Seaside Dreams (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers, Book One) Contemporary Romance (3 page)

“I do, too, of course,” Amy added. “It’s just…Leanna’s always been the gypsy in the group. She could pick up at any time and move without missing a beat, and even Jenna and I are more likely to switch apartments, or cars, or even cities, but Bella’s always been the one who sticks to things. Gosh, Bell, I thought you’d live in Connecticut forever.”

Bella reached for her hand and squeezed. “I know, Ames, but this is a good thing. And who knows? Maybe I’ll live here forever. Forever’s a long time, and my gut tells me that my forever should start here.” Spending summers and school breaks at Seaside had always been Bella’s sanity saver. She wondered if she’d enjoy it as much if it were her full-time residence. “How did you like being here during the winter, Leanna? Do you regret your decision to live here full-time?”

Leanna glanced at Kurt setting up his laptop on the deck of her cottage. “I love living at the Cape, and, Bell, I think everything happens for a reason.”

“That’s because you have a hot, rich boyfriend who spends his days pumping out bestselling novels and his nights adoring every inch of your slinky little body.” Jenna raised her coffee in a toast. “To men adoring our bodies.”

The others lifted their coffee cups. “Hear! Hear!” Amy said.

“He does those things, but I believe in fate because it’s real. You’ll see.” Leanna came around the table and hugged Bella.

If Bella dared to believe in fate that would mean she had been fated to date Jay, and if that were true, then she was fated to leave a job and the community in Connecticut that she loved. Even though she was excited about the new job prospect, she had to wonder—if she’d been fated to date him, then what other crappy heartache did fate have in store for her?

CADEN STOOD IN the doorframe of Evan’s bedroom, watching him sleep. At almost fifteen years old, his toes already hung off the foot of the bed. He looked so much like Caden had at that age, with the same mop of chestnut hair and square jaw. He’d even inherited Caden’s cleft chin, which Caden had hated as a kid. He wondered, as he looked at his son, all elbows and knees lying on top of his sheets in his boxers, if he hated it, too. He tried to push away the guilt that pressed in on him for moving Evan away from his friends in Boston, but when his partner of nine years was killed during a robbery, it drove the dangers of his job home.

George Rowe had not only been a damn good cop, but he’d also been Caden’s closest friend. Losing George had been ten times more difficult than the day almost fifteen years earlier, when Caden’s then girlfriend, Caty Lowenstein, had come to his dorm and placed one-week-old Evan in his twenty-year-old arms. She’d said she was leaving town and that she’d signed custody over to him. He’d been in his second year of college and he’d thought he was in love with her. They’d been dating for five months when she found out she was pregnant. After two weeks of arguing—she wanted to abort the baby and Caden begged her not to—she’d disappeared. He didn’t see her again until that fateful day when she set Evan in his arms and took off.

He looked down at his son now, remembering the weight of Evan in his arms and the way he’d turned those serious, trusting, dark eyes up at him. In the blink of an eye, Caden had known he’d never loved Caty, because what he felt for Evan was bigger than anything he’d ever felt in his life. It enveloped him and filled him to his core, leaving no room for anything or anyone else. He’d packed his things and gone home to his parents’ house that night. Evan had been his life ever since.

Until last night, when he’d looked into Bella’s eyes and felt a fissure form in the armor he’d worn for all those years. Since the day he became Evan’s father, he’d never been affected by a woman that way, which is why now, as he watched the boy who had turned his life upside down and taught him what love was, he allowed himself to think about seeing her again.

“Dad?”

Evan’s voice pulled his mind back to the present.

“Hey, buddy. Sorry. Did I wake you?”

“Not really, but it’s kinda creepy that you’re watching me sleep.” He shifted up on his elbow. “Are we still going fishing after your shift?”

Caden had always tried to spend as much time with Evan as he could. Or at least as often as Evan would agree to spend time with him. Teenage angst was clawing its way into their lives, and Caden was doing all he could to keep it from becoming a constant companion.

He ran his eyes over the posters of video and PC game characters on Evan’s walls. When they’d lived in Boston, Evan hadn’t spent much time playing video and PC games, but Caden had noticed that he was playing them more often lately, and he worried that they were serving as a replacement for friends.

