by Owner
Maddie had just finished putting together a healthy looking sandwich when someone leaned in and stole a bite. “Wha—”
Jon grinned at her, munching and talking at the same time. “Just making sure I didn’t put anything in my mouth that isn’t good for me.”
“And I know what’s good for you?” She smiled despite herself.
As much as she wanted to chase him off, she wanted him to stay. But that was impossible because the last place she wanted him was mingling with her teammates and friends, meddling in her life and spilling her secrets. Worse yet, suppose her fantasies slipped out if the subject of sex came up—which more than likely would happen eventually with Lyndsey and Sue around. Her family was the founding family. If anyone overheard them, gossip about the Bains would spread into tabloid headlines. And their names were going to get bandied about enough when news of the divorce, and remarriage, and her parents stepping down and her inheriting came to light. She stiffened her lip.
“I’ve lost five pounds. Feel these abs.” He grabbed her hand and placed her palm on his hard stomach.
“Tight.” And tempting. She sucked in her bottom lip. She’d like to feel those abs while he was inside her, thrusting.
“I’ve been crunching,” he said, “more than numbers.”
She tore her sandwich in two and shared it with him to hush up his alluring mouth.
“Have I told you how butch you look in that uniform?” He winked.
But before she could think of a reply, Harry staggered over. “Hey.” He nudged Jon’s shoulder with the half-empty beer mug he held. “Is this your lady in blue, whose honor we fought for?”
Jon continued to eat his half sandwich, leaving her to explain away their unusual situation.
“I usually fight my own battles…” Her voice trailed off as she bit into the rye bread, tangy mustard, and sharp cheese.
“While I’m accustomed to solving women’s problems,” Jon droned out the accusation. “I figured that was coming next.”
“So, she’s not yours,” Harry slurred, smelling like he’d fallen into a beer keg.
She moved closer to Jon, who didn’t smell like yeast or barley. Just spicy and sexy, her insides noticed with a flinch.
“Once a year she is.” He dropped a casual arm over her shoulder and popped the last crust of the sandwich into his mouth.
Harry scrunched up his face at the remark.
“It’s an inside joke.” She dusted crumbs from her fingers. “Jon’s big on those. Sometimes they’re so inside, I don’t even get them.”
The drunken cowboy nodded. “Is that roast beef over there? Looks like the makings of a Texas-style sandwich.” Moving at a sideways tilt, he lurched toward the food table.
“Is he going to be all right?” she asked. “He won’t fall over, will he?”
“More than likely he’ll sleep it off. He already dozed in the car on the ride over.”
“How much longer will you be staying on the island?” She went right for the burning question on her mind.
A long year was ahead of her, and she wanted to sneak off together before he left the island. She wanted to taste his hot mouth on hers one more time. Feel the texture of his skin, the muscle and bone of his body beneath and atop hers. Experience the rush of a climax as he held her in his arms and their hot breath meshed.
She just hadn’t figured out where to meet, safely.
“I’ll be gone by the end of the week.” He gazed into her eyes. “Is that soon enough?”
“Jon, it’s not that I wouldn’t love to spend time with you, but alone.” Maddie jostled as Helgie Junior elbowed through the crowd on her way to the buffet table.
He inched closer. “Then let’s ditch this party and head for an isolated beachfront. Sue or Lyndsey can give Harry a ride.”
She considered it briefly, then shook it off. “There’s no privacy on the island.” Unfortunately. “See that tall guy over there?” She nudged her chin toward the bar. “That’s Tim Gregory. He’s Lyndsey’s ex-boyfriend and a lobster fisherman. One day he thought he’d pull a prank on his old man by planting a full can of beer inside one of his lobster traps.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like the kind of joke Harry would enjoy.”
“Next thing you know, law enforcement’s knocking on Tim’s door. Someone was watching through binoculars and reported him for tampering with another fisherman’s lobster traps.”
“How’d they know the traps weren’t Tim’s?”
“Because each lobsterman has his own colored buoys, and those weren’t Tim’s colors.”
