Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 10-12

by Marie Force

  “An heiress,” Stephanie said. “Whatever that is.”

  “An heiress is you after I die and leave you millions,” Charlie said.

  “And where are these so-called millions coming from?” she asked, seeming amused.

  “You want to tell her?” he asked Sarah.

  “I’d love to. The state is compensating your dad for the years he was wrongfully imprisoned. To the tune of five hundred thousand dollars per year.”

  “Holy cow,” Stephanie said. “Even I can do that math!”

  “And a chunk of it will be going directly to you,” Charlie said to Stephanie.

  “Oh, I, um… wow,” Stephanie said on a long exhale that made everyone laugh.

  “Congratulations, Charlie,” Shane said. “That’s the least of what they owe you.”

  “They could’ve given me nothing, and I’d still have everything I want.” This was said with his gaze firmly fixed on Sarah, who smiled even as she blushed.

  Watching them, Katie was filled with yearning. What would it be like, she wondered, to know exactly who you were going to love—and who loved you—for the rest of your life? She’d never expected to be so envious of her own mother, but there it was. And all this time she’d thought she didn’t want love and romance and forever with a man. How wrong she’d been.

  “Everything okay?” Shane asked in a low tone intended for her ears only. When he wasn’t taking a turn with Holden, his arm had been stretched behind her chair, his fingers brushing against the back of her shoulder. Each touch sent a tingle of sensation rippling through her body, reminding her of their plans for later.

  “Everything is great.”

  “You ready to go?”

  “Whenever you are.”

  They’d eaten a delicious dinner of grilled steak and chicken, salad and potatoes with strawberry shortcake for dessert. As they toasted Katie’s new job and decision to remain on Gansett Island for the winter, the champagne had flowed as freely as the conversation. When she stood up, Katie realized she was a little tipsy.

  Shane’s hands on her shoulders steadied her. “Thank you for a lovely evening, Sarah and Charlie,” Shane said.

  “It was our pleasure.” Sarah hugged and kissed them both, as well as Laura, Owen and Holden, who were also leaving. “Let’s do it again soon.” She walked them to the driveway and eyed Shane’s motorcycle with trepidation. “You’re careful with my daughter on that thing, right?”

  “Always,” Shane said. “She’s precious cargo.”

  “You’re darned right she is.”

  With only the moon to light their way, Shane navigated the twisting island roads as Katie held on tight to him. She loved being tucked up against him as the bike roared beneath them. She loved the play of his muscles under her hands and the scent of his cologne filling her senses. Knowing he was as eager to be alone with her as she was to be with him kept her on the razor’s edge of arousal all the way home.

  The hotel was dark and quiet when they arrived ahead of Laura and Owen. Shane stashed their helmets in the sitting room and led her upstairs to his room, slowing his pace to match hers on the stairs.

  Inside his room, he kept the lights off as he pressed her against the back of the door and kissed her with what felt like desperation. His tongue sought out hers, teasing and tempting her until she was just as desperate. Breaking the kiss, he set her on fire with a series of kisses to her neck.

  “Such a nice time tonight with your mom and Charlie and the others,” he said as he continued to devastate her with his lips and tongue. “But the whole time I was burning up from having you sitting so close to me.”

  “I was, too. I kept thinking about last night…”

  “What about it?”

  “Everything about it. It’s all I’ve thought about today.”

  “Was it everything you’d hoped it would be?”

  “It was so much more,” she said with a laugh. “I accused you of a lack of imagination earlier. Well, that was me before last night. I had no idea it would be like that.”

  “You know how to make a guy feel good, Katie Lawry.” He cupped her breasts and ran his thumbs over her nipples until they tightened in response to him. Then he was reaching for the hem of her dress and lifting it up and over her head. The matching bra and panties she wore landed in a pile on the floor that soon included his shirt, shorts and boxers. Twenty-four hours ago, she’d never been naked with a man and now she couldn’t get naked fast enough.

  He took her hands and walked backward to the bed, pulled the covers back and stretched out on the bed, bringing her down on top of him.

  Katie wasn’t sure what to do with her arms or legs until he arranged her legs on either side of his hips and drew her down to him, taking her lips in another incendiary kiss. His hands seemed to be everywhere, on her back, cupping her breasts, squeezing her bottom. Katie couldn’t keep up with the array of emotions and sensations that zinged through her body.

  Last night he had been all about slow seduction. Tonight he was about fast and furious, or so it seemed to her. “God, Katie,” he said in a gruff, sexy tone. “I want you.”

  “I want you, too.”

  “Are you still sore?”

  “Not like I was.”

  He reached for a condom on the bedside table and rolled it on while she sat back and watched, the room illuminated by the faint beams from outdoor security lights. “You take the lead, honey. If it hurts, you stop. Okay?”

  “Show me how.”

  With his hands on her hips, he lifted her until she was poised above his erection. He released her slowly, bringing her down on him in tiny increments.

  Katie gasped from the stretch and burn of her tender flesh.

  “Does it hurt?”

  She shook her head. It didn’t hurt badly enough to stop.

