Beyond the Waves (Pacific Shores Book 1) (14 page)

Taysia dropped her head onto her arms and waited until the crunch of his footsteps in the gravel dissipated. Then she allowed the groan that had been building inside of her to escape. “God, please don’t let that happen!”

Chapter 8

Marie was late for work.

Taysia did her best to suppress a growl as she pawed through the stacks of papers on Marie’s desk, but she was afraid it might have slipped out. A surreptitious peek at the blubbering new client across from her confirmed she was still an emotional basket case. Another lady waited patiently, and thankfully dry-eyed, off to one side.
Where in the world has Marie moved those forms to?

The newly pregnant enrollee across the desk dabbed at her eyes again and prattled on about how she didn’t want to look as flabby as her sister had after delivering her first baby.

Taysia pushed the box of tissues closer to her and angled a subtle glance at the large clock on the wall. She’d had to cancel her Third Trimester Toning class in order to run the front desk, and unless Marie showed up soon, she might have to do the same with her next class, as well—which meant refunding a portion of the clients’ payments.

She finally found the forms she needed under a stack of brochures. “Here they are.”
About time!
She handed each of them a pen and did her best to smile, hoping it didn’t look as plastic as it felt.

Just then the front doors opened and Marie floated in on cloud nine with all the air of an angel in an ice cream commercial—complete with sugar cone and chocolate scoop.

Taysia, took a deep breath and clenched her teeth tight to prevent the rant that begged to burst forth. She looked pointedly at the large wall clock and then back to Marie, her fists planted firmly on her hips. As Marie sauntered through the lobby, Taysia caught her own reflection in the large mirror across the room. The receipts and brochures clenched in her hands splayed out like the ruffled tail feathers of an angry hen. With a huff she plunked them down onto the desk.

Marie gave an airy sigh and bent to shove her purse into the drawer. A large blob of brown ice cream landed with a splat on the pile of papers Taysia had just tossed down. Ignoring Taysia’s glare, Marie turned instead to the customer, who had taken one look at the form and burst out crying in earnest.

“What’s the matter, hon?”

“You need to know my pre-pregnancy weight? What? Is this some sort of a last farewell ceremony? Roxy told me never to expect to see it again!” She snatched another tissue from the box and blew her nose loudly.

Marie peered over at Taysia and mouthed, “Roxy?”

“Pudgy sister,” Taysia mouthed back, sketching a large, round gesture in the air.

Marie’s eyes widened in understanding. “There now, honey. Don’t you worry about a thing. Miss Green is the best!” She nodded her head in Taysia’s direction. “You’ll feel like you hired your own personal trainer by the time she gets you into shape, and there’s no worry about you ending up looking like your pudgy sister, okay? Why don’t you go on over to the sign-up board and see if any of those classes look like they’d fit into your schedule. Don’t forget, you want to sign up for First Trimester Fitness, alright?” Marie quick-licked a drip before it could join its mate on the desktop.

“Okay. Thank you.”

With a hasty glance around to make sure no one else needed her attention, Marie rolled her eyes in heavenly ecstasy, flopped back into the desk chair, and stretched her long legs out before her. “You should have
seen
him today, Taysia! He’s so
gorgeous
! Sorry I’m late, by the way, but I just couldn’t pull myself away. He looked into my eyes and asked me if I had any pets! Can you believe it? I mean, a guy doesn’t ask if you have any pets if he’s not at least a little interested, don’t you think? He’s…”

She paused to lick her cone, and Taysia inserted, “Who in the world are you talking about?”

“Brice, the-hot-guy-from-Sunday-and-he-took-me-to-Joe’s-Ice-Cream-Truck-down-at-the-beach-he’s-so-gorgeous!” Her words ran together in the high-pitched excitement.

Taysia had the distinct feeling Marie was making herself out to be just a tad more excited than she really was. “Marie, I couldn’t help but notice on Sunday that you and Reece still have feelings for each other.”

