Chapter Eleven
What the hell was he getting himself into , Jeff wondered? He couldn’t believe that he’d actually volunteered his home, so she’d have somewhere safe to stay. It’s like he couldn’t seem to help himself.
“Wait up,” she called out.
Jeff paused, realizing he’d been rushing down the staircase.
“Sorry,” he muttered, stopping so she could catch up.
“You’d definitely never know you had a prosthetic,” she said, giving him an unguarded smile.
Jeff stilled as her eyes met his. This was going to be difficult, wasn’t it? He was starting to fall for her hard already.
Yeah, right. Who was he fooling? He’d fallen for her years ago, and his feelings had never really changed.
He swallowed, feeling like he had a lump in his throat.
“Did you want to head to your room and change clothes?” he asked. “That skirt and those heels won’t make it easy for you to walk along the beach.”
“That would probably be a good idea. I might even throw on my bathing suit so I can take a quick swim if it isn’t too crowded,” she said.
“You like to swim, do you?” Jeff asked, strangely intrigued. He knew so little about her outside of what he’d read.
“I do. In fact, unless I’m on the road, I’m vigilant about my daily routine which includes swimming when I’m working out.”
Jeff nodded. “Me too. At first, it was great therapy during rehab. But my place is on the lake, so I swim daily when the water isn’t frozen.”
“Brr,” she said, hitting the elevator button in the annex when they reached the bottom of the staircase leading to Jake’s, since it was set up independently from the Inn.
“Sometimes,” he agreed, grinning. “But it’s great for circulation.”
He almost felt…nervous, he decided. Funny, after pushing her around only a few minutes earlier. Jeff was confident when it came to anything security or work related, he supposed, but when it came to his personal life…some days he had no idea how to move forward.
They travelled upstairs on the elevator in silence, until they reached the fourth floor.
“I’m in the Hummingbird Suite,” she said as they stepped off from the elevator.
Jeff nodded. “I remember how hard everyone laughed when Danielle decided to name the suites after birds, but it actually caught on. I haven’t been on this floor since I worked as a bus boy and made room service deliveries back in high school.”
She used her key card to open the door, motioning him inside behind her.
“It’s even nicer than I remember,” he said softly, heading toward the French doors leading out onto the balcony that overlooked the lake.
“I’ll only be a minute,” she said, walking into one of the bedrooms as he stepped outside.
“I’ll just wait out here,” he called out, thinking about the life she led. An apartment in New York, a beach house, and he was sure that home to her was an exclusive property somewhere in Los Angeles.
He’d better be sure to keep any thoughts of romance out of his head. Besides, what would she see in an ordinary guy like him, who was not quite physically whole, even though it didn’t seem to bother her.
Looking more like a tourist, Wren walked onto the balcony to join him wearing something even sexier than the skirt she’d previously worn.
Jeff nearly groaned as he scoped her out from head to toe. Every enticing curve was visible in her black bandeau style bathing suit top, a pair of very short jean shorts more than likely covering the bottom half of her suit.
“Ready?”
She grinned, almost like she knew what he was thinking. “Yes. I’ve packed a beach bag with a couple of towels inside in case you’d like to swim too.”
“Actually, I do have trunks on beneath my jeans. When the weather’s nice, I head to the concessions for hot dogs or ice cream. It’s a habit I’ve had since I was a teenager.”
“Well, let’s get a move on then,” she said, reaching for the bag she’d left on a chair, hoisting it over her shoulder as she headed toward the door. “I didn’t eat breakfast, so I’m suddenly feeling hungry. Those hot dogs sound really good right now.”
“Don’t get too far ahead of me,” he called out as she stepped up to the elevator that would take them back to the breezeway at the bottom of the staircase that led to Jake’s office. “I thought we’d walk along the lakefront. There’s a nature trail that will take us straight to the beach.”
“Sounds great. Lead the way,” she said, stepping onto the elevator when it opened.
Joining her, he hit the button for the main level.
When they reached the breezeway near the solarium, Jeff led her outside across the restaurant patio, where several people were eating lunch outdoors. Walking along the pathway near the waterfall and reaching the juncture that otherwise led to the bridge crossing over the shoreline to the gazebo, he steered her left.
“Isn’t this beautiful?” Wren observed, five minutes after starting their walk along the picturesque pathway. Birdfeeders and windchimes were hung from tree branches far above, while benches had been placed along the trail to overlook the small perennial gardens that had been strategically planted along the trail.
“It’s equally pretty at night,” he admitted, pointing at a little park near the beach. “There’s landscape lighting along the entire path.”
