Home to Seaview Key (A Seaview Key Novel) (16 page)

“You have my word,” she said.

“Good enough. You’re a good negotiator, Abby. You pushed all the right buttons.”

She laughed. “I’ll pass the compliment along to my coach,” she said, glancing up at Seth when she said it. “He’s standing here looking very pleased with himself.”

Troy chuckled. “You’ll have to introduce me. A few hours ago, I wouldn’t have given two cents that you’d come up with anything to convince me to hang in here.”

“Talk to you soon,” she said. “I’ll keep you updated as things move along.”

“Looking forward to it.”

She hung up, then stood up. “You’re a genius,” she told Seth.

“He agreed?”

“He agreed,” she confirmed. “You gave me the win-win idea and the confidence to sell it to him.”

Seth pulled her into his arms and twirled her around. “I guess that makes us a pretty good team.”

She looked into his eyes. “I certainly think so.”

And with each and every example of their compatibility, she fell a little more deeply in love. She studied Seth’s expression and wondered if he felt the same way. If so, it must scare him to death. Right this second, though, he looked every bit as thrilled as she felt.

“This calls for a celebration,” Seth announced as he set Abby back on her feet. “Dinner? Ice cream? What do you feel like?”

Abby gave him a rueful look. “I feel like a shower and I just had a terrible thought.”

He frowned. “What’s that? I thought the news was all good.”

“Oh, the news was great,” she confirmed. “But I just destroyed the only shower in this house.”

He stared at her dismayed expression and started laughing. “The other bathroom doesn’t have a shower or a tub?”

She shook her head. “Just a sink and toilet.” She moaned. “What was I thinking?”

“Isn’t there an outdoor shower out back?”

She frowned at the suggestion. “Sure, for rinsing off when people come back from a swim and are still in their bathing suits. It’s not meant for scrubbing from head to toe, which is what I need.”

“Why not? There’s water, isn’t there? Grab a towel and a bar of soap.”

She scowled at the suggestion. “There’s no privacy, Seth.”

He laughed. “I’ll hold up a blanket. No passerby will see you. I promise.”

“What about you?”

“I won’t peek,” he insisted, though the temptation might very well kill him. “Cross my heart.”

She regarded him skeptically. “Cross your heart?”

“Absolutely. Or you could grab some clothes and come back to Seaview Inn and use the shower in my room. I would remain safely downstairs.” Another test of his willpower, though one he was more likely to pass with Jenny, Kelsey and an inn full of other people around.

“I think I like that idea better,” she said. “Give me a couple of minutes to get a few things together.”

“Maybe you should consider staying over there till you can get a plumber in here to finish the renovations,” he suggested.

“The inn’s not full?”

He shook his head. “I think Kelsey said there were open rooms for another week or so. Worst-case scenario, you could share mine.”

Even as the impulsive words came out of his mouth, he flinched. Bad idea! A really bad idea, in fact. That would be the absolute end of any pretense that they weren’t involved. Even if he never laid a hand on her—which was unlikely enough—the entire world would believe they’d become a couple.

“Why do you suddenly look so panicky?” Abby asked, her expression knowing. “Scared you won’t be able to resist me?”

“I
know
I won’t be able to resist you,” Seth confirmed. “Which makes that idea insane.”

“Insane?” she questioned. “Or dangerous?”

“Is there a difference?”

“I can’t say for sure,” she said. “But I’m suddenly very interested in finding out. I’ll pack a bag.”

Seth swallowed hard as she headed inside. What the heck had just happened here? He’d suddenly lost control of the entire situation. Or maybe what he really feared was that he was losing control of his heart.

* * *

“I’d like a room for a few nights,” Abby told Kelsey when she and Seth got to Seaview Inn.

Kelsey studied the two of them curiously. “Something happen over at your house?” she asked Abby. “You didn’t set fire to it, did you? You weren’t in such a good mood when you left here earlier.”

“Nothing like that,” Abby said, laughing. “But I did get a little overzealous with a sledgehammer.”

Kelsey’s shocked reaction had her quickly adding, “I gutted the only fully equipped bathroom.”

Kelsey chuckled at that. “I imagine that has something to do with that situation you discussed with Mom and Grandma Jenny earlier. They told me about what was going on with your contractor. Were you able to resolve the problem?”

“Thanks to a suggestion from Seth, I was,” she said. “But not till after I went on my destructive rampage. Seth took one look at the mess and suggested I should probably stay here till I can get the plumber in to install new fixtures and do the rest of the renovations.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t invite you to move in with him,” Kelsey said, her gaze on Seth. “How come you let that opportunity slip through your fingers?”

