Summer at the Shore (Seashell Bay Book 2) Read online

Holly’s eyebrows shot up. “Um, I sure didn’t see that one coming.”

  “But I’m still planning on teaching,” Morgan said quickly. “Just not full-time and not in Pickle River. Portland is often on the lookout for experienced substitute teachers, and I’m hoping to be able to work a few days a week there while I help run the B&B. At least until things shake out.”

  Holly smiled her approval. “That sounds like a really good plan, actually.”

  Morgan breathed a sigh of relief knowing that at least one person whose judgment she trusted didn’t think she’d gone psycho. Giving up her long-standing post in Pickle River might be the hardest decision she’d ever make, but she saw no other realistic option at this point.

  “Have you told Sabrina and Lily yet?” Holly said. “They’ll be delirious to have you moving back home.”

  “Not yet. I just made the decision over the last day or so. I kind of wanted to test it out on you first.”

  She realized now she’d been clinging to a fraying thread of hope that somehow she’d find a magic answer that would let her go back to her job and still do right by her sister and father. But continuing to put off her decision wouldn’t be fair to anyone, least of all her principal and school board. They and the kids deserved to have a stable, permanent teacher, not one who kept extending her leave of absence for as long as they’d allow her.

  “I wonder what Ryan will think when you tell him,” Holly said, thoughtfully tapping her chin. “He should be happy that you’re going to see the B&B through, especially after all the work he’s put into it.”

  Morgan wasn’t sure. “Maybe, but he also told me I shouldn’t be living my life for other people. He’ll probably think I’m crazy to walk away from a secure job that I love.” She shrugged. “But, hey, does it really matter what Ryan thinks? He’ll be gone soon enough, and who knows when we’ll see him again in Seashell Bay.”

  Holly didn’t look like she was buying any of that but fortunately let it pass. “When is he due back from North Carolina?”

  “Tonight, I think. He was a little vague on that. You know how he is.”

  “Well, I’m dying to hear what happened,” Holly said with a sly grin. “Maybe he even quit. Now wouldn’t that be something?”

  Chapter 23

  The sea breezes blew strong across Eagle Island’s rocky shore, setting up a fierce chop. Still, Ryan had kayaked from Seashell Bay with little problem, loving the challenge of the hard paddle over. Now, as he stood on the lawn of the isolated home that once belonged to Admiral Peary, he gazed across the gray Atlantic and absorbed the solitude of the deserted state park.

  He hadn’t stopped thinking about Double Shield and the ramifications of his decision since leaving Capstone’s office yesterday. Not even at the Pot, where he’d sat at the bar last night trying to somehow maintain a light conversation with Laura over a meal of burger and fries. This morning he’d hoped to focus on some detail work at the inn but couldn’t really do much until Brendan showed up. Frustrated and missing Morgan like crazy, Ryan had put away his tools, suited up, and aimed his kayak in the direction of Eagle Island.

  The stark serenity of the place seemed to reach into his soul with a calming touch. The little island was basically a rock with some trees, an old house, and a dock where tour boats and private craft moored and discharged visitors. The last tour boats of the day had already departed, and it felt like he had the entire island to himself.

  And it felt good. Like his whole Casco Bay summer had felt good. The attic fire had kicked the hell out of them for a while, but they’d fought through the destruction and found daylight on the other side. Other than that admittedly huge problem, he’d been blessed with a fair number of quiet hours in his kayak, and with the satisfaction of working every day with his hands as he repaired the inn.

  Most of all, there was Morgan, and she’d made all the difference. The thought of going back to Double Shield and shepherding rich guys through the world’s shitholes had started to feel like something he didn’t want to do anymore. Not after his time on the island, helping friends and family, building something up and seeing it take shape under his hands.

  He’d forgotten how good that kind of work could feel.

  That didn’t mean he wasn’t still dogged by second thoughts about his decision. The peace he felt at the moment did funny things to him. It made him want to stay and build a life here, maybe with Morgan if she was willing—though who knew whether she’d end up in Seashell Bay or Pickle River.

