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  “Vic, are we really going to do this?”

  Please, yes. “I’m game if you are.”

  She slid her hands down his body while her gaze traveled up. The aggressive arousal dominating his cerulean stare would’ve erased any doubts, if she had any.

  His thumbs moved rhythmically over the hem of her shirt. He didn’t break their locked gazes, but neither did he make a move or say anything for long, quivering moments.

  Vic rolled her hips again, rubbing against Hauk’s cock. A shaft of fire shot through her core. With a little growl rumbling from deep in his chest, he lifted her shirt. Subtle calluses on strong hands with lithe fingers awakened each patch of skin they stroked. He flicked her nipples. Every touch heightened her sensitivity to his caress. She arched her back, begging for more.

  He bent and took a lace-covered nipple in his mouth and sucked. She bucked against him as desire sparked through her brain and gripped her spine. He shifted to her other nipple and her muscles went from lax to tight.

  She had never reacted so quickly to a man’s touch. Even in dreams her blood warmed slowly. Hauk’s touch though, the sultry taunt in his touches, the unexpected joy of having him return her desire, burst through her with instant heat.

  Trailing kisses down the center of her torso, he barely made it to the waist of her pants before an orgasm rippled through her. On a scale of one to ten it was only a four or five, but it made her wonder just how powerful his touches could be.

  “Hauk.” The single syllable dragged out as she rode the crest of the orgasm. He caressed her stomach and neck with his hands while returning to lick, kiss and suck on her breasts.

  “I didn’t know I could want you this way.”

  “I did.” And it was damn delicious.

  “Sophie’s down the hall.”

  “It’s not like we’re strangers.” She could help him brighten the moral gray area if need be.

  “Which makes it more…”

  “Interesting?” A smile curled her lips with pure pleasure at the idea of him wanting more. Unfortunately, a conflicting seriousness gripped her. They weren’t strangers, and after reading Sophie’s paper, Vic had to be careful. One wrong step could mess everything up.

  The new territory they’d crossed into had only blurred the lines of their relationship. If they went further, it could obliterate the lines, and by extension their friendship. If she and Hauk couldn’t be friends, she wouldn’t feel comfortable being around Sophie. God, Sophie would be heartbroken. More importantly, she couldn’t stand the idea of not being around Hauk.

  Buzzing from his touches, his kisses, Vic eased off Hauk’s lap and grabbed her shirt. He didn’t need to say his concerns were the same, or that they had more power over him.

  “Vic?”

  “This is…” Too fast. “We can’t…”

  She pointed down the hall toward Sophie’s room. His daughter wasn’t likely to wake up, and Vic knew she could explain things to Sophie if she found out they’d been together, but Vic couldn’t risk how Sophie catching them would bother Hauk. He had hang-ups about relationships that wouldn’t be resolved after one night, and his daughter had dreams of a mother that Vic couldn’t mess with because of an arousal-muddled state.

  “Right.” Hauk’s tone bristled as he stood and grabbed his own shirt. He didn’t put it on though. “This was a mistake we won’t repeat.”

  “That’s not—”

  “You have someone waiting.” Moving stiffly, he picked up the paper she’d dropped and held it out to her.

  Vic’s heart fractured a little as she took Sophie’s essay. That Hauk could believe, even for a moment, she would be able to leave him and go to another man… He should know better, but she was no more in the mood to set him straight than he was to listen. Instead, she grabbed her purse and walked out.

  Her body burned.

  Her heart bled.

  Chapter Three

  Vic stopped in the bar downstairs from Hauk’s apartment for a drink. The liquor didn’t help any more than Aimee’s sweet concern. Even the sea-scented and chilled walk home through the early morning silence did nothing to ease the impact he’d had on her body.

  Still stinging from Hauk’s words, and vibrating from the remembered imprint of his hands and the orgasm they’d carried her to, Vic let herself into her small apartment. She’d always loved the home she’d made with its bright colors and overstuffed chairs. Now…

  It seemed too small and empty.

