First Time in Forever (Puffin Island 1)

He suspected she took everything seriously.

He glanced at her profile, taking in the fine bones of her face and the smooth caramel silk of her hair. At first glance it was impossible to believe she was related in any way to Lana Fox. Lana had been fully aware of her assets and prepared to put each and every one on public display in order to guarantee herself a place in the limelight. By contrast, Emily’s was a quiet beauty, understated, her discreet manner the very antithesis of her half sister’s apparent thirst for attention. From what he’d read, Lana had been addicted to a life of high drama. It seemed to him that Emily had done everything she could to remove drama from her life.

How must it feel for someone who avoided drama like that to assume responsibility for a child she’d never even met?

At least he’d had a close relationship with his siblings. Whatever his feelings on the situation, they’d stuck together as a family.

What Emily had described sounded less like a family and more like a disconnected group of individuals living at the same address.

Kirsti brought lunch, plates heaped high with crab cakes, bowls heaped high with crisp, golden fries.

Fitting five of them around a table intended for four was a squash, and Ryan’s knee brushed against Emily’s as they shifted to accommodate people and food.

He reached for the salt at the same time as she did, and their fingers tangled.

“Sorry.” He murmured the word and disengaged his fingers from hers, but not before several volts of sexual electricity had traveled from her fingers to his.

The salt ended up on the floor.

Across the table, he met Sky’s curious gaze.

“So, Ryan—” she sliced into the crab cake on her plate “—what do you do when you’re not running this place?”

“I spend time on the water. Isn’t that the point of living in Maine?”

Alec finally looked at Skylar. “Where do you live?”

“Manhattan.”

Alec’s face was blank of expression. “Of course you do.”

“Wow.” Skylar sat back in her chair and looked at him with a mixture of fascination and indignation. “Do you stereotype everyone you meet?”

Ryan retrieved the salt and handed it to Alec. “He does. You have to forgive him. He’s lost his social skills since moving to a remote island. His research means he spends most of his time in the past. I have to force him to interact with live people occasionally.”

“Research?”

“The good doctor is writing a naval history. He’s much in demand around the world as a lecturer and TV presenter, although I’ve never understood why the public would want to look at anything that ugly.” As expected, Alec didn’t rise, but Skylar looked interested.

“Doctor?”

“PhD, so don’t show him your war wounds. He only likes blood in the context of history.”

Alec put down his fork. “Last time I looked, I was actually sitting here at the table with you. You could include me in the conversation.”

“I could, but I’m worried you might lower the mood.” Marriage wasn’t something Ryan gave much thought to, but spending time with Alec had convinced him that it was better to be single than married to the wrong person. By all accounts his short relationship had more in common with cage fighting than romance.

Skylar pushed her bowl of fries toward Alec. “Help yourself.”

“You can’t finish them?” Alec threw Ryan a brief “I told you so” look that Skylar intercepted.

“Of course I can finish them, but you look cross, and I’m wondering if your bad mood is because you’re hungry. I’m evil when I’m hungry.”

Alec tightened his mouth. “I’m not in a bad mood.”

Ryan stole one of Skylar’s fries. “You should eat your food, Alec. It’s good advice.”

“If you don’t want them, then I’ll eat them.” Sky pulled the bowl back and ate as if it were her last meal. “These are delicious. How do you make them?”