  That question and his uncertain future in terms of work on the island—hell, life on the island—continued to nag at him. Who knew how long this sense of peace would last? What would happen in the winter, when much of the population abandoned the place to the cold, stormy weather? Seashell Bay seemed like paradise now, but Ryan wasn’t naïve enough to forget that life there could be pretty damn tough and isolating.

  Then there was Morgan and her career. What if she did decide to go back upstate to Pickle River? Ryan had found out firsthand what could happen when a man and a woman lived apart for a long time, and none of it was good. He’d gotten damn serious about Callie Strohmayer, convinced she might be the one. They’d had their issues and their fights, but Callie had always said she’d support him if he decided to stay in the service.

  What a sick joke that had turned out to be.

  Although Ryan couldn’t forgive Callie for the lies, he could understand how hard it had been for her to deal with the separation that came with long deployments. They sucked, took a huge toll on relationships, and were to be avoided whenever possible.

  He glanced up at the clouds scudding across the sky. It was getting late and past time to head back to the island. If he could, he wanted to get back to Seashell Bay before Morgan got home. If she found him gone, she’d be looking for him and probably worrying too. She worried about everyone and everything but herself.

  As he pushed off from the shore, he thought about her comments of a few weeks ago—when they were talking about their futures or lack thereof. Morgan had said that all they had was the present, and the moments they were together. That sounded about right. For now, he would focus on her and on the inn and let the rest sort itself out.

  He had no idea where either of them would end up. He had no answers to any of the questions about his life, beyond the fact that he’d left Double Shield behind. The best he could do was just live for today and for his time with Morgan.

  Tomorrow would come soon enough.

  Morgan hurried across the gangway straight into Ryan’s embrace. Thrilled to see him waiting for her, she wrapped her arms around his waist and lifted her face up for a kiss. He obliged with an enthusiasm that attracted the attention of more than a few tourists and grinning locals waiting to board the ferry.

  “I guess you missed me,” she said breathlessly, after he finally let her up for air.

  “Hell, yeah. And I intend to show you exactly how much in a few minutes.” Ryan let her go and grabbed the handle of her small suitcase. “Ready to go?”

  Morgan nodded. “Sabrina said she’d pick me up, so I wasn’t expecting you.” But I’m so glad you came.

  “I kind of insisted,” he said. “Besides, she’s been pretty busy painting the upstairs bathrooms.”

  Morgan grabbed his arm. “She’s been what?”

  “Yeah, you told her to let me and the guys handle the painting, but she said she wanted to prove to you that she could do a good job. So she’s taking on a couple of the bathrooms. She said she hopes they’ll be so good that you’ll let her do more.”

  Morgan and Sabrina had engaged in a brief tussle of wills earlier in the week when Sabrina made noises about wanting to help paint the renovated upstairs rooms. Morgan had put her off, remembering a few previous occasions when her father had let Sabrina pick up a paintbrush. The results hadn’t been pretty.

  “That little sneak. She waited until I was gone,” Morgan said, not knowing whether to laugh or groan.

  “She’s tryi
ng really hard,” Ryan said, his left arm securely encircling her waist as they strolled down the pier to the parking lot. “Doing new stuff. I think it’s great.”

  She leaned into him. “Let’s see if you still say that after you have to repaint those rooms.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “It’ll be good for her spirits, Ms. Control Freak.”

  “Control freak? Watch your mouth, buster, or you won’t get within a mile of my bed tonight.”

  Ryan shot her an amused glance. “Are you sure about that?”

  “No,” Morgan admitted. “Not after I’ve been thinking all about you and what you can do to my body. It’s been a long three days, I can tell you.”

  Ryan slowed and dropped a lingering kiss on her lips. “I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing.”

  “Sweet. So, uh, in that case maybe we could make a quick pit stop at your place before we head over to the B&B?”

  His wolfish grin had her going soft and damp in an instant. How utterly mortifying, especially since Mrs. Bryson, Josh’s mom, was giving them a cheeky smile and wave as she walked by them.

