Page 40 of The Bossy One

They looked like a family. My eyes stung.

I took a long, deep breath of salt air. I rubbed at the ache in my chest with the palm of my hand and told myself it was okay. My parents hadn’t had a long life. But they’d had a good life. They’d liked their jobs, and they’d loved each other. They’d loved our family vacations on the lake. They would have loved today.

I lay back on the blanket and stared up at the blue sky as I listened to the reassuring roll of the waves and scrunched my toes in the sand. I lost track of time. When the sound of Catie and Declan’s conversation brought me back to earth, I realized I felt more peaceful than I had in months.

I sat up so I could watch Catie and Declan’s attempts to build a sandcastle. Eventually, Catie decided that Declan was doing it wrong, so he was banished to the blanket with me.

“Thanks for this,” I said quietly to Declan. “I don’t know how you knew, but it’s exactly what I needed.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Declan said, keeping his voice light. “There’s a fish and chips stand over on the boardwalk that tastes like summer holiday. We’ll go there for lunch.”

“That sounds perfect.” I reached in my tote bag and pulled out a tube of sunscreen. “Hey, Catie, come over here and put some sunscreen on. We don’t want you to burn.”

“Uncle Declan doesn’t have to wear any,” she argued.

“Uncle Declan’s going to wear some too,” I said.

“I am?” Declan asked.

“You are,” I said firmly. As a lifelong redhead, I knew it was better to deal with the inconvenience of sunscreen than the pain of sunburns.

Declan let out a groan almost as theatrical as Catie’s, and I smothered a smile.

After years as a nanny, I was fast and efficient at sun-screening wiggly kids. I was done with Catie and myself in a matter of minutes. Declan, meanwhile, was still grumbling as he haphazardly slapped it on his limbs. To be fair, he had more skin to cover than I did.

“Do you want me to do your back?” I asked, and then instantly regretted it. The last thing I needed to do was run my hands over his broad back.

“That’d be grand, thanks,” Declan said, turning to me.

My mouth felt a bit dry as I rose up on my knees to get a better angle on his shoulders. He stiffened when I touched him, but started to relax as I worked the sunscreen into his skin, inadvertently giving him a bit of a massage.

Okay. Maybe it wasn’tthatinadvertent. But in my defense, he was magnificent. It was pure instinct to let my palms linger on the slope of his shoulder blade, the graceful line of his spine, the dip of his lower back.

“Mmm.” Declan’s head fell back. “That feels good.”

“Your reward for wearing sunscreen,” I said dryly. At least I intended it to be dry. It came out a tad breathless.

Declan turned to face me when I finished. “Do you want me to do you?”

I plucked at the fabric of my T-shirt. “No need.”

“You’re not going swimming?” Declan asked in disbelief.

I looked at him like he was crazy. “That water doesnotlook warm enough for a swim.”

“Eh. Only about five degrees cooler than the air.”

I shook my head firmly.

“Chicken,” Declan said, a challenging gleam in his eye.

“I am not!”

Declan just grinned at me, smug. Like he knew his goading would work.

And damn him, it did.

“Fine,” I said, stripping off my T-shirt and jeans. “I’ll get in the water.”

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