Sex on the Beach (Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin) (10 page)

He considered swinging by the girls’ room to observe the jungleizing process, but decided against it and took his daisy back to his own cottage, where the housekeeper was just finishing. The breakfast stuff was already gone, the bed made, towels replaced. For a moment he panicked, seeing no trace of Amanda. Then he spotted her suitcase behind his, solid and reassuring. She would be back.

For how long, though? And what about after the trip? Jeremy flopped onto the patio chair—
their
chair—and pondered the possibilities.

He’d offered to move his company, and in the moment he’d said it, he was serious. But the more he considered it, the more the idea tied his stomach in knots. It had been a great year, but that was no guarantee of future success. It would be all too easy to fuck everything up, to end up like most of the start-ups out there. His team was small, he relied heavily on individuals with unique skill sets, and there were a few of them he
knew
wouldn’t consider moving to California. They had families, kids in school, partners with jobs in Seattle, mortgages or leases.

He’d offered to try, thinking that was what Amanda needed to hear, not knowing that the very idea of uprooting those folks must have been painful for her to hear. Given what he knew now, he was ashamed he’d even voiced the possibility. And grateful she had given him another chance, even after he’d threatened to repeat her dad’s pattern on a grander scale.

If he couldn’t move everybody, though, and Amanda wanted to stay in San Jose, what were their options? Was there a city with an airport somewhere midway, with cheap commuter flights? Could he maybe fly down to San Jose every weekend? How long could he keep that up before something got in the way, a work commitment or a social obligation or just not feeling like getting on a plane every Friday night? He knew people who’d tried to make arrangements like that work, but none of them had been successful in the long haul.

If only he hadn’t been so dead set on Seattle in the first place. But at the time it had seemed like the culmination of plans he’d spent years working to achieve. It had never occurred to him that Amanda wasn’t on board, and by the time he really wrapped his mind around what a mistake he’d made, momentum had already carried him through the breakup, the move, and the first several months of nonstop work to get the company rolling.

Strong as the temptation was to get out his tablet, start writing down all the alternatives he could think up, he resisted. Instead, he picked up the daisy and unwrapped it, venturing into his room only long enough to throw away the paper and the fancy water thing. All of that was nice but beside the point.

He wouldn’t write down his ideas. He definitely wouldn’t make a spreadsheet weighing pros and cons and then present the whole thing to Amanda, as much as he wanted to. Any plan would be one they made together. If he wanted to be with her, he couldn’t do this by himself. That was the whole thing.

Almost the whole thing. He made one more quick trip to the room, then returned to the lanai to wait for Amanda.

Chapter Fourteen

It had taken half the morning, but Amanda finally convinced Alan they’d done enough to the room. She had to force herself to walk instead of run to get back to Jeremy’s cottage. Playing it cool was difficult, because two hours had been far too long to spend away from him.

He was on the patio when she came through the break in the bushes. He looked very James Bond-y again, all rugged masculinity and pensiveness as he stared out at the ocean.

When he spotted her, he grinned, breaking the illusion. Geeky, smart, adorable Jeremy again.
Her
Jeremy again, possibly. They might actually be engaged again, now that she thought of it. She supposed that remained to be seen, but the idea that it might not be so made her stomach clench up. She tabled the thought, focusing on how good he looked and the knowledge that they had the rest of this day to spend together. Looking further ahead wasn’t helpful right now.

“Room all done?”

Nodding, she kissed him quickly but took the chair next to his, not trusting herself to behave if she shared that lounger with him right now. “It’s very
Where the Wild Things Are
. Only, you know, romantic.”

“So what’s next?”

“Lunch? Dinner? Maybe a surfing lesson in between? I don’t know. It’s the last day, we should make it count.”

She hoped that hadn’t sounded as wistful as it felt.

Jeremy smiled, looking vaguely secretive and uncharacteristically shy. “That sounds good. I got you something, by the way.”

“You shouldn’t have.”

With a shrug, he reached beneath her chair and popped back up with a single daisy. No bouquet or paper wrap, no adornment. A simple white flower with a bright yellow heart, on a straight stalk with straggly leaves like all daisies tended to have.

She’d spent all that time looking at the varied floral splendors the tropics had to offer. This homely flower was like a drink of cool water after too much spicy food, a soothing balm to overworked senses.

“You can say it again,” he prompted when she stared a little too long between him and the flower.

“You...shouldn’t have.” Even though he totally
should
have, and she was so glad he had.

They both smiled, and Jeremy tipped the daisy toward her with one finger. “I was going to buy you a big batch of tropical stuff, with bright colors and everything. Then I saw this and thought, it’s an everyday sort of flower. It’s not for special occasions. It’s for every single day. And that seemed right.” Sighing, he abandoned the chair and got down on one knee in front of her chair.

Amanda felt her face growing pink, her eyes tearing up, and tried to concentrate very hard on breathing in through her nose, out through her mouth. The whole moment felt huge, expanded, as though it contained worlds of possibility. She knew that was silly, because it really contained only one, and it was one she had sort of expected anyway. But just because it was silly didn’t mean it wasn’t the truest thing she’d ever experienced.

“I’m gonna cry,” she warned him. This shouldn’t surprise him; she cried at the drop of a hat.

He whipped a bundle of tissues out of his pocket, then carried on as if she hadn’t snatched them from his hand and whimpered. “I already proposed once, so this isn’t that. Because this is more. We haven’t solved anything yet. I know we have no idea where we’ll be in six months, whether we’ll have worked it out or broken up for good, or spent thousands of dollars in airfare on booty calls.”

