
SETTING SAIL

by

Allie Boniface

# Table of Contents

Title Page

Prequel to the Cocktail Cruise Series

Prologue - Ten Years Ago

CHAPTER 1 | Present Day

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

Dear Reader,

Setting Sail is actually the prequel to the complete Cocktail Cruise trilogy. And in Book One, Tequila Sunrise, Toby meets someone much better suited to him than Brittany: | When curvy accountant Louise Jamison meets sexy construction worker Toby DeMarco on  a singles' cruise, sparks fly. But back on shore, Lou learns the cruise line's matchmaking service assigns partners based on looks and weight. Mortified, she exposes the business on social media and makes national headlines. But Toby's family and close friends are cruise employees, and family means everything to him. | Can Toby convince Lou that true love exists beyond the numbers before it's too late? | Download Tequila Sunrise from your favorite retailer today!

About the Author

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Also By Allie Boniface

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# Prequel to the Cocktail Cruise Series

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Setting Sail

COPYRIGHT (c) 2015 by Allie Boniface

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.

Cover Art by Wicked Smart Designs

Edited by Hot Tree Editing

Visit the author at www.allieboniface.com

Published in the United States of America

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# Prologue - Ten Years Ago

Jace squinted at the neon letters at the end of the block. Dolly's Diner beckoned them with its smell of greasy home-fries and coffee strong enough to walk on its own two legs. Good thing, too, because he was starving. It seemed like about a hundred years since he'd received his diploma earlier that afternoon and joined his buddies for a barbecue on the beach.

Beside him, Bryce stumbled as they crossed from the beach to the wide, empty avenue running parallel to the ocean. In the distance, a few wisps of bonfire smoke snaked up toward the sky. He belched loudly. "You all see Loni Hammond tonight? Damn."

Toby steadied his friend as they passed the condos that lined The Esplanade. "Yeah, we saw her. Saw her turn you down."

"Screw you. Coulda had her if I wanted to." Bryce slung one arm around each of his buddies.

"Sure you could've." Jace grinned.

"Jus' told her I couldn't desert you two. Not on graduation night, anyway." Bryce led the way down the sidewalk toward Dolly's, his voice drifting off as he looked up at the blinking red and blue sign. "How many times you think we've come here in the last four years? A hundred?"

Toby pulled open the door. "Something like that." Bright light spilled onto the dark sidewalk, and a rush of air conditioning bit their cheeks. June in Florida promised hot and humid and never let anyone down. "C'mon. I need coffee."

Despite the late hour, a handful of people sat at the counter, eating everything from eggs to apple pie to open-face steak sandwiches. A couple of guys who looked like truck drivers sat in a booth by the antiquated jukebox, their hands wrapped around coffee mugs. More wrinkled-faced men hunched over plates at the counter. A trio of overly made-up twenty-somethings giggled drunkenly around a table near the window. Pretty typical night at Dolly's Diner. Jace, Toby, and Bryce fell into three vinyl-covered chairs near the narrow hallway which led to the restrooms.

The table was wiped clean, no napkins or silverware, and just two plastic menus wedged between the salt and pepper shakers. Geraldo stood behind the grill, spatula in hand, eyes on a yellow and white mess of frying eggs. Gino piled plates into a bin and backed his way into the kitchen. Dolly DeVane herself stood behind the counter, filling the coffee pot.

"Well, hello there. Didn't think I'd see y'all tonight," she said as she walked over.

Toby rested his arms on the table. "Why not? We come here every Friday."

She crooked a brow. "It's your high school graduation."

Bryce wrapped an arm around the middle-aged woman's waist. "Aw, Dolly. You'd miss us if we didn't stop by."

She smiled and shook her head. "So you having the usual?"

They all nodded.

"Three coffees and three steak sandwiches coming up." She tucked her pencil behind her ear.

"Thanks, Dolly." Jace shoved back his chair and headed for the men's room. "Be right back," he told the guys.

He walked down the dim hallway, eyeing the black and white photos which lined it. Dolly's had been a fixture in the neighborhood since the early 1930s.

Hollywood stars, politicians, even a few members of foreign royalty had eaten there over the years. Pretty cool. He reached the men's room and pushed on the door, but it only moved a few inches. The bulb at that end of the hall had burned out, so he couldn't see much. He knocked, then tried again. This time the door shoved back, and a body full of curves and smelling like the ocean emerged. Long hair fell over her shoulders as she wheeled a mop bucket ahead of her.

"Sorry," she said. "Didn't think there'd be anyone back here."

Jace's cheeks went hot, and he stuck his hands in his back pockets. "Hey, Pearl."

She steered the bucket toward the exit door. "Hey, yourself."

"It's Jace. McClintock."

Dolly's sixteen-year-old niece looked over her shoulder. "I know who it is." She smiled, then ducked her chin.

Two years behind them in school, Pearl DeVane had the reputation of being one of the smartest girls at Venice High. In Jace's opinion, she was also one of the hottest. She never wore revealing clothes or heavy makeup. She rarely partied. In fact, most of the time he'd seen her outside of school, she was at the diner, mopping floors or helping Dolly cook or sometimes sitting with her nose in a book if it was slow. But she had brains, bright blue eyes, caramel-colored hair and a smile that lit up the room. If he'd ever had the balls, he would've asked her out.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. She leaned against the wall beside him, and her perfume came to him again, a combination of sea water and flowers. "Didn't you guys graduate tonight?"

"Mmhmm." He couldn't stop looking at her mouth, at her silhouette in the shadows. She wore dark shorts and a plain collared shirt with the diner logo over one breast, but it probably wouldn't have mattered what she had on. Without warning, he turned rock-hard, and he hoped she wouldn't glance down and see the way his shorts tented.

"And you came to the diner to celebrate?" She smiled, and a tiny gap appeared between her two front teeth. Had he ever noticed it? Had he ever stood this close to her before? They'd had one class together the year before, biology or chemistry or something. She'd sat in the front row, and he'd spent most of the year wanting to scratch the itch in the middle of her shoulder blades whenever her fingers wandered back to reach for it.

"Shouldn't you be having a big party with your friends, family, aunts and uncles and extended cousins and all that?"

But Jace didn't have the kind of family who celebrated high school graduations. He barely had family at all. "We had our own party, me an' Toby an' Bryce, down on the beach."

"Ah." She cocked her head. "Sounds like fun."

He didn't answer. Instead, he reached for her, slipping an arm around her waist before he knew what it was doing. He pulled her into him, snug against his chest. Before she could say anything else, his other hand went to the back of her head. He tugged her hair the tiniest bit, enough that her chin lifted and her breath caught. That close, even in the shadows, he could see her eyes darken with pleasure.

Without the couple of beers he'd consumed earlier that night, and probably without the heady abandon of being a fresh high school graduate, he wouldn't have had the balls to do what he did next. But in the shadows of a diner hallway at two in the morning, woozy from the late night and Pearl's perfume, there wasn't a thing stopping him. Jace bent down and kissed her. His tongue teased open her lips, and his thumb stroked the underside of her chin. Soft, pliant, delicious under his touch. For a second, the small sober part of his brain wondered if she'd stop him.

She didn't.

Her tongue met his, equally curious and seeking, and her hands snaked around him. He moved his lips to her cheek, then her neck, then the soft spot below her ear. She trembled under his touch.

"Pearl?" Dolly's voice echoed down the hall. "You finish the bathrooms?"

His eyes flew open. Pearl looked up at him, her own eyes glinting with laughter. We got caught. Her hands made their way from around his neck to her own front pockets.

"Just about," she called back.

Shit, was Jace's first thought. I don't even know if she has a boyfriend.

Probably shouldn't have done that since I'm leaving in the morning, was his second.

***

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# CHAPTER 1

# Present Day

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"MCCLINTOCK." JACE ANSWERED his cell phone on the first ring.

"You there yet?"

He swung the Mercedes into a tight parking spot at the end of The Esplanade. "Just arriving."

"I've got two meetings back to back this afternoon. Evans will be here at six to hear your report. You'll be back by then?"

"I should be." He climbed from the car and straightened his suit. The heavy Florida air swallowed him up at once, and perspiration broke out across the back of his neck. Damn August humidity. "Shouldn't take me more than a half-hour . I'm just laying the groundwork."

"Be savvy. She's said no to three other agents."

"I'm always savvy." Jace crossed the street as traffic stopped at the light. "That's why you hired me, right?"

Marshall Reagan, owner of the biggest commercial real estate firm in Tampa, chuckled. "Damn straight. First time I'm letting you out on your own, though, so make me proud."

Jace intended to do just that. He knew what was riding on this deal: not only a role in developing one of the hottest properties on Florida's Gulf Coast, but a promotion and a corner office if he handled things right.

One block from his destination, he slowed. Wow. It's worse than I thought. The Esplanade had taken a beating from the previous year's hurricane. Two condo complexes, wiped out entirely. One of the most exclusive restaurants on the block, gone except for its kitchen. Most of the buildings in the two-block stretch had been razed last winter. Insurance wouldn't have covered the rebuilds, and most of the owners had moved inland or north to safer states like North Carolina or Virginia. It was a shame, but it was business, Jace thought. People who lived or worked on the coasts knew the risks.

As a result of the hurricane and the deserted properties, billionaire hotel mogul Carl Evans had spotted the chance to pick up the lots at a steal. A casino, resort hotel, and waterpark were on his agenda, and he'd chosen none other than Reagan Realty to represent him. He'd purchased six lots over the last year, and he'd already sketched out his proposal for the town's planning board. The only problem? One little owner who refused to sell. One little owner who'd opened the day after the hurricane, serving free coffee and breakfast to anyone who stopped by to help with the clean-up. One little owner who'd claimed that corner of The Esplanade in Venice for almost a century, and who'd already told both Carl Evans and Marshall Reagan what they could do with their offers to buy the place.

Jace took a deep breath. He'd agreed to help Marshall with the deal long before he knew the end goal. Hell, as a young agent with the hottest firm in the state, he would've jumped through burning hoops for the chance to work with Evans Enterprises. He would've tried to close on the moon, on the entire country of China, if it meant the prestige and money Marshall promised.

Then he found out what Evans Enterprises was really after. Nothing as big as the moon. In fact, they didn't even want anything outside of the state of Florida. No, Carl Evans just wanted someone to convince Dolly DeVane to sell her run-down, one-story diner, which was bleeding money and still refused to close its doors.

As Jace stood outside the diner, his palms grew slick. He hadn't stepped foot in this town since the day after graduation. Toby, Bryce, and he had all high-tailed it sixty miles north to Tampa and never looked back. Now he summoned his strength, put away the pieces of him that had once lived here, and opened the front door.

It's a business deal, that's all. Dolly will understand. If she even remembers you.

But it wasn't Dolly who greeted him from behind the register as he stepped inside. If he'd taken a trip to outer space and found Neil Armstrong himself living there, Jace couldn't have been more surprised. His pulse kicked up. His mouth went dry.

I thought she left.

Why didn't she leave?

The one person he'd thought about more than anyone else over the last decade, the one person he'd both hoped to see again and hoped never to run into, stood in the middle of the diner, order pad in hand and pencil tucked behind her ear.

Pearl.

###

PEARL FORCED HERSELF to keep her eyes on the coffee she was pouring into Gary Winters' mug. "There you go. All warmed up. Saved the bottom of the pot for you, just the way you like it. Steak and egg sandwich coming up in five minutes."

The old man grinned at her. "You've got the best on the block, Pearl."

We've got the only on the block, she resisted answering. Nearly every other establishment had folded its doors after the hurricane. Only Dolly's Diner soldiered on, though the customers had dwindled from packed crowds at breakfast and lunch to a few stools at the counter and maybe a table or two. It had almost broken her aunt's heart to close for dinner a few months back, but they couldn't afford to stay open the extra hours.

Pearl brewed a fresh pot of coffee, deliberately taking her time. She didn't dare look at him, though she swore she could feel the heat from his body radiating across the room. She knew why Jace McClintock was here. She'd heard the rumors. She just couldn't believe it.

"I don't think you've changed at all since high school," came the voice from behind her.

Her cheeks went red-hot, and she smoothed her apron as she turned. "Yikes. I'm not sure that's a good thing." I have too changed, she wanted to say. I finally got boobs and I've had a few boyfriends and I'm not so scared of my own shadow now.

But it was hard to look Jace in the eyes and not feel a little scared all over again. He'd crossed the diner and now stood less than two feet away from her. Only the counter separated them. Good thing, too, because her heart hammered at the memory of the last time he'd set foot in there. Jace's eyes on hers. Jace's lips on hers. His strong arms supporting her as he kissed her until her breath stopped.

"I didn't mean that the way it came out," he said as he slid onto a stool. "I meant that you look great." He wore a high-end suit and what looked like a Rolex watch, and his hair was trimmed neatly over his ears. Still chestnut brown, still framing those piercing blue eyes, still enough to turn her mouth dry. "You were the most beautiful girl in school. Now you have to be the most beautiful woman in town. Maybe even this entire coast."

She rolled her eyes. "Please. When's the last time you were actually back in town?" She leaned against the wall, arms folded. Maybe if she muffled the sound of her galloping heart, he wouldn't guess how he still turned her on. He'd been good-looking back in school, and time had treated him well. At twenty-eight, he'd turned into one amazing specimen of a man.

He lifted both palms in a gesture of surrender. "You got me. I haven't been back in a while."

"So, what brings you in now?" Maybe she'd heard wrong. Maybe he wasn't one of the vultures swooping in on this end of The Esplanade, buying up the last of the properties to turn it into a casino and upscale hotel. She crossed her fingers behind her back, where he couldn't see them. Please don't be one of the vultures.

He blinked, long and slow, before answering. "I'm sure you've heard." He slipped a business card from a sleek gold holder. No wedding ring, she noticed as she watched him push it across the counter. "I'm working for Reagan Realty up in Tampa."

"Congratulations," she said around the lump that had worked its way into her throat. "That's a big agency."

He shrugged as if it didn't mean much. "One of our clients wants to buy this property."

She had to hand it to him; he didn't play games or beat around the bush. "And I'm sure you know we aren't interested in selling."

His eyebrows lifted. "We?"

Her jaw twitched before she could control it. "My aunt isn't."

"What about your uncle?"

The question twisted a sharp knife inside her chest. Apparently Jace hadn't done his homework before returning to Venice to sweet-talk her.

"Uncle Bill died six months ago."

The shock turned his handsome features dark. Before she realized it, he reached across the counter and took her hand in his. "Pearl, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

She let herself enjoy the jolt of hot current that traveled from his palm to hers for a few seonds before she pulled her hand away. "He had a heart attack while we were trying to rebuild. He was working here late one night by himself." She wiped away tears. Six months, and she still ached every day for the man who'd tucked her into bed since kindergarten. "We went to bed, me and Dolly. Didn't know anything had happened until she woke up after midnight and he wasn't home yet."

"I'm sorry," Jace said again, and sincerity rang in his voice. "He was a good man. I liked him a lot."

She nodded and reached for a napkin to blow her nose. "I know."

He shifted on the stool, and she wondered what came next. A formal buyer's proposal? A heartfelt speech about how Dolly would be better off if she sold the place, took the money, and started over somewhere else?

Maybe, whispered a totally irrational voice in the back of her mind, he'll push you up against the wall again and have his way with you.

Not that she'd mind. She'd thought about that night more than any normal girl should. Replayed every word, every touch, every incredible, unfamiliar sensation that had passed through her body in the span of five minutes.

For better or for worse, Pearl DeVane had compared every single man she'd kissed, dated, or slept with in the last ten years to Jace McClintock, who sat across the counter looking at her with intense blue eyes. It made no sense. They'd spent less than two minutes alone in all of high school. He'd moved away. She'd moved on. But then Jace opened his mouth and asked the question she didn't expect, and she felt like a sixteen-year old all over again.

"Do you want to have dinner tonight?"

***

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# CHAPTER 2

"I should have something to report in the morning." Jace paced outside Cafe Angelo, scanning Venice Avenue and the surrounding sidewalks for Pearl. "It took longer than I thought."

First lie he'd told his boss.

"It's all right," Marshall Reagan said in a smooth voice, typically impossible to read over the phone. He could be disappointed. He could be upset. He could also be sipping Scotch and viewing porn, the way Jace knew he did in his office after hours. "I'm meeting Evans at the golf course at noon."

"I'll be in the office before nine."

"Okay then," Marshall said.

Jace wasn't sure if that was a goodbye or a blow off, but he didn't really care. He'd figure out something to tell his boss and Carl Evans tomorrow. Maybe Dolly was closer to selling than he guessed. Maybe the diner wouldn't be that hard a negotiation.

Yeah, right. He dropped his phone into his pocket and tugged at the untucked polo shirt he'd changed into over jeans and tennis shoes. He always kept at least two wardrobe changes in his car, along with a toiletry bag in case he ended up spending the night somewhere he hadn't expected.

Not like he was planning on spending the night in Venice, but he also wasn't about to put any absolutely-nots on what might happen in the few hours he was here. Honestly, he hadn't stopped thinking about Pearl since seeing her a few hours earlier. She'd gotten a little curvier over time and a lot more confident. That much he could see in the way she held herself, the lift in her chin and the cutting look in her eyes as she sized up his suit and hair and business card. He wouldn't lie to himself; he probably could've had this conversation over the phone. Or at the diner during business hours.

But he wanted to see her again, outside of work and in a place where they could talk about more than the sale of the diner.

For a Tuesday night the restaurant was packed, but Jace had slipped the hostess a twenty and asked her to reserve an outside table in the most secluded spot. That move he'd learned from his boss, who claimed money could get a man anything he wanted, as long as he was willing to pay. Everything has a price, Marshall often said at meetings, and though he meant it as an advantage, more than once Jace wondered if his boss realized the flip side of that. Yes, everything was for sale, but at some point the scales tipped, didn't they? He wasn't sure every cost was worth it.

Pearl emerged from the shadows of the parking lot across the street, and everything else went out of Jace's head. She wore a light blue sundress and silver sandals, and she'd loosened her hair from its earlier ponytail. "Hi," she said as she approached. That tiny gap in her front teeth peeked out as she smiled. She took in the crowds of people waiting in the courtyard outside. "We might not get a table."

He held out his arm, crooked at the elbow. "I pulled some strings."

"Oh. Okay." She gave him a funny look as she wrapped her hand around his arm, and a hundred volts of pure sexual energy shot straight to his groin. Oh, hell.

He lifted a finger at the hostess, who led them to the table he'd requested. She laid out menus and silverware, then lit the candle. "Ricardo will be your waiter tonight. Enjoy your meal."

Jace pulled out Pearl's chair, taking a quick moment to breathe in the perfume she wore, different than the scent he remembered. Of course, a lot had changed since high school. He'd be a fool to think otherwise.

"Do you drink?" he asked, suddenly nervous. C'mon, McClintock. Relax. You've had dinner with some of the most powerful people in the state. But that didn't matter. Pearl DeVane knew him. Probably remembered the scrappy teen he used to be. And the way she was scrutinizing him, he had a good feeling she was sizing him up and trying to guess all the ways he might have changed in the years since -- or not.

"Red wine goes best with their pizza," she said. "If you're in the mood, that is."

In the mood for what? he almost blurted out, but he was pretty sure the fire in his cheeks had already given away his thoughts. "Sounds good," he said instead. "Do they still have their sesame seed crust?" He opened a menu.

