He pressed her against the foyer wall, maddened with some nameless, insatiable hunger. He felt a tremor shimmer through her body as he flattened her against the rough plaster and kissed her hard and deep. He threaded his hands through her silky hair and kissed her face, her neck, and the delicate lobes of her ears, pressing his hardness between the juncture of her thighs. She let out a small whimper of surprise as he ran his hands up her thighs, pulling her dress up with them, and snuggled against her glorious triangle.
He felt a tug at his shirt as Jamie pulled it free and ran her hands against his bare skin. Her touch surged through his body, igniting a fire he had forgotten he was even capable of feeling. He felt as though he was almost beyond the brink of control. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t lose control.
He let her go abruptly. She clung to him briefly, trying to keep her balance. She didn’t try to talk to him, God forbid, as most females were so fond of doing. She simply pushed her dress down over her thighs and smiled weakly. Her lips were pink and swollen.
He reached for the door. "Damn," he muttered.
He left her then, letting the door slam behind him and carelessly pulled his truck out of her driveway without looking back. He knew if he looked back, he would tear out of his truck, bust the door down, and take Jamie right there on the bare, hardwood floors of her empty living room. That was something he was never going to be able to do. Not with Conrad Malcolm, secrets and Villa Milagros looming between them.
Coming to his own house one block away, he glanced at his watch to see if he had enough time to go in and take a cold shower before picking up Ross.
Chapter Four
“God Almighty woman, you’re a mess!” Jamie’s best friend, Kerrie breezed through Jamie’s doorway in her red suit and heels, stopping suddenly as she nearly stepped on Thorn.
He barked playfully at Kerrie’s heels and she looked at Jamie, mystified. “A puppy? You have gone mad! I knew it. Any woman interested in the cool, brooding Aidan Brice is bound to go mad. Come in the kitchen,” she commanded.
Cool and brooding? Was she talking about the same man? The man who'd pressed her against the wall with his succulent body and kissed her with soul searing passion? Jamie was still breathless from the kiss as she followed blindly in her best friend’s footsteps.
Kerrie surveyed the kitchen. “The wine is still here? Good God girl, sit down and tell me what happened.” Kerrie plopped into a chair and waited.
Jamie’s legs were still trembling as she sank obediently into the chair. She didn’t feel like talking about it. She was still reeling from Aidan’s touch. From what it had done to her body. Her mind. Her emotions.
Emotions? She wasn’t supposed to be feeling anything. This was supposed to be a fling, a planned seduction, and nothing more. She was in control.
“We never got to the wine,” she told Kerrie.
“And?”
Silence.
“You’re not going to go all quiet on me?” Kerrie asked.
“Am I supposed to kiss and tell like we did in high school?”
“You kissed?”
Jamie simply nodded.
“Didn’t I warn you about him?” Kerrie shook her head with feigned disgust.
Jamie stuck her tongue out defiantly.
Kerrie ignored the gesture and leaned across the table, eyeing Jamie with a mischievous smile. “So, is he a good kisser?”
Jamie raised her eyebrows. “That’s a foolish question.”
Kerrie made a beeline for the pie on the kitchen counter. “What’s your next move?” she asked, rummaging through a kitchen drawer.
“I think I’m going to let things happen naturally,” Jamie said. What was she saying? Naturally, she and Aidan would end up intertwined in each other’s arms with their clothes piled in a heap at the end of the bed. If they made it to a bed.
Kerrie sat down with a large slice of pie. “Mm-mm. Maggie makes the best pies doesn’t she?”
Jamie didn’t think she would ever forget the taste of Maggie’s Key Lime pie on Aidan Brice’s lips. The taste of sweet graham crackers, tangy lime custard, and his soft, warm mouth would be seared in her memory forever. She wondered what the uptight Maggie would think of such a thing.
