Treading Water

by Marie Force

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “You’re awfully bossy,” he said with a teasing smile. “It seems my best friend and my sister may have a thing for each other—only twenty-five years after they first met. She’s been married twice, both times to guys who disappointed her. I’d love to see her with someone solid like Jamie.”

  “You approve. That’s good. It would matter to her.”

  He was once again surprised—and delighted—by her insight. “I approve, but I’d still have to make sure his intentions are honorable.”

  She arched an eyebrow in disapproval. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Hell no! That’s my little sister we’re talking about.”

  Andi leaned around him to study Frannie. “She looks all grown up from where I’m sitting.”

  “You mean I can’t interrogate him and threaten to have his fingernails removed if he hurts her?”

  “You need to stay out of it.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder if I like you as much as I thought I did,” he joked.

  She chuckled. “Maybe that’s better for both of us.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  Across the patio on another lounge chair, Jamie was doing some badgering of his own under the guise of “convincing.”

  “So did your brother give you permission to go out with me?” he asked Frannie.

  “Aren’t you arrogant? Your name never came up.”

  “Yeah, right!” he said with a hoot. “I know how you two operate. Give me a break. So is he going to let me take you out?”

  “You need to be wondering if I’m going to let you take me out.”

  “You drive a tough bargain, Frances Harrington.”

  “You think calling me that is going to help your chances? Think again.”

  He took her hand and kissed each finger as the firelight danced on her astonished face. “So,” he asked between kisses, never taking his eyes off hers, “what would help my chances?”

  “That’s helping,” she said breathlessly. “That’s definitely helping.”

  He grinned and kissed her hand again.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course,” he said, starting over with her thumb.

  In danger of losing control of the conversation, she tugged her hand out of his grip. “How come you suddenly want to go out with me?”

  He sat up. “It’s not sudden, Frannie.”

  “It’s not? You could have anyone—”

  Taking her hand again, he said, “But I want you. I’ve always wanted you.”

  “You have not. Don’t lie to me.” She frowned as she got up, stormed into the house, and slammed around the kitchen, cleaning up.

  Jamie came up behind her and put his arms around her. “Stop.” He buried his face in her hair. “Stop thinking I’m toying with you.”

  Frannie had to force air to her lungs. “Aren’t you?”

  He turned her to face him, lifted her chin, compelling her to meet his gaze. “I’ve loved you since the first time you came to visit us in California. I was blown away by you, but we were just kids. And then the timing was never right. You got married—twice—and then everything happened with Clare. I thought I’d die when Jack told me you’d gotten married.” He leaned in to kiss her. “Both times, I wanted to die, Frannie.”

  Tears rolled down her face. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

  He brushed her tears away. “I don’t know, but I wish I had. Is there any chance you might, you know, love me, too?”

  Clinging to him, she tried to catch her breath. “I’ve always loved you,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “Always.” She risked a glance at the face she had adored for more than half her life and saw his love for her.

  Finally.

  “Will you do something for me?” she asked.

  “Anything.”

  She curled her fingers around his. “Take me home with you?”

  He closed his eyes for a brief moment, took her hand, and led her to the front door.

  Jack and Andi came into the kitchen a few minutes later with cups and plates from the patio. He looked around the corner to the family room but didn’t see Jamie or Frannie. Peering out the front door, he discovered Jamie’s car was gone.

  “Interesting,” Jack said when he returned to the kitchen. “They left.”

  Kate and Maggie came in with more items from the cookout. Jill had left earlier to catch a late movie with her friends.

  “Where’s Frannie?” Kate asked.

  “I think she went somewhere with Uncle Jamie,” Jack said.

  “She seemed mad,” Kate said.

  “I’m sure they’ll work it out—whatever it is.”

  “Dad, why do we call Frannie, who’s our aunt, just Frannie, but we call Uncle Jamie, who’s not really our uncle, Uncle Jamie?” Maggie asked with a serious expression.

  The others cracked up.

  “That’s a good question, Maggie, and I have absolutely no idea why we do that,” Jack said, ruffling her hair.

  “It’s weird,” Maggie decided.

  “Yes, it is,” he agreed. “And now it’s your bedtime, Miss Priss.”

  “No way! I want to go work on my room. Michael told me just what to do. Plus, it’s summer vacation. I can stay up late.”

  “Nice try, but it’s almost eleven. That’s late enough.”

  “Come on, brat, I’ll tuck you in,” Kate said, herding her sister along.

  “Thanks, Kate. I’m going to run Andi over to her hotel. I’ll be back soon.”

  “Okay.” Kate chased her sister up the stairs, tickling her as they went.

  “Kate’s good with her,” Andi said.

  “They used to fight like wombats,” Jack said, “but since everything happened… They’re a lot closer now.”

  “You don’t have to drive me. I can go with the others.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. There’s no need for you to make a special trip.”

  “Okay,” he said, disappointed that he wouldn’t get more time with her.

  A few minutes later, Andi and her team left with a burst of “thank yous” to Jack and compliments on his daughters and his home.

