The Seacroft: a love story (Paines Creek Beach Book 2) (8 page)

In a sudden rush, Cody urged his mare into a fast canter, catching up in seconds. “Wait’ll you try cantering through the surf,” he said. “That’s even better.”

“Whoa, boy.” She slowed Popeye to a walk and relaxed her grip. “Maybe next time.”

Cody leaned sideways, clinking his stirrup iron against hers. “It’ll take a few more lessons, but pretty soon, we’ll both be racing through the water.” He touched her hand, sending shivers down her spine.

They walked in silence for a while, enjoying the salty breeze that blew across the beach. On this private stretch of sand, there were no bathers, no fishermen, and just a few boats in the distance.

“Vivian?” he said.

She turned to catch a worried expression in his eyes. “Yes?”

“What do you think of Uvi?”

She paused, meeting his intense gaze. “Um. In what respect?”

He looked lost for a moment. “I don’t know. I just—”

She jumped right in. “I think she knows exactly what she wants in her life. She’s demanding, has high expectations, and little patience if she doesn’t get what she wants.”

He studied her, still solemn. “And?”

“And,” she cleared her throat. “I don’t think we’ll work there for more than a year.”

“What?”

“That’s what Deidre said. I ran into her in the village.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes.” Viv gave a brief account of their morning conversation at the Brewster Store. “So, she thinks it has something to do with the husband.”

“Mr. P?”

“Yes. The man no one’s seen in ten years.”

“Whoa. That’s pretty heavy stuff.”

“I know,” she said. “But what did you mean before? About Uvi?”

He seemed to shake off his earlier mood. “I don’t know. Sometimes she just makes me feel like I’m a puppet on a string. You know? She’s so beautiful. Sexy. And she just makes me— ” He stopped, realizing he’d gone too far. “I mean—”

Vivian’s heart fell to her feet
. Did he really just say that?
Out loud?
After calling her pretty, here he was salivating over their boss? And she’d been imagining something was starting between the two of them. She choked down her disappointment and pretended everything was fine. “It’s okay,” she said with a false laugh. “I know she’s gorgeous. It must drive you crazy.”

He gave her a shy smile. “Yeah, I guess.”

“But I know what you mean about feeling like a puppet. It’s nice to be off her strings today. Even if I am roasting up here.”

“Hey, how about a swim? We can walk the horses back to the stable afterward so we don’t mess up the saddles.”

“I’m not dressed for it,” she laughed. “I’m in jeans.”

He looked down at his own legs. “Well. Me, too. But there’s nobody around. We could just go for a quick dip in our underwear.”

She blanched and felt herself stiffen in the saddle.
Was he really asking her to strip down to her underwear and go for a swim? Like it was an everyday event? Right out in the open?
“I. Um. I… ”

“You’re not shy, are you?” He grinned at her. “Or chicken?”

Bristling, she tightened her grip on the reins. “No. I’m not chicken. Let’s do it.”

They trotted toward the high tide line, making good progress in the wet sand. He maneuvered Serendipity over to a shady cave in the cliffs and jumped off. “This is a good spot for the horses to wait for us. There’s a log to tether them to, right over here. And it’s out of the sun.”

She slid awkwardly off Popeye’s back, landing in a heap in the sand. He tied his horse’s reins to a branch on the log, then ran to help her.

“You okay?”

Red-faced now, she got up and brushed the sand from her jeans. “Of course. I just stumbled.” She led Popeye to the well-shaded log and looped his reins through a stray branch. “Like this?”

Cody checked it. “That’ll work. These two will probably just take a nap, anyway.” He turned back to her. “Ready?”

At the high tide mark, she looked in both directions, and quickly slid out of her jeans. With a wild feeling of abandonment, she stripped off her shirt, too, and tossed it down. She raced over the wet, low tide sands, splashing through the shallow tide pools and hoping she didn’t step on anything with claws. Plunging into the water, she waded for a while and then dove into the clear green water, stroking forward.

Chapter 13

She sensed rather than saw him behind her. There was something about the rippling water that tickled the roots of her hair and ran a shiver up her arms. Something electric, almost. When she broke through the waves, he popped up seconds later, only inches away.

“Feels good, huh?” he said, treading water beside her. 

