The One Real Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 1)

“So you guys are big on fate here, huh?”

“Fate. Magic.” She shrugged with a grin.

“It sounds to me like a lot of drama. I’m not too big on drama.”

“That probably means you need some in your life.” She winked at me playfully.

I decided to explore the boardwalk after my interesting breakfast with Bailey.

Despite the dark clouds above, the weather outside was mild with only a gentle breeze whispering up from the water. I strolled along the wooden planks. A mammoth sign above the porch door of the building next to the inn proclaimed in feminine script Hart’s Gift Shop.

The gift shop was currently closed. I hoped it was on off-season hours and would be open sometime during my vacation. I wanted to buy something for Perry and there were beautiful dolls and jewelry in the windows.

After the gift shop were a candy store and arcade, and from there the boards ran along the main thoroughfare. A large bandstand sat at the top of Main Street. The street was wide enough for cars to park in the middle of it, and along either side were commercial buildings. Trees lined the street, where restaurants, gift shops, clothes stores, fast-food joints, spas, coffeehouses, pubs, and markets were neighbors in a well-groomed tourist environment.

I decided to explore Main Street later and kept heading along the boards. I passed a small ice cream shack, a surf shop, an Italian restaurant with a neon sign proclaiming Antonio’s, and then the largest building on the boardwalk—it seemed to rise up among all the others like a giant of contemporary architecture. Whitewashed walls and lots of glass. There was no gaudy neon sign for this building. Huge gold metal letters three stories up spelled out Paradise Sands Hotel and smaller gold letters subtitled underneath it, And Conference Center.

I stared up at the mammoth place, wondering how it could contrast so sharply with everything else on the boardwalk and yet somehow add a quality to the place that I personally thought benefited it rather than detracted from it. I took a step back and turned toward the ocean. There were only a few people walking along the beach today because of the complete lack of sun. Even without the sun turning the sand what I assumed would be a spectacular gold, the beach was lovely. The sand was soft, rockless, and inviting. I couldn’t wait for some sunshine so I could lie on a lounge chair out there.

But there was no sunshine and I could do with another coffee. On that thought, I continued my journey down the boardwalk, when the heavens suddenly opened.

My eyes darted for the closest available shelter and I dashed toward it—a closed bar that had an awning. Soaked within seconds, blinded by rain, and irritated by the icky feeling of my clothes sticking to my skin, I wasn’t really paying much attention to anything else but getting to the awning. That was why I ran smack into a hard, masculine body.

If the man’s arms hadn’t reached out to catch me I would have bounced right onto my ass.

I pushed my soaked hair out of my eyes and looked up in apology at the person I had so rudely collided with.

Warm blue eyes met mine. Blue, blue eyes. Like the Aegean Sea that surrounded Santorini. I’d vacationed there a few years back and the water there was the bluest I’d ever seen.

Once I was able to drag my gaze from the startling color of those eyes, I took in the face they were set upon. Rugged, masculine.

My eyes drifted over his broad shoulders and my head tipped back to take in his face because the guy was well over six feet tall. The hands that were still on my biceps, steadying me, were big, long fingered, and callused against my bare skin.

Despite the cold, I felt my body flush with the heat of awareness and I stepped out of the stranger’s hold.

“Sorry,” I said, slicking my wet hair back, grinning apologetically. “That rain came out of nowhere.”

Cooper

All Cooper could see at first were the stranger’s gorgeous eyes. Big. Brown—no. Hazel. They were brown with flecks of light green and yellow in them. Thick lashes framed them.

Right now those gorgeous eyes held a mix of apology and amusement. The mascara streaks running down her cheeks didn’t detract from how pretty those eyes were.

Warm eyes that moved from his face to travel over his body. His shirt was soaked through and clung to him, showing off the results of his early-morning workout and run along the beach. He gave a brief nod as he pushed his wet hair back from his forehead.

The stranger’s eyes widened a little and Cooper didn’t miss the feminine appreciation in them.

She wasn’t short, standing at about five seven, but he was tall so she was tilting her head back to look up at him. That was when he realized how close they were standing.

Cooper felt what was almost like a warning tingle on the back of his neck. And it wasn’t the cold.

He’d felt that tingle when he was walking home from school minutes before he got home to find out his dad had taken off. He’d felt the tingle the day his mom’s brother died, leaving the bar to her, only for his mom to turn around and give the bar straight to him. He’d felt the tingle the first day he stepped into the bar as the owner. He’d felt the tingle the day his mom died of cancer. And he’d felt that tingle driving to the bar one day. That tingle made him drive home to check on Dana. He had found her fucking his best friend.

Standing in front of this bedraggled stranger with the prettiest goddamn eyes he’d ever seen, Cooper had to wonder whether the tingle was a good thing or a bad thing in this case.

Good or bad, it was worth listening to, he thought as he opened the door to the bar. He’d only stepped out for a few minutes to drop off mail that should have been delivered to Emery’s next door. It was enough time to get soaked to the skin. o;So you guys are big on fate here, huh?”