  Confining.

  Suffocating.

  Like her skin.

  One kiss and her dreams had shifted into a temporary reality. One kiss, one touch, and everything she’d known to be true about herself and about her and Hauk had been changed.

  With each step, the strength in her knees chipped away until they shook like jellyfish. Vic collapsed into the closest chair.

  Hauk had kissed her and touched her and taken her to orgasm.

  That they’d stopped, worse that he’d declared it a mistake, didn’t matter. That he’d thought she would leave him and go to another man—wherever he’d gotten that idea—hurt. He hadn’t hurt her so badly since he’d dismissed her when she tried to warn him about Krista. Then and now the hurt shocked her. But when the edge of shock sloped down a less violent path, she realized it didn’t matter.

  He’d seemed different from the moment he walked in the door. And he’d looked at her differently.

  She didn’t care what had caused the change.

  She didn’t care why he thought she’d had plans with Sean, though she could address that if necessary.

  She didn’t care that he’d mistaken her words and said they’d made a mistake.

  She only cared that Hauk had kissed her and how much she wanted to risk exploring what they’d begun. She cared deeply about knowing if the connection she’d glimpsed could last.

  Just as soon as she crafted a reason to swing by when Sophie was gone, she would make sure he kissed her again. The trick would be having a cover story that didn’t include “How about we pick up where we left off?” Nope. That explanation would have Hauk locking her out of his life.

  She wouldn’t risk that even if it meant she could never touch him again. Though she planned to somehow have it all.

  Thinking and staring at the wall until it blurred into a smudge of sunny yellow, Vic drifted on the waves of possibilities.

  She could check on Sophie, but he’d expect that in the form of a text while she headed to the salon in the morning. Besides, not only was it not sexy, she wouldn’t use Sophie to get to Hauk.

  She could go to his bar for drinks, but she never drank alone, and gathering her girlfriends around her was again not sexy. Besides, three of her closest friends were on an alcohol hiatus thanks to the babies in their bellies. Her other friends… Well they would see too much and she’d prefer to explore Hauk and the possibilities therein privately.

  She could…

  The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. It was later than she’d expect for a call, but when she dug the cell from her purse and saw the caller ID, she wasn’t really surprised. Smiling, she hit Talk.

  “Hello, Byron.” The man made predicable unpredictability a lifestyle, which made him more endearing than his old-fashioned charm. She could never guess what he’d do, but neither was she surprised when he did it—like calling her at nearly one in the morning.

  “It’s about time you answered, girl. I’ve been calling all night.”

  Curiosity had her vowing to check her missed calls log when they hung up. “You have me now, though I’m not sure why this couldn’t wait until later. What’s up?”

  “I have a favor to ask.”

  He didn’t acknowledge her reference to the hour, and if she asked again, he’d give her a passive response that was more evasion than answer.

  “No, I will not date or marry any of the men you may have chosen for me.” None would be good enough. None would kiss the way Hauk kissed.

  He gasped, as if
she’d believe for a blink that she’d offended him. The man was a matchmaking schemer with grand plans for the town’s young’ns, as he called them. “If you insist on your lonely life with no one to laugh and dance and make love with, that is your sad business.”

  She ignored the disgusted tone Byron adopted when he found himself facing a single person of marriageable age. She wanted everything he mentioned, but agreeing too readily would encourage the man’s meddling. “And with that comes a loss of privacy, the constant concern for someone else and uncapped toothpaste tubes.”

  “That you believe that is all there is to marriage saddens me.”

  “Marriage.” Vic grinned until it stretched her cheeks almost painfully. How she suppressed the bubbling urge to giggle escaped her, but she managed. “Damn, I was talking about dating.”

  Silence rang as clearly as an image of Byron sitting on his deck with a blanket knitted by Ruth snapped into Vic’s mind. He wouldn’t just be sitting there though. After that comment, he’d have dropped his shaking head to his chest. The funny thing with Byron was that he saw through everyone else and ignored their protests to be set up. He seemed to actually believe her claims though.

