Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  Thank goodness, in reality, there had been over twenty years between those two nightmarish events.

  “The two lawyers have a bet going,” Piper said, her tone souring. “They’ve got a thousand dollars riding on which of them can get me in the sack first. I heard them talking about it last night, when they stupidly assumed I was too tipsy to be paying attention.”

  “They obviously didn’t realize that you are never too tipsy to pay attention,” Maddie said. “Or to hold a grudge.”

  “That’s right. A mean grudge,” Piper agreed. “One that will ensure my vagina goes home lonely and full of cobwebs tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Maybe you’ll meet someone else,” Dawn said hopefully. “There are still a few guys who haven’t been claimed.”

  “Not good ones.” Piper sniffed. “My vagina is lonely, not desperate. Shelley may be okay with bumping uglies with a guy who looks like Harry Potter, but I have standards.”

  “Shush!” Dawn’s blue eyes widened as she shot a glance toward Shelley’s tent. “They’re in there together, you know. I heard them making out last night.”

  Piper winced. “Do you think she heard me?” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to be hateful, I’m just jealous that everyone is getting kisses except me.”

  “I didn’t get any kisses,” Dawn said, twining a lock of her silky black hair around her finger, making Maddie jealous that she didn’t have hair that would behave when exposed to the elements. “I spent the whole night talking with Helen like we were at a damn PTA meeting. I think I’ve forgotten how to meet men.”

  “You haven’t forgotten,” Maddie said. “There just aren’t that many guys here. There are at least five more girls than boys, did you notice?”

  “I did.” Piper’s perfectly plucked brows drew together. “And I think the company is guilty of false advertising. Weren’t there supposed to be an equal number of men and women? That’s what it said on the brochure, right?”

  “Totally.” Maddie nodded, affecting more outrage than she actually felt, sensing an opportunity to shift Piper’s focus. “I think we should write a letter to leave in the feedback box.”

  “Or head over to the host tent and lodge an official complaint,” Piper said, obviously warming to the idea. “I may even ask for a partial refund. Not only are there an uneven number of men and women, but the hosts are completely wimping out on the no social media rule. Those two guys at our table were on their phones every other bite of hot dog. I thought cell phones were only supposed to be used for emergencies while on this trip.”

  “They are,” Dawn confirmed. “Guess those guys didn’t get the memo.”

  Maddie took a sip of her coffee, sighing with pleasure. Extra creamy, just the way she liked it. She snuggled deeper into her chair, smugly congratulating herself on dodging the tell-all bullet.

  But she should have known better—Piper was easily riled up, but she wasn’t so easily distracted.

  “But official complaints can wait a few minutes,” Piper said, turning her sharp gaze back to Maddie. “Or however long it’s going to take you to quit messing around and spill the details.”

  Maddie took a gulp of coffee, taking her time to swallow, knowing she was trapped, but still hoping for a miracle—for a tree to fall on her tent or someone’s shoe to catch fire or one of Piper’s children to call with a non-life-threatening emergency.

  She didn’t really expect the miracle to be delivered, however. Although Maddie still believed there was more good in the world than evil, she’d lost faith in miracles the day Serge dropped his bombshell and left their island home with his lover a few hours later, leaving her alone to cry in a puddle of shirts that still smelled of his cologne.

  To say that she was surprised when Jamison jogged up the gravel path that meandered through the campground with his hair standing up on one side, wearing nothing but a wrinkled white undershirt, a pair of cargo shorts slung low on his narrow hips, and a concerned expression, was an understatement.

  She was dumbfounded, so shocked she didn’t think to bring her hand to her face to wipe away the mascara gunk until Jamison was standing on the other side of the fire, staring down at her with a strange, angry-concerned look.

  As soon as their eyes met, a jolt of electricity leapt between them and all the memories of last night came rushing back, making Maddie’s cheeks heat and her body ache in places that felt more pleasantly well-used than they had in years. Until this moment, a part of her had remained unconvinced last night had really happened, but now there was no denying it.

  It had happened and now she was going to have to deal with the aftermath of her whiskey-fueled antics.

  “Can we talk?” Jamison asked, the muscle in his jaw leaping.

  “Um, yeah, sure.” Maddie nearly spilled her coffee in her hurry to set it on the folding table beside her and get out of her friends’ earshot before Jamison confessed that last night had been a mistake he wouldn’t be repeating. It was going to be hard enough to hear it, let alone have witnesses to her shame.

  Piper and Dawn exchanged loaded looks, but Maddie didn’t make eye contact as she moved past them. She led Jamison further down the path, past the bathrooms and on toward the park exit, wiping the black from beneath her eyes as she walked, doing her best to ignore her shaking hands and the strangled feeling tightening her throat. She had no one to blame for this but herself. She had been drunk last night, but not that drunk. She’d known what she was doing when she’d stripped naked and run into the ocean. She had deliberately seduced one of her best friends and now she deserved whatever was coming to her.