  Shane didn’t move until she did, accepting him deeper with the slight swivel of her hips.

  His protracted groan startled her. “Don’t stop,” he said through gritted teeth. “Please don’t stop.”

  Knowing he wanted her so badly was a powerful incentive. Katie forced herself to relax and accept more of him.

  “So hot and so tight,” he whispered. “Incredible.”

  “Show me how you like it.”

  “I’m afraid I’ll lose it if you move.”

  “I need to move.”

  “Give me a second, baby.” While he summoned control, his hands continued to move, making her shiver from the waves of desire that rolled through her, settling into an insistent throb between her legs.

  Shane sat up and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her breasts in tight against his chest and wrapping her legs around his waist. With his hands on her bottom, he eased her up and down his hard shaft, each movement setting off new sparks of pleasure.

  Katie held on tightly to him and tried to remember to breathe. Last night had been amazing, but this…

  “Feel okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, yes.”

  Hearing her affirmation, he picked up the pace, and Katie forgot how to breathe or think or feel anything other than the orgasm that washed over her.

  “Ah Christ,” he muttered as he pressed hard into her and held her there while he came, too. “Katie…”

  She continued to hold on to him, her heart beating in time with the pulsating sensation between her legs. In that moment of utter perfection, it became clear to her that she was falling in love with him. It didn’t matter that she’d known him for only a short time. When he held her this way and made such sweet love to her, she felt like she’d known him forever.

  Without losing their connection, he turned them so he was on top, looking down at her with those piercing blue eyes that saw her in a way no one else ever had. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m great. You?”

  “Never been better.”

  “You don’t have to say that, Shane.”

  “I’m not saying anything I don’t mean. I’ve had great sex before. But that was someth
ing else altogether.”

  “It was? Really?”

  “It really was. You’ve got me totally hooked on what it feels like to be inside you, Katie.”

  “You’ve got me pretty hooked, too. On the whole package.”

  “Good,” he said with a lingering kiss. “That’s how I want you. Is this moving too fast for you?”

  “No, not really.”

  “You’re not overwhelming me with your conviction.”

  “It’s moving fast, maybe too fast, but it feels good, you know?”

  He pressed his hips against hers, reminding her he was still lodged deep inside her—as if she needed the reminder. “I know.”

  Katie smiled at his enthusiastic reply. “This has been a truly remarkable week in more ways than one. My whole life has turned upside down, but I’m finding I like the view from down here.” She flattened her hands on his chest and felt his heart beating fast under her palms. “I like that I can touch you this way any time I want to.”

  “You can touch me that way or any other way whenever you want to.”

  “I like that. I like being here and having some of my family nearby and the new job and everything. I heard something sad today that reminded me of how lucky I am, despite what I endured to get here.”

  “What did you hear?”

  “While I was at the clinic, David got some bad news about one of his patients. A young single mother who has end-stage lung cancer. It was sad.”

  Shane went still above her. “Did you meet her? The mother?”

  “I saw her briefly. She had dark hair and a bad cough.”

  “Oh my God. No…”

  “Shane? Do you know her?”

  With his hand wrapped around the condom, he withdrew from her and turned onto his back. “Yeah, I know her. I’m building a house for her and her kids. I’ve gotten to know them really well.”

  “Oh, Shane. I’m so sorry.”

  “Those poor kids. They’re so excited about the house. Shit.”

  “I feel so bad for dropping that on you the way I did. I forgot this is such a small place, and of course you would know her. Not very professional of me.”

  “It’s okay, honey. I had a feeling she was really sick, but end-stage lung cancer… She’s so young.”

  “I know. I told David I have hospice training, so I might be able to offer some assistance to her.”

  “I want to help them, too. Anything I can do… Kyle and Jackson are such great kids. This will devastate them. I don’t think they have any other family, at least not that they’ve ever mentioned.”

  “I hope she has a plan for them if something were to happen to her.”

  “I hope so, too.” He got up and went into the bathroom. The toilet flushed and the water ran for a long time. When he came back, he slid into bed next to her. “I’ll have to tell Mac about this when he’s already got so much on his mind.”

  Katie turned to face him. “Do you want me to leave so you can rest?”

  “What? No… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to punch out on you.”

  “You didn’t. You’re upset.”

  He took her hand and linked their fingers. “She’s right between us in age. You never know what’s going to happen. Certainly puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?”

  “It sure does. I’m sorry for your friend and her children.”

  “So am I.”

  “We can go to Newport another day if you need to stay here to work things out.”

  “Tomorrow might be the best day to go since everything will be on hold until I can speak to Mac. He’s got enough going on. Another day won’t hurt anything.”

  That he was so clearly undone by the news about his friend and her children only made Katie tumble that much quicker. He was a truly wonderful guy, inside and out, and as she fell asleep in his arms, she gave herself permission to feel anything and everything for him.

  * * *

  Despite the lingering sadness he felt over the news about Lisa, Shane devoted himself to showing Katie a good time the next day, beginning with a ride on the high-speed ferry to Newport. They stood outside, her back to his front so he could keep her from toppling over in the stiff breeze.