"They do." She opened her menu as well, and the candlelight caught her manicure, short, pale-pink nails, which belied the fact she worked in a diner.

Of course, he didn't know how much she worked at the diner. Full time? Once in a while, to help out her aunt? So much he didn't know about her anymore. And so much he wanted to. This was a mistake. I can't talk business with Pearl. Not when he knew what the end of the business converation would be.

He scanned the choices and folded his menu again. After ordering a bottle of merlot, he leaned back in his chair and watched the moonlight play over her face. She unwrapped her silverware and put her napkin in her lap.

"This is a little awkward, right?" she said when she looked up at him again. "I mean..." She waved her hand in the air between them.

"You mean because of what happened the last time we saw each other?"

She paused. "I was thinking more along the lines of the fact that now you're conspiring with the enemy."

"The enemy?" He lowered his voice as Ricardo delivered their wine. "That's a little harsh, don't you think?"

"Carl Evans is a shark," she said as she sipped her wine. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure from where you're sitting he's a shrewd businessman. But he cut a lot of small businesses off at the knees after the hurricane. You remember Lolly's, the cigar shop across the street from us?"

Jace nodded.

"And Uptowne Grille and the consignment shop next to them? He made them all offers they couldn't refuse, and now they're gone. All razed for this big, amazing casino and hotel he wants to put up, which will probably look like every other casino and hotel in every other city in this state." Her fingers tightened around the stem of her glass.

Jace swallowed hard. He knew all that, and though he could make the argument that those businesses had already been spiraling downward, he guessed Pearl didn't want to hear it.

He reached across the table for her free hand instead. "I didn't ask you to dinner to talk business." Okay, maybe he had, but he could put that on the back burner for a little while.

She curled her fingers into his palm for the span of a breath or two before pulling her hand away. "Then why did you?"

"Can't a guy ask a beautiful woman to dinner?"

She cocked a brow. "You're full of it. You know that, right?"

"I can't tell you you're beautiful?" Because you are. And the longer he sat here, the harder it would be to remember why he'd come back to Venice in the first place. "I thought we could catch up. Talk about old times."

She shook her head and gave him a doubtful look. "Okay. At least that sounds like a more honset answer."

To Jace's relief, Ricardo arrived with a giant wooden bowl of tossed salad, served family-style.

"So, what have you been doing with yourself?" she asked as they both helped themselves to the salad. "Besides getting your real estate license?"

"That's about it," he confessed. "Just trying to work my way up. I got a break when Marshall Reagan hired me, and I'm trying to make the most of it. I kind of wandered around for a while after high school. I don't have any grand stories about going to college or traveling the world or developing a patent in my spare time."

"Too bad." Her smile curved up.

"Yeah, too bad. I moved to Tampa after high school, got an apartment with Toby for a couple of years, and did a bunch of odd jobs while I was taking classes for my real estate license."

"What kind of odd jobs?"

"Worked in a diner for a while, if you can believe that. In the kitchen." He'd also been a telemarketer, a computer salesman, and a school janitor for a brief stretch of time. He wasn't the brainy type and knew college wasn't for him. But it had taken him a while to narrow down his focus. Once he'd discovered high-end real estate, he'd finally found his calling. With the opportunity he had now, he'd be a fool to blow it.

"What about you?" he asked. "You stay in town this whole time?"

She nodded.

"Thought you might have left, gone away to college."

"I considered it." She shrugged. "But this is my home. Plus Dolly and Bill needed help with the diner. Things got tight a while back, even before the hurricane. It didn't feel right to leave them when they were laying people off and working longer hours themselves."

He nodded. "Still, that's a lot to take on."

She waved to a family that was leaving the restaurant. "How long have you been in real estate?" she asked.

Turned that conversation right away from herself, he noted. "Almost four years."

"And you're working with this guy in Tampa? You must be good at what you do."

"My boss tells me I've got charisma. I think I'm just a hell of a hard worker. I don't like taking no for an answer."

She gave him a sly grin. "I can imagine."

He pointed his fork at her. "You didn't say no that night in the diner."

"I'm not sure you asked."

She had him there. But she didn't look mad; in fact, she looked as though she wouldn't mind picking up where they'd left off ten years ago. But maybe that was the wine talking.

"How are the other guys?" Pearl asked after a moment, breaking the sizzle between them. "Bryce and Toby?"

Jace shifted in his chair. "Bryce is in business school, believe it or not. He's brilliant, not like any of us would've guessed that back in high school."

"I might've."

"Really?"

She cut a piece of bread and dipped it into olive oil after adding some red pepper flakes.

She likes it hot. The thought did nothing to help his focus. As she sank her teeth into the bread, a little oil beaded on her bottom lip, and Jace had the sudden urge to reach over and wipe it away.

"Bryce juggled a whole lot of girls back then," she went on. "I never heard anyone complain about it, either, which was bizarre. It was like he knew how to keep everyone happy without ever committing to just one person."

Jace grinned. "Things haven't changed much."

"So he wants to be a politician or something?"

"Actually, he wants to work for the family business."

Pearl finished her bread and wiped her mouth, leaving a sexy pink smear of lipstick on the white linen napkin. "What's the family business?"

He was surprised she'd never heard. He thought everyone knew the Andersons ran an exclusive cruise line. "Cocktail Cruise Lines. They operate out of Tampa."

"Really?" She sipped her wine. "I've never been on a cruise."

"No? We should go sometime." He wanted to kick himself as soon as the words came out. Where had that invitation come from? He couldn't take Pearl on vacation.

She must have thought the same thing, because she laughed. "Sure. Okay. Before or after you give Dolly your song and dance about selling the diner?"

Fortunately, Ricardo arrived at that moment to clear the table and deliver their pizza. It wafted up delicious aromas of garlic and tomato, and Jace's mouth watered.

"This is amazing," he mumbled as he sank his teeth into a slice.

"I know." Pearl smiled, and for the first time since they'd sat down, her face lost its guarded expression.

She doesn't trust me, he thought, and though he couldn't blame her, he hated the way it made him feel inside.

They ate in silence for a while. The crowd around them thinned, and the sky went dark as the blue-black of night settled in. Streetlights scattered ribbons of yellow in every direction, and he couldn't help but wish Pearl had parked farther away, so he could take her hand as they walked to her car and maybe steal a kiss or two on the way.

Stolen kisses. Immediately his mind returned to the diner, to the night after their graduation party on the beach. Pearl pressed against him. His entire body wanting her, needing release. The moment when she tucked her hands around his neck and they breathed in unison. For some crazy reason, he remembered every detail of that night, more than some details of women he'd dated for months. How was that possible?

"...you listening to me?" she finished.

Jace's attention snapped back to Cafe Angelo and the half-finished pizza sitting on the table between them. "Sorry?"

"Wow, you went all introspective on me for a minute." She rested her chin on her folded fingers, elbows on the table. "You okay?"

"Fine." Except for the fact he might have a difficult time walking if they got up right then. "What were you saying?"

"I just wondered how Toby was. You lived with him in Tampa? I thought I used to see him every once in a while down here, but it's been a couple of years."

"He was going back and forth for a while, because Brittany still lived in Venice, but he finally convinced her to move up there with him."

"Brittany Piper?" Her eyes widened. "Didn't they date in high school?"

"Yeah, they've been together ever since. I can't believe it either. None of us thought it would last." Jace still didn't, but he'd never say anything to his buddy. None of them really knew what a healthy relationship looked like, so if Bryce wanted to emulate Hugh Hefner and date a different woman each month, and Toby wanted to play house with a woman who didn't do anything except shop and go out with her girlfriends, then so be it. Jace himself wasn't the king of keeping women around, not with a past he refused to talk about. Inevitably, the women he met wanted to peel him open. Fix him. Change him.

But that just made him run in the opposite direction.

"And you?" Pearl asked. "You have anyone steady in your life? A girlfriend? Fiancee?"

He shook his head and flagged down Ricardo for the check. Thank God he didn't have anyone steady in his life, because all he could think about was kissing Pearl's pouty pink mouth, getting her alone and letting his hands wander through her loose hair, feeling her against him as he tasted the wine on her lips and tongue.

"You want to get out of here?" he said.

"I thought you'd never ask."

***

***

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# CHAPTER 3

"Perfect night," Jace said as they left the restaurant.

Pearl glanced up. The earlier clouds had blown away and now stars sprinkled the sky. A half-moon hung over the palm trees lining Venice Avenue. "I don't know about perfect, but it's pretty close." She wondered if he'd try to steer her toward the beach or one of the stone benches along the pedestrian walkway. She wouldn't mind if he did. The idea of going back to her single room at Dolly's held little appeal right now.

Thoughts filled her head: their long-ago kiss, the many times she'd thought of Jace since, the reason he'd returned to Venice. The warmth slipping down her spine and pooling in her lower belly. The way their arms brushed every so often as they walked. His intention to buy the diner. His career. Her devotion to Dolly. The way he kept looking over at her.

I shouldn't have had that wine.

It always went straight to her head, and now her inhibitions were all screwy and her pulse was racing a mile a minute and she had no idea what was coming out of her mouth as they talked.

"...work there full-time?" Jace asked.

She grasped the question like a drowning woman. Stop remembering the way he kisses. Stop wondering how he is in bed. "At the diner? Part-time. Some lunches and weekends too. I'm taking classes and it's hard to fit in shifts, but Dolly needs me."

"I'm sure she does." They crossed the street, but Jace didn't turn toward the parking lot. Instead he ran a finger down her bare arm and tilted his head in the opposite direction. "Want to keep walking?"

She shouldn't. This was bad news all the way around.

"C'mon," he urged. "I won't bite."

But I might like that. She curled her fingers into her palm, searching for control over the desire that was spiraling to epic proportions. "Promise me you won't try and schmooze me into convincing Dolly to sell the diner," she said.

He stopped in the middle of the crosswalk and held up one hand. "I promise. Scout's honor."

She wrinkled her nose. "Were you a Boy Scout?'

An odd expression crossed his face before he shook his head. "Nope. You gotta have parents who care enough to sign you up for stuff like that."

Pearl didn't have much to say to that. She didn't know anything about Jace's family, but she sure knew about absent parents. She barely remembered her mother, and she'd never known her father. Thank goodness Dolly and Bill had made up for that in spades.

A few cars crawled down Venice Avenue, but most of the shops were closed. Jace reached out his hand, palm up, and she took it. Her fingers locked with his, and a lovely sunburst of pleasure radiated all the way up to her shoulder and down her chest, gaining speed as it moved south.

"So I never asked you," he said as they walked. Smooth as honey, his voice didn't tremble or skip or belie any emotion at all. Maybe he did this on a regular basis. Maybe he wasn't feeling the same kind of insane attraction she was right now.

"Asked me what?"

"If you were involved with anyone." They crossed at the light. As they walked south, away from the lights and the traffic and toward the beach, the shadows lengthened.

Her fingers tightened in his. "I'm not."

They passed the community tennis courts; often people played long after dark, but tonight they lay empty. A streetlight had burned out above them, and Jace stopped in the dark.

Her breath stopped. Time stopped. Her heart skipped double-time.

"No?" he murmured. With his free hand, he stroked the skin just below her chin.

She shook her head as her knees went wobbly. "I mean, I dated this one guy for a while, but we broke up months ago." Royal Holden, right for her in so many ways but lukewarm in the areas that really mattered, still called or texted sometimes. He still stopped by the diner occasionally to see if she'd take him back. But she didn't need to tell Jace any of that. She was single with a capital S, and thank goodness for that right now.

"I'm glad," Jace said. Then, without another word, he bent and kissed her.

Oh. God.

It was a thousand times hotter than she remembered, though she didn't know how that was possible. She'd relived those few minutes from high school a hundred times, and each time the experience was richer, headier, closer to perfect in every way. Yet it still couldn't compare to this moment right now, this man taking her face in his hands and slipping his tongue along her bottom lip and leaning into her as if they were the only two people on the planet.

Pearl's hands went to Jace's hips, pulling him close, as if somehow his jeans and her dress would drop away and she'd feel him against her bare skin once and for all. Her lips opened, deepening the kiss, and he moaned softly into her mouth, sending her mind spinning into the stratosphere.

"Pearl," he breathed as he pulled away slightly. His lips brushed her nose, her temple, and got lost in her hair.

Her head fell back as she looked up at his strong chin, regal nose, intense eyes holding her own without a word. She tugged him close again, but he didn't kiss her. His arms didn't wrap around her, didn't lift her as if she weighed nothing. Instead, they fell loosely around her waist for a second before slipping away to take her hands in both of his.

"I don't want you to think I'm taking advantage," he said.

The world came back into focus. The diner. Dolly. Here Pearl stood, tipsy in the moonlight with a man she barely knew, halfway to taking off her clothes, and for all she knew, his purpose was business only. She took a furtive glance left and right. Oh, people would talk if they saw her now. Venice wasn't big enough that the locals had forgotten Jace, and they certainly knew who she was.

Saw the two of them snuggled up by the courts last night...

Doesn't he work for Reagan Realty now?

They're the ones helping Evans buy up the rest of The Esplanade, right? Wonder if Dolly's finally selling...

Pearl shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. The block was almost deserted. No cars had passed for the last few minutes, and they hadn't seen any other pedestrians since leaving the restaurant. Besides, she didn't care what other people thought.

Reluctantly, she dropped Jace's hands. What she did care about was her aunt and the diner, which had been a fixture on that stretch of road by the beach since long before Pearl was born. They hadn't sold yet, and she had no intention of letting Jace or anyone else try and sway that decision.

"Pearl?" He brushed her hair from her forehead, and she almost swooned all over again.

I cannot let this man touch me. Her brain, her instincts, all rational thought, took a vacation every time he did.

"We should probably say good night. Before this goes any further. It's just...it's complicated, isn't it?"

He nodded without answering.

"Thanks for dinner," she said. She took a step back. "It was good to see you again."

"I hope this isn't the last time."

Me, too, she almost blurted. "We're not selling the diner," she said instead. Her cheeks went hot, and she hated the abrupt way the words had tumbled out. But she had to tell him. She had to make that clear.

He blinked a few times.

"And I think if we do see each other again, it shouldn't relate to business," she added. If he kept seeing her only to try and sway her aunt's decision, Pearl wouldn't be able to bear it.

Finally Jace smiled. "Okay. It might be tough, but I'll try. No business." He kept his hands in his pockets, but his next words left nothing to the imagination. "Then it'll be strictly pleasure, right?"

***

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# CHAPTER 4

"Well, good morning, merry sunshine." Dolly DeVane poured a tall mug of coffee and handed it to Pearl. Unlike her niece, the sixty-two year old was fully dressed at eight a.m. Makeup flawless. Salt-and-pepper hair pulled into a neat twist at the back of her head.

Pearl yawned and sank into one of four mismatched kitchen chairs. She'd pulled on her favorite comfy robe with the unraveled stitching at both wrists. "Good morning."

"You got in late." Dolly buttered a muffin and slid it onto a plate next to a mound of fresh strawberries. She set the plate in front of Pearl and sat in a chair on the opposite side of the table.

"Not that late." But Pearl supposed in their world, ten-thirty was rather late. The two of them were usually snuggled into the couch watching TV after dinner, and Pearl said her good nights a little after ten.

Not the most glamorous life for a twenty-one year old, but then again, glamour hadn't ever been on Pearl's radar. She worked at the diner, took community college classes at a slow but steady pace, and since she'd broken things off with Royal, spent most of her free time either walking on the beach or having drinks with girlfriends who still lived in the area.

"Have a good time?" Dolly asked over the rim of her own mug.

The coffee burned in the back of Pearl's throat. She'd told her aunt about dinner last night -- the where and the when, anyway. Just not the who. "It was nice. Always good pizza there."

Dolly nodded.

She knows, Pearl thought suddenly. Somehow, Dolly had heard Jace McClintock was back in town. She opened and closed her mouth, wondering how much she should tell her aunt. The date didn't mean anything, did it? She'd certainly made it clear to him where she and Dolly stood on selling the diner.

But before she could say a word, Dolly finished her coffee and pushed back her chair. "Minnie is opening the diner today," she said. "But I want to get down there before nine. The Gondolier is finally doing their story. They're sending a reporter and a photographer around eleven." She rinsed the dishes and set them in the rack. "I want to be ready. Some of those old pictures in the back hallway need dusting."

The back hallway.

Three little words and Pearl was sixteen again, pressed up against the wall just below those pictures and having her brains kissed out by a high school senior who, up until that night, she'd hardly guessed would have given her the time of day. Under the table, she crossed her legs to ease the steady heat growing between them. She'd woken more than once the night before from dreams of him.

"Are you coming in later?" Dolly asked. She pulled on a gray sweater, long and loose around her hips. She no longer wore a waitress's uniform, but she always looked neat and fashionable. Today she had on light blue capris and a white oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

"Yes. I have to stop by campus and register for fall semester, but I'll be in after that." Pearl yawned again and brushed her hair from her face. "Do you want me there earlier? To help with the reporter?"

"Only if you want to be. You don't have to." Dolly dropped a kiss onto the top of Pearl's head. "Looks like you could use a few more cups of coffee. No rush."

Pearl rested her chin on one hand. Dolly had made Pearl breakfast and kept her safe and kissed her hello and good night for the past twenty-two years. Even after Bill's death, Dolly had soldiered on, doing her best to keep up the routine around the house. But in the last few months, as business continued to decline, Pearl had noticed a change. Nothing serious, just a dimming of the light in Dolly's eyes. She went to bed earlier. She'd stopped having her nightly glass of wine. And sometimes when Pearl came home unexpectedly, she caught her aunt sitting in her uncle's recliner in the family room and looking through old photo albums.

At some point, Pearl thought, the child is supposed to take care of the parent figure, right? Yet sometimes she felt so completely incapable of doing that. She reached for the muffin and took a huge bite. Dolly waved goodbye as she slipped out the back door. A moment later, her ten-year-old Honda sputtered to life and pulled down the driveway.

Pearl finished her coffee. Well, she couldn't change the past. And if there was one thing she'd learned from Dolly, it was that life required a tough outer shell. At the moment, she might not have all her affairs completely together. She might still live in her aunt's house and have less than a thousand dollars in her savings account, but one thing she could do was make sure the vultures buying up The Esplanade didn't get anywhere near the diner.

They'd catered wedding breakfasts for movie stars. They'd poured coffee for governors. And long before Pearl had arrived, the diner had opened its doors to the rich and famous, to entrepreneurs and philanthropists and faces from around the globe. Who was Jace McClintock, or his boss or his client, to think he could show up, flash a fistful of cash, and end all that in the name of some shiny casino that looked like every other casino in the world?

She got up and set her mug in the sink with a determined clink. It didn't matter that Jace was back in town. It didn't matter that the man made her swoon with a single look. As of that moment, he was the enemy. Venice was her home. It had always been her home. She had seawater in her blood and salt air in her lungs, and she didn't care how many other people had left this town.

Pearl DeVane would protect the diner, its legacy, and her aunt at all costs.

###

SIXTY MILES AWAY, AT a quarter past eight, Jace pulled his Mercedes into a spot at the far end of Reagan Realty's parking lot on the north side of Tampa. Flawlessly landscaped, the entire property stretched almost the length of two football fields. He took a moment to admire the sleek black and glass building, three stories high and impeccably designed by one of Florida's top architects. Hard to believe Marshall Reagan had built it all from nothing in less than fifteen years.

