by Marie Force
“It’s sort of embarrassing.”
“Don’t be embarrassed. There’s no need to be.”
“That’s nice of you to say, but honestly… How many thirty-two-year-old women do you know who’ve never been on a date or… well, anything else?”
“I’m so honored to be your first date, Katie.” He took hold of her hand and brought it to his lips, running them over her knuckles. That simple contact was all it took to set off a fever inside her.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to date. When I was younger and everyone was doing the group-dating thing, my dad wouldn’t let me go. He didn’t approve of the boys I was friends with, and I knew better than to argue with him. And then later, when I got to college, they were all such players, you know? I was surrounded by immature jerks who were awful to my friends. I wanted nothing to do with any of them. Before I knew it, I’d created a pattern of avoidance that became an unintentional lifestyle.”
“I can see how that would happen, and I understand it. I want you to know some things about me that might make you reconsider whether you want me to be the first guy you date.”
Katie couldn’t imagine any scenario that would make her not want to spend more time with him. “Okay…”
“I was married for a couple of years, but I’m divorced now.”
“Oh.”
“My wife, Courtney, was a drug addict. She was addicted to pain meds, and I didn’t find out until we’d been married for quite some time.”
“Oh God, Shane. I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, it was a rough time. And I was literally blinded by love. It never occurred to me that she was an addict. She hid it incredibly well.”
“How’d you find out?”
“It all came to a head when I started getting calls from bill collectors. She took care of the bills, so I didn’t know where the money was going. When I dug a little deeper, I found out she’d basically bankrupted us with her habit.” He released a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair repeatedly, as if it was excruciating to talk about this. “After an ugly, horrible confrontation, I got her into rehab. I borrowed money from my dad to pay for it.”
“She was so lucky to have you.”
“So lucky she divorced me the second she got out of rehab. I haven’t seen her since the day I dropped her off there.”
Katie had no idea what to say to that. His pain was so palpable, even after what had to be some considerable time if he was already divorced. “I’m sorry she treated you that way. No one deserves that.”
“I really loved her. She was the real deal for me. To find out it wasn’t for her was… Well, it took me a really long time to get past it. Sometimes I wonder if I’m actually past it, and I thought you should know, since our date was a big deal for you, too. This is the first time I’ve been out with anyone since everything happened with her.”
“Oh, wow,” she said on a long exhale. “We’re quite a pair, huh?”
He smiled, but the sadness lingered around his eyes. “Yeah, I guess we are. I’d understand if my crap is too heavy for you, Katie. You’ve had enough of your own, and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you told me it’s too much for you.”
Katie thought about what she should say. “You’re completely divorced, right?”
“For about eighteen months now.”
“Then I don’t see any reason why we can’t spend some time together and see what happens.”
“Really?”
He was so cute and so eager. She wondered if he had any idea how adorable he was. The thought of his ex-wife treating him so callously made her furious on his behalf. “Yes, really.”
“You want to go for a walk on the beach?”
“I’d love to.”
Chapter 11
With everyone fed and happy, Stephanie filled a plate and went to sit next to Grant, who was sharing a table with Dan, Kara, Evan and Grace.
“Everything was amazing, as always,” Grace said to Stephanie.
“Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.”
Grant put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “Great job, babe. Only you could prepare a quick dinner for forty and not freak out.”
“What else can I do when my adorable future father-in-law calls me for help?”
“This was way above and beyond with everything you’ve got going on,” Evan said.
“It was fun,” Stephanie said.
“How are the wedding plans coming along?” Kara asked. “I can’t believe you’re putting together a wedding as quickly as you are. I have almost a year, and I’ll be lucky to get it all done in time.”
“We’re going very simple,” Stephanie said, smiling at Grant. “That makes it easier.”
“That’s what we should’ve done,” Kara said, sighing.
“I offered to elope to Vegas,” Dan replied with a cheeky grin for his fiancée.
“There’s simple and then there’s cheesy,” Kara said as the others laughed. “Two very different things.”
“I think she might be insulting me,” Dan said.
Grant rolled his eyes at his close friend. “You’re lucky you found someone willing to marry you. If I were you, I’d do anything she wanted me to do.”
“This is true,” Dan said gravely.
Kara smiled at him. “He’s taking me to LA to meet my future in-laws after the season.”
“And she’s taking me to Bar Harbor to meet the rest of mine.”
“That sounds like fun,” Stephanie said. “When are you leaving?”
“Right after Columbus Day,” Kara said. “I’ll shut down the launches for the winter, and off we go.”
“Wait till you see his place in Malibu,” Grant said. “Very swank.”
“I can’t wait,” Kara said. “I’ve always wanted to live in a beach house.”
“Now you’ll have your very own any time we get out to the West Coast,” Dan said.
“Where do you guys plan to live after you’re married?” Grace asked.