  “That could definitely be arranged,” he said in a low voice that made her belly tumble.

  Ryan stowed her suitcase in the bed of the pickup and opened the door for her. A moment later, he had them on their way.

  “Holly sends her best,” Morgan said. “She’s doing great—the surgeon’s really pleased with her progress.”

  “That’s good. You were sweet to help her out like that.”

  Morgan shook her head. “Not really. We always take care of each other.” She decided to push the envelope a bit. “Like you’ve been taking care of me.”

  “I’d say that’s been a mutual thing,” Ryan said.

  Morgan glanced at him. He looked totally mellow and laid-back, like he didn’t have anything on his mind other than getting her in the sack. She was dying to know what happened in Raleigh but dreaded having to ask him outright.

  Unfortunately, it looked like he wasn’t going to be in any hurry to talk about it. Then again, what else was new? Ryan never wanted to talk about himself.

  Suck it up, buttercup.

  “So, what about you?” she asked brightly. “How was your trip?”

  Ugh. Lame.

  Ryan’s eyes remained locked on the road ahead, even though there wasn’t another vehicle in sight and he could probably drive the old island road in his sleep. “I met with my controller, and it was a little tougher than I’d thought it would be,” he finally said.

  When he didn’t elaborate, Morgan gritted her teeth. It looked like she was going to have to drag the information out of him. “Why? Is it about some assignment they want you to take?”

  “We didn’t talk about assignments. Not really.” The corners of his mouth eased into a smile.

  Honest to God, she was going to kill him.

  She yanked on her seat belt so she could twist around to face him. “But I thought that was why you went. To get a new assignment.”

  Ryan shook his head but still didn’t catch her eye. “Nope. I went to tell him I was going to quit.”

  Morgan sucked in a huge gasp. Her reaction made him finally look at her.

  “Morgan, the reason I didn’t say anything before was because I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I’d be able to go through with it. When my controller told me I was one of the best he’d ever had . . . well, it meant a lot coming from a man I really respect.”

  “But you did quit, right?” Her words sounded like a squeak.

  Ryan nodded.

  “That’s . . . that’s incredible,” Morgan stammered.

  “That’s one word for it,” he said wryly.

  Go ahead—ask him straight out. Don’t be a coward.

  She gripped the edge of the cracked leather seat. “Do you have an alternative plan? Once you’re finished up here, I mean.”

  Ryan turned onto the narrow gravel road that led to his cottage. A cloud of dust immediately enveloped the truck. “My alternative plan is to not have a plan. Not right away anyway. I’m going to take it one day at a time for a while. Like you told me, all we really have is the present.”

  Morgan felt like someone had just tasered her; she was so stunned. She’d been living in the present too, trying to make the most of her sweet days and nights with Ryan and pushing back the awful fear that she’d be a mess when he left.

  Now she felt like she’d just received a stay of execution. “So very true,” she managed.

  “There’s still a lot of work to do at Golden Sunset, like figuring out how to get the kayak operation off the ground and market it. But after that, who knows?” He paused. “Aiden thinks I should go to work for him at the resort.”

  Morgan grabbed the dashboard when they hit a rut. “What?” How could Lily have kept that from her?

  “He hit me with it at the wedding reception. Sounded pretty serious about it too.”

  She just stared at his profile. Man, he still looked totally cool about everything, while she no doubt looked gobsmacked.

  “What kind of job?” she asked.

  “Chief of security.” He gave a little huff. “I told him I didn’t have a clue about hotel security.”

  “Does that mean you’re not interested?”

  She hoped her voice sounded neutral and nonjudgmental, but she was barely able to keep from blurting out that it sounded like an amazing opportunity, one that would change everything for him. For them. But she didn’t have the right to do that, so she kept her big trap shut.

