Page 23 of Tempting Me (The Asher Family #3)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

LUCA

I think about two things for the remainder of my day.

First, this thing with Shay has made me happier than I’ve been in a long time. Second, the fact that I can’t tell a single soul about my feelings for her sucks.

It reminds me of the summer Ruby got pregnant. I’d been hanging out with a girl who I knew was only here for the summer. I was young and looking for fun. I knew it wouldn’t turn into anything serious, but that doesn’t mean how it ended hurt any less.

Me and this girl had been hooking up day after day, sometimes twice a day. Then I saw her on the beach one day with her family and when I went to say hi, like a nice normal guy would, she pretended she didn’t know me.

Later, she asked if we could still sneak around in secret.

I clearly wasn’t good enough for her rich family. Which, whatever, fine, but be upfront about it.

That was basically the summer I banned tourists from fling status and decided that being honest was the only way to go.

But it’s different this time. I’m an adult who went into this knowing that working with Shay was a secret, but still, how long will this need to last?

I do a quick midday check in with my guys then head to Hudson’s for lunch. As soon as I walk in the door, I spot Miles and Quinn sitting at the bar, completely caught up in their own little bubble, their relationship on full display for the world to see.

I’m happy for him, but it stings.

I take a deep breath and move to join them, but I spot Declan on the other side of the bar, solo.

His vibe fits my current mood more, so I head in his direction instead.

“Everything okay?”

I nod.

“Oooh, a nod for a reply. What's up?”

“Nothing,” I say and pull out my phone to text Shay.

Luca

How’s your day going?

Then I flip it face down on the counter. Maybe if I just have some sort of communication with her during the day, even if I can't see her, I’ll stop obsessing over this.

“Luca,” Declan repeats my name.

“Yeah? ”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

I nod again. “It’s been a long day in the sun.”

“I hear that. I’ve been playing outside with Susie all morning, and I think I got a little sunburnt.”

He taps his nose.

“Where is Susie?” I ask.

“Her mom is in town for the night, so they are staying at the lodge.”

“Oh, a free man tonight?” I joke.

“More like get shit done and catch up on sleep kind of night.”

“Productive. I like it.”

“The usual?” Hudson asks, appearing out of nowhere.

“Yep.”

Then, as if we planned it, Miles takes a seat next to me, Dutton walks in the door, and Linc walks in from the bookstore.

In just minutes, we are all seated together.

“What happened to Quinn?”

“She was meeting up with Sadie.”

“Cool.”

“Today is a weird day,” Linc says.

“Not as weird as my day,” Dutton chimes in. “Any chance any of you know how to get a woman to say yes to something without having to do something in?—”

“No,” we all say without hearing the rest of his questions.

He chuckles.

“Noted.”

“What happened to you?” I ask Linc.

This is good. If I focus on the problems of those around me, I can’t dwell on the idea that I’m only good enough as a secret.

Shit, did I really just think that?

“It’s just that selling things in town when families you know are involved can be tricky.”

“Are you talking about The Marina?” Declan asks.

“Who said The Marina was for sale?” I ask quickly. Shay has shared some things with me, but as far as she knows, it’s not for sale yet. Unless this is the tricky part Linc is referring to.

“It’s not—technically. I shouldn't be talking about this with you guys.”

“I want to know. That place is part of this town, and the Parkers have owned it for three decades. They can’t sell it.”

Linc winces. “They can if that’s what they decide.”

“Then Shay can buy it.”

“I heard it was losing money and they won’t sell it to her.”

My attention snaps to Dutton.

He starts placing his lunch order with Hudson.

I would question him, but he is the brother of Shay’s best friend. If anyone were to know something about The Marina that was true, it would be him.

“I hate small-town rumors,” I murmur and get a collective response of agreement. “And it’s not fair to Shay that we are talking about her without her here, so let’s not.”

“It’s hard not to get caught up,” Dutton says. “We hear everything at the lodge. It’s just part of the town at this point.”

The rest of our lunch goes quietly. Well, quietly on the outside. My mind is racing with thoughts of Shay and the fate of The Marina. She has so much to worry about these days that my complaining over why I can’t tell people about us seems like it can wait.

Still, as I walk out of the bar and back to work, I glance down at my phone.

Still no response.

It’s fine.