Hard to believe, but not impossible, Jace thought as he locked the car and headed for the grand front entrance. Marshall had smarts, savvy, and a refusal to take no as an answer. Jace admired hard-working men like that, probably because his father hadn't been one. Anyone who pissed away a good job and a good pension because of addiction issues didn't deserve his God-given talents.

"Morning, Alice," Jace said to the receptionist in the lobby.

"Jace." She blinked beautiful green eyes lined in kohl. "You're in early."

"Big meeting with the boss."

"Ah. Well, good luck."

"Thanks." I'll need it, he added silently. He already knew Marshall wouldn't be thrilled with the lack of progress in Venice. As he always did, he opted for the stairs over the elevator.

"Hi, Jace." Kelly Lincoln, one of the highest-selling agents in the office, met him on the second-floor landing. She wore a black suit, bright yellow stilettos and diamonds at her wrists and ears. Her perfume greeted him, more than a little familiar since they'd slept together a few times the year before. "I hear Marshall has you working on the Venice property for Carl."

"Yeah." He shifted his briefcase from one hand to the other. "Any advice?"

"Regarding Carl? Or the sale in general?" She smiled, gorgeous as always. "Watch your back. And do your research."

Jace smiled. She'd said the same things to him when he first started working at the agency. "Will do."

She patted him on the shoulder and continued down the stairs. "Good luck."

At the top floor, he turned left. His office, along with the other junior agents, clustered at the opposite end of the hall from Marshall's. Jace had shared the space with a guy from Orlando until last month, when Marshall let him go without warning. Not enough production, and according to some, not enough balls to stand up to the boss.

Jace opened the door to the windowless space. That wouldn't be him. He'd worked his ass off for way too long, taken too many shitty jobs and pulled too many sleepless nights, not to live up to Marshall's expectations.

He turned on his computer and began to type. Who was he kidding? Jace wanted to live up to his own expectations. Being back in Venice had been good for one reason only, and that was seeing Pearl again. In the ten years since graduation, he'd made the hour-long trip from Tampa only once. Yesterday, driving the familiar streets and seeing the familiar buildings had only reminded him of the angry teenager he'd been, of the way he'd hated his life and been determined to escape as soon as he could.

He typed furiously. He didn't have a verbal agreement to give Marshall yet, but he'd spent enough time at the diner to know Dolly would be forced to sell soon. She couldn't be paying the bills, not with a handful of customers. One part of him hated knowing that; despite the way he felt about most things associated with his hometown, he'd always felt at peace in the diner. When Pearl told him her uncle had died, it put a spear in his chest.

Jace printed the pages fifteen minutes ahead of his meeting. He couldn't let himself dwell on his connection. Life happened, and a lot of times it broke people's hearts. Business was business.

"...it can't relate to business."

"Then it'll be strictly pleasure?"

He ran a hand over his hair. Trouble was, he couldn't keep his mind on business altogether. It had taken him all of fifteen minutes to remember exactly why he'd fallen for Pearl DeVane back in high school. Smart, beautiful, and unwilling to tolerate anyone's bullshit, she mesmerized him. Challenged him. And absolutely turned him on. Ten years had only fanned the adolescent flames of desire. He took a deep breath as he imagined again her tongue meeting his, her hands urging him closer.

Jace wondered if there was any way to convince Dolly to sell the diner without having Pearl hate him in the end.

***

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# CHAPTER 5

"The numbers aren't great," Dolly said. She ran the tip of a pencil down her ledger. Even with a complex computer system and an accountant, she preferred to keep her books the old-fashioned way. "A little better than last month."

"And next month will be even better," Pearl said. She finished mopping the floor behind the counter.

But Dolly shook her head as she stared at the page. "We had the Wellness Fair this month. That brought in a few customers who wouldn't normally be here."

Pearl wrung out the mop and propped it in the bucket of murky water. "We have three major craft fairs in town next month. And the snowbirds will start coming down in October. We always do better once they're here."

Dolly scratched something onto the bottom of the page. "I hope so." She looked up, her face tight and drawn with worry. "I don't want to say it, but -"

"Then don't. We won't sell this place."

"We might have to." Dolly slipped her ledger into the worn brown carryall she'd had for as long as Pearl could remember. "I got a call this morning. After the reporter left."

Pearl's hackles rose. "Who was it?"

"A man named Carl something."

"Carl Evans?"

"You know who he is?" Dolly looked up with surprise.

"Everyone knows who he is." Except, apparently, her aunt. "He's the one putting up the casino."

Dolly nodded. "He wanted to stop in and see the place."

"What did you say?"

"I told him any customer was welcome to stop in between the hours of six in the morning and two in the afternoon."

Pearl wheeled the mop bucket to the back door and dumped out the dirty water. It eddied and swirled along the sidewalk, seeking refuge in the drains a few feet away. She leaned on the mop and watched it. How many times had she done this over the years? A hundred? A thousand? The water always took the same path. By now it had worn a faint groove in the pavement.

"Let me know if he shows up, will you?" she asked when she returned inside. "I want to see what kind of man kills people's dreams."

Dolly smiled as they locked up. "You do have a flair for the dramatic, don't you?"

"Not really. I just know this place is important to me. And a lot of other people, too." She stopped and turned back, taking in the plate-glass window, the striped awning, the neon sign above the door. I grew up here. Half of what she'd learned about life, she'd learned from the people who came in and out of the diner.

"It's important to me, too," Dolly said quietly. She slipped her arm through Pearl's. "Coming home for dinner? Or do you have another hot date tonight you're keeping mum about?"

Pearl flushed. "No hot date." She didn't imagine Jace would be calling her anytime soon. Their worlds wouldn't work together. That much was becoming abundantly clear.

"That's too bad. You're twenty-six. You need to live a little. Or a lot."

"I live just the right amount," Pearl said. "Think I will take a walk, though. It's beautiful out." The late-afternoon light cut ribbons of yellow and orange through the sky and the palm trees along the pier. She hadn't been down on the beach in a while.

Dolly nodded. "No hurry. I'll see you later."

Pearl started at the far end of Venice Beach. She walked along the rocky pier, watching the fishermen cast out their nets, then haul them back in as pelicans waited nearby with beady black eyes. Once in a while the birds were tossed a handout from the catch, and they'd gulp it down awkwardly. The sun hung in the sky but the water was still, the beach nearly empty. She took off her shoes and held one in each hand as she stepped into the sand. Warm from the day's high heat, it cushioned her feet. She stayed far above the water line, digging her toes in as she made slow progress.

So Carl Evans was coming to look at the diner? That seemed rather noteworthy. She'd always thought men like that had their underlings do the dirty work for them. She wondered if Jace would be coming with him. A tightness stretched across her chest. Dinner had been nice. The conversation, the kissing...all of it had led her to a lovely daydream that maybe Jace would be The One. Maybe he'd realize the foolishness of his ways, tell his boss he was going to stand by Pearl and Dolly and defend the diner, and there'd be some kind of wonderful happy ending in the sunset.

Yeah, right.

Jace was a real estate agent in the prime of his career. Carl Evans was a billionaire. Maybe even a trillionaire, or whatever came next. She couldn't blame Jace for doing his job. If she had a chance to make it big, she might do the same thing.

A dog and his owner jogged along the beach. Two little girls ran past her, giggling. Their mother followed a few yards behind, dragging a chair and umbrella in one hand and an enormous tote bag in the other. She looked at Pearl with a weary smile. Other than that, the beach stretched out with emptiness. A forgotten pail lay on its side next to a sand castle half-washed away with the incoming tide. Far down the beach, two figures walked toward her.

Pearl stopped and faced the sea. Her entire life, she'd gone there for solace. For inspiration, and to let the sound of the waves soothe her. She loved this beach. She couldn't imagine living anywhere else than on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Sure, she dreamed of traveling. She wanted to see London and Paris and the ruins of Rome. Heck, she'd never even been to New York City.

But her heart tugged to the place around her, with all its memories and beauty and resilience. Tears filled her eyes. She couldn't let Dolly sell the diner, even if everyone else had given up on their end of town. The problem was, if she couldn't figure out a way to bring in more money, Dolly wouldn't have a choice.

The sun had dropped another inch in the sky, but the air still baked with late-August heat. On impulse, Pearl tugged her long-sleeved work t-shirt over her head. She wore a black bikini top underneath, so she tied the sleeves of her shirt around her waist and let her bare skin drink in the warm afternoon rays.

The two figures walking down the beach grew closer, turning from fuzzy outlines to men she couldn't make out. Fishermen, probably, or maybe a couple of college guys having one last beer on the beach before they split up and went their separate ways for the fall semester. But as they approached, Pearl realized they weren't either. Her heart leaped up, plummeted somewhere around her ankles, then righted itself again in the center of her chest.

I thought Jace went back to Tampa...

For an instant, Pearl thought about turning around. He hadn't recognized her yet; she still had time. But in the seconds it took her to consider the option, he and his companion neared her, and his eyes widened with recognition.

"Pearl!" He waved. "Hi!"

She took one step back. Her toes actually dug into the sand as she prepared to flee. All she could think about was the night before, dinner and the wine and the kiss. Then her declaration to remain detached and distant. Business, remember? That's why he's here. But her determination to keep him at arm's length faltered as he walked closer. He wore khaki shorts and a burgundy polo shirt and his hair was mussed over his face. Every girl part in her sent off fireworks.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

If he was bothered by her lukewarm welcome, he didn't show it. Instead he turned to the man beside him, older and taller, with silver temples and a craggy face that bespoke a whole lot of history.

"This is Carl Evans," Jace said.

Pearl's fingers went limp and the next thing she knew, her sandals were lying in the sand. "Hello," she said coolly. She bent to retrieve her sandals.

"Didn't expect to see you down here," Jace went on.

"Really? I live here. I would think you're the one who's out of place." Her eyes went to Carl, who hadn't yet spoken a word.

"Pearl's aunt owns the diner," Jace explained.

The man's face changed. "Ah." He held out a hand. "Very nice to meet you." His palm was warm, the shake strong but not overbearing. "She is quite a businesswoman."

"Yes, she is." Pearl lifted her chin and tried to ignore the fact that she stood there clad in a bikini top. "She has every intention of remaining one, too."

Carl clasped his hands at his waist. He also wore shorts, with a long-sleeved, light-blue shirt rolled up to his elbows. The pair of them looked like they'd stepped out of a magazine shoot, Pearl thought. Cool and collected, they stood there smiling, as if they were out for nothing more than a stroll along the beach, when in fact they were trolling, making plans, plotting their strategy for striking.

A gust of wind blew up from the water, and her hair covered her eyes. One strap of her bathing suit fell from her shoulder, and although she tugged it quickly back into place, when she looked at Jace, his face had changed. A flash of desire replaced the easy calm. His gaze went from her collarbone to her navel in one heady sweep. Strong. Wanting. One corner of his mouth pulled up in a grin, and she wondered if he was thinking the same thoughts she was.

I want you. I can't want you I have no idea what I'm going to do.

###

JACE'S PLANS TO PUT business first went straight out the window the minute he saw Pearl. That bikini. That body. He was eighteen again, his shorts rising without warning, and it took every fiber of his being to think of numbers and promotions and the reason he stood there on the beach in the first place. He hadn't planned to see her, not this way. Once they got things worked out with the diner, he'd give her some time and space and then call. He knew the diner meant everything to her. He also knew that selling it would be the best move financially for her aunt, especially living as a widow.

But he knew the sale would hit her hard.

Her hair blew across her face and got caught in her mouth, and he wanted to reach over and free it. Then he wanted to taste it. Then he wanted to feel it draped across his bare chest as she lay above him.

"...wanted to stop by," Carl was saying, and Jace pulled himself back to the conversation.

"We're closed for the day," Pearl responded.

Carl looked at Jace. "Tomorrow, then," he said. "I'll be staying in town for a few days. I have a contractor coming down from Tampa. I'll be working closely with him on the other projects on the block. Perhaps we could stop in and show you the plans."

"I'm not interested in your plans."

Jace both loved and feared the way she stood up to Carl. The lift in her chin, the confidence in her stance, made him realize she'd turned into a strong, articulate woman. Strong. Determined. Yet she also stood in the way of a potentially enormous business deal, one that would put Jace on the fast track to true success, and that was something he'd dreamed of since leaving town. He'd been a nobody back in high school, a punk teen who didn't take much seriously. He'd barely passed school. He had almost no relationship with his parents. Now, for the first time, he was proud of what he did and the people he spent time with.

"Would you give us a minute?" Jace asked, and Carl nodded. Jace took her by the elbow and led her down to the water.

"What are you doing?" She glanced over her shoulder.

"Talking to you."

"You shouldn't be. You should be entertaining Mr. Bottomless Pockets."

He'd intended to say something about the diner. He'd intended to ask her to back off, be nice, at least consider Carl's request to meet with Dolly. But as he stood there, with the sunlight streaming through Pearl's copper-colored hair and the scent of her perfume coming to him on the breeze, all those words fell away.

"I haven't stopped thinking about you since last night," he said instead.

Her mouth turned into a perfect O. Those magnificent green eyes caught the light, and their color deepened as she stared at him.

"And I know this is messy. Weird. And if it were any other deal, I'd tell Marshall to put someone else on it."

"But you can't."

It wasn't that he couldn't. Angst tore through him.

"I don't think there's any way we get through this," she said in a whisper.

"Tell me you don't feel it. Tell me there's nothing here."

She didn't speak.

Jace turned and looked out at the sea. "I hated this town for most of my life," he said. "Couldn't wait to be gone. Then, when I came back, I couldn't wait to see you. As sson as I walked into the diner again, I realized that. Honestly, Pearl, on some level I don't think I've stopped thinking about you since I left Venice ten years ago."

"That's crazy. It was one kiss."

He knew. But it was, and it wasn't. Finally he looked back at her and saw his anguish mirrored on her face. "Tell me. What am I supposed to do?"

***

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# CHAPTER 6

Six hours later, Pearl clutched a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses from her aunt's kitchen in the other. At almost nine, she'd thought Venice Beach would be deserted, but it looked as though she wasn't the only one with plans for a drink by the water.

"I'm insane," she muttered as she locked her car door. Sure, she'd agreed to meet Jace for a drink so they could talk. Maybe she could convince him to let the diner remain in Dolly's capable hands. The casino could go up around it, right? Maybe people would like the quiet charm of a place that had stood the test of time on The Esplanade. But who was she kidding? He turned every bone in her body to jelly. She hadn't felt that way about a man -- well, ever. Royal had been a nice, reliable boyfriend, but he'd never made her tingle. She'd never lain awake wishing he'd appear in the dark.

Jace McClintock?

The guy had captivated her since the first day she'd seen him in the halls of Venice High, a senior with swagger and a dark side no one could crack. After he'd kissed her in the diner the night after his graduation, he'd cemented a mysterous allure in her life that she couldn't manage to shake. Nor did she really want to.

She arranged the glasses in a tote bag on her shoulder and headed for the walkway where they'd agreed to meet. As she neared the sand, she saw one couple hand in hand on a bench. Someone else was doing yoga down near the water.

"You're early."

The voice came from behind her, and she turned, startled. He wore the same shorts and polo shirt as earlier, but his expression was relaxed, not the tight, professional smile he'd had around Carl.

"Hi," she said, suddenly shy.

He reached over and took the tote bag from her shoulder, slipping it over his own. He carried a rolled-up blanket under his other arm. "Hi yourself." His gaze traveled downward, taking in her thin, sleeveless green dress. She'd chosen it because matched her eyes, though she doubted he could see that in the darkness.

Unless he got closer to her. A lot closer.

"Thought maybe you'd change your mind," he said.

"I did," she said as they began to walk. "About ten times."

"Only ten?"

She glanced over and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. How did she explain that after he'd asked her to meet him, she'd thought and rethought her decision? That she'd gone home, taken a long shower, had dinner with Dolly, and finally spilled everything to her aunt? And that Dolly had not only given her full approval, but reminded her that opportunities were meant to be taken and the heart was meant to be followed?

Pearl wondered exactly where her heart might take her.

"I'm glad you're here," he said.

They walked on in silence, past the couple on the bench and the woman doing yoga until they reached a long sweep of sand protected on one side by a swath of black rocks. The rocks stretched from the tall grasses above the beach all the way into the water. During the day, at low tide, people waded out to the end of them looking for sharks' teeth and shells.

Jace set down the tote bag and spread the blanket wide. He held out his hand, and Pearl stared. Am I supposed to take it? Then with a flush she realized he was looking at the bottle of merlot still clutched in her fingers. She handed it over, along with a corkscrew. With a smooth pop, the cork came out, and a minute later he handed her a full glass.

"Cheers." He clinked his glass to hers. "Here's to old friends."

Friends? Was this where they were headed? "Cheers." Their eyes met over the rims of the glasses, and sparks crackled in the quiet night air.

"Want to sit?" he asked.

"Sure." She sank to the ground, wondering how close he'd get. Would he sit pressed against her? Or on the far side of the blanket, which now seemed too large?

He ended up about a foot away from her, legs stretched out to the water.

"Carl and I stopped by the diner after we saw you, thought maybe Dolly would still be there."

She choked on her wine. "We're talking business?"

"No. But I knew you were wondering. You're probably second-guessing everything I'm doing down here."

"Can you blame me?"

He took a long sip. "No. Not entirely." His fingers pressed the sand beside him into a firm circle, into which he settled his glass. "But I want you to know that this -" He motioned to her, to him, to the space between them. "Whatever this is, and wherever this goes, it doesn't have anything to do with Evans or the diner. I'm here tonight because I wanted to see you. Without anyone else around."

Then he leaned across the blanket and kissed her. One hand went to her face, pushing her hair away from her cheek. The other went to her hip, curving around her and pulling her toward him with just enough possessiveness that a sound broke from the back of her throat.

His tongue teased her lips open, and before she knew it she was inching across the blanket. Closer. Both his hands went to the small of her back, then slipped down, until with one strong, sure movement he'd pulled her into him.

Her fingers fluttered against his arms, hard as steel. There is nothing halfway or lukewarm or uncertain about this man. His mouth went to her jawline, her neck, her ear, where his breath turned hot. "You are so sexy," he whispered. "So beautiful." He pulled back a little so he could look her in the eye. "Still as feisty as in high school, too."

She narrowed her gaze. "Nothing wrong with that."

"No, there isn't," he agreed.

A pair of seagulls squawked above them, shattering the silence. Jace let her go and leaned back on one elbow. "I always felt kind of bad about what happened the night before I left."

Her face flushed in the dark. "I didn't."

"It wasn't the most gentlemanly thing to do."

"Maybe not." But no one had ever kissed her like that before. At a shy sixteen, she hadn't even known it was possible.

"I'm sorry I never called afterwards. Or texted or anything." He lay back and folded both arms under his head. "I'm kind of surprised you even gave me the time of day when I came back here." He stared at the stars. "I was kind of messed up in high school."

"Aren't we all?"

He rolled onto one side and looked at her. "I don't know. You always seemed like you had it together. Weren't you like top of your class or something?"

"Top ten." She might have been the top, except for the long shifts she worked to help out Dolly and Bill. "That's just a number, anyway. Grades don't make up a person."

"No," he agreed. "But they're part of it. I figured you'd be on the first plane out of here, headed for Harvard or Yale or someplace like that."

