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“Thank you for telling me that,” she said, laughing in his arms.
The way her happiness bubbled up and out so freely made him want to make love to her right on this narrow strip of beach.
All he wanted, from now until forever, was to make Lyssa Spencer happy.
The question remained. Could he do it through sheer determination and depth of love?
Or was he bound to fail the same way his father had?
* * *
“I haven’t relaxed into a vacation like this since I got out of college.” Lyssa leaned back in her seat with a happy sigh as Cal maneuvered the car along the coastal road’s winding curves.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he said as he reached out to put his hand over hers.
Being with Cal felt so good, was so much fun. He made her feel so safe. And at the same time, he respected her mind, her ideas, and the way she could take care of herself.
She looked at his gorgeous profile, then out at the ocean’s breathtaking waves. Being with him was at once calming and incredibly exciting. Especially when she thought about all those deliciously wicked things they’d done in bed. And that sexy interlude on Catalina, too, even if it had ended badly.
When her stomach rumbled, it was a good thing they’d just rolled into Ragged Point, a small coastal town with a few cute shops, a resort, and a couple of restaurants.
“Hungry?”
She rubbed her stomach. “Hungry times two.”
His eyes lit the way they always did when they talked about the baby. It warmed every part of her that he truly wanted to be a father.
Suddenly, she spied the perfect place. “Let’s eat there. Frank’s Fish Market.”
He slowed in front of the restaurant. “The line is a mile long.”
“That means the food has to be amazing.” She glanced at Cal. “You don’t wait in lines much, do you?”
“Nope. Only with you, it seems.” He smiled as he pulled into a parking spot. “Fortunately, you’re more than worth it.”
His words—and his smile—were like a warm caress.
They waited in line on the sidewalk for half an hour, talking and laughing. He grilled her about why she hadn’t liked her last job, and she told him about the boss who never recognized her skills.
It struck her that while she wanted to know everything about him, there were so many things he didn’t know about her. If he was to fall for her, too, then revealing herself was as important as learning more about him.
“Have you always wanted to be an accountant?” he asked.
“Yes, but mostly because I know it’s a great pathway to my ultimate goal. Accountants know a business inside and out,” she explained. “It’s a stepping stone to being CEO of my own company someday.”
He tipped his head, as though looking at her in a new light. “I see you doing whatever you set your mind to.”
He continued with the questions until he finally leaned in close. “I know you think I hired you because your brothers wanted me to. I’m not going to deny they applied some heavy-duty pressure, but I hired you because you’re smart and hardworking.” He brushed his fingertip over her lips. “And because you made my heart beat faster.”
“You never even noticed me,” she scoffed. “I was just the Mavericks’ little sister.”
His gaze was suddenly deep. “That’s what I tried to tell myself. I didn’t want to admit what you did to me.” He curled a lock of her hair around his finger. “But you had my heart in the palm of your hand, Ms. Spencer, from the moment we danced the funky chicken at Matt and Ari’s wedding.”
She laughed, turning heads, and she knew she was glowing. She’d gone wild and crazy that day, miffed when Daniel had tried to tell her how to live her life and who she could and could not fall for.
Was Cal saying that what happened between them on the flight back from London had been inevitable?
A big part of her longed to tell him he’d won the challenge—that her heart was his. But there was still enough sting left over from the way he’d hurt her that she held the words inside, saying instead, “You only like me for my funky chicken.”
He didn’t let her turn it into a joke. Instead, he lowered his lips to hers and whispered, “I like you for a hell of a lot more than that.”
Then he kissed her, and she almost forgot about trying to guard the last sliver of her heart still holding on to the pain. It was only a nudge from the people in line behind them that kept her from dropping her final walls and blurting out three little words in the middle of a sidewalk in Ragged Point.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The fish at Frank’s was worth the wait. Especially now that Lyssa found herself thinking about food far more than she had before she’d gotten pregnant.
