Sweet Salvation

by Maddie Taylor

  “Stop, Stacy, my ears are bleeding.”

  “Oh, pooh.”

  “Permission to come aboard?” Jared called and without waiting for an answer helped Stacy onto the sailboat.

  “You’re late.”

  “Sorry, bud. Something came up.”

  Marc’s intelligent eyes flickered between them and judiciously kept silent. “Not a problem. Jess is below changing into her suit. She’ll be up in a minute.”

  “So you finally asked her out. What happened to swearing off all work romances?”

  “She’s gorgeous. I caved. Sue me.”

  Just then, a head full of coppery red and gold hair appeared at the top of the stairs. A second later, the rest of the stunningly curvaceous woman appeared, walking out on the deck in a bright yellow, barely-there bikini. She sported dark glasses and nothing else but a bottle of beer and water in her hands.

  “Our company’s here, bella mia,” Marc said as he climbed down from where he was tightening some of the rigging.

  She turned to greet them, the next instant screaming as recognition dawned. “Stacy! I didn’t know you were coming!”

  “Jessie! Good heavens, girl, this is flippin’ fantastic!”

  The two women ran up to each other, hugging and chattering a mile a minute. Jared looked over at Marc and grinned. “I take it they know each other.”

  Stacy heard and turned in Jessie’s arms, beaming. “Jessie is the first friend I made when I moved north from Georgia. We met while volunteering at a hospital fundraiser for juvenile diabetes. We were assigned to the same booth and hit it off right away.”

  Jessie nodded, smiling as brightly. “We had so much fun that day and learned we had a lot in common. We were the same age.”

  “Grew up in similar working class neighborhoods,” Stacy added.

  “We both love Elvis.”

  “And shopping.”

  “Especially shoe shopping,” Jessie said, grinning.

  “We even have the same middle name.” They both burst into gales of laughter as they said this last bit in perfect sync.

  “After that,” Stacy continued when she caught her breath, “I looked her up at the hospital. I used to have to go by the surgical floor each day to pick up the billing information on the surgeons’ hospital cases. We started having coffee together when we could.”

  “Then lunch.”

  “And girls’ night out.”

  Jessie, who was a few inches taller, put her arm around Stacy as they turned to the guys. “The rest as they say is history. We’re now BFFs.”

  Marc laughed cheerily, rescuing the unopened beer from Jessie’s hand. Passing it to Jared, he said, “That’s something you have in common with me and Jared.”

  “I swear, Trent. If you call us BFFs, I’m tossing you in the lake.”

  The girls giggled at Jared’s threatening tone, but Marc laughed. It was all in good fun and Jared proved it when he sent them both a playful wink.

  “I’m getting another beer,” Marc stated as he headed for the stairs leading below deck. “How ‘bout you, Stace?”

  “Sure, I’ll take one.”

  “It’s kind of choppy today. Beer and waves don’t always mix well.” Jared’s warning had Stacy reconsidering.

  “Hm, you’re right, Jared, better make that two.” She cracked up at her own joke. “No, but really, I love sailing. I used to go with a friend’s family to Florida every summer. They sailed. On the Atlantic side, nothing wimpy like the Gulf or the Great Lakes.”

  Jared and Marc laughed at her chutzpah. “You heard the lady, Captain. She’ll have two.”

  “Just water for you, cara?”

  “Yeah, this is my first time so I’m taking it slow and easy.”

  “Ha! That’s what she said,” Marc called with a laugh as he disappeared below.

  “You walked right into that one, Jess.” Jared laughed.

  Both girls rolled their eyes and said in unison, “What a goofball,” and then laughed at their uncanny connection.

  They spent a leisurely day on the water. At one point, weighing anchor and swimming in the cold water. Stacy was the first to wimp out, climbing out of the frigid water shivering with cold. “It’s freezing. I’m expecting penguins and polar bears to swim by any second. Does it ever warm up?”

  The three Michigan natives looked at each other and laughed. “Usually by August it’s warmer,” was Jared’s discouraging answer.