It is. She doesn’t have to text me back if she doesn't want to. Like I said, she’s busy.

But fuck it, it’s going to drive me crazy until I see her tonight.

It hasn’t even been twelve hours and I’m counting down the minutes until I can see her again.

Text or no text, busy or not, I can only hope that she’s doing the same thing.

As soon as I pull up to The Marina, I let out a breath. The parking lot is still busy. But to be fair, I am early.

Perhaps she hasn’t replied because she’s simply just that, busy.

I glance at the door, trying to tell myself that I don’t need to go inside and demand that she talk to me.

I don’t wanna be that kind of guy, but fuck if I can’t get that woman off my mind.

All day every day since our first kiss she’s all I think about.

Did she sleep well? How was her breakfast?

Does she want to have breakfast with me again, breakfast the way we had it this morning?

Can I sneak over and see her in the middle of the day?

I just want her around me all the time. It's driving me absolutely mad that she hasn’t returned my message.

The door opens, and there she is. Her gaze swings to my truck, and her eyes widen. She ducks right back into The Marina, closing the door.

Oh hell no. I refuse to let things between us go back to the way they were. Ever.

I get out of my truck and march straight for the front door.

Shay doesn’t even try to hide as she stands behind the bar pouring a beer and pretending as if she had no idea I was here.

“Luca, how’s it going?”

She smiles at the customer who ordered the beer then acts as if there is an extra dirty spot on the counter in front of her.

“How’s it going?” I say with a sarcastic tone. “How’s it going ?”

She doesn’t even fake her smile. It’s completely real.

“Yes. How’s it going? “

I glance around the room to make sure we’re alone, because fuck all if I still want to respect her wishes that no one knows about us in a moment when I need her to need me as much I need her.

Jesus. Listen to me. I’m obsessed with her.

“Well, to be honest, Shay, I would be a whole lot better if the girl I was crushing on would message me back,” I say slowly so there’s no way for her to ask me to repeat myself. I was very clear. Minus maybe the part where the girl is her, but she’s smart enough to figure it out.

“Oh.” She glances outside the large marina windows toward the lake and then back at me. “Perhaps this girl is just a little busy and not sure what to think about things right now.”

So that’s where her mind is.

Taking my frustration down a notch, I say, “Well I wish she knew she could come and talk to me about it. Because I like her. Like a stupid amount.”

She smirks and then bites her bottom lip.

The urge to tell her that’s my bottom lip hits me hard, but I don’t. I’ll save that for later.

“I’ll be sure to pass the message along,” she says with a grin.

“You do that.”

“Until then,” she says before I have time to obsess over whether I need to leave now or not, “Turns out that cabin three needs new upper cabinets in the kitchen nook. Can you go look at it before you leave, for measurements?”

Work. She wants to just cut straight to work?

Maybe that’s what she needs me to do. Reassure her that no matter what happens, I promise not to let it affect my work here.

“I’m on it,” I say and turn for the door.

It takes everything I have inside myself not to reach for her and kiss her goodbye.

I want that.

But I don't want to rush her either.

I walk out the door, wave to a couple of locals who are friends with my dad, then grab my tool bag from the back of my truck. I check to make sure a few key pieces are inside the bag before I make the walk to cabin three.

I don’t remember the cabinets in any of them needing to be fully replaced, but my mind was a little elsewhere the day we looked at them.

The light is on when I get there, which makes sense since Shay was clearly in here earlier .

I walk in and there is no stopping the grin that forms on my lips.

“Hi.” Shay blushes and stands from where she’s been sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me.

I drop my tool bag to the floor. “Hi.”

Her hands fidget in front of her as she walks toward me.

“I don’t know how to do this.”

“Do what?”

“This.” She waves a hand between us. “I just know that you love honesty, and I need to give you that.”

“Okay.”

“Obviously, I like you, too.”

I smirk.

She rolls her eyes.

“But it doesn’t change the fact that people can’t know you're remodeling this place, and if they can't know that, then they definitely can’t know we’re sleeping together.”

I nod slowly.

It still sucks to hear.

“Remind me why people can’t know that you hired me. Is it only because your family doesn't like me?”

She breaks eye contact instantly and hesitates to answer.

In fact, she takes so long that I almost tell her she doesn’t have to tell me. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.

