Long Simmering Spring (3 page)

“You know why,” she managed to get out.

“Yeah.” His voice was husky. “Yeah, I know.” He slid his hand up her arm to her face and stroked her temple, pushing back a stray strand of hair, his eyes locked on hers. A low, dark shiver started in the base of her spine and jolted upward. “You’re not going to slap me again, are you?”

He remembers
. “I’m thinking about it,” she murmured, unable to tear her gaze away.

Cole didn’t smile. “Then you’d better go inside before I give you a real reason to.”

It took her only a fraction of a second to realize what he meant and when she got his drift, she swallowed. Hard.

Cole stared at her for just a moment more. Then, smoothly, he released her, grabbed his jacket, and walked down the steps. There, he waited patiently while she reached into the tiny pocket of her leggings and took out her house key. It was only when she’d let herself into the welcome comfort of her childhood home and flicked on the hall light that he gave her a nod before turning and disappearing into the darkness.

CHAPTER 3

“You’re thirty minutes late!” Theo growled from his chair inside the Rusty Nail. “How long can a trip to the hardware store take?”

Cole just gave him a look, slid back into his seat, and picked up his beer. Thankfully, it was still ice cold. Andy Neiman sure knew how to keep his clientele happy—chilled glasses and a dozen local brews on tap. Didn’t get much better than that.

“Well?” Theo said, when Cole didn’t respond. Cole avoided looking at Theo’s green eyes—an exact mirror of their dad’s. He didn’t want to go there tonight.

“Lay off,” Val said quietly.

“What?” Theo responded, shrugging his shoulders and taking a sip of his ale. “Just giving Sheriff Sunshine a taste of his own medicine.”

Sheriff Sunshine
. The nickname rankled, but after his tantalizing encounter with Julie Kensington, Cole was feeling generous enough to throw Theo a bone, especially since he knew his little brother was probably missing his woman. “Took a detour,” he said tersely.

He actually
had
been on the way to the hardware store when he’d seen Julie enter the park. It was nearly dark at the time, and he wanted to make sure she was safe. At least that’s what he kept telling himself.

Theo narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. “Detour? Is that supposed to be a euphemism for something?”

Cole snorted. “C’mon, Professor. Not everything I say has—oh, what’s the word—subtext?” A lie, hidden within the truth. He
had
taken a detour, but there’d been a hell of a lot of subtext in his conversation with the brainy, beautiful doctor.

Instead of getting angry, Theo leaned back in his seat and grinned. “Good one.”

Cole relaxed and leaned back too, glad that his brother had found his retort funny. But that “detour”—as he’d so aptly put it—had been more than he’d bargained for.

Julie had been on his radar from the moment he’d gotten back to town. Just like in high school, she was slim, blond, and utterly beautiful. She had high cheekbones, a full mouth, and that same smattering of freckles across the bridge of her pert nose. But her hazel-green eyes were the real kicker, sparking both fire and intelligence at him whenever he managed to catch her gaze. He hadn’t gotten too close, though. Somehow, he had a feeling the good doctor wouldn’t appreciate how much he wanted to act on the dirty thoughts running through his mind.

What he wouldn’t give to run his fingers through her hair, crush her to his body, and see how high he could make her fly. See how far he could push her until she unraveled in his arms.

But, clever woman that she was, she hadn’t given him an opening. She’d shied away from him since he’d returned, dodging him for months, and always with the same excuse: work. He took a deep drink of his lager, pushing back against the nostalgia, coupled with a smidge of bitterness.

Forget about who he was now; all she probably remembered was the guy he used to be.
Bad.
There was no other way to put it. He and his brothers had raised some serious hell in high school, and he’d been the worst of them all. The pranks, the drinking, the girls—God, it was embarrassing to even think about. Yet he’d come so far. He might still be one of Star Harbor’s notorious Grayson brothers, but instead of a cocksure hellion, he was a decorated military hero who worked every day to improve his community.

Maybe Julie didn’t care. They’d run in totally different circles—he with the bad boys and she with the good girls. He’d done nothing to distinguish himself to her back then until he’d confronted her—and himself—the afternoon he’d run into her behind the track at the high school. He’d made a play, and she’d turned him down, taking him apart with a few choice words. And then, bonehead that he was, he’d gone in for the kiss anyway. He’d gotten what he deserved that day—a slap so hard it had rattled his teeth, and a lecture on making something of himself.