“Fate. Magic.” She shrugged with a grin.

“It sounds to me like a lot of drama. I’m not too big on drama.”

“That probably means you need some in your life.” She winked at me playfully.

I decided to explore the boardwalk after my interesting breakfast with Bailey.

Despite the dark clouds above, the weather outside was mild with only a gentle breeze whispering up from the water. I strolled along the wooden planks. A mammoth sign above the porch door of the building next to the inn proclaimed in feminine script Hart’s Gift Shop.

The gift shop was currently closed. I hoped it was on off-season hours and would be open sometime during my vacation. I wanted to buy something for Perry and there were beautiful dolls and jewelry in the windows.

After the gift shop were a candy store and arcade, and from there the boards ran along the main thoroughfare. A large bandstand sat at the top of Main Street. The street was wide enough for cars to park in the middle of it, and along either side were commercial buildings. Trees lined the street, where restaurants, gift shops, clothes stores, fast-food joints, spas, coffeehouses, pubs, and markets were neighbors in a well-groomed tourist environment.

I decided to explore Main Street later and kept heading along the boards. I passed a small ice cream shack, a surf shop, an Italian restaurant with a neon sign proclaiming Antonio’s, and then the largest building on the boardwalk—it seemed to rise up among all the others like a giant of contemporary architecture. Whitewashed walls and lots of glass. There was no gaudy neon sign for this building. Huge gold metal letters three stories up spelled out Paradise Sands Hotel and smaller gold letters subtitled underneath it, And Conference Center.

I stared up at the mammoth place, wondering how it could contrast so sharply with everything else on the boardwalk and yet somehow add a quality to the place that I personally thought benefited it rather than detracted from it. I took a step back and turned toward the ocean. There were only a few people walking along the beach today because of the complete lack of sun. Even without the sun turning the sand what I assumed would be a spectacular gold, the beach was lovely. The sand was soft, rockless, and inviting. I couldn’t wait for some sunshine so I could lie on a lounge chair out there.

But there was no sunshine and I could do with another coffee. On that thought, I continued my journey down the boardwalk, when the heavens suddenly opened.

My eyes darted for the closest available shelter and I dashed toward it—a closed bar that had an awning. Soaked within seconds, blinded by rain, and irritated by the icky feeling of my clothes sticking to my skin, I wasn’t really paying much attention to anything else but getting to the awning. That was why I ran smack into a hard, masculine body.

If the man’s arms hadn’t reached out to catch me I would have bounced right onto my ass.

I pushed my soaked hair out of my eyes and looked up in apology at the person I had so rudely collided with.

Warm blue eyes met mine. Blue, blue eyes. Like the Aegean Sea that surrounded Santorini. I’d vacationed there a few years back and the water there was the bluest I’d ever seen.

Once I was able to drag my gaze from the startling color of those eyes, I took in the face they were set upon. Rugged, masculine.

My eyes drifted over his broad shoulders and my head tipped back to take in his face because the guy was well over six feet tall. The hands that were still on my biceps, steadying me, were big, long fingered, and callused against my bare skin.

Despite the cold, I felt my body flush with the heat of awareness and I stepped out of the stranger’s hold.

“Sorry,” I said, slicking my wet hair back, grinning apologetically. “That rain came out of nowhere.”

Cooper

All Cooper could see at first were the stranger’s gorgeous eyes. Big. Brown—no. Hazel. They were brown with flecks of light green and yellow in them. Thick lashes framed them.

Right now those gorgeous eyes held a mix of apology and amusement. The mascara streaks running down her cheeks didn’t detract from how pretty those eyes were.

Warm eyes that moved from his face to travel over his body. His shirt was soaked through and clung to him, showing off the results of his early-morning workout and run along the beach. He gave a brief nod as he pushed his wet hair back from his forehead.

The stranger’s eyes widened a little and Cooper didn’t miss the feminine appreciation in them.

She wasn’t short, standing at about five seven, but he was tall so she was tilting her head back to look up at him. That was when he realized how close they were standing.

Cooper felt what was almost like a warning tingle on the back of his neck. And it wasn’t the cold.

He’d felt that tingle when he was walking home from school minutes before he got home to find out his dad had taken off. He’d felt the tingle the day his mom’s brother died, leaving the bar to her, only for his mom to turn around and give the bar straight to him. He’d felt the tingle the first day he stepped into the bar as the owner. He’d felt the tingle the day his mom died of cancer. And he’d felt that tingle driving to the bar one day. That tingle made him drive home to check on Dana. He had found her fucking his best friend.

Standing in front of this bedraggled stranger with the prettiest goddamn eyes he’d ever seen, Cooper had to wonder whether the tingle was a good thing or a bad thing in this case.

Good or bad, it was worth listening to, he thought as he opened the door to the bar. He’d only stepped out for a few minutes to drop off mail that should have been delivered to Emery’s next door. It was enough time to get soaked to the skin.