Marie’s jaw jutted off to one side. “Reece made it perfectly clear that I’m not good enough for him when he broke up with me. There is nothing between Reece and me anymore.”

“Whatever he said, Marie, I’m sure he didn’t mean it the way it came across to you.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s over.” Marie blinked hard, and then it was like a mask dropped over her features. She looked from the cone in her hand to her perfectly toned figure. “Oh! This thing is going to add five pounds, but it was worth every crunch I’ll have to do! Brice’s so
hot
!”

Taysia pressed the day’s schedule into Marie’s non-ice-cream-cone-occupied hand and gave her what she hoped was an understanding smile. “I might have known it was something important that made you late. Now I’ve got a class to—”

The front doors opened, and Kylen strode in wearing his blue uniform.

The epaulets emphasized the width of his shoulders, and the gun belt around his waist drew her gaze to his slim hips. It took a moment before she realized her mouth had gaped open and Kylen was grinning at her like a dog with a meaty bone.

Marie doodled her tongue across her ice cream and cocked her head, glancing back and forth between them.

Taysia waved her hand to ward off the questions she could see coming. “Hi, Kylen. Give me a second, would you?”

“Sure.” He sauntered to one end of the desk and picked up a copy of
Today’s Baby
, flipping through it.

Suppressing a grin, Taysia stepped over to glance at a clipboard on the desk and told Marie, “Let’s make sure that the ladies from Third Trimester Toning get a refund for the canceled class today.”

“Okay.” Marie at least had the grace to look guilty, so Taysia decided to leave off chastising her for being late this time.

“Did anyone call to say they wouldn’t be here for Second Trimester Stretches today?”

Marie gave a little sigh of relief and slurped another lick. “Nope. You should have all five today.” She lowered her voice. “So what gives with you and Mr. Dreamy?”

Taysia ignored her. “Oh, good. I’m glad Francine will be here today. She’s missed quite a few classes lately.”

“Must be hard, being a single mom.” Marie’s voice dropped again. “So is he making moves? I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy look at you that way before.”

Taysia grabbed the article on nutrition that she wanted to hand out at the end of her next class and prayed her cheeks didn’t look as red as they felt. “Keep your mind on your work, Marie.”

Walking back to the copier, she could feel the burn of Kylen’s gaze and Marie’s curious scrutiny. She kept her back to them and finished making her copies.

The room was strangely silent.

Finally Taysia grabbed her papers, turned, and met Kylen’s glance. His dark eyes were soft and warm. Blast her disobedient heart. It was beating like she’d just jogged a mile instead of made five copies on a copier. And she couldn’t seem to look away. One of his eyes closed in a quick wink.

Marie inspected the two of them as she chomped down the last of her cone. “Taysia, I do believe you—”

“Marie, would you please make sure all the mats are set up for me in the classroom?” Taysia tore her attention away from Kylen long enough to give Marie a pointed look.

Marie rose with a knowing arch of her eyebrows and in a stage whisper said, “Don’t let him get away, Tays. He’s much better looking than Blaine.” Blue eyes twinkling, she sashayed from the lobby with a parting “Y’all be good now!”

Kylen’s mouth quirked. “Where did you find her?”

Taysia smiled. “I hired her through a youth mentoring program. She’s basically raised herself since she was thirteen, when her mom walked out on them. Last year, after her father was arrested, she came in looking for work. I figured maybe I could do some good for her. She’s come a long way since then. Grown up a lot.” She sighed. “We still have a ways to go.”

Kylen’s face turned suddenly serious. “That’s great, Layne. She couldn’t have a better mentor.”

Taysia swallowed. “Thanks.”

He cleared his throat and scuffed one foot against the carpet. “How did your talk with Blaine go?”

“Well…” She cocked her head. “It went alright, considering.”

“So you and I…we’re still…?” He looked away and muttered something low under his breath.

