by Marie Force
Janey took her time walking home. The mild evening had brought out the crowds, and Main Street was busy and loud. It was still early, so she decided to stop at the Beachcomber for a beer before going home. No doubt she’d find someone she knew at her favorite bar. Unlike her brothers, she’d never been confined by island life and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. But she missed David so much that she wondered how she’d ever survive another year apart.
They were so close to having everything they’d ever dreamed of. All their plans were in place for a wedding next summer, after which he’d move home to Gansett to take over the practice of the retiring Doc Robach. Janey had graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in animal science. She’d had the grades for veterinary school, but David had convinced her that only one of them should go to medical school or they’d be repaying student loans for the rest of their lives. She knew he was right. Island practices wouldn’t generate the kind of income they’d need to live and pay off massive loans, too. Sometimes, however, she wished they both could’ve pursued their dreams.
Janey’s parents had offered to pay for her to go to veterinary school, but she and David had decided they didn’t want to be that deeply indebted to them. Her parents had vehemently disagreed with that decision and hadn’t hesitated to tell her so. But it was her life—and David’s—and they were going to do things their way. Her parents had been a little chilly to David since then, and Janey hoped they’d get over it before the wedding.
She and David had been a team for so long—since their sophomore year of high school—that Janey couldn’t imagine her life without him. She just wished they saw more of each other. Once a month or so, she spent a weekend with him in Boston, and he came to the island whenever he could get at least forty-eight hours free. Unfortunately, that hadn’t happened very often during his residency. He was either working or sleeping. Often when they were together, he slept through much of it. That was the main reason why they’d decided she should stay on the island with her family and friends rather than move to Boston to live with him. He worked so much that she’d spend more time alone there than she did on Gansett.
This time next year, all the sacrifice would pay off. Somehow, she just had to get by until then. Seeing Mac and Maddie, so suddenly and stupidly in love, had made Janey wistful and lonely. Taking the steps to the Beachcomber two at a time, she was glad she’d decided to stay out for a while. Before she walked into the bar, she called Mac’s phone and let it ring once as requested, so he wouldn’t come hunt her down.
At the far side of the bar, Joe Cantrell nursed a beer and flirted with the bartender.
Thrilled to see him, Janey snuck up behind him and covered his eyes with her hands.
“Who goes there?” he said.
“Guess.”
“Hmmm, smells like Mac McCarthy’s bratty little sister to me.”
“I’ve never been able to fool you!” Janey planted a kiss on Joe’s cheek and smiled when he flushed with embarrassment. He was such a mush and one of her all-time favorite people. “What does Mac McCarthy’s little sister smell like anyway?”
“Sunshine and wildflowers,” he said, startling her.
Janey swallowed hard. “Is that so?”
Realizing she no longer had Joe’s attention, the bartender stalked off to wait on other customers without taking Janey’s order.
“Yep,” Joe said. “What’re you doing out running the streets so late? Isn’t it past your curfew?”
Janey rolled her eyes at him. “I just babysat for Mac’s girlfriend, Maddie, so they could go out.”
“That seems to be getting serious. I’ve seen him out with the baby every morning this week.”
“He’s crazy about them both.”
Joe chuckled. “Hard to believe.”
“No kidding, but he seems really happy. I love seeing him all befuddled by a woman. It’s high time.” Taking a handful of pretzels from the bowl on the bar, she popped one into her mouth. “What’re you doing here? This isn’t one of your usual island nights.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Got my schedule memorized?”
She took a drink from his bottle of beer. “It’s not exactly rocket science: Friday and Saturday nights from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. Today is Thursday. It’s a reasonable question.”
“If you must know, busybody, the wife of one of my guys is in labor, so I’m taking the first run in the morning.”
“Ah, I see.” Janey noticed him fixating on her engagement ring. Casually, she shifted on the barstool and dropped her left hand to her lap. He’d never said or done anything inappropriate. He’d never treated her as anything other than his best friend’s little sister. But there was something—something Janey couldn’t allow herself to examine too closely. Truth be told, she was afraid of what she might find just below the surface of her easy friendship with the handsome ferryboat captain.
He signaled the bartender and ordered a beer for her, pushing forward a ten from his stack of money on the bar.
Janey raised her bottle in a toast to Joe. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
“It’s good to see you.”
“Janey, it’s always good to see you.”
Chapter 11
Maddie emerged from the bathroom and immediately spotted the bag Mac had left on the bed. After he closed the bathroom door, she approached the pink-striped bag as if it was full of explosives. Inside, she found the gorgeous ivory nightgown she’d admired in the Victoria’s Secret window. Maddie blinked back tears as silk slipped through her fingers. He must’ve seen her looking at it and bought it after she moved on.
Glancing at the closed bathroom door, she realized she had just a few minutes to change. She took the bag into the bedroom where Thomas slept and quickly stripped off her clothes and slipped into the nightgown. With only the light from the hallway, she could see that her breasts filled the top to overflowing, and nothing she did lessened the effect of too much breast and not enough nightgown. Fighting back tears of frustration, she told herself that he’d wanted to do something nice for her, to make their first time together extra special. If she made a fuss about the top being too small, she would ruin it.