She stared across the dark water. Waves lapped the shore, the sound rhythmic and familiar. "You and everyone else. Like I said before I couldn't leave the diner. I mean, they didn't ask me to stay; it wasn't like that. I could've gone anywhere and Dolly and Bill would've supported me."

"So why'd you stay?" He ran the back of his hand along her bare arm.

"I felt like I owed them. They did everything for me. They gave me a life, a home, real parents." She crossed her legs. "Pass me that bottle, would you?" If they were going to have this conversation, she needed a little more liquid courage.

He filled her glass, then topped off his own.

"My mom took off when I was five. Dolly is my mom's sister. She and Bill took me in. I don't even know who my father is."

His brows lifted. "I didn't know that. I'm sorry."

"It's not a big deal."

"Yeah, it is. Most people around here had the happy family growing up. At least the way I saw it. Most people had parents who cared, who were around, even if they were divorced."

"Not everyone."

He nodded. "Not everyone."

She drank deeply. "Everyone gets dealt a crappy hand at some point. It's the way we handle it, right?"

"You ever hear from your mom again? See her?"

Pearl shook her head. "She didn't want to have any contact with me. Handed me over to Dolly the day after she was arrested for possession and that was it. I have no idea where she is. Probably drugged up or passed out in a bar, if she's even still alive."

Something in Jace's expression changed, went soft and open. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I would never have guessed it was something like that."

"Like I said, it's okay. I've known what my mom was about since I was a kid. Dolly was the best thing that could've happened to me."

He looked back out at the water. "It's funny, but I used to think I wouldn't mind having Dolly as a mom. All those times Toby and Bryce and I wound up in the diner late at night, she was always there. Always taking care of us, fussing over us like we were her own kids."

"That's my aunt."

He rested his head on his arms again. "It isn't personal," he said after a minute. "Me working on this sale. It just happened, you know? I didn't even realize the diner was part of the deal Evans was working on until a few weeks ago."

"You mean you don't want it to be personal," Pearl said, her throat tight. "It's just a business deal, right? Just a client and just a property that you don't have any attachment to."

He sat up and cleared his throat. "That's not true, Pearl. I know it seems like I'm a louse for doing this, but...it's complicated. Hard to explain."

"Try me."

He looked at her, those blue, blue eyes catching her off-guard with their intensity. "It isn't a really pretty story."

"I told you about my mom."

He stared at the sand, the sea, the sky. Finally his gaze came back to her. "My home life was shitty. My dad beat my mom, beat me, the wall, the dog, whatever he could get his hands on. He was smart and a good worker when he could hold down a job, but mostly he was a drinker. A heavy one. And a mean one."

Pearl clutched the stem of her wine glass.

"I couldn't wait to get out of his house. I swore I'd never be like him. I was going to leave Venice and never look back. I'd find a way to go to school, get a job, and find an apartment. I wouldn't throw away my life the way he did, and I'd be a thousand times better than he ever was." The seagulls returned, swooping low over their heads. "It means something to me," he said. "That Marshall trusted me to be a part of this deal. I know he did it partly because I grew up here, but I don't think that's the only reason. I hope it's not, anyway."

She finished her wine and set the glass aside. What could she say to that? As much as she didn't want to dwell on things that had happened long go, sometimes that was tough to do. Her past had shaped her. Jace's past had obviously shaped him. A breeze lifted the hair from her neck, and she closed her eyes, breathing in the salt air. Wish it could be easier, the waves seemed to echo as they fell on the sand.

"Look," Jace said.

Pearl opened her eyes as he pointed at the horizon.

"There's a falling star."

She squinted. "Really?"

"Yeah. There. Another one. See it that time?"

"No."

He moved closer and took her chin in his hand, turning her head ever so gently to the right. He pointed again, a little higher this time. "Look," he whispered in her ear.

Shivers went clear through her.

"Think of a wish to make."

But she didn't need to. The only thing Pearl might have wished for happened in the next moment, when Jace stopped looking at the stars and turned to kiss her.

***

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# CHAPTER 7

She tasted like wine and toothpaste. Jace tried to take it slow, to let his tongue wind around Pearl's as his hands moved along her hips, but it was tough to hold back when all he wanted was to tear off her dress and see if the skin below her navel tasted the same as the skin along the curve of her neck.

Her fingers threaded through his hair, pulling him closer. She was more assertive than the previous night, certainly more assertive than her sixteen-year-old self, and for a fleeting moment he wondered who else she might have been with in the years between that kiss and this one. Her head fell back, her throat exposed, and he growled as he made his way from her chin to the hollow just below it. He nibbled, loving the way she moved under him.

"You taste good," he murmured into the soft skin of her exposed collarbone. He ran a finger under the strap of her dress, filmy green and not leaving much to the imagination.

"You feel good," she said as she ran her hands over his upper arms. "I don't remember you being this built back in high school."

His chest puffed up a little at the compliment and he drew her close, pulling her into his lap until her legs sneaked around his waist. Her dress hitched up to her knees, and he ran his fingers up her bare legs until she shivered. Behind them, the waves rolled closer.

She took his face in her hands and bent close, nibbling his bottom lip. The effect turned him to iron. Her tongue caressed him, moving inside his mouth at the same time she rocked against him. He drew in a long breath and melted against her. His hips moved in rhythm with hers. After a long few moments she slid off his lap, though she left one leg dangling over his. Her hair caught in her mouth as she looked at him, her lips still full and pink from his kisses.

"I think I had a crush on you from the first time I saw you," she said. "I was a freshman, and you were coming out of the locker room right before last class. You and a whole bunch of other junior guys."

"Really? I wasn't sure you even knew who I was."

She rolled her eyes. "Please. You and Toby and Bryce? You were like the Three Musketeers of Venice High. Everyone knew who you were. When you kissed me that night in the diner, I thought I was dreaming."

"I wish we'd had more time to get to know each other back then." He laced his fingers through hers. "I'm staying at the Days Inn. Want to come up for a drink?"

She took a long few seconds to answer, and in the silence, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He was about to press Ignore when he saw the caller. "Damn. Give me a minute?"

She nodded, and he clambered to his feet and walked a few steps away. "McClintock."

"Hey, buddy, how's it going?"

Jace wasn't sure he qualified as Carl Evans' buddy, but he wasn't about to correct anyone who had the kind of power that mega-millionaire did. "It's going."

"Stopped by your hotel room before I headed back to the city."

His pulse kicked up. Had Jace missed a meeting? "I'm sorry, I didn't know -"

"No worries. Just thought I'd run into you. I forgot you're from around here. Probably catching up with some friends tonight, eh?"

"Something like that." Why did he feel suddenly guilty? He glanced over his shoulder at Pearl. She'd crossed her feet at the ankles and was looking at the water.

"I've got a situation I have to deal with up in Atlantic City," Evans went on. "Just got a call. I've got a project up there that's run into some snags."

"Oh." Jace's throat went dry. Carl Evans didn't like snags; Marshall had made that clear when the agency first took him on as a client. Do whatever it takes to make this deal happen. On time.

"I probably won't be back in Venice until next week. So you can move things ahead with the diner, yes?"

Oh, sure. Just like that, with a snap of the fingers. "Of course," he said. He shoved one hand into his pocket. This time, he didn't look back at Pearl; he didn't need any more guilt eating away at him. Business and pleasure, business and pleasure, the waves seemed to sing. Jace thought he had it under control, the complicated puzzle of the diner sale being inextricably linked to the one woman he couldn't stop thinking about. Dolly's Diner and Pearl. The sale and his heart. He'd thought he could keep them separate.

Yeah, right.

"Great," Evans said. "See you next week. If you get her to sign the papers before I get back down here, just have Marshall fax them to me. He knows where I stay."

"Will do." Jace hung up.

"Everything okay?" Pearl asked. The seagulls had returned, swooping and squawking above them.

Scavengers, Jace thought. Looking for scraps wherever they can find them. "Sure," he said, his voice tight, but when he turned around, he saw that Pearl had packed up the wine and the glasses and his blanket.

"That sounded like a business call," she said. She held out the rolled-up blanket. "I keep forgetting that's why you're here."

"Pearl, wait."

She tossed the blanket to him. "Am I wrong?"

He couldn't lie to her. More than that, he didn't want to. "That was Carl Evans, yes."

She looked at him for a long moment. "Then I should probably get home. It's tough on Dolly, being alone at night." She slipped on her sandals. Her next words were a whisper, almost lost in the sound of the waves. "And maybe we need to face facts, Jace. Maybe this wasn't meant to be."

***

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# CHAPTER 8

Pearl offered to work the breakfast shift the following day, in part because she couldn't sleep and in part because she wanted to keep an eye on the diner. No matter what Jace had said, he was there in Venice to close a deal. She'd meant what she told him on the beach. As much as there was obvious chemistry between them, that couldn't overcome the cold hard reality of numbers and dollar signs and job commitments.

"You know, you've cleaned that table three times," Dolly said as the diner clock beeped ten. She sat at the counter, coffee mug in front of her. The breakfast crowd had disappeared, and they were alone except for the cook, who'd gone out back for his smoke break.

Pearl swiped a damp rag over the menus one last time for good measure.

"Something on your mind?"

"No." She tossed the rag into a bucket of water and started a new pot of coffee. "Yes. Aren't you worried about it?"

"About what? Selling this place?"

Pearl turned in horror. "Selling? I just meant Jace being here and Carl Evans calling you and the two of them trying to swoop in and convince you to meet with them. You aren't thinking about selling, are you? Did Evans call you again? Did he make you some kind of promise? Because no matter what kind of money he offers, it won't be enough." She tried to keep the high-pitched emotion out of her voice.

Dolly crossed her legs. "It might be enough. From what I've heard, the other properties he bought on this block went for more than a fair price."

"It's not just about the money."

"Well, no, it's not," Dolly agreed. "But why does this upset you so much? He's not the first person to come along and offer to buy this place. I'm sixty-two. I've never traveled out of this state except that time we all went to Bill's mother's funeral in D.C. Maybe it's time for me to be doing other things. I can't fill coffee cups and make egg sandwiches for another twenty years." She held up one hand. "These old bones can't handle it."

"You're not old. But we could hire a manager, so you wouldn't have to open every morning. You could reduce your hours. No one said you have to cook and wait tables."

"We can't afford a manager. We can barely afford the staff we have now."

"You said business was picking up."

"It is. But it's still slower than it was before the hurricane."

"Once that stupid casino opens, I bet it'll pick up."

Dolly smiled. "I imagine it will. So maybe we shouldn't call it stupid, hmm? Maybe it will do exactly what everyone hopes and rebuild this part of town. Bring money to Venice again."

Pearl sank onto the stool beside her aunt. "I just can't picture the diner closing." She twisted her hands in her lap. "Maybe it's silly to be so attached to it. But I grew up here."

Dolly patted her hands. "I know you did. And I'm glad you have so many good memories associated with it. But people move on. They need to. You need to."

"It's not just that." Pearl waved her hands in the air. "This place is iconic. Everyone in Florida knows it."

"It does have history." Dolly smiled.

An idea sparked in Pearl's head. "What about getting this place put on the historic registry? All kinds of famous people have come in here over the years. Why couldn't we get it protected by one of those government grants or something?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know the first thing about how to find out."

"It can't be that hard. Old homes get registered as historic all the time. And old churches and stuff. Why couldn't this place be listed, too?"

"Well, it's a diner, for one," Dolly said. "I'm not sure it ever contributed to Venice's history except to fill people's stomachs with eggs and coffee."

"I'm going to look into it," Pearl declared. The front door opened, and an elderly couple walked in. "There has to be a way to save this place."

Dolly slid off her stool and took two menus from the stack by the register. "Good. You do that. And then go take a walk or a ride or go out to lunch with one of your friends, will you? You're making me nervous, hanging around this place all the time. I'm fine by myself."

"But -"

Dolly wagged a finger. "Now go. Carlos and I will finish the shift."

Pearl would have protested but for the determined set in her aunt's chin. She wasn't sure how much of a social life she could drum up for the rest of the afternoon, especially since she'd decided the previous night that Jace and anything within one square mile of the Days Inn was strictly off-limits, but she'd do her best.

At the very least, she could head over to the library and look up some information on what it took to get a building onto Florida's historic registry. Pearl untied her apron and tucked it under her arm as she headed for the door. One thing she knew for sure: she wouldn't let Dolly's Diner go without fighting as hard as she could to save it.

###

"SORRY I'M LATE!" PEARL called as she opened the back door. "I lost track of time at the library and -" She stopped in her tracks. Sitting at the kitchen table was none other than Jace McClintock. With an open beer in front of him. And a grin on his face a mile wide.

She turned to Dolly, who was mashing potatoes by hand at the stove. "What is he doing here?"

"That's not a very nice greeting," her aunt responded without turning around. "I thought I raised you better than that."

Pearl didn't know what to say. Her thoughts ranged from the old, unflattering t-shirt and jeans she wore to the cream-colored polo shirt that tightened around Jace's biceps to the smell of pot roast in the air to the unfinished kisses from the beach the night before.

"Beer?" he offered. "There's a six-pack in the fridge. It's a lager...but I'm not sure of your taste."

At this point she'd settle for lighter fluid if it calmed her down. "Fine. I'll get it." She needed something to do with her hands. "Need help?" she asked Dolly as she opened the fridge.

Dolly spooned the fluffy mashed potatoes into a serving dish and covered it. "Nope. Sit and relax."

Relax. Sure. Like she was supposed to do that with Jace sitting at the kitchen table as if he was a neighbor who'd just stopped by for a friendly visit.

Reluctantly, she opened the beer and sank into the chair opposite him. "So how did this happen?" She waved her bottle in his general direction. "I can't imagine you were driving by and decided to stop."

Dolly set the table and then placed the potatoes, a large dish of carrots, and the pot roast in the center. Gravy followed. "I invited him," she said as she joined them. "Jace came by the diner after you left, and we got to talking, and I told him while he was in town he needed a home-cooked meal."

Pearl narrowed her gaze. Playing the needy single guy card, was he? "He can get a home-cooked meal at the diner. That's the point of keeping it open."

Jace narrowed his gaze right back, as if reading her thoughts. I'm not playing any card at all. I always liked Dolly. Told you that the other night.

"Did you talk about selling the diner?" Pearl asked.

"We did," Jace said as he loaded his plate. "I told Dolly the terms of Carl Evans' offer and what he planned to do with the place."

"Which is tear it down, right?" Pearl dug into the carrots with a vengeance.

"Not necessarily."

She looked up. "Isn't that what he's planning for everything else he bought? Why would he keep a hundred-year-old building?"

Jace didn't answer.

"There wasn't any pressure, honey," Dolly said. "Jace laid out the terms, and I told him I'd think about everything."

Pearl took a long swig of her beer. "Hmph," was the best she could come up with. It wasn't her decision, and she knew that, but she couldn't bear to see her aunt give up the place that had been her livelihood for as long as Pearl could remember.

"Now, I want to hear what he's been doing with his life since high school," Dolly said, her chin set as she looked from one of them to the other. "No more talk about business deals, all right?"

"Fine by me." To her surprise, the next two hours flew by. Though she already knew some of what the last ten years had brought Jace, she watched her aunt's face brighten with laughter as he retold his stories.

"You gave me an ice pack after I fell off my bike right outside the diner, remember?

Jace said. "The last day of school in fourth grade. Had road rash on my whole right shoulder for a week."

"Of course I remember. You and your friends were trying to show off. The other waitresses and I took bets on who'd get hurt first."

"Hey." Jace turmed red.

"Oh, honey, it was only because we liked you."

"Good thing. I always thought Bill was out to get me, though."

Dolly tossed her napkin at him. "His bark was always worse than his bite. You know that."

Pearl listened to them share stories. It's been a long time since we've had company here. Shame at her earlier reaction burned in her cheeks. She'd been so caught up in her own history with Jace she'd forgotten her aunt had one too.

After dinner the three of them moved to the lanai, where Dolly brought them cheesecake and coffee and Pearl ate until she was stuffed.

"I'll have to run ten miles tomorrow to burn off these calories," Jace said with a sigh. "It was worth every one, though."

"You run?" Pearl asked.

"When I'm not at home. Usually I go to the gym and work out."

As if she'd had to ask. She knew exactly what kind of rock-hard body he had under his clothes. Her fingers twitched, itching to touch it again, and she dug into the arms of her chair to keep from reaching out for him. This can't happen. It's too messy. Too complicated.

"Whatever happened with your friend whose family owns the cruise line?" Dolly asked. "He used to come in the diner with you sometimes."

"Bryce? He's working for the company now."

"Good for him."

"In fact, I was telling your niece the other day she should indulge me and go on one of their cruises. One of the perks of being a best friend is that I get pretty good discounts." He winked at Pearl.

"Absolutely not."

"That sounds wonderful."

Pearl and Dolly spoke at the same time. "Are you crazy?" Pearl said." I can't go on a cruise."

"Why not?"

I don't even know Jace, she was tempted to say, but they all knew that wasn't true. I can't take time away from the diner probably wouldn't work either.

"I don't have the money," she finally said. "And don't you dare offer to pay or tell me you can call in a favor and get some grand discount," she said to Jace.

"Well, I do," Dolly said. She held up one hand before Pearl could sputter a protest. "You've never taken a vacation in your life. Bill and I couldn't give you a graduation present after high school, and you spend all your time now in the diner or at college."

"So?"

"So I think this is the perfect chance for you to get away before your classes start again. You're young but sometimes you act like you're forty, the way you're tied down to this place. You need to cut loose and have some fun."

"I don't -" Pearl began in protest, but Dolly pressed her hand to stop her.

"You've been my rock this last year. I never could have gotten through it without you. Let me do this. Let me give you this gift." Dolly looked at Jace. "How long are the cruises?"

"I think anywhere from four to ten days."

"Then four days it is. Do you think there's room in the next few weeks?" she asked Jace.

"I can check. I can call Bryce tonight and see what he can find."

"I'm sure you can't tear yourself away from work," Pearl said to Jace.

"I might be able to. I have some vacation time saved up."

She sank deeper into the chair and eyed first her aunt and then their guest. "This isn't a four-day date," Pearl hissed under her breath. "I'll have my own cabin." She felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under her by the one person she trusted most and a snake who'd turned into that person's ally in the blink of an eye.

Jace just chuckled. "That's fine. I'll keep my distance." But the way his gaze lingered on her neckline, she guessed his thoughts were racing in the same direction hers were.

It was a terrible idea.

It was a dream come true.

It was nothing she could have predicted ten days or even ten minutes ago. Four days on a cruise ship? Sun and sea and Jace McClintock within arm's reach? "Thank you," she finally said to her aunt. "It's more than generous. I'd love to go."

***

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# CHAPTER 9

"You're going on a cruise?" Marshall Reagan eyed Jace over his desk a few days later. "Now?"

"I'm taking the niece of the diner owner," Jace said, hating the words and the lie they implied. He wasn't paying and they weren't staying in the same cabin. Pearl had made it clear she wasn't going as his date. Was he really taking her with him? If push came to shove, he could say he'd invited her and she'd accepted. Sort of. Reluctantly.

His boss's withering expression relaxed a little. "You're working the sale." He nodded and tented his fingers together. "Can't say I'm thrilled with the idea, but if you get her to talk her aunt into selling, it'll be worth it."

Jace drummed his fingers on one knee. With his stomach tied in knots, he waited for something else. A caveat. A warning. It came a moment later.

"It might have to come out of your vacation time," Marshall added. "I'll have to ask my accountant if we can write it off as a business expense."

