Holiday at Magnolia Bay (Southern Born Christmas Book 1) (12 page)

In what felt like seconds later they were in his bedroom, their now naked bodies tangled on top of his unmade bed. Their hands and mouths feasted on one another as though it had been years and not hours since they’d touched this intimately.

“This is all I can give you,” he said. “I’m not capable of anything more.”

Jenna somehow doubted that. If he was a machine like her father, he wouldn’t care so much about her feelings. But she didn’t dare argue with him now. Not when his tongue had found her happy place. Instead, she threaded her fingers through his silky cropped hair and let the rapture overtake her.

*

Drew couldn’t get
enough of her. He’d resigned himself to abstaining from Jenna and her body for the rest of his stay in Magnolia Bay but he’d lasted all of thirty seconds when she’d appeared on his doorstep earlier. Hell, he’d had her twice before she’d collapsed into a deep sleep and his body was already revving up for another round. Clearly, he wasn’t the machine he thought he was if he couldn’t tamp down on his insatiable desire for this woman.

The moonlight created a path over the sheets, gently bathing Jenna’s sleeping face. Drew knew now she wasn’t as innocent as he’d first thought. Rather, she was strong, resolute and passionate about the things—and people—that mattered to her. Aunt Evie was lucky to have Jenna in her life. He felt a touch of assurance knowing that Jenna would be around after he’d slipped away. And he would have to slip away. Drew couldn’t keep using Jenna to chase away the flashbacks haunting him. Not when he couldn’t offer her anything in return.

Jenna stirred next to him, her warm body curling up against his. Her lips twitched in her sleep, but she didn’t wake. He reverently brushed a strand of hair off her face as he breathed in the summery scent of her shampoo mixed with the musky fragrance of sex. A man could get attached to a woman like Jenna Huntley. A man could fall in love with her. Drew suspected a part of him already had.

All the more reason to get the hell out of Dodge quickly and quietly
.

Jenna didn’t deserve to be saddled with a military machine like Drew. Not when she already had the same model for a father. She needed a man who could be there for her, to love and cherish her every day. A man who wasn’t weighed down by sins he’d committed in the name of war.

Shouts from the beach drifted in through the open window. He looked over at Jenna, but she slept soundly. Drew slipped from the bed, tucked the sheet around her curves and pulled on his jeans and his hoodie before padding on bare feet to the front porch. The frat boys were gathered in a mob on a section of beach closer to the main house. Flickers of light that looked like the flash from multiple cell phone cameras dotted the dark night as the boys grew louder and more raucous.

Drew was moving through the sand before his brain processed where the group was standing: in front of the turtle nest where he’d first spied Jenna.

“Hey!” he shouted sprinting toward them. “No lights! The turtles will run toward the flash and not into the ocean.”

One of the boys was attempting to grab at the turtles as hundreds of the hatchlings raced from the nest and wiggled through the sand to the ocean, the light of the full moon their only guide.

“Leave them alone, you idiots,” he yelled as he jumped between them and the hole in the sand where hundreds of baby turtles were erupting like fire ants out to the ground, crawling over one another to get to the ocean. With one arm he shoved three of them back behind the corrugated edging dug into the sand.

“Chill out, mister. We’re just watching,” one of them argued while the rest took a few steps back. Drew could only imagine the savage look he must have on his face. But these turtles were important to the two women most important to him: Aunt Evie and Jenna. He heaved a ragged breath as the college kids went quiet around him, all of them now caught up in the spectacle of nature.

They watched in awe for several minutes as the stragglers made their way toward the gentle waves. The one boy who’d picked up a turtle carefully redirected it toward the surf. He gave Drew a sheepish look. “I’m probably not supposed to touch them, right? It was headed the wrong way. I just wanted to make sure the little guy had a fighting chance.” A few of the others quietly cheered on the turtles as they floundered about in the sand.

Drew took in the incredible ‘circle of life’ scene as he sank down on the sand, cool now that darkness had fallen. Several of the college kids milled about watching over the last few hatchlings as they raced into the sea, steering them toward the ocean with their feet when necessary.

“My girlfriend would love to have seen this shit,” he overheard one of them murmur to his friend.

Drew could think of a few other women who would have liked to have been here and he couldn’t blame them, it was an amazing sight to witness. Having spent his summers in Maine, he’d never seen a turtle run before. Now he knew what all the fuss was about.

As the frat boys wandered off in search of more excitement, Drew pictured a young Jenna and Aunt Evie sitting outside watching the same spectacular sight, delight etched on their faces. It was the turtles that had brought the two of them together. They’d both missed it tonight. Because of him.

Drew knew what he had to do. He couldn’t be the man his aunt desperately wanted him to be, the one who could give Jenna everything. But there was something else he could give them both. Pulling out his cell phone he remained where he was in the sand, acting as a sentry in case other hatchlings came along while he typed out a message. When he had finished, Drew blew out a satisfied sigh enjoying the peace and quiet of the beach. He listened for the tell-tale sign of helicopters, but, thankfully, they never came.

‡

“I
marked the
nest. There looks to be thirty or more eggs left to hatch. You know as well as I do, they could emerge any night this week,” Jenna said before taking a seat next to Miss Evie on the porch at the east end of her house overlooking the ocean. The woman looked older and wearier today and Jenna was having a hard time keeping her concern in check. If Drew knew what was troubling his godmother, he hadn’t bothered sharing it with Jenna the previous evening. Not that there had been much verbal communication going on between the two of them in his bedroom. They’d been too busy with non-verbal communication with Jenna enjoying what had to be the most profound connection she’d ever experienced with a man. Her body still hummed from it. But that was tempered by her worry for her dear friend.

