Prologue
Sea Kiss, New
Jersey
Playing it
safe was far worse than taking a risk on what you wanted.
Jonathan
Pierce knew just what he wanted.
He grabbed
hold of the gnarly branch of the decades-old wisteria vine that climbed the
side of the Sinclair mansion and boosted himself up. He’d made the journey so
many times this past summer, he could do it blindfolded.
He
scrambled up the vine, finding the familiar foot and handholds until he vaulted
up and over the second floor railing, and landed silently as a cat burglar on
the balcony. It ran the length of the immense oceanfront mansion, with elegant
french doors offering views of the sea.
The first darkened
doorway was Maggie Sinclair’s room. He rushed past it quietly; Maggie belonged
to his older brother, Owen. Not that Owen had acted on it yet, but Jonathan had
known for years that the two were meant to be together, family feud be damned.
The next doorway
was usually Maggie’s dad’s, but the old man had stopped coming down to the
Shore as often as he once had, so it was a good bet that room was unoccupied.
Reaching
the third room, he saw the curtains wafting in the summer breeze and the dim
light from behind the partially closed french doors. He smiled and his heart
raced with pleasure.
Connie was
waiting for him. Ever-responsible, ever-loyal Connie had broken her own rules
to fall in love with him. Or at least he thought it was love. It definitely was
on his part. With barely a week left before the girls all went back to school,
he intended to let her know just how he felt.
He slipped
carefully through the open doors and shut them behind him. He’d gone no more
than a step when she launched herself at him, laughing and kissing him as she
said, “What took you so long?”
“I missed
you, too,” he said, knowing it was more about the separation to come in a week
and not about the long hours since last night.
He bent
his head and kissed her, his touch tender and caring, and she answered in kind,
her lips soft and coaxing.
Although
Maggie had been bringing her friends to the Jersey Shore every summer since
they’d met freshman year in college, he’d never really paid much attention to
Connie at first. He’d had his share of girls from his high school class fawning
over him.
But when
Maggie and her friends had come back the next year, he had finally, gratefully,
noticed what a real woman should be. Like Connie: all luscious curves; also
proud, smart, and independent,
As
impatient as he might be to make love to her tonight, he wanted her to know how
much this meant to him. How this wasn’t only a summer romance for him.
He leaned
over her, his gaze locked on her face. He wanted to say the words—Lord, how he
wanted to—but they stuck in his throat and so he let every kiss and touch tell
her what he couldn’t voice.
1 comments:
Thank you so so much for letting me visit with you! I truly appreciate it.
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