Determined Kisses (Love in Sandy Beach Book 4) by Jessica Gray Page A

Hazel back.
    He placed a call to check if she was home and when she answered, he sighed with relief and asked if he could come over. A few minutes later he  walked into her house through the open front door and found his nephew Jackson sleeping in his playpen.
    “Hey,” he called to his sister quietly.
    Allison came over and hugged him. “You don’t have to whisper, Ethan. Jackson could sleep through a tornado.”
    Ethan smiled and then his face fell when she cut right to the chase. “So, what was so urgent?” He wasn’t ready to tell her the real reason for his visit. Not yet.
    “Well, not much.” She gave him a questioning look, but his little sister knew him well enough not to insist – for the moment.
    She offered some of the latest gossip to start the conversation, “Wait! There is something new. Vero has a new girl working in the salon. I haven’t seen her, but she must be absolutely gorgeous, because every man in Sandy Beach is raving about her. Vero told Mom this morning that she’s had an influx of single men asking specifically for an appointment with her new girl.”
    “What?” Ethan asked, trying to hide his jealousy and his interest.
    “Well, I guess every man in town is in need of a haircut suddenly.  They all want the new girl to cut their hair, and more than one of them has been hitting on her.”
    Ethan felt his stomach clench with jealousy; just the thought of another man trying to hit on Hazel made his blood boil. He started to say something, but Jackson chose that moment to wake up and make it known he was ready to get up and play with the adults who were there to entertain him.
    Allison changed his diaper and then put him down on the floor. Jackson immediately crawled to the coffee table and pulled himself up. He let go with one hand and turned to make sure his mom and uncle were watching. When he let go and stood there on wobbly legs, Allison cooed to him, “Good boy.”
    She turned to Ethan, “He is so close to taking his first step.”
    “So soon?” Ethan asked, looking at the small human in amazement.
    Allison laughed. “He turned one last week, remember?” Then she scooped her son up and plopped him in his uncle’s arms. “Play with him while I put some food into the oven. You’re staying for lunch, right?”
    Ethan nodded and couldn’t hide a grin. “I knew I had my timing right.”
    Allison rolled her eyes at him. “No need to pretend with me. I don’t think you’ve ever come over when it wasn’t mealtime.”
    “Hey. I resent that.” Then he turned his attention to the cute little boy in his arms. “So, you want to learn to walk? I can help with that, buddy.” He let the little boy down, holding onto his hands, and let Jackson walk around the floor. The little boy was giggling, thrilled with this newfound freedom.
    During lunch, Allison picked up her earlier conversation. “From what I hear, Hazel would be just your type.”
    Ethan almost spit out his food. “How do you figure that? I thought you hadn’t met her.”
    Allison was a master in taking in clues when people were trying to hide their emotions. And she scrutinized her brother, who wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I should have known. You’ve already met her.”
    More than met. Completely fallen in love with her. Ethan looked at his sister and nodded. “Yeah. That’s kind of the reason why I’m here today. She won’t go out with me.”
    “What did you do?”
    “Nothing. I swear,” Ethan told her.
    Allison shook her head at him and giggled. “I never thought I’d see the day my charming brother would be coming to me for advice on a woman. I thought you could get any woman you wanted?”
    Ethan blushed and quickly turned his attention to Jackson, while mumbling, “Not every woman. Hazel won’t go out with me.”
    Allison stayed silent for a long uncomfortable while, before she finally asked, “I don’t believe it. You’ve already slept with her, haven’t you?”
    “Does it matter?” he