  The ferry hauled ass and got them from Gansett to Newport in an hour, and the ride itself was as much fun as the outing promised to be. When they arrived in Newport, they got a good tour of the harbor from the ferry, and Katie marveled at the huge yachts docked at the various marinas.

  It’d been years since Shane had been to Newport, one of Courtney’s favorite places to spend a summer evening. But he was determined not to think about the past today, when he had a full day to spend with Katie. They walked along the waterfront, window-shopping and occasionally ducking inside a shop for a closer look at something that caught her interest before grabbing a pedicab to take them up to Bellevue Avenue.

  On Memorial Boulevard, he pointed out the church where President and Mrs. Kennedy had been married. When they reached Bellevue Avenue, he took her on a tour of the International Tennis Hall of Fame before they walked farther down the avenue to tour The Breakers, one of Newport’s famous mansions.

  “I can’t believe something like this even exists,” she said of the enormous house that had served as the summer residence of the Vanderbilt family during Newport’s gilded age. “Let alone that it was someone’s summer home.”

  “You have to see it to believe it,” Shane said. “I haven’t been here since I was a kid and my dad brought me and Laura to see a couple of these places on a rainy Saturday. I expected to be bored, but I thought they were amazing.”

  “Do we have time for another one after this?”

  “Sure we do,” he said, amused by her enthusiasm. “We’ve got all afternoon.”

  They toured Marble House and Rosecliff before grabbing a late lunch on one of the wharfs near the ferry landing.

  “This was so much fun,” Katie said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “My pleasure. How’s the foot?”

  “A little sore, but it was worth it. I can’t wait to come back again when we have more time. I want to see everything.”

  “We didn’t get to do Cliff Walk or Ocean Drive, but we’ll definitely come back.” That they were making plans that included each other wasn’t lost on him. But after their conversation the night before, Shane felt safe making plans with her. She was sticking around and seemed to be enjoying the time they spent together as much as he did.

  On the ride back to the island, they found a spot inside the cabin, out of the wind. Katie snuggled up to him, her head on his chest, and was asleep before the ferry left the harbor. That gave him an hour to himself to think about the time he’d spent with her, the day together in Newport, the last two nights in bed. She made him feel hopeful, which was a minor miracle considering the mess he’d been not that long ago.

  He was falling for Katie, and he was happy about that. It felt good to be happy and optimistic. Hearing the devastating news about Lisa’s illness truly brought home how lucky he was for all the blessings in his life, and it was time to focus on them rather than on the misery of the past.

  Shane ran his hand up and down Katie’s back, loving the way she felt and smelled and looked. He loved the way she laughed and teased him and mostly he loved that she was easy to talk to and easy to get along with.

  Katie roused when the boat slowed as they reached the breakwater for South Harbor. “Did I really fall asleep?”

  “You were snoring and everything.”

  “I was not!”

  He cracked up at the indignant face she made. “Just kidding.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “Yes, it is. I’ve been keeping you up too late at night.”

  “And you’re going to keep doing that, right?”

  “I thought it was girls’ night out?”

  “It is, but it’s not a sleepover as far as I know. So maybe I can come find you later?”

  He kissed her sweet lips. “I wish y
ou would.”

  “No more talk of snoring, though.”

  “I promise to never mention it again. It’ll be our little secret.”

  She elbowed his ribs. “I do not snore.”

  “If you say so.”

  Holding hands, they walked from the ferry landing to the Sand & Surf, laughing and bickering about whether or not she really snored. She didn’t, but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook too easily. They were halfway up the stairs when he heard someone call his name. He looked over to the row of rocking chairs on the porch and thought he was hallucinating when he saw Courtney sitting in one of them, obviously waiting for him.

  He dropped Katie’s hand and stared at Courtney.

  She got up and came toward him, looking thinner than she had before, but still as strikingly pretty as ever. Her dark hair was longer than he’d ever seen it.

  “Um, Shane?” Katie’s tentative inquiry snapped him out of the shocked state he’d slipped into at the sight of Courtney.

  “Could I catch up to you in a minute?” he asked Katie.

  “Sure,” she said.

  He wasn’t so far gone that he didn’t see and feel the hurt coming from her, but he couldn’t process that on top of Courtney’s unexpected appearance. What was she doing here? And why now? He hated himself for so badly wanting answers to those and many other questions.

  Katie went inside, the screen door slamming shut behind her.

  “What’re you doing here, Courtney?”

  “I came for you.”

  Chapter 26

  Standing inside the main door to the Sand & Surf, Katie heard Shane’s ex-wife say she’d come for him. Katie took off for the stairs before she could make a scene in the lobby.

  “Katie,” Laura called. “Wait up. How was your day in Newport? Aren’t the mansions awesome? Are you crying? What happened? Where’s Shane?”

  “He’s… um, he’s outside talking to Courtney.”

  “He’s what? What the hell is she doing here?”

  “He asked her that question, and she said she’s come for him.”

  “Over my dead body.” Laura squeezed her arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll get rid of her.”