Jace was sure he could, because Marshall could convince anyone who worked for him to do pretty much anything, but he kept his mouth shut. "No problem. I understand."

Marshall picked up his phone, the cue for Jace to leave. "I expect results," he said.

Jace nodded as he left the office. He knew Marshall meant results related to the sale. Or rather, results that included the sale. True, that would be a nice bonus, but the only results he was hoping for had to do with a certain green-eyed beauty who was packing her bikini right now. Single cabins aside, he had every intention of making the most of their four days together.

###

"THERE'S TOBY AND BRITTANY," Jace said as they approached the pool bar the following evening. Pearl walked beside him in a short blue sundress and matching blue flip-flops. Her hair was loose, she wore little makeup, and he hadn't been able to keep his eyes off her since they'd boarded the ship that afternoon. Every time the breeze blew, her perfume teased him, and his mind went off in searing-hot directions.

You're here together as friends. That's the way it has to be.

Pearl had told him as much again that afternoon on the ride to the pier. And he'd agreed even though he didn't want to. Until the deal with the diner was through, he couldn't complicate it by getting too close to her. But that was going to be much easier said than done.

With effort, he tore his attention from the way her dress dipped down between her breasts. To his surprise, both his high school buddies had managed to take vacation time and join them on the cruise, though Jace wasn't thrilled Toby had brought along his girlfriend. Brittany Piper had put on about forty or fifty pounds since high school. It all centered squarely on her belly and hips, and the tight black dress she wore did little to slim it. But it wasn't the way she looked that led to Jace's distaste of her. It was the way she criticized everything Toby did, the way her life was more important than his at every juncture.

Bet she'd never give up her dreams to help the family diner.

The thought startled Jace, but it was absolutely true. Pearl and Brittany were as different as night and day.

"I remember Brittany," Pearl said. As if reading his thoughts, she added, "She was kind of snotty back in school."

Jace glanced over. "She's kind of snotty now."

"I didn't know Toby was the kind of guy who'd put up with that."

Jace didn't either. "I think he's the kind of guy who likes being settled. He likes predictability. Brittany definitely gives him that."

"Then there's Bryce," Pearl laughed, gesturing to the hot tub beside the pool. Bryce sat on the edge, drink in his hand. Three women in teeny bikinis sat inside the tub, all looking up at him and all laughing. "Some things never change, huh?"

"Nope. That guy'll be a bachelor until he's ninety."

"Maybe. Or maybe he'll meet someone who knocks him off his feet and he'll be the first one married."

Jace laughed. "You want to tell him that, or should I?"

Just then Bryce spotted them, and a minute later Toby and Brittany met them at the bar as well.

"You guys remember Pearl DeVane," Jace said, suddenly apprehensive. He'd told the guys she was coming along, of course, but he wondered what they'd think of her, if they'd be as stunned by her beauty and confidence as he was. He kind of hoped not. The three guys had never competed over women in the past, and he didn't want to start with Pearl.

"Of course we remember." Bryce took her hand and dropped a kiss onto the back of it. "You look beautiful."

"Hey, Pearl," Toby said. He reached for her hand too, but a sharp look from Brittany stopped him. Instead he nodded hello. "How's Dolly?"

"Pretty well."

"I'm sorry about your uncle," Bryce said. "Jace told us. He was a good man."

"Thank you."

"So, what are you doing with yourself these days?" Brittany asked. Her gaze swept Pearl from head to toe. "Did you, like, go to college somewhere?"

"I'm taking classes now," Pearl said. She didn't seem the least bit ruffled by Brittany's chilly reception. "And working in the diner."

"Still?" Brittany's perfectly groomed eyebrows flew up. "Weren't you doing that in high school?"

"I was. And still am. What are you doing with yourself?"

"Well, Toby and I are living together." Brittany tucked her arm possessively through his. "And I have a design blog. You know, like how to cook organically and decorating tips and things like that. It's called Brittany's Birdhouse. You know, because it's all about nesting."

"Oh. Well, it's really nice to see you all again," Pearl said. "This is my first time on a cruise, so I think I'll go unpack and get my bearings." She touched Jace's arm. "Are we meeting for dinner?"

His heart leaped up. They hadn't made plans. He hadn't wanted to presume. But hell yeah, he wanted to meet her for dinner, and a nightcap after that.

"Sure," he said. Playing it cool, he gave a quick wave and watched her go. Bryce was saying something about her figure, Brittany was yapping in Toby's ear about getting a massage, and all Jace could do was watch Pearl walk away. She'd been back in his life less than two weeks, and already he felt himself falling for her, imagining how things might work out between them if all the other complications didn't exist.

###

"THIS IS PRETTY EXTRAVAGANT," Pearl said as she and Jace stepped from the elevator onto the top deck of the ship.

"What is?" He looked around. Two decks below, a mariachi band played by the pool bar, and a few people had already started dancing. According to the day's schedule, singles' events and parties were happening in bars and clubs and casinos around the ship. But this deck was quiet, which was part of the reason he'd suggested it after dinner. No one else had ventured up yet.

"Everything," she answered. "This ship, the pool, the dining room...I mean, did you see all the food at the buffet? There must have been twenty desserts alone."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess it is." He'd only been cruising twice before, both times courtesy of Bryce, but he'd forgotten the first impression, the decadence of unlimited everything, that came with a cruise fare.

"Thank you for asking me." She touched his hand, then let it fall away. "I know it's kind of weird, being here together, considering everything. But it's still nice." She looked up at the dusky sky. "Dolly was right. I needed a vacation. I would never have done anything like this for myself."

He dared to wrap one arm around her. He loved being close to her, feeling her heart beat against him. Funny, the things she stirred inside him. He wasn't sure he'd ever felt anything like them before.

Damn.

The last thing he needed was a relationship, entanglement, just when Marshall was trusting him with the biggest deal of his career.

Pearl leaned into his embrace, and his thoughts went haywire. He wanted her. He wanted to see where everything went, if they had a chance, the way he was starting to think they might. Yet how could he pursue anything with her in full conscience, right now?

"You're quiet," Pearl said. She lifted her head.

Everything in him wanted to taste her, to kiss her until she quivered in his arms. And if it were almost anyone else, Jace realized, he would have done just that. He'd bedded enough women to know how to touch them until they begged for more. Hell, they were on a cruise ship, far from the realities of shore. Whatever happened in the next four days could be chalked up to sun and fun and a little hedonism before they both got back to work.

But this was Pearl DeVane, the girl he'd known since high school. He respected her. He didn't want to hurt her. And that meant he couldn't let anything go too far until things were settled with the diner, whatever that ended up meaning. At this point, he almost didn't care if he lost the deal. Hell, if Dolly refused to sell, that was her decision. She was a strong woman, and she'd raised her niece to be the same way.

So rather than kiss Pearl, the way every inch of him wanted to, Jace just tightened his arm around her. "I'm glad you're here," he whispered into the top of her head and hoped she'd hear all the words he didn't say.

***

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# CHAPTER 10

The next three days flew by. One stop at Key West and two days at sea, and the cruise neared its end before Pearl realized it.

How is it? Dolly texted her the second afternoon. Are you having a good time?

Yes! It's amazing. So relaxing.

And it was, from the ship to the port to the way Jace took care of everything she might need or want. Lunch by the pool? No problem. A blackjack lesson so she didn't look like a fool in the casino? He met her there ten minutes early. He carried her bags when she shopped on Duval Street, he danced with her at the '80s Night Party, he knocked on her door at five minutes to midnight so she wouldn't miss the Full Moon Fiesta, and he walked her to her cabin every night before retiring to his own.

And it was driving her crazy.

A healthy, heterosexual, red-blooded male didn't ask a woman to go on a cruise only to act like her best girlfriend the entire time, did he? Had she completely misread his signs? True, she hadn't planned on jumping into bed with Jace, and part of her was glad he hadn't tried too hard, but a little trying would have made her feel better than the totally platonic approach he seemed to be taking.

"So what's plan for tonight?" Bryce asked after they'd devoured their entrees and desserts. He ordered a round of Courvoisier shots for the table. "Final show?"

"Ugh, no." Brittany frowned.

"Why not?" Pearl asked. Brittany had pooh-poohed just about every suggestion since they'd been on board.

Brittany wiped her mouth and tossed her napkin on the table. "It's like they're trying to be Broadway stars, when they so clearly are not." She looked at Toby for approval. "Right? I mean, there's a reason they're on this cruise ship and not in New York City or Hollywood."

Bryce laughed, but his smile carried danger. "This is my family's business, remember. I can only take so much bad-mouthing of it."

"Oh, Bryce." She waved a hand, as if flipping away his concerns. "You know what I mean."

But Pearl didn't think Bryce did know, or if he did, he wasn't too pleased with what Brittany meant. "I'd love to go to the show," Pearl said. "What else is going on?"

"Magic act in the casino," Bryce said. A waitress who'd been eyeing him all night slowed down as she passed their table. "And quite possibly, a special reservation for Yours Truly up in one of the private hot tubs, if the next five minutes of conversation goes the way I think it will." With a wink, he leapt up and followed the waitress to the beverage station.

Brittany drew in a sharp, critical breath. "That man is a walking dick." She shuddered. "I'm so glad you're not anything like him," she added as she patted Toby's arm.

Pearl didn't say a word, though she wondered from the look on Toby's face whether once in a while, he'd rather be exactly like Bryce, instead of the quiet, obedient boyfriend Brittany assumed he was. "Private hot tubs?" she whispered to Jace.

He turned a few shades of red as they all got up from the table. "Uh, yeah. Up on the Sun Deck. There are a few that guests can reserve. They usually go pretty fast, though."

Pearl linked her arm through his as they separated from Toby and Brittany at the elevators. "If there's one still available, want to meet me there later?" Her heart hammered. Maybe this was a bad idea. But there was only one way to find out.

His jaw twitched. He dropped his gaze to his toes, then to hers, then let it crawl slowly up her legs, heating her with every inch until it returned to her face. "You've got yourself a deal."

###

MIRACLE OF MIRACLES, when Pearl stopped at the Concierge Desk, one hot tub reservation had just been cancelled.

"Looks as though it's your lucky night," the woman behind the desk said with a wink. "It's number five, the last one on the right when you go up." She handed Pearl a key on a silver ring. "Here you go. Total privacy. If you want a drink from the bar or need extra towels, there's a bell you can ring. Otherwise, enjoy."

Pearl felt herself flush as she tucked the key into her pocket. She'd discovered over the last four days that Cocktail Cruise Lines specialized in hooking up singles. Looking around, though, it seemed by the last night she was about the only one who hadn't hooked up.

She made her way back to her cabin and fell onto the bed. It's now or never. This was supposed to be a vacation. A getaway. Yes, the man who had invited her was messily linked to a business deal involving her aunt, but did that mean she couldn't enjoy his company in the meantime? She wouldn't sleep with her, she'd already decided that, but some kissing in a hot tub might be an awfully nice way to spend her final night on board.

Before she lost her nerve, she texted him. Hot tub #5. 10:00.

Then she waited. One minute. Two. Was he ignoring her message? Had he changed his mind? Or met up with Bryce and another cute waitress from the steakhouse? She went to the closet of her tiny interior cabin and selected a bikini to wear. She used the bathroom. Still no response. Just as five minutes passed and Pearl had convinced herself Jace wasn't answering, her phone buzzed with a text.

Sounds good. See you then.

###

SHE ARRIVED DELIBERATELY late, a careful five minutes. Over her black bikini she wore a thin red and black robe, one Jace hadn't seen by the pool or anywhere else the last three days. She took the elevator to the Sun Deck, then found the lattice marked with a large gold 5. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.

"Thought you might have changed your mind."

He was already in the hot tub, his chest glistening with water. In the dim light, she couldn't make out what he wore below the waist. She shook her hair over her shoulders. "Just taking my time."

He patted the side of the hot tub. "Water's nice." His gaze raked over her. "Coming in?"

Without answering, she dropped her robe. His mouth curved up in obvious pleasure. "Nice, DeVane. Very nice."

Well, that was a positive sign, right? All the way up, she'd worried that he'd turn her down. Maybe he'd simply been waiting for her to make the first move. She walked to the hot tub and felt the water. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

She screwed up her courage. "Why have you been acting like my cousin the last three days instead of someone who's remotely interested in kissing or touching me?"

He burst out laughing. "Your cousin? Is that really what it seems like?"

"Sort of. I mean, no offense, but you couldn't wait to get your hands on me every other time we were together. Then we go on a cruise together and suddenly it's like I have the plague or something."

"I thought we weren't together. In fact, you made it pretty clear when we were sitting in your aunt's kitchen that this would not be a date."

She climbed into the hot tub and found a seat on the opposite side. Okay. That was fair. "I did. You're right. I was just surprised, I guess."

He looked at her in the dim light. "Nothing's changed about the way I feel. I'm trying to be respectful, that's all. I didn't want to do anything that would make you think I was using you. Trying to gain advantage."

"Because of Dolly and the diner?"

He nodded.

She edged closer to him. The water lapped against the sides of the tub. "That's incredibly honorable of you." She found his hand under the water. "Thank you."

"You're more than welcome." The words were a whisper against her temple, and for a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then he pulled her into him, and she crushed her lips to his. Enough, her body wanted to cry out. I want this. Screw the diner and stupid business deals and everything else right now. Her tongue met his as her hands went to his shoulders, strong and rippling with muscle beneath her touch. God, this man could kiss like no one she'd ever been with.

Pearl pulled away an inch and locked her gaze on his. She moved to her knees, letting the water buoy her as she straddled him. She wanted everything beneath her, the muscle, the man, the rock-hard erection she could feel through his shorts. But he didn't push her. Instead he tucked her wet hair behind her ears and kissed her again, gently, until she felt herself falling into him.

His hand moved over the ridge of her hipbone and settled for a moment to cup her ass, the heat leaving an imprint all the way up her skin. He smiled up at her, his expression genuine. "You're so beautiful," he whispered. "How did I forget?"

She didn't answer. She didn't have words. For now, for tonight, all she wanted to do was enjoy this moment and this man and the escape from the world that waited for them back on shore.

***

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# CHAPTER 11

The following afternoon, back on shore, Pearl floated into the diner. Sure, her feet may have been on the ground, but every part of her was light, filled with the heady excitement of lust and possibility.

"I'll take it from your expression you had a good time," Dolly said from the counter.

Pearl looked around. The place seemed fuller than usual. Only two stools remained empty at the counter, and at least half the tables and booths had customers. She smiled, rolled her suitcase into the corner and helped herself to a mug of coffee. "I had a wonderful time." She rested her chin on her hand. The memory of Jace and the hot tub and his arms around her sent a flush through her every time she thought of it.

"Just what you needed?" Dolly asked.

"Just what I needed." She wrapped both arms around her aunt and hugged. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dolly patted her back and then handed her an apron. "Now, can you fill in for me this last hour?"

Pearl had come straight to the diner after disembarking earlier that morning. She'd planned on lunch and a hello before heading home for a shower. Looked as though maybe the shower would have to wait. "Of course," she said. "Everything okay?"

Dolly nodded as she took off her own apron. For the first time, Pearl noticed the light-gray dress she wore underneath. Dolly slipped off her comfortable flat shoes and put on a pair of high heels instead.

"Wait a minute. Do you have a date?"

Dolly smoothed her hair in its twist and laughed. "Of course not. It's just a meeting with the Planning Board."

"'Just'? Is it about the historic registry application?" Pearl had turned it in the day before leaving on the cruise. "Did you hear something?"

"It's not about that," Dolly said. "It's something else, a renovation grant I applied for a while ago. I didn't think it would amount to anything, but..." Her cheeks colored. "It's a good amount, sweetheart. A hundred thousand dollars."

Pearl clapped her hands together. "Seriously? That's amazing!"

"I hope so. It isn't final yet. They want to know how I'm going to use the money if they give it to me."

"Do you have a plan? Something written up?" Pearl felt suddenly guilty. Here she'd been setting sail these past few days, shopping and sunning and flirting with Jace, while her aunt was at home dealing with business affairs. "You should have told me. I could have helped you put something together."

"It's fine." Dolly patted her arm. "I had some help. We've been talking about putting on an addition out back. That will take most of the money, that and updating the kitchen."

"Oh. You're right, that sounds perfect." Pearl tied her apron around her waist and checked the orders waiting behind the grill. "Who helped you?" Just then, two club sandwiches with fries came up, and she carried them to booth four. By the time she'd deposited ketchup and extra napkins, Dolly was on her way to the door.

"Don't be mad, all right?" Dolly said. "I was up to my elbows in paperwork when he stopped by. He offered to help, and I didn't have anyone else to ask."

"Be mad? Why would I be...who helped you?" Pearl asked, baffled.

Dolly pressed her lips together, as if she knew the answer might hurt her niece. "It was Royal."

###

"WHO'S ROYAL?" JACE asked later that night. They sat on a bench near the beach with a half-finished pizza between them. Pearl stared at the trees and the water beyond, turning sleek red with the approaching sunset. She'd been all out of sorts from the moment they met for take-out, but she wouldn't tell him why.

"My ex-boyfriend."

An unfamiliar pang zipped into Jace's chest. Thoughts bounced inside his head. Of course Pearl had dated other guys, but he didn't like the think about it or put a name to any of them. How long ago had they broken up? Had the guy hurt Pearl? Had he cheated on her? Was he gay? (Jace liked that thought best) Or was he trying to weasel his way back into Pearl's good graces?

"We broke up a couple of months ago. At the beginning of the summer."

He laced his hands behind his head. "How long were you with him?"

"A little over a year."

The pang zipped in again, staying a little longer the second time. Jace couldn't recall the last time he'd been jealous of anyone, except maybe Marshall Reagan's success. He didn't do relationships for the simple reason that emotions built up and got messy and made people weak.

"Should I have told you?" Pearl asked. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it mattered."

Jace dropped one arm around her shoulders. "It doesn't." Or he wouldn't let it. No emotions. No mess.

Yeah, right.

"Are you planning on getting back together with him?"

She looked up at him, eyes wide. "Of course not. He was wrong for me."

"Does he know that?"

"I told him, but that doesn't mean he really heard me." She sighed. "Royal's a good guy," she added. "I should be glad he was there to help Dolly."

Jace arm tightened. He didn't want to hear those words. He wanted to hear that Royal -- who named their kid something like that, anyway? -- was a jerk, that they'd fought, that she'd never give him the time of day again. He didn't want Royal to be a good guy who helped Dolly.

"I know he means well. He's smart when it comes to business, and I'm sure he gave her good advice. It's just awkward knowing he was around when I wasn't. That he was talking to her and spending time with her, you know?"

Jace nodded without speaking. His fingers went to Pearl's hair, playing with the strands. "How about we don't talk about it anymore? He helped Dolly, great. But if she needs more business help in the future, I can recommend a few people." Who are fifty-five and married and ugly as sin.

His fingers stilled. Suddenly he realized he'd just offered to assist the very woman he was supposed to be trying to convince to sell. Shit. Double-shit. Not a good idea.

Pearl turned in his embrace and smiled. Her eyes caught the moonlight, and she wrapped her arms around him. "Deal."

***

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# CHAPTER 12

"I didn't think you'd make it," Bryce said the following night as Jace walked into Mick's, a local bar around the corner from his apartment.