  “What’s your definition of warmer, seventy? I need at least eighty degrees, better yet, call me when it hits eighty-two. Until then, I’ll be the one lounging over there on the deck—in a parka!”

  Jess chimed in from where she was being towed around on Marc’s back, “Quit being such a wimp, Stace, and come back in. We’ll only have two or three weeks of warm before it starts snowing again. So you got to suck it up if you want to swim.”

  “You gotta toughen up, Stace.”

  “Sorry, Marc, no amount of toughening will get me to stand that. I’ll just lounge around topside and read, thank you very much. Now where did I put my parka?”

  They all laughed at her retreat, Jared hollering after her. “Put on sunscreen, baby. I’ll be up to get your back in a sec.” Stacy grumbled as she wrapped up in her beach towel, shivering in the light breeze, teeth chattering the whole while. He’d been on her all day about sunscreen, her being so fair and all. He said he was concerned about her burning, but she thought it was equal parts sunburn and the fact he enjoyed slathering the stuff all over her skin. He paid special attention to her chest, belly, and thighs, which she told him she could easily reach herself. He had smiled and said he wanted to make sure they didn’t miss an inch. Then when she turned over, well, the ten minutes he spent on the back of her thighs made her reach for a cold beverage every time.

  In a few minutes, Jared joined her and applied another coat of SPF 45 to her fair-skinned back and shoulders. Before long, Jessie came out to sun, with Marc doing the same for her. A blonde and a redhead with fair skin and blue eyes were just asking for sunburns. Marc with his Italian heritage turned brown before their eyes, having applied only a thin layer early in the day. Jared, although not as dark, also tanned easily and required minimal coverage.

  “Your nose is pink, so are your shoulders. You need to move under the awning.”

  “Jared, I’m still freezing. I’ll just dry off and warm up first, and then I’ll move. Okay?”

  “Be careful, I don’t want you hurting tonight, sweetheart.” He leaned in for a smokin’ hot kiss and then moved off with Marc, who’d just given Jessie the same lecture.

  “You know them both, Jess. Have they always been this bossy?”

  “Yes.”

  When she didn’t elaborate, Stacy laughed. “Well, that was to the point.”

  “They’re doctors, used to being in charge and giving orders. They expect people to obey without question because people’s lives are in their hands. That it spills over into their private lives is hardly unexpected, you know?”

  “You’re right. It’s annoying sometimes, but mostly really sexy.”

  Jessie sighed. “Don’t I know it.”

  “Okay, spill. What’s going on with you and Marc? When did you start dating? Is it serious? What do people at the hospital say? Is it serious?”

  “You asked that last one twice.”

  “That’s because it’s the most important.” Stacy smiled at her, so happy that her best friend was dating Jared’s best friend. It couldn’t be any more perfect. “Spill!”

  “All right already! Sheesh. We met at work, obviously. Where else would I meet a filthy rich doctor? We were attracted right away, but we both resisted the pull. He’d had some bad relationships. As for me, I thought we were just too different. I actually thought he was a player for a long time, but then something changed.”

  “What?”

  “He kissed me.”

  “Do tell.” Stacy waited. “No,
seriously, do tell. Don’t stop at the good part.”

  “It was better than good,” Jessie said with a dreamy smile. “It was phenomenal. I thought I was going to, well—you know, from just a kiss. It made me senseless and fuzzy, as if he’d blown a fuse in my brain or something. Still does it every time too.”

  “I know what you mean. How did this come about if you were both staying away from each other?”

  “He was fussing at me about something. To everybody else he was sweet and patient, but if I didn’t get his instruments set up just right and I mean perfect, like if I had a scalpel at one o’clock instead of three o’clock, or if I had an extra swab on the tray, it was like I’d killed someone. He was being a real ass.”

  “He liked you.”

  “Yeah, like a kid in second grade who punches his crush in the arm really hard every time he sees her. I’m glad he figured it out ‘cause the bruises were adding up.”

  “Huh, how did you go from that to almost ‘you knowing’ in your pants when he kissed you?”

