Love Promises (Sully Point, Book 4) (5 page)

"Is it strange for you, your brother having
money?" Eric asked.

"At first it kind of was, but then he met
Anna and got involved with Sully Point. I came here, and ended up meeting more
people with money. I'm like the poor relation," she said with a smile.
"Julia inherited a bundle of money, and her father is Rob Tremaine, the
financial whiz. Holly and Jason are doing quite well. Even Frank has a great
car, and Betsy is the bank president."

"Your car is a bit--"

"Hey, I know my clunker can't compete when
everyone comes to an event. But I still like it and refuse to give it up. Maybe
one of these days, but for now I'm comfortable with it."

"When you say event, do you mean things
related to the Sully Point Project you mentioned before?"

"Yes, there have been a few. You see, the
whole family started the project, before getting other investors. Again, people
putting money to good use, instead of just watching it pile up. Since I've been
the P.R. person, I've been at the groundbreaking and press conferences."

Eric leaned back, swirling his brandy gently in
the snifter. Maggie thought he looked perfect sitting on her couch. Comfortable
and relaxed and good enough to eat.

"You've said you want to get out of public
relations. Do you have any idea what you'd like to do?"

With effort, Maggie pulled her gaze away from his
hands that encircled the glass. She looked up to find his eyes on her face.
"Do? Oh, work. I'm honestly not sure. I've thought about going back to
school."

His face looked surprised. "That's funny.
I've been considering going back as well."

"To focus on what field of study?"

"Robotics or artificial intelligence."

It was Maggie's turn to be surprised. "Sort
of science fiction for real? That would be so cool."

He laughed, and then said, "Yes, for real.
I've been interested in it for a while now."

"Tell me all about it," Maggie asked
avidly.

"Well, I could," Eric said as he put his
glass down on the coffee table. He moved closer to her on the sofa. "Or I
could kiss you. I think some practice is in order."

She nearly dropped her brandy.
"Practice?" she squeaked. "For what?"

"For the future," he said, and put his
arms around her.

His lips were a gentle yet exhilarating pressure
on hers. The kiss deepened, and she felt as if she were falling, falling
through softness to land on something firm and yielding. Every thought had left
her head, and it was as if she'd always been kissing him and always would be.
It was a moment after he pulled away until she realized the kiss had ended.

"Maggie?" he asked softly.

"I'm here. That was--practice does seem like
a good idea."

He leaned in and kissed her again, this time with
more passion, and she felt her own desire building. Finally, he murmured
against her lips, "I wasn't expecting that."

"Me either."

He sat back. "I think I'd better be
going."

She sat up straight. "Now?"

"Yes, I definitely should leave." He
stood up and looked down at her, ruefully. "I'm afraid I'm getting a bit
too much into my role."

She stood up. "What if it wasn't a
role?"

His green eyes blazed for a second, and then he
smiled. "If it wasn't, you'd have a hard time getting me to leave you here
tonight."

She opened her mouth to speak but he placed to
fingers across her lips.

"You are under the influence of some very
potent brandy. And I think you're not quite ready for what could happen between
us."

"What could happen between us?" she
whispered.

"Everything," he said, seriously. He
walked to the door, with her following. "Sleep well, Maggie. I'll call you
in the morning."

He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and walked
out of the apartment.

Maggie stayed standing where she'd been for a full
minute. Then she said to the room at large, "What the heck just happened
here?"

Chapter 3

Maggie woke up the next day to the sound of the
phone ringing. She finally found it in her jacket pocket from last night.

"Hello?" she answered, groggily.

"Maggie? Are you still asleep?"

It was Anna. "Not anymore. What's up?"

"What's up? Are you kidding me? You get a
boyfriend and don't even tell us? That's what's up."

"Yeah, well, it happened kinda fast."

"Sam and I want you two to come over for
dinner tonight."

"Uh, I'll need to check with Eric first, but
that should be okay. I can't remember what days he's singing this week."

"So he is a singer? We'll all have to go see
him perform."

