With Tyler, it was as if she couldn’t help herself. As if she couldn’t stop. When she thought about it too much, it actually kind of scared her.
So she decided not to worry at all. Just push her fears to the back of her mind. She’d worry about it later. Like on Sunday afternoon when she had to pack up all her stuff and head back home.
Alone.
Julie shuddered. That thought alone stopped her heart.
“Cold?”
She about jumped out of her skin when she heard his low, velvety voice behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she curled her arms around herself and rubbed her hands along them as she watched him walk. “A little bit.”
“It gets pretty warm during the day but just as cool once the sun goes down.” He settled his long, lean body in the chair next to hers. “I come here not just for the beauty and the quiet but also just to escape the heat.”
“I totally understand,” she said with a nod, taking the glass of white wine he offered. “It gets so hot during the summer. Well, you know. You grew up in Sacramento too. But you don’t go there anymore do you?”
“Nah, my parents moved a few years ago. They live in Colorado now, and they don’t come this way too much. I usually go and visit them if I want to see them. Most of the time for Christmas, sometimes Thanksgiving.”
“And they didn’t give up this cabin? What with moving and all, I’m surprised they didn’t sell their share of it.”
“I wouldn’t let them.” He shook his head with a slight smile, took a sip from his glass of wine. “I’m going to buy them out and soon. I’m having the papers drawn up right now.”
“Looking for a deal?” she teased as she drank from her glass. The wine was sweet yet sharp, sparking her tongue before she swallowed. It was delicious, smooth. Yet again the man dazzled her, he even had good taste in wine.
Was he perfect or what?
No one is perfect, least of all a man I happen to be interested in.
“I’m going to offer them a fair market price,” he said with a knowing grin. “I’m not about to take advantage of a couple of old folks, especially when those old folks are my parents.”
She laughed and shook her head. “I always liked your parents.”
“And they liked you. They liked all of the Lancasters.”
“What did you think of the Lancasters?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“You know what I think about you. The crush I had on you.” He set his wineglass on the small wicker and glass-top table between them. “But I also gotta admit, I was…jealous.”
Her brows drew together. “Jealous? Of us? But why?” She remembered a lot of fighting between her and her younger brother and sister and a lot of yelling coming from her parents. She could certainly reflect now and realize what a bunch of pain in the asses they were. Talk about making a vacation miserable.
“I always wanted brothers and sisters and I never had any. My parents are pretty calm and quiet and rather intellectual. I love them more than anything, but their idea of fun when I was a kid was turning off the TV and spending the evening reading great works of non-fiction. Out loud to each other.” He grimaced.
She laughed at the way he said the last sentence but the laughter died on her lips when she realized just how serious he was. “My house was always really loud. The very last thing my mom wanted to hear was us reading out loud to each other. It would just turn into a yelling competition or something equally stupid.”
“Ha, I bet. I always liked how the cabin got really loud when your family showed up. I would wonder how my parents became such good friends with your parents. I still wonder. They were complete opposites in practically every way.”
“Sometimes opposites work,” she said quietly, thinking about the two of them. They were pretty opposite in their behaviors, their work ethics, the way they did things. And yet it felt as if the two of them just…worked.
Oh, jeez you’re being ridiculous. You’re taking this way too seriously and most likely he’s just looking for a fun, weekend reunion fling.
And you’re giving it to him, supposedly with no strings attached.
“Yeah, I loved spending time around your family. Your parents, your brother and sister, and you.” He studied her, his eyes glowing, intense behind the frames of his glasses. Glasses she suddenly wanted to rip from his face so she could grab his cheeks and steal a long, delici
ous kiss. “I so much wanted to be a part of that.”
“We’re still really loud.” Her brother had gotten married and already had one child, a rambunctious little two-year-old boy. Her sister had a boyfriend who played in a band, which meant he always had a guitar slung over his shoulder. Which also meant he was always playing his original songs whenever and wherever he could.
It was so damn loud at her parents’ house when everyone came over to visit that she could hardly think. Half of the reason she hadn’t been over there much lately. Well, that and she’d been consumed by work. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she went for the traditional Sunday family dinner get-together.