Sean's Reckoning - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,54

tension seemed to drain out of her.

“How’s the water?” he asked.

“Cold,” she said, just as Kevin shouted, “It’s great! Can we go swimming?”

Sean looked to Deanna.

“I’m not going in there,” she said with a shiver.

Sean laughed. “Then I guess it’s just you and me, buddy. You wearing your suit?”

“No,” Kevin said, clearly disappointed.

“Run on up to the house and change, then,” Sean said. “Your mom and I will wait right here.”

A flicker of dismay crossed Deanna’s face, but she didn’t argue.

After Kevin had gone, Sean repeated his apology, trying to explain his attitude toward his own family, an attitude he admittedly tried never to examine too closely.

“I know your heart’s in the right place, that you’re thinking about Kevin,” Deanna conceded when he finished. “But when it comes to my folks, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know.”

“Then you’ll drop it?”

“If it will wipe that frown off your face, yes.”

A smile trembled at the corners of her mouth.

Sean reached over and touched a finger to her lips. “Much better.” Then he leaned down and kissed her, just a quick, gentle kiss to remind himself of the taste and feel of her mouth beneath his.

Huge mistake. He wanted so much more, but Kevin was screaming his name and tearing across the sand, dragging a towel behind him. Sean’s only consolation was the unmistakable shadow of regret in Deanna’s eyes, too.

“I don’t see why anyone would want to dig for clams,” Kevin grumbled. “It’s hard work, and they’re yucky.”

“Not when they’re in a big bowl of New England clam chowder,” Sean assured him.

Deanna grinned at the pair of them. The clam digging had been Sean’s brilliant idea. She was stretched out on a blanket nearby listening to the two of them grumble. The sun was warm against her skin. After only a couple of days, Kevin’s hair was turning lighter and his skin was developing a faint tan, except for his nose which had gotten sunburned the first day out. He looked healthy and happy as he knelt on the sand beside Sean, digging haphazardly with his small shovel.

The setting was idyllic, even if being around Sean 24/7 was beginning to take a toll on her nerves. It had been difficult enough to resist him in the city, where she only had to contend with the sight of him in tight T-shirts and snug jeans. Out here, even on the chilliest mornings, he was usually wearing shorts and a T-shirt. More often than not he wore only his bathing suit, exposing more taut, bare skin than she’d been exposed to in years. The temptation to rest her hand against his bronzed chest, to trace the hard muscles in his arms or the six-pack of sculpted muscles on his abdomen was nearly irresistible.

If Sean was having similar difficulty keeping his hands to himself, she wasn’t aware of it. He seemed perfectly content jogging along the edge of the water with Kevin running along beside him or engaging in a cutthroat game of cards with Kevin and Deanna in the evening while Hank and Ruby disappeared into town.

This was what marriage to a man like Sean would be like, Deanna realized with a sudden burst of awareness. Slow, quiet days together as a family, accompanied by the edgy thrill of anticipation. Of course, if they were married, there would be an end to the sensual torment. They could spend the entire night making wild, passionate love to each other, satisfying this longing that never quite left her.

Deanna was so shaken by the image that she inadvertently dropped the can of soda in her hand. It spilled over her bare thigh, soaked the blanket and sent her scooting onto the hot sand.

“You okay?” Sean asked, appearing beside her.

She forced a smile. “Just dropped my soda all over myself. It was cold.”

“You need to go in the water or you’ll be all sticky,” he said.

“Not me. The ocean’s freezing.”

By then Kevin had joined them. “No, it’s not, Mom. You’ll love it once you get in.”

A mischievous grin spread across Sean’s face. “Kev, I don’t think your mom’s going to become a believer unless we prove it to her.”

She shot a wary look at him and backed up a step. “Meaning what exactly?”

Before she could react, Sean had scooped her up until she was resting against his bare chest. The sensation of being next to all that sun-warmed skin was so intriguing that for a moment, she completely forgot about his obvious intentions. When she finally