Excerpt of Meet Me At The Beach by V.K. Sykes

Lily sincerely hoped that some other team would pick him
up. Aiden had
always said that baseball meant everything to him, and
from an early age,
he’d focused like a laser on making a career in pro ball.
She’d known
with absolute certainty—because he’d told her with
absolute certainty—
that he would never fish lobster, and he would never live
anywhere near
his father.

“I’m sure that’ll happen soon,” she said.

Of course, she had no idea if that were true, because she
knew virtually
nothing about the sport. Even when it came to Aiden’s
exploits, all she
knew was only what the locals talked about. What was the
point of
following his career? From the moment he’d taken that
final boat into
Portland after graduating high school, she’d understood
that dwelling on
him would only bring her more heartache.

Aiden shrugged his broad shoulders. “I hope so. My
options
are starting
to get pretty limited, though.”

He bent his long, powerful legs and deposited another
trap
squarely on
top of the one already in the skiff. Lily didn’t even
pretend to keep her
eyes off his incredibly fit and gorgeous body as he
worked
with easy
assurance. As an athlete, he might be losing a step, but
as a man, he
couldn’t be more in his mouth-watering prime.

“Could that mean your stay might be...” Lily almost said
indefinite, then
winced at how needy that would sound. She regrouped. “Um,
longer than I’d
first thought?”

After lifting another trap, he straightened and gave her
a
long,
assessing look that raised the fine hairs on the back of
her neck. “What
exactly was your first thought, Lily?”

“Oh, you know, a few days,” she babbled. “Don’t forget I
know better than
anybody how you feel about Seashell Bay.”

He gave her a slow grin that sent a few tendrils of heat
licking down
between her thighs.

“Lily, I’d say you know a lot of things about me better
than anybody,” he
said in a voice that made her shiver. Then he took a step
closer,
crowding her a bit.

She eyed his broad, muscular chest, fighting the deranged
urge to slip
her arms around his neck and press against him. After all
these years,
that instinct was still so powerful it took her breath
away. Everything
about Aiden was familiar, from the burn scar on the
inside
of his forearm
from a childhood accident to the lock of dark hair that
dipped down onto
his forehead. But he was different, too, excitingly so.
He
was a man,
seasoned and experienced, with sexy laugh lines around
his
firm mouth and
a knowing, sensual look in his dark gaze.

God, she’d loved him so much back in the day that it
still
made her chest
ache to think about it.

Love. Lily gave her head a mental shake. As if a sixteen-
year-old could
truly understand what that meant.

When Aiden slid a big, warm hand onto her hip, she barely
managed to
stifle a gasp. “Aiden . . .” She raised her left hand and
pressed against
his shoulder, a halfhearted effort he saw through
instantly.

“Have you forgotten how much you loved it when I touched
you?” His voice
was a low, thrilling combination of purr and growl that
made her weak
behind the knees.
Oh, hell no. Not again. Lily tried to force herself to
step away from
him, but her stupid body wouldn’t obey the message her
brain shrieked at
her.