by Jen Gilroy
“I went easy on you.” He caught the apple she tossed him and let his gaze linger on her chest. “Which you took shameless advantage of.”
She flashed him an impish grin. “You might have slowed down. A bit.”
Sean’s laugh erupted at the mischief in her eyes. “You made up that story about the camel, didn’t you?”
“I rode a camel when I covered a riot in the Middle East.” She juggled an apple. “The camel might have ambled off rather than ran. Makes a good story, though.”
“You should write fiction.” Charlie was the only person he’d ever sparred with like this. Teased and been so comfortable with. They’d talked about her travels, his work at Carmichael’s, and movies they both liked. Everything except what really mattered.
She tipped the last chip out of the bag. “I’m a journalist. I report the facts.” She sent him a mock-stern look before digging into a Twix bar.
“Really?” He bit into the apple. “Those facts, you never put your spin on them? I’ve read your stuff online.”
“There are lots of ways of reporting a story. It’s my journalistic voice.” Her skin was the color of those ripe peaches he smelled whenever he got near her. Sean’s breath caught.
“I think it’s you. Always was, always will be.” He reached for her hand and curled her fingers around his. “Tell me more about your life in London. What do you do for fun?”
“I walk dogs at a shelter. I go to photography exhibitions. I run in a park near my apartment. I’m in a book club with friends.” She made a wry face. “Which is less about reading books and more about meeting for drinks and protesting things.”
Sean chuckled. “Remember when you protested in front of the Firefly Lake Market, fair prices for Vermont dairy farmers?”
“Of course. There was a picture of me in the newspaper.” Her gaze met his and held. Desire curled in the pit of his stomach. “My parents were so mad and Mia didn’t speak to me for three days.”
“I didn’t protest, but my dad was sure mad too.” Sean stroked Charlie’s thumb, her skin soft beneath his. “I helped you with the poster and brought you lemonade. That was enough for him to say you were a bad influence. Bad for business.”
Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip. “I was only eleven.”
“It didn’t put me off you.” His voice got husky and his fingers tingled.
“It didn’t?” Her breath hitched and her pupils dilated as he caressed the soft curve of her arm.
“Nope.” With an effort, he took his hand away. Before things went any further between them, he had to tell her about the loan and find out if she’d known. If she’d kept it from him, like the baby. And if she had, why? If he couldn’t trust her, everything he’d begun to feel for her again would be meaningless.
“Sean?” Her expression was guarded.
“You stood up for what you believed in. You didn’t back down. You did what you believed was right.” So why had she changed? The Charlie he thought he’d known had been honest and true.
“Don’t make me out to be some kind of heroine.” She stared at the water lapping against the rocks. “It was a long time ago. I was more idealistic then.”
“You don’t believe you can change the world? You don’t believe in doing what’s right?” He usually trusted his gut, but when it came to Charlie, he didn’t know what to trust.
“It’s not the same thing.” She looked at her leg where scar tissue bisected her flesh.
“That girl’s still part of you.” He steeled himself to face the truth, no matter what it might cost. “I found out something this morning.” He shot her a narrow-eyed glance.
She returned his gaze, unflinching.
“About my dad, your dad too.”
Her face went white and then red, but still she held his gaze. In her eyes he saw sadness. And the truth.
“Why did you lie, Charlie? Not only did you lie to me about our baby, but you lied to me about the loan.” Dark anger surged through him and he drew in a shaky breath. “Why?”
“I didn’t lie about the loan.” Her mouth tightened. “I promised I wouldn’t tell because…your parents didn’t want anybody else to know. That’s different.”
“Different how?” His body was rigid and he tightened his hands into fists. “You still didn’t tell me the truth.”
She looked beyond him toward the lake. A heron flew up from the reeds near the shore and arced into the blue sky. “I was ashamed. My dad boasted about how he’d gotten the better of your family. For your dad to have to borrow money from mine was bad enough, but then…” Her dark eyes were despairing.
