by Marie Force
“Just making sure you’re available to help out tonight. We’re meeting at the marina at eight to get organized. The state sent over sand trucks that’re out now.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Take a nap. Gonna be a long night from what the forecasters are saying.”
“Will do. See you at eight.”
Nikki went to the window to look out on the encroaching darkness. “It’s snowing!”
“That’s why Mac called. We’re plowing tonight. He wants me to take a nap.”
“If you need to go, I can finish this on my own. No problem. I really appreciate all your help.”
“I was going to make you dinner. I even went to the store.”
“You can make it for me tomorrow. Right now, you need to rest up.”
“If you wouldn’t mind if I borrowed your sofa for a couple of hours, I could nap here.”
“My sofa is your sofa.” She went to the window for a closer look at the thick gray clouds. “Snow is one of my favorite things. I didn’t see much of it growing up in Southern California.”
“If you had to spend long, dark nights plowing it, you wouldn’t love it so much.”
With her hands on his back, she steered him toward the sofa. “Lie down.”
“Only if you lie with me.”
“Can we watch a movie?”
“If you want to.” He stretched out on the sofa and held out his arm to her, snuggling her in close to him and hoping his body wouldn’t betray him and give away just how much he wanted her.
She pulled a blanket over them and settled in to watch a chick flick while he tried to slow his racing heart and mind enough to rest up for the long night ahead. But with the soft silk of her hair brushing against his face, the heat of her abdomen singeing the palm of his hand, her scent filling his senses and her nearness making him hard as a rock, sleep proved elusive.
It was torture being this close to her and not being able to touch her the way he really wanted to. For the first time in his life, someone else’s needs took precedence over his own. His leg slid between hers, which did nothing to assuage the ache in his groin.
“You’re not sleeping,” she said, sounding amused.
“I am most definitely not sleeping.”
She giggled, and the sound of her laughter went straight to his overcommitted heart. “I’ll move to the other sofa.”
Riley tightened his hold on her. “Don’t go.”
“You need to sleep.”
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
“Don’t say that before you go out into a snowstorm.”
“I’m used to it. I’ve lost a lot of sleep to plowing this winter.”
They fell into a comfortable silence as she watched the movie, and he tried to think about anything other than the soft, warm, fragrant female who made him yearn for things he’d never wanted before.
* * *
The alarm on Riley’s phone woke them both at seven thirty. Nikki was surprised she’d slept when having him wrapped around her had put every cell in her body on full alert. Outside, the wind howled and snow pinged off the windows.
Groaning, he tightened his hold on her. “Don’t wanna.”
“You gotta.”
“Don’t wanna.”
She elbowed his belly playfully and then turned onto her back. “Time to get up.”
“Come with me.”
“Is that okay?”
“Sure. If you want to. Wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.”
“I’d love to.”
He playfully tapped her chin with his finger. “You’re crazy.”
“It’ll be an adventure.” She got up and folded the blanket that’d covered them.
“You don’t get out much if you think plowing snow is an adventure.”
Nikki laughed. “You’re very grumpy when it snows. I’m seeing a whole new side to you.”
“I need food and coffee. I’ll call in a pizza to Mario’s. What do you like on it?”
“I’ll eat anything.”
“Anchovies and hot peppers. Coming up.”
“No anchovies!”
“By anything, you mean anything but anchovies?”
“Exactly.”
Shaking his head, he smiled at her and called in the order while she brewed a pot of coffee and filled a thermos that she’d put in the pile to get rid of. They bundled up and headed out into the driving snow, laughing as they ran to the truck where the snow had begun to accumulate on the hood.
Riley scooped up a handful of snow and chucked it at her right as she turned to say something to him, resulting in the snow hitting her square in the face. As she sputtered with outrage, he lost it laughing and got in to start the truck before she could retaliate.
She got into the passenger side, wiping snow from her face as she glared at him. “That was mean.”
“I threw it at your back. You’re the one who turned around.”
“I see how it is. I’ll exact my revenge when you least expect it.”
“Easy, killer.” Riley turned the truck around and dropped the plow to clear the driveway as they moved through the snowy night.
“How can you see where you’re going?”
“Instinct. I know these roads very well.”
“There’s no chance of you driving me off a cliff at any point in this adventure, is there?”
“No chance at all,” he said. “You’re perfectly safe with me.”
Nikki knew that truer words had never been spoken, but now she feared that by sharing her story with him, she’d ensured that they might never get past the dreaded “friend zone.” Maybe she should come right out and tell him she wanted him to be her boyfriend or significant other, which seemed like a more grown-up term. Whatever the word, as long as he came away understanding that she wanted to be much more than “just friends” with him.
He wanted her. The substantial evidence of his desire had been pressed against her back earlier. But would he ever do anything about wanting her after what she’d told him?
The roads were a mess, so it took twenty minutes to make the short trip into town. At Mario’s, Riley left the truck running when he ran in to pick up the pizza. Then he headed for the marina, where he was supposed to meet the others.