Words he hadn’t heeded until years later.

Cole still cringed when he thought about that time in his life. He’d been such an ass, working out his frustrations by doing destructive things. Like those idiotic pranks he and his brothers used to pull. Almost every one had been payback for something else—his own twisted version of justice. Such as when Mr. O’Callahan had wrongly accused him of passing notes in class. He’d never stoop to something so ridiculous and both he and the teacher knew it; O’Callahan just needed a scapegoat. Before school was over, Cole had walked to the parking lot and let out all the air in O’Callahan’s tires. Cole sighed. The fact that he had reasons for pulling some of his tricks didn’t make things any better. And it didn’t explain his other less-than-stellar behavior.

But he was different now, and Julie had to know that. Even he could tell that they had something
more
there. She’d been wary around him—hell, who wouldn’t be?—but she was intrigued, too. More than once tonight, he’d caught her eyeing him before her glance flicked quickly away. Was she remembering how his lips had felt against hers?
He
thought about that brief, stolen kiss more often than he should.

His head came to a rest on the wall behind him and some of the tension inside uncoiled. Nothing at his back, just the way he liked it. Scanning the room with practiced ease, he noted a few things. One—Don Rathbone seemed to be drunker than usual and earlier than usual, and two—everyone was sidling away from him as he staggered from his table and back up to the bar for another drink. Seemed like folks knew what was coming, since a quiet pall fell over the front room.

“Okay, Don,” Andy said from behind the bar. “You’ve had enough. I’m cutting you off.”

“C’mon, Andy. One more,” Don pleaded, his deep-set eyes crazily intense.

“No.” Andy was calm but firm. “You’re welcome to stay, but you’re not getting any more alcohol tonight. Not from me.”

Don pushed his lank hair out of his face with a work-roughened hand, then started shouting at Andy. “Lemme tell you something, you no-good piece of . . .”

As soon as he’d seen how this was going to play out, Cole had been up out of his seat. “Hey, Andy,” he said, leaning a forearm on the polished oak bar, right next to Don. “Another round for me and my brothers.” He gave a short nod back to where Val and Theo waited. He doubted he’d need them, but it was nice to know they had his back, just like he had Andy’s.

Wisely, Andy didn’t blink an eye. “Sure thing, Cole. Same as before?”

“That’d be great.”

His rant effectively defused, Don slid back off the bar stool and sized him up. Don was a relatively big guy, but while he was in decent shape from hauling bowlines and slinging nets on his boat all day, he was no match for Cole and he knew it. Giving Cole and Andy both bitter looks, he turned and slunk out of the Nail.

“He’ll just walk home, right?” Cole asked.

“Yeah,” Andy said. “You know he does this at least once every couple of weeks. Fishing must have been real bad today. Appreciate you stepping up, Sheriff.”

Cole leaned back on the bar. Andy could take care of himself, but the dirty work was never fun. “That’s what I’m here for.”

“Still want those drinks?”

“Why don’t you give us a few minutes to finish up the ones we have?”

Andy gave him a brief smile. “Figured. Next round is on the house.”

“Appreciate that.” Cole walked back to his corner seat and sank back down into it.

“Not good,” Val muttered. “He’s getting worse.”

“I feel bad for his wife,” Theo said. “And I don’t even want to
think
about his kid.”

Cole was silent. He’d been monitoring Don for months, and as soon as he had a good enough reason to bring him in, he’d pounce. Until then, he just had to sit tight. “When’s Avery coming back?” he asked his brother, wanting to talk about something more positive.

“Not until Friday night. I’m dying here,” Theo said, shaking his head. “If it weren’t for you guys and Jimmy, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.” Jimmy “the Bear” Bishop was a huge man who’d been a good friend of theirs in high school. Size-wise, he hadn’t changed much since the old days, but his temperament had mellowed. He’d settled permanently in town and now owned and operated his own fishing and tour boat company, which ran out of Star Harbor. Jimmy was married to Emma, the town’s librarian and Avery’s sister. Once Theo and Avery tied the knot, Jimmy and the Graysons could finally call themselves brothers.

