No Other Love (A Walker Island Romance, Book 2) (3 page)

“Mr. Russell is the best science teacher
ever
,” Natalie said with the same enthusiasm she’d used greeting Morgan. “I’ve learned so much in his classes.”

“Students like Natalie make it very easy for me to do my job,” Brian said. It sounded like the kind of thing a teacher was expected to say, but really, it was the truth. Odds were that, with or without his help, Natalie would eventually work her way into the top echelons of science. In fact, Brian wouldn’t be too surprised if, twenty years from now, she was picking up the Nobel Prize for some discovery. She was the kind of kid who seemed to live inside her books and her brilliant mind. All Brian had to do was point her in the right direction from time to time. One really good thing about this internship was that he hoped it might coax her out of the library once in a while.

Tad…well, he was a little more work. Tad was a smart kid, but he definitely wasn’t the kind of student Brian would ordinarily have expected to get involved with a project like this. That his star kicker had
signed up said quite a lot about just how big his crush on Natalie was. Especially since his eyes hadn't left the girl's face since they'd come into the office.

Brian wasn’t sure if Natalie had even noticed that Tad was interested in her when practically any other girl in the school would have jumped at the chance to go out with the football team’s star. Clearly, Tad didn’t believe in making life easy for himself, either with the internship or with his crush.

Funny, Brian thought, it was a lot like how he'd always felt around Morgan. Because instead of falling for one of the island girls who had no urge whatsoever to leave for the city, he'd willingly given his heart to her when they were kids.

And now, seven years since he'd last seen her, one look was all it had taken for him to realize that he was just as head over heels in love with Morgan as he'd been back in high school.

“Brian?” Morgan began to reach for him, but pulled her hand back at the last moment. “Is everything okay?”

Knowing the last thing he could do in front of his students was blurt out his love for her, he nodded and said, “Your assistant sent over some waivers for everyone to sign.” He rooted through his stacks of paperwork until he found them. “We also have one for you about not holding the school liable for anything to do with the project, along with the state education forms to make the internships official for Natalie’s and Tad's transcripts.”

“Wait a minute,” Morgan said as she frowned at the school's internship forms. “It says here that the supervisor must be present on all excursions.” She looked up at him, her eyes such a beautiful blue that he needed to grab on to the desk to steady himself. “Are you really planning to be with the three of us every single time we work together on my project?”

“I think the idea is to have some supervision for the students, make sure everything’s going okay, and have some continuity with my science class.” Brian worked to make the plan sound as natural—and as casual—as he could. “Plus, in the event that something were to go wrong, I will be able to step in and help out immediately. Not that I think anything’s going to go wrong, obviously.”

Morgan pressed her lips together at that, and Brian couldn’t help remembering the sweet yet sinful sensation of them against his own. Her lips had tasted so delicious every time they'd kissed, the flavor of her lip gloss changing as often as her mood. She'd treated makeup as a means of self-expression, the way someone else might use paint or music. She had always been an artist, one with really, really beautiful lips that he'd dreamed of kissing again for seven long years...

Somehow, Brian managed to turn his focus back to the papers they each needed to sign and the schedule his students needed to keep to fit in all of their activities. “Practice starts in five minutes, Tad. You should probably head out now that the contracts are signed.”

Tad looked a little startled by the reminder. He’d obviously been watching Natalie instead of the clock. He really had it bad.

Brian knew exactly how he felt.

“Thanks for the reminder, Coach. And thanks again for this opportunity, Ms. Walker.” He turned to the girl beside him, wearing his heart entirely on his sleeve. “Bye, Natalie.”

After giving him a friendly wave, Natalie told them, “I need to go, too, unfortunately. I’ve got an experiment running in the science lab.” Clearly, she wished she could stay to produce Morgan’s entire makeup line right there and then.

“When we have more time together,” Morgan said, “I'd love to hear more about what you're working on at school.”