"Anna..."

She heard laughter on the other end of the phone.
"Just kidding. Try to come tonight or if not, we can aim for
tomorrow."

"All right, I'll get back to you."

Maggie closed her phone and realized she and Eric
had not exchanged numbers. That was a big oversight. She headed for the shower
and finished waking up. She'd slept a long time, and blamed it on the brandy.

Pulling on her favorite jeans, boots, ivory
sweater and a purple puffer coat, she dashed out the door and down the stairs.
She popped into the bakery and picked up fresh cherry and cheese danish, and
then headed for Eric's place. He'd mentioned at Frank's last night that he was
staying at Lulu's cabin, and she knew where that one was. Different townspeople
owned cabins they rented out to tourists, small compact houses with views of
the sea.

She parked out front and walked up to the front
door. Just as she was about to knock, she saw Eric running up to the cabin. He
was dressed for running, and looked hot and sweaty, and yes, still gorgeous. He
stopped in front of her, using a key to unlock the door.

"Come in. I didn't expect you."

"I didn't have your phone number and I had a
question."

"Shoot, I didn't even think of phone numbers
last night. What's the question?"

"Are you free tonight for supper at Sam and
Anna's with me?"

"Sure. I'm only playing on Friday and
Saturday for the next month."

"Okay, here," she thrust the pastry box
at him. "Take these while I call Anna back."

Eric laughed. "It's a good thing I decided to
run today. These look great. I'm going to shower."

He jogged off and Maggie moved further into the
living room and sat in an old wooden rocker. Once she'd called Anna and given
her promise that they'd be at supper, she rocked gently and looked out at the
view. All the cabins along the beach were quite small, but each one she'd seen
had been decorated in a cozy manner. They had tiny kitchens, with a bedroom,
living room, bathroom and that was it. Maid service was offered in the summer.
This place was probably just right for Eric.

She got up and scrounged around the kitchen until
she found coffee and a coffee maker. She had it brewing when Eric arrived,
barefoot in blue jeans and a sweatshirt that said Stanford.

"Coffee. And food. Then I'll dry my hair.
We're going around town today, right?"

"Yeah."

They took their pastries and coffee to the little
two-seater table that sat up against a wall in the living room. Maggie realized
that Eric was staring at her with a frown.

"What?"

"Your hair," he said, and reached out a
hand to touch it. "It's still damp from your shower. You know you
shouldn't go out in the cold like that."

"It's so short it dries fast. And you do
realize that you seem to have a fascination with my hair?"

He turned a bit red. "Short hair is appealing
to me, and yours is interesting with all those curls. In fact, I'm thinking of
cutting mine off."

"No! I mean, think about it. Your hair is
so...uh...cool." She'd been searching frantically for a word to substitute
for sexy.

He smiled at her. "Okay, I'll think about it.
I'm going to go dry it now." He popped the last bite of pastry into his
mouth. "Next time, I'm providing breakfast. We have to get some healthy
food into you."

"Whatever," she said, waving a hand at
him and eating the rest of hers. Maggie knew her usual healthy eating habits
would have surprised him.

Eric walked away chuckling, and giving Maggie a
view of him in jeans that sent her pulse into a gallop. The man was
distractingly sexy, she decided. She was going to have to work harder at
remembering he was only acting as she asked him to.

When he came back out he had on a brown cable-knit
sweater to go with the great blue jeans. He grabbed his leather coat and they
headed out to his car. Maggie knew better than to suggest hers.

"Where to first?" he asked, starting the
car and then the heater.

"Let's head to Main Street, to the square.
I'll introduce you around and you can get a feel for the place."

They easily found a spot to park right on the
square. "It seems pretty quiet, today," Eric said.

"No tourists at this time of year. It's a
slow time for businesses. We're hoping that the Sully Point Project will bring
in more visitors during the off-season."

They started the tour at an antique shop, and then
walked around the square. They ran into Maelynne, coming out of Violet's Yarn
Shop.

"Maggie! Is this your young man?"
Maelynne asked, looking at them with an avid interest.