“Yeah.” Caden was glad Evan would still go fishing with him, even though he was going through a rough time. “I’ve got the surf rods ready. About six?”

“Sure. Whatever,” Evan said.

Whatever
had quickly become one of Caden’s least favorite words. “What are your plans while I’m at work?”

Evan shrugged.

“Want me to come by at lunch and drop you at the beach?”

“I’ve got my bike.” Evan stretched, and his shaggy hair tumbled over his eyes. When they’d lived in Boston, Evan had spent the weekends at skateboard parks, hanging out with his friends doing ollies and kick flips. There was a skate park across from Wellfleet Harbor, and Caden had taken Evan there to check it out when they first moved in, but Evan hadn’t shown any interest in returning.

“Okay, but remember that the cell phones don’t work on the ocean beaches, so call me when you get to the parking lot if you go.”

Evan scrubbed his hand down his face. “Got it, Dad. You tell me the same thing every day. It’s not like I’ll suddenly forget.”

“Whatever,” Caden said with a hint of amusement, earning him a smile from Evan.

Half an hour later Caden was at the police station, working on reports and thinking about the scene that had unfolded at Seaside. He covered his mouth as a soft laugh accompanied the memory of the half-naked women acting like silly teenagers who had snuck out of a slumber party. The laugh quickly turned to heat, coiling like a snake in his belly with the image of Bella in her silky underwear.

Holy Christ. What was it about her?

His chief’s voice beckoned him into his office, startling him.

Caden stuck his head through the chief’s doorway. “Chief?”

Chief Bassett was a serious man with tufts of strawberry-blond hair and pinkish skin that reminded Caden of a newborn mouse. He motioned for Caden to sit in a chair across from his desk.

“How’s it going?” Chief Bassett asked.

Caden shrugged. “Fine.”

“Your kid settling in okay?”

The chief had reached out to him several times in a similar friendly manner, checking in in a way that had been rare in the large precinct he’d come from in Boston.

“Yeah. Evan’s doing okay. You know how things are at that age. He’s having a tough time making friends, but I’m hoping that once school starts that’ll sort itself out.” He wrung his hands together.

“Moving is tough on teens; that’s for sure. You asked about moving to day shifts, and I think we can accommodate that after next week, if you’re still interested.”

Caden felt himself smile. “Absolutely. That’s great. Thank you.” He’d been working only a few night shifts each week, but he didn’t like leaving Evan alone overnight, even though he checked on him often while he was out on patrol. When he’d first decided to become a cop, he’d known the risks of the job and that night shifts would be difficult. But Caden had always liked rules and structure, and helping people was in his nature. The job appealed to him on so many levels, and the outlook of being indestructible that went hand in hand with youth hadn’t allowed him to question the risks. Evan had been just an infant, and leaving him at night, when he was sleeping safely in his crib with his parents in the next room, seemed like a better option to Caden than taking a desk job and leaving him during the day. He didn’t want to miss those first few years with Evan. At the time, his mother worked part-time, and between Evan’s naps and his mother taking over for a few hours each day, he was able to spend quality time bonding with his new son while paying his dues with the station. By the time Evan went to school, Caden had transitioned to day hours. He hadn’t loved the idea of starting over again at a new station, but after George was killed, starting over seemed like a small price to pay for a safer job.

Chief Bassett nodded. “I thought you’d be pleased. No trouble last night?”

Not unless you consider running in to a gorgeous blonde trouble
. Caden shook his head. “Nah. Typical night. Any leads on the thefts?”

“No, nothing new, but you know, keep your eyes open.”

“Will do.” Caden pushed to his feet to return to his desk.

“Hey, Caden, one more thing. Are you doing okay?” The chief’s gaze softened.

“Sir?”

“Losing your partner. As I mentioned when you were first hired, I’ve been through that loss. If you need to talk to someone, I’m around.”

It had been almost six months since George died, and Caden felt guilty for having almost gotten used to the idea that he’d never see his best friend again. There was a time when just thinking of George brought a surge of anger and sadness, but over the months, he’d come to grips with it. George and Evan had also been close, and Evan seemed to finally get past that hurt, too. Although there were still times when Caden would forget that George was gone, like when he bought his house in Wellfleet and reached for his phone to call George so he could share his news, or after a long shift when he was alone in his patrol car and he’d catch a glimpse of the empty passenger seat. In those moments, he drew upon the good memories they’d shared, until he felt balanced again.

