Page 85 of Love At The Shore
“Aboutus?”
He pulled back just far enough to meet her gaze. Then he tucked her hair behind her ear and mustered as much solemnity as he possibly could. “First, I think we need to set some new rules. You know, guidelines.”
“Oh.” A smile tugged at her lips before she nodded in mock seriousness. “And what would those guidelines look like, exactly?”
“Rule number one, I definitely get to kiss you.” That was a biggie, far more important than no music after 9 p.m. or making sure Tank kept all four of his paws on Lucas’s side of the patio.
“Like right now?” A slow smile crept to her lips.
Like yesterday.Lucas nodded. “Preferably.”
“I’m willing to agree to that,” she said, all-business.
But when he cupped her face in his hands, the pretense fell away, leaving nothing but love behind. Love…
And the most perfect kiss Lucas could ever want—sweet like honey from the moment his lips touched hers. Alive and wistful, all at the same time. It had taken them a long, long time to get to this place, and now that they’d found their way, he never wanted to leave. Jenna and her kids were his heart.
Hishome.
And he no longer wanted that home split down the middle.
He rested his forehead against Jenna’s as her heartbeat crashed into his. “Now I’ve got one more rule that needs to be addressed.”
The sun dipped beneath the horizon, spilling rose-gold light over the sea as Jenna made her way over the dune with a few planks from the recently disassembled fence balanced in her hands.
Ally, Nick and Lucas walked along the sand beside her with the remaining boards split between them. Tearing down the dividing line that had separated the two halves of the beach house for five weeks straight had been a group effort. And now watching the last remaining bits of the fence burn into ash would be one too.
“So there are no sides anymore?” Nick asked as they cleared the sea oats and carried the wood toward the bonfire pit.
“You are free to roam,” Lucas said.
Ally glanced at him over her shoulder. “Does that mean Tank can come over whenever he wants?”
He answered her with a smile. “Only if I can come over with him.”
Good answer, Jenna thought. Perfect answer, actually. She just wished she would’ve had the courage to tear down the fence weeks ago, when they’d only been halfway through their chocolate supply and the summer wasn’t nearly over.
Better late than never and all that, but she wasn’t ready to go. Not even close.
She glanced to her left—toward the place where Lucas had just been walking alongside her—but his steps had slowed so that he was now walking in step with Nick. Their conversation instantly made her throat thick with emotion.
“Hey, I’m sorry I let you down, bud. It was my bad,” Lucas said.
“That’s okay.” Nick’s voice was upbeat. In light of his tone, Jenna expected Lucas to drop the subject.
He didn’t. “No, it isn’t. But I promise to make it up to you.”
Jenna snuck a glance at them just as Nick stopped walking to grin up at Lucas. “I’d like that.”
Lucas’s brows rose “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Then for what felt like the millionth time, Jenna’s eyes stung with tears as Lucas shifted the wood he was carrying to one arm so he could wrap the other around Nick’s shoulders. She really needed to get a grip on the crying situation, but maybe she’d let it go just this once.
She was finally allowing herself to feel again. Tobe. She just hadn’t realized it would be such a weepy process.
“You realize we’re hugging, right?” Nick said.
