Wet(2)

She inched into her folks’ driveway and watched the light in the upstairs room flick on. As Katy glanced up at the widow’s peak, the glass turret overlooking the bountiful Atlantic Ocean lit up in the dark night, and she knew she’d awoken her parents. She knew how fast word of her arrival would spread, and in no time at all she’d be bombarded with questions about her future—mainly ones concerning her marital status. She also knew how complicated those answers would be. She couldn’t tell anyone what her future held when she herself didn’t know.

As she thought about the uncertainty of things to come, of how Trent would receive her after all this time, her heart crashed harder than the waves at Dresden Bluff. The rocky cliff was a place she and Trent had visited often, the same place she’d eagerly given up her virginity to him.

She patted the brakes, and as she tried to quiet her erratic heartbeat, wondered, for the hundredth time since she boarding the plane in Chicago, if she was making a big mistake by returning to her childhood home and facing her past, especially since her body and heart still ached to be back in the arms of the man who undoubtedly would rather run into a blazing building than rekindle their relationship’s fiery embers.





Chapter Two


Trent Parker didn’t want to think about the plates of half-eaten food sitting on the long oaken table before him. Nor did he want to think about the pot of congealed spaghetti sauce waiting to be scrubbed. And he certainly didn’t want to think about the suspicious fire up at Dresden Bluff that had caused them all to bolt from the firehouse late last night without finishing the meal he’d spent hours preparing.

But what he really, really didn’t want to think about was that Katy Wilson was back in town, or the fact that he’d spotted her coming in under the cover of darkness, hoping to avoid any sort of run-in with him, he presumed.

A scraping sound behind him pulled his attention, and when he turned to see Adam Collins, his best friend and Whispering Cove’s most sought-after bachelor, push open the swinging door and step into the kitchen, he shook his head to clear it.

“Hey, Trent, did you hear Katy’s back in town?” Adam asked, as he sauntered across the room to grab a soda from the fridge.

Trent rolled his shoulder, hoping for casual, but the hitch in his voice belied his emotions when he said, “Yeah. So?”

Never one to be subtle, Adam added, “I hear she looks as good as ever.”

Adam heard wrong. Katy didn’t look as good as ever. She looked better than ever. He’d gotten a good look at her when she’d stopped her SUV at the corner of Main and Little. He was on the sidewalk next to the vehicle, and the overhead lamppost gave sufficient light for him to see her big blue eyes, dark wavy hair, creamy skin and plump lips that had his cock rising up for a front-row seat.

“I wouldn’t know, and don’t much care.”

“So you think she’s back for the reunion  ?”

“What part of I wouldn’t know, and don’t much care didn’t you get?”

“The don’t much care part.” Adam tossed him a wry grin, and it pissed Trent off that his childhood friend and fellow firefighter could read him like an open book. Adam was as quick as a brush fire sweeping through the white pines. His bright intelligence, good looks and dazzling charm attracted women quicker than a shiny lure attracted fish.

“Is that right?” Adam probed. “You really don’t care?”‘

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Adam twisted the cap off his soda and leaned against the table. He got quiet for a moment, a rarity for him since he always had an opinion on everything, then said, “I wonder if I can get her autograph.”

Trent shrugged and walked to the sink, turning his back to his friend and their conversation, not wanting to talk or even think about Katy anymore. He flicked on the chrome tap and poured a generous amount of soap into the basin.

“You think she’ll give it to me?” Adam pressed, refusing to give up on the subject.

“I’m sure she’ll give it to you if you just ask,” Trent finally said, hoping to put an end to the discussion. He gestured with a nod. “Grab a cloth and dry.”

Adam didn’t move. Instead he said, “I wonder what else she’ll give up if I just ask…”

Trent spun around. Fire rushed through his bloodstream and raised his anger from simmer to boil, but when he caught the cocky, knowing grin on his friend’s face and realized Adam was simply baiting him, he grinned back and shook his head. “Fuck off, Adam.”

Adam pushed off the table and clapped Trent on the back. “Come on, Trent. You want her now as much as you always have. Admit it.”