Despair that almost got to him, but not quite. The hurt had gone too deep. “You kept that secret all these years?”
“Mom, Mia, and me.” She dropped her head to her knees. “How did you find out?”
“Trevor came across a note about the loan in files of Dad’s we hadn’t looked at. With the fire so close, he pulled everything out of an old cabinet.” His pulse raced. “My dad made a deal with a guy he never liked, and who never liked him. It must have given both my parents a lot of worry and you didn’t tell me.” She jerked her head up, and he pinned her gaze with his.
Charlie gulped. “I know you’re mad, but you have to believe me. I didn’t mean to lie, and my mom never got over losing your mom’s friendship.” Her expression was pleading. “Right before she died, she talked about your mom, like they were girls together again. Mia thought it was the morphine, but it wasn’t. Mom wanted to go back to the time she was happiest.”
“My mom talks about your mom, but she’s a stubborn woman and her pride must have been hurt.”
Sean’s thoughts spun. Could he forgive Charlie? At least for not telling him about the loan? It was different from the baby. Maybe she’d wanted to protect his dad. With how things were between them back then, how would he have reacted if she’d told him? Given how much his dad hated Dr. Gibbs, Sean might not have believed her.
“Your mom told me to stay away from you and to keep Naomi and Ty away from each other so no more lives would be destroyed.” Charlie’s voice cracked.
His mom had said as much to him, which at the time hadn’t made any sense. “What’s going on between Ty and Naomi is a crush. Ty’s a good kid. Sarah and I talked to him. I trust him to not do anything stupid.” He trusted his son more than he trusted himself.
“Naomi’s a good kid too.” She scrubbed a hand across her face. “Which leaves us.”
Her words echoed. He hadn’t been an us in more years than he wanted to count. “What are you doing here with me?”
“I tried. I really did, but I couldn’t stay away from you.” She moved closer, and her hair brushed his arm.
He couldn’t stay away from her either. “I don’t have any answers.” Although he wished he did. “All I know is neither of us can change what happened back then. Or change how my mom feels.”
“I think she’s sorry.” Charlie’s voice was small. “At least sorry about what happened between her and Mom.”
Sorry didn’t change the past or the present. “My dad paid your dad back, all the money he borrowed and that obscene interest.”
Charlie’s face was wan. “It cost your dad more than money. That’s what your mom can’t forgive.”
“It cost all of us.” His voice was bitter. Maybe him and Charlie most of all.
He stood and shucked off his shirt. A tangled mix of anger and desire knotted his stomach. He didn’t trust himself to be this close to her and not touch her. But he was afraid he’d ask her where they went from here. Or if things were so broken, could the two of them go anywhere.
Charlie’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“Going for a swim.” His head battled with his heart and his heart won. At least for now. This whole thing sucked but, unlike his dad, Sean had a choice. He couldn’t fix the trust, but he could stop some of the hurt and anger.
He stripped off his shorts and adjusted the swim trunks he’d worn u
nderneath before he dug in his backpack and tossed her a towel. “Want to join me?”
“We just ate lunch.” Her gaze darted around the deserted beach. “There’s nowhere to change either.”
“Neither of those things ever stopped you before.” He dropped his sunglasses on top of his towel. “Do you honestly believe we’ll get cramps and drown after a couple of sandwiches?”
“No, but…” She touched her leg.
“Change behind a tree. I’ll keep my back turned.” He walked toward the lake and waded in.
“Promise?”
“Scout’s honor.” He turned to face her again, warmth spreading through his body.
“You were never a Boy Scout.” Still fully dressed, Charlie stood with her hands on her curvy hips. Much as he wanted to, he couldn’t stay mad at her.
“No, but I was a lifeguard. I can rescue you if that Twix bar gives you problems.” And he’d cover her lush mouth with his and taste her sweetness.