Seth scowled at the question.

“Oh, he did,” Abby confided. “Sort of.”

“Huh?” Kelsey said.

“Never mind. I’ll just take my own room, if one’s available.”

“Sure,” Kelsey confirmed. “A word of warning, though. We’re sold out starting in about ten days. Do you think your repairs will be completed by then?”

Abby nodded. “If I have to lay the tile myself,” she told her.

“Then we’re good,” Kelsey said.

Abby handed over her credit card, then glanced at Seth. “You must be feeling relieved about now.”

“Relieved?”

“No sharing necessary,” she explained.

“Looks to me like he’s disappointed,” Kelsey commented. “What about it, Seth? Want me to suddenly discover we have a full house now?”

“Just give the woman a room,” he grumbled. “I’ll carry her bag up.”

Kelsey laughed. “You won’t have to go far. Lucky for you, the room right next door to yours is available. Pretty convenient, huh?”

Seth shook his head. “I hope you two are enjoying yourselves.” He gave Abby a warning look. “Remember that conversation we had about dangerous situations? You’re playing with one right now.”

Abby trembled under his heated gaze. The prospect of testing Seth’s limits suddenly held a whole lot of appeal. Just as Kelsey had said, how convenient that she wouldn’t have to go far to do it.

16

S
eth could hear Abby moving around in the room next door to his and felt his willpower crumbling.

“You’re not going over there,” he admonished himself. “Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not the entire time she’s there.”

And please, God, let that not be for long.
He vowed to call the plumber himself first thing in the morning and offer all sorts of incentives for him to get that bathroom at Abby’s whipped back into shape in record time.
He’d
go over and lay the new tiles, if it came to that. Maybe he could even install the new tub, though he had no experience doing such a thing. Desperate times called for desperate measures. This was one of those times.

He heard a tap on the door and cast a frantic glance in that direction. The second tap, however, came not on the door to the hallway, but on a door he hadn’t really paid attention to before. It apparently connected his room to Abby’s.
Blast it all,
he thought, staring at it in dismay.
Now what?

“Seth, are you in there? I’m ready to go out to dinner if you are.”

Dinner,
he thought with relief.
Thank goodness!
He jumped up and opened the door.

Unfortunately, though Abby was, indeed, dressed, she was wearing some slinky little dress that barely skimmed over her curves. She looked sophisticated and hot. Very, very hot. Take-me-to-bed hot. He swallowed hard. How was he supposed to go on resisting her—protecting his already wounded heart—if she looked so blasted sexy?

“Aren’t you going to freeze in that?” he asked in a choked voice.

She held up a jacket. “I’ll be fine.” She met his gaze, then held it for several endless beats. “And you keep telling me you’re up to the task of keeping me warm,” she added, her voice a soft caress. “I’m not worried.”

Well,
he
was worried. The game was getting wildly out of hand. Sex with Abby he could handle. Falling in love, which seemed to go right along with it, spelled disaster, and all of his many excuses were wearing very, very thin.

“Let’s go,” he said, closing the connecting door, then locking it firmly.

As they exited his room together, they ran straight into Grandma Jenny in the hallway. Her eyes glinted with amusement.

“Kelsey told me you were staying here, Abby. I wondered how long you’d be in your own room.”

“She is not staying in my room,” Seth blurted. “She just came over to tell me she was ready to go to dinner.”

Jenny actually laughed. “Did I ask for an explanation?”

“No, but I thought you should know,” Seth said, then added emphatically, “There is nothing going on. Absolutely nothing.”

Jenny glanced at Abby, who looked almost as amused as she did. “He sounds guilty.”

“Doesn’t he?” Abby said. “I wonder why that is.”

“Why, indeed?” Jenny replied.

Seth looked from one woman to the other, then headed for the stairs. He had a hunch if he opened his mouth in his own defense one more time, he’d only dig a deeper hole for himself. This one was plenty deep enough.

* * *

Seth was so quiet at dinner that Abby began to worry that she’d pushed him too far, with a little unanticipated, but welcome assistance from Kelsey and Grandma Jenny.

“You okay?” she asked eventually.

“Of course.”

“We were just teasing, you know.”

“Oh, believe me, I got that.” He looked her in the eye. “How much longer am I supposed to hold out before this gets out of hand?”