“Bust out that pizza,” he said. “I’m starving.”
“You can’t drive in the snow and eat pizza at the same time.”
“Wanna bet? That’s why I got two smalls instead of a large. Easier to eat small slices while driving in the snow.”
“Clearly, you’ve done this before,” she said as she put a piece of sausage pizza on a napkin for him.
“A few times.”
At the marina, Riley parked next to several other trucks with plows that had been left running. The garage doors to the marina restaurant had been thrown open, and the big space was lit up.
Nikki followed him inside, where the first person they encountered was his brother.
“Nicholas.”
“Finnbar.”
“Nothing better to do on a Saturday night than play in the snow?”
“Apparently not.”
A big, strapping guy came over to them with brown bags full of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for each of them. “I’m Uncle Mac,” he said, shaking her hand. “Everyone calls me Big Mac.”
“I’m Nikki. Nice to meet you.”
“You, too. You’re one of Evelyn’s granddaughters, right?”
“That’s right.”
“She’s good people.”
“I agree. She thinks the world of you and your family.”
“That’s nice to hear.” To Riley, he said, “Auntie Lin made the cookies. She said to tell you guys to be careful out there.”
“Tell her thanks from us,” Riley said.
“Will do.” Big Mac moved on to talk to others, but Nikki found herself watching him and the way he interacted with family members and friends.
“He’s one of my favorite people in the who
le world,” Riley said. “No one is more fun than he is.”
“He seems great.”
“When he bought this place more than forty years ago, it was a falling-down wreck that he transformed into a booming business. I have mad respect for what he’s done here. People come back every summer just to see him.”
“I love your family.”
“I do, too.”
Mac whistled to get everyone’s attention, updated them on the dire forecast and then handed out assignments and portable radios that they used only when it snowed. “Stay alert and take a break if you need it,” Mac concluded. “Let’s get to it.”
“It’s no fair that Riley gets to bring a girl,” Finn said. “I wanna girl to bring.”
While the others cracked up laughing, Riley smacked his brother upside the head. “Girls want nothing to do with you. You’ve got cooties.”
“Ha, bro,” Finn said, punctuating his words with a low, dirty laugh. “You know that isn’t true.”
“Dad, tell The Babies to shut up and get to work, will you?” Mac said.
“Boys, shut up and get to work,” Big Mac said, smiling as he delivered the order.
More pushing and shoving ensued with Finn nearly succeeding in knocking Riley off his feet, before Riley rallied and pushed Finn headfirst into a drift.
“You fucker,” Finn said, coming up sputtering.
Before he could charge after him, Riley grabbed Nikki’s hand and said, “Run!”
He had her safely in his truck and was getting in the driver’s side when he was hit square in the head with a massive snowball.
Nikki couldn’t stop laughing at the murderous expression on his wet face.
“That son of a bitch,” Riley said as he got into the truck, giving his brother the bird as they drove out of the parking lot.
“You guys are funny.”
“I am funny. He is a pain in the ass.”
“I hate to break it to you, but he’s funny, too.”
“No, he isn’t. You can’t like me and think he’s funny. It’s the law.”
“Good to know,” she said, biting back the urge to laugh, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate it. This is fun, she thought. More fun than she’d had in years. And they weren’t even doing anything all that special. Turned out that driving around in the snow with Riley McCarthy was every bit the adventure she’d hoped for. They listened to music, sang along to cheesy country songs, ate pizza and chocolate chip cookies, drank coffee and kept each other awake as the snow continued to pile up.
Chapter 16
“Why do I feel like we’re fighting a losing battle here?” she asked around two in the morning.
“Because we are.” They were out by the bluffs, and he drove into one of the parking lots that he was supposed to be clearing. He parked and killed the headlights, but kept the truck running for the heat. They could hear the roar of waves crashing against the rocky shore below.
“I’m glad I’m not on the ferry tonight.” She shivered at the thought of how rough the ride would be.
“Are you cold?”
“Nope. I’m fine.”
“Bust out more of those cookies.”
As they ate the delicious cookies and watched the snow swirl around them, Nikki experienced a feeling of contentment so new and unexpected that it took her breath away for a second. She’d done the right thing taking this break on Gansett, even as she acknowledged it would’ve been boring without Riley to entertain her.
Sealed off from the storm swirling around them, Nikki had the confidence to broach the subject that’d been on her mind for hours. “Could I ask you something?”
“Anything you want.”
“After what I told you earlier… Does that make you want to keep your distance from me?”
He stared at her, his expression fierce. “No,” he said forcefully. “Absolutely not. If you had any idea…” Shaking his head, he cut himself off.
“What?” she asked, her throat going dry as her heart began to pound.
Grasping the wheel, he tightened his grip as tension made his jaw pulse.
She placed her hand on his shoulder, and even through the padding of his coat, she could feel how rigid his muscles were. “Tell me.”
Glancing at her, his blue eyes were heated when he said, “If you had any idea how much I want you, you’d probably jump out of this truck and run home to get away from me.”
