by Marie Force
Sitting on the hotel’s back deck with a cup of coffee, looking out over the wide expanse of water, she watched for the first ferry from the mainland that was due to arrive in South Harbor in twenty minutes. The routine of island life was one that had suited her for many years, and she’d missed it during their time in Florida. They’d moved there when their grandson Jeff had needed them after his suicide attempt. There they’d been able to get him the medical attention he needed, the kind of help that wasn’t available on a small island like Gansett.
It had been the right thing to do at the time, but she was tiring of the incessant sun and the heat. She missed the New England seasons and the variety of weather that came with them. Perhaps it was time to speak to Russ about moving home.
She glanced at the cream vellum envelope sitting on a table next to her and smiled from the anticipation of presenting their wedding gift to Owen and Laura. They were going to do it at brunch, and Adele was excited to see how they reacted. She and Russ had talked it over and agreed it was the perfect gift for the happy couple.
Sipping her coffee, Adele breathed in the fragrant sea air and let the sun shine warm upon her face. The back deck of the Sand & Surf Hotel was, without a doubt in her mind, the most beautiful spot on the face of the earth.
On the beach below, Adele noticed her granddaughter Katie walking along the shoreline and was forced to relive the horror she’d witnessed the day before when Katie had nearly drowned after being caught in a riptide. Adele had seen the whole thing unfold from her perch on the deck. Before she could move to call for help, Shane had been there to save the day.
Watching both young people go down together had been one of the most heart-stopping moments of her life. Again, they’d rallied while she’d remained frozen with fear and panic—a reaction she wasn’t proud of with hindsight. The thought of that kind of tragedy befalling Owen and Laura on their wedding day, not to mention the rest of their family, reduced Adele to tears all over again.
Watching Katie walk on the beach, her blonde hair billowing in the summer breeze, Adele recalled the way Shane had carried her onto the beach, breathed life into her lungs and then held her while she sobbed in the aftermath of the frightening incident.
Adele didn’t know Shane all that well, but Laura had shared some of what he’d been through with his ex-wife. She’d watched him during the wedding and had been impressed with his obvious devotion to Laura and his nephew, Holden, who’d spent most of the wedding snuggled up to his Uncle Shane.
He was quiet and reserved compared to his far more boisterous McCarthy cousins. Shane sat back and took it all in, participating, but not leading the charge. Although, in that animated group, it was a challenge to get a word in edgewise. He was handsome as could be with sun-streaked hair and a dark tan from working outside during the summer.
Adele had also tuned in to the way he watched Katie during the wedding. He’d probably be surprised that anyone had noticed, as he’d been so subtle about it. But every time she looked at him, he was looking at Katie. As far as she knew, Katie had never had a boyfriend. According to her twin, Julia, Katie had never been on a date. Adele didn’t need a PhD in psychology to deduce it was because of her violent upbringing. At some point, Katie must’ve decided it was easier to avoid men altogether than to encounter someone like her father.
Although Adele wasn’t one to meddle in the lives of her precious grandchildren, seeing Owen happy and settled with Laura had her wanting that for the others, too. While Shane certainly had his own scars on his soul, perhaps the two of them would be good for each other. Adele tapped her finger against her lip as she contemplated the possibility of them as a couple.
In light of what he’d been through with his wife, Adele wasn’t entirely convinced he’d be good for her Katie. But she planned to keep an eye on them for what remained of the weekend, and she also planned to talk to Russ about the possibility of moving home. It was time.
Chapter 3
Katie walked along the shoreline with her feet in the water, trying to ignore the panic that tugged at her when she thought about being nearly swept out to sea. She’d always loved this beach and swimming in the surf and couldn’t imagine never doing it again.
When she and her siblings had been kids, they’d spent their summers here with their grandparents, which had been the only respite they’d gotten from their violent, unpredictable father. The thought of being afraid of this beach was inconceivable to Katie. It was her happy place. It was the place she’d gone to in her mind any time the violence erupted at home, which was often. Thinking of this beach and the endless blue ocean would take her away from it all.
She’d have to go back in the water at some point. Maybe not today, but someday soon. Today she had another challenge to confront—telling her sister she wouldn’t be returning home to Texas with her. Not wanting to spoil the wedding festivities, she hadn’t told anyone, even her twin and closest confidant, that she had quit her job before coming to the wedding.
The doctor she worked with, a family practitioner, had been coming on to her for years. It had started with teasing comments about her clothes, her hair and her smile and had progressed to more pointed remarks in recent months. On Thursday, she’d had the rare misfortune of being the last one in the office, which left her alone with him—something she went out of her way to avoid.
The office manager had to leave early to pick up her son at camp, which had left Katie alone with the randy doctor. While he’d often been inappropriate with her, he’d never scared her until that night after their last patient had left, and he’d blocked the doorway to keep her from leaving the office.
It’d been years since Katie had experienced that kind of fear, and it had taken her right back to the darkness of her childhood.
