Secrets Between Them

“Watch your step,” Nick said as they came across a fallen tree in their path.

He was a courteous companion. Charming. Good company. He’d paid the check for their lunch without her even noticing. And easy to talk to. Jennifer couldn’t remember the last time she’d babbled so much.

He seemed interested in all of it. Her happy, carefree childhood. Aunt Annie’s previous life as a midwife. Her father’s attempts to retain his independence, even though the stroke had robbed him of most of the strength on his left side.

He was wonderfully attentive. The only problem was, whenever she asked a question of him, he wasn’t nearly as forthcoming as she would have liked.

It would be exaggerating to label him secretive…but not by much. She decided to try again. “Have you always lived in New York City?”

“Born and raised.”

She felt a little envious of that. Every time she’d visited Simone there, she’d loved the city. But she’d felt out of her element, too. She suspected no one who hadn’t grown up there could ever feel like they really belonged in a place like New York City.

“It’s hard to imagine a place more different from New York than Summer Island. It must seem very dull here to you.”

Jennifer was having a good time with Nick, but she couldn’t get a read on the man. There were moments when he withdrew into himself and appeared a little cool and distant. But mostly he seemed to enjoy being around her as much as she enjoyed being with him.

In fact, there were times, like now, when she caught a glimpse of something more in his eyes.

“Jennifer?” He pulled gently on her arm, forcing her to stop walking and look at him. “Nothing I’ve seen on Summer Island so far has seemed dull to me.”

She swallowed, trapped in place by the power of his gaze. A slow heat started at her core and began to build. The world collapsed into one small area…the space between him and her.

And then that space began to shrink as he lowered his head and wrapped his arms around her.

“Jennifer?”

She could hardly breathe. “Yes?”

He didn’t have an answer. Only a kiss. And while she’d been expecting it, she hadn’t expected to feel so much from it. The wine last night hadn’t been nearly this intoxicating. She went up on tiptoe and settled her hands tentatively on the firm platform of his shoulders.

His lips brushed softly over hers, settling on her cheek, then her ear, then the side of her head.

More, she wanted to demand. I need more.

But he let her go. He turned his face to the side, looking just a tad guilty. He probably hadn’t planned for that kiss to happen. Now he was worried she was going to read too much into it.

She took a step away from him. “Well. That wasn’t supposed to be part of the tour.”

They laughed uneasily, then continued walking.

“You’re sure you don’t have a boyfriend who’s going to punch my lights out for doing that?”

“No boyfriend. Not in a long time. Wait. That makes me sound just a little pathetic, doesn’t it?”

“Not at all. At least I hope not since I’m not in a relationship right now, either. But what about the guy you almost married? Does he still live on the island?”

“No. He never did. It was a long-distance thing and it happened a long time ago. His name was Barry Collins.”

“Barry Collins. I feel like I’ve heard that name before. Should I have?”

Only if he read the fine print in the movie magazines. But surely a man like Nick wouldn’t waste his time with reading material like that.

“I met Barry through Simone. She introduced us after one of her concerts. Looking back, I can see our relationship was doomed to fail. We had nothing in common.”

“But he asked you to marry him. So things must have been pretty serious between the two of you. What went wrong?”

She hesitated, not sure how to put it. Everyone here knew the entire story, but Nick didn’t need the long version. “I found out I couldn’t trust him.”

Something dark flashed in Nick’s eyes. “Did he hurt you?”

“The details don’t really matter. Like I said, it was all ages ago.” Barry Collins represented a period of her life that she didn’t like to think back on. What was the point? Best to move on and concentrate on the positive. That was the attitude she always tried to take.

“There’s the beach.” She pointed ahead, using an evasive technique on him for a change.

“Some beach.” The shoreline was raised about ten feet from the water’s edge and this was high tide. He pulled Jennifer close again.

“You didn’t answer my last question,” he said.

Their faces were almost as close as they’d been in the moment before he’d kissed her. Jennifer dampened her lips, then took a breath for courage before she could force herself to meet his gaze. “You’ve been avoiding my questions, too.”

“Not true.”

“Yes, you have.” She loved looking at him, watching the various emotions play upon his face. He had a very expressive mouth. Right now it was being held firmly in check, as if he didn’t want so much as a facial twitch to give him away.

“What do you want to know, Jennifer?”

The hint of playfulness that had been in his eyes earlier was gone. She took his free hand in hers and held on tightly, afraid that she might be venturing into territory she’d rather not know about.

“Start with your book, Nick. Tell me what you’re writing about.”

CHAPTER FIVE

IT SEEMED TO TAKE FOREVER for Nick to answer Jennifer. He opened his mouth a couple of times, before the words finally came out.

“I’m writing a biography,” he said.

Right away Jennifer knew.

She felt as if a cold wind had suddenly swept in from the Pacific. Wrapping her arms around her midsection, she stepped backward.

“It’s about Simone.” Her voice sounded flat. Lifeless. Once again, she couldn’t look at him.

Why hadn’t she seen this coming? She’d been crazy to think a man like him would be interested in her.

Jennifer picked up the trail and started back for the road, walking a lot faster than she had on the way down here.