"Meeting ran late." Jace took the last open stool and glanced up at the television. Yankees were beating the Marlins, nine to zip in the bottom of the eighth. Figured. A shitty score to add to his shitty day.

"And?" Bryce flagged down the bartender and ordered a round of beers.

"And nothing. Evans is chomping at the bit and Reagan wants my ass in a sling because I haven't closed the deal yet." Jace dumped about half the bottled beer down his throat in a single swallow.

"Is Dolly even considering selling the diner?" Toby asked.

"Believe it or not, yes. At least that's what she's telling me." He hadn't told Pearl any of that, though. "She's run that place forever. She's tired, business is down, and I think part of her just wants someone else to take it over."

"But she's got emotional ties to it," Bryce finished.

"Of course she does. But I can't tell my boss that's why I'm taking it easy." Or that the real reason I'm not pushing as hard as I should be is because I'm falling for her niece. The cruise had been a colossal mistake. He knew that now. He'd let down his guard and let Pearl inside his heart. Now what ?

"Let me guess," Bryce said. "He figured even though he didn't spring for the cruise out of the agency's pockets, you were gonna get a sale out of it. Now he's holding you personally responsible that Dolly's dragging her feet."

"Something like that." Actually, it was exactly like that, which a red-faced Marshall had laid out for Jace in no uncertain terms less than an hour before.

I thought you wanted this deal. You know what's riding on it, don't you?

Of course he did. A promotion. Respect in the company. Opportunities for bigger and better deals if he closed this one. He also knew he'd screwed up by getting personally involved with Pearl and Dolly in the first place.

"Do you like her?" Toby asked from his other side. "Pearl?"

"Of course he does," Bryce said before Jace could answer. "Look at her. He's had a hard-on for her since high school. That's the problem, right? You're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or rather, a place you'd like to get hard with." He grinned, and Jace would've punched him for the off-color comment if he didn't know better. Bryce might know women -- how to pick them up, how to give them multiple orgasms, how to let them down easy -- but Jace would bet he'd never felt this way about one. Mixed up. Sleepless. Heady with happiness one moment and absolutely down in the dumps the next.

"It doesn't matter," he said. He reached for a handful of chips from the basket on the bar. "I've got a job to do."

Toby rested his elbows on the bar. "Is it worth it? Getting this deal?"

"You know how hard I've worked for this."

Toby nodded. "Yep. I also know I haven't seen you like this around a woman since, well, ever."

"You don't get it," Jace said. "This deal is my chance to prove myself, show Marshall I can handle working with the big guys."

"So then what's the problem?" Bryce asked. "Cut the strings with Pearl and do what you gotta do. She's smart. She'll understand."

Jace finished his beer and ordered another. He wished it was that easy. "What's up with you and Brittany?" he asked to change the subject. "You popping the question or what?" Toby's girlfriend had made no less than five references to a possible engagement during the cruise.

Toby shrugged. "Thinking about it."

"Hell, you've been thinking about it for the last three years, ever since she moved in with you," Bryce said. He grinned at a pair of women standing at the bar and pushed a fifty across to the bartender. On me, he mouthed, and motioned to the women.

Jace wasn't sure which one blushed harder. "You know them?"

"Nope. Might like to, though." He winked as they took their pink martinis and wiggled their fingers in thank-you. "So you gonna make an honest woman of Britt or what?" he said to Toby.

Toby scowled. He hated when Bryce chopped off his girlfriend's name, and everyone knew it. Didn't stop Bryce from doing it, though. "Waiting for the right time." His scowl deepened.

Jace didn't say anything else. He gave Toby a soft punch to the shoulder, guy code for Good luck with all that. "Listen to this. Pearl's ex-boyfriend showed up at the diner while we were on the cruise. Offered Dolly a helping hand. She's applying for a grant and needed some help writing up the paperwork."

Toby cocked his head. "Is that good or bad?"

"If she gets it and expands the business, it'll be bad. Harder to convince her to sell."

"What about the ex-boyfriend?" Bryce asked.

"His name's Royal," Jace said. "Can you believe that?"

"Royal Holden?"

"I don't know. Didn't get a last name."

"The Holdens are old money in Venice," Bryce said as he eyed one of the waitresses, a blonde who looked all of eighteen. "Don't you remember? Felicia was in school with us, a couple years ahead. Royal's older than her. Must be around thirty now. They had a younger sister, too, behind us a year. All of them went into finance."

"How do you know?" But Jace didn't really have to ask. Bryce might not rub his own family money and connections in anyone's face, but his network among Florida's rich stretched wide. Jace would be willing to bet he'd vacationed with the Holdens at some point, or partied with them at some swanky fund-raising event where seats cost two hundred dollars each.

"No biggie," Bryce said as he clapped Jace on the back. "He's an ex, right? His name doesn't matter."

Jace didn't answer because he wasn't so sure about that. He didn't need an ex-boyfriend not only helpful and good in Pearl's eyes, but wealthy and well-known in everyone else's. Maybe the guys were right. Maybe Marshall was right. Maybe he should put aside any thoughts of a relationship, set business before pleasure, and go for the jugular in closing the deal.

He could worry about a relationship with Pearl afterwards.

***

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# CHAPTER 13

"We're still waiting to hear about the grant," Royal announced the following morning as Pearl stepped inside the diner.

She stopped just over the threshold, unsure which piece of information to process first. The fact that her ex-boyfriend sat at the counter drinking coffee? Or the fact that the word We had just rolled off his tongue?

"It's only been a few days," Dolly said. She stood behind the grill and eyed the bacon and eggs frying in front of her. A worry line appeared between her brows, then eased, then drew deep again. She flipped the eggs. "They said it might take a couple of weeks."

Pearl dropped her purse on the counter, careful to keep a few stools between her and Royal. "I'm sure you'll hear something soon." She poured a mug of coffee and looked around. At nine-thirty on a weekday morning, the place should have been full of late breakfasters or early brunchers or coffee drinkers watching talk shows. Instead, two grizzled men sat at the counter, and a single woman and her toddler occupied a booth by the door.

She shook her head. They could expand all they wanted if they got the grant, but what if no one came to the diner? Even after that?

"It'll work out," Royal said in a low voice. "One way or another."

Dolly's cell phone rang, and she answered it with one hand as she slid the egg sandwich onto a plate. Can you drop this at the booth? she mouthed to Pearl, with a nod at the mother and child.

Pearl took the plate as Dolly retreated into the kitchen. The only words Pearl made out were "haven't finished looking" and "won't know until later in the week..." It didn't sound like a call from the planning board, but Pearl said a quick prayer all the same.

She delivered the food, cooed over the child's crayon drawing on the paper placemat, and handed the mom a stack of extra napkins. "You don't have to hang around," she said to Royal when she returned to the counter. "I mean, I'm sure you have to get to work." She bit back the follow-up comment, What are you doing here, anyway?

Royal shrugged. "Perks of working for my father. I can be a little late once in a while."

Pearl willed someone else to come into the diner -- anyone, really, just so she wouldn't be left alone making awkward conversation with him. She pulled the bin of clean silverware from under the counter and began to roll it into napkins. The diner might not be overflowing with guests, but it wouldn't lack for place settings, she'd make sure of that.

"How's Dolly doing?" Royal asked after a few minutes. "I mean, she seemed pretty good when I was here last week, but she always put up a good front, from what I remember."

Did Pearl imagine it, or were the words laced with nostalgia? She didn't meet his gaze, certain he'd have that hurt, puppy-dog look. "She's all right," she answered, eyes on the forks and knives. "Some days are harder than others. She'll never let anyone see that, of course." Dolly had wept once, the day of Bill's funeral, and never again. Pearl marveled at it.

"She's tough."

Fork and knife, three twists in the paper. Set it aside and start again. "Yes, she is."

"Be great if the grant came through. I know Evans has been beating on everyone's door down here."

She nodded. Evans and Marshall Reagan and Jace McClintock and...fork and knife, three -- the knife skittered away from her and landed on the floor. "Damn."

"Pearl."

She retrieved the knife only to straighten and see Royal staring at her.

"It doesn't have to be awkward between us." He swallowed. "Does it? I know we haven't spent much time together since..."

Since I broke up with you? Since you cried on my back porch? She took another knife and fork and started again. "No, it doesn't. I'm sorry. You're right." She'd been the one to break things off, after all. He didn't seem overly mopey, so that was a good sign. Maybe he'd found someone else. Maybe he'd just dropped by on his way to work, and he was taking someone new to lunch that day.

"Thanks for helping Dolly while I was away," she added. "I know she appreciated it."

He caught her gaze again and held it, serious, dark eyes boring into hers. "It wasn't any problem."

And maybe she was completely wrong and he was trying to work his way back into her bed.

Dolly emerged from the kitchen and saved Pearl from having to figure it out. "All right, then. What's with the serious faces out here?" She held a tray with three glasses, each half-full of orange juice. "I've decided we should have ourselves a toast. And yes, I'm well aware that it's before noon on a weekday." She set down the tray and put a finger to her lips as she reached into the half-fridge near the register and pulled out a split of champagne. "Left over from New Year's Eve," she whispered when Pearl raised an eyebrow. "It's my diner, so I can keep champagne on ice if I want to."

Pearl grinned. "What are we toasting? Was that a call about the grant?"

Dolly popped the cork and topped off the glasses. "No. But I want to toast to the future. To possibility and positive thinking." She passed around the mimosas, sparkling orange in the scattered sunlight. "It's easy to celebrate when things are going the way we want, right? It's when we hit those little bumps in the road that we have to reassure ourselves that things will smooth out." She raised her glass and clinked each of theirs in turn. "So here's to crossed fingers and the grant coming through."

Pearl smiled. "I'll drink to that."

"To us," Dolly agreed. "And to the diner."

"To the future," Royal proclaimed, and Pearl let him. They were friends, after all, and he'd done a good thing by helping Dolly. His future didn't have to include Pearl.

In fact, she was hoping hers might include a certain someone else, someone whose voice and touch and kiss she was already missing. She slipped her cell phone from her pocket, not really expecting to see a mid-morning message, though it would have been nice. She and Jace hadn't made any definite plans the night before last, but she'd thought she would have heard from him by now. A squiggle of doubt moved through her. He wasn't still hell-bent on working the deal, was he?

Suddenly the orange juice in her mouth took on a sour tang. They hadn't talked about the diner at all since returning from the cruise, except in round-about terms when she'd told him about the grant and he'd gotten bristly over Royal. At the time, she'd interpreted it as mild jealousy, charming and sweet. She'd thought they were moving toward something, away from business and the reason Jace had returned to Venice in the first place. Now she wondered.

Pearl tightened her fingers around the glass. Don't make something out of nothing. If you're worried about his intentions, call him. Her thumb moved over the phone's screen. Or don't call him. Text him. Just say hello. But what if he didn't answer? What if he was knee-deep in meetings, plotting yet another way to get Carl Evans' hands on the diner?

A low rumble of thunder shook the front window.

"A storm?" Dolly said in surprise. "Didn't know that was coming."

Neither had Pearl, and those were always the worst kind, the unpredictable summer storms that came out of nowhere. Just like that, the weather changed from bright to fierce, and the shiny morning with its gleam of possibility vanished.

###

LIGHTNING SPLIT THE sky in two as Jace sat in his car, fingers wrapping and unwrapping themselves around the steering wheel.

"Evans'll be back here tonight," Marshall was saying into his Bluetooth. "I've got a dinner meeting scheduled for the three of us at The Rialto."

The Rialto. Of course. Nothing less than Tampa's finest four-star restaurant for the agency's top client.

"I'd love to be able to tell him we've closed the deal."

Jace kept his gaze on the diner. He could make out a few silhouettes inside, but the rain dotting his windshield prevented him from seeing any faces clearly. Probably better that way. He didn't need to be reminded how Pearl twisted up his heart every time he looked at her. Maybe she wasn't inside. Maybe she was at home, or shopping with her girlfriends, or snuggled up with Royal as they talked business and --

Marshall continued to talk, but his words were lost in the thunder outside. The neon sign above the diner's front door flickered once, twice, before the "D" went out and it became 'olly's Diner. That, and the crumbling front step, and the stools with their cracked red leather inside, all combined in a sad reminder of how much had changed in the past ten years.

You'd be better off selling, he'd told Dolly just that morning. Evans plans to pay you whatever you want (not exactly the truth), and you could retire. Travel. Help pay Pearl's college tuition. Yet even as he said the words, he wondered whether Pearl would hate him for pursuing the sale or admire him for going after what he wanted.

Why couldn't this be easier? Why couldn't he have both the business deal and Pearl? Success in business and in his personal life?

His fingers continued to drum the steering wheel. Because life didn't work that way. It never had. He'd learned that a long time ago. You could have a decent home life but a fucked-up social life. Or vice versa. You could be good at sports or good at school. You could get the steady girl or you could be a wise-ass with a circle of friends, all of whom slept with a different cheerleader each week. You couldn't have everything.

"McClintock!"

"Uh, yeah." He blinked. "Sorry."

"I asked you if you're going to have any problem making it tonight. Eight o'clock."

He didn't answer right away. The diner's front door opened and closed, and two figures huddled together under the flimsy awning. Jace peered closer. Pearl. And a guy he didn't recognize, though he could guess from the body language, the way the guy leaned too close and laughed too hard, that it was Royal Holden. The ex. The good guy.

Jace scowled so hard, the beginnings of a headache started around his temples. "I'll be there."

Pearl reached out and touched Royal's chest a moment before he dashed into the rain. He crossed The Esplanade without looking, as if traffic would naturally stop for him, and climbed into a sleek silver Lexus. Price tag over fifty grand, if Jace had to guess.

"All right, then. See you tonight," Marshall finished. The call ended with an abrupt click in Jace's ear, and he tore off the earpiece and tossed it into the center console.

"Hello?"

He wasn't sure which he heard first, the muted voice or the faint tapping on his passenger window. Someone stood outside in the rain. Aw, hell. Pearl was hunched down next to his car so her cute little nose was almost pressed to the glass. Rain ran in rivulets down the window, down her face, dampening her shirt. "Can I join you?"

He jabbed the unlock button, feeling like Idiot Supreme that she'd had to ask him. A moment later the door flew open, and in came the sound of the storm and the smell of the beach and her. All of her, long legs iand breasts that filled out a navy-blue shirt and her hair dark and damp on her shoulders. Her perfume. Her gap-toothed smile.

"What are you doing? Why didn't you come inside?" She rubbed her hands on her thighs. "Where did this come from, anyway?" she said before he'd had time to think of an answer to the first two questions. She flipped her fingers at the windshield. "Look at this storm."

Lightning cracked again, almost simultaneously with the thunder that shook the sports car. For a moment Jace's thoughts fuzzed, and all he wanted was to gather her in his arms and let her snuggle that warm, wet body up to him until everything else went away.

She laid a hand on his thigh. "You okay?"

"Sorry. Yes." He dropped his hand on hers and squeezed. He couldn't do more, couldn't touch her the way he knew she wanted to be touched. If he did, he'd explode. "Was that Royal?" he asked. "Outside the diner." He sounded like a jealous jerk, but he didn't care. He needed to know.

She frowned. "Yes. You saw him? He was there to say hi. And see Dolly. Nothing else."

"No?"

"No, Mister Jealousy." She paused. "There's no one else."

He loved the words. Then he hated them, because he still hadn't decided what the hell he was doing. Marshall Reagan. Carl Evans. A business opportunity that would set him on the career fast-track. And on the other side, Pearl DeVane, the girl he'd crushed on for years.

Her happy expression faded. "You're here on business, aren't you? Not to just visit me and Dolly or get a cup of coffee."

The rain picked up, the lightning and thunder alternating in a steady rhythm outside.

"I don't..." He couldn't finish.

She touched the soft underside of his chin with one finger. "It's more complicated than we thought it would be, isn't it?" she said. She looked straight ahead. A siren wailed somewhere in the distance, and absently Jace wondered if the power had gone out or someone had spun off the road.

"This?"

"Yes. This." She waved her hand between them. "I guess I thought that once you saw Dolly and the diner again, and after we went on the cruise together..."

"That I'd change my mind?"

She shrugged.

Something stirred in his stomach. "You knew why I was here," he began. "You knew it was Marshall who sent me down here."

"Of course I knew then. The first day." Her hair fell in front of her face, and he wanted to push it back so he could see her expression. "But I thought you'd change your mind and realize how much the diner meant to us." She turned to face him. "To be honest, I thought you'd remember you grew up here, that this diner was your hangout all through school. You and Toby and Bryce. This is where your roots are."

"I don't have any goddamned roots in Venice." The words spilled out before he could stop them.

Her cheeks went from pink to red and she blinked. "Okay. I didn't realize that was how you felt."

You can't have everything...

***

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# CHAPTER 14

Jace touched Pearl's knee before she could open the door. "I'm sorry," he said. "That came out wrong."

"I don't think it could have come out any other way." She turned to look at him, fingers still on the door handle. "Why do you hate this place so much?"

0He sighed and fidgeted in his seat. Really, he was too tall for the car, his legs too long and the top of his head practically brushing the roof. For a moment she thought about asking why he drove it, but she'd bet it was either a company car, or he'd bought it after his first big sale. Prestige, money, those things mattered to this Jace McClintock. Not the one she'd known back in high school.

"I don't hate it." His fingers went to the steering wheel, drumming restlessly. "It just doesn't have good memories for me."

"Not one? Eighteen years here and you don't have anything good to remember?" Her gaze went to The Esplanade and the trees lining it. She'd watched them grow as she grew, from medium-sized to tall to impossibly out of reach. She'd watched the stores around them open and close. She'd watched hundreds, maybe thousands, of sunsets on the beach. She went to sleep feeling sand between her toes. "This place is everything to me."

His fingers stilled. "Really? You wouldn't ever leave?"

"Why would I want to?" She shivered. Her clothes, still wet from the rain, stuck to her in the wrong places. "You know what? You've got this whole tough guy thing going on, same as in high school, and I get it. Life is hard, people are shitty, and you don't want to let down your guard because you don't want to get hurt. You had a lousy childhood. Okay. So did I. So did a lot of people."

He didn't speak.

"But this business-is-everything-and-I-won't-ever-get-close-to-anyone approach is pathetic and not the Jace McClintock I knew."

He cleared his throat, but she went on before he could interrupt her. "I know you had a lousy life growing up here. That doesn't mean you have to turn your back on every last thing that reminds you of Venice."

"It doesn't mean I have to hang onto every last thing, either." His gaze flicked to her. "I know when to let go."

"What are you saying? That I don't?"

He remained impassive, staring straight ahead.

"By all means, go on. Tell me what's on your mind. Because obviously you've become so worldly, such a successful businessman with your Mercedes and your Rolex and your cruises, that you know all about people like me."

"Pearl." He reached for her hand. "I don't want to fight."

Emotions rushed through her, hot and confusing. She pulled her hand away.

"I don't think I'm worldly or all that successful or anything else. You're right. I had a lousy life here. I left, and I'm looking forward. I want to do something important, pay the bills and have a job I'm proud of." He shook his head. "I don't think that includes going backward."

A lump rose in her throat. "Am I going backward for you?"

He took a long moment to answer. "If you don't want to leave the diner and this town, then maybe."

She chuckled, a sad little sound that hurt her lips as it left. "You don't want to stay. I don't want to go." She looked at that heartbreakingly handsome face she'd crushed on for years. "I guess you're right. We're at one hell of an impasse."

