Page 28 of Love Everlasting

“Okay, but I will remind you how far you’ve come, Dr. Doom, from being the Terrible Hermit Ogre of Bluff Drive to a man with whom Tess O’Bryen wants to spend the rest of her life.” She kissed him on the head. “And that ain’t no small feat, Daddy, for either you or for God.”

“I suppose.” He hooked her close with an arm around her shoulders, returning her kiss with one of his own. “But I’ll be hanged if I know how I’m gonna do it.”

“But you will,” Lacey said with a squeeze of his waist, “and if you don’t?” She rose and straightened the collar of his Polo with a saucy smile before giving him a wink. “Run the other way if you see Tess with a rope.”

Chapter Sixteen

“You’re a genius, you know that?”

Shannon whirled around with a basketball in her hands, annoyed that the sound of Sam’s voice sent butterflies flitting through her stomach like they were OD-ing on Starbuck’s.

Tucking the ball under her arm, she swiped her face with the sleeve of her “Cutter’s Point” T-shirt Sam insisted on buying for her after he trounced her in mini-golf. “That’s debatable,” she said, pretty sure a genius wouldn’t get involved with a hunk of heartache like him. “But why?”

She posed the question with a slack of her hip, feeling a bit on the scroungy side after a basketball game with her kids. Especially when Dr. Love looked like he stepped out of a Polo ad in a crisp, fitted shirt open at the collar and designer jeans, sleeves rolled to show off tan forearms scattered with dark hair.

He ambled onto the court, hands in his pockets and a grin on his handsome face, swiping the ball from her so smoothly, she never knew what hit her.

Kind of like their friendship.

“Your advice about how to handle Jasmine, Miss Brilliant.”

Shannon suppressed a smile. Ah, yes—chapter fifteen of Love Everlasting.

He dribbled the ball around her several times like he was Tom Hanks in the movie Big, a grown man with the heart of a kid, and she could do nothing but grin, shaking her head. His expensive shoes lifted off the pavement as he let the ball fly, allowing it to spin into the net with a satisfying swoosh before he retrieved it. His teeth gleamed white against bronze skin as he dribbled back to her side.

“Show-off.” She snatched the ball to hurtle a three-pointer into the net, effectively dropping his jaw. “I want details, hotshot, not fancy footwork.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He latched his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans and strolled alongside as she headed toward the gym. “I’m high on success and cappuccino, so I thought I’d tell you all about it while we jog on Tybee Beach. I’ve got a change of clothes in the car.”

She peered at him out of the corner of her eye. “Did it ever occur to you I might be busy?”

He paused as if giving it serious thought before he shrugged with a sheepish grin. “Not really. Ran into Cat at the big house, and she said you had nothing going after you got off at three, so here I am.”

She sighed. Yes, you certainly are, in all your annoying glory. “Guess I need to chat with my social director about screening my schedule,” she said with a side smile, irked that her pulse was already sprinting on Tybee while her body dragged from a full day at camp.

“So, what do you say?” He nabbed the ball to carry it for her. “I’ll even buy you dinner after, to pay for lesson number two.”

She skidded to a stop, gravel crunching beneath her Nikes. “Lesson number two?”

“Come on, Shannon, I’m on a roll here,” he said, bobbling the ball back and forth, “and I need a professional who can tell me what to do.”

She plunked a hand on her hip. “And there aren’t any shrinks in that big hospital building you work in?”

He pulled out the stops with his perilous smile and a little-boy plea in those coffee-colored eyes. “Sure there are, but I need a romance professional, Angel Eyes.” He slung an arm over her shoulder, and the scent of his Straight to Heaven cologne made her wish she could go straight home. “Besides, most of them are my guy friends, and I need a female who will shoot me straight.”

Her smile took a right turn. “How about a female who will just shoot you?”

“Nope.” He had the nerve to wink. “Already got plenty of those.”

Her sigh floated into the air. “Well, I’ll pass on the run and the dinner because I’m whipped and already look like I finished last in a marathon. But Cat has a softball game if you want to sit with me in the bleachers.”

An inverted V wedged above his classic nose as he held the gym door open for her. “I was actually hoping for a bit more privacy. You know, somewhere quiet where we could talk?”

She sailed past, attempting to mollify him with a bright smile over her shoulder. “We’ll sit on the top row, and I promise we’ll be completely alone.” A smile twitched on her lips as she stored the ball in the equipment closet and closed the door.

Just us and thirty loyal supporters …

“But what if Jack’s there?” He looked so pathetic, she almost felt sorry for him, inclined to give in like she always did with Cat.