“Thanks. I appreciate your concern. I think moving was the right thing to do. In Boston I saw him everywhere. Here…” He shrugged. “There’s something to be said about starting over.”

BELLA, AMY, LEANNA, and Jenna were used to the shock of cold that often trailed sunset like a shadow on Cape Cod beaches. They hunkered down around the bonfire on beach chairs with thick sweatshirts and blankets across their laps. Layers of deep purples and dark blue surrounded the white globe of the moon, hovering above the ocean. Soon the sky would darken and the stars would become visible, but for the next thirty minutes, Bella had a dusky view of the surf fishermen lined up on the beach, hoping for one final bite from a bluefish that had somehow avoided becoming prey to the seals that had claimed the New England surf. It struck her how different her life would be if she lived on the Cape full-time. Would she make the time to sit on the beach on chilly March evenings or walk by the edge of the water in a parka, midwinter?

“Are you bummed that Kurt stayed with Jamie tonight?” Bella asked Leanna. Jamie Reed was another Seaside resident. His grandmother, Vera, owned the cottage next to Leanna’s, and Jamie had grown up spending summers with Bella and the girls.

“Oh, gosh no. But Amy’s gonna be mad, because when Tony found out that Kurt was staying, I heard him tell Kurt he’d stay, too.” Leanna pulled her blanket up in front of her face. “Don’t kill the messenger.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “You guys act like something between me and Tony is even a possibility. I told you. I tried to sail that ship and he turned me down. I’m not a glutton for punishment.”

“Oh, please. You know damn well that if he asked you out you’d jump at the chance.” Jenna bumped Amy with her shoulder.

“Of course. I’m realistic, not stupid,” Amy said. “But I won’t make the mistake of coming on to him again.”

Jenna nudged a rock with her toe, then leaned forward to pick it up.

“Here we go,” Amy said. Jenna had been a rock collector for as long as Bella could remember. Each summer she zeroed in on a different type of rock. This summer her fascination was on heart-shaped rocks.

Jenna shot to her feet with her hands on her hips. “Who’s coming with me to look for rocks?” She bounced on her toes like an excited kid.

“I thought you had a self-imposed moratorium on rock collecting,” Bella reminded her. “Last summer you said your
cottage runneth over
, and that you weren’t going to be collecting for a while.” Runneth over might be an understatement. Every flat surface in Jen’s cottage was adorned with rocks, including various corners of the hardwood floor and the rails of her deck.

Jenna lowered her eyes and twisted from side to side with her hands clasped behind her back. “I know. But I’ll only take them if they’re absolutely perfect.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and her eyes widened with mischief. “And you know how picky I am.” She pulled Bella to her feet, then bounced up and down again. “Please, please, please? Just until it’s dark?”

Bella rolled her eyes. “Fine. But you owe me big-time.”

Jenna threw herself into Bella’s arms. “Yay!”

“You’re such a fool.” Bella laughed and laid her blanket over Amy’s lap. “Here you go, princess. Don’t drink all the wine without me.”

The wet sand was cold beneath Bella’s bare feet. She didn’t mind walking with Jenna, and she didn’t even care that Jenna owned more rocks than any mountain this side of Utah. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but she was edgy tonight. She’d told her friends she was giving herself until Monday to start working on the program for the school. She’d also told them that she wasn’t interested in sexy-as-hell Caden Grant in that blue uniform that hugged his broad chest and exposed well-muscled forearms and eyes that seemed to look right through her. But the job
and
Caden were all she could think about.

Jenna looped her arm through Bella’s. “Thanks for walking with me. I know I won’t find any good rocks, but I still like to look.”

“I know you do.” She loved everything about Jenna, from her obsessive-compulsive need for organization to her flip-flop fetish and her love of rocks. Jenna was always happy. Even when something pissed her off, she had the ability to spin a situation in her mind so her good mood wasn’t sucked away.

Jen picked up a rock and washed it off in the surf. She ran her fingers over the rounded edges, then scrunched her nose and tossed it into the ocean.

“Are you nervous about your whole job, house situation?” she asked, bending down to inspect another rock.

