Trapped in Tourist Town Read online

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  That evening, after insisting Burke slip into one of the new pairs of Levis they’d picked up at the outlet mall the next town over, Cady introduced him to one of the town’s lesser-known attractions. Brownie’s was a tiny ice cream stand, only open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. They didn’t even have indoor seating. Everyone placed their orders at the screened-in window and took their frozen desserts to a scattering of picnic tables and benches scattered on the grass. The shop was at the top of a winding road and the picnic tables were placed in full view of the lighthouse and the powerful surf that slammed against the rocks below.

  The sun was beginning to set and Cady lifted her face, the last lingering rays stroking her cheeks like warm fingers. Her grin crooked, she realized the sky was painted the color of rainbow sherbet. She closed her eyes briefly, savoring the moment, then turned her full attention back to her companion.

  “Mm ... ice cream therapy. Just what I needed.” Cady swirled her tongue through her triple-chocolate double scoop, closing her eyes as the sweet flavor danced across her tongue. Yeah, it didn’t get much better than this.

  “Rough day?” She looked over to find Burke watching her, his eyebrow cocked in interest.

  “You could say that.” She smirked. She hadn’t intended to dump on him. She’d just needed a break from her loved ones.

  Then he scooted closer. The late evening sun brought out golden flecks in his eyes. He was inviting her to open up. She’d be crazy not to take advantage of a unique opportunity like this. Cady blinked, curious as to his motives. Darting her tongue out to lick the perimeter of her sugar cone, she saw the moment his expression changed from interested, sympathetic even, to hooded and—hungry.

  Burke grasped her wrist, holding it steady while he leaned down and pressed his open mouth to her ice cream. His eyes never left hers. Oh my heavenly Lord! It didn’t take a very great leap to imagine his mouth in other places. Warmer places that he could melt just as easily. The only physical contact between them was his hand on her wrist—but she couldn’t help shivering.

  “Hey, you’ve got your own!” She laughed, her voice shaky, breathless.

  “But yours is so good,” he growled.

  Working relationship. Theirs was a working relationship. Cady pursed her lips and blew out slowly. Oh, the things she wanted to do to this man!

  “Tell me what prompted this ‘ice cream therapy’ field trip.” He let go of her wrist and focused on his own dessert.

  “Ugh. Family. It’s nothing. I’ll be fine after a healthy dose of chocolate.” She rolled her eyes and waved her free hand in the air.

  He caught her hand in his own, squeezed it before drawing it onto his thigh and holding it there.

  “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t genuinely want to know.” Burke took a couple of largish bites from his ice cream. Cady waited for him to wince when the brain freeze hit, but apparently it never did.

  “Sometimes you have to look elsewhere for support. Family can be more of a hindrance when you’re trying to chase down your dreams.”

  “Exactly!” She sat up straighter. “I mean, it’s not like this is a surprise to any of them. But suddenly it’s all about them. Chase is upset that I don’t want to live in town. Amanda has made it all about her—I’m leaving her, she says. I’m leaving her to raise her baby all on her own. Really?

  “What about ‘We’re so proud of you, Cady’? Or, ‘You must be nervous, taking this monumental next step in your life. How can we help?’”

  “They love you. They don’t want to lose you.” His voice was gentle.

  “But they aren’t losing me! They’re trying to hold me back. Staying here would be like living in a cage—a roomy cage the size of a town—but a cage, nonetheless.”

  “They want you to live the life they’d like for you, not the life you need in order to be happiest.” His voice drifted off, thoughtful.

  “They don’t care about my happiness.” Chocolate was no longer working. Disgusted, Cady pitched her ice cream cone in the trash bin beside their wooden bench.

  “No, that’s not it. Believe me. Your family loves you. They want you to be happy. They want to be with you. They want to be part of the exciting memories you make. They want to belong in your life.” He let his words hang, while frowning into the dying rays of sun.