  When she and Jamison were far enough from the campground that the only sounds were the chirping of morning birds and the gentle rustle of the wind ruffling the leaves, Maddie balled her hands into fists, lifted her chin, and turned to face Jamison, determined not to let him see how much it was going to hurt when he said that last night had been a mistake.

  “So what’s going on?” Jamison asked, crossing his arms, his posture every bit as defensive as her own. “Why did you leave without saying goodbye?”

  Maddie frowned at the unexpected question. “What?”

  “Are you mad? Do you think I…took advantage, or something?” Jamison asked, the muscle in his jaw twitching again. “Because I swear I thought you were sober enough to know what you wanted. I wouldn’t have done anything if I didn’t think—”

  “No, no.” Maddie shook her head, embarrassment making her cheeks heat. “You didn’t take advantage. I-I knew what I was doing.”

  “Then are you pissed that I didn’t bring you back to your tent last night? Is that it?” Jamison asked. “Or were you just planning to spend the night with me and then run off this morning and pretend like nothing happened?”

  Maddie opened her mouth to speak, but Jamison pressed on before she had the chance.

  “Because that’s not going to work, Maddie.” He stepped closer, pinning her with a gaze every bit as intense and focused as the attention he’d devoted to her body last night. “What happened between us isn’t the kind of thing you walk away from, and you know it.”

  Maddie’s eyes opened wider. This wasn’t what she’d been anticipating. So far from it, in fact, that she couldn’t think of a thing to say.

  “I’ve slept with my share of women and I know you said you had your glory days in Paris, or whatever, but…” Jamison trailed off, running a hand through his mussed hair as he let out a long breath. “Shit, I’m fucking nervous, and I’m never nervous. That says something right there, right?”

  Maddie shrugged, her brain still having trouble connecting the dots. “So
…what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I don’t want me and you to be a one night thing,” he said, a shy note in his voice that was as surprising as his words and so nice it made Maddie’s chest flood with a soft, warm feeling. “I think we should give this a shot, see where it goes.”

  “You mean like…date?” Maddie asked with a nervous laugh, a part of her still certain she was misunderstanding him.

  “You say that like it’s ridiculous,” he said defensively. “I know you date. I saw you out with that creeper from the hardware store.”

  “Tom isn’t a creeper.”

  “He collects toy trains,” Jamison said, raising a wry brow. “Anyone older than ten who collects trains is automatically a creeper.”

  Maddie nodded, seeing his point. “Okay, he’s a creeper, but at least he’s not my sister’s ex-boyfriend.”

  Jamison frowned. “Neither am I.”

  “But you two kissed,” Maddie said, pacing back and forth through the gravel. “I have never kissed a guy that Naomi has kissed before. Never. It’s gross.”

  “You didn’t act like I was gross last night,” he said, a wounded note in his voice that made her feel like an insensitive jerk, something Maddie had never been accused of being in her entire life.

  She just wasn’t prepared for this. She’d never dreamed Jamison was the kind to get attached after a one-night stand, especially not to a woman who was the opposite of his usual type. Maddie had rarely seen him with a woman who wasn’t blonde, tan, and about as big around as her right thigh. She knew she had a nice figure—despite what fashion magazines might do to convince her otherwise—but before last night she would have bet good money Jamison wouldn’t be into a woman whose dress size was a double digit.

  “I don’t mean you’re gross,” Maddie said, fingers tangling nervously together as she turned to face him. “I mean I’m gross. You should have been off-limits. I should have known better, even after five shots of whiskey.”

  Jamison shook his head. “Maddie, that’s crazy. It’s not like Naomi ever liked me as more than a friend. That night was a mistake, and it was fifteen years ago. She’s marrying my brother, for God’s sake. My Naomi kiss is ancient history.”

  “Then why do you still act so weird around her?” Maddie asked, knowing he wasn’t as blasé about Naomi as he was currently pretending. “And don’t say you don’t act weird because you do, and we both know it.”

  Jamison shrugged, gaze shifting to the trees over Maddie’s shoulder. “I don’t know. I guess I still feel guilty about hiding the truth from Jake for so long, or something. It’s just…uncomfortable to be around her.”

  “And how much more uncomfortable will it be when you and I start dating?” Maddie asked. “Or stop dating, because you know we will. Eventually. And then we’ll have to see each other at family events and things will be weird and we’ll never have that easy, friendly relationship we used to have ever again.”

  “We’re never going to have that again anyway,” Jamison said, eyes meeting hers, sending another shiver of awareness through her as his smolder did its wicked work. “Because I’m never going to be able to look at you again without thinking about you naked in the ocean last night.”

  “Never is a long time,” Maddie whispered, heart racing as Jamison stepped closer and his arm circled her waist.

  “It is,” he agreed. “But you calling out my name when you came, with me inside you, isn’t something I’m ever going to forget.”

  Maddie swallowed hard, embarrassment and awareness combining to make her face feel like it was about to catch fire. “Don’t. Please. I’m…I can’t do this.”