  “He followed me into the locker room one day, to fuss at me more. I had just pulled off my scrub top when he just barged on in. There I was in my bra, not my prettiest one either, because it was past laundry day. He just stood there staring for a minute, then wham! I was plastered against the lockers and he was kissing me like in the movies. That’s when I almost ‘you knowed’ in my pants.”

  “Heavens, that’s romantic,” Stacy sighed. “So when did this happen?”

  “About a month ago.”

  “Jessica Lynn Swanson! You’ve been dating Dr. Bossy Hunk Millionaire for a month and you didn’t tell your best friend? I’m crushed.”

  “What about you? You didn’t tell me you and Jared were serious. You said you’d been out. Hah! The way he rubbed sunscreen on your ass and stuck his tongue down your throat right there in that chair was a heck of a lot more than going out! I’m the one who’s crushed and inconsolable.”

  They stared at each other for a long moment, neither the least bit angry. Then they both grinned at one another until a voice booming from below in the cockpit made them jump.

  “Stacy! Under the awning. Now.”

  “Okay!” she hollered back, getting up and gathering her things. To Jessie she murmured, “Did I say all that bossy, dominant crap was sexy? I need my head examined.”

  Jessie giggled. “You sure didn’t sass him like you did me just now. You’re dick whipped.”

  Stacy bristled. “Am not. Just this morning I told him to ‘f off.’”

  Jess gasped. “You didn’t!”

  “Yes, I did. So whose dick whipped now?”

  “He doesn’t seem mad.”

  “He was then. In fact, he was so mad I almost didn’t come today.”

  “That would have been awful. What changed your mind?”

  “Well—”

  Jessie jumped on her hesitation. “There is more. I know it. I can tell by the look on your face. Jared is nice but he’s just as dominant and exacting as Marc is, if not more. It’s your turn now, Stacy. Spill!”

  “Hey, don’t use my words against me.”

  “If you don’t play fair, brat, I’ll do what your mama should have done and spank your naughty butt.”

  “You wouldn’t!” Stacy’s face flamed with heat when Jessie hit on the exact topic she was trying to avoid. Why on earth was Jessie talking about spanking? She couldn’t possibly know.

  “You’re blushing.” She paused then as a sly grin spread across her face. “I wouldn’t, but Jared would. That’s what happened, isn’t it? Jared spanked your naughty ass.”

  “Nonsense.” Jeez, she was even picking up Jared’s mannerisms. If she had a dollar for every time he’d said ‘nonsense.’

  “He did. Fess up, or I’ll ask him myself.”

  “Oh, all right. I was being a brat and he called me on it. If you want specifics, I told him to fuck off and get out of my apartment. He wasn’t at all pleased and blistered my butt instead. Happy now?”

  “Did it hurt?”

  “At the time, yes… well, not that much, really. But now, it’s just a memory.”

  “They must have been separated at birth.”

  “Jess! You too? But you’ve only been seeing each other a month.”

  “Yeah, well, I did something stupid and he found out.”

  “Like what?”

  “I had a flat tire.”

  “You got spanked over a flat tire?”

  “Well, not exactly for the tire. I forget to charge my cell phone and on the way back from visiting my mom, I had the flat.”

  “Okay, not charging your phone is bad, but I wouldn’t think that deserved a spanking. Was this a real spanking or a sexy spanking?”

  “It felt like a real one to me, and Stacy, he made me stand in the corner afterward and think about it.

  “Well, now I’m getting pissed. That was overreacting, don’t you think?”

  “Tell her the rest, cara.” Both of their heads whipped around to see the guys, bare-chested in nothing but their swimming trunks, lounging against the railing with arms crossed as they casually listened.

  “How long have you two been standing there?” Stacy demanded of Jared.

  “Let’s see, it was about the time you called me ‘annoying sometimes, but mostly really sexy.’ I definitely heard about all of those ‘you knows.’” He smiled as she flushed crimson. “What about you, Marc?”

  He looked at Jared with a grin. “I came in when your half-pint girlfriend called me Dr. Bossy Hunk Millionaire, didn’t I? Thanks for that by the way, Stace.”

  Jared chuckled.

  Stacy buried her face in her hands and mumbled, “Take me now, Jesus,” under her breath.