  Cady shook off the pity, trading it for a healthy dose of shame. Her family loved her. Of course she knew that. From what Burke had told her of his parents, she had no right to complain.

  “Are you living your dream? Traveling, I mean? Telling the world about the places you visit? Is that what you want to be doing?”

  She studied his profile. His jawline was hard, as though he were gritting his teeth. His nose long and angular. He had eyelashes any woman would envy. And he looked so profoundly sad.

  Cady shifted until they were touching, shoulder to thigh. Noticing that he’d seemed to have forgotten about his own melting ice cream, she reached out and tugged it loose, tossing it into the garbage without even looking. Burke turned to face her, his expression mildly confused. Had he forgotten what they were talking about?

  “Are you living your dream?” she prompted.

  His smile was bitter.

  “Funny you should ask.”

  She let him set the pace, sitting quietly as she listened to the shriek of the gulls and the chatter of the families at the surrounding picnic tables enjoying the early summer evening. As the night crept in, so did a chill that had nothing to do with the drop in temperature. She leaned into his body, trading her own warmth and comfort for a little of his.

  “I thought I was. Yeah, I wanted to write. But I’ve got these stories in my head. They need to come out. And lately they’ve been nattering at me, louder and more insistent.”

  “You want to write novels? That’s so exciting!”

  “I don’t know. I mean, Stephen King seems to have cornered the horror market in this state, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Stephen King has made a name for himself. But that doesn’t mean you can’t too.”

  “I’ve been sitting at my makeshift desk every morning. That view of the ocean. It’s awe inspiring.”

  “You want to write books, exclusively. Are you saying you want to stay in Scallop Shores?”

  “What I want and what I get to have are two very different things.” His frown deepened, his chiseled countenance grew even stonier.

  A tiny seed of selfishness was trying to take root in her heart. It wanted Burke to move back to the city with her, once summer was over. Sure, finish the article series and then focus on a book—but not in Scallop Shores. Yeah, moving to the city was supposed to be Cady’s time to make new memories and discover herself. But plans change. She could still make new memories and be her own person with Burke in her life.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” Her voice was barely a whisper, yet she knew he heard her from the slump of his shoulders.

  Burke sighed, sliding a few inches to the right. Cady had to catch herself or she would have tumbled right into him. He was looking for distance right now. She needed to give it to him. He turned, finally, and faced her. His smile was for her benefit, she knew. Oh, how she longed to reach out for him. But he didn’t want that. Her fingers flexed uselessly in her lap, so she sat on them.

  “I told you a little about my parents and my whole ‘poor little rich kid’ story. My dad owns a chain of hotels. I’ve lost track of how many different countries he’s invaded. I don’t care. It was his thing. His business. His legacy. I wanted no part of it.

  “I needed to make my own way in the world, do something for myself that had nothing to do with my dad’s name or money.”

  He gave her a look that said he knew she’d understand that better than most. He was right.

  “So good ol’ dad is retiring. And as his only son and heir, it has been brought to my attention that I have a responsibility to the family business. I am to abandon my job, shrug off my d
reams, and report for duty as the new CEO of Sanders Resorts.”

  “Sanders ... Resorts? Oh my God, are you kidding me? I didn’t even make the connection. They’re ... huge!”

  “Ah, then I was doing my job well. Look at me. Okay, I might be a city guy. I know more about how to tip the valet than where to catch the best lobster. But I’m no titan of industry. Do you even realize how many people would report to me?”

  Burke ran a hand through his hair. His eyes snapped angrily. This was good. This was better than the defeated look that had made Cady long to comfort him. This Burke was ready to fight. And she would fight alongside him.

  But if he were CEO of a company based in Manhattan? She’d have it all. The little seed of selfishness was trying hard to take root.

  Not gonna happen. Cady would much rather hang on to Burke as a friend, in Scallop Shores, where he would be happy and living his life to the fullest, than to dream of a relationship with him in New York, where he would be but a mere shadow of the man he once was. She’d do anything to help him get out of this familial duty.

