Brenda's Dreams
Chapter Seven

Jax guided the motorboat towards Nauset Beach. He had admitted to himself
that the only reason that he had rented the motorboat was because he had
wanted Brenda to go with him. He had been thinking about going somewhere
alone, but he knew there would be no peace as long as she was near.

Jax's two weeks were about up. He only had another day before he had to get
back home, so why not spend the day with her? There would be no time for
his attraction to get out of hand since he would probably be leaving first. Then
maybe he would be able to get her out of his mind.

Jax cast a glance at Brenda, who was seated in the bow of the motorboat.
Her chocolate eyes watching the scenery pass, unaware of his gaze. Jax
swallowed, attraction was mild compared to what he was feeling at that
moment. He could handle it though couldn't he?

Larry flapped up from the bottom of the boat to perch sternside next to Jax,
one bold yellow eye fixed on the picnic basket near Brenda's feet.

"You'll have to wait just like the rest of us," Jax told him. The gull squawked
in protest and Jax smiled ruefully. At least Larry would eventually get what he
wanted. He knew he wouldn't.

Brenda seemed as wary as he was of getting involved. He had been afraid for
a minute or two there that she had been going to turn down his invitation. She
had obviously weighted the pros and cons and he had a feeling the pros had
barely won.

What was she doing at the cape at this time of year? He didn't want to ask
since he felt that they had an understanding that there would be no personal
questions asked. He would never know where she lived and worked unless
she volunteered to tell him. He didn't think she would, any more than he
would talk about himself.

"Looks like we are going to have the beach all to ourselves," Brenda said.
"I've never seen it deserted like this. The Cape is always so crowed in the
summer time."

He nodded, his pulse rate going up at the thought of being alone on a deserted
beach with Brenda. Throttling down the motor, he edged slowly to the shore,
then turned the motor off when the boat hit the shallower water.

Brenda, rolled her jeans up to her knees, slid over the side into the water and
began to pull the boat in. He flipped the motor up and joined her, the shock of
the cold water on his legs contrasting with the warmth of the sun on the rest
of his body. Together they beached the boat.

Brenda scrambled to the top of the nearest dune, shading her eyes with her
hand as she looked at the ocean. he stood watching the sea breeze whip her
long hair around her face. She wore no makeup and her natural loveliness
transfixed him.

"Come on up," she called. "Its so clear I think I can see Nantucket."

At the top of the dune the air was cooler, smelling strongly of the sea. Two
sailboats, one with orange, the other with blue, scudded west toward Hyannis.
Further out, a dark freighter trailed smoke across the pale blue sky. Brenda
pointed south, and he strained to see the gray smudge she thought was
Nantucket Island.

"Could be a low-lying fog bank," he said with grin.

She frowned at him.

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her if she'd ever been to Nantucket, but
he stopped himself in time. No questions. Keep away from the personal
things.

"Heavens, I forgot about Larry."

"He's guarding the picnic basket in the boat."

Brenda turned to look and their eyes met. Trapped in the brown depths of
hers, Jax felt his resolve drain away. He took a step towards her. She made
an inarticulate sound, turned quickly and slid down the dune to the inner
beach.

So you thought you could handle it, Jax muttered to himself. Ha! At least she
had made herself clear she expected hands off, so let's keep it that way.

Brenda took a deep breath, letting all the air out slowly, then another, trying to
relieve her breathlessness before Jax joined her on the beach. For a minute
up on the dune she had thought that she couldn't control her urge to let him
touch her, the need to feel the hard length of his body pressed against her
own.

It's not going to happen again, she reassured herself. I absolutely do *not*
want to become involved with him and I won't.

Seeing Jax sliding down the dune towards her, she walked over to the boat
and picked up the picnic basket.

Larry had abandoned the boat and now was enjoying himself in the water.
Brenda, watching him, shook her head. The malformed wing didn't fold
properly and tipped him to the side, making him float askew.

"Larry could never survive in the rough see with that wing," She told Jax.

"He's too smart to risk it. I think he realizes his limits. Here, let me take the
basket."

They started walking north along the beach and after a few minutes Larry
joined them, squawking noisily as he waddled behind.

"Hey," Jax protested, "you'll have every gull within hearing distance coming
along to see what’s going on. Cool it."

"Larry really recognizes us, doesn't he? Maybe we are doing the wrong thing
by feeding him and making him dependent on us. After all, I'll be leaving in a
couple of days."

She glanced at Jax.

