Because of Lila (Sea Breeze Meets Rosemary Beach 2)

She was grinning brightly. “How long do you think that will be?”

“Later this week.”

She clapped her hands excitedly. “This is going to be so much fun!”

I hoped so. “You want a job? Because I’ll need office help once I open the studio up.”

“Sure! Why the hell not? Can we just take the rent out of my paycheck?”

“That would be fine with me.”

We talked some more before Ophelia left to tell her mother her plans. I went over and pulled myself up to sit on the bar in the kitchen. I could make a life here. It wasn’t in the wealthy part of Rosemary Beach where the big houses were and the club was located. It was right beside it, but it felt separate. I wasn’t leaving town but I was starting a new life in this town.

My phone rang and echoed in the large empty space. I glanced at it. It was Eli. Smiling, I pressed answer. “Hello.”

“How’s the place look?” he asked. I had told him I was coming to check it out today in a text message I’d sent him last night.

“Perfect. I think it’s going to be perfect.”

“Damn. I was hoping you’d think it sucked and come to Sea Breeze to shop around.” He was teasing but I knew that he’d also be pleased if that did happen.

“You could always come to Rosemary Beach,” I replied.

He was quiet for a moment. “Don’t tempt me.”

I wondered if he would actually do that. Maybe a fresh start for him was what he needed. “I wouldn’t complain if you did,” I added

He chuckled and added, “You’d be hard to say no to. But I have a job. Can’t just up and run away.”

He had a point. “I know. Wanted to clarify if you needed an adventure I would be happy to be the beginning of yours.” I’d been teasing, but he had gone quiet.

I chewed on my lip nervously. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. We didn’t talk about that night much. I wasn’t sure if he remembered asking me if he was the beginning of my adventure. I waited for him to say something and worried the whole time he was silent.

“I might consider it if we could have another go at sex on the beach. I think about it a lot. Wish to God I hadn’t been so damn drunk.”

After Cruz, I wasn’t ready for sex with anyone. I wanted to be one day. But for now, I just couldn’t. In one week, I’d had sex with two different men. That had been one hell of an adventure.

“One day. If the time is right,” I said softly while images of Cruz and the things we’d done played in my head. My heart ached along with them.

“I don’t want to just be the beginning of your adventure Lila. I want to be the end.”

Cruz Kerrington

MY HEAD WAS fucked. I was at work doing what my father had asked me to do. Not because he’d asked but because I was so damn fucked in the head I needed something to distract me. And other women’s vaginas weren’t working.

“Cruz, you look so much like your father at that age I had a flashback. I was a waitress again and there was the boss. You’re all dressed up in your Kerrington Club polo. I know Woods is proud to have you here with him,” Blaire Finlay said as she walked into the dining room with my mother and Harlow Carter, Lila’s mother.

“He’s his father’s twin. In everything including attitude,” my mother said with a smile.

“Don’t tell him you said that,” I drawled knowing he wouldn’t want to hear that I acted like him at all.

Blaire laughed, and the three of them walked past me. My mother paused to squeeze my arm gently. Harlow was quiet. She didn’t talk loudly like the others or draw attention to herself. She was proper, beautiful, looked nothing even close to her age, and all I could see was Lila Kate twenty years from now. The man that caught her would be one lucky son of a bitch.

Annoyed at my train of thought, I walked down the hall toward my father’s office where I’d been headed when those three had arrived. I used to love coming to this office. It meant I got to see my dad. He’d set me up on his desk and let me play with the small golf toy that was on it. I’d watch the flat screen on his wall and observe him as he worked. I wanted to be just like him.

My, how times had changed.

The door to Dad’s office opened and he stepped out before I reached him. His gaze immediately locked on me. “Good. You’re on time. I’m having a lunch meeting with Captain—you remember Blaire Finlay’s brother—and his daughter Emmeline is with him. She’s being groomed to take over the restaurant franchise here in Rosemary Beach. I think having you there will make her feel more comfortable since you’re closer in age.”