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“Quite a few. All of the times.” Zach said, still not quite believing she was his. He’d almost fucked this up. He wasn’t going to let himself be so stupid again.
Her cheeks turned pink but her smile turned a little smug. “Good. I might ask a few times myself.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Zach said. They’d reached the guesthouse and he turned the car off. “Still want to go down to the beach?”
“Absolutely,” Leah said. “Summer won’t last forever. And I’m feeling kind of sticky.”
Zach grinned at her.
They could have swum at the pool at Shane’s place, but they’d gotten sidetracked when they’d been checking out one of the guest bedrooms. Shane believed in huge beds apparently. Zach approved. Leah had insisted they bring the sheets back to the guesthouse. He’d buy Shane a new set and include it in the stuff they were shipping back to him. Which wasn’t as much as Zach had expected. Shane had said they could have most of the stuff in the house. So now he had to decide if there was anything he wanted to keep in the house or whether he wanted a clean slate. Maybe he could keep that bed. For sentimental reasons.
“Five minutes to grab your suit,” Zach said. “Last one into the water has to—” He broke off as Leah pulled her T-shirt up, revealing that she was already wearing a bikini top. “When did you put that on?”
“I had it in my bag. And my panties were toast. You owe me new lingerie, Harper.”
“That is one thing I’m more than happy to provide. Right. So new plan. I’ll go change and you can grab beer. And whatever else you want.”
“Deal,” Leah said. And, true to her word, she was waiting with a six-pack and a cooler when he came back out of the house. He took the beer from her and extended his free hand, tangling his fingers with hers when she took it.
“Are you going to miss this?” he asked as they walked through the garden toward the beach path.
“Probably,” she said. “But Lansing isn’t going anywhere. And I have time to get used to the idea.”
“We’ll come back as much as you want to,” Zach said. He didn’t want to stay away too long either. He’d miss Faith and Mina and Lou too much. And Eli was sticking around a bit longer too. Billy had left after CloudFest. Zach had expected Eli to go with him, to get ready to go out on tour again. But Eli had claimed his ankle wasn’t ready. Which Zach read as he and Billy hadn’t patched things up yet. Well, that was Billy’s problem, even though it sucked for Eli.
Leah pulled her sunglasses down to give him a mock-stern look. “I want some of that rock star glamorous jet-setting lifestyle first.”
He laughed and swatted her butt. “Then we’d better make this swim short and get back to work.” They’d reached the crest in the path where the beach suddenly opened up beneath them, the pale sand gleaming in the sun until the point where it turned into blue blue water stretching endlessly out to the horizon. He paused for a moment, drinking in the view. The view from Shane’s end of the island was more dramatic than this, maybe, but this was always going to be his favorite part of Lansing. This and the woman beside him.
He turned to say something to Leah and that was when he noticed the woman sitting on the beach, looking out at the water. Long dark hair flowed over a red-and-white striped T-shirt. Her legs were bare. He couldn’t really see her face but there was nothing in her posture that he recognized. His smile turned to a frown. The beach along the Harper property was technically private but they never bothered enforcing that with the locals. This time of year though, when there were still lingering tourists from CloudFest, their security guys were strict about keeping anyone they didn’t know off the beach. Too easy to get up to the house from there. So how the hell had this woman gotten past them?
He nudged Leah. “Do you know who that is?”
Leah looked where he was pointing. Then shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Zach patted his pocket. “I should call the gate guys.”
“Don’t be silly,” Leah said. “She’s alone. She’s looking at the water, not staring up at the house with crazed-fan face. Why don’t we just go down and say hello?”
He hesitated. He knew it would be smarter to call security, but Leah was right. There was nothing in the woman’s body language that read “dangerous” to him. Quite the opposite in fact. She seemed totally calm. Grounded, though that was an odd thought to have just by looking at her. Odd but right. She seemed solid. Like she was part of the landscape.
Leah was already headed down the steps to the beach. He caught up to her as she hit the sand. “Let me do the talking.”
“Yeah, right,” she snorted. “Look, if she does anything weird you can clock her on the head with one of your beers and call for backup.”
Her voice must have caught the woman’s attention because she turned, then stood, brushing sand off her legs as she watched them approach. She had sunglasses on, which made her expression hard to read, but she wasn’t surging forward with the type of “oh my God, you’re Zach Harper” shrieks of excitement that the more … enthusiastic … fans used.
“Hey,” he said when they were only a few feet away. “Nice day.”
“Yes, it is,” she said. Her voice was low for a woman’s. Kind of husky. There was something familiar about it. Did he know her after all?
“I’m—”
“Zach Harper,” she said, finishing the sentence for him.
His stomach tightened. Dammit. Maybe she was a fan, after all.
But then she pulled off her sunglasses and he found himself staring into a pair of large gray-green eyes that were the exact color of his own.
“My name’s Jane Vacek,” the mystery woman said. “And I think I’m your sister.”
