Love On Anchor Island: An Anchor Island Novel

eating had been enough to make Alex squirm. Together with the whip comment from earlier, he was going to need a very cold shower when this night was over. They were sitting on the floor in his living room, and he had to shift to relieve the pain.
“Opal’s Sweet Shoppe,” Alex replied as steadily as he could. “Has Beth not taken you there yet?”
“She’s holding out on me.” A slender finger slid across the plate before disappearing between her glossy pink lips.
Very. Cold. Shower.
Head tossed back, she mumbled, “I’m so taking the rest of that home.”
Or she could stay and have it for breakfast. A thought he was smart enough to keep to himself.
Letting out a deep breath, Roxie rubbed her stomach and said, “Can I ask you a question?”
“You just did,” he pointed out.
“Okay, another question then.”
“Go for it.”
“Did you become a doctor because you had to or because you wanted to?”
Alex put his plate on the coffee table beside hers and wiped his hands on his napkin. “I’ve wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of helping my grandmother during my summer visits.”
“What about your dad? You didn’t go to work with him?”
“Children weren’t welcome in the operating room, and oddly enough, I never liked hospitals.”
Roxie blinked. “A doctor who doesn’t like hospitals?”
“Weird, I know, but true. They’re cold, sterile places, and I can’t imagine spending every day in one.”
Her laughter filled the room. “That’s like a chef saying he hates kitchens. How is that even possible?”
Alex missed the question because he was too busy watching the joy on her face. Roxie was beautiful any day, but this was the first time she’d let her guard down, and the effect was like a blow to the chest. He made a note to buy her a cheesecake every day to keep her just like this.
“I don’t know, but it is. What about you?” he asked. “What did you always want to do?”
The smile fell away. “Nothing, really.”
He knew better than that. “There must be something. Didn’t you want to be a teacher or an astronaut when you were a kid? The way you argue, I’m surprised you didn’t become a lawyer.”
“I’m going to ignore that crack.” Brown eyes dropped to her lap, and she tugged at a loose string. “I wanted to be a dancer.”
Recognizing the vulnerability in her eyes, Alex kept his voice soft. “What happened to stop you?”
“After three years of classes, my mom said I wasn’t getting any better. She pulled me out.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight.” She brushed the hair from her eyes. “The teacher tried to talk her into letting me stay, but Mom said there were better things she could spend her money on.”
Wanting nothing more than to shake the shit out of such a cruel woman, Alex tucked a stray lock behind Roxie’s ear. “That wasn’t fair to you.”
She sat up straighter and flashed an empty smile. “Life isn’t fair, right? I just learned that earlier than most. Besides, she was right. I wasn’t good.”
“You were eight,” he reminded her. “No one is good at anything at eight.”
“By eight, my older sister had won two spelling bees, placed first in the county fair pageant, and had been smart enough to skip second grade and go straight to third. Something my mother reminded me of every time I brought home a B or forgot my lunch box at school.”
No wonder she didn’t think much of herself.
“Roxie, you’re a smart, capable woman with a lot to offer. Your mother’s inability to recognize that is her failure, not yours.”
“Your faith in me is appreciated, but misplaced,” she insisted. “You don’t know me, Alex.”
“But I want to.”
When she closed her eyes, he pressed his lips to hers, relieved that she didn’t pull away. Sliding a hand into her hair, he deepened the kiss, urging her to open for him. A delicate hand gripped his shirt as her lips parted, and the sweet taste of cheesecake hit his tongue, but he’d barely gotten a taste before she pulled away and pressed her forehead to his chin.
“I should go.”
“You don’t have to.”
She nodded, rocking against him. “Yes, I do.”
Alex kissed her forehead and said, “Then I’ll walk you home.”

Chapter Eight
Roxie was still thinking about the kiss. She’d done nothing but think about it for nearly forty-eight hours. There had been no demand. No argument when she’d pushed back, which had taken a level of willpower she’d never known. Every fiber of her being had wanted to stay in that moment, lost in his touch, for as long as she could.
But Alex was too good for her. He offered too much, and he imagined a version of Roxie that didn’t exist. Smart? Capable? She’d flunked out of college within the first semester and hadn’t held down a permanent job in more than two years. Even then, she’d worked retail and had been turned down for a promotion because she’d refused to sleep with the district manager.
The only thing Roxie was capable of was leaving hurt and destruction in her wake. Something she refused to do to Alex.
“There you are,” Henri said, finding Roxie at the far end of the kitchen where she’d been hiding for the last ten minutes.
Callie’s baby shower was in full swing, and it seemed as if every female on the island was in attendance, most of whom Roxie had never met. The ones she did know formed such a tight circle that she couldn’t help but feel like an outsider. Beth, Sid, and Will hovered around Callie—who had been permitted to sit on the couch but was under strict orders not to so much as think about getting up—laughing and reminiscing about the last several years.
Apparently, Beth had gone into labor during a grand reopening party at a hotel on the island that Callie had helped renovate. Then Sid had done the same at Callie’s wedding a year later. They joked about all of