, obviously."

Drake glared at him.

"Come on. I'm starved." Rick started up the path toward the inn. "You  can expect eggs Benedict or something equally amazing today, and yes, I  expect a thank-you."

Dean scoffed. "Real men don't brag."

The last thing Drake wanted to do was to sit around the breakfast table  watching those two make out with their women while his girl was setting  up house in Boston. "I'm out of here."

"You going to be around later?" Rick called after him.

Drake turned around. "Yeah. Why?"

"We've got to talk about hiring someone. She's gone, man, and you know  Serena. Even if she hates her job, she's not coming back to run the  office."

"Emery and Harper agreed to help out, but we need someone permanent," Dean pointed out.

Drake's gut twisted. He hadn't even realized he was holding on to the  hope that Serena might come back. Rick was right. She'd see it as a  failure. She was all about moving forward. Her voice traipsed through  his mind. I won't end up like my mother, running through quicksand with  the hopes of someone else creating a life for me. Every time she got her  foot on solid ground, she'd meet a guy and backslide into the muck of  wishful thinking. Wishes don't make dreams come true. Only hard work can  do that.         

     



 

He looked at Rick's and Dean's expectant faces. He'd been pushing away  his true emotions for so many years, he had a feeling the ones he'd  finally unleashed were only skimming the surface. He hadn't realized how  messed up he'd been over Serena's leaving. He was darn lucky they'd put  up with his attitude.

"I'll be in the office later," he said. "We'll go through the résumés  and bring back the best three candidates. I'm sure one of them will be  fine."

He jogged across the sand toward the office, imagining Serena's car  parked out front. His heart sank. The exact opposite of the reaction  he'd had every time he'd seen it, day after frigging day.

He went into the office and stopped in front of her desk. Harper would  be there soon, and then Emery, and then some other person. As he headed  upstairs to his apartment, he tried to come to grips with the reality  that he'd never again see her beautiful face behind that desk. It felt  strangely like one of their connections had severed, even though another  one had developed.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he threw open his apartment door,  grabbed his phone from the dresser behind the door, and thumbed out a  text to Serena on his way to the kitchen. Just got back from my run.  Miss seeing you already. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge  and guzzled it down, contemplating the text. He set the bottle on the  counter, deleted the text, and typed, I bet Boston looks brighter with  you in it.

"Darn it." That made him sound like a chick.

He deleted the message and headed for the shower, catching sight of a  picture hanging on the wall in the hallway. Mira had taken it right  after they'd started working on the resort. He was standing on the  office porch having a heated conversation about renovations with Rick  and Dean. Serena sat on the steps, her knees touching, making a silly  face by sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes. She was pointing  behind her with both thumbs. Her hair was shorter then, and it was  spring, too early for the summer sun to bring out her hair's golden  highlights, which had always bewitched him.

The resort belonged to her just as much as it belonged to him and the  other guys. Maybe more so, since she'd had to figure out how to work  with the three of them and overcome so much between each of them to help  make their dreams come to fruition. They'd fought her tooth and nail  when she'd wanted to pretty up the office and cottages to make them more  feminine and when she'd instituted procedures that took more time than  they would have liked. In the end she'd been right. Their systems were  efficient, their project management structure sound. And don't even get  him started on the music stores. Had it not been for her, he'd have made  a few big mistakes that would have cost him dearly. He had no doubt she  was going to excel at her new job, and there was no way he'd stand in  her way.

He thumbed out the message, Thanks for putting up with all of us and for  putting your heart and soul into the resort and the music stores.  They're all better because you had a hand in them. Go kick butt,  Supergirl. You've got nowhere to go but up.

He sent the message, wrestling with the things he really wanted to tell her.

Forget it. He took a picture of the photograph in the hall and typed the caption, The dude on the left misses you.

That was frigging lame. They had never been sappy types.

He deleted the message, took a selfie, and sent it off with the caption Does this sweat make me look hot?



SERENA KICKED HER bare feet up on the coffee table in her new loft  apartment Saturday evening and sank into the plush, teal-blue art-deco  sofa as she video chatted with Chloe and Mira. She had given them a  virtual tour and clued them in to some parts of last night's  extracurricular activities. Chloe had peppered her with questions, but  luckily, Mira had demanded a PG summary. She had gotten away with  saying, Being with Drake surpassed my wildest dreams and we didn't even  sleep together. It wasn't like Serena wanted to share all the details of  her and Drake's incredible night, but she knew Chloe would have  continued pushing had it not been for Mira.

"What on earth are you eating?" Serena squinted into the monitor.

"Sushi," Chloe answered.

Mira wiped her mouth and said, "Chicken. Matt and Hagen grilled it with  all sorts of veggies. It's delicious. What are you eating, Serena?"

Serena held up a pint of her new favorite ice cream. "BJ's. Kinky Pleasures!"

"I didn't know Ben and Jerry's had that flavor." Chloe lifted her chin  as if it would help her see inside Serena's container. "Show it to me.  What's in it?"         

     



 

Serena tilted the container toward the screen. "It's not Ben and  Jerry's, and it's full of pieces of chocolate, walnuts, cherries, and  toffee. BJ's ice cream serves only dirty flavors, like Moaning Mocha  Masterpiece." She snort-laughed, making the girls crack up. "This  apartment building is insane. Everything I need is right downstairs,  including my dinner." She shoveled a scoop of ice cream into her mouth.  "I might never leave the building."

"I don't think your boss would like that," Mira said.

"You're so responsible." Serena's phone vibrated, and Drake's name  appeared on the screen. Her stomach fluttered, as it had been doing  every time he texted. Although he had yet to text anything about last  night or about the card she'd left at his apartment. She read the text  and said, "Hold on. I need to reply to this."

"Is that Drake again?" Chloe pulled her sweater around her shoulders.  She was sitting on her deck, talking to them by candlelight.