  Marc said, “Don’t go until Jessie explains, Stace. Tell her why else you earned that spanking, bella mia.”

  “Do I have to?”

  All three of them answered, “Yes!”

  “Well… I was headed home from my mother’s at about nine o’clock when I had a blowout on I-75. Already late for my date with Marc, I had no way to call him so he wouldn’t worry, no way to call roadside assistance either. I didn’t know how to change a tire, so when a nice man offered, I let him.”

  “Oh, no, Jess. Tell me you didn’t get out of your car.”

  “Okay, I won’t.”

  “But she did. And that is why your best friend, my naughty new girlfriend earned a well-deserved butt roasting.”

  “I’d have spanked you too, Jess.” This came from Stacy.

  “Me too,” added Jared.

  “Me three,” added Jessie ruefully. “I learned my lesson, believe me.”

  Marc walked over and bent down, sealing his lips to hers in a very soft-looking kiss. Very nice, Stacy thought, as she watched it all happen. She smiled, happy for her friends.

  When Marc finally raised his head, long minutes later he said, “I’m glad you learned your lesson and will be all the safer for it. My techniques may be out of the ordinary but are very effective, don’t you agree, bella mia?”

  Jessie’s hand rose to his cheek as she answered, “Highly effective; so much so, they won’t have to be repeated for years, maybe decades. Don’t you think, handsome?”

  “Somehow, I doubt it, baby.”

  Chapter Five

  Filled with anticipation, Stacy pointed out the last remaining parking space in the crowded lot.

  “Hurry, Jared, there’s a car turning down on the other side. If they get there first, we’ll have to hoof it.” She heard his amused chuckle, but ignored him as she watched the other vehicle approach. Jared’s SUV beat them to the spot by at least three car lengths and Stacy whooped in victory.

  “This isn’t NASCAR, Stacy.”

  She wrinkled her nose at his little joke. He knew how much that annoyed her. Why did everyone assume that all southerners were NASCAR fans, or rednecks for that matter? Still ignoring him, she looked through the windshield
at the wonderful wintry scene before her.

  Snow had been falling off and on—mostly on—for the past week, leaving at least a foot of the fluffy white stuff on the frozen ground. It was January in southeastern Michigan, and the intrepid residents, although used to the seemingly endless cold, snow, and dreariness, were looking forward to spring that was still months away. Today, the forecast delivered a much-needed promise of a break in the weather and folks had eagerly ventured out from the confines of their homes, ready to cast off the blight of cabin fever. It seemed that everyone had the same idea, tackling the sled hills and toboggan runs of Cass Benton Park, one of the most popular sledding hills in the Detroit area. Now, the snowy white hills were peppered with bundled-up kids and adults alike.

  She couldn’t believe that almost a year had passed since she and Jared had started dating. As her thumb ran over the band of the diamond solitaire on her left hand, it was even harder to believe they were engaged. After dating six months, he’d popped the question and moved her into his big, empty, hideously decorated house. “No,” he’d said adamantly when she’d asked if they were rushing. He was sure she was the one he wanted for the rest of his life.

  They’d agreed to a March wedding, a small private affair at Stacy’s request since Jared wouldn’t hear of eloping. Now it was less than two months away and she’d done practically nothing, despite the efforts of her maid of honor, Jessie, and Joanne Baker, her future mother-in-law. Both had been trying to get her ass in gear for months, but she still procrastinated. Why? Because none of it was what she wanted, except for the groom, of course. She’d have been happy to hop in a car, bus, or even a train to elope whenever he wanted. So here she was, near the eleventh hour with no dress or flowers, not to mention Jared’s ring, music, or invitations.

  Maybe she could go dress shopping with Jessie, because unbelievably she had her own dress to buy. Implausible as it may seem, just as Stacy was showing off her rock and bursting at the seams with excitement, Jess was doing the same, bouncing up and down and squealing as she held out her own perfect diamond. Although the guys had sworn they hadn’t planned it that way, they’d both ended up proposing on the same weekend. Two best friends proposing to two best friends without any of the other ones’ knowing. It was too weird.