Love by the Rules (Harbor Point Book 3) Read online

  He turned, taking a few steps backward as he said, “I’ll make sure of it.”

  Chapter Two

  The next day, I had to myself. Since Sal didn’t work every day, neither did I. Which was both a relief and an annoyance because that made me a loser with nothing to do.

  Again.

  School was on summer break and this was the last one I was going to have. After graduation, I’d need to decide if I wanted to work for Trinity, get a different job, or do volunteer work or something. Maybe I’d spend some time traveling.

  I wanted to ask Sal what he did with all that extra time but wasn’t actually sure I wanted to know. I did buy two of those books I’d been looking at when Cash joined me at my table yesterday, so I curled up on the couch with the TV on and started the one that grabbed my attention most. That lasted about an hour before I had to get out of my house.

  I wasn’t used to this kind of free time. Maybe I should’ve taken summer classes.

  With absolutely nothing to do, I put on a pair of running shorts and a tank top with a built-in bra, intending to go for a run. I’d promised myself to get back to it, after all, and being out in the fresh air would feel great.

  I walked from my house down to the beach, knowing that I was going to have some trouble with this. It’d been long enough since my last run for me to feel completely out of shape and running on the sand offered the next level of difficulty that I should definitely avoid. Instead, I stuck to the boardwalk, where I saw others also running. Off I went.

  At first, each pound of my foot on the wood was torture. But then muscle memory kicked in and I remembered the reason I’d chosen running as my main form of cardio. My mother had given me a list of acceptable exercises, insisting I try them all. After doing that, I said it was running I wanted to be built into my schedule.

  Running was liberating. Me against the road without distraction. I could push everything and everyone out of my mind. This was the only time my brain shut down and let me be me. I loved it. Loved knowing that the next morning my legs would be so sore I wouldn’t want to get out of bed. For me, it was the best feeling in the entire world.

  After circling around to head back toward my house, I passed a group of guys clustered together laughing. Must be nice to have a group of friends. I wondered if Bailey or Bianca would want to try running with me. We wouldn’t have to talk, but it might be nice to have someone to work out with. They didn’t necessarily hit me as the running type, but maybe I could change that.

  “Gemma!” someone from the group might have shouted, but I had to be mistaken, given the fact that I didn’t know anyone else in town.

  Fuck.

  I sort of knew one person. And now he was running beside me. He didn’t even sound winded either. Asshole.

  “Hey, Gemma.”

  Cash Waterford. Figured he’d be in the group of hot guys. Not that I’d seen him, but he fit, so it made sense.

  “Did you need something?” I asked, trying not to sound like a dying horse.

  “Ah, today’s no better then?”

  I bit my lips together to keep from smiling. There was no rhyme or reason as to why I’d been such a bitch to him the three times we’d interacted. Other than I didn’t know any other way to be.

  Maybe it was the euphoria of the adrenaline coursing through my body right then or the fact that I had no one who didn’t have a significant other sucking up all their time, but I decided to change that. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so I had to stop treating him like he had. It was going to take a conscious effort, but I was willing to make it.

  “Today’s great,” I said, giving him a smile.

  He stopped dead.

  I whipped my head around to see why he’d stopped. He was standing with his hands grasping his hips where the blue running shorts were barely hanging on. I slowed down, turned back toward him, and took the five steps needed to bring us closer.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Did you just smile?”

  A laugh burst up from somewhere like it had been lying in wait. Never thought smiling would confuse someone.

  “Oh shit,” he said. “That was a laugh. Today is better then, huh?”

  I wanted to push him. However, the fact that I realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt kept my hand from moving. Though it ached to reach out and touch his skin. See if those muscles were as hard as they seemed or if his skin was as soft as I thought.

  Cash was long and lean.

  Strong and solid.

  I hated it when guys got so big it seemed unnatural. Cash was all natural. I didn’t know if he did manual labor or what the deal was, but whatever had done this to him, he needed to keep it up.

  Cash didn’t have any tattoos that I could see. I only noticed because I was used to my inked-up brother and cousin. Something about his untouched skin turned me on and I was suddenly aware of exactly how sweaty and gross I probably looked.

  Or smelled.

  Oh, man… I hoped I didn’t stink.

  “I need to walk this out before my legs cramp up,” I said to get away from him. I didn’t want to leave him, but I could feel the muscles twitching already and the idea of stinking while standing in front of him was less than appealing.

  “I’ll walk with you.”

  Which he did, letting me set the pace. Didn’t help the worry about being smelly, though.

  “Sorry,” I said glancing up at him. “About yesterday. I don’t know why I was so bitchy.”

  “I’m a stranger. I get it.”

  I teetered between letting him think that I was only being cautious because I didn’t know him and maybe telling him that I idled at bitchy. I didn’t want to give the poor guy a complex, but I also didn’t want to admit that I had issues communicating in social situations.

  “I… I don’t know anyone here, so I spend a lot of time by myself and it’s easy to get caught up in my own head.” That statement was more honest than I originally thought I’d be.

  “So you are new to town. I figured as much because I’d remember seeing you around.”

  I had to bite my cheek to keep from smiling again.