“I was a lifeguard too, remember?” The corners of her mouth twitched. Then she grabbed her pack and flounced into the woods with a little swivel of her hips that made him think about things he shouldn’t think about.
He moved into the water, and his body cooled. He lifted his face to the August sky, where puffy white clouds drifted across the blue as in those endless childhood summers. Back when he thought life was simple and his parents had all the answers.
Sean closed his eyes and floated on his back, lulled by the gentle motion of the water and the silence broken only by the rustle of the wind in the trees.
There was a splash and he opened his eyes. Charlie bobbed in the water next to him. The breath whooshed out of his lungs.
“What?” Arms above her head, she slicked back her wet hair.
“I…uh…” His tongue got stuck to the roof of his mouth, as awkward as the boy he’d once been.
“Put your eyes back in your head. You’ve seen me in a swimsuit before.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
But not like this one. He’d never seen Linnie in this suit and didn’t want to imagine it on his brother’s wife. The green one-piece plunged deep between Charlie’s breasts and hugged every one of her delicious curves. The swimsuits she’d worn as a teenager were functional, black or blue, designed for speed in the water. This one was designed to drive a man wild. He moved closer and brushed a drop of water off her cheek. “You take my breath away.”
As much as he’d wanted the girl, despite everything, he wanted the woman more.
Her eyes darkened. “Sean?”
“You want this as much as I do.” He cupped her breasts in his hands and caressed her taut nipples with the pad of his thumbs. She groaned low in her throat.
“We can’t.” But even as she said the words, she rocked her hips into his.
“Can you stop this?” He slid one strap of the swimsuit down to expose a rosy nipple. “I want you, Charlie.” His body throbbed. “I want to touch you and feel your hands touching me.” And he wanted to be so deep inside her, he could forget all the reasons he should stay away from her. “But we spent too much time in my truck, in the woods, in the boathouse, on a blanket on this beach even, always in a rush, afraid we’d get caught. This time I want it to be different.”
“Different?” Her eyes were hazy and unfocused.
He slid the swimsuit strap back up her delicious body and lingered on her breasts, barely contained by the suit’s tiny cups. “Slow, for a start, and in my bed, where we won’t be interrupted.”
“Slow?” Her voice was thick.
“To savor.” He smoothed her wet hair, sleek like a dark cap against her head, before his hand drifted to her waist, spreading ripples of water.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I want you too. Even though I know it can’t—”
He raised a finger to her lips. He didn’t want her to say anything to stop what felt so good, so right. “I know the rules, remember?”
She knew the rules too.
Charlie smoothed her dress. The emerald fabric hugged her breasts and skimmed over her thighs before it flared out again to her feet. Reflected in the mirror in the bathroom off Sean’s bedroom, her face was flushed and her eyes bright. She wanted this. Even if this one night was all she had, she wouldn’t look back with regrets.
She took a deep breath as she pulled open the bathroom door and stepped into the bedroom. It was decorated in navy and cream and dominated by a king-sized bed piled high with pillows. Sean leaned against the headboard, the top buttons of his white dress shirt undone. His hair glowed in the soft light cast by the pillar candle on the nightstand. The raw desire in his eyes made her breath hitch and her chest get tight. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” His voice was low and sensual.
The curtains swayed in the cool breeze blowing through the screen. Water lapped against the beach, and frogs called.
Sean rolled off the bed and got to his feet, closing the distance between them. “Ever since you came back, I’ve fantasized about being with you here.”
“You have?” Charlie’s heartbeat quickened.
“Yes.” His touch against the curve of her cheek sent flames licking through her. “But I never imagined you’d look like an incredibly sexy mermaid.” His hand slipped lower and grazed her neck and the line of her bare shoulders. “That’s a whole other fantasy.”
Charlie trembled as his hand drifted across her collarbone and found the pulse point on her neck. His hand drifted lower still to trace the curve of her waist. “It’s a pretty fancy dress for eating takeout, but I wanted to wear it for you.”