“Here,” Kara said. “We both love it here.”
“Oh good,” Grace said. “I was worried for a minute that we’d be losing you after the wedding.”
“No way,” Dan said. “We’re here to stay. I’ll have to get out to LA once in a while for work, but I can do most of it from here and tend to my accidental practice on the island at the same time.”
“I like that,” Grant said with a chuckle. “‘Accidental practice.’”
“That’s what it is. I never had any intention of practicing here, but one thing led to another…”
“And Jim Sturgil lost his mind,” Evan added.
“That didn’t hurt,” Dan conceded.
“What’s the latest with him anyway?” Stephanie asked.
“He’s been charged with felony assault for the stunt he pulled at our engagement party.” Dan ran a finger over the healing scar on his hand where Jim had slashed him with a knife. “I haven’t heard anything more than that.”
“Damn,” Evan said. “If he’s convicted—and how could he not be with so many witnesses—he’ll be disbarred.”
“I don’t feel sorry for him at all,” Kara said indignantly. “He brought it all on himself by being an asshole to Tiffany and then by trying to blame Dan for his practice going belly-up. It’s no one’s fault but his.”
“Listen to my little hellcat.” Dan put his arm around Kara. “Don’t get her started on Jim Sturgil.”
“He could’ve killed you with that knife. You’ll have to pardon me if I don’t find that one bit funny.”
“Wow,” Grant said. “She really does love you.”
“I know, right?” Dan said. “It’s just as shocking to me.”
“Shut up,” Kara said, laughing at the amazement on Dan’s face. “Before I forget why I love you so much.”
“Please don’t do that.”
Sitting with Grant and their friends, her stepfather across the room with his new fiancée, Sarah, Stephanie wanted to pinch herself to believ
e this was actually her life now. After spending fourteen years totally on her own while trying to free Charlie from prison and having no luck until Grant and Dan had entered her life, she would be forever grateful to them. Grant had called Dan to tell him about Charlie, and Dan had taken it from there.
They would never know the full measure of her relief and gratitude for what they’d done for her—and, more important, what they’d done for Charlie.
“Whatcha thinking about, babe?” Grant asked, his lips close to her ear as he spoke to her.
“Everything that’s happened in the last year and how it’s still amazing to me how different my life is now. And Charlie’s life, too. We owe it all to you.”
“All I did was make a phone call.”
“That’s what you always say.” He never took any credit for what he’d done to help them, and now was no different.
“It’s true. Dan did the rest.”
“But there would’ve been no Dan without you.”
“I hope you know by now,” he said, his lips brushing her ear, “that there’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
His love surrounded her like a warm blanket, filling her with the kind of security she’d never had before she fell in love with him during Tropical Storm Hailey. Despite all the many ways she’d tried to sabotage their relationship since then, he’d remained steadfast in his devotion to her.
“I could use your help with something in the kitchen,” she said. The others had begun to migrate out to the picnic tables in the parking lot, where Big Mac had started a fire in a portable fire pit he produced from somewhere, and Evan and Owen had everyone singing along with them to “Margaritaville.”
“Sure. Lead the way.”
Stephanie took his hand and led him around the counter to the kitchen. “Actually, where I need your help is down this hallway here.” With a quick glance to make sure no one had seen them slip away, she took him into the windowless room that had been hers when they first started seeing each other. Big Mac and Linda had hired her to run the marina restaurant that summer.
She ducked into the room with him in tow and then turned to shut the door behind them. Since she was still overseeing the marina restaurant while she ran the Bistro in town, the manager’s room was not in use this summer.
“What’re you up to, my love?” Grant asked with an amused glimmer in his gorgeous eyes. She never, ever got tired of looking at him.
“A little trip down memory lane.”
“Ahh, yes.” He put his arms around her and drew her in tight against him. “As I recall, we had some good times in here under the watchful eye of Winnie the Pooh.”
“Poor Pooh was traumatized by our behavior.”
“And yet he still sits on our bed watching everything we do.”
“I can’t be without Pooh. I’ve had him since I was three.”
“Did you bring me in here to talk about Pooh, or did you plan to ravish me?”
“The plan was to ravish.”
“Don’t let me stop you.”
“I just want you to know…”
“What, baby?” He kissed her neck and made her shiver. “What do you want me to know?”
“Sitting out there now, surrounded by our family and friends… I feel so incredibly grateful for our life. You’ll never know how much it means to me to have Charlie here with me, and you and your family to call my own. You’ll just never know…” Her voice broke, and he kissed her softly.
“I do know. And as grateful as you are to have us, we’re equally grateful to have you. I mean, who would’ve cooked Shane’s tuna if you weren’t around?”
Stephanie laughed and brushed away tears as he kissed her again.
“In two weeks, I get to marry you and keep you forever,” he said between kisses. “How cool is that?”
“It’s the coolest thing ever.”
