Page 66 of Devlin

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

IT WAS HARD NOTto call Hannah, not to try to see her. But after waking up alone on Sunday morning, Devlin realized that she'd made good on her promise of one night only. He should have been happy about that. Awkward morning-after conversations were his least favoritething in the world. She'd saved him from that.

But as the hours passed, as Sunday turned in to Monday, he'd broken down and texted her.

Her answer had been short, making it clear she was fine with their very short fling, while he clearly was not. But he hadn't let on. He'd played the game her way. Then he'd tried to distract himself with work, telling himself he would eventuallyforget her. That hadn't worked particularly well.

Now it was Tuesday afternoon, and he was going to try to distract himself with a practice run. If the ocean didn't keep his mind off Hannah, his father probably would.

As he paced around the deck of theWind Warrior, he wished his father would show up already. His dad was supposed to have come back on Sunday, then it was Monday, nowit was today. He still wasn't sure that his father would actually get on the boat, but he'd promised to go for a sail with him, and usually his dad didn't break his promises.

They needed this sail for a lot of reasons. He needed to get Frank back to work, and he hoped to get his dad to agree to race with him. He was running out of time on every front.

He stiffened as he saw Hannahcome down the dock. She stopped abruptly when her gaze caught his, and in that unguarded moment, the memories they'd shared sizzled between them like a live electrical wire.

He'd been crazy to think he was going to forget about her any time soon.

He moved down the stairs. "Hello, Hannah."

"Hi, Devlin," she said, wariness in her eyes. "Are you taking your boat out or did youjust get in?"

"I'm taking it out as soon as my dad gets here. We're going to have our long-anticipated conversation. He finally came back from Boston late last night."

"That's good."

"I hope it's good. We'll see. What about you?"

"My father and I are going to test out theDaisy Mae." She crossed her fingers for luck.

He smiled. "Hannah."

"Devlin?"

"I've missed you."

Her gaze darkened. "That's nice of you to say."

"It's the truth." He dug his hands into his pockets because all he wanted to do was grab her and kiss her and make her want more—as much as he did.

"I wish you'd stayed a little longer," he continued. "We could have had a good time in the morning, too."

"Mornings always complicate things, and we agreedto keep it simple."

"What if I wanted to change our agreement?"

She gave him a nervous look. "Change it to what?"

"I don't know, but one night wasn't enough. I'm certain of that."

"I'm still leaving, Devlin."

"Not for several more days. Why are we wasting the time that you're here?"

Before she could answer, heavy footsteps on the ramp drew his attention.His father was striding straight toward them.Talk about lousy timing.

Hannah stiffened when she saw Graham, but she didn't run. If anything, she squared her shoulders as if she were preparing for battle.

This was not what he wanted. But there was nothing he could do to stop it.

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