“I’ve lived in this house for over four decades and I’ve never missed a turtle hatch.” Miss Evie stared blankly out at the ocean as though she wanted to call the turtles back to the beach. “I always check the nests before I turn in at night.”

Jenna took Miss Evie’s hand between her own, gently rubbing the crepe-like skin. “You were tired last night. It happens. But you haven’t missed it all. With luck the other eggs will hatch. We can sit out together tonight and watch the nest. Maybe Drew will sit with us, too. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

A lone tear trickled down Miss Evie’s lined cheek. “It’s too late for that. Drew’s already gone.”

The news wasn’t exactly a surprise to Jenna. Earlier that morning, Drew had coaxed her body out of slumber with his very competent mouth and his hands. Something about the way he made love to her—maybe it was his thoroughness or the reverent way he touched her—had Jenna sensing it would be their last time together. Rather than mourn the situation, she’d taken everything he offered and then some, shoring up the pieces of her heart that would have splintered further had he stayed in Magnolia Bay any longer.

It was apparent that whatever was causing tension between Drew and his godmother hadn’t been resolved, however. She knew how much the older woman adored him and how the feelings were just as strong on Drew’s side. Jenna had no right to be angry with him for leaving without saying goodbye—damn that whole no-strings-attached concept—but she was a bit miffed he hadn’t made peace with Miss Evie.

“I know it’s difficult for you to see him return to active-duty,” she said. “I wish I could promise you that he’ll be okay, but…” Jenna swallowed around the lump in her throat.

Miss Evie squeezed Jenna’s hand. “Sugar, I’ve been worrying about that boy for nearly thirty years. That’s never going to change no matter where he is.”

“Then, please, tell me what has you so sad today. If it’s the turtles, I told you we’ll get to see the others hatch and if they don’t hatch, there are three other nests close by.”

Shaking her head, Miss Evie looked away from the ocean. A sense of dread washed over Jenna when she saw embarrassment and shame lurking in the older woman’s eyes. “I may have misled you,” she whispered.

Jenna smiled at her friend. “Oh, Miss Evie, I know you invited Drew here to try and fix us up. It’s very sweet and all, especially to know that you think so much of me, but I knew what you were up to from the beginning. You didn’t mislead me.”

Miss Evie let out a little snort. “Oh, Sugar, I haven’t given up on
that
yet. I have plans for both my godsons and I’ll see Jack and Drew settled to the right woman before I meet my maker. That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s about the hatchery,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I’m afraid I don’t have the money to give you after all.”

Jenna let the words sink in as she watched a pair of pelicans dive bomb the ocean for their lunch.
Miss Evie didn’t have the money?
It had been the older woman’s suggestion that she fund the initial start-up. What had caused this to change? Without Miss Evie’s donation, Magnolia Bay wasn’t going to get its hatchery after all. Which meant Jenna wouldn’t be staying in town much longer. She couldn’t. Not if she wanted to be taken seriously by her father.

“I really wanted this for you,” Miss Evie was saying as tears slid down her face. “For my legacy. I believe in you, Jenna.”

Wobbling a little as she stood up, Jenna went over to the railing to stare at the ocean view Miss Evie had been studying so seriously moments earlier. She dragged in a deep breath of salty air and tried to come to grips with what her oldest friend was saying.

“Please don’t hate me,” Miss Evie sobbed behind her.

Jenna spun around, tears threatening her own eyes. “Of course I don’t hate you, Miss Evie. I just don’t understand what’s changed. Why can’t you fund the project? What’s happened to change your mind? I thought this project was a dream of yours?”

“It was! It still is,” Miss Evie cried. “I just needed Drew’s help.”

That cold dread that had been flickering through her was now a boulder sitting uncomfortably in Jenna’s stomach. “Drew? What does he have to do with this?”

Jenna wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to that question. Had Perry been right? Was Drew’s purpose for being in Magnolia Bay to talk Miss Evie out of funding the hatchery? She’d gone into a relationship with her eyes wide open this time. Was it possible she’d been duped—
again
?

“Did Drew do this? Did he talk you out of this?” she demanded of Miss Evie. “Is that why you were so upset last night?”

“It’s not like that.” Miss Evie was shredding a tissue in her hands.

“It’s not like
what
?” Jenna’s voice was trembling as much as her body was. “It’s not like
he was using me
?”

“Oh, Sugar,” Miss Evie whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“Well, it seems that once again I have to sweep into town to put together the broken hearts my little brother leaves behind.”

“Jack!” Miss Evie exclaimed as Jenna turned to lock eyes with ones that were not only eerily familiar but also seemed to be laughing at her. Jenna was not amused.

“Don’t tell me.” Jack climbed the last step onto the porch, stepping into the shade. “He didn’t bother to wait around for me, taking off for parts unknown already without so much as even a goodbye?” Drew’s brother offered up a sheepish grin, one that didn’t match the glimmer of sadness that passed through his eyes.

He tossed his suit coat over the back of a chair before leaning down to kiss his godmother soundly on the cheek. “I guess I’ll have to go after him and kick his ass for making you cry, Aunt Evie.”