The Ivy House - By Drea Stein Page 0,59
drove them back down to the marina, where he ordered some food from the small deli near the docks. His boat was well stocked with water, soft drinks, and, as promised, wine and beer.
Chase wanted to put his arm around Phoebe and tell her that he wouldn’t bite. Not unless she asked him to. But she seemed intent on keeping a distance between them, as if their kisses had never happened. Still, he felt a faint stirring of hope when he caught her looking at him speculatively from underneath her lashes while pretending to browse through the postcard rack in the marina office.
Perhaps she wasn’t as cool as he thought. Ice queen was the thought that had come to mind when he’d first met her, but after their kiss, he’d had to rearrange his thinking. She had been more like a fire demon, the way she had moved into him, arousing all of his senses, the way he had wanted the kiss to last forever, how he wanted to run his hands over her body, touch her, feel her. Each time, all rational thought had fled from his mind. Well, he’d had a few of them, like how he could get her alone and under him in a house without a lick of furniture and a pile of old boxes.
“Find anything?” Chase asked, his business taken care of.
She held up a picture of a large building that looked out over the water, a huge Victorian building, covered in lacy white trim, looking a bit like a wedding cake.
“The Queensbay Show House,” Chase said, a small smile ghosting across his lips.
“Savannah used to perform there in the summer. I think that was when her agent was trying to revive her career.”
Chase raised his eyebrows as he took the postcard for a moment.
“I know. It didn’t really work. She never did have the best singing voice.”
“Did you ever see her perform in one of her shows?”
Phoebe nodded, her blue eyes sparkling. “Not here—in Los Angeles. Still, it was a bit like magic. My nanny took me, but I got to go backstage where everyone was getting ready, see all these half-dressed actors sitting there, putting on their makeup. It’s old and huge and bright and dark, all at the same time, and it was possibly the most exciting place in the whole world for a little girl.”
Chase felt his heart tug. She had been lighthearted and free during the flea market, but she hadn’t talked about her past. He realized he liked it when Phoebe let her guard down, when she actually talked about herself. He could almost see the little girl she had been, watching the chaos and excitement that was backstage.
“I bet you had your best dress on.”
Phoebe laughed. “And I got to eat M&Ms and drink a Coke during intermission. It was a little slice of heaven.”
“Well, then, let’s go.”
“What do you mean? It’s been closed for years,” Phoebe said.
“I meant we could sail past it. It will have to do, but there’s a great little cove past there that we can tuck into and have our lunch.”
Phoebe put the postcard back. “Sounds good.”
<<>>
Phoebe might have been more comfortable as a swimmer than a sailor, but she knew how to handle herself on a boat. He watched as she hopped lightly aboard.
“Do you want me to stow this for you?” she said, pointing at the canvas bag packed full with their lunch.
“That would be great,” he told her and got busy readying the boat for cast-off. They would motor out of the marina area and out into the wide expanse of Queensbay Harbor. The wind was coming off the land, so they would have a nice clear run up to the Queensbay Show House and then make the trip into Pine Cove. The cove was a decent-sized inlet off the Sound, deep enough for them to be able to go in, nice and protected from the wind and waves, anchor, maybe even take the little dinghy to shore and wade along the sandy shoreline.
When everything was safely stowed below, she hopped onto the dock, untied the mooring lines, and elegantly jumped back aboard. He powered up his engine and his forty-foot sailing cruiser moved away from the slip. Chase guided it out into the channel and towards open water, loving the feeling of the wind ruffling his hair, the smell of the tangy salt water assailing his nostrils.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you take the wheel when I set the