  He pulled up in front of the two-story cedar cottage that had turned out to be a far cry from the dump Morgan had expected he’d have to settle for. The place had suddenly become available when a family cancelled their three-week reservation, and the owner had been so thrilled to get a last-minute replacement that he’d given Ryan a sweet deal on a week-to-week basis. Ryan had opted for this place over the one his mom’s friend had offered because it was closer to Golden Sunset, not to mention a lot nicer.

  Ryan leaned across the console and gave her a lingering kiss. Then he settled back into his seat. “They haven’t even broken ground on the resort, so there’s plenty of time for decisions on that and everything else.” He slid his hand up the outside of her thigh. “Right now I’ve got something a lot more interesting on my mind.”

  When he nuzzled her neck, Morgan sucked in her breath as his stubble rasped over her skin, the rough feel making her even more crazy. Questions whirled in her brain, and she was desperate for answers, but her body definitely had other priorities. That was the only downside of sex between them—sometimes she thought they both used it as a substitute for talking about issues that really mattered.

  Like the future.

  “If you don’t stop doing that, we’re not going to even make it into the house,” she said, squirming. “And doing it over a stick shift would present some challenges.”

  Ryan slid his hand up farther, going under her short skirt to finger the lace edge of her panties. “Oh, I don’t know. We’re always overcoming challenges together, aren’t we?”

  She gave him a playful little shove. “Forget it, big guy. I’m too old to have car sex, especially in broad daylight. And I might end up with that stick shift somewhere very unpleasant. But it’s nice to know you missed me.”

  His gaze went from warm to hot in a nanosecond, practically scorching her. “A bit. Like about every minute or so I was thinking I couldn’t wait to get inside you.”

  Wow. She’d have to peel herself off the leather seat at this rate.

  But at the back of her mind she also hoped he missed more than just the sex. More than her under him, or riding him, or making love to him in any of the other dozen positions they’d managed to try so far. Because she’d missed him in body, heart, and soul, and the thought of saying good-bye simply seemed impossible.

  Chapter 24

  Parched from his morning run, Ryan stripped off his sweat-soaked T-shirt and reached into the f
ridge for the pitcher of orange juice. He downed a full glass and then headed upstairs for a shower. There was no time for breakfast since he had to meet Brendan at the B&B to schedule the rest of the carpentry detail work.

  Morgan’s truck was already gone when he got back from the run. She’d spent the night—maybe their hottest yet—and he’d been looking forward to another round with her in the shower. They’d been crazy for each other till the wee hours of the morning, and he suspected that part of her enthusiasm resulted from relief that he’d quit his job and wouldn’t necessarily be leaving town anytime soon. Still, he gave her props for not bugging him for additional info. He didn’t have answers for himself, much less for Morgan.

  Morgan and Sabrina were catching an early boat into Portland today to shop for the B&B, which was why she’d headed out. They’d make a day of it and even take a short trip down the coast to a company that manufactured custom weather vanes. Morgan had told him they deserved a girlie day together on the mainland after everything they’d been through, and Ryan totally agreed. Both women had paid their dues all summer long, physically and emotionally. If anyone deserved a treat, those two did.

  He stripped off his shorts and dropped them and the T-shirt on the bedroom floor. The bed, with its flowery quilt and little fortress of neatly arranged pillows, was perfectly made. He couldn’t help a quiet laugh. Morgan was obsessively tidy, unlike him. Ryan was the kind of guy who pretty much left his clothes wherever they landed. His mom used to kid him about not being housebroken, and he guessed that was pretty much true.

  Or maybe he just hadn’t been given the chance to get domesticated by a woman like Morgan.

  His cell phone rang. Maybe Brendan was late and Ryan wouldn’t have to rush over to Golden Sunset.

  But it wasn’t Brendan. It was Double Shield’s Raleigh number. “Cap?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. I’d apologize for calling so early, Butler, but I figure you could use a wake-up call once in a while to get your lazy, retired ass out of bed.”

  “I just logged four miles, and in a few minutes I’ll be heading to work. And by the way, my ass doesn’t get to park itself in a cushy executive chair all day like some people I know.”