Booty calls
opened the floodgates for some reason. Amanda used the first of what she was sure would be many tissues, trying to hold back the inevitable.

“You okay?”

She nodded. “I’m good. Really. Don’t stop.”
Never stop
.

“Okay. So. This is me. Offering to
try
. One day at a time. Every day. It isn’t hiring a skywriter, or buying out the florist, or moving heaven and earth, because that isn’t what it’s about. I’m just promising to be open, and to remember we said we’d make decisions together, and to try. And try. And as far as I’m concerned, I’m promising to try
forever.
”

She wasn’t okay. She might never be okay again; apparently, uncontrolled weeping was the unexpected side effect of Jeremy figuring out secret option C. While she cried, he took the daisy from her hands and tucked it into her hair, then held both her hands and bent his forehead to hers. He handed her tissues when she needed them, and waited until the tears stopped before he whispered, hesitantly, “Was that enough? I can do less. If you need me to.”

“You’re gonna make me cry again.”

“That was supposed to make you laugh.”

“It did, on the inside.”

“I still have this thing. Do you think you might want to wear it?”

She sniffled, using the last of the tissues.
Thing?
“Thing?”

“Yeah. This
thing
. You know. I have it in my pocket...” He pulled out a black velvet box. It could have been any black velvet box, but it wasn’t. She recognized it, even before he opened it. And she started crying again. “It would make me really, really happy if you did want to wear it. But I’ll understand if you don’t. Yet. Because I know nothing’s really changed, we haven’t really figured this out, and—”

She snatched the ring from the box and kissed him, all in one fell swoop.

* * *

Morning came ungodly early, and Amanda and Jeremy arrived at the lobby breakfast buffet at seven. Their bags were packed, and they were ready to get into the limo. Ready, except for necessary infusions of caffeine and protein and anything else with an—
ein
in the name that might help them survive the journey.

She almost forgot herself and ordered a freedom omelet. A Denver with no bell peppers served just as well, however. Fruit and croissant balanced out the meal. Jeremy stole a piece of her fresh pineapple as they made their way to the table Julie and Alan had already secured.

“Mmm. Delicious suffrage. I wondered what that tasted like.”

She kissed him on the cheek and took another swig of coffee, nearly spilling her plate, but feeling better and better. And she’d started out the day feeling pretty fucking fantastic, to be quite honest.

Just as they reached the table, Julie said, “I feel like everything I’ve put in my mouth here has been magical.”

Cue hysterical laughter and the birth of a tagline for the vacation
.

“And on that note...” Amanda put her plate down next to Julie’s. “Good morning, and I won’t ask Alan if he had a good night, since I gather it was magical.”

“It really kind of was,” he assured her with a smug smile. He reached across the corner of the table, twining his fingers with Julie’s.

So the grand gesture had been a success.

And when she thought about it, so had Jeremy’s. In a sense. She suddenly remembered the rock on her finger, and felt like neon arrows must be pointing to it, even though she knew she was the only one who could see them.

Well, she and Jeremy. He looked like a coffee zombie, but he kept touching her as though he wanted to make sure she was real, and kissing her hands every chance he got. Julie asked him when his flight left, and he roused enough to answer.

“About half an hour after yours. I’m sharing your limo, hope nobody minds.”

Amanda picked a long flake off her croissant, anticipating the buttery goodness. Then she stopped, because Julie was staring at her hand. Apparently when her own attention was diverted from the neon signs, others could see them, as well. She grinned, not even trying to play it cool.

“Congratulations,” Julie said, waggling her eyebrows. “Re-congratulations. And I am
still
not wearing sea-foam green in the wedding.”

Gah.
It was shades of chartreuse
,
why did nobody realize that?
Nothing like sea-foam green whatsoever.
“But it would be such a great reminder of Hawaii, Jules. The ocean, the birds. Come on, be a sport.”

Alan put his orange-juice glass down a little too hard. “Somebody’s getting married?”

Jeremy seemed equally confused. “There are gonna be birds in our wedding?”

Amanda smiled. As many birds as she liked. And all of them chartreuse. Although that might be the exhaustion and sex hormones talking.

“We’ll put all the options on the table,” she reassured him. “We’ll discuss.”

Jeremy grinned back, pulling her hand away from the croissant and pressing a kiss next to the ring. “I can work with that. Wherever it ends up being.”

It almost didn’t matter. Because wherever they ended up, they’d both be there. They’d both be trying, and taking it one day at a time.

And that would make it home.

* * * * *

About
the
Author

Delphine Dryden majored in English at the University of Texas at Austin, and probably should have gone ahead for that MFA and PhD to become an English professor like she planned. Instead, she took a detour through law school, practiced law for a woefully brief time, and wound up working in special education for the next fifteen or so years (first as a teacher, then as an educational diagnostician). Somewhere in there she also obtained a master’s in educational psychology/special education.

Delphine writes contemporary erotic romance for Carina Press, and mainstream steampunk romance for Berkley. She has also published with Ellora’s Cave and Cleis Press. Her writing has earned an Award of Excellence and Reviewers’ Choice Award from
RT Book Reviews
, an EPIC Award and a Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence.

A few years ago, Delphine gave up the day job to write full-time. Now she balances that with parenting two kids and two dogs, and occasionally designing websites or making trailer videos. She and her family are all Texas natives and reside in unapologetic suburban bliss near Houston.

Also
by
Delphine
Dryden

Carina
Press

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