“Also security, I see,” she murmured, glancing upward.
“Sometimes, there’s trouble,” he admitted. “Rowdy guests, or troublemaking teenagers hanging out. It gets pretty hectic around here on the nights that they hold concerts on the gazebo. Jake hires a lot of plainclothes security people, plus there are cameras everywhere.”
She nodded her understanding as they approached the beach.
“I love the views,” she said, glancing across the lake. “I’m surprised it’s not busier.”
“I’m sure it was earlier. There seemed to be a lot of people eating a late lunch. It will probably be kind of busy tonight at the concession stand since the weather’s warmed up quite a bit this week.”
“Let’s eat,” she said. “I’m not going to do too much swimming today. I need to go over my music when I get back to the Inn.”
“How?” he asked, looking at her curiously.
“I travel with a keyboard. I make sure I do a few run throughs on a daily basis, even on the road. Danielle offered to let me practice over at their home, and Jake planned to haul a piano into the suite, because all the suites are supposedly sound proofed. But I couldn’t see putting his crew through all that trouble if I was only going to be staying a week.” She shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll be spending a lot of time at the studio anyway.”
“I’ve got a piano at my place that you’ll be able to use,” he admitted, steering her across the sandy beach, heading toward the large concession building near the beach parking lot.
Another fifteen minutes later, they’d returned to sit at the edge of the beach, eating hot dogs at a picnic bench that had been placed under the shade of an old paper birch, its trunk half in and out of the water.
“These hot dogs are really good,” Wren said, studying the end of the one she’d already bit into.
“They are, aren’t they?” Jeff agreed. “They’re made here in Crystal Rock.”
“Something about them remind me of when I was a kid, when my dad would take me to the state fair.”
“It must be the skins,” he said grinning. “You’re from somewhere in Illinois, aren’t you?”
“A small town near Missouri,” she answered distractedly. “I hated it there.”
Something in her tone of voice warned him not to ask more questions.
“I ride out here almost every day,” he admitted.
She smirked. “Just to eat hot dogs?”
Jeff grinned. “Sometimes.” He hesitated. Why not share? “My sister and her husband own a home across from the beach here on Dragonfly Pointe. Luke has a similar disability, so we work out together since he has a state-of-the-art gym.”
She became thoughtful, studying him. “It must be nice, having family around.”
He grimaced. “Sometimes. But I have three sisters and one brother, and I’m one of the youngest. Everyone seems to think it’s acceptable to butt into my life.”
She laughed suddenly. “Poor baby.”
Jeff grinned.
“That reminds me. I’m probably going to need somewhere to work out.” She grimaced, staring at the last bite of her second hot dog. “Especially if I continue to eat like I have during the past week.”
“I guess since I’m upgrading security and fixing up the guest room, I might as well finish setting up my home gym,” he answered matter-of-factly. “Why don’t you give me a list of the machines and equipment you’d typically use so I can get everything ordered.”
“I don’t want you to have to go to so much trouble,” she said.
“It won’t be,” he confessed. “I’ve already got the space doled out in my basement, but all I’ve got inside the room is a bench and some weights. I’ve just been putting off setting up everything since I’ve been working out with Luke. Visiting gives me a chance to spend time with my niece and nephew while I’m there. But I’ll admit, during the winter, I’m not too keen on driving to their house when the weather’s bad.”
When she quickly slipped out of her shorts, exposing the stretchy black fabric of the bottom half of her bathing suit that matched the string bandeau top, Jeff had the usual physical reaction as his mouth went dry.
He tried to pretend to be unaffected. But geez, if he couldn’t control his desire in the middle of a public beach, how in the hell was he going to be able to handle it when he had her alone at his house? And it wasn’t just physical desire. Never in a million years would he have ever thought that someone like Wren would be so easy to talk to.
Giving him a side glance, she wore an obviously knowing smile as she headed into the water, jumping to dive in after reaching deep water.
Trying to build up the courage to follow Wren into the water, Jeff blinked as he turned away, staring along the beach. “Talk about coincidence.”
“Unca Jeff. Mom . Look who’s here,” his nephew Danny cried out, running towards Jeff.
Giving Danny a wide smile, Jeff stood, picking him up and spinning him high in the air. Danny’s laughter echoed through the air when Jeff gave him some quick tickles before resting him down on his feet.
“What are you doing here at this time of day?” his twin sister Kelly asked as she approached, carrying his niece, Adriana.
“Giving a short tour to one of Eve’s clients,” he said, turning to Wren, as she stepped out from the water, reaching for one of the towels from her bag.