“Out of hand? That’s an interesting way to put it. We are two consenting adults who are obviously attracted to each other, Seth. What’s your definition of
out of hand
in those circumstances?”

“I’ve warned you,” he began.

“That you’ll never fall in love again,” she said solemnly. “Yes, you’ve mentioned that.”

“You don’t seem to be taking me seriously.”

“I have heard every word you’ve said,” she contradicted. “I’ve taken them to heart. There are no misunderstandings, Seth.”

He frowned. “Then why do I have the feeling that you’re deliberately testing my limits?”

She smiled at that. “Because it’s so much fun to see you squirm,” she confessed. “Flirting with you is more entertaining than anything that’s happened to me in a long time. You make me feel sexy, desirable.”

“Well, of course you’re sexy and desirable,” he said as if she ought to be aware of that.

“Marshall didn’t think so,”

Seth looked satisfyingly incredulous. “Seriously?”

“Not after the first couple of years,” she admitted. She’d often wondered if that was because he’d feared intimacy might lead to a pregnancy he refused to confess he didn’t want.

“We’ve already established that your ex-husband was a jerk,” Seth said.

Abby smiled. “Yes, you’ve mentioned your opinion before.”

Again, that incredulous look passed over his face. “You don’t agree?”

“Sure, in some areas, he was, but in general he was a good guy, Seth. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. He just wasn’t the right man for me.”

He shook his head. “You’re a lot more forgiving than you ought to be.”

“It hardly makes sense to hold a grudge at this point. I’m just saying that you make me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time.” She leveled a look into his eyes. “And I consider that to be a very good thing.”

“Even if the end result leads to disaster?” he asked.

“It can only do that if we’re not honest with each other,” she told him. “So far, you’ve been brutally honest with me. I promise I have no long-term expectations.”

To her surprise he looked more disappointed than reassured. “That doesn’t seem to be setting your mind at ease the way I thought it would,” she told him.

“Yeah, I know. I can’t explain it, either,” he said, looking charmingly bewildered.

Abby hid a smile. “Okay, let’s look at this. We have fun together, right?”

“Sure.”

“We tend to look at the world the same way.”

“Agreed.”

“There’s some kind of chemistry thing going on.”

“Hard to deny that,” he said. “Where are you going with this?”

“Just trying to say that from my perspective, it’s all good. I didn’t come to Seaview Key hoping to fall madly in love and settle down for the rest of my life. My marriage wasn’t great. We’ve established that. I’m no more eager to repeat the experience than you are to have your heart broken again. Seems to me that puts us in the same place emotionally, or close to it.”

Seth frowned. “You don’t see yourself getting married again?”

“If the right man comes along, sure,” she said, then amended, “Probably. I suppose it depends.”

“On what?” he inquired curiously.

“Whether making that commitment feels like the right thing for both of us. I’m not opposed to living with someone at this stage of my life. I don’t need a piece of paper to make it legal.”

Seth regarded her as if she’d suddenly grown two heads. “Women don’t think like that.”

Abby’s lips curved. “Really? It’s how I think.”

“But all women want happily ever after,” he insisted.

“All women want a man who loves and respects them and makes them deliriously happy,” she corrected.

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t require a marriage license.”

He continued to look skeptical.

“You still disagree,” she concluded.

“Sure. Despite some of the examples I’ve been around, I believe in marriage. I always wanted to share my life with someone, have a family.”

“But now you don’t,” she reminded him softly. “At least what you’ve been telling me is that the pain of losing Cara was so huge that you’d never risk loving anyone that deeply again.”

Seth sat back. “That is what I’ve been saying,” he agreed.

“And I’ve been taking you at your word.”

He frowned at that. “So, what? This stuff you’re saying is what you think I want to hear, not what you believe?”

“Oh, no. I believe it,” she said. “I’m not saying it just so I don’t scare you to death. I’m trying to get you to see that every relationship doesn’t have to lead to the altar to be strong or committed.”

“But if two people are committed to each other, with or without saying the vows, there’s just as much pain involved if it all falls apart.”

She held his gaze. “So light and casual is the only way to go for you?”

“I guess, yes,” he said, then shook his head. “No, that’s all wrong, too.”

Abby hid a smile. “You seem to be having a little trouble sorting out where you stand.”

“Tell me about it,” he said dryly. “Most women would have listened to this and run for the hills by now. It’s obvious how messed up I am.”

“I imagine that’s what you were hoping for with me, too,” she said, then shrugged. “I’m not most women.”