Hardly able to believe his nervous actions, Taysia suppressed a grin and waited.

Rolling his lips together, he glanced back over at her, then stilled. His eyes narrowed. “You are enjoying this just a little too much.”

She giggled and took pity on him. “I told Blaine that I wanted to see where this thing between us would go.”

His shoulders relaxed. “You did?”

She nodded.

Kylen glanced across the lobby at the two women still filling out papers and stepped closer to her. “About last night…”

Her heart threatened to stop.

“Layne, I just want to be really careful not to lose you, again. And I certainly don’t want to cross any lines we shouldn’t cross until…well…yet. Kissing you like that, I could easily…” His gaze bored into hers, and he stroked a soft caress against her cheek. “I was just stepping back before things got out of control.”

She felt the crimson flood that stained her cheeks.

Kylen grinned and stepped even closer, taking her hand and toying with her fingers. “You know, I’m sure there is a law on the books somewhere that prohibits the way I feel just when you look at me that way.”

Wow
. What did a girl say to something like that? Nothing came to mind, so she just stared at him in sloppy-grinned silence.

As the moment stretched, he chuckled nervously. “That was kind of corny, huh?”

“N-no.” She paused. Then smiled mischievously. “Well, probably, but I liked it. I’m just glad it wasn’t something I did. I was worried that I’d—”
Blast!
Her cheeks blazed again.

“Trust me. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Oh, good.”
Lame, that was really lame
. She rolled the nutrition papers into a tube and tapped them against her palm. “I really need to get to class, so I’ll talk to you later?” Walking backward, she started toward the door to her classroom.

“When’s a good time?”

Glancing over her shoulder to make sure her path was clear, she looked back at him. “How about tomorrow?”

His mouth tipped. “How about tonight? I have an idea for a little road trip. Can you go on an overnighter—we’ll be back by tomorrow evening?”

She raised her brow.

“Separate rooms, I promise.”

Tomorrow was Saturday—nothing going on. “Where are we going?”

“My secret. Is that a yes?”

She cocked her head and then nodded in consent.

“It’s going to be fun, I promise.” He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Her heart lurched. “Me too.” She spun around to escape the magnetic draw of his warm gaze and crashed into the doorframe with a loud crack that drew the eyes of all her students and Marie to the back of the room. Hissing as the pain hit her with full force, Taysia clutched the doorframe and waited for her head to clear.

Kylen was at her side in an instant. He assessed her quickly and, seeing that she was alright, said, “There’s a door there. Careful you don’t crash into it.”

She glowered at him good-naturedly.

“You okay?” he tried.

Taysia didn’t reply except to nod once. What was there to say? She was fine. Just humiliated that he’d seen her idiocy once again.

He leaned forward. “I’d kiss it better, but I think we have an audience.”

She punched his arm. “Go. I’ll see you tonight.”

In Kylen’s convertible headed north on I-5, Taysia leaned her head back and relished the feel of the wind whipping through her hair. She angled her head on the headrest and studied Kylen’s profile. He’d changed out of his uniform into his customary cargo shorts and T-shirt, blue this time. Dark sunglasses hid his eyes, but emphasized the angular line of his stubbled jaw, and made her want to reach out and rub her fingers across it. She tucked her hand under her leg so she wouldn’t be tempted to follow through on the action. His dark curls frolicked at the whim of the wind, and his hand, resting casually on the stick shift, begged for her to hold it. She pushed her hand a little farther under her leg.

He hadn’t told her where they were going yet. Just “north” and “bring layers because we’ll be outside and you never know what the weather is going to be like up there.”

He glanced over and reached up to touch the knot on her forehead with a gentle finger. “You really gave yourself a good knock there.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Gently, he tugged her hand toward him, sliding his fingers between hers. She tried to ignore the warm feeling wrapping around her heart but failed miserably. Especially when his thumb caressed a slow, methodical path over the pulse point at her wrist.