Page 78 of Beachside Kisses With My Enemy

I kiss her, long and full.

She grabs fistfuls of my shirt and tugs me close, and I lose myself in the wonder of Lucy, pouring every ounce of the care I have for her into the kiss.

And maybe she can sense my rising anxiety over the conversation she doesn’t know is coming, because she pulls back. Frowns. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” I hate the worry lines creasing her forehead, so I place a kiss there. This is the perfect opening to bring up what I need to say, but…“I just missed you.”

Coward.

Later. I’ll tell her later.

And I will. I just hate to ruin…this. Not that I’m worried she won’t understand. She knows how important the restaurant is to me. And now that we are together, I have full confidence we can make anything work, if we both really want it to.

And I know I do.

Her responding smile is brilliant. “The feeling is mutual.” Then she cocks her head. “I know we aren’t really working this morning, but I was wondering if you maybe had time to look over that business plan?”

That’s right. She mentioned over breakfast that she’d finally finished The Green Robin’s plan.

I place my nose against hers. My hands find her waist, thumbs skating across the tiny strip of skin between her soft pink pajama pants and her white tank top. “Do we have to?” I say in a low, husky voice—the one that always seems to increase the throbbing of that very kissable vein in her neck.

“No.” She draws a finger down my chest, ending at my stomach—which, yes, I fully admit to clenching so she can feel my abs beneath my shirt. “But you did promise.”

She’s right. I did. “What will you give me for the effort?”

Lucy goes up on her tiptoes, places her lips beside my ear. “I think I can make it worth your while.”

I yank back and grab her hand, pulling her toward the couch. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

Laughing, she tugs away. “Cool down, Romeo.” Grabbing her laptop off the island, she moves to the couch.

I follow suit, jumping over the back of the couch to land next to her—who even am I?—and take the computer from her lap, moving it to mine. She looks at me, amusement in her eyes, and I open the lid to find a password-protected screen saver: a photo of Lucy, Mare, and all of their friends at Chloe’s brother’s wedding.

My food truck is in the background. I’m somewhere in this photo. I like to think that, even when we were enemies, Lucy was thinking of me.

My chest a bit tighter, I gently tug her thumb toward the upper rightmost key on the keyboard so her thumbprint can unlock the screen. The business plan is open and ready for perusal. I start to read. I would have done it before now, but Dale kept me pretty busy yesterday, and then I was driving home as fast as I could to Lucy.

It’s a few moments before I realize I just thought of Hallmark Beach as home.

And I don’t really know what to do with that, because L.A. is calling.

And sooner than planned.

The television spot went well—so well that I was offered a twice weekly spot starting the week after next. Not only that, but Dale and I had a long chat yesterday about what still has to happen with the restaurant. He needs me up there to make some decisions—and I’ll need to be there to film the TV spots. And since the recipes are ready, there’s no real reason to stay until August like I planned.

No reason but Lucy.

But Dale wouldn’t understand that any better than Dad would if he was here. Either way, it means the timeline has officially been moved up. I’m leaving the day after the festival.

In one week.

And I have no idea how Lucy is going to react.

Clearing my throat, I toss my arm around Lucy’s shoulders and keep reading the business plan. Meanwhile, she snuggles into my chest and I feel her eyes aimed upward. I glance down at her, and my lips quirk. “What?”

“Nothing,” she whispers.

Hmm. She’s thinking about something. But what?

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