  “That was a compliment,” he said, noticing what I was doing. “You can enjoy it.”

  “Anyway.” I shook my head. Talking about me was definitely not high on the list of things I liked to do.

  “So why’d you move here?”

  “My brother relocated to be near his girlfriend. Then my only cousin did, too, so I didn’t have anything anywhere else. This is supposed to be my home now.”

  “But it doesn’t feel like it?” he asked as we rounded the corner to my street.

  “Not yet.”

  “Seems Harbor Point should be doing a better job of making you feel welcome.”

  I kind of liked the sound of that.

  “So why don’t you let me take you out tonight? Show you how good things can be here.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Oh, come on. You seem like you need a friend. I can be really friendly,” he said, his voice dripping with innuendo.

  I snorted.

  “Don’t make me beg. I’ll do it and it’ll be embarrassing.”

  “What time?” I asked with a sigh.

  “Seven?”

  I nodded as we got to my house. Cash took a look at the place that was much too big for me. The place I wasn’t entirely comfortable with yet.

  “Shit. You live here?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Gio and Sal bought it for me so I could be close to them.” I pointed at their houses. “But not too close.”

  “So, I’ll pick you up here at seven?”

  I nodded again.

  “See you then.”

  I watched Cash run off until I couldn’t see him anymore, then went into full-blown panic mode.

  Had I actually agreed to a freaking date?

  I’d only been on three of those that hadn’t had a specific purpose. I started to meltdown on the inside.
>
  Would he touch me? Would he want to have sex with me? He’d said he could be friendly which to me sounded sexual. With my history, I may not be the best judge of those things but it sure sounded like a hint to me.

  When I moved to Harbor Point, I’d decided to shed my old life and find out who I was without all of the other crap going on. Like Gio and Sal had done. It wasn’t as easy as they’d made it seem.

  Running next door to Gio’s, I knocked before entering because, after the situation at Sal’s yesterday morning, I swore I’d never enter one of their houses without announcing myself again.

  Gio pulled the door open quickly.

  “You don’t have to knock,” he said.

  “Yeah, I do.” I stepped in before asking my next question. “Is Bianca here?”

  “In the kitchen,” she yelled out.

  Sal and Bailey were also sitting at the table with her. Their laughter died down as I got to them. They laughed a lot. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d genuinely laughed, at least not without one of them around. The situation sucked all around.

  “Would one of you two”—I pointed at Sal and Bailey—“like to explain to Gio why I need to knock every single time I come to one of your houses from now until forever?” I glanced from Sal to Bailey.

  Neither could hold their smiles in, but both declined to answer.

  “I don’t think I want to know,” Gio said as he dropped into the seat next to Bianca.

  “Why are you all sweaty?” Bailey asked.

  “I went for a run. But I may have accidentally… maybe not accidentally, but I agreed to a date tonight and I’m freaking the hell out.”

  “With who?” Gio asked before anyone else could.

  “This guy I met yesterday, but I don’t know how to date.” I silently pled with Bailey and Bianca.

  “What’s his name?” Bailey asked.

  “Cash Waterford. He’s so hot, but I know I’m going to screw this up because I’m not a normal girl. Can you make me normal before seven?”

  “Really? Cash?” Bianca tilted her head to the side.

  Bailey laughed. “Probably can’t make you normal by seven but normal is overrated. These two assholes snagged us and they aren’t normal.”

  “Who’s he?” Gio was no longer talking to me. Bianca chewed on her fingernail. It seemed like she was trying not to give away a secret, which made me curious as well. “Bianca,” he snapped.

  “Well… He’s Joe’s grandson.”

  Joe. The guy who lorded over the kitchen at Romano’s with Gio. Those two hadn’t exactly gotten off to the best start, especially once Gio had shattered Bianca’s heart and tried to weasel his way into the Romano family to get them to sell their restaurant and their sauce.

  However, I wasn’t certain how much of that Joe had been privy to. I was pretty sure things were back to normal, but Joe was a huge ex-boxer who didn’t fuck around. He’d always been nice to me, though.

  “Ok, first,” Bailey said standing from the table. “Shower. Bianca and I will come over to help pick out an outfit and we can talk. Did he say where he was taking you?”

  “No. He said something about showing me how nice Harbor Point could be. And he said that I looked like I needed a friend and he could be really friendly.”

  Gio groaned while the girls laughed.

  However, Sal held particularly still.

  “I hate him already,” Gio said, which only made the girls laugh harder.

  “He’s a good guy,” Bianca reassured him with a kiss on the head. “Let’s go.”

  I hadn’t realized I’d been gone as long as I had, but it was still only around five when we got back to my house. I hopped in the shower, leaving Bianca and Bailey to go through my closet. And boy, did I stay in there a while. I let the water wash away the sweat, ease my muscles, and calm my nerves. It worked on everything but the nerves. Finally, the water started running cold, so I had to get out.

  Bailey and Bianca were in my room talking and laughing when I came back in with only a robe secured at the waist keeping me covered.

  Their laughter sounded so light, so easy.

  It was nice that I didn’t have to hide anything with those two since they knew what Gio and Sal had been through. While I hadn’t told them anything about that part of my life, I knew I could and the guys had probably filled them in at least a little.