“Now, about that ravishing…”
He reached around her to lock the door and then worked quickly to remove all their clothes. They fell onto the twin-size bed in a tangle of arms and legs, kissing and touching and moaning in response to each other.
“God, Steph… What you do to me.”
“I feel the same way.” She arched into him, her legs entangled with his. She took him in hand, trying to direct him to where she wanted him most. “We have to hurry before someone notices we’re gone.”
Grant groaned and surged into her in one swift stroke. “You want fast, baby? I can do fast.”
“Mmm. Just like that only faster.”
His laughter caused him to falter, but only for a second. He took hold of her hands, raised them over her head and gave her exactly what she’d asked for.
Stephanie loved him like this—a little wild and a whole lot out of control. She loved that she could do that to him—that they did it to each other, every time.
“Babe,” he said, “I can’t wait.”
“Right there with you.”
He thrust into her one more time, which was all it took for both of them.
She pulled her hands free and wrapped her arms around him as they clung to each other.
“I love you,” he whispered after a long moment of contented silence.
“I love you, too.”
“I can’t wait to marry you.”
For a long time, Stephanie had doubted whether she could be everything he wanted in a wife, but those doubts were long gone now. “I can’t wait either.”
* * *
“Looks like it’s going to rain,” Shane said as they walked barefoot along the water’s edge. He’d taken hold of her hand to help her down the stairs and had never bothered to let go, which was fine with Katie. Her first official date had been better than anything she could’ve hoped for, all because of him.
He was easy to be with, caring but not suffocating. He was affectionate without being overwhelming. In short, he was everything she’d never expected to find in a man, and he made her feel hopeful about what might be possible for them.
“I hope it’s not a thunderstorm,” she said.
“How come?”
“They scare me. I remember so many of them when we came here for the summer and the way the lightning would light up the room. I used to run into my grandparents’ room and sleep with them. I wasn’t allowed to do that at home.” She hadn’t meant to say that last part. That she’d said it indicated how comfortable she was with him.
“How come?”
“My father didn’t believe in sharing his bed with his children—for any reason.”
“Even when you were scared?”
“Especially then. He would tell us to toughen up and stop acting like a bunch of babies. I’d crawl in bed with Julia, and we’d hide under the pillows until it was over.”
“How old were you then?”
“I don’t know. Four, maybe?”
“You were just a baby.” He dropped her hand and put his arm around her.
Katie’s heart skipped an erratic beat at the feel of his arm around her, drawing her in close to the heat of his body. Did he expect her to put her arm around him, too? She wished she knew what people did at moments like these. “The Lawry kids were never babies. We were expected to be tough as soldiers from the second we were born.”
“I’m glad you’re not tough. I like you the way you are, afraid of thunderstorms and everything.”
“I’m afraid of the water now, too.” She eyed the waves that rolled gently to the shore. “And I hate being afraid of that.”
“You’ll have to ease your way back in gradually.”
“I don’t know if I can do that after what happened.”
“If it’s something you enjoy, you have to try.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I’ll help you.”
“You will?”
“Of course I will. It sort of scared me, too, so you’d be helping me.”
“Right,” she said with a laugh. “You’re just saying that so I’ll feel better abo
ut being scared.”
“That’s not true. I’ve heard about rip currents all my life, but I’ve never seen one do what yours did to you. It scared me. Don’t think it didn’t.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so.” He smiled down at her, and the sweetness of his words along with that adorable smile did funny things to her insides. She felt like she was on a zero-gravity ride, like the ones they had at the big amusement parks in Texas, only she was nowhere near an amusement park.
They walked for a long time with only a half moon to light their way. She was about to thank him for the lovely evening when a sharp pain sliced through her foot, stealing the breath from her lungs.
“What?” he asked, stopping to face her.
“I think I cut my foot.”
“Oh shit.” He withdrew his cell phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight. “Let me see.”
Katie placed her hand on his shoulder for balance and raised her right foot, which was already covered in blood. As a nurse, the sight of blood never bothered her—except, apparently, when it was hers. She felt immediately queasy when she realized the cut was deep and would probably require stitches.
“Don’t put it down in the sand,” Shane said as he used the flashlight to identify a broken bottle sticking up out of the sand. “There’s your culprit.” He pulled the piece of glass free and tucked the neck into his back pocket. “I’ll throw it away when we get back.” He lifted Katie into his arms.
“You can’t carry me all the way back!”
“You don’t think so?”
“I’m too heavy.”
“You’re light as a feather.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Hey,” he said, compelling her to look at him. “You’re not heavy, and I’ve got you, unless me carrying you makes you uncomfortable. If it does, I’ll put you down and call the rescue.”
“I don’t want to cause trouble for anyone.”
“You’re no trouble.” He started walking back the way they’d come. “Should you keep it elevated?”