“Nervous? You might say that. I’m excited and maybe a little scared, but not really. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“You could end up jobless and living in your cottage.” Jenna smiled up at her. “Guess that’s not really so bad, is it? But it’s just not like you to pick up and start over. That’s more Leanna’s thing. She’s always been part gypsy like that, but you’re stable Mable.” Jenna tossed the unimpressive rock into the water.

“I know.” Jenna knew her so well. She’d nailed the reason Bella was feeling edgy before Bella even realized it. “It’s totally not like me, but dating Jay wasn’t like me, either. I never date guys I work with. I know better than that—or at least I thought I knew better than that. It can only lead to complications with peers and supervisors. Everyone knows that. I’ve been mulling this over in my mind since spring break, and this is what I came up with. I’m almost thirty, and I worked so hard to get where I was in the school system, and it’s been great, but I
am
stable Mable. So even if it weren’t great, I’d have stayed for years.”

“So, what are you saying?” Jenna stopped walking and gave Bella her full attention.

“Well, as I said, ever since Leanna made her dreams come true, I’ve been thinking about making mine come true. I think I dated Jay to force myself to make a change.”

“Like a subconscious nudge?” The moon rose higher into the sky, glistening off the water behind Jenna.

“More like a conscious and trying-to-ignore it nudge,” Bella said. “The whole time I dated Jay, I wasn’t connected to him. When I found out he had lied about being divorced and was just separated, I broke it off without thinking twice. And you know what? I knew that second that I was going to quit my job. What does that say about me?”

Jenna leaned her head against Bella’s arm and walked farther down the beach. “It says you’re normal, like the rest of us. That you followed your heart, which, I might remind you, is exactly what you told Leanna to do when she met Kurt.”

“Do you think it’s still called following your heart when you make a career and life change, or is that following your mind?” Bella was having a hard time separating the two when it came to the Cape. Everything about the Cape filled her with happiness, from the morning crows to the smell of the salty air, making her heart very much involved with her decision. But this decision was also made with her mind. She wanted a challenge, and the work-study program offered that.

“I think it’s both.”

“So you don’t think I’m nuts? And I’m serious about not dating, too. I think I need to make sure my life is in order before I become some guy-who-can’t-be-honest-or-keep-a-commitment’s girlfriend.”

“I think you’re brilliant and fearless, not nuts.” Jenna pointed down the beach. “Look, don’t you love when the fishermen head back to their cars like little soldiers in a line? It’s like the minute the gray sky turns black, they have some secret wave, or nod, or something that alerts them all to fall in line.”

Bella squinted at the fishermen with their long surf fishing poles over their shoulders and white buckets hanging from their thick, bare arms.

“Show me a man who’s not an asshole and I’ll go searching for rocks with you every day of the summer.” Bella nodded to two men as they walked past. She turned to check out their butts and walked backward. “God, I love rugged men.”
Okay, so maybe I won’t swear them off completely. I just won’t get involved.
“What’s better than a guy in a pair of cargo shorts and a tank top who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty and isn’t overly concerned with his looks? A man who can take the cold night air against his skin? You know they can keep you warm.”

“How about a hot cop without his uniform?” Jenna tugged Bella’s arm.

Bella spun around just in time to see Caden Grant’s profile as he leaned in close to a teenage boy. Even while he spoke, he had a smile on his lips. It lit up his eyes. He and the boy each carried a fishing pole over one shoulder and Caden also carried a bucket in his other hand. Bella reached for Jenna’s hand as she drank in his faded jeans, rolled up at the cuffs. His feet were bare and his gait was as casual as it was confident. And—
holy mother of God
—his white T-shirt hugged his broad shoulders in a way that practically made her drool. He leaned toward the boy, giving him his full attention in a way that felt to Bella like an embrace.

Caden threw his head back with a hearty, deep laugh.

Jenna squeezed her hand. “Close your mouth,” she whispered.

Bella followed her advice, or at least she hoped she did. Her brain was busy studying the man who, even without the uniform, had an in-control edge about him that wasn’t dangerous or mysterious, but so self-assured and warm that she wanted to be part of his inner circle.

Caden’s chin came back to center, and a breath later their eyes connected. The easy, sexy smile that followed did her in.

CADEN STOPPED IN his tracks at the sight of Bella wearing a powder-blue hoodie and a pair of jeans that accentuated her figure. He tried to name the startlingly unfamiliar feeling in his chest.
Full
, was the best he could come up with. He felt full.

