The Cottage at Firefly Lake

by Jen Gilroy

  “You need help getting that off?” Ty’s hands covered hers, tanned and lean, the knuckles dusted with light blond hairs.

  “I’m okay.” Naomi stared at his hands, mesmerized, then at his face. His lips were firm and his jaw had a hint of blond stubble. Blood thundered in her ears. She’d practiced kissing a pillow, but there’d never been a guy she wanted to kiss for real. Until now.

  His eyes were the same blue as the lake, and in the sunshine his hair was like spun gold. He leaned in close and his lips brushed her cheek. They were soft and gentle, a faint caress promising more. If she wanted it. His hand grazed her bare shoulder and she got goose bumps. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Yeah.” She reared away from him. All of a sudden, she didn’t know what she wanted.

  Ty sat back on his heels. “I won’t push you to do anything you aren’t ready for.”

  “Okay.” Her voice squeaked again. She coughed. “Maybe we should uh…” She gestured to the canoe. “You’re supposed to teach me about safe boating.”

  “I am.” Ty laughed, deep and sexy. “You don’t know much about boats, do you?”

  “Before today, I was never in a canoe. Or any boat. I’m pretty much a city girl.” She laughed too, but hers was high-pitched, nervous.

  “You’ll get the hang of it in no time.” Ty picked up a paddle. “My dad said he taught your mom and your aunt how to handle a canoe. Your aunt always liked it more than your mom did.”

  “I’m a lot like my auntie Charlotte.” Naomi tried to ignore the green slime streaked across her shorts.

  “My dad said you sure look like her.” Ty showed Naomi where to put her hands on the paddle. “But when I asked him about her, he said there wasn’t anything to tell.”

  “There wasn’t?” Naomi tried to copy the motions Ty made look easy.

  “Nope.” Ty moved her hands and curled his fingers around hers.

  Naomi stared at his hands on top of hers and her skin tingled. “Like this?”

  “You’ve got it.” His voice was rough, and electricity crackled between them.

  Naomi’s stomach somersaulted. This time it had nothing to do with a fish smell and everything to do with Ty. She tilted her chin and looked at him from under her lashes like she’d seen Alyssa do.

  “When did you plan on telling me?” Sean slammed his fist on the desk. Papers scattered, and the door that separated his office from the workshop rattled in its frame.

  On the other side of the desk, Nick sat in one armchair while Charlie perched in the other. Cool and fresh, her white pants and top set off her dark hair and eyes.

  “I asked Nick to wait before telling you.” Charlie clasped her hands. “Until we found out more about Tat Chee’s plans and what we have to deal with.”

  “Instead, I get a call from some San Francisco attorney. A Tat Chee attorney who asks if I want to sell my property and do a deal that would cut out the Firefly Lake Realtor.” Sean’s voice vibrated with anger, and he crumpled the survey Nick had given him. “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” He swore under his breath.

  “I couldn’t.” Nick was cool and lawyer-like. Not like the guy Sean shot the breeze with over a beer and pool at the Moose and Squirrel. The bastard looked like a lawyer, too, in his white shirt and navy dress pants.

  “I thought we were friends, but you…you…” He’d trusted him. Sean fought to steady his breathing. “Carmichael’s isn’t for sale. Not for any money.”

  “I’m sorry.” Nick grimaced. “If my law partner wasn’t on vacation I’d have handed this case over as soon as I found out about the survey.”

  “You have to believe this was a big surprise to Mia and me. We never knew Mom owned the woodlot.” Charlie leaned forward, her luscious breasts held in check by the four white buttons on her blouse.

  “You won’t give me a chance to buy part of it?” Sean rolled his chair back, away from Charlie’s tempting breasts, and gripped his closed laptop.

  “No.”

  “Why not?” Sean rolled his tight shoulders.

  “I can’t…you know.” Something that looked like regret flickered in her eyes.

  “From what I’ve heard about Mia’s husband, it doesn’t sound like she needs the money.” His voice was harsher than he’d intended. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Ty and Naomi, does it?”