“You’ve been teasing me for a long time now,” Dr. Marcus Gould had said as he advanced toward her, forcing Katie to back away from him until she encountered her desk.
With nowhere to run and no way out, she’d begun to tremble violently. “I… I haven’t teased you.” She rarely talked to him except when she absolutely had to. How did that translate into teasing?
“We both know better.” Other women found him attractive. Katie knew that from the way her coworkers and even some of the patients speculated endlessly about his personal life. Katie had never participated in those conversations because he made her sick with his lecherous looks and inappropriate comments.
Carmen, the office manager, told Katie she was “lucky” he liked her so much and that she was jealous of the attention the doctor paid to Katie. For her part, Katie wished he’d leave her alone and let her do her job in peace.
“What’re we to do about this attraction between us?” he asked as he advanced even closer to her.
“What attraction?” If he touched her, Katie was quite certain she would throw up all over him.
“I love how you play hard to get. It’s a huge turn-on.”
“I’m not playing anything.” She hated how her voice wavered. “I’m here to work, and that’s it.”
“Katie,” he said in the condescending tone she hated. “We both know better. When are you going to quit fighting the inevitable?”
Inevitable? That was when she knew she had to get out of there or risk being molested—or worse—by this pig of a man. The things she’d learned in the self-defense classes Owen had insisted his sisters take when they were in junior high school came rushing back to her.
Choose your moment carefully.
Though it pained her to remain passive while the doctor continued to close in on her, Katie remembered the instructor’s advice to wait until she had a clear shot. Swallowing the bile that collected in her throat and willing her limbs to cooperate, she waited until he was inches from her before she acted, jamming the heel of her hand into his nose and her knee into his groin. He went down like a felled oak tree, landing in a screaming, bleeding mess on the floor.
Katie grabbed her purse and stepped over him.
“Do it, and I’ll ruin you with years of recorded come-ons and innuendos. Oh, you didn’t think I was smart enough to build a case for when this day finally arrived? Think again. Have me charged, and I’ll sue your ass off for harassment. And by the way, I quit, you miserable son of a bitch.”
She’d shaken for hours after the confrontation, sitting at home waiting for the police to show up and arrest her. Fortunately, Julia had been out for most of the night, so she didn’t have to explain her odd behavior to her sister. She’d been awake all night, but the police never came. Apparently, he’d believed her when she said she had proof of his harassment, which she did not.
After a long and sleepless night, she realized she’d called his bluff, and in the process, had quit a job she needed. It was for the best, though. God only knew what might’ve happened in the office that night if she hadn’t known how to defend herself. She couldn’t even think about it without feeling sick to her stomach.
“Katie?”
Jarred out of her thoughts, Katie discovered she’d walked quite a ways down the beach and was staring out at the ocean.
Shane McCarthy, with Holden on his shoulders, eyed her inquisitively. “Are you okay?”
Katie shook off the unpleasant memories of her now ex-colleague and forced a smile for Shane. “I’m fine, thank you. How are you guys this morning?” Shane wore plaid shorts and a white T-shirt that made him look extra tan. His feet were bare as he walked along the water’s edge. She caught a whiff of sporty cologne or maybe it was shampoo. His hair was still damp from an earlier shower, but he hadn’t shaved, and his whiskers were golden in the early morning sunlight. All in all, he was incredibly handsome, not that it mattered. He was Laura’s brother, for crying out loud.
“We’re great. Just out for a stroll on the beach before brunch.”
“How did Holden do last night?”
“Slept through the night. I’ve decided his mother is making up all this middle-of-the-night business.”
Holden let out a happy-sounding squeal that made Shane and Katie laugh.
“Be careful telling her that, or she’ll want you to stay with him every night.” As she spoke to him, Katie tried to forget that his hands had been all over her, that he’d seen her naked breasts and blown air into her mouth. It was mortifying to remember the way she’d clung to him in her panic and nearly managed to drown them both. Not to mention afterward, when he’d held her while she sobbed.
“I’d happily stay with him every night. He’s the best thing… well, ever.”
“He sure is cute.”
“You want to hold him?”
“Um, sure.”
“Go see Auntie Katie, buddy,” Shane said as he handed Holden to her.
She took the baby into her arms, noting how solid and sturdy he was at just over six months old. He had soft dark hair and eyes that looked up at her curiously as if to determine who this stranger was holding him. “He must look just like his father.”
“He does,” Shane said, his smile fading. “Don’t get me started on that guy.”
“I never heard what happened between him and Laura, not that it’s any of my business. Whatever it was brought her to Owen, which is where she belongs.”
“It sure is. Her ex never quit dating after they got married. She found out when he made a date with one of her bridesmaids who’d seen his profile online and set him up.”
“Oh my God. Seriously? When he had someone like Laura at home?”
“My thoughts exactly. It was all I could do not to kill him.”
“I bet.”
With Katie still holding the baby, they started back toward the Sand & Surf, where the post-wedding brunch would begin shortly.
“Is he too heavy for you?” Shane asked after a few minutes of silence.
“Not at all. He’s adorable.”