Thunder cracked above the car, and she counted the seconds before the lightning came, the way Dolly had taught her years ago. The farther apart they are, the farther away the storm is. She'd always taken comfort in that. Thunder and lightning rarely struck in exactly the same place, at exactly the same time.

But she only got through half a second of counting when a blinding flash lit up the entire street.

"Holy shit," Jace blurted out. "That was close."

Another crack. Another flash. This time, the car itself shook. Outside, wind bent the palm trees almost in half.

"This doesn't look good," Pearl said an instant before another flash split the sky apart. A transformer across the street sparked wildly and the pole swayed, then cracked, then fell into the street. Electrical wires caught on the diner's bedraggled awning, and the next moment, the entire thing went up in flames.

"The diner! And Dolly!"

***

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# CHAPTER 15

The next hour was a blur of rain and fire and sirens and Pearl's heart beating so erratically inside her chest she thought it might explode. By the time she reached the diner, her legs shaking and throat burning from screaming her aunt's name, the fire had spread from the awning to the front door. Inside, she could make out Dolly and the cook wielding fire extinguishers. White spray everywhere. Smoke filling her lungs. An emergency worker pulling her back and putting an oxygen mask to her mouth and nose.

As she sat in the back of the ambulance, trying to draw a full breath, she watched Jace punch numbers into his cell phone and pace along the sidewalk. He hadn't left, which surprised her. Occasionally he looked her way, but he didn't approach her, and she wondered if that was because of concern or because he was talking to his boss.

We can make an offer now, he was probably saying. No, doesn't look like a whole lot of damage, but they'll have to make repairs. Not sure what kind of insurance they have, but even so...

Pearl's eyes burned, and when the emergency worker put a blanket over her shoulders, she wrapped it tight and closed her eyes. It's over. She wasn't sure whether she meant the diner or her relationship with Jace, but it almost didn't matter. She glanced at him again. He stood down the block, talking to Dolly, his phone still to his ear. No smile. No expression at all. The back of his shirt and pants were soaked, and his dark-brown curls clung to his neck. If she tried hard enough, she could feel them in her fingertips, back in the hot tub. A thousand years ago.

She wanted to get up, to shrug off the blanket and go to him and rewind their conversation in the car so it all made sense and came out right. She wanted him to choose her. She wanted to choose him, to not feel that hot, stubborn stone inside her stomach every time she thought about losing the diner. But the longer she sat there, the more her resolve shrank.

Jace glanced at her once more, then made an OK sign with his fingers and raised one eyebrow. He was asking a question, she realized after a moment.

I'm okay, she mouthed back, though she wasn't. Still, what was left to say? His phone went back into his pocket, but he tapped his watch as if to say Gotta go.

She nodded. Of course he did. He had work to do, work that would take him away from Venice and Pearl. Business came first. He'd made that abundantly clear from the start.

Dolly finished talking to the police officer and hurried toward the ambulance. A few cars circled the block, detouring around orange cones that blocked off the now-dead transformer. Horns beeped. The radio inside the ambulance buzzed with voices and static. Pearl's brain filled with a rush of traffic sounds and a dull, heavy headache and words she wanted to say but didn't know how.

When she looked up again, Jace was gone.

###

JACE ADJUSTED HIS TIE and took a quick look in the mirror before heading downstairs. It was only seven, but rush-hour traffic would be heavy. Plus, he wanted to get to The Rialto with enough time to grab a drink and steady his nerves. He pulled out of the garage and squeezed the Mercedes into traffic, ignoring the honks behind him. At the first red light, he checked his phone. All day he'd wondered about Pearl, worried about her, waited for a text or a call.

Nothing had come. He'd left her a voice mail after getting back to the city, but she hadn't returned it. Maybe she hadn't gotten it. Maybe she didn't want to.

The light turned green, and he gunned the accelerator and cut in front of a Chevy beside him. He punched the radio, looking for a station to drown out the voices in his head. This is the right thing. She'll understand. It's business, that's all.

AC/DC was singing "Highway to Hell," which seemed pretty fitting. He cranked the volume. This deal wasn't just business, and he knew that as well as anyone. It was the choice he'd made, though, and one thing he'd learned a long time ago was to stick by his choices. Real men didn't back down or waffle about what they wanted. Marshall Reagan sure didn't. Neither did Carl Evans.

Neither did Dear Old Dad, did he? When he decided to go out for a drink after work, he stayed until midnight. When he decided someone in the house had pissed him off, he followed through with the meanest swing he could. And when he decided to leave, he left. For good.

Jace changed the station again and almost slammed into the back of a blue Mustang at the next light. Maybe twangy George Strait singing about a good ol' time would keep his mind off Pearl. His fingers kept time on the wheel, and he hummed along. The light changed, and he revved the engine. He might like to own a Mustang one day. Or maybe a Ferrari. Might as well dream big, right?

He turned at the next block and pulled into The Rialto's spacious parking lot. But as the last notes of the song faded away, his upbeat mood faded with them. This wasn't a good ol' time. Closing real estate deals and eating dinners at fancy restaurants wasn't a bad way to spend some nights, but buying out someone's heart and soul wasn't something he wanted to celebrate.

A good time? That was walking on the beach and watching the stars. Eating cheesecake and laughing until his stomach ached. Watching Pearl's green eyes turn dark as he touched her. Breathing in her scent. Kissing her. Those were good times.

He pulled up to the valet stand and opened his door. He'd arrived in less than twenty minutes, which meant he had time for at least one drink before meeting with the two biggest names in Florida real estate.

The valet, a young guy who barely out of high school, waited for Jace to exit the car and handed him a ticket.

"Thanks." Jace wondered for a moment what the kid's story was. Did he park cars on the side and take classes during the day? Was this his full-time job? Did he eye the businessmen who drove up in their fancy cars and their expensive suits and dream of being one of them someday? Or did he go out for a beer with his buddies after work and laugh about the chumps who sold their souls to make a million?

The kid grinned as he eyed the Mercedes. "Nice wheels."

Jace recognized the envy in his voice. Coupled with the trying-for-casual stance, the shirt sleeves rolled above taut biceps, and the worn-down shoes and bad haircut, it was almost like looking in a mirror. I was him ten years ago. Wishing hard, trying harder, and thinking that getting out of town and making fistfuls of money was the ticket to a better life.

And maybe it had been, but now he wondered whether leaving everything behind had damned him as much as blessed him with a clean slate.

"You worked here long?" he asked.

"'Bout six months." The kid glanced at the brightly-lit entrance of The Rialto. "Nice place. You ever been here before?"

Jace shook his head.

"Been around since the twenties. They say gangsters used to meet here, those real cool ones in the suits and wing-tip shoes and shit."

"Yeah?"

The kid nodded, his face awash in admiration for another time and place. "It must have been the place back then."

Jace headed for the restaurant without another word. The voice in his head hadn't stopped whispering. The place. Why did the words resonate so much? At the front door, he stopped in his tracks. That's it. That's my answer.

Maybe he could have both. Maybe he could find a way to make this business deal work for both him and Pearl. And Dolly. He pulled open the heavy door, wheels turning in his mind.It was worth a try. Once a McClintock decided to go through with something, woe to the person who got in his way.

***

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# CHAPTER 16

Pearl and Dolly finally made it home around midnight. Some of their neighbors and shop owners up on Venice Avenue had dropped by to help, and though a professional cleaning company would have to repair the smoke damage, the diner almost looked like itself by the time they finished.

"It's not that bad; we're very lucky," Dolly kept saying as people stopped in and called with their concerns, and Pearl knew she was right. Still, every time she looked at the buckets full of dirty water and the blackened shop front, she wanted to cry.

The electric company had fixed the transformer early in the evening, so they'd had light to work by, and around ten Dolly made everyone burgers and fries.

"Thank you, thank you," she said as she passed out plates of food. She circled the diner, hugging their friends and long-time customers and acting like they'd just stayed open for a special dinner celebration instead of trying to mop up a giant mess and restore a building that had already been balancing on its last unsteady legs.

"Well, that wasn't the way I expected to spend today," Dolly said as she shut off the porch light and locked the door. In the kitchen, under the fluorescent fixture, the circles under her eyes stood out like dark bruises.

Pearl hugged her, hard. "I'm sorry." Dolly's shoulders shook, and for a long time they simply stood there, mourning, fatigued beyond words. Finally Dolly straightened. With a pat on Pearl's back, she took the teapot and held it under the faucet. "Want some?"

Pearl shook her head. "Think I'll just go to bed."

Her aunt nodded.

"What happens tomorrow?" Pearl asked, one hand on the stair railing.

Dolly pushed her hair from her face. Loose strands had long since fallen from the twist at the back of her head. "I have to confirm with the cleaning company in the morning. Hopefully they can fit us in, and then..." She turned off the faucet an instant before the teapot overflowed. "Then I guess we'll see." She didn't look at Pearl as she set the pot on the stove.

"You're not..." Pearl couldn't finish the question. A lump crawled into her throat.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Dolly answered. She rubbed her hands together, wrinkled from being in and out of water all day. "I do know that everything happens for a reason, same as I've always said, and that I need to take a good, long listen to the universe to see what it's telling me this time."

Pearl nodded, her chest tight. In the past year they'd suffered through the hurricane, Bill's death, and now a fire. As much as she wanted to hold tight to everything that was left, maybe the universe only sent so many subtle messages before it finally shouted, Hey, you! Wake up! Time to let go and get the heck out of Dodge.

But letting go from her moorings had never been Pearl's strong suit. Too much unknown waited once you left shore.

She climbed the stairs and collapsed on her bed without even taking off her shoes or pulling down the covers. Sleep came immediately, deep and heavy, and only once did she dream of a tall, brown-haired man who reached out his hand and urged her to take it. When she woke the next morning, she couldn't remember if she had, or if she'd simply looked at it, too far away, and watched it disappear in the fading sun.

###

PEARL ROLLED OVER, squinted, and threw both arms over her face to block out the sun.

"Hello? Honey?" Dolly tapped on her door.

"Mmmph." She kept her arms where they were.

"I'm going to the diner."

"What time is it?"

"A little after noon."

In slow motion, she dropped her arms and sat up. As if nothing had happened the previous day, the sun streamed into her bedroom. Birds chirped outside her window from where they sat in the clementine tree. "I can come, too." She yawned. "I just need to shower first." She looked down at herself. Shorts, long-sleeved shirt, and sneakers. And a very bad odor emanating from her.

"Take your time. There's no rush." Dolly had a strange expression on her face, but Pearl was too tired to try and read it.

"Did you hear from the cleaning company?"

Dolly nodded as she leaned in the doorway. She wore a red jogging suit and matching red sneakers and looked about fifteen years younger than her age. Pearl marveled at her resilience. "They're coming around three."

"Okay. I'll be there by then."

"I put coffee on," Dolly said as she closed the door. Her footsteps faded down the stairs, the kitchen door opened and closed, and the house was quiet again.

Pearl slid off the bed and reached inside her purse for her phone. Dead. Well, of course it was. She hadn't charged it since the day before. She plugged it in and headed for the shower, determined to scrub away the fire and her dreams and focus on moving forward, helping Dolly, doing whatever she could. Little steps. One at a time.

By the time Pearl emerged from the bathroom, smelling and feeling a lot more like herself, her phone was fully charged. Five messages waited. Towel wrapped around her head, she pulled on a t-shirt and jeans. The first, third, and fourth were from friends who'd heard about the fire and wanted to know if they could help. The second and fifth were from Jace.

She dropped the towel on the floor and combed the snarls from her hair. His first call had come a couple hours after the fire.

Hey, Pearl. Just wanted to see how you guys were doing.

Well, that could have meant anything from Hope the fire's out to I'm sorry this happened and I couldn't stay to help. She yanked the comb through a stubborn curl and listened to the next message, which had come that morning .

Hi again. Listen, I'm sorry things ended like that yesterday. Can we talk? I'd really like to see you.

He wanted to see her? He was sorry? She frowned at the phone. He wasn't saying anything had changed. He wasn't calling to tell her the Evans deal was off. In fact, she'd be surprised if he hadn't told his bosses about the fire. But before she could spend any more analyzing his messages, the phone rang again. His name appeared on the screen.

"Hi." Nerves dried up her mouth.

"Good morning. Or is if afternoon?"

She waited.

"How are you? Get any sleep?"

Small talk, Jace? Really? "Some. Not a lot."

"I have something to tell you," he went on.

"Good or bad?"

"I think it's good." He went away from the phone for a minute, and she could hear the muffled sound of conversation in the background. A woman's voice. Laughter. Then high heels clicking away. "Sorry," he said when he came back on.

"So what's your big news?"

"I want to tell you in person. Meet me at the diner tonight? Around nine?"

"It's closed then." Her jaw snapped shut.

"I know. But Dolly gave me special permission."

"You talked to her about this?"

"Kind of. Just meet me there at nine," was all he said. "It's a surprise. Something special."

She couldn't imagine what this special surprise might include, but her head ached and her stomach growled and she didn't want to be on the phone any longer. Whatever he had to tell her, she could deal with it. "I'll be there."

***

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# CHAPTER 17

Pearl caffeinated herself, made some eggs, and finally felt more alive when mid-afternoon rolled around. As much as she tried not to, she couldn't help replaying Jace's conversation in her head. A special surprise? Maybe he was giving up on pursuing the deal. Maybe he'd come to his senses and decided Venice wasn't a bad place to live after all.

But neither of those jived with the man he'd become, the professional real estate agent with an eye on success. Finally she gave up trying to decipher his cryptic message and headed downtown.

"Hi there," Dolly said when Pearl walked into the diner. She was re-taping cardboard over the broken front window. A faint smoke smell still lingered over the diner, but the piles of dirt and glass were gone, along with the awning outside and the garbage bags they'd left at the curb after finishing the cleanup. "Looks like someone's feeling better."

Pearl slid onto a stool and spun in a circle. In the light of day, the damage seemed minimal compared to last night. "It doesn't look too bad, does it?"

"Not at all." Dolly laid the roll of duct tape aside as her phone beeped with a text message. For someone who hadn't owned a cell phone until a year ago, Pearl's aunt had turned into a savvy techie. She studied the screen, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. With careful thumbs, she typed a message in return.

"What do you need me to do?" Pearl hopped off the stool. "Is the cleaning company coming? Do we need money? Should I go to the bank?"

"My goodness, how many cups of coffee did you have?" Dolly laughed. She shook her head. "I don't have to give them anything today. They're just doing an estimate." A shadow crossed her face. "I'm not sure we have enough to pay them straight out, anyway."

"What about insurance?"

"It won't come right away. I filed the forms this morning, but -"

"Is there someone I can call? To put a rush on it? Or I could probably go over to the local office and talk to someone. Oh, I wanted to ask you," she said, insurance money forgotten for the moment. "Jace said he talked to you about meeting me here tonight?" Her cheeks flushed and she waited for the teasing smile, the twinkle in her aunt's eye. And what might that meeting involve? Dolly would ask.

But her aunt just nodded, giving nothing away. "Oh, yes. He asked for a key." She searched her pockets, distracted. "I told him I had an extra." She looked up at Pearl with concern. "But he didn't tell you? I thought -" She stopped. "Never mind. I'll leave it up to him."

"You'll leave what up to him?"

Dolly's phone beeped again, and she pulled it out. "You know what, honey? I have to run over to Englewood and take care of some things. I'm going to close up. Go enjoy yourself this afternoon. I'll give you a call later and we'll talk, okay?"

"Uh, okay." She stood there for a moment, startled at the abrupt dismissal. Talk about what? she almost asked but then thought better of it. Dolly probably had a hundred things to do to get the diner open again, and if she wanted to do those things alone, then Pearl would let her.

Besides, she knew just where she'd spend this perfect afternoon.

###

A GOLDEN ORB IN THE sky. The waves pulsing on the shore. Seagulls squawking and swooping above her. And her toes in the sand, warm and gritty. Pearl leaned back on her palms and watched the sun inch toward the horizon. She'd spent all afternoon walking this length of beach. She knew the rock formations by heart. She recognized the fishermen who cast their nets and poles from the pier. The smells and sights of the Venice beaches were ingrained in her blood.

How could she ever leave?

Yet the longer she walked, the calmer her pulse became. She'd always have the ocean in her blood. How could she not? But maybe Jace was right. Maybe letting go was the first step in finding something new. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun. She'd spent her life here. She couldn't remember a time when she didn't know how to swim. The tide in her ears was as normal as breath.

Maybe that meant she could take it all with her.

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket.

How are you doing? Dolly asked.

Good, Pearl typed back. Enjoying some alone time on the beach.

Nice. Are you okay for dinner by yourself? I got hung up at the lawyer's office and still have some other errands to run.

Sure, Pearl typed before she could ask why Dolly was at the lawyer's office. Did that have something to do with the insurance money? Her thumb rubbed along the screen of the phone, and she almost wrote another text to ask.

Then she changed her mind. She'd worry about that later. Right now she had four hours and counting until she saw Jace again, which left her just enough time to eat something at home, then shower and dress. As she stood and dusted the sand from her palms, her mind flashed back to the night of Jace's graduation.

Despite everything, despite the ten years since he'd first kissed her and the complications of being on opposite sides of the bargaining table, he still turned her heart inside out. At sixteen, she hadn't known how to tell him that. He'd kissed her, and she hadn't said a word, and he was gone the next day. She wasn't letting that chance slip by a second time. Whatever happened later that night, and wherever it took her, she'd be ready.

###

"I'D LIKE TO SEE IT again," Carl Evans said. "Tonight, if possible."

Jace checked his watch. This hadn't been part of the plan. At half-past six, he needed to be back at his apartment, showering and deciding what to wear. But the deal teetered on the edge of closing just the way Jace had hoped it would, so what Evans wanted, Evans was going to get.

"I could arrange that." Jace drummed his fingers against his desk. Most people had left the office for the day. Jace himself hadn't meant to be there, but a late-afternoon meeting with a new client had pushed back his paperwork, and he'd stayed at his computer long after the other associates.

"You said you talked to her, right?" Evans leaned against Jace's desk, not bothering to sit or put himself at Jace's eye level.

"I did." He hadn't told Pearl everything, but he hoped the rest of the pieces would fall into place when he saw her.

Marshall rapped on the open door. "All good in here?"

Both men nodded.

"Just finalizing some details," Jace said, his throat tight. Six forty-five. He'd planned to leave Tampa by eight, but now it looked as though that time might have to be moved up. In a hurry.

"How about eight-thirty at the diner?" Jace asked Evans. "I can meet you there."

"Fine." With a nod, the man straightened. "I'll let my driver know."

A driver. Of course. As if Carl Evans might take the wheel himself. Jace loosened his tie as he and Marshall disappeared down the hall. Jace couldn't imagine letting someone else take him where he needed to go, even if he did become a millionaire someday. Driving on the open road was one of life's small pleasures. So was meeting a beautiful woman for dinner without anyone else around. He wondered when the last time the three-times-divorced Carl Evans, or the perpetually-single Marshall Reagan, had done that.

Jace stuffed the unfinished paperwork into his briefcase, locked his office door behind him, and hurried for the stairs. Right now he had to figure out how to get rid of Evans in time to meet Pearl at the diner. This was one hell of a mess he'd gotten himself into.

