kiss, and Lucas didn’t fight it. He cupped her face in both hands and looked at her, his gaze intent.
Whatever he saw seemed to satisfy him.
His thumbs stroked her cheeks. “Please call or text me when you get back from dinner. If I’m in the middle of a lesson, leave a message, älskling. I’ll respond as soon as I can.”
She nodded, and he nuzzled his nose against hers.
Then he let her go and hoisted her backpack. “Let me get this on board for you.”
He deposited it in the storage area on the ferry and held her arm as she stepped onto the swaying deck. One last squeeze, and he retreated back onto the dock, his mouth pressed tight.
The dock manager unlooped the ferry’s ropes from around the pilings and tossed them aboard, and the boat began to drift away from the tires. Another toot of the horn to mark their departure, and the engine thrummed to life, vibrating the deck under her feet.
She wiggled her fingers in a wave. He returned the gesture, and then patted his pocket, as if checking to make sure her note was still there.
With a jerk, the boat began its journey to the mainland.
“I’ll text you,” she called out, the wind whipping her words away almost before she could utter them.
His deep voice, calm with certainty, carried over the widening water between them.
“That’s good,” he said, his fists on his hips and his eyes on her. “Because I have plans for you, Tess Dunn.”
Seventeen
After one of his early-afternoon lessons, Lucas checked his phone again, as he’d been doing all day. A ridiculous tic, and he knew it. Tess wouldn’t return to the island for hours yet, and during her busy day on the mainland, she wouldn’t be thinking of him, much less texting him.
This time, though, his foolishness had been rewarded. Tess had left a voicemail at some point during the lesson. Not a text. Which was another generational marker, he figured, and one he appreciated.
He wanted to hear her voice. Missed her voice.
More foolishness.
Sadly, when he played the message, covering his other ear with his palm to limit background noise, he found he’d been mistaken. His foolishness hadn’t been rewarded. Not at all.
Her voice was crackly. Tired-sounding. “Lucas, this is Tess. I’m sorry to bother you while you’re working, and this is incredibly awkward, but I figured you should know.”
His chin dropped to his suddenly-aching chest.
She’d changed her mind. Allowed the distance between them to resurrect all her doubts. Reconsidered another night together.
“I got my period today,” she continued. “I should have remembered it was coming, but I’ve been kind of distracted the last few days.”
At that, his head jerked up, and he blinked at the clubhouse a few times.
“I also should have talked to my gynecologist before the trip about avoiding this sort of situation, but to be fair, I hadn’t anticipated plastering my naked, wet boobs against a random bro’s back, finding out he’s actually the resort’s very talented and appealing tennis pro, and then boning him until my vagina raised a tiny white flag this morning.”
He snorted.
Also: very talented and appealing? Nice.
“I know you said you had plans for me, but…” Her sigh whispered into his ear. “I’m sorry. I’m crampy and achy and not feeling particularly sexual at the moment.”
It was true. He’d had plans. Lots of them.
Plans formulated over an endless, sunny day without Tess. Plans created with her sexual preferences and physical limitations in mind. Plans incorporating both his greatest talents and the vibrator he’d managed to buy on the mainland over an extended lunch break.
Most of all, plans to make certain the next time he accompanied her to the dock—in just over a week, a stretch of time that now felt like the snap of his fingers—watching her leave wouldn’t mean watching her leave forever, because this goodbye had been hard enough.
Plans he now had to scuttle.
But that was okay. He could take or leave sex, even the sort of transcendent sex he’d had with Tess last night. As long as he still had the woman herself at his side, he wouldn’t ask for more.
Her voice lowered even further. Turned tentative in a way that made him frown. “So…” A hesitation. “I’m not sure what that means as far as tonight. Whether we’re still getting together.” Another pause. “Call or text me when you get a chance, okay? Hope you’re having a good day.”
That was it. The end of her message.
He glared at his phone, battling the