Kerrie looked up from her plate. “Aidan Brice is sure a thing of beauty to look at, and of course there is a certain charming arrogance to his cool, detached nature,” she remarked. “If you like that sort of man.”
She studied her friend intently. “Don’t fall for him,” Kerrie said. “His brother Danni died in a horrible boating accident after high school. His parent’s left Seabrook after Danni died and never came back. He his wife left him a few years later. Shortly, before she died. Poor Aidan, he’s had a tragic life, but as much as I feel for the guy, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Kerrie took another bite of pie. “Travis says he’s positively jaded. And Trav should know, they’re best friends. Maybe you should just forget-“
“It’s too late” Jamie said curtly. She was in bad and she knew it.
"You finally ditched the crazed, frat boy Conrad, and came home where you belong. All well and good. You don't want anymore changes in your life so soon again, do you?"
"Why not? I’m happy to be back in Seabrook. And I’m so close to finally buying back my family home. Besides, it's not as though Conrad was my lover or anything." She shuddered at such a revolting thought.
“Honey, I care about you, and I want you to be aware of what you’re getting into if you’re starting to feel something more than lust, if you catch my meaning,” Kerrie said pointedly. “Aidan Brice is a deadly combination of good looks, charm and bitterness. Stay away from him if you can.”
Jamie looked out the window with a stern expression. She didn’t want to stay away from him.
Kerrie glanced at her watch and stood up. “I’ve an interview at five so I have to run. Some guy claims he saw a great white shark two miles out from Sabina beach.” She shook her head in disbelief, “In these warm waters? The world is turning upside down! Seabrook Press wants the story in tomorrow’s paper, if it’s true.” Her expression was dour. “That’s news around here.”
They walked to the front door and Kerrie hugged Jamie reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it Hon, it was only a kiss. Remember what I said.”
“I will” Jamie promised.
In truth, the only thing she remembered was Aidan’s hot, burning lips, which had imprinted her very soul. She shut the front door and sighed.
Just who was doing the seducing here?
~
“Daddy, how are you?” Ross climbed into his father’s truck with his cap askew, his shirt caked with mud, and his sneaker’s long laces untied.
“I’m fine as frog hair.” Aidan gave his usual answer, pulling a baseball cap snugly over his forehead.
Ross laughed gleefully. “How fine is that, Daddy?”
“That’s pretty fine, son. Pretty fine.”
Truth was Aidan was feeling lousy, especially in the presence of his son. He had promised himself any woman he became involved with would be a woman who was maternal and loving, one who would love Ross as her own and never leave him. He had promised himself he would never again be led astray by beauty and lust. Today he had failed his son miserably.
Ross however, seemed completely unaware of his father’s dilemma and was busy learning to whistle.
“I can almost whistle, Daddy,” he said happily. “Can we go fly the kite at the beach? Please?”
“Sounds like a mighty fine idea,” Aidan answered.
“Fine as frog hair” Ross repeated, and roared with laughter.
Aidan let him fly the kite by himself, let him run ahead of him, let him enjoy the freedom and bliss of his childhood. Being an adult was a different matter altogether. Lives could be shattered if you took your responsibilities too lightly.
The sun was slowly sinking into the ocean’s edge and the sky was lit with pink and yellow light reflected on the shore’s crashing
waves. When you had this great, happy kid, a successful business, and a gorgeous sunset glowing in front of you, there wasn’t much room to complain. Wanting more, wanting her, didn’t seem justified.
Ross ran ahead, shrieking with delight as the kite circled round and round in the twilit sky. Aidan followed contently and counted his blessings.
˜
When the glorious bouquets arrived, all three dozen of them, Jamie was giddy with excitement. Until she read the card:
For my Bride.
Didn't Conrad understand the meaning of the word no? The very thought of him and his starched white shirts and delicate, manicured hands turned her stomach. She and Conrad were never even a couple. People had just assumed they were together.