  “The day will come, Victoria Hayes, when you see the importance of a lastin’ love.”

  “Well, since today doesn’t seem to be that day, why don’t you tell me why you’ve really called?”

  “You’re a stubborn young woman, but fine. I’m helpin’ Harold with the upcomin’ festival.”

  “Yes.” Everyone in town seemed to help in some manner or another. Even some of the tourists got in on the fun at times.

  “You may have heard the headline singer cancelled on us.”

  “Not a big loss from what I hear.” The member of a once hugely popular band hadn’t lasted long as their lead singer or on his own. If the games he’d played with the planning committee were any indication, his lack of success made sense.

  “We still need to replace him and find some other acts. I was hoping—”

  “That I would find said replacement.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” It was a harmless enough request and something she had plenty of thoughts on. “What else do you have planned for the stage?”

  “Hauk is building it.”

  “I meant acts.” Though depending on the acts she lined up, she could have an excuse to see Hauk. They would need to make sure the stage worked for everyone.

  “Oh. We were hoping to showcase some local talent. I know Hauk has some ideas. Maybe you could work with him on that?”

  There was a little too much delight dancing beneath Byron’s request. Vic narrowed her eyes, fully suspecting she’d just been played. If she had, she wouldn’t reject the chance to explore Hauk…and a relationship with him. Neither would she let Byron Mitchell think for an instant that he’d won. “I’ll work with Hauk, but I’ve gotta tell you something.”

  “What’s that, lassie?”

  “If you’re thinking he and I would be a good pairing, that he will somehow change my views—”

  “I would be wrong.”

  “You’re a smart man.”

  And he’d be right that Hauk could change her views, but she wouldn’t tell him that. With her grin spreading again, Vic went on. “Kissing Hauk is… Well, it’s not as nice as I’d have thought.” It’s so much better.

  “Hmmph. Huh? You been kissin’ Hauk?”

  “It’s been awhile.” If you count awhile by minutes. “I’ll get with him though.” She paused for a long moment before finishing with “…on the music.”

  “First thing. Time’s awastin’.”

  “Of course.” Vic disconnected the call, already anticipating the coming days. Grinning, she accepted the gauntlet of the schemer who would likely drive himself batty trying to figure out if he’d missed a match.

  If Byron was playing her, she would play him right back. And if Hauk thought he regretted a kiss, she would show him how much she had to offer. How much he stood to regret if he didn’t give them a chance. Because the fact of the matter was, she knew as certainly as Byron that she and Hauk would be a great team.

  Fifty-three hours after he’d kissed Vic, fifty-three hours of mental torments circling around and back to that kiss, the cheery announcement, “It’s all about me,” ousted Hauk from sleep. The greeting was followed by a sharp whistle he’d programmed for Vic into his phone as a joke. The clock read six forty, which earned a scowl. There should be no jokes at six forty in the morning.

  No one texted him before nine a.m. because everyone knew he barely managed to get up by eight and get Sophie to school. Vic, who was the least high-maintenance person he knew, never texted him before noon because she had learned he detested all things morning when they’d carpooled during school.

  This had to be important.

  The reach for his phone—still whistling from the pocket of his jeans he’d walked out of at five a.m.—turned into a scrambling belly crawl from the bed to the floor. Sophie had finally gotten well enough to return to school, but then he’d ended up running the bar and handling closing alone when all his staff called in with the flu, which meant he’d had maybe eight hours sleep in the last three days.

  This better be really important.

  With the morning chill of fall quickly creeping through the wooden floor, he grabbed the phone and crawled back beneath the heavy covers. Feeling as with it as he could so early, Hauk read the text message.

  Dani is coming to watch Sophie. Be at my place by 7. Yes a.m.

  He rubbed the heel of his palm over his eyes and yawned. Was she crazy? She expected him in twenty minutes? No way.