Mac came up behind her, kissed her shoulder and slid his arms around her.
Maddie startled. She’d been so consumed with worry she hadn’t heard the bathroom door open.
“Stop worrying about how they look,” he whispered, his breath warm against her sensitized skin. He had removed his shirt but still wore his shorts. “Every inch of you is perfect to me.”
“Thank you,” she managed to say, amazed once again by how well he read her in such a short amount of time together. “For the nightgown. I’ve never had anything so beautiful.”
“Neither have I.”
Maddie closed her eyes and relaxed into his embrace.
“Are you going to let me see how it looks? I’ve had all these fantasies...”
Gripping his hand, she led him out of the bedroom and into the softly lit living room. Before she could chicken out, she turned, raised her chin and met his eyes. In them she saw heat and desire and love. So much love. Because of that, she didn’t flinch when his eyes took a slow journey from her face to her chest and below before returning to her face.
“The fantasies have nothing on the reality,” he said after a long moment during which neither of them took a breath. He brought her in close to him and ran his hands up and down her silk-covered back. “I’ve never wanted anyone or anything the way I want you, Madeline.” His big hands spanned her waist, heating her skin through the silk.
“I don’t want to disappoint you. I haven’t done this very often.”
“Baby, you couldn’t possibly disappoint me.” He dropped soft, openmouthed kisses on her collarbone, shoulder and neck. “Remember earlier, when you asked what I was thinking, and I said I’d tell you after our date?”
Caught up in a flood of sensation, Maddie couldn’t seem to form
words. “Mmm.”
“I want to tell you now.”
He raised his face from her neck and looked her in the eye.
Maddie reached up to comb her fingers through his thick dark hair.
A tremble rippled through him.
“What do you want to tell me, Mac?”
“When you asked me what I was thinking... My exact thought at the second you asked was that I love you so much I ache with it.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. She was a regular waterworks tonight. “Mac...”
“I’ve never said that to anyone before. I had no idea what it meant to be in love until I knocked you off your bike and you knocked me off my feet.”
As a fat tear rolled down her cheek, she drew him into a deep, sensual kiss. “Mac, I—”
He stopped her with a kiss. “Don’t say anything. Not now. Let me show you.”
At that moment, Maddie would’ve followed him anywhere he chose to take her. She belonged to him, body and soul.
Urging her down to the bed, he dropped his shorts and joined her. They faced each other, touching, kissing, laughing softly when nose bumped nose.
“I wish I wasn’t all bruised and scabby for this.”
“I love those scabs. Without them, we wouldn’t have found each other.”
Maddie laughed, drowning in the heady scent of his cologne. “That’s crazy logic.”
“I’m so glad I stepped off that curb and collided with you. I still hate that you got hurt so badly, but when I think about how you could’ve ridden right by me... that I might’ve never known you or Thomas... that we could’ve come so close to each other but never had this...” His caressing hand found her belly.
Maddie arched into him, wanting him so desperately but not wanting to seem too eager. In the back of her mind, always, were the whispers, the innuendos, the rumors. She tentatively caressed his chest, running her palm over his protruding nipple before coasting down to his taut belly.
Mac gasped and shifted so he was on top of her. He buried one hand in her hair and devoured her mouth with deep, sweeping strokes of his tongue that left her weak and trembling. Kissing his way down the front of her, he visited her ear and neck before moving to her chest. Maddie tensed. Here it comes, the part where he’ll want to touch me there.
With his hands braced on her ribs and using only his tongue, he teased her nipples until the silk was damp and clinging to her fevered skin. He drew her left nipple into his warm mouth, but still he didn’t touch her with anything other than his mouth. Just when Maddie was certain he would fill his hands with her breasts, he moved down, kissing her stomach, her hip bones and then her center.
“Mac... please...” She arched her hips, hoping to leave no doubt that she wanted him. Right now.
“I need you to say the words, remember?”
How could she forget? “Make love to me, Mac. Please make love to me.”
He moved to her ankles and ran his hands over her legs, raising the nightgown as he went. Any minute now she’d be naked and laid out before him. He’d see what she wanted no one to see. But he only raised the gown to her hips and settled between her legs. When she realized what he intended to do, she tried to sit up, but his arm across her middle held her in place.
“Wait, Mac. Don’t.”
“Shh,” he said, his breath fanning the hair that covered her. “It’s okay. Let me love you.” His broad shoulders forced her legs farther apart. “Relax, honey. I promise you’ll like it.”
Maddie wasn’t so sure but made an effort to relax the muscles in her thighs. However, when his fingers slid through the dampness between her legs, she tensed again.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I love you. I want to love you.”
When his tongue found the center of her desire at the same moment his fingers slid into her, Maddie’s heart surged, her skin heated and tingled, and even as she tried to remain still, her hips lifted in response to his deep caresses.