She’d imagined seeing the same heat in his eyes she saw now. Imagined how his pupils would dilate with arousal.
“I’m honored.” His voice was rough, and he bent his head to suck the sensitive spot on her neck.
The ache between her legs intensified. “You said you wanted to take it slow.”
“Yeah, I did.” Sean’s chuckle was quiet.
She lifted her hair away from her face and ran her fingers through the strands. Then she stepped back and wet her lips with her tongue, remembering how the gesture used to turn him on.
“You always were a tease.” He reached for her, but she slipped out of his grasp, drawing courage from the dress, and the heels that added four inches to her height.
“I thought you’d have forgotten.” She ran a hand across her breasts.
His eyes glittered. “I didn’t forget anything about you, especially not that.” His breath stuttered.
Her face heated and she moved to the window seat. She knew he watched her. How her hips swayed in the figure-hugging dress. “I didn’t forget anything either.” Teasing gone, she turned to look at him and her heart caught. “All these years, I’ve remembered what it was like between us. Tonight, will you show me again?”
He crossed the floor in two strides and caught her in his arms. “Oh, Charlie.” His voice roughened as his mouth sought the curve of her neck again.
She swayed and held on to his shoulders. “There,” she whispered as she tilted her head toward his warm lips. She writhed in his arms, clawed at his shirt, found a button and undid it.
“God.” He covered her mouth in a hot and hungry kiss that told her how much he wanted her.
She pulled his shirt out of his black dress pants and ran her hand across his bare skin, his back muscles corded tight. “Take your shirt off,” she murmured against his mouth.
“My pleasure.” He guided her fingers to the buttons and helped her work them through the holes. He slid the shirt off his shoulders as he edged her toward the bed.
She gave him a tentative smile, all of a sudden shy. “We never…” She stopped and rested her palms flat against his chest.
He cupped her face in his hands, his expression serious. “I did.” Moving away, he slid open the nightstand drawer and pulled out a box of condoms.
A new box. Meaning he hadn’t used them with anyone else. Meaning he’d thought about this, and planned it
. Even more than she had. Her heart thudded as she took the box and peeled off the plastic wrapper. There was no doubt she was the only woman in his life right now. She was special to him, almost like she belonged. “Thanks for taking care of it.”
“I’ll keep you safe this time, I promise.” He reached for the box again, and opened it. “I bought these in Kincaid.” He gave her a sexy grin as he shook several foil packets out. “No point giving folks in Firefly Lake something else to talk about.”
“Smart man.” She grinned back, shyness gone, then trailed her hands down his chest to follow the fine line of blond hair to his navel, leaning in to taste his skin.
“Charlie.” His voice got tight.
“What?” She slid to her knees and undid his belt buckle. When the buckle was free, she unbuttoned his pants and eased the zipper down, brushing her fingers against his erection. At his sharp intake of breath, she touched him again, harder this time.
“Don’t stop.” His body jerked against her hand.
“I won’t.” She slid his pants off his legs one-handed and cupped the arch of one bare foot. She looked at him, naked apart from a pair of white boxers, his skin golden in the candlelight. She breathed in the scent of vanilla from the candle mixed with the crisp sandalwood of his soap.
He eased her to her feet. “My turn.”
Her stomach somersaulted at the look on his face and the sexual excitement in his eyes. He kissed her, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth, before turning her to face the window. He pulled her back into his body. His fingers tugged on the zipper of her dress, and cooler air hit her hot skin.
“Sean.” She rubbed against him and he groaned, even as he held her firm.
“Slow, remember?” His voice was strained, the urgency barely contained. He lifted her hair and kissed the back of her neck as his skilled fingers inched the zipper lower. “You aren’t wearing a bra.” He traced the bare line of her spine.
“This dress has a built-in…” She let out a hoarse cry as the sequined top came away from her body and his hands cupped her breasts, found the hard points of her nipples and stroked.