“Wow.” Jon’s eyes widened.
Dark brown eyes that deepened even more in the throes of lovemaking. Glinted when he laughed. Squinted thoughtfully when he concentrated. Maddie sighed and blinked the images away.
“What’s so bad about us going out openly?” he whispered in her ear, sending tickles plummeting to a spot that didn’t need any tickling.
She wished she could tell him her latest woes. And that was exactly the problem. If he found out who she was, she’d never be able to meet or confide in him again. She’d already told him too much. Not to mention the fantasies they’d performed. What headlines those would make.
She sucked in her bottom lip. She really didn’t know him well. Didn’t know if he could keep her secret. Which hadn’t become a threat until he arrived on the island and could too easily discover her identity.
“You can’t be trusted,” she blurted.
He rocked back on his heels. Shock lit his eyes.
“I mean that in a good way.” She tried to smooth over her harsh words with another side to the argument.
He nodded, but didn’t smile.
“You’d start trying to fix my life. Maybe even interfere where my mother was concerned. Or talk my friends into intervening.”
He shook his head, opened his mouth to protest.
“You couldn’t stop yourself,” she said. “You’re used to helping women out.”
“Maybe I could stop myself.” But Jon knew she had him targeted like a strategic market.
She moved away. “I have to speak to some people before I leave.”
He grabbed her elbow. “Will you stop back and say good night before you go?”
She smiled. “How could I not?” Her eyes softened, glimmering in the dim patio lights strung above Cubby’s buffet table.
He nodded, glad for the moment that she couldn’t resist him anymore than he could her.
This once-a-year relationship could work, if he’d only get off the damn island and away from her long enough to gain some control back. Seeing her was doing him in. Her sexy eyes played with his head, and her tempting body played with his cock. Then there was her goodness. Not only had she held his hand when he was seasick and nursed his hurt ankle, but she’d listened, really listened, to his problems. And that held more allure than he liked to admit.
Sue popped up in front of him. “How’s it going, pilgrim?”
He grinned, remembering that a pilgrim was someone from away. “Congratulations on winning the game.”
“We’re eight and O. Heard you got roughed up in the bleachers earlier.”
“Me and Harry, the tall Texan over there.” He thumbed toward the bar. “We got whomped by some ladies.”
She laughed. “They whip somebody’s butt every week.”
He chuckled. “Glad to keep the tradition alive.”
She lowered her voice. “I wanted to ask about you and Maddie.”
His heart did a skip. He wasn’t supposed to discuss Maddie with anyone. He checked for the nearest exit. Maddie stood between him and it. But her back was to him. She hadn’t noticed him talking to her friend yet.
“What about me?” He steered the discussion away from Maddie and onto himself.
“Maddie looked surprised to see you, but she didn’t look happy.” She tilted her head and waited.
“My joke backfired, I guess.” He quirked one cheek for added effect, a sales antic he
’d seen Craig use. “Let’s just forget it. Okay?”
“No problem.” She patted his shoulder. “Best laid plans and all that. Sorry things didn’t work out, but they never do with off-islanders.” Sue waved to a burly guy and a woman, who looked to be related. “Got to go. Jill’s cousin is thinking about transplanting and he’s a catch.” Off she scooted wearing a big grin and her baseball spikes.
“Good luck,” he called after her.
Jon glanced toward the exit. Maddie was still there talking to a group of people. He planned to make a last pitch at a get-together before he called it a night and hauled Harry back to the inn. For now, the cowpoke was holding up a corner of the bar and in a booming voice talking politics. He hoped he didn’t have any Remember the Alamo notions concerning home rule.
When Jon turned around, Lyndsey was standing next to him. “Can I get you a drink?” he asked.
Can I make you disappear? he wondered.
Why were Maddie’s friends plaguing him tonight? He wasn’t supposed to talk or be seen with any of them. Or anybody that knew them or Maddie. He’d given his word. Damn stupid agreement.
“No thanks.” Her tone sounded flat.
