Summer Escape with the Tycoon

“It’s none of my business,” she replied quickly. “I’m sorry I made it sound that way.”

“I did,” he confessed, and his dark gaze touched hers again. “But now that it’s over, I’m starting to wonder if I don’t actually know what love is. I just kind of know what it...isn’t. I made mistakes, and I lost her.”

Molly thought about her previous relationships since the “big breakup.” They’d been practical and perfect on paper and...passionless. No heart involved, no hurt when it ended.

But didn’t a girl deserve a little passion in her life?

She flipped her hair over her shoulder with her hand and felt the mellow breeze of the evening kiss her skin. “I’m not sure I know, either. But I know it’s not on this phone.” She tapped her nail on the phone cover and smiled. “I’m really starting to hate this thing.”

“Me too.”

Something rebellious began to bubble up inside her. “If we’re not going to throw them in the ocean, what are we going to do with them?”

He looked at her, a sly smile making a small dimple pop in his cheek as his eyes warmed. “Wanna go for a walk?”

“I guess?” She wasn’t quite sure what he had up his sleeve, but a summer walk with a handsome, sexy man wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening. He got up from his chair and held out his hand, and she rose to take it. She was wearing sandals with her sundress, and hoped they were going to stay on the graveled paths around the lodge.

“Bring your phone,” he said, and she picked it up and tucked it in the pocket of her skirt.

The sun was still out but was moving behind the mountains, casting shadows on them as they picked their way down the path toward the beach, a good half a kilometer away. The beach was actually a little cove tucked in along the Discovery Passage, running between the Strait of Georgia and the Johnstone Strait. Waves lapped against the shore and Molly kept her hand secured in Eric’s, wary of tripping or stumbling on the uneven ground and rocks. When they got to the water, he let go of her hand and took a deep breath.

“This place is incredible, don’t you think?”

She nodded. “I grew up on Cape Cod. It’s different there. At home it’s—”

“Inhabited.” He nodded toward the water. “But here, it feels like there’s not another person for miles around. I know there is, but it feels as if there isn’t.”

“It makes me feel small.” She picked up a small rock and let it fly. It arced through the air before cutting into the water with barely a ripple. “Like that rock in a whole ocean floor.”

“Do you always try to not make waves?” he asked, and it was a rather profound question when all was said and done.

“Yes,” she answered honestly. “Hanging up on my dad was probably my biggest act of rebellion ever.”

“Which is funny, because you strike me as incredibly competitive and competent. And stubborn.”

She laughed. “I am. I have to be in my job. But not with my family.”

“Why?”

It was a good question, and one she didn’t want to talk about, not on the heels of her earlier thoughts. “How about you? What’s your biggest act of rebellion?”

He accepted her evasion with a

small smile. “Not going into business with my brothers.”

“What do they do?”

“They run a car dealership.”

“I see.”

“Do you?” He turned his head to look at her. “Because I’m not sure they do. To them, I’m the guy who thinks they aren’t good enough.”

She picked up another rock and threw it high into the air, watching it drop with a plop. “And do you think that?”

“No, of course not. It just didn’t excite me, and I wanted to be excited. Challenged. Doing something new.” He paused. “I wanted something with more security.”

“Are you close with them?”