  So I stepped into their happy little world and tried to feel like I belonged.

  Fake it until you make it, they say.

  “So, we decided that being Harbor Point and tourist season, there are a few places that stand out as possibilities of where Cash could be taking you. So we came up with a B & B approved outfit,” Bianca said, climbing off my bed.

  “B & B approved?”

  “Bianca and Bailey,” Bailey filled me in.

  Shaking my head, I headed over to where said outfit lay. It was a good one.

  Long shorts that would go to my knee but were slim fit and cute. They paired those khakis with a pink shimmery tank top and a pair of low tennis shoes that I’d wear footie socks with. And they laid out a black hoodie for me to take in case it cooled off.

  Then I toweled off my hair and began to comb through it. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but it turned out that I didn’t need to have an idea.

  Bailey took right over.

  She blew my hair dry, then descended with the curling iron. My hair was still pretty long—to the middle of my back, much like Bianca’s, though hers was so light, whereas mine was medium brown. I was jealous of Bailey’s hair. Such a pretty shade of red that fit her personality well. Everything about me felt like it belonged to someone else, even though I knew it was mine.

  “Is this your first date?” Bailey asked as if that question were harmless.

  “No,” I answered, but when I glanced in the vanity I saw that she wanted more. “I went out a couple of times this year. Before that… ”

  “And how did those go?” Bianca was watching me in the mirror as well.

  “I don’t know. How were they supposed to go?”

  Neither of them answered.

  “They were fine, I guess,” I finally said. “You know, before we weren’t allowed to date, so these dates were awkward. Kind of uncomfortable.” Then I decided I wasn’t going to hold anything back, even if I didn’t put it all out there at one time. “There was one guy that seemed OK, but he thought I was too, um, aggressive.”

  “Aggressive how?”

  “Just everything. Whatever. So what do I do?”

  Bianca gave me the look. The one that said she felt bad for what we’d gone through, the things we’d had to do. The one that made me simultaneously want to punch her in the face and hug the shit out of her. Basically, Bailey and Bianca were the only people in this world besides the three of us who knew what we’d gone through and while I was extremely happy Sal and Gio had found people to spend their lives with and be completely open with, I also knew that kind of honesty wasn’t for me.

  Sure, I might have a relationship at some point, but there was no way in hell I’d ever tell him about what I’d done. That I’d been forced to have sex with men to get the inside scoop on their businesses for my parents.

  Like that wouldn’t chase every single guy away.

  It made me feel used and dirty and it was locked in the vault to never be spoken of.

  “Just try to have fun, Gemma. I know you know how to do that.”

  “With you guys,” I mumbled, then sighed.

  They tried to understand, but they didn’t get it. I appreciated the effort, but there was no way they could possibly know what it had been like for me all those years.

  Bailey finally spoke up. “Cash is a good guy. Hang out and have fun. If it gets cagey, text us. We’ll talk you down off the ledge.”

  They finished up my hair, left in long, dark waves, and I did my own makeup because I was an expert at that. Only this time I decided to go low-key, which was unusual. I didn’t wear makeup li
ke I was prostituting on the corner, but typically, I went all out. Not this time. This time I decided to try to find me beneath that outer shell I’d been forced to wear. Since I turned thirteen, my mom demanded that I always wear what she considered perfect makeup. But today I only put on a little mascara, a touch of blush and a smattering of pale pink lip gloss. It was me. Natural. The girls left after I was ready so they wouldn’t be there when Cash showed up.

  I wished I’d asked them to stay.

  Chapter Three

  It was ridiculous to think about.

  I was twenty-one years old, in college, had been on my own longer than I cared to admit, and here I was nervous about a first date. It wasn’t technically my first date because I’d been on more than I’d ever counted, but those hadn’t been for me.

  I still didn’t know how to say no, obviously, since I’d told Cash no. And then I said yes. Working for my parents, no wasn’t part of my vocabulary. Whatever a guy wanted, I was supposed to be the yes girl, even when it made my skin crawl.

  I needed to find my own voice in this whole thing.

  Sal and Gio seemed to find their voices fairly easily and that pissed me off. Sex must be different for guys. They clearly had active love lives and I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to do it again.

  No.

  This nervousness came from the fact that I’d acknowledged how attractive Cash was. I noticed guys here and there but never admitted an attraction, even to myself.

  I talked a good game, especially when I was trying to be a normal college girl, but didn’t actually know what I liked in a guy. But with Cash… He was the first guy whom I regarded in that way. Like a girl who liked what she saw.

  Thankfully, my doorbell rang because I could freak out completely if left alone too long. Thirty seconds before he showed up at my door, I was searching for a reason to cancel. Now that he was here, I couldn’t do that.

  “Wow.” Cash smiled as he took me in from head to toe. “You look great.”

  “Thanks.” I picked at my fingernails—a nervous habit that needed to be broken. I wasn’t sure about returning the compliment. But crap, he looked nice.

  Long, loose khaki cargo shorts with a V-neck gray T-shirt that was snug enough to show off some of those lean muscles underneath. The outfit worked for him. It worked for me.