“Whew, it’s warm in here.” He tugged at the neck of his shirt and moved toward the door, but she held onto his arm with a softball pitcher’s grip. He side-glanced to see if Maddie saw him fraternizing with her friend. Not yet.
“Lobstermen sometimes have to be tough to protect their territory. I have a few friends who lobster. Do you get my drift?”
“You have tough friends.” He shrugged, not getting it.
“Tougher than you.” She raised an eyebrow.
He nodded. He got it now. She’d just threatened him. Jon leaned in. “You may think I’m wishy-washy. But I won’t go out with the tide. Not without a fight.”
She raised both of her red eyebrows. “I’m talking Shanghai here.”
“Let me get this straight. Your tough friends plan to abduct me, and I’m…not sure what I did.” He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what her problem was.
“You’re stalking my friend, Maddie.”
“Stalking,” he sputtered. Damn. Sticking to Maddie’s conditions was getting stickier by the minute. How in the hell could he defend a remark like that without telling more about their arrangement than he was supposed to? He wasn’t a stranger ambushing an unsuspecting woman. Maddie knew him, well. She’d screwed him silly, kissed him like he’d never been kissed before, massaged his cum onto her skin, left him breathless and in love. He was trying to get her attention and yet keep their agreement at the same time.
“The other night she asked you to go away. I heard her.”
“Yes, but she was teasing.” He gave her a lopsided grin.
“No, she meant it.” Lyndsey’s red hair seemed to flame with her words.
“I didn’t realize…” He paused. How much to say and still stay in bounds?
“No means no,” she said. “Ever hear of it?”
“Not in reference to myself. When Sue invited me, I thought Maddie approved. I must’ve misunderstood.” He held up his hands in surrender.
“Now that you understand, you’ll leave her alone, right?”
“Right.” He nodded. “I’m leaving right now.”
“Good night.” Lyndsey put her hands to her hips, looking more like an irate umpire than a ballplayer, and waited to make sure he tagged the nearest exit.
“Psst.” Jon hissed at Maddie as he edged past her on his way out the door.
When he rounded the corner and she glanced his way, he mouthed from the shadows, “Get your butt outside. Quick.”
What had he gotten himself into? He paced several short circuits around a smelly dumpster while he waited for Maddie, hoping she’d stall until Lyndsey stopped watching.
When she appeared, she wove her arms round his neck. “Good night and goodbye.” Her breath was a mere whisper in the dark behind Cubby’s building, next to the trash, as she touched her lips tenderly to his, molded her lush body against his, and cradled his dick with her crotch.
Here’s what he’d gotten himself into. His insides went limp while his cock went stiff and his mind went blank. He wanted her, and he had no idea how to win her over.
His lips moved in response to hers. Her mouth felt warm and pliant. Now didn’t seem like the time to break it to her about her friends, who thought he was Jack The Ripper and preferred if he slept with the fishes.
“Maddie, please, could I see you tonight?” He copped his final plea for all he was worth.
She eased away, studied his face in the flash of moonlight dashing through the tree limbs overhead. He allowed himself to get pulled into her violet eyes.
After a moment, he murmured, “I plan to wrap up my business tomorrow evening. I have a car reservation for the first ferry Friday morning.”
“No games, no pranks, no jokes,” she warned. “If I find you on the island after Friday, all deals are null and void. I won’t meet with you next year.”
He nodded. “I’m out of here Friday morning come high or low tide.”
She touched his cheek. “Lyndsey told me what she said and how you reacted. You never gave us away.”
He leaned into her palm, enjoying the softness of her skin and the bond they had formed. She cared for him. He felt it in his muscle, blood, and bone.
“I can be trusted. I love…what we have together.” He didn’t want to scare her off with professions of love. He knew where to find her. He wouldn’t wait until next year to see her again. But for now, one last chance to have her, hold her, make love to her was enough.
“The Muttleys are inland until her Monday appointment at the clinic.” She rushed her words, glancing around as she spoke. “If we meet behind her place no one should see us. Do you know where the birthday house is on Shore Drive?”