  “No.” Charlie avoided his gaze. “Naomi apologized about inviting you both to dinner without telling her, and Mia’s okay with Ty coming by the cottage when we’re all there.”

  Sean turned back to Nick. “Tell me about the marina and Tat Chee’s plans. Give it to me straight. You owe me that.”

  Nick shifted on the chair. “Tat Chee acquired a controlling interest in Mackenzie Marine last year. Mackenzie’s a big player. Not only boats, but full-service marinas with winter storage. They operate all across North America.”

  “Carmichael’s wouldn’t stand a chance.” Sean slammed his hand against his chair. “Then there’s the casino, fronted by some damn water feature. Anything else you’ve kept from me? A theme park? A zoo with exotic animals?”

  Nick shook his head, his expression strained. “I feel bad, buddy. The cottage sale was supposed to be straightforward. I’d never have taken it on if I’d known it’d get complicated. You may want to get independent legal advice. I can recommend someone.” He glanced at Charlie. “Mia and Charlotte are my clients.”

  “The fact McGuire and Pelletier has handled Carmichael’s business for almost fifty years doesn’t mean anything?” Sean’s pulse sped up and he glared at Nick across the desk. One night last winter after a few beers, he’d told the guy about Charlie and him and now Nick was siding with her?

  “Of course it does.” Nick eyeballed Sean. “But I’ve never been your lawyer. We both know that would be a conflict of interest. All I meant—”

  “I know what you meant.” Nick might not have intended to, but by siding with Charlie and Mia, he’d as good as betrayed him. “I’ll contact someone in Kincaid.” He’d call the firm that had handled his divorce. Although he’d made Sarah a fair settlement, Carmichael’s hadn’t been part of it.

  “Let me talk to Mia and see if we can work something out.” Nick turned to Charlie. “Is she at the cottage?”

  Charlie nodded. “Baking probably, or playing Mom’s piano.” She gave Sean a half smile. “Someone from the marina took Naomi and Emma canoeing.”

  “Someone…” Sean’s stomach knotted. Only Ty was at the marina this afternoon.

  “They booked a lesson. Since Jay rented that canoe, they need to know how to handle it. It’s not like I can take them out.” Charlie looked at her leg but not before Sean glimpsed the pain in her eyes.

  “We do orientation sessions all the time.” He hoped his gut was wrong. Hoped Ty hadn’t lied to him. A memory of the little boy who used to follow him around everywhere washed over him. The boy who’d turned into a teenager Sean didn’t understand and, most of the time, had no idea how to parent.

  “I’m confident we can work something out.” Nick’s voice rumbled, lawyer-like again.

  “Confident?” Sean fisted his hands. The guy must have taken a special class in law school, Keeping Clients Calm 101. But he wasn’t the client and Nick was supposed to be his friend.

  “I get you’re upset,” Nick began.

  “Upset?” Sean’s voice rose. “Why wouldn’t I be upset about having Mackenzie Marine in my backyard?”

  Nick made an apologetic face and got to his feet. “Give me some time to see if we’ve got any options. You still up for tennis this week?”

  “Sure.” Sean itched to get the racket in his hand and kick the guy’s ass on the court. Which wasn’t fair, but it wasn’t like he could kick Mia’s ass. Or Charlie’s. No, he wanted to do something entirely different with Charlie.

  The office door closed behind Nick with a soft click.

  Charlie leaned forward in her chair. “We need to work together on this. I’ve already talked to Mia, and
if we can find another buyer who can match Tat Chee’s offer, she’d be okay with that. She said I could talk to you.”

  “Why?” His heart gave a painful thump.

  “Even though it wouldn’t be in my backyard, I have concerns about this development too.” In just over a week, Charlie’s hair had grown a bit, a tousled look that suited her more than the short, business-like bob. Her lips were glossy pink, still with that delectable curve Sean had licked until she’d moan in his arms.

  “Why should I believe you?” She’d already shattered his trust beyond repair. And he couldn’t stop thinking about the baby and what he’d missed.

  “A casino isn’t right for Firefly Lake. Neither is the kind of marina Tat Chee would put in.” Her smile was half serious, half teasing. “Don’t get me started on that fountain with dragons spewing out water.”