"This is Eric Stanton. He's new in town. You
can hear him sing and play guitar at the Lobster Shack on the weekend. He's not
from around here--he came from Seattle, Washington."

"Oh my! So far from home. Do you plan on a
long visit?"

Eric had looked puzzled at how much information
Maggie was giving Maelynne. He replied, "I'm not sure. It might turn into
a permanent thing. For now, I plan to enjoy myself while I'm here." He
smiled at Maggie on his last sentence.

Maelynne blinked, and Maggie could almost hear the
wheels turning.

"We were going to check out Violet's place
next, Maelynne, so we'd better be going. I'm showing Eric all around town
today."

"All right, Maggie. It was wonderful to meet
you Eric." She bustled off directly after that, and Maggie shook her head.

"That went well. Maelynne is the biggest town
gossip. By lunchtime, everyone will have heard about you. That's why I gave her
specific info, because otherwise she would just make stuff up. She really does
irritate me, but I guess this once we can make good use of her."

Eric looked bemused. "I've never lived in a
small town like this. I had no idea that gossip was such a big deal."

"In a small town, it's hard to hide much of
anything. That's why I wanted to speak with Maelynne. By telling her what I
did, she won't go looking for any other secret. Less chance of someone
suspecting that we are not really boyfriend and girlfriend. Gossip is just a
part of life here."

He chuckled. "That will take some getting
used to. Now why are we visiting a yarn shop?"

"So you can meet Violet. She's a quirky
little old lady, and sharper than you might think."

Maggie led the way into the shop, and was
surprised to feel Eric take her hand in his once they were inside. When he held
her hand, it made her fell all warm and kind of melty inside, like a really
good chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven.

"Maggie, my dear, have you finally come to
sign up for lessons?"

Eric asked, "Lessons?"

Violet came up to them, long silver-gray hair
flowing to her waist, and held away from her face by what looked like antique
hair clips. "I've been trying to convince Maggie to take up knitting or
crochet, but she doesn't seem interested."

"My mother knits. In fact, this sweater is
one she made for me last Christmas," Eric said.

Violet immediately reached out to touch the
sweater on his arm. "Oh my, lovely work, absolutely lovely. And who might
you be, young man?"

"Oops, I forgot to introduce you. Violet,
this is Eric Stanton. Eric--Violet," Maggie said.

"I thought I hadn't seen you before, although
your name is familiar." She paused for a moment, and then said, "I
can't recall it now, but I'm sure it will come back to me later."

Maggie felt Eric's grip on her hand tighten and
then relax.

"You know, Eric dear, yarn makes a simply
wonderful Christmas present for a knitter. Feel free to come in and browse
anytime for something for your mother."

"I'll do that, Violet. Thank you very much.
That's a great idea for her."

Maggie grimaced. "Christmas presents! It's
approaching too soon."

"Oh my dear, you must start working on your
gift buying. Never wait until the last minute."

"Yes, I know."

Another customer came into the shop, and Violet
moved away, saying, "So nice to meet you, young man. Come back
again!"

Maggie and Eric walked back outside and Eric shook
his head. "She's a pip, that one. I can see the mischief in her
eyes."

Maggie laughed. "I know. There are stories
about her as a young woman. She's had quite the life, and is still going
strong. We're done with this side of the square. I want to make a left here, onto
the side street so I can introduce you to Julia. Her business is around the
corner."

She noticed that he hadn't let go of her hand as
they walked to Julia's.

When Eric saw the building, he stopped walking and
stood and stared. "What the--are those gargoyles?"

Maggie grinned at him. "Yep, they sure are.
This is officially the ugliest building in Sully Point. It used to look worse
when it was all dark red brick, but Julia had it painted this lighter sage
color. It's a unique space, created by a warlock."

"A warlock?" Eric asked, blankly.

"Yes, or at least, he thought he was one. You
know, a male witch. There's a pentagon shaped room--that's the part that juts
off to the side and seems to make no sense."