The girl looked thrilled. “Oh my gosh, I would
love
to talk to you about things. Anything, really, since you've seen and done so much.”

And then, for the first time in seven incredibly long years, Brian and Morgan were alone together again.

“Don’t you have to head out to the football field, too?” Morgan asked.

“Nope, one of the assistant coaches is running today's practice.”

Brian racked his brain to think of
something
he could say to Morgan that would get her to stay, even just a few minutes longer. But standing this close to her muddled up his brain and turned it to mush. Just the way her kisses always had.

But Morgan wasn't turning to leave. Instead, she was looking at him with an expression on her face that he couldn't quite read. “Do you want to go and get a drink?”

Her question was so sudden that it took Brian completely by surprise. It was the very last thing he’d been expecting.

And the very best.

“I'd love to.”

CHAPTER FOUR

As they walked the short distance to the local hangout on Main Street, Morgan tried to think of things they could talk about that wouldn't end up circling back to their teenage romantic relationship. She hadn't intended to ask Brian to have a drink with her, but once the papers had been signed and the kids had walked away, she'd realized she wasn't ready to walk away from him. Not yet. Not when he looked and smelled so good. Not when his smile was so sweet and so sexy.

And not when she'd finally realized just how much she'd missed him all these years.

Given that they were going to be working alongside one another every single day for the next several weeks, she had spontaneously decided that the best thing they could do was go for a friendly drink to show that they could get along without their past getting in the way. A simple “I’m not pining over you and you’re not pining over me” drink. It was the right thing to do. The adult thing to do. After all, they weren’t hormone-driven, angst-ridden kids anymore.

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes before they reached the Seaman’s Pub. It was mostly full of locals and the marine biology crowd, who came over to do research on the whales and the waters around the island, and played up the maritime image with nets and pictures of the island’s whale “regulars” on the walls. It was strange to think that she and Brian had been eighteen the last time they'd gone out together and hadn't been old enough to set foot inside the pub.

“How is your mother doing?” Morgan asked.

“She’s great now, completely over her illness. She’s living in Seattle now and loves being in the city.”

“So she's happy?” Morgan had always liked Brian’s mother and had been really sad when she'd gotten sick midway through their high school years. Brian had always done such a good job of taking care of his mom that it had been just one more reason to love him. At the same time, she was surprised to hear that Mrs. Russell wasn't on the island anymore, because that meant that Brian was living here without any family at all.

“She's very happy, actually. My dad and I were the big island lovers, not her.” He looked at Morgan, and in his eyes she read his acceptance of that fact. Just the way he'd always accepted it about
her.

Brian bought them drinks while she looked for a table. She tried to find a spot where they'd have plenty of space, but after he returned with the drinks she quickly realized that due to a couple of biologists who were loudly discussing approaches to underwater photography at the next table, they would have to sit quite close to each other if they wanted to actually be able to hear each other talk.

“How have the makeover segments been going?”

“Really well,” Morgan said. “Especially when I'm working with someone who is on the verge of making a big change in their life and I can see what a difference the makeover makes to them. That's when it feels like I've done something really great.” There weren't many men who she believed would understand that, but Brian had always understood more than anyone else. And despite their years apart, something told her he still did.

“I loved that makeover you did awhile back in Idaho when you helped the girl get ready for her prom.”

Maybe Morgan should have been surprised that Brian's favorite makeover segment was the same as her own, but she wasn't. Not when they'd always been able to finish each other's sentences—and thoughts. Truly, the only thing that
did
surprise her was that Brian watched her on TV at all. Clearly, he hadn't been nearly as intent on blocking her out of his life these past seven years as she had with him. It was just that it had hurt so much every time she thought about him...

Belatedly realizing he was waiting for her to respond, she said, “I loved working with Charlene. Not just making her beautiful for her big night, but convincing her that she
is
beautiful, wheelchair and all.”