Still, a scandal wouldn’t bode well with Conrad. If it were perceived she had dumped Conrad for another man, a humble architect no less, he would be humiliated in his elite social circle. The same elite group was also incidentally, her clientele and donors to her charities.
She didn't want to embarrass Conrad. She just didn’t want to marry him. Yet his recent behavior revealed he could be rancorous if provoked, and she could lose some valuable clients if Conrad were so inclined to discourage them. He was a powerful force in their exclusive Palm Beach community. She'd spent years building up her business. Worst of all, her charities would suffer.
Jamie sighed as she touched the soft, white petals. The sweet fragrance stirred in the air. There had been a split second of bliss when she thought Aidan had sent the flowers. Though it had been crushed quickly enough by Conrad’s name on the card, leaving a dull ache somewhere deep inside her.
She dumped the flowers in the trash, leaving the perfumed scent wafting through the air. A run on the beach would be perfect for settle her nerves, her troubled thoughts, and her aching body.
Without Jamie’s fancy gym, she had no other choice but to jog outdoors, and she was finding it liberating. She'd definitely have to fit it into her schedule while she was here in Seabrook. How long she'd stay, she wasn’t sure.
She was walking along the shore, cooling down from her run when she saw a child dancing gleefully in the sand ahead of her. The sight of him flying a kite, and the sound of his innocent laughter brought a smile to her face. His face was focused intently on the movements of the kite as it dipped up and down in the wind. He stumbled suddenly on the remnants of a sand castle and fell, twisting his small body against the ground, trying to keep the kite from crashing.
Jamie hurried over, caught the kite’s cord, and brought it down gently to the sand.
The boy peered up at her shyly. “Thanks!”
“You’re quite welcome,” she said, handing him the kite.
“You know how to fly a kite!” He was evidently impressed.
She smiled at the little boy. “So do you.”
“I’m learning. Daddy says the only way to learn something is to do it, so I do it.”
“Your Daddy’s a very smart man,” she said.
“He sure is. He knows how to do everything! I don’t have a Mama though,” he said in a frank manner.
“Where is your father now?”
“Wa-aaay out there.” He pointed down the beach at a figure, but it was getting dark and Jamie saw the dim outline of a man wearing a cap. ”I run faster than him” the boy said, slightly bragging.
“My name is Jamie. What’s yours?” she asked, putting her hand out.
He shook her hand like a man. “Ross.”
She found him completely endearing.
She saw the shadowy figure in a baseball cap drawing slowly near in the dusk. “Is he your father?” She pointed to the distant form.
“Yep, that’s him. He’s fine as frog hair,” he told her.
“That’s pretty fine stuff,” she said, remembering the old saying.
The child laughed hysterically. “My Daddy says the same thing.”
The boy took off with his kite, running toward his father. He stopped briefly in the darkness to wave at Jamie, before racing down the beach.
Jamie waved back, unable to stop a wide smile from spreading across her face. Now, there was someone she had to introduce to Thorn. What a wonderful pair they would make. It would be a match made in heaven. Seabrook was a small enough town. She'd locate the boy’s father and see if they were interested in adopting Thorn. She would miss Thorn, but knowing he was in such good company would ease the blow. As she walked back to her cottage Jamie couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful, fair-haired boy. Being raised by a single parent was tough. No matter how great the parent, it was challenging for a child. She knew from firsthand experience.
Her father had left before she was born and never returned. Her mother had been a saintly woman, raising Jamie on her own, working hard to give Jamie a good life. Times had been tough after her mother died. Since then, she never allowed herself to dream about having a family. She was too afraid of being left alone to raise a child on her own or worse, leaving a child alone in the world if something happened to her.
But Ross tugged at her heart, tugged at the buried feelings within her for a family. It was something she was loath to admit. She'd planned her whole life since the lonely day her mother had died. She would be a career woman. She'd be successful, travel the world and have fun. The problem was she wasn’t having fun anymore.