She felt a few strands of seaweed tickle her feet, and kicked further out to get away from it. “Wonderful,” she said, unable to stop the wide smile spreading across her face. It did feel good, almost too damned good, she thought.

Am I setting myself up? Letting myself live in a fantasy world where gorgeous men like Cody fall madly in love with me? Am I nuts to imagine it? Wish for it?

She flipped onto her back and floated on the swelling waves, noticing suddenly that her nipples showed through the flimsy wet material of her bra. She caught Cody looking, and slid back down into the water, stroking parallel to the shore.

He matched her movements, keeping up with her. Occasionally, he’d toss her a brilliant smile. But they didn’t speak. They just swam, side by side.

When she thought she’d gone far enough, she reversed direction, only to find him right there beside her. She tried not to think of how he would look in his wet boxer shorts. How his sculpted chest would appear beneath the beads of seawater. How his thick, wavy hair would drip onto his shoulders.

He began to turn back to shore and she followed, noticing a dark shadowy patch in the distance where the cave sat, harboring their horses. After a long jog across the low tide sands, they reached the dry sand, and although she wanted to hold back, she didn’t. She strode to the hot sand, picked up her clothes, and walked toward the cave.



Cody watched her dress, trying not to stare, but unable to look away. She had the tiniest waist, the prettiest breasts, and the most seductive, curving hips he’d ever seen. It probably didn’t help that she was soaking wet and her underwear clung to her, almost transparent in the bright afternoon sunlight. 

He decided to shed his wet underpants and just wear his jeans back to the house, but didn’t want her to think he was coming on to her. Because he wasn’t, was he?

“Hey, I think I’ll just get out of these wet things. Don’t mind me.”

She flushed, glancing down below his belt where he knew the wet underwear outlined him with no room for imagination. 

She turned a deeper shade of pink and slid into her shirt. “No problem.”

He shrugged out of them and found her glancing sideways at him. Rather than feeling embarrassed, as he probably should have, he became fully aroused. Seeing her beautiful body and the way her hair tumbled down her back, the way her eyes shone in the afternoon light, her lips curving in a little smile… all of this made it even more difficult to ignore his growing desire.

And then it happened. Right in front of her, he began to feel engorged, and his manhood rose in a majestic salute in her direction.

Her mouth dropped open, and she backed up a step. “I—”

He felt tongue-tied for a split second, but before he could think about what he was doing, he walked toward her and pinned her against the cave wall, grabbing a handful of her wet hair and kissing her hard.

To his surprise, she kissed him back.



Shocked beyond belief by Cody’s advances, and even more so by the sight of his body’s reaction to her, she let him kiss her, and felt herself kissing him back for a minute.

No. No. No!

But her body said, yes, and she let him push harder against her. He pulled her shirt up to reveal her wet bra, sliding it off one side so that he could massage her flesh with one hand. With the other hand, he reached his fingers down to slide beneath her wet panties. When he touched her inside, she shuddered with pleasure… or was it fear? She pulled herself together and came to her senses.

“What are you
doing
?” She shoved him away and crossed her arms in front of her breasts. “Stop that. Right now.”

He stared at her with unbridled desire, and tried to move forward again. She tried not to look at his body and the way it waved in the air so close to her thighs. But it was hard not to notice the size of him.

“Vivian. I—”

“Go away. You’re terrible.” She covered her breasts with her shirt and reached for her jeans, pulling them on. “Why did you do that?”

Now he looked like a chastised puppy, his eyes wide and his body deflating. “I’m sorry. I thought you kissed me back. And you’re just so… gorgeous. And you’re so nice. And you smell so good. And—”

“I smell good? So you thought you’d jump my bones in public? In this cave?”

“No. I didn’t really think—”

“You didn’t think. That’s right. Do you think I’m some kind of slut?”

He slumped down onto the log and slowly pulled his jeans on. “No. Of course not.”

“Take me back to the house.”

He sighed and stood, carefully zipping up. “Okay.”

This time she mounted Popeye by herself, even though it took three tries. She clicked to him and let him take her back to the barn.

