his mind off his arousal.
“Okay, I’m done,” she said after a few minutes. “You can go make me food now. You’ve got a starving woman here.”
He laughed, because this was precisely Jamie Lynn: soft and hard, salty and sweet. “Feel free to rub your body against me like that anytime.”
“I think I may just do that.” She slapped his butt. “We can be cuddle buddies.”
“I hope we get to be more than that,” he said as he walked out to make her breakfast.
After having made Jamie Lynn everything he could find—eggs, frozen waffles, cereal, toast, juice, and coffee—she cleaned up. “You want to go for a walk on the boardwalk?” he asked as he kissed her forehead.
“Absolutely. Let me get someone to cover my shift today.”
“Oh, if you have to work, I understand. I missed another teleconference this morning.”
“But it’s Saturday?”
“So?”
She looked up from typing something quickly into her phone. “You work too much.”
“I know. But I have the urge to get rid of my phone and spend the day with you.”
She smiled up at him, and her phone dinged. She looked down at the screen. “Okay, all good with work. Let’s go for that walk.”
Walking along the boardwalk was sublime. The ocean breeze was a refreshing respite from the Florida heat that wrapped around her body like a blanket. Enzo’s fingers interlaced with hers and the comfortable silence between them made the day even better. She never thought he’d be so wonderful; had she known, she’d have given him a chance months ago. When her phone rang, she took it out of her pocket, but since she didn’t recognize the number she silenced it and put it back, knowing it was likely her mother. He looked at her questioningly, but she didn’t comment. After a while they sat on the sand to watch the children playing with their plastic buckets.
“So cute, right?” she said, pointing to one particular boy whose diaper sagged low with seawater.
“You like kids?”
“Yes. I do. You?”
“I do. Always wanted a big family.”
“Really? Me too.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I’ll tell you a secret,” she added. “I’m so jealous of your pot and pan holder contraption.”
He pulled away just far enough to look at her and laughed. “What?”
“In my dreams, the ideal family has one of those hanging things where you store the pots and pans, a big island, and the mother wears an apron and all the big important family discussions happen under that hanger thing.”
With his thumb and forefinger he moved her chin up so that she could look at him. “I had one of those things in my house in Brazil and I did not have a perfect family. Far from it. Things like that don’t make a family. My parents are cordial and I never saw them fight, but I don’t think they actually like each other,” he admitted. “Parents who are present for their kids are what make a family.”
“Yeah, I know. But still…I want one of those.”
“Can you tell me about your family?” he asked. “I want to know more about you, Jamie Lynn.”
Chapter 9
JL let out a breath, pulled her knees up to her chest, and rested her chin on them as she looked out onto the ocean. She knew she came with a lot of baggage, but she had always tried to keep that baggage hidden, not letting it drag her down. She lived by the motto “Fake it till you make it.” She hoped Enzo wouldn’t hold her ugly past against her. “I’ll tell you because I don’t like secrets and I don’t want you to think I’m keeping a big one. Secrets and lies.” She shook her head. “I don’t like either.”
“I get that. I don’t particularly like being lied to either. Marianna was a liar.”
“Glad we’re on the same page, Pretty Boy,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I never knew my father. My mother raised us—she got a two-for-one deal with Travis and me. Twins. Double the pleasure, right?” She gave a self-deprecating laugh. “My mother was not cut out for motherhood, but she got knocked up and decided to have us anyway. I guess I should thank her for that, right? Well, she was expecting to have a little boy, then delivery day happened and I came out a minute after Travis. It was a complete surprise, and from the beginning she wasn’t happy.
“I don’t remember a time in my life when she wasn’t drinking