Cindy Miles - About That Kiss

A love worth fighting for

Once a dedicated Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Nathan Malone lost more than his confidence the day he couldn’t save his fiancée. He lost his faith in love. Nathan’s come home to Cassabaw Station and put his life on hold. That changes, though, when Sean Jacobs and her five-year-old daughter move in next door.

Sean is unpacked and unsettled, and the fear in her eyes tells Nathan she’s running from something. Yet despite his better judgment, Nathan can’t ignore the tug at his heart. He’d do anything to protect Sean and her adorable daughter, because Nathan’s not letting love slip through his fingers again...

Nathan Malone stole her breath away.

Never in her life had she felt like this.

Sean’s smile deepened at his gesture. “Is that so?”

Nathan’s head bobbed, and those sun-bleached curls fell around his face, his lips curving into the sexiest of grins. “Yes, ma’am, it is.”

Sean felt a blush steal up her throat. She didn’t even know what to say to that.

“Shy? No, can’t be shy,” Nathan teased, playing with the shell of her ear. “I think we’ve just kissed those days goodbye.”

Sean giggled as Nathan tickled her ear. “Not hardly,” she confessed. “I’ll probably be eternally shy.”

“Well. Even better,” Nathan confessed, continuing to explore her face with his fingertip. “It will be my ongoing pleasure to attempt to break you from eternal shyness.”

“Good luck,” Sean advised. “I’m a hard nut to crack.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” Nathan said with a grin, then nodded. “I accept.”

Together, they smiled, and a joy sank deep into Sean, a feeling that had been vacant from her life in…forever. She felt protected.

Dear Reader,

About That Kiss introduces the eldest of the Malone brothers, Nathan, and a stranger—an off islander—along with her whimsical five-year-old daughter, who not only steals, but mends, his broken heart. Sean Jacobs is fearful that a past she’d rather leave behind is about to catch up to her and her little girl, Willa. But what’s even more terrifying is not only falling for the somber, stoic boat captain, but falling for his entire family. Unbeknownst to Nathan or Sean, though, is that fate has stepped in, and both need each other—and the unique quirkiness of a five-year-old girl—like they need air to breathe.

This third book of The Malone Brothers will once again capture the unique flavors from the first book, Those Cassabaw Days, as well as the second book, At First Touch. Unforgettable, quirky characters and the idyllic setting of the South Carolina barrier island return, as do the childhood memories the setting encapsulates for me. From the salt marshes to the 1930s beach cottages, having grown up on the southeast coast all it takes is a certain taste, a particular song or the faint recollection of a scent to remind you of true happiness.

Cindy

About That Kiss

Cindy Miles

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CINDY MILESgrew up on the salt marshes and back rivers of Savannah, Georgia. Moody, sultry and mossy, with its ancient cobblestones and Georgian and Gothic architecture, the city inspired her to write twelve adult novels, one anthology, three short stories and one young-adult novel. When Cindy is not writing, she loves traveling, photography, baking, classic rock and the vintage, tinny music of The Great Gatsby era. To learn more about her books, visit her at cindy-miles.com.

Books by Cindy Miles

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The Malone Brothers

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For Macy Harden, my sweet little cousin, who has the courage of a lion and the fierce determination of her great-grandfather and my grandfather, Wimpy.

For Bonnie Heller, my lovely up-north auntie, who reads all my books and who birthed my crazy cousin, Henry, who shot me with a BB gun one time. It still hurts when it rains (kidding!).

For my Harden family, who gave me so many cherished memories of growing up on the salt marsh, crabbing the river and just general lifelong love. Gosh, I miss Frances and Wimpy!

And for my mom and dad, who always encouraged imagination. I love you guys!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

PROLOGUE

Off the coast of Alaska

Bering Sea

Three years earlier

“SWIMMER AWAY, SWIMMER’S OKAY!”

Lt. Commander Jales’s call was the last thing Petty Officer Nathan Malone heard as he leaped from the Jayhawk and plunged into the livid sea below. His body shot through the frigid water like a torpedo. He immediately resurfaced, the blade wash from the chopper beating him in the face, the torso. Adrenaline surged through him. Fear propelled him through the water, waves crashing against him. Over him. The sky was nearly as pitch-black as the water. Visibility zilch.

Addie.

He pushed toward the Zany Moe, swimming hard, fighting the roaring squall. His fiancée’s fishing boat lay on her starboard side, sinking below the dark water. Nathan scanned the boat, his eyes fastening on Addie’s red slicker. Not her guppy suit. Her arm lifted, waved, then she clutched the rail she was desperately holding on to as another wave swamped her.

Her first mate, Chip, was nowhere. Nathan scanned the choppy water and peered through the rain, looking for the inflatable Zodiac. Like Chip, it was nowhere.

Nathan swam closer to the Zany Moe, throwing arm over arm, pushing his weight against the stone-like waves. He shouted at Addie to jump, motioned with his hands. The roar of the storm deafened him, rang through his ears. She couldn’t hear him. But she’d understood. Addie nodded and slowly let go of the rail. Their eyes locked for a moment, and she took a step back then broke for the edge.

A wave crashed over the boat, over Addie, washing over Nathan’s head. When he bobbed up and cleared the water, he scanned the boat. The water.

Addie had disappeared.

Panic squeezed his throat, and with frantic desperation, he kicked out, swam hard to the bow that was slowly slipping beneath the black water.

“Addie!” he shouted, over and over. His eyes searched. He swam. Looking for just a piece of that red slicker. He ducked under, then back up. Nothing.

The Zany Moe was sinking down fast now, and with no captain manning the wheel, the violent, angry sea propelled the boat like a rubber toy in a bathtub. Nathan could feel the tug of the current as the steel plunged under the water. He pushed hard, refusing to give up. She was here. He hadn’t lost her.