Kisses In The Sand: Blame It On The Kiss Part 17

Oh. My. G.o.d.

And how did the mayor's wife find out about her and Bryce?

"What are you texting back?" Honor asked, watching Shirley text faster than she did.

"That he's your s.e.x slave."

"What?" This was a bad dream and any minute now Honor would wake up and go straight to work. Do not walk down Main Street. Do not stop for coffee. Run in the opposite direction if she ever saw the Street Team again.

Shirley looked up. "Kidding, sweetie."

Midge put her hand on Honor's arm. "We love you. And we're happy you're finally moving on with such a nice young man."

What did that mean? Moving on. No one knew what was inside her head. How could they? "You ladies need to find something else to talk about." She stepped around them and waved an arm over her head. "Something more age appropriate," she added over her shoulder, "like adding fiber to your diets."

"She's definitely in love," Mrs. Landry said, prompting Honor to hurry her steps.

Love? That was crazy talk. And d.a.m.n it all. She'd be the talk of the town now. Everyone would speculate and whisper and watch her every move. She knew no one meant any harm, but she hated being under a microscope.

Love, she mentally repeated, and her heart did a wheelie. She rubbed a few fingers across her chest to banish the uncool display from the stupid organ.

Instead of going to the mayor's office, she took off in a different direction. Palm trees shaded most of her walk, but by the time she got to her destination tiny beads of sweat trickled down her sides. She knocked on the door. It swung open. "Hi, Uncle Tuck."

He took one look at her and opened his arms. She stayed in the coc.o.o.n of his embrace for a good long while before they moved outside to the deck.

Still they didn't talk, just sat in companionable silence and watched the waves roll onto sh.o.r.e in the distance. Like her, Uncle Tuck didn't always need words to fill the s.p.a.ce.

"I got a fish."

"Gold?"

"Puffer."

"Even better."

"His name is Jaws."

"No better name than that."

"I'm pretty sure he's worked his way into my heart."

Uncle Tuck turned away from the sea and looked at her. She kept her attention straight ahead so all he saw was her profile. That would be enough for him to figure out she wasn't only talking about a fish.

Her uncle heard things too. He was fooling around with Mrs. L., after all, and that right there meant a front row seat to everything going on in the cove. Honor hadn't been hiding her relationship with Bryce. But they wouldn't be seen together again and how did she explain that? Would people look at her with pity and a.s.sume she'd screwed up again?

"Did I ever tell you the story about how I met Veronica?" he said.

"No."

He settled back into his Adirondack chair. "I'd just finished surfing. It was late in the day and most of the other guys had left. I'd parked my car in the bike lane and was changing out of my wetsuit. I had a towel around my waist and nothing else when I closed the driver's side door and my towel got stuck."

Honor twisted to face her uncle and brought her knees up to her chest. She fought a smile.

"When I tried to open the door, it was locked. I looked through the window and my keys were right there on the front seat. I'd locked my G.o.dd.a.m.n keys in the car and was stuck with nothin' but a towel on."

A little giggle escaped through her pressed lips.

One corner of Tuck's mouth lifted into an impish grin. He never took himself too seriously.

"So a car pulls in behind mine and parks. This knockout gets out. Long legs, great rack, blond hair. She goes around to her trunk and starts pulling out camera equipment. A tripod, big black canvas case. Then her head peeks around the corner of the car and her eyes lock on mine. 'Need some help?' she says. 'You offering?' I ask back.

"She picks up her stuff and strides over to me, her eyes never leaving mine. They're green and bright and they're laughing. She's laughing at me and right there I knew I was gonna ask this woman to marry me. She tells me she's a photographer. I tell her I'm a surfer. 'Got anything on under there?' she says. 'Nope,' I say. She sizes me up then, says, 'Tell you what, I've got a box full of swimwear in my backseat for shoots. I'll get you a pair of trunks if you model for me with your surfboard.' 'Deal,' I tell her. She smiles and walks around to the pa.s.senger side of her car. I follow her."

"Tuck!"

He grinned. "She didn't even flinch. Checked out my junk and told me this was gonna be the start to a beautiful relationship. It was."

Honor cast soft eyes on her great uncle. The man could make her laugh and sigh at the same time. "Do you ever regret walking away?"

"Ah, the "R" word." He ran a hand along his tanned, clean-shaven jaw, his skin creased from all his days spent in the surf and sun, but still handsome as ever. "That word comes back like a pesky fly that won't go away."

"Or like a scent that clings to you no matter how many times you wash your hands." She could still sometimes smell Lance's bodywash and she hated that.

Tuck gave her arm a quick squeeze. "Here's the thing. Walking with our heads down trying to pull the weight of our mistakes doesn't make them go away. Choice is the only thing that conquers regret. Choosing to learn from our past and waking up with hope on the pillowcase beside us rather than remorse."

"I wish there was a magic pill."

"There is. It's called Vi-"

"Stop!" She sent him her sternest, most forbidding glare. He was almost as bad as the Street Team.

He chuckled. "Do I regret not marrying Veronica? Yes and no. She ended up marrying a great guy and they've got a boatload of grandkids. Do I regret all the days I spent with her? No. h.e.l.l no. Some of my greatest memories are of the two of us. So you see, there's good wrapped up in things we might regret, too.

"I've learned to wake up with the conviction that I'm better than my past. And you are too, Sunshine."

She blinked back tears. "I can't... I don't..." She'd gotten so used to the idea that she couldn't commit to anything for the long haul that she didn't believe anything else. She and Bryce had said goodbye on good terms. But if there was the possibility of more... "I'll fail him. I know I will."