He frowned. "I won't be around much longer, either, but Larry's not a pet; he's
a wild gull. Don't forget he survived the original wing injury without us. He'll
be all right."

Brenda wasn't so sure. Gulls mewed overhead and she glanced up at four
birds circling above the beach. Larry was at a disadvantage when it came to
competing for food. Would he be able to get enough to eat in order to survive?

As for Jax, She had guessed that his stay at the Cape was temporary. Since
she wasn't staying herself, why did she suddenly feel this aching sense of
loss?

"This looks like a good place for a picnic, " Jax said, stopping.

He had stopped in a small cove where scattered clam shells showed high tide
marking on the damp sand. The barrier dunes rose on three sides around
them.

Brenda nodded. "Such a secret cove makes me wonder if pirates anchored
here in the past. This would be the perfect choice."

"You never know, we might be standing on buried treasure.

Brenda snapped her fingers. "Darn, I forgot my shovel."

"We could use the clam shells."

"At that rate we would be here until summer before we got anywhere."

"Would that be so bad?" Jax asked softly.

Brenda was amazed at how much that the idea appealed to her...spending day
after day of sun and sea and sand with Jax.

Today is a one time deal only, she warned herself. A day's picnic isn't a
commitment any more than one warm day makes it spring.

Yet she couldn't shake this feeling that she had been meant to come to the
Cape. Had it been fated that she and Jax would meet? She hadn't intended to
have anything to do with him, but here she was spending the day with him.

Lucy Coe had foreseen a house and a man.

NO! I don't believe in fate, she told herself. Anymore then she believed in
fortune-teller's predictions.

"I used to make things from clam shells," she said, changing the subject.
Bending down, she gathered a handful of shells.

Jax spread out the old quilt she had brought along and set the picnic basket
down on it. Brenda gathered a small pile of shells and some pieces of shells,
and knelt beside it.

Jax crouched down next to her, bringing his face dangerously close to hers,
and Brenda hastily turned to the shells and began to arrange them into a
pattern. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jax sit on the sand and fix his
eyes on the beach that they had come from as if he was trying to show how
harmless he was. She watched him surreptitiously as her fingers absently
moved the shells.

In all of her twenty-five years she had never been so aware of a man. Sunlight
made his hair more golden. She also had a better look at those muscular legs
of his. His jogging shorts leaving little to her imagination and she swallowed,
forcing her attention back to the shells

Without thinking she had formed the shells into a circle with the letters L and
B in the center. Jax, she saw, had turned to look at what she was doing.
Brenda swept the shells back into a pile and stood up.

"I'm getting hungry," she said more brightly then she felt. "How about you?"

As she began to unpack the picnic basket and set the food on the quilt. Larry
waddled up and she had to toss him part of a tuna sandwich to keep him from
poking his beak into the other food.

"At least there won't be any leftovers," Jax pointed out as he bit into a turkey
sandwich. After the second bite he smiled at her. "How did you know that I
liked turkey sandwiches?"

"I looked into my crystal ball." Immediately Brenda wished she could take
those words back because the thought brought Lucy Coe to mind. Her
predictions had partly came true in that she had come to stay in a house,
and Jax was very clearly a man, not to mention one she found it
difficult to stay away from.

Brenda, lost in her own thoughts, gasped when Larry grabbed her half-eaten
sandwich out of her hand and flapped across the sand away from her. "You thief!"
She accused.

"Gulls can't help stealing, it's in their nature." Jax, who had eaten two
sandwiches and drank two glasses of lemonade, lay on his side, one hand
propping up his head." You can't change what's in the genes. Unless your a
research geneticist, of course, and so far I don't think that they have tackled
sea gulls."

"Okay, so I'll forgive him." Brenda finished her lemonade and got up to
crumble the leftovers up for Larry.

When she turned, she found that Jax had come up behind her. Again their
eyes met and she felt it impossible to look away. His eyes were blue flames
of desire, sparking a warm glow inside of her. She saw his hands reach for her
and she swayed towards him, unable to no longer deny her need for him to
hold her.

Then, she was in his arms, pressed hard against him, aware of nothing, but
him. His lips came down on hers in a kiss that flared through her like wildfire.
She clung to him, buffered by the by the enthralling needs of passion, lost in a
warm, whirling wonderland of erotic witchery.

No man's touch had ever affected her so acutely. The sorcery of his first kiss
cast a spell she couldn't shatter. She could only wish for a tailsman to make
the kiss last forever.