She walked into her empty cottage. More than the house was empty. Her life was empty. The thought struck her hard. The question now was what to do about it.
~
Aidan had known it was Jamie at the beach. He would have known the silhouette of her slender figure anywhere.
He had questioned Ross casually during dinner about the lady at the beach and scolded him for talking to strangers. Ross insisted she was a nice lady who helped take the kite down. Aidan let it go as he tucked his son under the covers and turned out the lights.
He was fiercely protective of Ross. He had lost too many people in his life from his own carelessness. He would not make any more errors in judgment. It was going to be Aidan and Ross, unless the perfect woman happened to come along. The perfect woman being devoted mother, loving wife, and wildcat in bed. He wondered if Jamie was a wildcat in bed. She certainly kissed like one.
He couldn’t seem to get their kiss off his mind. Curse him for letting his lust catch the better of him. Damn him for kissing her. The problem was he hadn't been with a woman in far too long. Not that he had any trouble finding female companionship. Frankly, he always had to fight them off, but he'd matured these last few years. He was a single father, and he was much more discriminating about the women he took to bed.
Women had always found him appealing. Maybe his past had left its dark stamp on his soul. They wanted to heal him with droves of affection and carnal pleasures. It had never worked, permanently. Even Lauren, who had brought out a maddening devotion in him, had never been able to garner his trust. His instincts had been correct, unfortunately.
Jamie was a puzzle he had yet to solve. She wanted Villa Milagros, the same house whose very existence caused him pain every time he drove by it, every time a Seabrook residence whispered behind him in the grocery store line, every time the teachers watched him with pity when he picked up Ross from school. He felt as though Seabrook blamed him for the violent crime committed in their town, although he certainly wasn't to blame.
Now he'd made enough money to buy it ten times over, and he wasn’t going to let Jamie, with her designer illusions and aristocratic tastes ruin his son's future. He wasn’t about to sit back and let her have the cursed house because of one well-practiced kiss.
He wasn’t sure why she wanted the house, although it was located on prime, beachfront property. Maybe she wanted to tear it down and build some modern monstrosity in its place. Still, he couldn't chance it.
She must have a lot of money to be able to purchase the house after having already bought the cottage down the street. She didn’t even blink at the figures on the contract for the renovations. Money was obv
iously plentiful. At least he knew she wasn’t gold digging.
She had come onto him in a forceful, overtly sexual manner, no doubt trying to seduce the house from under him. Yet, she had grossly miscalculated how important Villa Milagros was to him. How important it was to obliterate its very existence.
He was a man after all, and Jamie was a beautiful, tempting woman. Trying to seduce him with her womanly wiles might land her on her back beneath his starved, lusty body if she wasn’t careful, but it was never going to get her Villa Milagros.
Best not to think about her, he decided as he stripped his clothes off and slipped into bed. Best not to think about her silky hair, her sweet smile, and her long, graceful legs.
Best not to think of her at all.
~
Jamie drove from Palm Beach to Seabrook like a mad woman.
Although normally a two-hour drive, Jamie arrived from Palm Beach to her home’s driveway in Seabrook in one hour and thirty-five minutes. Thorn sat happily strapped safely in the back seat, his nose plastered to the cracked window, completely oblivious to Jamie’s furious rage.
She snatched Thorn from the seat and plowed through the front door, glaring at Aidan’s workmen as she swept from the living room to the kitchen, letting Thorn out the back door.
She'd heard counting to ten helped to calm a person. She didn’t think counting to a thousand was going to help. She took a deep breath and then another. Regaining an ounce of composure, she strode back into the living room before she lost it once again.
“Is Mr. Brice here?” she asked one of the workers in a neutral tone.
“Yes, Miss Connolly?” he said, appearing in the hallway. His voice was enticing, deep, and authoritative. She hated it.
“A word with you, in private please.” Her tone was curt.
A curious glance passed between two workers. She ignored them.
No Regrets Page 5