"I don't see how that's possible. Fish are very simple creatures."

The corners of her mouth lifted up. Tuck smiled in return before he said, "So are men."

Yes, but she wasn't.

Tuck studied her. "I can see your mind working between what if's and what not's and whether or not you deserve to be happy. You do, Sunshine. For a long time now, you've been lost, and here's what I want you to do.

"Find yourself in the present. See the possibilities right in front of you and hold on tight to the ones you want to keep."

She let all his words sink in. She did that already, didn't she? Lived impulsively and for fun. Independent and uninhibited.

"Regret isn't real," Tuck said. "It's something invented to punish ourselves."

That hit her like a two hundred pound punching bag. She was still punishing herself for what happened with Lance.

"So," he said standing up, and slapping his hands on his thighs. "You eat yet? How about some French toast?"

"Sounds good." She followed him into the kitchen where he shared more stories that centered around his lack of clothing.

And for the first time in a very long while, she didn't feel all the weight of her mistakes on her shoulders.

She left Tuck's a little while later for her antique store so she wouldn't have to face Shirley again. The floor shined like new. Danny had put her shelves together. "Pay, it's starting to look really good in here." Her painted wall still looked like it had been brushed with kid fingers instead of bristles, but if she squinted, it didn't look half bad. She plopped down in the middle of the room to soak it all in just as her cell rang.

"h.e.l.lo?" she said with hesitancy. She didn't recognize the number.

"h.e.l.lo. Is Honor Mitch.e.l.l there please?"

"This is she."

"Hi, Honor. My name is Beth Rhodes and I was hoping to hire you. Bryce Bishop gave me your number."

Caught off guard and a little confused, she didn't answer right away.

"I'm sorry," Beth said, "Did I catch you in the middle of something? I'm happy to call back later."

"Uh, no. No." She jumped to her feet and went to her desk. "Now's fine. How do you know Bryce?"

"He represents my husband. He was at the house this morning for a meeting and we got on the topic of antiques since I've been hoping to find a chest from the Victorian era similar to the one my great grandmother had. Bryce mentioned you were the best antique dealer on the west coast."

Honor didn't know what to say. She could barely catch her breath.

"h.e.l.lo?"

She scrambled for a pen and paper. "Yes. I'm here. Let me just write down your name and number and if you could email me exactly what you're looking for, I'd be happy to help you out."

"That's wonderful. Thank you."

Beth recited her phone number and Honor shared her email address. She asked for Honor's fee next and Honor spit out the first number to come to mind. A ridiculously high hourly rate she wished she could take back the moment she heard it aloud, but Beth simply said that sounded great.

Wow. Honor put her phone on the desk and brought her hands to her face, covering her mouth and nose in utter surprise and...excitement. She had her first real client thanks to Bryce.

She smiled against her palms. His faith in her made her believe anything was possible.

One text.

One text thanking him for referring a client to her and his resolve to stay away had crashed and burned. More texts followed. Honor had the power to permanently damage his heart, to ruin his chances with her brother.

And still being careless won out over caution.

How had a one night stand turned into more? He'd told himself to keep his emotions off the table, but that had been impossible the second she'd surrendered under his touch. She made him forget himself.

He'd lasted four days. Every day he'd told himself they were done. And every day his heart begged to differ. He couldn't remember the last time he'd played hooky from work, but when Honor texted him she was feeling under the weather and home alone, he'd decided to surprise her. Illness aside, she inspired spontaneity in him and he liked it.

He parked in front of her house and headed straight for the fake rock he'd noticed in the planter near her front door. A shiny silver key revealed itself when he slid the rock open.

Quiet filled the house so he walked down the hallway to Honor's bedroom and knocked lightly. When she didn't answer, he went inside. The covers were up to her chin, her hands tucked under the side of her beautiful face. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched her sleep. He'd never tire of staring at her.

She must have sensed his presence because she rolled onto her back and stretched her arms. Her eyelids fluttered open and when she finally focused on him, her pink lips curved into a s.e.xy morning smile that got an immediate rise out of him.

"Hi," she said, her voice a little rough with sleep.

"Morning."

Then she blinked herself wide-awake and bolted upright. The comforter slipped to her waist, revealing a low V-cut nightgown with thin straps. He'd wanted to kiss her lips. Now he wanted to kiss the freckle above her left breast. Her neck. Her shoulder. Everywhere.

"I thought I was dreaming. What are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd surprise you. Make sure you were okay."

She twisted her hands in her lap. "You could have just called."

"I needed to see for myself how sick you are."

She covered her mouth and gave a tiny cough. "It's nothing serious. You really didn't have to drive all the way here."

"But since I did, how about getting some fresh air with me?" He stood. "Get dressed and I'll wait in the living room."

A swallow worked its way down her throat. They hadn't talked about what keeping in touch meant, but he wasn't ready to give her up. Last weekend, she'd let all her barriers down and he'd never felt more connected to another person. He wanted that again.

She sighed deeply. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"You haven't heard what I have planned yet," he pointed out.

"What do you have planned?"

"It's a surprise." You like surprises, remember. He remembered every word she'd said to him. "I promise it'll be fun."

"And if it's not?" She twirled her finger around the hair falling over her shoulder. "Fun, I mean."

"You're looking at the King of Fun."

That put a twinkle in her eyes. "King, huh? What if I decide you're only a prince?"

"Then I'll make you my princess instead of my queen."

She rolled her eyes, but laughed. "That is so cheesy."

G.o.d, her laugh did scary good things to him. "There's plenty more where that came from. So?"