  “What will they do if you tell them no?” She could tell by the determined glint in his eye that he had a ready answer.

  “There are probably a dozen men more qualified to take over the position. My father would have no problem naming a successor. But they’d cut me off. I’d lose my monthly stipend, any inheritance I stood to gain. I’d be penniless.”

  “Excuse me? You have a job. Or am I missing something? Your magazine is paying for you to stay in that cottage by the shore. They’re paying your expenses. They’re paying for a freaking assistant.” Her eyes widened.

  Burke pressed his lips together tightly, suddenly finding the lighthouse so fascinating he couldn’t tear his eyes from it. Darkness had descended and the automated light winked on and off.

  “Oh, Burke,” she whispered.

  “It was worth it.” He still wouldn’t look at her. His voice came out gruff.

  “But it has to stop. The paying part. Not the work.”

  Now he gave her his attention. His face in shadow, she could still read the intensity in his gaze.

  “Why would you offer to help me like this? Unpaid? You barely know me. You have your own goals. You have somewhere you’re meant to be.”

  “And I’ll get there. But you first. Screw Sanders Resorts! Let’s finish your magazine series and find you a job in Scallop Shores that gives you plenty of time for writing.”

  He reached out a finger and lifted her chin, leaning in close enough for her to feel his warm breath on her face.

  “You still haven’t told me why.”

  Her heart ricocheted in her chest. She could have come to love this man. Perhaps she already did, to some degree. But he was right. Theirs were different goals, leading them on very different paths. Maybe someday she’d find someone who made her feel as alive as Burke did.

  “Because you’re my friend. And I would do anything for my friends.”

  “Your friend?” She hardened her heart against the tone in his voice, the look in his eyes by the light of the nearby lamppost.

  It was better this way.

  Chapter 7

  The large LCD display on the bedside clock read two eleven a.m. Burke rolled over, punching his pillow, though it was more from frustration than an effort to make the cotton more pliable. Friends. Is that what they were? Had his kisses had so little effect? He was more out of practice than he thought.

  They had something. He wasn’t imagining it. There was a hum, an intensity that drew them together like magnets. Yet Cady was so fixated on getting out of Scallop Shores that she refused to do anything about it.

  So now he lay sleepless, in the dead of night. His body ached for a woman who seemed intent on testing the very limits of his endurance. He’d come to this town for a story, for a job that, until recently, had seemed satisfying and quenched his thirst for writing. And now, because of Cady, he was ready to throw away a cushy inheritance and a career that would set him up for life. All for a woman who intended to leave him at the end of the summer. He was insane.

  From the far side of the house came a muffled crash. Burke sat up straight, scrambling to the edge of the mattress and feeling for the steel baseball bat he kept under the bed. Damn it! This wasn’t his apartment in Manhattan. He was in a rented cottage with no accessible weapon. Another crash came, this one a little closer to the back porch. He searched wildly for something to fend off the intruder. Coming up empty in the bedroom, he padded stealthily toward the kitchen in his boxer briefs.

  The bright light from a nearly full moon shone a path to the counter and his cell phone, sitting on the charger. Burke snatched it up and dialed 911.

  “911, what is your emergency?”

  “I need to report an intruder.” He rattled off the address of the rental cottage.

  “Someone is inside your house?”

  “Well, no. He’s breaking in.”

  “Could you be more specific? Have they broken a window? Are they attempting to get in through the door?”

  “Seriously, lady? Are you going to wait until the guy gets inside and kills me before you send someone out here? Maybe I could explain this better to your supervisor.”

  “That won’t be necessary. A patrol car was dispatched to your address as soon as you said intruder. The officer should be there shortly. Please stay inside and do not attempt to engage them.”

  “Officer? As in one?” Burke’s eyes widened as he swore his would-be assailant stood up straight on the porch, casting a shadow on the living room wall. The guy was nearly seven feet tall! Oh, they were never going to be able to tackle this behemoth on their own.

