Barefoot by the Sea

and the Bible, I am a virgin.”

But Tessa hadn’t picked up speed yet. “You’re thinking about it, though, aren’t you?”

Ashley didn’t answer. Oh, boy. Oh, man.

“Ashley.” She slowed again to make her point. “Please be smart, and I don’t mean use protection. I mean say no.”

Ashley rolled her eyes. “I have.”

Tessa sighed a hearty breath of relief.

“So far.”

Damn. “You don’t want your first time to be with just anyone,” she said, choosing each word carefully. “And you sure don’t want it to be in the kitchen of your mom’s resort.”

Ashley closed her eyes. “Please don’t tell her.”

Tessa didn’t answer, unwilling to make promises she couldn’t keep. She zipped through a mental file, trying to remember what she knew about Marcus Lowell, other than that he’d been in trouble with the law once, dropped out of Mimosa High—or was kicked out—and came from one of the most broken homes on the island. Lacey had hired him as a personal favor to the sheriff, who was trying to give the kid another chance.

Okay, so not the Most Likely to Succeed from Mimosa High, but why would Ashley hide him from her mother and stepfather? “Why can’t I tell her?”

“Because”—she finally faced Tessa—“she’ll fire him.”

“Why would she do that?”

“For the same reason you’re marching me home like I’m nine years old and I stole a candy bar from the Super Min.”

“I still don’t understand why you can’t tell your mother you’re…” She glanced sideways. “What exactly is going on with this guy? He’s your boyfriend?”

“I guess.”

“You guess? You were condom-close in the pantry.” She tried not to think about how hypocritical that statement was, considering what she and John had done against the wall last night. Ten more minutes and she’d have been naked.

Then she had to blabber about a baby.

“Well, I like him and he likes me.”

“Of course he likes you.” Tessa toed a shell, barely seeing what it was since something far more delicate was in her hands. “What’s not to like? You’re pretty, smart, fun to be with, and…” She probably shouldn’t add the obvious, but she did anyway. “You’re the boss’s daughter.”

“Aunt Tessa! That’s not why we’re dating!”

“So you are dating him?” Which made sex only a little less horrifying. She was seventeen, even if they’d celebrated her birthday less than a month ago. Not a child anymore, but definitely not a grown woman.

“We’ve been talking for a while now, but it’s official,” Ashley said.

“Talking about what?”

She rolled her eyes, tsking as if Tessa was a dinosaur. “Talking is, like, pre-dating. First you check each other out, then you friend each other on Facebook, then you talk.”

“On the phone?”

“Text, mostly.”

Except they weren’t texting in the pantry. With a condom.

“Then he asks you to go out,” Ashley said.

Which was okay, wasn’t it? Of course Ashley was old enough to date. “So you’ve been out with him?”

“Not out-out. But out.”

“I don’t speak teenager, Ashley. What does that mean? Has he taken you to dinner and a movie? Miniature golfing? The mall? Out for ice cream?”

Ashley laughed. “You sound like you’re hyperventilating, Aunt Tess. We hang out.”

Which, Tessa remembered, was what she was supposed to be doing with John right now.

Too bad. Ashley was more important. “So do you usually hang out in the pantry?”

“He was working and…” She let the sentence fade to nothing. “He lives at home and so do I, so sometimes we—”

“Of course you ‘live at home,’ Ashley—you are a teenager. Barely seventeen, still in high school, and he’s old enough to…vote.” Among other things.

Her smile faded. “You’re going to tell my mom, aren’t you?”

They were almost at the end of the resort property, where the beach curved and Lacey and Clay’s house sat. “Listen, Ash, if you’re dating a guy—any guy—you have to tell your mom.”

Ashley stopped walking, looking down at the sand, silent.

“When are you going to tell her, Ash?”

She shook her head. “If I tell her, it’s over.”

“What does that mean?”

Struggling for a second, she looked out to the Gulf, emotion and the reflection of the water turning her eyes to a deep green. “Either she’ll fire him or he’ll leave me.”

“Ashley, you have to tell her.” Tessa reached for her hand to underscore her point. “First of all, you don’t keep secrets like that from your mother. Secondly, you haven’t given her a chance to fire him or not.” Although, knowing Lacey, she wouldn’t be happy. “And, third, I don’t know how you ‘leave’ someone you’re just hanging out with, but on principle, what kind of guy is he if he bolts at the first sign of trouble?”

Like he’d done about ten minutes ago.

“No, no, it’s not like that,” she said.

“Then what’s it like?” Tessa knew she should back off, but couldn’t. Every red flag ever made was flying in front of her face and this was Ashley.

“It’s like this,” Ashley said, lifting her chin and squaring her shoulders as if preparing for a fight. “He needs this job so bad, Aunt Tessa. His mom’s…he doesn’t know where his mom is.”

And that was heartbreaking, but not what concerned Tessa most about this boy-man.

“And his dad is…”

What was commonly known as the town drunk. Only, word on the street was he was more like the town stoner.

“His dad lost his job at the hardware store. Marcus needs the money from this job so much.”

“He’s supporting his dad?”

Ashley shook her head. “He has a dream, Aunt Tess. He got his GED and now he really wants to go to a culinary school. He’s a good guy, honestly.”

Tessa exhaled. “Dreams are…important,” she said, striving for encouragement but not wanting to offer too much of it. “And, after he goes to culinary school and you go to college, and maybe graduate school, then you both work for a few years and figure out who you are, then…” She’ll never remember Marcus Lowell. “Then you can date him.”

Ashley laughed softly at how much Tessa stretched the timeline. “What if I want to date him now?”

Then they were back where they’d started. Tessa didn’t answer.

“Because of the color of his skin?” Ashley challenged.

“The color of his skin has never even occurred to me,” she said honestly. “And you know damn well that would never, ever matter to your mother or Clay or even your father.”

“Oh, Dad really likes him.”

Tessa blinked. “How does David know him?” David Fox hadn’t been on Mimosa Key for two years and the last time he was, he’d done his damnedest to ruin Lacey and Clay’s budding romance. Since then, Ashley had gone to see her father, rekindling a long-dormant relationship, but he certainly hadn’t been here.

“They’re Facebook friends. Dad’s excited for me.”

Tessa tried not to respond to that. David Fox, of all men, should know the dangers of young and impetuous love. Ashley was the result of Lacey’s college romance with the world-traveler trust-fund baby who called himself “Fox.”