Chapter 14

Vivian spent Sunday morning holed up in her room with her Kindle. The eReader was a gift from her brother before he passed away, and she treasured it. She read another sweet romance by Morgan Blaze, called
Soldier’s Choice
, and it just made everything worse for her.

Now she longed for love. For closeness. For a man who’d cherish her. And yes, she had to admit, for the sensual pleasure this would afford.

Throughout the morning she’d heard Uvi banging around in her suite down the hall. Throwing things? Cursing? It was very strange. She’d avoided her at all costs most of the day and purposefully not responded to the racket. This was supposed to be her weekend off. Right? Why would she run down to help a woman who already had everything?

At ten o’clock she heard it again. This time it sounded like broken glass. With a sigh, she swiped off her Kindle and stood up. Sighing, she trudged down the hall and peeked into Uvi’s room.

“Uvi? What’s wrong? Can I help?”

Uvi stared at her with red-rimmed eyes. “No. You can’t. It’s my husband. He’s cancelled his trip home. Again.”

She let out a near scream and threw a pillow onto the floor from her unmade bed. “I hate him. I hate him. I HATE him!”

Vivian entered the room and perched on the chair near the window. “Can I get you a cup of tea?”

Uvi sniffed. “That would be nice.”

Not, “Oh, honey. It’s your day off. I couldn’t possibly intrude.” No, she just expected Viv to jump at her beck and call, no matter what day of the week it was.

Uvi picked up her phone and jabbed at it irritably. “And I can’t get that damned boy to answer me.”

“What boy? Do you mean Cody?”

“Yes. Cody. He’s not answering. Been calling him all day. I want him to get my cars washed.”

Viv frowned.
On Sunday, his day off?
The cars in the garage were never driven. Except on the rare occasion that Uvi went out, and that hadn’t happened since Vivian began working for her. “Um, Uvi. It’s the weekend. We both have today off. Remember?”

Uvi looked up, blinked, and huffed. “Oh. I forgot.”

“He’s probably at his uncle’s place. He was helping out with his little cousins yesterday.”

“No. His truck is here. He’s somewhere around here.”

“Maybe his phone is dead. He might need to charge it.”

“Maybe. But listen. Before you get my tea, could you run over to his apartment and tell him I need him to call me?”

Vivian tried not to scowl. Couldn’t she give the guy a few days of freedom? “Okay. I’ll try to find him.”

She backed out of the room and wandered downstairs. She didn’t really want to see Cody again, not after what had happened in the cave. God, she couldn’t get the image of his body out of her mind. She kept replaying the scene, over and over again.

She took her phone out once she got to the kitchen and tapped Cody’s number. He picked up on the first ring, but his voice sounded thick and strained.

“Viv?”

“Cody? What’s wrong? Uvi’s been trying—”

“I’m sick. I can hardly walk to the bathroom.”

Vivian felt a tug of empathy. “Oh no. The same thing the triplets and Libby had?”

“I think so. I called him and said I won’t be able to help him today. Been throwing up. Can’t keep anything down.”

“I’m coming over. Is your door unlocked?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to—”

“I’m coming.” She swiped off the phone and gathered some supplies. Clean sheets and towels. Plastic garbage bags for the dirty sheets and towels she envisioned. Herbal tea. Thermometer. Tylenol. A can of chicken noodle soup. Saltines. What else? She looked around the kitchen. Ah, yes. A big bottle of Sprite.

She threw it all into a large canvas carryall and hurried to the back of the house. Without hesitating, she entered the green door on the first floor and climbed to his apartment on the second floor over the garage that housed the rarely used cars.

She knocked timidly on the door. “Cody?”

A mumbled response came from within. She couldn’t make it out, but opened the door anyway.

“Cody? It’s me, Vivian.” She walked into the living area and headed for the door that might be his bedroom.

There he lay, curled on his bed with the mussed sheets, groaning. The comforter lay in a heap on the floor, along with his clothes from the day before.

“Oh, Cody.”

She went to his side, shocked at his appearance. He lay still, hair soaked with fever-sweat, face the color of bleached sand, wearing only a pair of green striped boxers. And then he moaned again.

“Oh, Cody.” She sat on the side of the bed and laid her hand on his forehead. “You’re burning up.” She rummaged in her bag and found the thermometer. “Here. Put this under your tongue.”