“That’s it, baby. Just let go. I want all of you. I want to kiss you everywhere.”
A sob erupted from Maddie’s throat as she buried a hand in his hair and lifted her hips in time with his questing tongue and fingers. When he rolled her pulsing flesh between his lips and sucked hard on her, she went totally still and came with a cry of completion and desperate desire. He stayed with her through every wave and then started all over again, driving her up and then leaving her hanging.
She moaned and reached for him.
“Wait a sec, hon.” He sat on the side of the bed to roll on a condom. When he was ready, he lowered himself over her and devastated her with slow, deep kisses, as if he had all the patience in the world. The erection pulsing against her leg told a different story. Maddie let her hands roam over his back and down to his tight backside.
He jerked, his face tense as he fought for control.
“Now, Mac. Right now.”
“It’s been a while for you, honey. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Even though he was longer and fuller than Tom, Maddie knew it wouldn’t hurt the way it had before. “You won’t.” Guiding him with her hand, she stroked him gently.
He released a hiss and bit down on his lip. “If you do that, this’ll be over before it starts.”
Maddie raised her hips to guide him. Now he would probably want the nightgown off, but when she started to remove it, he stopped her.
“Leave it,” he said through gritted teeth as he entered her with a powerful thrust that took her breath away.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh, God.”
He froze. “Does it hurt?”
“No, no. Don’t stop. Just don’t stop.”
Mac chuckled at her enthusiastic response and gave her what she wanted.
Her legs hugged his hips as her hands gripped his backside.
With his fingers between them, he once again found the core of her desire and stroked her to another shattering climax. This time, he went with her, surging into her over and over again before his arms seemed to collapse. Breathing hard, he rested on top of her without crushing her, even as he continued to throb inside her.
Maddie combed her fingers through his hair, soothing him with soft kisses to his damp forehead.
“That was amazing,” he finally said.
“Beyond amazing.” With the nightgown bunched between them, Maddie finally understood what he had done—he’d taken her breasts out of the equation, allowing her to focus only on the pleasure, only on him. Never in her wildest dreams or fantasies had she ever expected to find a man who not only loved her, but who understood her the way he did.
“I love you, too, Mac,” she whispered. “So much I ache with it.”
He released a long, deep breath that sounded a lot like relief. “You’ve made me so happy.”
Somehow, he’d managed to conquer her every fear, every worry, every doubt. In six days’ time, he’d done what no one else before him ever had. He’d loved her, protected her, fought for her and cared for her. She tightened her arms around him, intending to never let him go.
“We might have one small problem.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“I only have four condoms. Well, three, now.”
“Why didn’t you get more today?”
“You wouldn’t have found that a tad presumptuous?”
She couldn’t deny he had her there. “What’ll we do? Neither of us can buy them in this town. It’ll be all over the island before we’re even out of the store.”
“Don’t worry, honey. I’ll think of something.”
“You do that.” She tugged on his hair to bring him close enough to kiss. “And get the big box while you’re at it. The biggest box they have. Maybe two of them.”
Mac laughed as he finally withdrew from her. “You got it.”
“And you’ll take care of this tomorrow?”
“First thing,” he said, still chuckling.
“Good, because we’ll need some for tomorrow night.”
“I kne
w it,” he said with a deep, dramatic sigh. “You’re really going to kill me, aren’t you?”
She could tell she astounded him when she pushed him onto his back. Her lips hovering above his, she said, “Or die trying.”
Mac held her tight against him as she slept. After what they’d shared, he should have been exhausted, depleted, drained. Instead, he was exhilarated and making plans that he couldn’t wait to share with her.
They would be married as soon as possible. He’d adopt Thomas and give him his name. Thomas McCarthy had a nice ring to it. Next, he would build them a house—a great big house with a huge bedroom, a brand-new bed and a view of the water. He’d take over his father’s business and make a life right here on the island with his new family. They’d even find a way to send Maddie to college. Maybe if she spent two days a week on the mainland, she could chip away at a degree over the next few years. He wanted her to have everything she’d missed out on before now. After waiting forever for her, he’d do anything he could to ensure her unending happiness.
She stirred, murmured in her sleep and pressed her lips to his chest.
Mac smoothed a hand over her hair.
“What’re you doing awake?” she muttered.
“Thinking about you.”
“What about me?”
“About the life we’re going to have together.”
“Tell me about it.” She caressed his chest, focusing on his nipple, which reawakened another part of him. “I want to know all about it.”
He went through the whole plan, from marriage to college.
Maddie propped herself up so her chin rested on his chest. She stayed like that for a long time, studying him with those caramel eyes that made him melt.
“What? You don’t like the plan?”
“I love the plan.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. No one can be this perfect.”
“Maybe I’m just perfect for you. Did that ever occur to you?”
“Oh, many times.” She shifted so she was on top of him and began to pepper his chest with soft kisses that made his blood boil. No one had ever fired him up the way she did. Her tongue circled his nipple, and he sucked in a sharp, deep breath. “Babe, don’t forget. We’re out of condoms.”