“No arguments here. I think he’s the cutest baby in the history of the world.”
“It’s really nice of you to stay with him so Laura and Owen could have a night alone.”
“I love being with him.”
“He smells so good. I love that baby smell.”
“We took a shower together, and I discovered he’s like a slippery eel when he’s wet. It was all I could do to hold on to him. We ended up sitting in the tub.” He laughed and shook his head. “It was a disaster, but he loved it.”
The image of Shane McCarthy, naked and wet in the shower, had Katie swallowing hard. That he was obviously smitten with his nephew only made him more attractive. What was wrong with her that she could go from reliving the horror of the near attack by the doctor she worked with to thinking Shane was attractive?
So he was good-looking as well as kind and attentive toward his nephew. That didn’t mean he was always that way. People often had two sides to them, as she knew all too well. Keeping her focus on the baby, she walked with Shane beside her.
“How long are you here?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.” Now that there was nothing to go home to in Texas, she’d thought about staying awhile, if Laura and Owen didn’t mind having her around. She’d wanted to get past the wedding before she brought that up with them. “Do you live here, or are you just here for the wedding?”
“It seems I live here now.”
“It seems?”
“I hadn’t planned to move here, but Laura asked me to come help with the hotel renovations. Then our cousin Mac asked me to stay through the summer to work on a project of his. Next thing you know, I’ve been here eight months with no end in sight to the work.”
“Where do you normally live?”
“I used to live in Providence.”
“Do you like it here?”
“I love it. I came here as a kid to visit my cousins in the summer. Those were the best times. With Laura here and now our dad out here year-round, too, it’s begun to feel like home.”
“We used to come in the summers to visit our grandparents. I loved it then, and it’s hardly changed at all since the last time I was here.”
“I wonder if we were ever here at the same time when we were kids.”
“The last time I was here in the summer was when I was seventeen. So fifteen years ago.”
“You’re thirty-two?” he asked, sounding surprised.
“Yeah, so?”
“You don’t look it. I would’ve guessed twenty-three or -four.”
“Oh come on! No way.”
“Yes, way! I’m not kidding. I never would’ve guessed you’re older than me.”
She glanced at him out of the side of her eye. “By how much?”
“Only two years. Don’t worry.”
“That’s a relief,” she said teasingly.
“Speaking of relief, let me take him.” He reached for Holden. “He gets heavy after a while.”
While Katie had enjoyed holding the baby, her arms tingled as blood flowed through them after she was relieved of his weight.
Holden squealed when Shane plopped him back on his shoulders, keeping a firm grip on the baby’s tiny body. He grasped a tight handful of Shane’s hair, making his uncle wince.
“Easy, buddy. You’ll give me a bald spot.” He extricated his hair from Holden’s grip without losing a beat in their walk. “I think we might’ve been here at the same time. Maybe we met way back then.”
“Maybe.”
“So what do you do down there in Texas?”
“I’m a nurse practitioner.”
“Oh, really? That’s cool. In a hospital?”
She shook her head. “For a doctor. Until recently anyway.” The words popped out before she remembered no one knew she’d quit her job. “I’ll be job hunting eventually, but do me a favor and don’t mention that to my family. I haven’t told them I quit my job.”
“I won’t say anything.”
“Thanks.”
“So why’d you leave your job?”
Katie was as
tounded to realize she wanted to tell him. He was so nice and easy to talk to. It would be such a relief to unburden herself, but she couldn’t do that. Not when she hadn’t even told Julia. “It’s a long story.” As they were close to the stairs that led up to the hotel, the generic response was an easy out.
“Some other time, then.”
“Sure.”
He stopped walking and turned to her. “I was wondering…”
“About?”
“Since you’re going to be here awhile, could I take you to dinner some night? Maybe tonight?”
After a lifetime of avoiding men, brushing off their unwelcome attention and generally dodging situations like this one, she had no idea how to respond to him. She’d become adept at blowing off the advances of men who didn’t matter to her. But this situation called for an unusual amount of finesse.
“Katie?”
“I… It’s very nice of you to ask, Shane, but I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Oh. Okay. Sorry if I was out of line by asking.”
“You weren’t.” God, could this be any more awkward? Because their siblings were married, she needed to keep things friendly with him. Their families were tied to each other forever now, and their paths would cross frequently. “Not at all.”
He gestured for her to go up the stairs ahead of him.
As she went, she figured her heart was racing from the exertion of climbing the stairs. It couldn’t be because a handsome, sexy, seemingly nice guy had asked her out. It wasn’t that at all.
Chapter 4
Following Katie up the stairs, Shane couldn’t figure out what had possessed him to ask Owen’s sister to dinner the way he had. He hadn’t asked a woman to have so much as a cup of coffee with him in two years. So why now? Why her?
He couldn’t say exactly, except there was something so sweet and peaceful about her, and he couldn’t deny he was drawn to those qualities. But obviously the attraction was one-sided. At least the spontaneous gesture had proven he wasn’t totally dead inside, which was progress.