  Watching her leave with the others, he thought about how much he’d enjoyed the day with her—and how badly he wished he could spend the night with her. Sick with guilt, he felt as if he’d already been unfaithful to Clare. The quiet ache he’d carried inside for so long resurfaced with a sudden, powerful intensity. He closed the door and leaned his head against it.

  Two steps forward, one step back.

  Frannie and Jamie were quiet on the short ride to his downtown condo. The whole way, her heart beat a wild staccato that left her breathless. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

  Seeming to sense her out-of-control nerves, Jamie reached over to put his hand on top of hers, and just like that, her heart rate slowed to a more normal speed.

  Frannie watched the city lights whiz by as he drove his vintage Porsche faster than he probably should have. What if it was weird between them? What if they’d been friends too long to take this leap? What if it was every bit the disaster she’d feared it would be?

  “Frannie?”

  His voice jostled her out of the pensive state she’d slipped into, and she realized they’d arrived at his place.

  When she went to release her seat belt, she was all thumbs.

  Once again, he stopped her and took care of the task himself. “Come here.” He reached across the console for her.

  As he wrapped his arms around her, his enormously appealing scent surrounded and calmed her. “Tell me we’re not crazy to be messing with a good thing,” she said after a long moment of charged silence.

  “We’ve been crazy to wait this long to mess with a good thing.”

  “But what if—”

  His fingers slipped into her hair and held her still as he kissed the words off her lips. He used his tongue to coax her mouth open, mak
ing her burn from head to toe. No other kiss had ever had such an effect on her.

  As she sent her tongue to tangle with his, she wanted to cry from the sweet relief that came with being in his arms. This was Jamie. Her Jamie. The man she’d loved forever.

  The kiss went on so long that Frannie lost track of time and place.

  By the time he finally shifted his attention to her neck, her heart was racing again, but for different reasons this time.

  “Let’s go in,” he whispered, sending goose bumps skirting down her spine.

  Frannie released her hold on him and was hit with a fit of laughter when she noticed they’d steamed up the windows of his car.

  “Just like a couple of teenagers.” His grin was so sexy and so compelling that it was all she could do to let him go long enough to get out of the car and come around to retrieve her. Standing next to her door, he held out a hand to her.

  Frannie reached up to put her hand in his.

  He kept a firm grip on her hand as he led her inside and up the stairs to his second-floor condo. The faint glow of streetlights made it so they could barely see each other in the darkness. She expected him to turn on a light, but the minute he closed the door, he drew her into his arms and devoured her with more passionate kisses.

  “God, Frannie,” he whispered as he dropped kisses from her jaw to her neck to her throat. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted you? How many times I’ve sat across a table from you and wondered what it would be like to do this?” His hands moved from her hips to cup her breasts. He tweaked her nipples, and she cried out from the sensations that darted through her. “Sometimes I’d get hard, right there at your brother’s table, imagining pushing you against a wall and taking you.” His teeth clamped down on her earlobe as he backed her up to the wall and pressed his erection into the V of her legs. “I wanted you so badly. Every minute I’ve spent with you since the day I met you, I’ve wanted you.”

  Inflamed and astounded by his words, Frannie gripped a handful of his hair and urged him into another deep kiss. “Do it,” she said when they came up for air. “Just like you imagined.” No longer concerned about implications or potential for disaster, she pushed back against him, telling him exactly what she wanted.

  His blue eyes heated as he tugged at the button to her shorts. He undressed her reverently, until she stood naked before him. His gaze devoured her, sending heat zipping into sharp desire between her legs.

  She pulled at his shirt, wanting to see him and touch him.

  Reaching over his shoulder, he shed the shirt in one quick move.

  Frannie unbuttoned and unzipped his shorts, pushing them and his boxers down over his hips. When his erection sprang free, long and thick and hard, her mouth went dry. She wrapped her hand around him, stroking, as his hands found her breasts.

  Groaning from what she was doing to him, he dipped his head and drew her nipple into his mouth, sucking and licking until she wondered how much longer her legs would support her. Seeming to sense her concern, he tightened his arm around her waist and shifted his attention to her other breast.

  “Jamie,” she gasped.

  “What, baby? Tell me.”

  She squeezed him and felt him pulse against her hand. “Now. Please.”

  “Do we need protection?”

  She shook her head. She hadn’t had a period in more than a year, not that she’d ruin this moment by sharing that unsavory detail with him.

  He ran his hands over her back and down to cup her bottom. Lifting her, he propped her back against the wall and stepped between her legs. As he brought her down on him, Frannie cried out from the sensations taking her over. Nothing had ever felt so good, so right, so meant to be.

  “Okay?” he asked, sounding as breathless as she felt.

  “So far beyond okay.”

  He smiled against her lips as he captured her mouth again.

  Frannie held on tight as he took her hard and fast against the wall.

  All at once, he tore his lips free of hers and threw his head back as he pushed deep, triggering an orgasm that she felt in every cell of her body.

  He surged into her, lost in his own release.