“Couldn’t miss it. Is it an advertisement of some kind?” He kissed her palm, pressing it to his chest before his mouth covered her lips again.
On a gasp, she parted from his mouth. “It was a birthday present from her husband.” She pushed him away. “I’d like to shower and change out of my uniform.” Pulling him back by his shirt front, she kissed him again, open-mouthed and hungry, before finally squirming away. “I’ll meet you behind their house in an hour.” Then she scampered back inside Cubby’s.
Jon rounded the wooden building to the front door. Lucky the bulky bouncer was inside fraternizing, instead of out in the doorway, bouncing. Jon peeked in and waved to Harry, who was propped against the corner of the bar and didn’t notice him. After picking up some pebbles, he opened the door again. Standing out of sight to make sure Lyndsey and her lobster trapping friends didn’t eye him up as bait, he pelted the tipsy Westerner with small stones. The man was either numb from alcohol or had passed out standing up. About a half-dozen pings later, he focused his bloodshot eyes in Jon’s direction.
With a flick of his thumb, Jon signaled him that they were out of there. With a flick of his wrist, Harry gulped down his last drop of beer.
Once the cowboy sidled out the door, he reeled across the parking lot, his feet performing some fancy footwork. Jon caught him, steered him toward the car, and then stuffed him into the passenger seat.
“Where we going?” Harry burped.
“To bed, my friend.”
Chapter Fifteen
Tap, tap, tap. Jon rapped on the door to Harry’s room at the Harbor Inn.
“Don’t bother the lil’ lady.” Stetson in hand, Harry slurred, “I’ll bunk in with you.”
That wasn’t about to happen. Jon knocked harder, until a dark-haired woman opened the door, snagged the cowboy and his hat, and whipped him inside with a grumbled, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Jon saluted the closed door, then bolted for his own room and a quick shower to wash off the dust of the ball field and the stench of the barroom.
Afterward, he ducked out through the darkened, empty dining area, stopping to use the des
k phone to check with Craig. Still no baby. He promised to call Jon at the Harbor Inn’s number when the time came.
Jon slipped out the back door of the silent building, confident Rodger was asleep and hadn’t seen or heard him. In minutes he was on the road to the birthday house, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and humming to soft rock on his low-tuned radio.
When he pulled up, Maddie’s Jeep was nowhere in sight. He stopped humming. Had she changed her mind?
He parked the car out of sight behind the cake house and paced the length of the property. A hazy, partly-clouded moon cast a glow, outlining the home’s decorative cresting and finials, making the roofline look truly like icing and candles.
“See what love does to a man,” he muttered to his shadow about the builder of the home. “Builds dreams,” he answered for his shadow.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he walked the perimeter again. Building wasn’t so bad, he reasoned. It wasn’t like tearing down. That meant love wasn’t so bad.
He stared up at the full moon. Could it be affecting his senses? Lovey, dovey, moony, loony. He squeezed his eyes shut to stop his mind from playing word association. At this rate, he’d be begging Maddie for her portrait of that homely loon. While on bended knee, no less.
The whine of an engine came barreling up the roadway. Headlights jounced, approaching fast, and the crunch of tires on gravel grated the night. The motor cut off. If this wasn’t his shadowy moon goddess, he couldn’t imagine how he was going to explain lurking around a stranger’s backyard.
“Hi there.” Maddie’s voice echoed from the blackness alongside the house.
He bided his time as her night-shrouded figure moved toward him, her hips swaying in a pair of white shorts that looked luminescent in the scudding moonshine. Her long legs appeared even longer in the short shorts. The vee between her legs was shadowed, adding a sense of mystery and a need for discovery. The rest of her curvy body was equal to a walking advertisement for an aphrodisiac.
His throat went dry as she strode ever nearer. He held his arms out to her, unable to wait to grab her and mold her luscious body against his. His biceps twitched. His dick swelled and throbbed, anticipation increasing his blood flow.