It took every bit of courage she could muster to meet his intense gaze and then to shake her head. “No. I wouldn’t.”
They stared at each other for an endless beat in which time seemed to stand still and significant decisions were made. The sound of his seat belt releasing echoed through the cab as he moved toward her at the same time she moved toward him, getting tangled in her own seat belt.
He grunted out a laugh as he freed her and dragged her into his arms, pizza boxes and bags of cookies going flying as they came together for the single most combustible kiss Nikki had ever experienced. Lips and tongues and teeth and hands, driven by pure, pulsing desire that had her pulling him closer. Frustrated by the thick layers of coats and sweaters that stood between them, Nikki tipped her head to improve the angle of the kiss.
Then he was lifting her and bringing her down to straddle his lap. Much better, she thought as she wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her mouth to his tongue.
He unzipped her coat and pushed it aside, his hands dipping under her sweater and straight up to her breasts. His thumbs coasted over nipples gone tight from his touch as much as the pervasive chill in the air. Riley never missed a beat in the kiss when he reached behind her to unfasten her bra. When he cupped her bare breasts, she gasped, breaking the kiss so she could breathe.
“Too much?” he asked.
“Not enough.”
Riley groaned and pressed his mouth to her neck, which set off a new wave of shivers that racked her entire body. “God, Nik… You’re so hot, and you make me crazy. From the first time I ever saw you, I wanted you.”
She squirmed on top of him, needing to get closer to the rigid length of him. “I wanted you, too. I thought about you every day after we left.”
He captured her lips in another panty-melting kiss that was compounded by the light pinch of his fingers on her nipples.
Nikki had the presence of mind to wonder if they were going to do it right here in his truck when the cab was lit up with headlights set to high beam. A horn blared right outside the window.
“Fucking Finn,” he muttered. A series of beeps had Riley swearing viciously. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
The walkie-talkie crackled to life. “Riley is making out when he’s supposed to be plowing.”
“He’s dead.”
“Ignore him,” Nikki said, sliding her lips over his. “He’s just jealous.”
“Riley,” Mac said over the radio. “Quit making out and plow the snow.”
“I want to make out,” Luke said. “I’m going home.”
“No one is going home until the snow is gone,” Mac said.
“Screw you,” Luke replied. “You’re not the boss of me. I’m going home.”
“I wanna go home, too,” Finn said.
“Yes, please go,” Riley whispered.
“Riley won’t quit making out,” Finn said.
Nikki laughed even as Riley continued to kiss her as if they’d never been interrupted. “How long do we have to stay out here?”
“Supposed to be all night.”
“That’s too bad.” She moved suggestively on top of him, letting him know what she wanted while trying not to think about anything other than him and what was happening right here and right now. She refused to allow the past into one of the most perfect nights of her life.
“Fuck it. I’m done plowing.” He deposited her into her seat. “Buckle up.” Shifting the truck into reverse, he turned toward the parking lot entrance and headed for the road, flying past Finn’s truck, which sat idling a few feet away.
&n
bsp; “Was it something I said?” Finn asked over the radio.
“Going home,” Riley said into the radio.
“He’s got better things to plow than snow,” Finn said.
“Shut up, Finn,” Mac said, sounding increasingly annoyed, “and plow the damn snow!”
A deep rumbling laugh echoed through the radio. “Son, you’re losing control of the troops,” Big Mac said.
“Who gave you a radio?” Mac asked.
“I took one.”
“I gots one, too,” another voice said.
“Who is that?” Nikki asked, trying not to laugh her ass off.
“Big Mac’s best friend, Ned Saunders.”
“Everyone shut up and plow,” Mac said, “or I’m going home, too.”
“Maybe we should all go home,” Finn said, “and come back out in the morning. This is a losing battle.”
The snow continued to come down harder than ever.
“Fine,” Mac said. “Go home. Everyone back out at eight, and I mean it. No screwing around.”
Finn’s laughter came through the radio. “Us? Screw around? Oh, wait. You’re talking to Riley. He’s the one screwing around when he’s supposed to be working.”
“I’m going to kill him, and I’m going to make it hurt,” Riley muttered.
Nikki laughed so hard that tears filled her eyes.
“Riley?” Finn said. “Hello, Riley? Come in, Riley? What are you doing, Riley? Where are you going, Riley? I’m following you.”
As he drove, Riley kept a hand on her thigh, squeezing her leg to let her know they were going to pick up where they’d left off the second they got to her house.
She couldn’t wait.
* * *
This is really going to happen, Riley thought, frustrated by the fact that he had to drive slowly so he wouldn’t kill them both before they could get home.
Even Finn and his shenanigans couldn’t rattle him. Not with Nikki sitting next to him, warm and willing and sexy as all fuck. He was so hard, he ached from wanting her, and they were still miles from the house while the snow seemed to intensify, as if it knew how badly he needed to get her home.
Forty-five minutes after leaving the bluffs, they pulled into the driveway at Eastward Look, and there was no sign of Finn following them. They’d lost him a while back, thankfully.