***

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# CHAPTER 18

Pearl changed her clothes three times. First denim shorts and a navy t-shirt. Too casual. Then her favorite red sundress, slit up above the thigh. Too presumptuous. Finally she settled on a blue-and-white print maxi skirt and a cropped white shirt, with the tiniest bit of skin showing when she raised her arms.

Perfect.

Flip-flops for comfort, and her hair loose around her shoulders. A little makeup, a squirt of perfume, and she was ready. Her stomach danced as she ate a dinner of tuna salad on crackers, all she could manage.

Why am I so nervous?

She'd spent four days on a cruise ship with the guy, for goodness' sake. She'd certainly been alone with Jace before. But somehow, it suddenly felt different. A deeper resonance in his voice, the way they'd left things so emotionally charged the day before...the possibilities and what-ifs muddled in her mind, and finally she poured herself a glass of white wine to calm them.

Seven o'clock.

Seven-thirty.

She washed the dishes, finished her wine, thought about a second glass, then replaced the cork and set the bottle firmly back in the fridge.

Dolly hadn't come home yet, and she hadn't texted either. Pearl hadn't realized there was so much to take care of. She should have offered to help, though she doubted Dolly would have let her. Now that she thought about it, her aunt had been pretty close-lipped about anything to do with the diner recently. No mention of phone calls from Marshall or Carl Evans at all.

"I hope she's not thinking about selling it." Pearl checked her makeup one last time and then headed out the door. She couldn't sit around the house another minute. She'd get to the diner early, maybe set out some candles for ambience. Maybe she'd even leave a note for Jace on the front counter, saying something about needing his help in the back hallway, where they'd first kissed all those years ago.

Yes. Excellent idea.

She skipped all the way to her car.

###

WHY ARE THE LIGHTS on?

Pearl slowed her car and pulled into the first open parking spot she could find on The Esplanade. Maybe Dolly had come back to the diner? Maybe the cleaning company, or the insurance company, had finally shown up? Disappointment stung her as she crossed the empty street. She hadn't planned on anyone else being here.

Then she stopped.

Not the cleaning company. Not the insurance company, either. Parked behind Dolly's sedan sat Jace's Mercedes, but Pearl's gaze didn't stop at the curb. Instead she stared into the shadowy diner, with only the light over the grill illuminated. She could make out clearly enough who stood inside talking. Smiles. Conversation. And one strong, solid handshake between Jace McClintock and Carl Evans.

Tears filled Pearl's eyes. How could he?

###

"THANKS," EVANS SAID again. He scanned the diner. "Tell you what, I wasn't convinced last night, but I think you're onto something here." He folded the contract and smiled at Dolly, who had just emerged from the kitchen. "The two of you ever think about going into restoration projects? There's a huge market for it."

"And compete against you?" Jace said. "Not on your life."

The man laughed. "All right, then. I have a flight to New York first thing in the morning." He clasped Dolly's hand in both of his. "Thank you."

She smiled and for the first time in a long time, Jace saw the woman he remembered as a kid. A twinkling light in her eyes. A true smile.

"Take care of yourself," she said.

They waited until Evans had pulled away in his Lincoln Town Car. Then Dolly squeezed Jace's shoulder. "You have a big date to get ready for. Think she has any idea?"

"I don't know." Pearl didn't miss much. He checked the time. Almost nine.

"I'm sneaking out the back, so you have the place all to yourself." Dolly winked as she stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. "I'm glad it worked out this way."

"Me, too." But he would feel even better when he told Pearl. A small part of him wished he could have told her before, included her in the decision. Still, he'd done the best he could.

He reached into a brown paper bag and brought out a handful of rose petals. Corny, maybe, but he was going for corny tonight. He'd spent too much time pretending emotions didn't exist, pushing them away when they got too close to the surface. Not anymore.

He scattered the petals across the floor, leading from the front door, past the booths and the jukebox, and down the hall. Here. It was the first place I kissed her. He wanted it to be the next place he did, too. Back in the kitchen, he'd already stashed a bottle of champagne and two glasses for chilling. He pulled off the tie he'd worn for Evans and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. He rolled up the cuffs. Then he waited.

And waited.

Nine o'clock came and went.

Nine-thirty.

Nine forty-five.

Finally, he picked up his phone and texted her. Everything okay? Of all the things he'd envisioned, being stood up wasn't on the list.

When ten o'clock rolled around, he called her. Straight to voice mail. "Hi, you've reached Pearl DeVane..."

Jace's fingers tightened around the phone. She wasn't coming. He walked to the front window and scanned The Esplanade. Nothing. An occasional car drove by, but none slowed or stopped. Two teenagers holding hands walked down the opposite sidewalk and turned toward the beach. He thought about calling Dolly, but he didn't want to wake her. Finally, he walked outside. There, parked far down on the left, he saw Pearl's car. Empty.

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# CHAPTER 19

Pearl trudged along the beach. Between her tears, the salty air, and the breeze blowing her stupid hair into her face, she could barely see. It didn't matter. He'd betrayed her. Jace had gone ahead in his business deal, snuck around behind her back to sway Dolly, and now the place that held all her happy childhood memories was about to be bulldozed and replaced by a twenty-story casino.

She wanted to scream. How had she been so blind? She'd missed it entirely. She'd misread his phone call, she'd misread Dolly's recent distractedness, and now she had no one to blame but herself.

It's not the end of the world, a little voice inside her head whispered. Weren't you just telling yourself earlier today that you could leave Venice and the earth wouldn't shatter?

Yes, but choosing to leave and having your roots ripped out from under you were two totally different things.

She held her flip-flops one in each hand and walked along the seam where sand met water. The ocean lapped at the hem of her skirt. Far out above the horizon, a low half-moon cast fingers of light across the water. Ordinarily she'd stop and take it in, the simple beauty, but all she could see were Jace and Carl Evans shaking hands in the diner.

In the place where she'd learned to add and subtract, sitting at the counter after school while Uncle Bill made home fries.

In the place where she'd watched young couples on first dates, studying the way they sat across from each other and talked and blushed and held hands.

In the place where she'd first been kissed, really kissed, by a guy who took her breath away.

In the place that had shaped her life, her aunt's livelihood, and her uncle's final breaths.

Out of strength and out of tears, Pearl sank to her knees in the sand. Let go of it. It's just a place.

But in her heart, it was so much more than that.

She wasn't sure how long she kneeled there. After a while, when her feet fell asleep, she rearranged herself, legs crossed, elbows resting on her lap. She closed her eyes and listened to the waves. That sound, at least, always soothed her.

"Pearl?"

She froze. Her eyes flew open, and she glanced to the right. A tall, broad-shouldered figure was hurrying toward her.

"Pearl, is that you?"

Terrific. He'd found her after all. She struggled to stand before Jace reached her. The last thing she needed was him standing above her, or worse than that, reaching down to take her hand and help her up. She didn't need his charity or his pathetic explanations. She made it to her feet, barely, and managed to plant both hands on her hips as he bore down on her. She lifted her chin, ready to cut him with the first words she could get out of her mouth.

He didn't give her time. Instead, he swept her into his arms and kissed her like they were the only two people left on the planet. One hand went to the small of her back, steadying her. The other went to her hair, then to her cheek, stroking her skin as his tongue slipped along her bottom lip and teased its way inside.

She couldn't protest. She could barely think. Of their own accord, her traitorous hands went to his hips, pulling him close until she could feel him turn hard against her. Only then did she yank her mouth away.

"What are you doing?" She stumbled backward. "Why are you here? After what you did?"

"What are you talking about?" His eyes, wild, searched hers. His hair stood up in the back, ragged and mussed, as if he'd been running his hands through it in angst. "I was looking for you. God, I was worried about you. Why didn't you come to the diner?"

Her heart broke in that short, sharp moment. "I did." Her voice trembled, and she pressed her lips together to steady it. "I was early. I saw you there with Evans."

In the half-light, she could see his face pale. No explanation. No apology. Nothing at all.

"You son of a bitch." She grabbed her flip flops and headed back down the beach.

"Hey. Wait a minute." He caught up with her and took her arm. Then he dropped it, as if unsure of her reaction.

She took a deep breath. "You should've told me."

"I was going to."

"When?"

"When you got there. It was going to be a surprise."

She choked out a laugh. "A surprise? Yeah, it sure was."

"Hang on. Listen to me. It's not what you think." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Dolly sold the diner, yes."

A sob broke from her lips before she could help it.

"Pearl." He took her hand, and this time she didn't stop him. She had no willpower left. "It was only a matter of time before she turned it over . It was too much. Someone else could fix it up, expand it, invest more money into it. But Dolly's trying to do all of that by herself, and on a shoestring budget. Plus, she's spent how long running that place? Thirty years? More? She needs to retire, rest, take a vacation. You know that."

Okay, maybe she did. Maybe she'd known it in her heart of hearts a long time ago. After Bill died, things had never really been the same. Dolly had never been the same.

"I just...it has such a history," Pearl said. More than that, it held her history. "I don't want to see it destroyed."

He reached out and took her hand. "It won't be. That's what I wanted to tell you. The deal I worked out includes keeping the diner as part of the bigger complex Evans has planned."

She swallowed. Tried to process his words. "I don't understand."

"I told him how important the place is." He stepped closer and slipped both arms around her waist. "I did some research on its historic value."

"And?"

"And it turns out a few important conversations took place there over the years. Political ones, so I'm told."

"Really?" All she knew were the pictures on the walls and the stories Bill and Dolly told. She never dreamed there were important stories behind them. But then again, weren't there stories everywhere? "But what does that mean for the diner? And Evans' plans for it?"

Jace smiled. "He's going to restore it and keep it as an old-fashioned diner. Keep the pictures in the back and everything." His thumb rubbed the back of her hand, and the sensation melted her insides.

"Seriously? It'll stay the way it is?"

"Pretty close. Just updated a little."

Her heart swelled with gratitude. Pearl's eyes closed, lost in the sensation of his touch and the music of the waves close by. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome." He kissed her softly. "I didn't even tell you the best part."

She opened one eye. "There's something better?"

"It's written into the contract, what he's agreed to name the diner once it reopens. So you and Dolly will always have a connection to it."

"And what's that?"

His hands worked their way up to her face, steadying her gaze on his as he said the words. At them, she fell.

"Pearl's Place."

***

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# CHAPTER 20

Three months later...

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Dolly clutched Pearl's arm as they boarded the cruise ship for its holiday sail. They rolled their carry-ons behind them, their other luggage secured at boarding. Four days at sea would culminate in a fireworks show on Christmas Eve, just in time to arrive back in Tampa for the holiday.

"I thought you and Bill cruised before," Pearl said.

"Once. For our honeymoon. And I was sick the entire time." She patted Pearl's arm. "Don't worry. I brought all kinds of medicine." She pulled her hair behind one ear. "Plus, I'm wearing the patch. Motion sickness doesn't have a chance this time."

Pearl laughed. "Good."

"There you are." Strong arms slipped around her waist from behind, and she turned just in time for Jace to kiss her.

I will never get tired of this. Her arms went around his neck, and she closed her eyes and basked in the taste, the feel, the absolute pleasure of him. His mouth took hers, certain and teasing, and his tongue snaked inside as if to hint at everything that waited for her in their cabin. One cabin this time, and one bed.

"Hi there," she said when he finally broke the kiss.

"Hi yourself." He rested his forehead against hers, and for a moment all the noise and the crowd went away, and it was just the two of them.

I've known you forever, her heart seemed to say. From the time I was young, just waiting to grow up and start life and find you waiting for me.

"Dolly-o!" Bryce grabbed Dolly around the waist and swung her in a circle. "So glad you're here! What's it been? Eight years? Ten?

Dolly pinked. "Something like that."

"Congrats on selling the diner," he added. "I'm sure it was bittersweet."

"It was. But it was time. I was ready." She spread her hands wide. "Gives me more time to take lavish vacations like this one."

Bryce laughed. "We'll spoil you every minute I promise."

She shook her head. "Look at you. About ten times more handsome than you were in high school, and that's saying something." She winked at Pearl and Jace. "Just as much of a heartbreaker now as you were back then, though, I'm willing to bet."

Bryce laid a hand on his chest, as if feigning shock. "Me? A heartbreaker?" He laughed. "Maybe a little."

"Haven't found the one to tie you down yet?" Dolly asked as they stepped onto the ship. They skirted the crowd waiting at the elevator and followed Bryce upstairs.

"I don't think the words tied down and my name will ever be in the same sentence," he said as he led them to a private lounge. He opened the door and dropped his voice, whispering to Pearl and Jace so Dolly couldn't hear. "Unless we're talking about silk scarves or handcuffs. In which case, tied down might be a very nice place to be. Temporarily."

Pearl followed him and Jace into the owners-only lounge. As she looked around, her jaw dropped. Plush chairs and couches filled the room, all looking out on a gorgeous view of the water. Baskets of fruit lined a counter along one wall, next to platters of pastries and trays filled with bottled water and soda of every kind. Next to that sat a bar. She counted ten bottles of wine, top-shelf liquor, and at least four varieties of bottled beer.

"Wow. Perks of the job?" she asked.

"Something like that." He poured himself and Jace scotch in high-ball glasses and then popped the cork on a bottle of champagne. "I believe it's time for some celebrating."

"What are we celebrating?" Pearl asked. He handed her a glass, and the bubbles tickled her nose and made her sneeze.

Bryce lifted his glass. "Jace closing his first big deal and managing to keep everyone happy in the process."

Jace grinned, and Pearl couldn't be sure, but it looked as though his chest puffed up a little. That's okay. It was a hell of a deal; he should be proud. Plus, she knew what that chest felt like bare, under her fingertips, so he could puff it up all he wanted.

"Bryce getting promoted to CFO of the cruise line," Jace said as he drained his scotch and took a glass of champagne.

"You did?" Pearl said. "That's amazing. Congratulations."

Bryce's jaw twitched a little. "Thanks. The old man finally gave in."

"Wasn't a gift. You put in your time," Jace said.

"Old Man Anderson is a task-master," Bryce said. He finished his scotch and poured another. "We'll see how long I last."

But Pearl had a feeling he'd last a good long while. Bryce might be a playboy extraordinaire, but he was also a damn hard worker. She remembered more than one night back in high school when he'd stayed at the diner long after dinner, poring over his books. She wondered if any of the other guys knew that.

"Pearl finished her semester with a four-point-oh," Dolly said. "I'd say that's also cause for celebration."

Bryce whooped. "Absolutely! Beauty and brains, McClintock. You better hold onto her."

"Perfect GPA?" Jace said into her ear. "You didn't tell me."

"I just found out this morning." One more semester and she'd be finished with her degree. She hadn't told Jace yet, but she'd applied to the University of Tampa to continue her studies. With all the weekends she'd already been spending at his place, she hoped he'd be happy with the news.

He wrapped one arm around her waist and clinked his champagne glass to hers. "Bryce is right. You are a smarty pants. Always were."

"I thought that's one of the things you liked about me."

"Correction," he said, lowering his voice so his breath feathered her ear. "It's one of the things I love about you."

Love...

She bit her lip as the feelings rushed through her. I love you, too. She'd been teetering on the edge of admitting it to herself for months, and there it was. Out in the open, in front of them, as if it had been there all along just waiting for them to notice it.

"Hey, where's Toby?" Bryce asked. He checked his watch. "We're sailing in twenty minutes. If he's not -"

Someone knocked at the door.

"Hey, man," Bryce said as he pulled it open. Toby stepped inside, unsmiling. "Where've you been? Where's Brittany?"

"Not here." Toby went directly to the bar and opened a beer.

"Where is she? Couldn't decide how many suitcases to bring? You told her it's only a four-day cruise, right? She only needs six, seven bathing suits, tops."

Pearl elbowed Bryce. Something was wrong. "Are you all right?" she asked Toby.

"She dumped me." Toby gripped the beer bottle so tightly his entire hand had turned white. "She left me a note on the kitchen table telling me she was moving back to her mother's house and she wasn't in love with me anymore." He gulped in a breath. "A goddamned note."

"Shit." Jace went to him and clapped him on the back. "I'm sorry, man."

Pearl was glad he didn't make any stupid remark about Toby being better off or Brittany being a cold-hearted bitch. He was, and she was, but it didn't need to be said out loud right then. She walked over. "I'm sorry, too. But I'm glad you still came." She kissed Toby on the cheek. "You're a good man. It's her loss."

He reddened. "Thanks. I know it's probably for the best," he added. "We weren't right for each other. Hadn't been for a long time. It's just hard lettin' some things go."

Boy, did Pearl know about that. The thing was, you never knew the good that waited for you until you let go of the old.

The ship's whistle blew, and the view outside changed as they moved away from the pier.

"Here we go," Bryce said. "Take it all in, man." He lifted his glass as if toasting everything beyond the window. "There's nothing better than setting sail and leaving the shore behind." He glanced back at them. "Whole new beginnings wait out there. Every single time, it's a different adventure. I love it. Never gets old."

New beginnings. An adventure. Pearl glanced up at Jace, who put his arm around her and kissed her gently on the temple. Her heart burst with happiness. She couldn't wait for it all to start.

***

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# Dear Reader,

I hoped you enjoyed the story of Jace and Pearl - I had such fun writing it! If you're a native of Florida's Gulf Coast, you probably know there is no establishment like Dolly's Diner on The Esplanade in Venice. But I spent many lovely hours visiting that area both as a child and an adult, and I just knew it had to be the setting for one of my books someday, so I hope you'll excuse any liberties I took with the town. If you liked the story, I hope you'll leave a review on the site where you bought it!

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# Setting Sail is actually the prequel to the complete Cocktail Cruise trilogy. And in Book One, Tequila Sunrise, Toby meets someone much better suited to him than Brittany:

# When curvy accountant Louise Jamison meets sexy construction worker Toby DeMarco on  a singles' cruise, sparks fly. But back on shore, Lou learns the cruise line's matchmaking service assigns partners based on looks and weight. Mortified, she exposes the business on social media and makes national headlines. But Toby's family and close friends are cruise employees, and family means everything to him.

# Can Toby convince Lou that true love exists beyond the numbers before it's too late?

# Download Tequila Sunrise from your favorite retailer today!

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# About the Author

Allie Boniface is the USA Today best-selling author of over a dozen novels, including the Cocktail Cruise, Hometown Heroes, and Pine Point series. Her books are set in small towns and feature emotional, sensual romance with relatable characters you'll fall in love with.

Allie currently lives in a small town in the beautiful Hudson Valley of New York with her husband and their two furry felines. When she isn't teaching high school and community college English, she likes to travel, lose herself in great music, or go for a run and think about her next story. Take some time to browse around Allie's website, check out new and upcoming releases, and sign up for her newsletter. You'll get all the news about releases before everyone else, along with free stories available ONLY to subscribers.

To connect with Allie online, please visit the links below:

Allie's Website (http://www.allieboniface.com/)

Allie on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAllieBoniface)

Allie on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/AllieBoniface1)

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Also by Allie Boniface

Cocktail Cruise Series

Tequila Sunrise

Sex on the Beach

Between the Sheets

Countdown

Countdown: Grayson

Countdown: Ethan

Countdown: Steele

Drake Isle

Because of You

Deck the Isle

Finding You (Coming Soon)

Hometown Heroes

Beacon of Love

Inferno of Love

Labyrinth of Love

Miracle of Love

Soldier of Love

Art of Love

The Promise of Paradise

After Paradise

Standalone

Setting Sail (Cocktail Cruise Prequel)

Entwined

Hometown Heroes Books 1-3

Small Town Tease