  “Why not? Give me one good reason.” Jamison’s arm tightened around her, crushing her against his chest, sending currents of arousal coursing through her from head to toe, making her thighs ache with wanting him. She’d had him four times last night, and she was still dying for more. It didn’t bode well for quitting this thing with Jamison cold turkey, but she had to try.

  “I’ll give you two. Naomi and Jake are christening Noelle in two weeks, and getting married in three.” Maddie ducked her chin to her chest, keeping her gaze on Jamison’s wrinkled shirt. “It’s their time to be in the spotlight. We don’t want to distract from their special days, or make things awkward.”

  “How would we make things awkward?”

  “If the godparents, who also happen to be the maid of honor and the best man, who also happen to be the sister of the bride and the brother of the groom, have recently been through a break up, that would be pretty awkward,” Maddie said, forcing herself to meet Jamison’s eyes, surprised when her words made him smile. “What? It’s not funny. It would be uncomfortable, and we’d been standing within a few feet of each other at the church and seated at the same table at the reception and—”

  “I don’t know about you, but I seriously doubt I’m going to get tired of making love to you in two to three weeks,” Jamison said in a husky voice that set things low in Maddie’s body to tingling. “But on the off chance you decide my body isn’t as addictive as I find yours, I have the perfect solution.”

  “What’s that?” Maddie asked, trying not think about his body, which was pretty darned difficult considering she was pressed up tight against every delicious inch of it.

  “We don’t tell anyone that we’re dating until after the wedding,” he said. “And if we break up before then, no one has to know. No harm, no foul, no distracting from Jake and Naomi’s special day with their baby or their wedding.”

  Maddie frowned. What he was saying made sense, but for some reason she was still completely freaked out by the idea of dating Jamison.

  What about seizing the day? Having a little fun while you wait for Mr. Right? You and Jamison clearly have fun together, and you were just moaning and groaning about how sad you would be if you never got to have sex with him again, so what’s your problem?

  “I don’t know…” Maddie mumbled.

  “Then take today to think about it,” Jamison said, not realizing Maddie had been talking to herself. “There’s no reason to decide right now. Let’s think about it, and we can decide tonight whether we want to keep seeing each other after we go home.”

  Maddie nodded. “Okay.” There was definitely no harm in thinking about things, and maybe a little time to mull this over would help her sort out her mixed emotions.

  “Good,” Jamison said, nodding his head back toward camp. “You want to go get some breakfast? I saw they had coffee and cinnamon buns out on the picnic tables near the host tent.”

  “I should probably shower, and clean up,” Maddie said, as she started down the path beside him. “I’m sure I look like a shipwreck survivor.”

  Jamison shot her a sideways glance. “Nah. You look gorgeous. As usual.”

  Maddie turned to demand he stop blowing smoke up her skirt, but when she met his eyes he looked so sincere she swallowed her words and mumbled a soft, “thank you,” instead.

  “Just callin’ ’em like I see ’em,” he said with a grin. “Catch you after dinner.”

  Maddie nodded and Jamison broke into a jog, trotting off toward the camp, leaving her to trudge through the gravel on her own, accompanied by nothing but the sound of her own footsteps and the voices warring in her head.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BY THE TIME DINNER rolled around Jamison was an uncharacteristic bundle of nerves.

  He’d told himself a dozen times it didn’t matter what Maddie decided. There were other fish in the sea, several of which he co
uld probably convince to come back to his tent before sunset if Maddie turned him down. There had been no shortage of lingering glances his way while he and the other guys were playing beach volleyball, and Debbie didn’t seem to be holding a grudge over the fact that he had abandoned her on the beach not long after Maddie caught them kissing.

  But his inner pep talk fell flat.

  He didn’t want any of the other fish in the sea, or the women on the retreat, or any other woman in Summerville, for that matter. Ever since that day in February, when he’d suddenly seen Maddie through new eyes, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. After last night, he’d be lucky if he could masturbate to anything but memories of his night with Maddie for the next few years.

  She’d gotten to him in a way he never could have imagined. He’d always known she was a sweet woman with a big heart and a secretly wicked sense of humor, but he hadn’t realized that she was every bit as much a sex fiend as he was, or that sleeping with her would feel like being granted access to a corner of heaven.

  When it came to the effect it might have on their families, he didn’t know if their dating was a good idea or a bad one; he only knew he wanted more time with her, and wasn’t about to let her shoot him down without a fight.

  He hadn’t felt this passionate about a woman since before Wendy, the woman who’d broken his heart and spurred his move back to Summerville from Atlanta last year. But unlike Wendy, Maddie wasn’t off-limits. And unlike Wendy, Maddie would never give him emotional whiplash.

  If Maddie decided to give him a chance, she would be honest with him. She was an open book—one of the things he liked most about her. You never had to wonder where you stood with Maddie. She told you exactly what she was thinking, called you on your bullshit, and didn’t have a mean bone in her body.

  He was positive he wanted to give this thing between them a shot. Now, he could only hope Maddie had come to the same conclusion.