  For a long time afterward, they held each other, breathing hard and recovering their bearings.

  Jamie tightened his hold on her and walked them to the sofa, coming down on top of her without losing their connection.

  Frannie combed her fingers through his hair, wiping away the dampness on his forehead. “I thought it would be weird,” she said after an extended period of silence.

  “What?” he asked, his lips brushing against her neck.

  “You. Me. This.”

  “What’s weird is that we haven’t been doing this for years.”

  “I can’t believe you never said anything.”

  “Neither did you,” he reminded her.

  “Stupid.”

  “So stupid.” He pushed his hips against her as his reawakened erection made its presence known. “You know what would be really stupid?”

  “What’s that?”

  “If either of us ever does this with anyone else.”

  Frannie smiled up at him. “I’d like to think I’m done being stupid.”

  He brushed a sweet kiss over her lips. “Me, too.”

  Chapter 7

  Jack ran on the beach where the sun was rising on another hot summer day and returned home to shower before anyone else was up.

  He checked Frannie’s room and found her bed empty. While he was delighted for her and Jamie, the idea of them as a couple still surprised him, even though it probably shouldn’t. They’d shared a special friendship since she first came to visit them in California, and he’d always wondered if she felt more for Jamie than she let on. Even Clare had had her suspicions.

  Well, I guess now we know. Jack wished he could talk to Clare about it.

  After leaving Jill and Kate a note asking them to keep an eye on Maggie until Frannie got home, he headed out to his car.

  He drove along the beach and stopped at the florist to pick up a dozen yellow roses before continuing down the block to a row of oceanfront condos. Using his key, he let himself in and walked into the kitchen, where Clare’s head nurse, Sally, was having a cup of coffee. She was a stout grandmother with gray hair and warm blue eyes. Jack had liked her the instant he met her, and she’d been a godsend to him since the accident.

  She greeted him with a smile. “Morning.”

  “Hi, there. How are things?”

  “Pretty good. You?”

  “I’ve been keeping busy since I went back to work.”

  She took the roses from him and reached into a cabinet for a vase. “It’s good for you to be working.”

  He shrugged. “Life goes on, right?”

  “It sure does,” Sally said as she trimmed the roses. “Go on in and say hello. I’ll get these gorgeous flowers ready for Clare.”

  “Thanks.” Jack took a moment to prepare himself and walked into Clare’s bedroom, which was still dark even as sunlight beamed faintly through the closed blinds. He ran his hand over her blonde hair and down her soft cheek. The other physical signs of the accident were long gone, and she looked just as she had on all the mornings over nearly two decades when he’d awakened to her next to him.

  Flipping a lock of her hair around his finger, he leaned in to kiss her forehead. The unfamiliar scent of her hair saddened him. He needed to stop by the salon she’d frequented to buy some of the shampoo she liked.

  “I love you, sweetheart,” he said with a last look at her in the narrow hospital bed. For better or worse, she was still his wife. What am I doing even thinking about another woman? A fresh wave of guilt struck him as he stepped out of the room.

  “I’m leaving, Sally.”

  She emerged from the kitchen. “Okay, I’ll be starting her therapy soon. Don’t worry about anything here.”

  “Thanks.”

  Frannie eased herself from under Jamie’s arm and watched hi
m sleep, still amazed by what’d happened the night before. She stretched, exhausted from making love with him all night long, pulled on the discarded T-shirt that bore his scent, and went in search of coffee.

  Rummaging around his kitchen, she found coffee and filters and started the coffeemaker. She ran her hands through unruly curls and stretched again as a big yawn rippled through her.

  Jamie’s condo occupied the top floor of a building that housed shops and restaurants in the heart of downtown Newport. The small balcony off his living room faced the busy harbor. She leaned with her coffee over the railing as a small truck pulled up below with lobsters for one of the restaurants. Farther down the street, she was mesmerized by a trash truck lifting a Dumpster to empty it.

  Everything seems magical this morning, even a garbage truck, she thought with a snicker.

  Jamie crept up behind her and nuzzled her neck. “Mmm. There you are. I was worried when I woke up and you were gone.”

  When she turned to face him, he captured her mouth in a long, searing kiss that made her want him all over again.

  “Good morning.” He walked her backward into the condo, took her coffee cup, put it down, and led her back to bed.

  “Don’t you have to work? It’s Monday.”

  He tugged her down on top of him and held her tight against him with one arm as he reached for the bedside phone with the other. His eyes never left hers as he dialed the phone and kissed her again while he waited for someone to answer.

  “Hey, it’s Jamie. I won’t be in today.”

  Frannie gasped.

  “Ask Jack to reschedule it for me.”

  She hid her face at the mention of her brother’s name.

  Jamie poked her ribs. “Tell him I’ll call him later. Okay, thanks.” He clicked the off button, tossed the phone aside, and rolled them over in one smooth move. “Now, you were saying?”

  She had forgotten what she was going to say.

  Jack was greeted by a melee of voices when he walked into the office. Andi and her team had commandeered the conference room, and they all seemed to be talking at once.