“At least you’ll get some good writing done,” Val said.

“Weird thing is, I get more done when she’s around. She’s quite inspiring,” he said, smiling as he took a drink.

“Told you coming back would be good for you,” Cole said, unable to help the smugness from creeping into his voice. “Have you finished
The Pirate King
yet?”

“I finished up the first draft last month and shipped it out to my editor. While I’m waiting for his comments, I decided to start on something new.”

“What’s that?” Val asked.

“I want to do another take on the Legend of the
Lorelei
. Three men survived that wreck and my last book focused on just one of them—the man who went on to infamy as the wicked captain of the
Demetria
. The tales of the other two survivors have been percolating in my mind, so I’m pretty certain I’m going to do a trilogy. What do you think?”

“Sounds cool,” Cole said. The
Siren Lorelei
was a famous pirate ship wrecked off the coast of Cape Cod in the early 1700s. The fateful night the ship had gone down had spawned many tales that had only compounded over the years, as despite its being somewhere in Vineyard Sound, the wreck had never been found. One famous poem—taught to every Star Harbor elementary school child—had to do with three keys allegedly leading to a mystical treasure. Their dad had loved spinning tales about the
Lorelei
, and the Grayson boys had grown up with a healthy dose of pirate mythology. “Do you know what happened to the men in real life?”

Theo’s eyes gleamed. “No. A few snippets here and there, but nothing tangible after they left Star Harbor.”

“So you can write whatever you want.”

“Exactly.”

Val smiled and took a drink. “Always were one for masterminding the plans, Professor. Glad you’re sticking around for a while. You too, Cole.” He raised his glass. “All we need is Seb to settle permanently in town and our family will be complete.” Sebastian was a well-known chef who owned a popular restaurant in New York City. Last December, he’d gotten married to Lexie Meyers, the proprietor of the best restaurant in town. Since then, Seb had been splitting his time between New York and Star Harbor. He wished his brother were around more, but he understood why Seb had to be away so much.

“To good times in Star Harbor,” Theo said, raising his own glass.

“Good times,” Cole echoed. He was glad to be back, though things hadn’t yet turned out exactly how he’d planned. For one thing, he’d hoped that those damned nightmares would disappear completely, and though he’d had one good night, he wasn’t out of the woods yet. And for another, he hadn’t counted on his reaction to Julie Kensington being so strong. She’d all but admitted she was attracted to him, and he couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind.

But the last thing he needed was his past staring him in the face every time she looked at him with those big hazel eyes. He knew he should stay away, but now that he’d seen her up close, now that he’d seen the way she looked back at him, he wasn’t certain he could.

He took a long, slow drink and swallowed. Maybe things would turn around. Maybe he’d get his head completely together. And maybe, just maybe, he could convince one smart, sexy doctor that he was worth getting to know. This time, for real.

CHAPTER 4

“Good morning, Cloris,” Julie said as she breezed into her office at seven thirty on the nose. “Fabulous day, isn’t it?”

Her cantankerous receptionist unfolded herself from her bent position and slapped a few patient files on the countertop. “What’s so fabulous about it? It’s Monday, Harold escaped again last night, and my corns are hurting!”

Julie bit back a smile. She could always count on Cloris Garwood to return a pleasant greeting with a litany of woes. Still, she liked the woman. Cloris was an extremely efficient assistant and was actually great with patients. “Well, Monday I can’t do anything about, but you know Harold will come back. He always does,” Julie said gently. Cloris’s wayward cat would surely reappear after a day or two. “And I can fix up some soaking solution for your corns, Cloris. Would you like that?”

“Mmmph,” she answered gruffly. That seemed to be Cloris’s way of consenting.

“Great! What’s on the agenda for today?” Julie asked cheerfully.

“We got Mrs. Nettlebaum first, then Melinda Cook, that Jones boy, Mr. Wittaker, and Kiki Ketcham’s kid all before lunch. I reserved walk-in hours from two to four, and then we got Jon Pratt at four-thirty. We’ll have time to finish up the paperwork after that.”

“All right. Sounds like a full schedule. When you’re through pulling the files, just yell and I’ll come get them. We wouldn’t want you exacerbating your corns!” Julie gave Cloris a wink and headed back to her private office.