Love on the Rocks by Elle James

area?”
    She shrugged and kept walking. “I leave every once in a while for supplies or to visit friends, but I can’t wait to get back.”
    “Why do you dislike the outside world so much?”
    For a long moment, Roxi remained silent and then she said, “It doesn’t matter. I never want to leave here.”
    The beautiful, seemingly self-assured owner of the Dream Spinner Bar and Grill was afraid to leave the cape.
    Why?
    Decker didn’t press the issue. He wasn’t even sure why he’d asked her out for a walk on the beach. He slowed to a stop and stared out at the water, churning in the afternoon sun. “I like the way the water is always in motion. I can watch it for hours.” As if to emphasize his statement, he dropped to sit on the dry sand.
    Roxi hesitated then sat beside him, pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. “The waves are already getting bigger. The weatherman predicted we might get hit by the tropical storm headed up the coast.”
    Decker nodded. “The chances of it getting close enough to cause damage are pretty slim.”
    She stared out at the choppy water. “If you’re worried, the state will call for evacuation before it hits.”
    “I’m not too worried. But what about you? Have you ever evacuated?” Decker asked.
    Roxi nodded. “Frank, my mother and I have only evacuated two times over the past fourteen years. The coastline was hit several times in the same season. We had plenty of warning. Enough time to board up the bar and pack the important stuff into our cars before we joined the line of cars heading inland.”
    “Does your mother live around here now?” he asked.
    Roxi didn’t answer for a long moment. “My mother died of cancer three years ago.”
    Decker drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry for your loss.” So she had something in common with him. She’d lost someone she loved. Not that he wished that kind of loss on anyone, but he could feel the connection between them even more.
    Otis ran back and dropped onto the sand beside Decker, panting loudly.
    “I love to sit on the beach and stare out at the cape and all its personalities,” Roxi said.
    Decker faced the water. “Personalities?”
    “You know. Sunrise when everything is fresh from the night and the water is like glass, she’s like a teenager on the verge of adulthood.”
    A smile tugged at his mouth. “That’s one way to look at it.”
    An answering smile quirked at the corners of her lips. “And when the sun is bearing down, hot and relentless, she’s a lounging lioness, basking in the rays, fat from feasting and lord of her domain.”
    “What about now?” Decker turned to watch the expressions play across Roxi’s eyes.
    Wind whipped her hair around her face and Roxi raised her hand to push it back, exposing a hint of a lacy white bra and the tantalizing swell of her breast beneath her powder-blue dress. With her legs drawn up, her bare calves flexed, the muscles taut and shapely. Though the dress covered her thighs, ass and body, it was sheer enough to give Decker a hint of what lay beneath the soft fabric.
    Flame shot straight to Decker’s groin and he fought to control himself and keep from sprouting a tent in his shorts.
    Her gaze went to the sea. Roxi went on, unaware of the picture she presented or of the reaction Decker’s body gave in response. “Right now, she’s on the verge of discovery, tempted by change and tempting in her tempestuousness.”
    Decker chuckled. “That’s an old-fashioned word.”
    “But it fits her.” She faced him. “Don’t you see it?” Her gaze was as intense as the constant churning of the cape and just as beautiful.
    “I see it,” he said, wanting more than anything to reach out, cup her face and kiss those full sensuous lips. “You’re amazing.”
    Roxi laughed, her cheeks blooming with color. “You probably think I’m a flake.”
    “No. I think you see things differently.” He hurried to add, “In a good way.”
    She sighed.