  “Why do you think I can help you?” Anger was pitted against loss and thwarted desire, and he felt light-headed.

  “You’re a big part of this community, and people like and respect you. Last time I checked, the petition had almost fifteen hundred signatures, and in a town this size that tells me something.” Her tone cajoled him.

  “Do you still want to sell the cottage?” He took a shallow breath and leaned forward. Which was a mistake because now he was in touching and tasting distance of her.

  “Of course.” Charlie looked down, but not before Sean caught the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. “But my mom loved Firefly Lake. Maybe we can come up with a better option, one that won’t change everything she loved. What do you think?”

  Sean’s breathing sped up. By working with her and Mia, he might be able to protect Carmichael’s. Protect his family, his community, and his way of life. But he’d also have to spend more time with Charlie. “I guess I could talk to the chamber of commerce and the Rotary Club.”

  “You’re president of the Firefly Lake Rotary Club.” Charlie’s eyes twinkled. “I saw a picture in Nick’s office of the two of you at some Rotary dinner. You have influence.”

  “Maybe I do, but why should I use it to help you and your sister?”

  “This isn’t about helping us. It’s about Carmichael’s and Firefly Lake, and this whole special area.” Her eyes were wise, seeing through him like always. Seeing what mattered to him.

  “I’ll think about it.” His gaze locked with hers and something sizzled between them. The heat that had always been there—but had deepened because they weren’t the kids they’d been.

  “We don’t have anything against you.” She took a business card from the holder on the desk and traced the letters of his name. “But Mia…she’s dealing with…some stuff… She’s the only family I’ve got.”

  Sean knew all about family loyalty. How it could suffocate you and force you into choices you didn’t want to make. “What kind of stuff?”

  “I can’t…” She swallowed, and a pulse worked in her jaw. “A Tat Chee development would hurt a lot of people. Mom wouldn’t have wanted something that hurt people who were her friends. Hurt the place she never forgot. Mia and I don’t want that either.”

  “It has nothing to do with you and me?” Sean looked into her face, the girl he’d loved still there beneath the woman she’d become.

  “Of course not.” Charlie’s voice trembled.

  “Deny it all you want, but we’re still hooked together.” He gave a harsh laugh. “Beyond trying to get it out of our systems, I don’t know what the hell we can do about it.”

  Charlie came around the desk. She licked her lips and his body leaped. “Even if there is still something between us, we can’t do anything about it.”

  “Starting something again would be a bad idea.” Sean pushed the words out, over the tightness in his chest.

  “A very bad idea.” Her voice was a sensual caress.

  “What if we can’t help it?” He stood and shoved the chair away, sending it crashing into the wall to overturn. He reached for her, and the shock of her warm, bare skin jolted through him.

  “I shouldn’t…” But even as she spoke, she leaned into him, soft, like the Charlie he remembered. Her head fit into the curve of his shoulder like it belonged there.

  “Me neither.” He dipped his head and brushed his mouth against her neck, peaches and her scent greeting him. The one he could have picked out blindfolded even after all these years.

  “Your mom told me to stay away from you.” She angled her neck toward his mouth.

  “I told her to butt out.” He licked the sensitive cord in her neck, and she gasped.

  “You did?” She whimpered as he intensified the caress.

  He drew back. “You and me, we’re none of her business.”

  “There isn’t a you and me. There can’t be. I’m only here for just over two more weeks.” Her words came out in a breathy moan. “Whatever this is, it can’t go anywhere. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Her small hands were gentle on his forearms. That gentleness was a side of her she didn’t let many people see.

  “I know the rules.” He pulled her close again to stroke his way up her sides, before he trailed his fingers across the tops of her breasts.

  She twisted against his touch and made a sound deep in her throat. “Unlike me, you always played by the rules.”

  “Maybe it’s time I broke a few of them.” He covered her breasts with his hands and traced the outline of her bra beneath her blouse, the nub of the clasp at the front.

