Summer at the
Shore
Seashell Bay # 2
Seashell Bay # 2
By: V.K. Sykes
Releasing June 30, 2015
Grand Central: Forever
JUST A SUMMER
FLING?
Morgan Merrifield
sacrificed her teaching career to try to save her family's bed-and-breakfast
and care for her younger sister. She can't let herself get distracted by Ryan
Butler. After all, the rugged ex-Special Forces soldier is only in Seashell Bay
for the summer. But her longtime crush soon flares into real desire-and with
one irresistible kiss, she's swept away.
Ryan values his
freedom. As much as he wants Morgan, he's not ready to settle down with anyone,
much less in sleepy Seashell Bay. But his code of honor doesn't allow him to
leave a woman in distress-and she's in desperate need of help to fix the inn.
It only takes one day working under the same roof and Ryan is already hoping
for a lifetime of hot summer nights . . .
“You look lovely today, Morgan,” Julia Butler said
with a warm smile. “Your skin is always so beautiful.”
With her hair still wet from the dunk tank and with
zero makeup, Morgan knew that wasn’t true. But Julia was the nicest person on
the planet.
“Thanks, Mrs. Butler. We’re sure happy to have Ryan
on the team this year.”
“If only he could be here all the time instead of
gallivanting all over the world,” Julia said with a wistful sigh.
“Julia Butler, that is so much malarkey,” her
husband said. “Our boy is fighting the good fight like he always does. And
that’s a damn sight more important than catching people’s dinner.”
Ryan gave his dad a fist bump.
Julia wrinkled her nose at her husband, then
smiled. “Don’t get me wrong, Morgan. I’m so proud of Ryan I could burst. But I
just miss him so. Watching him get on that ferry and leave again is always the
worst day of the year for me.”
Ryan wrapped his mother in a tight hug. “But I
always come back, Mom. And I always will.”
Morgan was thrilled he had such a close, loving
family, but the sweet exchange hit her like a punch in the stomach. God, she
missed her parents. She would miss Ryan too, more than she cared to think about.
Fortunately, Micah blew his whistle before she
could get too maudlin.
“Come on, guys, let’s go,” Aiden ordered, holding
the rope in his big hands.
“Yes, time to get the lead out, people,” Miss Annie
said as she bustled down the line, giving her team friendly pats on the butt.
“Let’s wipe the grins off those smoke eaters’ faces.”
“Duty calls,” Ryan said. After he kissed his mom
and got in position as anchor, his dad moved forward to take up his place near
the head of the line.
When Ryan wrapped the end of the thick rope around
his waist and let the remaining few feet trail behind him, Morgan shook her
head. “You can’t wrap the rope around your waist. That’s not quite in keeping
with the rules for the anchorman, dude.”
Ryan lifted an eyebrow. “Really? Well, you’re the
pro.” He unwrapped the rope and handed it to her. “Show me,” he said in a deep,
low voice that made it sound like he might want to do something far sexier with
the rope than just play tug-of-war.
Oh, boy. Rope
and Ryan Butler was not a combo she should be thinking about.
“Okay, it goes underneath your arm, like this.”
Morgan threaded the rope under his arm and circled behind him. “And up over
your other shoulder, like so.” She couldn’t help running her palm down his
bicep before she looped the rope back under his arm again so the loose end
trailed behind him. “That’s what the rules require,” she finished, a tad
breathless.
When she touched him, Morgan swore she could feel
sparks—and a whole lot of glorious hard muscle.
“If you say so, boss lady,” he murmured. “But I
figure there are plenty of other rules we can break.”
Morgan moved into position, hyperaware of his
presence behind her. “Get your mind out of the gutter, anchorman,” she flung
over her shoulder.
“Get your mind into the game, Ryan Butler,”
Miss Annie scolded as she came down the line to them. “You too, Morgan
Merrifield. Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on between you two.”
Morgan had to bite back a groan, but Ryan just
chuckled at the reprimand.
Roy took a couple of steps forward as if to talk to
Miss Annie but instead leaned in toward Aiden. “I got twenty-five bucks riding
on you guys, so don’t let me down. That’s a lot of money to a senior citizen,
sonny.”
Morgan knew Rocket Roy wouldn’t be the only
islander who’d placed a bet on the outcome.
As Aiden reassured the old man, Morgan clutched the
rope tightly and dug her feet as hard as she could into the short grass. She
kept her eyes glued on Micah, standing off to the side and clearly about to
whistle the start of the match.
“Your ass is seriously distracting me, Merrifield,”
Ryan murmured in her ear. “If you had a dime in the back pocket of those jeans,
I bet I could tell if it was heads or tails.”
Lord, help me. Morgan tried to ignore the little flutters in her stomach. “That
excuse isn’t going to cut it if we lose, Soldier Boy,” she hissed, glancing
back.
She didn’t know whether his amused grin infuriated
or excited her. Both, she guessed.
When Micah blew the whistle, whoops and cheers
erupted all around the field. “Pull!” yelled Miss Annie at the exact moment
that Boone Cleary boomed out the same command to his team.
Morgan pulled on the rope with all her strength,
but it felt like cement under her hands. Nothing moved either way as both teams
strained for advantage. “Pull!” Miss Annie yelped again, trying to get their
rhythm going.
Morgan kept her eyes fastened on Aiden’s back and
strained at the rope.
“Come on you no-good Flynn boys, pull!” Miss Annie
bellowed. For a little old lady, she had quite the set of pipes.
The crowd’s cheering seemed pretty evenly split,
though Morgan was so focused on trying to maintain a solid grip on the rope
that she was barely aware of more than a jumbled roar. When she looked down the
line at the firefighters on the other side of the moat, she saw something that
made her blink. She swore she could see genuine surprise on their faces,
especially Brett’s. Those guys always figured they had the tug-of-war contest
in the bag, but maybe not this time.
After a few tense moments, her team fell into a
good rhythm, with Ryan and Aiden leading the way with huge pulls. At Miss
Annie’s barked commands, each pull was followed by a barely perceptible moment
of relaxation before another hard yank on the rope. While it felt to Morgan
like she wasn’t doing much of the work, she knew it wasn’t true. A team
couldn’t win the match without all eight pullers doing their jobs. She’d be
damned if she would be the weakest link—not when they had a real shot at
winning.
And especially not in front of Ryan.
“Harder!” Miss Annie shouted. “We’re gaining
ground!”
I love a good friends to lovers story, and this hit all my requirements. Ryan and Morgan are friends who find who are fighting their attraction to each other. As the summer progresses, they grow closer and eventually give into their feelings. The story is somewhat predictable, but still very enjoyable. It's a light read with some angst toward the end that made me shed a few tears, but nothing too bad. The story mainly centers around Ryan and Morgan and their developing relationship. Morgan is really sweet and Ryan is a very hunky hero with a tender heart. I liked catching up with Aiden and Lily from the first book and am looking forward to Holly and Micah's story.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review. I was not compensated for this review, all conclusions are my own.
V.K. Sykes is really two people – Vanessa Kelly and Randy Sykes, a
husband and wife team who write USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance and
also romantic suspense. Randy excels at plot and characterization, but tends to
fall down on the job when it comes to that pesky old thing called emotion.
That’s where Vanessa steps in. She usually writes the sex scenes too, since
Randy is a bit uncomfortable when it comes to that sort of stuff. Vanessa also
writes award-winning Regency-set historical romance for Kensington Zebra under
her own name. You can check out Vanessa’s bestselling historical romances at www.vanessakellyauthor.com
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