CHAPTER TWOAt five a.m. the next morning, Valerie descended the wooden stairs leading from the top of the bluff down to the beach. She loved these early morning walks. They helped keep her active but also gave her a chance to clear her head and meditate a little in quiet before she began her busy day.A thick fog had rolled in from the ocean overnight. She could only see about fifty yards or so down the beach in either direction. The coastline was broken with huge rock formations, some of them far out in the water, being pounded by the surf. The water appeared gray today, drained of all color by the fog. She kept well clear of the surf as the waves broke and rolled up the dark sand because she knew the water would be unpleasantly cold. As usual, she had the beach mostly to herself except for the occasional jogger or person walking a dog.Today she was really looking forward to her morning walk helping her clear her head and focus. All yesterday afternoon and evening she’d been plagued—no, maybe haunted was the right word—by thoughts of the two men from California who’d rented a room yesterday. It was foolish. She wasn’t some young girl with a crush on a gorgeous guy. Or in this case, two gorgeous guys, as crazy as that sounded. She owned a business. She had guests to serve, bills to pay. She didn’t have time for foolishness.But no matter how much she told herself that, she kept thinking about them. Brad, the good-looking, All-American, Southern California type. Perfect body, beautiful eyes, a smile brighter than a spotlight. Trevor, that athletic body, his intense eyes, his forceful presence, as if he was always a hundred percent focused in the moment. Fewer smiles from Trevor, maybe, but they made butterflies dance in her lower belly all the same. If she were forced to choose between them in some personal fantasy, she would have an impossible time deciding. And what in God’s name was she doing, thinking about them as fantasy fodder right now? She was supposed to be finding some inner calm. She might be busy with work these days, but her body seemed to insist on telling her she needed to get laid.But right along with those thoughts of Trevor and Brad came a wave of doubts. Doubts that she wasn’t pretty enough for either of them. That her thighs were too thick and her butt too wide. And she hated her upper arms too. It was crazy to feel so body-conscious around two strangers she’d just met. And they were guests at her bed and breakfast to top it all off. Clearly she needed some kind of intervention.She walked past sun-bleached driftwood tangled in seaweed. There were tiny shells in the dark sand. The fog drifted and swirled, making everything damp and chill, even for summer. When she rounded one of the big rock formations, she spotted two people perhaps thirty or so feet away, standing on the dark rocks just beyond the farthest push of the breaking waves. The fog made them a little hard to see, but at a glance she could tell they were men. And they were embracing.She stopped cold. The men were not only embracing, they were kissing. That was far from rare on the west coast, but the sight of two men kissing on the beach wasn’t what froze her. No, what caused her heart to stutter and then start beating twice as hard was the fact that she recognized the two men. Her most recent check-ins from California. Brad and Trevor.As much as she wanted to look away and give them the privacy they deserved, she suddenly found she couldn’t look away. So she ended up standing there by the rock, peering through the drifting fog as the two hot men were wrapped in each other’s arms. They were wearing jeans and T-shirts that perfectly showed off their muscles. Brad mostly had his back to her, and she was helpless to stop her gaze from traveling down the v-shape of his broad back down to where his nice ass filled out those jeans. Trevor had his eyes closed, lost in the kiss. She knew his arms were buff from seeing him yesterday, but they still amazed her. Both men clearly worked out. Heck, if they were rich enough to drive Porches and have Amex Black cards, they probably had a personal gym in the mansion they shared. Because clearly they were a couple, she realized as her cheeks heated, and she felt her pussy getting wet at the sight of their passion. You didn’t kiss a casual hookup like that. Not with such desire, as if they were both lost in each other’s touch and nothing else mattered.God, how she ached to be kissed like that…With a concerted effort, she managed to tear her gaze away. If she could sneak around by the cliffside, she could probably reach the wooden stairs that led up to the houses on the bluff above the beach without being noticed. She started that way, but she wasn’t sure if the sound of her footsteps in the sand alerted them or if they simply finished their kiss and saw her moving, but she heard her name called out.Once again, she froze. Then she plastered on a smile she hoped was innocent and turned around to face them. They were walking toward her. Brad was giving her a charming smile that must’ve melted the panties off—no, since he was gay, she had to change that to boxers—of many a lover. Trevor’s smile was only a slight curve of his lips, and his eyes were piercing and direct. She wondered if he suspected she’d been spying on them. Because she had been. But only for a moment when she’d been helpless to look away, like the proverbial deer in the headlights. And maybe she’d been drooling a little like a silly cartoon character.She waved to them, hoping they would simply wave back and continue on their walk. Then she could hurry up the stairs back to house and hide in the kitchen. After all, breakfast had to be ready for her guests in only a couple of hours. And Delia would be showing up for work soon. And Valerie had so much to do that she really couldn’t afford the time to shoot the breeze with two distractingly handsome men. Besides all that, it really should be illegal for men to look that good and be gay. It was an unfair crime against women.That absurd whopper of a thought caused her to snort laughter just as Brad and Trevor reached her. Trevor’s eyebrows raised in silent question. He probably thought she was a bit touched in the head after catching her laughing in the fog.She waved her hand around carelessly. “Don’t mind me. I was laughing at one of my more ridiculous thoughts.”She bit down on her tongue before she could say anything more. Why on earth was she starting a conversation like this? If she kept this up, she wouldn’t be the one trying to escape from them. They’d be running off on their own to get away from the crazy woman.“It’s good to see you again,” Brad said. “We were just talking about how this is a beautiful beach. It’s so different from SoCal beaches. I can’t believe it isn’t swarming with people. We’ve seen maybe five or six since we started walking.”“That’s one of the reasons I love getting up early and coming out here. But it will start to fill up in a little while. Although nothing like California. Water’s too cold.”Trevor nodded and turned to look northward along the length of the beach where the really huge rocks loomed out in the surf. “There’s a real beauty here though. Different, but still stunning. I’m glad fate gave us the chance to stop and see it.”She didn’t know how to reply. On the surface, it sounded as if he was talking about the beach, but underneath that, it sounded as if he was talking about something else entirely. At the moment, this wasn’t an Oregon beach at its prettiest. In fact, with the fog and the gray, it was rather gloomy and damp right now.But Trevor’s words seemed to have a weight to them that Brad’s didn’t have. Brad seemed to her more like the bubbling, frothy rapids on some fast river, while Trevor seemed more like the slow and deep undercurrents far below the water. Was it an extrovert/introvert thing? No, because Trevor didn’t seem particularly introverted, only more reserved. Not that she was criticizing Brad, because no one could fake the good humor in his easy smile. A smile that warmed her. And what had she been thinking of again? She’d lost track because she was busy overanalyzing everything.Oh yeah. Escaping back to the kitchen.