“When I came back and took over, my parents told me that I could turn this place around as long as I didn't hire you.”

Shit.

Her family really has zero trust left in me.

“And what happens if they find out you did?”

She shrugs quickly.

“I don’t want to find out. ”

Then she does that thing where she looks everywhere but at me, her eyes bouncing like a fucking pinball machine that’s ready to break.

She’s not telling me something. I’m not saying what she just admitted isn't true, because it sounds on track with everything we have been through, but she’s holding back details.

They must be bad ones.

She shifts on her feet, and I hate putting her in this spot. One where she clearly has to choose between what she wants with me and what she wants to make her family happy.

I’ll never be that guy who has to make her choose.

No one is going to die, so whatever she’s keeping can't be that bad.

I reach for her, pulling her into my arms. Once I have her wrapped up tight against my chest, I feel her entire body relax.

“You won’t have to.”

And she won’t. Not if I get a say in the matter.

I spend the next couple of hours working in one of the cabins while Shay finishes her day at The Marina.

The moon is shining over the lake, giving a calm presence to the cabin when Shay walks back in.

“Should we get back to it in the main building?”

I nod, eager to follow and spend time with her.

Now, I know I have to work when we get there, but I’m hoping to steal a kiss or two as well. I’ve never been this into anyone I’ve dated. So into them that even being apart for a few hours feels like I’m missing something .

Of course, there is no way I’m going to admit this to her right now. My feelings for her went from zero to one hundred real quick, and I don’t want to freak her out if she doesn't feel the same way.

“How many colors are you planning to use in this building?” I ask, keeping to the task at hand as best I can.

We step through the main doors, and the moonlight lights up the room, casting the perfect streak of light over Shay’s sun-kissed face as she smiles over her shoulder at me.

“Do you want to see my Pinterest board of ideas?”

I nod. “Yep.”

She grabs my hand and pulls me to one of the three couches that line the room.

The couches are the only things in here that she didn’t replace.

With the big windows, it makes sense to have seating areas aside from formal dining, but I see why she wanted to remodel the space so that those sitting in the couches and those eating dinner could enjoy two different experiences without being right on top of each other.

Once I sit, she pulls her knees up and lets them fall over my thigh as she settles right next to me.

“Okay, so I was thinking about these colors.”

Her phone shines back at me with blues, greens, and golds.

“Then I think we could add in bits of soft coral, too.”

She swipes through a few more photos, going on and on about how the coral pillows in this room will be enough and how she’s already got the blue in the hallways and wants to add more plants for the earthy vibe but hasn’t quite figured out the coral or gold for that space yet.

“What if you take pictures from the past years here with your family, make them black-and- white, and then alter frames in the coral and gold?”

She slowly looks at me, her lips tugging into a smile.

“I think that would be perfect.”

“You could even have a couple of empty ones to fill as the years go on.”

Her lips part on a breath.

My heart immediately beats faster. I reach for her, one hand on her legs, the other sneaking around her back as I lean into her.

“Luca,” she breathes my name on a sigh. “We still have work to do tonight.”

“Well, then, you need to stop what you’re doing.”

She slides a hand into my hair, curls her fingers, and tugs gently just as my lips press to her neck.

“And what am I doing?”

I kiss her neck once more, then her cheek as I whisper into her ear, “You’re tempting me.”

“Am I now?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

I move fast, hands on her hips as I pull her fully into my lap, her legs resting on either side of me.

“I’m going to kiss you for a good five minutes at least, then I’m going to get to work, because if I don’t, I’m going to get so lost in you that I won’t be able to focus on anything else.”

“And you’re okay with stopping to work?”

“I am.”

“Oh. ”

Her voice is low and her head dips, so I gently touch her chin and force her to look at me.

“If you’re thinking it’s because I don't want you, you’re wrong. It’s because this marina means a lot to you and you mean a lot to me, so we are doing this. And then, I’m doing you.”

She erupts into laughter, grabs my face, and kisses me hard.

“Let’s just get to work now. The sooner we finish means the sooner we?—”

“Finish,” I say, completing her sentence.

She giggles and climbs off my lap to stand.

“Okay, cheeseball, let’s go.”

I stand and pull her in for one more kiss.

A guy sure could get used to nights like this, and seeing as how for right now, this is all I get, I plan to.