  “I—”

  He put a finger to her lips and stopped whatever she’d intended to say. For an instant she went stiff in his arms, as if to push him away. “We’re not kids anymore. We’re adults, unattached adults. Aren’t we?” He slid one hand under her top, the softness of her skin shocking him with its familiarity.

  “I’m not involved with anyone.” She trembled at his touch.

  “There isn’t anybody in my bed either.” He rocked his hips into hers to show her what she was doing to him. All the while, he continued his lazy exploration of the satin-covered cups of her bra, the two hard points of her nipples. “We both want this. Don’t we?”

  She hesitated for a long moment, and in her dark gaze, reluctance battled against desire. Then she tilted her head and covered his mouth in the kind of sweet kiss she’d given him long ago.

  He opened his mouth and kissed her back. Heat roared through him as he undid the top two buttons on her blouse and teased his way down to the clasp of her bra. He opened it one-handed and bit back a groan at the heavy weight of her breasts.

  “What?” Charlie wrenched her mouth away from his, her lips pink and glistening.

  “I always had a thing for your breasts,” he whispered, his breath feathering her hair.

  “They’re not the same as they were.” She covered herself with her hands. “I’m older and—”

  “Sexier than ever.” He lifted her, set her on the edge of the desk, and eased her hands away. “You’re beautiful.”

  Her flushed face and breasts spilling out of her top were an irresistible combination of sexy and sweet.

  “I’m older too.”

  She brushed a hand against the front of his jeans and his body swelled. “And bigger.” She traced the stubble on his jaw before kissing him again, harder this time and not as sweet, her fingers sliding beneath his T-shirt.

  Chapter Nine

  She’d missed this, missed him. Charlie lifted Sean’s T-shirt and slid her palms across his bare chest to reacquaint herself with his body. This was bad, said the logical part of her. Except it was good. She moaned as Sean returned her kiss and deepened it, his tongue tangling with hers.

  Nobody had ever kissed her like Sean. She traced the flat plane of his stomach, and his muscles bunched. She smoothed the fine trail of hair from his navel up his chest. No other man had ever made her feel this good.

  And she wanted to fill the lonely places in her life. To forget the past and not think about the future. Be only in the present. To be wanted in the way Sean had always wanted her,
and to want him too. She wrapped her uninjured leg around his waist and pulled him back onto the desk, her mouth still fused to his.

  He pulled his mouth away, and his breath fanned her hot face. His eyes were dark blue, the pupils dilated, his cheeks flushed. “Charlie?”

  “Don’t stop.” She arched against him as his hand covered her breast. She twisted, knocking the desk tray onto the floor. Metal clanged against wood, and papers flew.

  Sean groaned as she trailed kisses across the contours of his chest. “Wait.” His hoarse breath rasped against her ear. “Let me lock the door.”

  “No.” She started to pull away, but then he chuckled, a low throaty sound that heightened the ache between her legs.

  “Why not? You want this as much as me.” He dipped his head, found her bare breast, and sucked it into his hot mouth.

  Charlie cried out at the sweetness and pleasure of it, and she buried her face in his shoulder to hide the sudden rush of tears.

  The office door banged open and Sean sprang upright, dragging her with him.

  “I’m sorry. I knocked. When nobody answered, I came right in, like always.” The female voice was laced with laughter.

  “Linnie.” Sean pulled Charlie’s top together, his fingers fumbling with the buttons. “Trevor’s in Kincaid with a delivery. What are you doing here?”

  The woman who might have been her sister-in-law stood inside the door, a cardboard box under one arm, a travel mug in her other hand. She wore white capris, a yellow T-shirt, and a smile she couldn’t hide. “Dropping off those bird carvings Trevor borrowed. He forgot them this morning. I told him I’d come by on my way back from the farm stand on the highway.”

  “This isn’t what it looks like. I know what it must look like but…” Charlie pressed her palms against her burning face.

  “Hey.” Linnie’s smile broadened as she moved farther into the office. “I thought Sean might want some coffee.” She set the box on top of a filing cabinet and the mug on the desk. “It looks like I was wrong. You’re already giving him everything he wants.”

  Sean’s laugh rumbled. “Sorry. Next time we’ll lock the door for sure.”