“Boy, is that the truth,” he murmured.

It seemed to Abby that he didn’t sound entirely happy about it.

* * *

Seth was so completely confused by the words that had come out of his mouth, he couldn’t imagine why Abby hadn’t laughed her head off right before walking out on him. He’d been so sure he had a grip on what he did and didn’t want in terms of a relationship. Casual was one thing. Committed was something else entirely. He might yearn for what Luke and Hannah had, even Kelsey and Jeff with little Isabella, but he didn’t think he could ever do committed again. So, why had he argued so passionately in favor of it?

Was it because Abby clearly was not a casual sort of woman? No matter how forcefully she tried to make it seem that she was willing to go with the flow, he thought he knew her better than that. She was the kind of woman who deserved forever, who should be living in a house filled with kids and a doting husband. She ought to be with a man who wasn’t scared out of his wits every minute that something terrible would strike and rip their world all apart.

Imagining a future with Abby, seeing her with a child in her arms as she had been on Thanksgiving with Isabella and on other occasions with Lesley Ann’s son, A.J., reminded Seth that she’d promised to fill him in on why she’d never had kids of her own.

Could that have anything at all to do with this crazy stance she’d just taken against marriage?

Though they’d fallen silent over their meal, as soon as their desserts came, Seth looked her in the eye. “On Thanksgiving you said you’d tell me why there are no kids in your life. Didn’t you want them?”

She blinked at the apparently unexpected question. “What made you go there?” she asked.

“I’m trying to figure out what makes you tick. Something tells me this could be the key. Am I wrong?”

She was silent for a long time before she said, “Not entirely.”

“Then you did want children?”

“More than anything,” she confessed, tears gathering in her eyes.

Seth almost regretted bringing the subject up, but those tears told him they needed to get into this. “What happened?” He frowned. “You didn’t lose a child, did you? Or have a miscarriage?”

She shook her head. “It just didn’t happen. I never got pregnant.”

He recognized that there was a world of hurt behind those words. “So, you were sterile?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was never tested. Neither was my husband.”

“I don’t understand. Didn’t you want to know why?”

“Of course I did,” she said heatedly. “I pleaded with Marshall. I even set up an appointment with infertility experts. He refused to go and didn’t want me going, either.”

Seth regarded her with shock. In this day and age when answers to most things could be figured out with proper testing, who wouldn’t want the clarity?

“Why on earth not?” he asked.

“You know he was a minister. All he’d tell me was that we’d have a child if that was God’s will. If I didn’t get pregnant, then that was God’s will, too.”

“And you accepted that?”

“What choice did I have? Sure, I could have gone on my own and been tested, but then what? If I wasn’t the problem, was I supposed to throw that in his face?”

“You would have known,” Seth argued.

“Things were tense enough as it was. And it wouldn’t have changed anything.”

“Did you discuss adoption?”

She gave him a rueful look. “He wasn’t interested in that, either. Frankly, that was the final straw for me. It told me we were never going to be on the same page about the future. I think the congregation was enough family for him. I wanted more. And once again, Marshall’s needs were the only ones that counted.”

“So you divorced him,” he concluded.

“Not right away,” she conceded. “It took me a while to accept that this good and decent man I’d married was really quite selfish and domineering, that I was losing myself trying to keep him happy.”

Seth reached for her hand. “I really am sorry, Abby. You didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”

“No, I didn’t,” she said. “I see that now. And I know I allowed it to continue for way too long, more than likely well past the time when I’d ever be able to have a child of my own.”

“Women still have babies in their early forties,” Seth said.

“It’s possible, but there are a lot more risks,” she agreed.

“And you’re not willing to take the risks?”

“It’s not that. First, I’d have to meet the right man. I’m not interested in sperm donation or sex with random strangers. And with every year that passes a pregnancy becomes more unlikely.”

Somewhere deep inside a part of him wanted to say, “Ask me. I’ll have a baby with you.” He fought the impulse. As amazing as it would be to share a child with her, he couldn’t imagine doing it without marriage, without commitment for the long-term. He wasn’t there yet. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be there.

Abby leaned forward and regarded him earnestly. “Can you see why I’m more interested in a partnership, in genuine caring, than I am in risking another marriage like the one I had? I want to be with a man who sees value in the woman I am, who encourages me to reach for the unexpected, who makes me laugh and appreciate life in all its craziness.”

“And I make you laugh?”

“You do.”

“And I appreciate you for the extraordinary woman you are,” he said, beginning to understand.