“Everything about that segment really felt like you,” Brian said, shifting closer to Morgan as another loud crew of biologists came into the bar. “Particularly being out on the road and watching you explore the new town with Charlene as your guide. I know how much you love to see new places and experience new things.” He smiled at her again, that warm, heart-melting smile. “You're so good at what you do that I wouldn't be surprised if the network offers you your own show soon.”

After the way things had ended between them, Morgan was amazed that he could be so sweet and supportive about her career. But, then, Brian had always been a wonderful man. One who had loved her with his whole heart and had never played games. Not even when he knew that she was leaving for sure right after graduation. He hadn't tried to get in her way, hadn't tried to hold her back. She'd loved him so much for that...even as an irrational part of her had been so disappointed that he'd just let her go.

“Actually, we are wrapping up negotiations to expand my segment into my own show.”

His huge grin made her heartbeat kick up even faster inside her chest. “That’s great news, Morgan. You've always blown me away.”

Flustered by the intense way he was looking at her, and the incredibly sweet things he was saying, Morgan had to work really hard to keep the heat from her cheeks as she asked, “What about you? I'm guessing that you must love coaching the football team.”

“I do love it. Not just the winning, though I'm not going to lie and say I'm not thrilled that we're the top-ranked team in the Pacific Northwest. But I also love helping the kids see what they can do when they're willing to give themselves a chance and put the effort in. You taught me that, Morgan.”

“I did?” The two words came out a little breathless.

His eyes were dark and steady on hers. “You did.”

Morgan had been expecting this conversation to be difficult, given everything that had happened between them, but it didn’t feel hard at all. No, the only difficult thing about it was how incredibly good it was to be close to him again. And they
were
close, sitting just inches away from one another with his arm brushing against hers as he told her about the summer football camps where they took in students from off the island. Another coach might have talked only about plays or wins, but Brian’s passion was all about how much he was able to do for his students.

“I'm really glad you're going to replant the old Walker plot,” he said. “It's been empty for too long.”

“It’s probably a bit of a mess by now, but it should be a good test bed to work on ingredients. I don’t know if I’ll really be able to find ingredients here that I couldn’t find somewhere else, but it still felt really important to me to come back to the island to at least try.”

He nodded. “It isn't just about what you're growing or how you're using it for the makeup line, is it? It's about your roots, too.”

Yet again, he understood so much, understood all of the things that she hadn't even known how to put into words herself.

She was still reeling from that realization when he said in a quiet but sure voice, “I never stopped thinking about you, Morgan. I know the timing wasn’t right when we were kids, that you could have never stayed and I could have never gone. Things were too complicated back then, regardless of what we felt or how much we loved each other. But we could try again now. We’re both in a much better place to make it work this time, because we aren’t kids anymore.”

They certainly weren’t, but did that actually make things any easier? If anything, it just meant that by now they both had their lives set up
exactly
the way they wanted, in the places they wanted. Places that were three thousand miles apart.

Of course, there was a part of her that wished life could be so simple that they could snap their fingers and have everything they wanted without ever having to make difficult choices. Especially when just being in the same room as Brian made her feel more alive than she had since she was eighteen years old and he'd kissed her for the very last time.

But she couldn't just turn her back on the life she'd created, could she? Not when it was finally turning into everything she'd ever dreamed of. Nor could she ask him to leave the island behind when it was obvious that he not only belonged here, but that he was
needed
here by his students, the football team and the community that depended on him to be a strong leader for their kids.

“Brian, it’s good seeing you. Amazing, actually,” she admitted. “But I’m not back on the island for good. I’m back here for only a few weeks to get the garden set up for my makeup line. Once it's planted and I find a balance of ingredients that works, I’ll be heading back to New York. I just can't be here longer than part of the summer. Not when the network is giving me my own makeover show and I'll need to be back in the city to shoot it in their studios. This whole trip to the island, the makeup line, everything…it’s really just tying in with that.”