  He texted back. Rough night. Why?

  When five minutes passed without a response, he began to worry. It wasn’t so much a concern over her safety. More about what she was planning, and his curiosity wouldn’t allow him not to find out. He dragged himself out of bed and pulled his jeans on. First he’d kissed his best friend. Then he had spent a couple of days thinking about the feel of her body. Now she had him out of bed more than an hour before normal and sex wasn’t even on the table. Vic was having him break all sorts of personal rules.

  He’d no sooner dug a shirt out when a heavy knock landed on his main front door. Grabbing his socks and shoes, and with concern for Vic propelling him past frustration and tiredness, he headed to the living room.

  Instead of Dani, the town doc, Hauk found her new husband and one of his closest friends on his doorstep. “Braydon.”

  “This is awful early for you, isn’t it?” Braydon closed the door behind him and settled comfortably on the couch.

  Hauk nodded and went about putting on his shoes. “I thought Dani was coming.”

  “The baby felt it was more fun to keep her hugging the toilet.” He said it with a grin that clearly announced how tightly wrapped he was around the baby’s finger, and they were barely out of the first trimester.

  “So, why am I taking Sophie to school this morning? What in Whispering Cove has you up with the fishermen?”

  “Vic.”

  “She okay? Dani only said I needed to get over here.”

  “I think so.” She better be. He hadn’t seen her for a few days, not since she’d walked out after… Shaking off the thought of what they’d almost done, or jarring it back a few paces, he struggled to wake up. She would pay for getting him up so damn early.

  Braydon laughed as Hauk pulled on his jacket. “Well, take your time. I’ve got your girl.”

  Hauk hesitated at the door. He’d never left Sophie before she woke, and even knowing she was perfectly safe didn’t ease his anxiety.

  “It’s been awhile since I did a morning school routine, but I can handle it.” Braydon waved off his unspoken concerns. “Go see Vic.”

  Five minutes later, with his ears painfully cold, Hauk knocked on Vic’s door. He trusted Braydon to keep his mouth shut if he suspected anything, but the courtesy would only extend so far. Dani would know, and she wouldn’t wast
e any time giving Hauk shit about hooking up with Vic. She too, though, would save the harassment for more private times. Glancing around as the neighborhood began stirring, Hauk winced. Vic’s neighbors, many of whom were elderly women who frequented her salon, thrived on gossip. If any of them saw him at her door so early without Sophie, they would talk.

  He had spent enough time as the subject of town discussion. He didn’t want to return to the eye. Vic needed to answer the door, or he was going home.

  He knocked again. Harder.

  She still didn’t answer after another minute. He heard the lock next door turn and knew Mrs. Paulette would appear shortly. The ringleader of the town gossips was the last person he wanted to see him.

  Hauk reached for the knob and relief flooded through him when it twisted. He rushed in. Closing it behind him, he breathed a long sigh.

  Maybe this early morning call was Vic’s plan to drive him out of his mind.

  “Vic.”

  She didn’t answer his call. His worry that she was plotting something shifted into real concern. She had a wicked mind when she decided to use it, and he wasn’t thinking this morning’s summons was emergency related.

  Feeling a little strange since he’d never been in her home without her and Sophie, Hauk headed toward the kitchen. He swallowed a lump of discomfort that was forming in his throat. Even the past visits with Sophie had been light and fun. Something about this didn’t feel that way. It felt…monumental.

  “Vic. Where are you?” He wanted to find her but wasn’t sure he wanted to find her in one of the bedrooms, unless maybe it was the one she used for an office. That one would be okay, but her room, after the other night…

  His body tingled with the memory of their kisses. With the desire to taste her again riding him, her bedroom was definitely not safe.

  “Why did you need me…” He stepped into the kitchen and his question trailed off.

  Clad in a skimpy camisole and matching panties that hugged her petite curves, Vic turned from the coffeepot with a huge mug in her hands.