“Don’t be.” He rejected her sympathy outright.
Pride iced his clipped words, and she searched for a safer subject.
Her eyes settled on the rippling crests of foam frosting the gray-blue shore. “Is this where you used to surf?”
“Actually, the cove is pretty calm.” He pointed ahead to an outcropping packed with palm trees. “The best spot is about a mile and a half down. Or at least it was. Who knows after so many years?”
“You really had free rein to run around the island.” She stepped onto a sandbar that fingered out into the water. As a mother, she had a tough time picturing her child exploring this junglelike beach at will.
“Once I was a teenager, pretty much. After I was through with schooling for the day, of course.” A green turtle popped his head from the water, legs poking from the shell as he swam out and slapped up the beach. “Although sometimes we even had class out here.”
“A field trip to the beach? What fun teachers you had.”
“Tutors.”
“Of course.” The stark difference in their upbringings wrapped around her like seaweed lapping at her ankles. She tried to shake free of the clammy negativity. “Surfing was your P.E.?”
“Technically, we had what you would call phys ed, but it was more of a health class with martial arts training.”
During her couple of years teaching high school band and chorus before she’d met Nolan, some of her students went to karate lessons. But they’d gone to a gym full of other students, rather than attending in seclusion with only two brothers for company. “It’s so surreal to think you never went to prom, or had an after-school job or played on a basketball team.”
“We had games here…but you’re right in that there was no stadium of classmates and parents. No cheerleaders.” He winked and smiled, but she sensed he was using levity as a diversion.
How often had he done that in the past and she’d missed out hearing his real thoughts or feelings because she wanted things to be uncomplicated?
Shannon squeezed his bulging forearm. “You would have been a good football player with your size.”
“Soccer.” His bicep twitched under her touch. “I’m from Europe, remember?”
“Of course.” Unlikely she would ever forget his roots now that she knew. And she wanted to learn more about this strong-jawed man who thought to order a miniature motorized Jeep for her son—and then give credit to his father.
She tucked her hand into the crook of his arm as she swished through the ebbs and flow of the tidewaters. “So you still think of yourself as being from Europe? Even though you were only five when you came to the U.S.?”
His eyebrows pinched together. “I never really thought of this as the U.S. even though I know how close we are.”
“I can understand that. Everything here is such a mix of cultures.” While the staff spoke English to her, she’d heard Spanish spoken by some. Books and magazines and even instructions on labels were a mix of English, Spanish and some French. “You mentioned thinking this was still San Rinaldo when you got here.”
“Only at first. My father told us otherwise.”
What difficult conversations those must have been between father and sons. So much to learn and adjust to so young. “We’ve both lost a lot, you and I. I wonder if I sensed that on some level, if that’s what drew us to each other.”
He slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer while they kicked through the surf. “Don’t kid yourself. I was attracted to how hot you looked walking away in that slim black skirt. And then when you glanced over your shoulder with those prim glasses and do-me eyes.” He whistled long and low. “I was toast from the get-go.”
Trying not to smile, her skin heating all the same, she elbowed him lightly. “Cro-Magnon.”
“Hey, I’m a red-blooded male and you’re sexy.” He traced the cat-eye edge of her glasses. “You’re also entirely too serious at the moment. Life will kick us in the ass all on its own soon enough. We’re going to just enjoy the moment, remember? No more buzz kills.”
“You’re right.” Who knew how much longer she would have with Tony before this mess blew up in her face? “Let’s go back to talking about surfing and high school dances. You so would have been the bad boy.”
“And I’ll bet you were a good girl. Did you wear those studious glasses even then?”
“Since I was in the eighth grade.” She’d hated how her nose would sweat in the heat when she’d marched during football games. “I was a dedicated musician with no time for boys.”
“And now?”
“I want to enjoy this beautiful ocean and a day with absolutely nothing to do.” She bolted ahead, kicking through the tide, not sure how to balance her impulsive need for Tony with her practical side that demanded she stay on guard.
Footsteps splashed behind her a second before Tony scooped her up. And she let him.
The warm heat of his shoulder under her cheek, the steady pump of his heart against her side had her curling her arms around his neck. “You’re getting us all wet.”
His eyes fell to her shirt. His heart thumped faster. “Are you having fun?”
“Yes, I am.” She toyed with the springy curls at the nape of his neck. “You always make sure of that, whether it’s an opera or a walk by the beach.”
“You deserve to have more fun in your life.” He held her against his chest with a familiarity she couldn’t deny. “I would make things easier for you. You know that.”
“And you know where I stand on that subject.” She cupped his face, his stubble so dark and thick that he wore a perpetual five o’clock shadow. “This—your protection, the trip, the clothes and toys—it’s already much more than I’m comfortable taking.”
She needed to be clear on that before she even considered letting him closer again.
He eased her to her feet with a lingering glide of her body down his. “We should go back.”
The desire in his eyes glinted unmistakably in the afternoon sun. Yet, he pulled away.
Her lips hungered and her br**sts ached—and he was walking away again, in spite of all he’d said about how much he wanted her. This man confused the hell out of her.
Five days later, Shannon lounged on the downstairs lanai and watched her son drive along the beach in his miniature Jeep, dogs romping alongside. This was the first time she’d been left to her own devices in days. She’d never been romanced so thoroughly in her life. True to his word, over the past week Tony had been at his most charming.Could her time here already be almost over?