  “I assure you he will assess the situation and call for backup if needed.”

  “Fine. But make sure he’s got his weapon drawn when he gets here. This guy is big. He’s like some freakin’ Sasquatch or something.”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line and the 911 operator cleared her throat loudly.

  “Try to be patient and the police officer will be there within a few minutes.”

  Now he could hear the scuffling that issued from the back porch. The intruder was going to try to get in through the sliding glass door! Unbelievable. He wondered why the jerk wasn’t more careful about being quiet. It was clear the cottage was no longer vacant. The rental car was parked in the driveway. He couldn’t believe the balls on this guy!

  Spotting the knife block sitting beside the cutting board, Burke felt a little queasy. The thought of slicing through living flesh was enough to make him hurl. But he grabbed the largest one anyway. Hanging over the stove was an array of pots and pans. He reached up and pulled down a frying pan. Maybe he could catch the guy unaware, and knock him out cold as he entered through the back.

  Headlights speared the night, nearly blinding him as they lit up the kitchen. The cavalry had arrived. No flashing lights or sirens, but they hadn’t made any attempt to sneak onto the property and catch the intruder in the act. So now he was probably running through the woods, long gone. Wasted trip. Burke shook his head in disgust and went to let the patrolman in.

  “Officer, he was trying the back door. You might still be able to catch him if you’re quick.” Burke gestured for the man in uniform to hurry, leading him through the house with his kitchen weapons held out in front of him.

  “Mr. Sanders, are you certain someone was trying to break in? You heard them try the door?”

  The officer trailed behind, not bothering to keep up with Burke or even take the lead. “Listen, I heard him on the back porch. The idiot wasn’t even trying to stay quiet. Come on, we’ve got to catch him. I don’t care if it’s just a couple of stupid teen pranksters. They need to learn a lesson. I intend to press charges.”

  Burke reached the sliding glass door that opened out onto the back porch. The police officer followed, his service revolver firmly encased in its holster. Unfortunately, there was no way to hide their approach. So Burke hurried to the do
or and flipped the switch on the side of the wall, bathing the deck in light. He dashed to the side of the door, in case the would-be robber opened fire. Before he could take a look to see if their quarry was still in sight, the patrolman let out a bellow of laughter.

  Seated on the deck, in front of the gas grill and looking quite comfortable, was a bandit all right. A fuzzy, fat raccoon. He had managed to climb up to the surface of the grill and pull down the leftover hamburger and hot dog that Burke had forgotten to remove after dinner. At the moment, he was washing down his late-night snack with a bottle of Corona.

  Burke glared. Could this night get any worse? The cop was wiping tears from his eyes, nearly doubled over as he was still convulsing with laughter. Awesome. This would be all over town by morning. Burke peered at the man’s name tag. Officer Eaton would enjoy relating this late night rendezvous. Aw, crap! Eaton. It couldn’t be. In this small town? Double crap!

  “Tell me you aren’t related to Cady. I know Scallop Shores is small, but please tell me you’re another Eaton.”

  The man grinned wide, showing a set of beautiful white teeth. He slapped Burke on the shoulder and laughed some more.

  “Cady would be my baby sister, Mr. Sanders. The name is Chase. I’m sure we would have met in town, eventually, but I have to say—this is much more interesting.”

  “Well, seeing as I’m standing here in my underwear and you have just witnessed the single most embarrassing experience of my entire life, I guess you should call me Burke.”

  Turning off the porch light, they left the raccoon to his dinner. Burke walked Chase back to the kitchen door and held it open. He rubbed a palm over his face while he shook his head.

  “Is there any chance we can keep this between us? Say the guy got away?”

  “Not a chance! This will keep the guys at the station entertained all summer—hell, probably into the first snowfall.” Chase flashed him a huge grin and chuckled as he trotted down the steps. “Welcome to Scallop Shores, Burke.” He opened the door to the cruiser and was about to get in when he turned. “Hey, what’s going on between you and my sister?”