He’d been wondering if in his mind he’d exaggerated the instant attraction he’d felt when he’d seen her the night before, but his quickening pulse was all the confirmation he needed to know that what he’d felt was definitely not a fluke.

“Bella. Hi.” Caden had been playing a game with himself all afternoon. He told himself that if he ran into her again, he’d ask her out, and if not, then he would stop thinking about her altogether. Then he’d driven by Seaside about six times throughout the day, hoping to spot her so he
could
ask her out.

The breeze blew her blond hair back from her face, revealing thinly arched brows above the warm eyes that had sucked him right in last night. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

“We didn’t really get properly introduced last night. I’m Jenna.” The short brunette ran her eyes between Caden and Evan.

“This is my son, Evan. Evan, this is Bella and Jenna. I met them while I was on duty last night.” He watched Bella look from him to Evan, then back again. Even at twenty Caden had never felt anything but pride for his son, but now he wondered if Bella felt the same attraction he did, and if so, did his having a son change that?

Evan arched a brow in a look that translated as,
You met a woman?
It seemed too old for his teenage son to be casting his way.

“Hi,” Evan said.

Caden stifled the urge to reach over and move his son’s hair out of his eyes.

“Did you catch anything?” Jenna peered into the bucket.

“Mung,” Evan answered. Mung was fisherman’s speak for thick seaweed that tangled in their lines.

“Gross. I hate that.” Jenna scrunched her nose.

“Yeah, it’s pretty gross,” Evan said.

“Are you just out for a walk?” Caden gripped the bucket tighter to ease his nerves. It had been so long since he’d been interested in a woman that it took him a minute to get used to his quickening pulse and the tightening in his gut.

“We’re having a bonfire.” Bella pointed to the fire down the beach. Her friends waved, and Bella waved back.

“Want to join us?” Jenna asked.

Bella shot her a look that Caden couldn’t read—she was either pissed or excited—and the two emotions were so far apart that he went with a safe answer, giving her an easy out.

“That’s okay. We don’t want to impose.”

“A bonfire might be fun,” Evan said.

“Of course it’s fun.” Jenna grabbed Evan’s arm and pulled him toward the bonfire. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

The sound of waves breaking filled the silence that stretched between Caden and Bella. Oddly, he didn’t feel rushed to break that silence. Just being in her presence felt nice—almost natural. He forced himself to say something, in case she felt uncomfortable, although she didn’t appear to, the way she was smiling up at him.

“I guess that means we’re staying, but really, if you’d rather we didn’t—”

“No. I’d rather you did. Stay.” Bella seemed quieter than she’d been the previous evening, and Caden didn’t know how to read that, either. A gust of wind swept off the ocean and whipped her hair across her cheek. She shook her head to clear it away. It flew right back again.

Without thinking, he stepped closer and tucked the wayward lock behind her ear.

Bella’s eyes narrowed, as if she were uncomfortable. “That means we’re married, you know.”

She said it with such a serious face that for a second he worried he’d crossed a line in the sand. What the hell was he thinking?

Oh hell, just go with it.
“Cool. I’ve never been married before.”

Bella slid a confused glance at Evan, who was making himself right at home with the others.

“Evan’s mom and I were never married,” he explained. Why was he nervous talking about Evan?
That
was new, too.

“Oh,” Bella said.

He was sure she was waiting for an explanation, but he’d found that when he shared the story of how he and Evan came to be a family, women got weird, like he was a lost puppy who needed taking care of. He didn’t need that shit. He loved his life with Evan, and he’d never regretted his decision to leave school to take care of him.

“So, you sure you don’t mind if we hang out for a while?”

“The more the merrier, as long as you don’t mind hanging out with a bunch of women. It’s pretty chilly. Do you want to go sit by the fire?”

He’d much rather wrap his arms around her. Short of that, sitting by a fire with Bella sounded just fine. “Sure.”

At the fire, Jenna threw Caden a blanket. “Here, you and Bella can sit on it.”

He almost made a joke about being already married and checked himself before the words left his lips. He didn’t need to freak out Evan, although from the looks of things, he was feeling pretty damn comfortable. He had his hand buried in a bag of marshmallows.