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She curled her hands tighter around the steering wheel, her head and body leaning his way before she forced her attention back to the dirt road. Oh, she wanted to look at him. To reach out, take his hand, and weave her fingers between his. To hold on to him in some tangible way.
But she couldn’t ignore the look on Viv’s face the past couple of days. The possessive way she’d acted in Beau’s kitchen last night, during the oyster roast, and the pained expression on her face whenever Beau had sought Kit out on the boat today.
“You mentioned you were in marketing earlier,” Beau said, easing back in his seat. “You enjoy it?”
Kit nodded. “I do. I help people get their businesses off the ground and present their products in the best light. It’s rewarding.”
A humorless laugh burst from his lips. “Really?”
She sighed. “I told you I was sorry for the way I behaved that night at the community center—and I am,” she stressed. “Truly.”
His hand, warm and caressing, covered hers on the steering wheel. “I know, and I accepted, so it’s behind us.” He squeezed the back of her hand before releasing it. “It was just that you opened the door, you know? I couldn’t help but walk on in.”
The teasing note in his voice made her smile.
“Is it remote?” he asked.
“Is what remote?”
“Your job. Is it one you could do from here, if you chose to?”
The low lights of Vernon’s Raw Oyster Bar emerged as she drove around a curve. Hands trembling, she slowed the truck and turned into the parking lot. “I suppose that could be a possibility.”
“And have you thought about it?”
The place was packed. Only one parking spot remained empty; all the others were taken up by golf carts, with the exception of four cars and two trucks.
Avoiding his eyes, she parked the truck. “Have I thought about what?”
He sighed. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay.”
Kit cut the engine, inhaled deeply, and faced him. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk. It’s just that I have other concerns about where this is going. One in particular.”
He lifted a hand in appeal. “I’m not trying to pressure you or—”
“Viv’s in love with you, isn’t she?”
Beau froze, his eyes fixed on her mouth, as though he were still piecing together her words. He moved to speak, then seemed to think better of it and looked away, his gaze moving to the beach that lay beyond the parking lot.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” she whispered, her throat tightening painfully. “Has she told you?”
His jaw clenched. “Kit . . .”
“Because I need to know.”
His teeth dragged over his bottom lip as he continued staring out the windshield. Then he said quietly, “Viv and I are friends, and whatever she shared with me about her feelings was in confidence. So if you want to know the answer to that question, you’ll need to ask her.”
“But I can’t, can I?” Kit turned away, too. Stared at the waves crashing onto the sand beneath the fading colors of the sunset and the rapidly emerging moon. “Viv and I are hardly sisters anymore. Haven’t been in a long time. Today was the first day in over fifteen years that even remotely felt like I might have a chance at setting things right between us, and even now it’s a long shot.” She turned back to Beau and tried to steady her voice. “I know you asked me to keep Viv out of this. Out of whatever you and I might have. But that’s not possible, is it?” she asked. “For either of us?”
“No.” His eyes met hers, wounded sincerity in their depths. “You’re right. But I’d rather not betray Viv’s trust. Just as I wouldn’t want to betray yours.”
“I know,” she said, smiling. “You’re an honorable man. It’s one of the things I l—”
She shook her head and clamped her mouth shut.Love?The word—and deep emotion—had swelled in her chest and settled on the tip of her tongue almost before she could keep from saying it. She’d known her attraction to Beau had resurfaced, but . . . love? Yes . . . that was exactly what it felt like. Which made the situation all the more heart wrenching.
“I appreciate your respect for both of us,” she continued slowly, “but there’s no way around this, is there?”
“Kit”—he spread his hands—“this is new for me. All of it. I’m not sure how to navigate it.”
