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“No, we can’t, Judd, I can hear people coming.”

“You can hear me coming if you let me have three more minutes. There is no one else on this damn beach, Courtney! What’s your problem?”

Courtney shut her eyes to the crude line she’d left wide open for him with her phrasing. Really, crude was okay. She had half her clothes off, and so did Judd, but there was no way she was letting him go the full distance here and now. Not just because she’d decided ahead of time that she wouldn’t, but because it was uncomfortable and rushed and unromantic.

When she and Judd made love, it was going to be earth-shattering, unforgettable and the start of something huge. Marry me huge. He was on a good career track, he was great looking, funny - cynical funny, but she liked that, and she’d get to travel with him; she’d definitely get her ticket out of Tidewater.

“There are people,” she insisted. “Listen.”

There were people. Two of them. They’d come into view, having traveled the path between the dunes to emerge onto the curve of deserted beach. One of them was wearing an American military uniform and the other one looked familiar. It was Alice. Courtney recognized her curvy figure and the cut of her dark hair.

Hips wiggling, she struggled into her clothes. Making sounds of frustration, so did Judd. Alice and her companion turned north, strolling lazily with their arms around each other, and Judd said, “They haven’t even seen us. We could have…”

Courtney cut him off with her fingertips pressed softly against his mouth. “No,” she whispered. “It has to be better than this. It’s worth waiting for.”

“Is that a promise?”

She gave a sexy grin. “I’m good. That’s a promise.”

His face lit up and he grinned back. Even in the darkness he was so-o-o good-looking.

At home, half an hour later, after she’d turned down Judd’s idea of checking into a motel, Courtney heard from her mother that Connor had stopped in. “To apologize for being so snaky the other day, he said. What did he say to you, love?”

“Oh, he’s got no sense of humor, that’s all. I don’t know what’s wrong with him lately.”

“Well, he said he’d be home, if you didn’t get in too late and wanted to go next door.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

Her mother was silent for a moment, then said, “I thought you two were friends.”

“Yeah, so did I. Not anymore, apparently.”

“But if he came specially to apologize...”

Courtney controlled a sigh. “Okay, I’ll go over.” She added casually, “Is it next week you and Dad will be away?”

“Next month.”

Darn! Maybe it would have to be a motel room...dinner first, definitely. Her red dress. Sexy new underwear.

She was still planning the whole thing when Connor answered his front door. He got a guarded look on his face as soon as he saw her, and she wondered why she’d bothered.

We used to have such great talks, Con, what happened?

He used to tease her just as much as she teased him. He was four years older than her, and it had really felt good at sixteen when she’d discovered she could make him laugh. Why had he suddenly decided she wasn’t funny?

Obviously because you don’t ever think of us going out together, anymore, but is the idea of a plain old friendship really that bad?

“Mum said you wanted to apologize,” she told him, making it blunt to hide all the questions inside her.

“Yeah, come in. Coffee?”

“No, thanks.” She smelled something. Popcorn, which she knew he always made to go with a beer when he was watching sports. “What’s on?”

“Kangaroos versus Swans.”

“Could I say yes to popcorn and beer?” She’d grown up on Australian football, thanks to her dad.

“Sure, yeah, of course,” Connor said.

She followed him in and hung around near the kitchen door while he got another beer out of the fridge and poured the microwave popcorn into two bowls. He moved with swift efficiency, and she wondered if that came from working in the compact galley of Gallagher Charters’ biggest boat. He’d really worked to make some changes in his life over the past couple of years, and they showed in his body, and in the aura he gave off.

Courtney felt stuck in a rut by comparison, but then thought about gorgeous Judd, and her determination, and her hopes. “This is the first day of the rest of my life,” she muttered. And that life was going to include her old friendship with Connor. She didn’t want to lose it, even though she’d lost the ego stroke part. She’d learn from Connor himself and put in some work to try and salvage the rest.

Giving her one bowl and the beer, he went through to where the game had reached a knife-edge third quarter, with the score at ninety to eighty-nine. “Oh, so close!” she said. “Tell me how it went in the first two quarters.”

“Sure. Yeah, it’s been a good game, neck-and-neck all the way through.” That’s better. We’re talking.

But she couldn’t help noticing that he waited until she’d sat down before deliberately choosing the far side of the opposite couch.

To be continued…

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