Ty unknotted the robe and slipped it from her shoulders, running his hands down her shoulders, to her bare hips, pulling her closer. He cupped her breast in one hand, lowered his head and kissed it delicately. Ellis shivered, and he gathered the other breast and did the same. Was this really happening, at last?

He looked down at her and smiled. “You’re beautiful, you know that, Ellis Sullivan?”

She shivered again, and felt suddenly shy. “You’re just saying that.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I’ve thought it since the first time I spotted you the day you moved in here. You’re gorgeous. Especially now. Especially naked. Naked, you’re a goddess.”

She laughed, and then his face grew serious. He pulled her down beside him, and his lips found hers. But then his hand inched lower, touching her between her legs with feather-soft stokes, and she grew dizzy as her body remembered long-forgotten pleasures. He touched her, and she arched up to meet him, and her body throbbed in a way she was sure it had never done before.

Ty flicked his tongue across her nipple, and she heard herself gasp. She trailed her fingers down his chest, lightly, lightly, until they rested just below the waistband of his boxers. She felt him shudder, and she slid her hands down his hips and effortlessly rolled the boxers down to his ankles. He kicked them free of the bed, rolled to one side, and fumbled for something in the nightstand beside the bed.

He held the foil-wrapped package so she could see it. “Ellis Sullivan, are you usually the kind of girl who does this on a fourth date?” he asked, his gray-blue eyes twinkling.

“Not usually,” she told him truthfully, taking the condom from him and ripping the foil. “But in your case, I’m willing to make an exception.”

39

Ellis was relieved to see that the red van was gone. She unlocked the front door and tiptoed into the house. She’d almost made it to her bedroom when Julia’s bedroom door opened and she popped her head out.

Julia’s glance took in Ellis’s disheveled appearance, the borrowed bathrobe, and the armful of Ellis’s own, damp clothing. “So,” she grinned approvingly. “It finally happens. Ellis Sullivan does the walk of shame. Wish Dorie were here to enjoy it with me.”

“Shut up,” Ellis said happily. “Where is Dorie?”

“You won’t believe it,” Julia said. “Remember that bouncer at Caddie’s last night? Ty’s friend Connor?”

“Ty mentioned him, but I didn’t get to meet him,” Ellis said.

“No, but Dorie apparently did get to meet him at some point last night, and make a favorable impression,” Julia said. “He ‘dropped by’ a little while ago, allegedly to check on our security, but actually to check out Dorie. You should see this dude! Six-four, and bald as a billiard ball.”

“Allegedly?”

Julia’s lips pressed together with barely suppressed mirth. “I realize that you’ve been a little, ahem, preoccupied today, but yes, if you’d seen the way he looked at her, you’d know he’s definitely interested in Dorie.”

“Oh, come on, Julia,” Ellis said, leaning on the bathroom doorjamb. “Does everything always have to be about men with you?”

“Me!” Julia said with a wicked cackle. “I’m not the one who snuck out after midnight and came strolling home at noon wearing nothing but a smile and her boyfriend’s bathrobe.”

“Ty’s not my…” Ellis stopped in midsentence. If Ty wasn’t her boyfriend, what was he, and what did that make her, since she had just spent the whole delicious morning in his bed?

“You still haven’t told me where Dorie is,” she said, changing tack.

Julia rolled her eyes. “You haven’t been listening. She’s gone off with Connor Terry. He was driving his county unit, and even though he’s off duty, there’s some kind of rule against civilians riding in a cop car. Unless they’re under arrest. So she was following him in the van. Of course, they left here three hours ago, so God knows where they’ve gone now. Or what they’re up to,” she added hopefully.

“You have a one-track mind, Julia Capelli,” Ellis said primly. “A smutty one-track mind. And I, for one, am headed for the shower.”

“What?” Julia said mockingly. “You and Ty didn’t shower off together?”

Ty had, in fact, strongly suggested a communal shower. But since the garage apartment’s shower consisted of a tiny wooden stall on the deck overlooking the beach, with only a slatted wooden door separating a bather from the beach, and said beach was already teaming with summer sun-seekers, Ellis had firmly assured him that she would just as soon shower at Ebbtide, thank you very much.

“Next time,” Ty had said, reluctantly, his hand just barely brushing her breast as he handed her the robe. “It’s got hot water and everything.”

Ellis shivered with delight at the thought of the next time. And the next. How had she gone this long without sex? And how could she have mistaken what she had with Ben for what she had with Ty? And when could she have it again?

*   *   *

Ellis was slipping a clean T-shirt over her head when her cell phone rang.

“Hey,” she said, feeling unaccountably shy.

“Hey,” Ty said. “Listen, I completely forgot we were supposed to go check on that sea turtle nest you found last night.”

“Oh, my gosh, you’re right,” Ellis said. “I guess, uh, with everything else…” Looking in the mirror over her dresser she saw that her face was in flames.

“Yeah, I guess you could say something came up,” Ty laughed. “And now, damn it, I’ve got to go in to Caddie’s. I can’t afford to turn down a shift right now. So, if I give you the Turtle Patrol number, can you call them and tell ’em where to find it?”

“Absolutely,” Ellis said, scrabbling around in the drawer of her nightstand for a pencil and paper.

“Great,” Ty said. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay,” Ellis said.

“You doing anything tonight?” he asked.

“Only if you want to,” Ellis said.

“I want.”

*   *   *

Julia and Ellis were sitting on the porch when Madison came pedaling down the driveway towards Ebbtide.

“We’re gonna go grab some lunch,” Julia said casually. “Wanna come?”

“No thanks,” Madison said, mostly out of habit. And then, “Oh, hell. Who am I kidding? I’m starved. Where did you have in mind?”

“Let’s just cruise down the main drag and see what looks good,” Ellis suggested.

“That place,” Madison said, when they’d driven a couple miles north on Croatan Highway. She was pointing at a roadside diner. BOB’S GRILL, the sign said in large letters, and in even larger letters, EAT AND GET THE HELL OUT.

“I’ve been riding my bike past that joint for two weeks, laughing my ass off every time,” Madison said. “Breakfast all day. Let’s check it out.”

They ordered Diet Cokes and perused the menus. Ellis decided on the Southwestern omelet, with sour cream, extra salsa, and bacon, Madison ordered a club sandwich, and Julia, reluctantly, asked for scrambled eggs, one slice of dry whole wheat toast, and a bowl of melon. “I got an e-mail from my agent, and he’s booked me for a JCPenney catalog shoot the first week of September,” she said gloomily. “Holiday and midpriced resort wear. Week after next.”

Ellis felt a pang of panic. Only one more week of August. One more week of Ebbtide. One more week with Ty.

“You don’t sound too excited,” Madison observed.

Julia shrugged and sipped her Diet Coke. “It’s work. I’ve got to make a living. It’s as simple as that.”

“Not really,” Ellis said. “You hate modeling. You told us yourself. Booker wants to marry you. He makes a good living, and he’d support you no matter what you decide to do next.”

Julia looked over at Madison, who was busy shredding her paper napkin. “Would you tell her, please? Tell her what happens when you get married to somebody just to keep a roof over your head? What happens when you sell yourself?”

“Julia!” Ellis said sharply, her face burning with embarrassment for Madison.