by Marie Force
“Oh, Syd,” Jenny said. “That’s wonderful.”
“It’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to conceive again. I’m trying to keep my expectations realistic, but I’m a tiny bit excited to be taking the first step, except for the part about having surgery.”
“We’re excited for you,” Grace said, reaching across the table to rest her hand on top of Syd’s. “We all know what a big step it is for you.”
The others nodded in agreement. Abby recalled hearing about the terrible accident that had taken the lives of Syd’s husband and young children and admired her courage in trying to have another baby with her new husband.
“It seems we all have much to celebrate,” Maddie said. “I propose a toast to good friends, good times and new beginnings.”
Abby was more than happy to drink to that.
Two hours later, the women were finishing their fourth bottle of champagne and the wide variety of appetizers they’d decided to share when the guys came ambling into the restaurant.
“Oh my God!” Maddie said when she caught sight of her husband and the other men. “They do this every time!”
“They crash girls’ night out,” Janey said to Abby. “Every. Single. Time. We can almost set our watches by them.”
Abby smiled at Janey’s obvious pleasure in her husband’s arrival, but all she could see was Adam, grinning as he came toward her with Mac, Evan, Joe, Owen, Blaine and Luke in tow.
“What happened to poker night?” Maddie asked Mac.
“No one could beat Ned, so we started getting bored. It was either come here or go find trouble somewhere else. We figured you’d rather we came here.”
Maddie raised a brow, her expression skeptical. “How long did it take you fools to come up with that story?”
“On behalf of all the fools, I’m offended,” Mac said, stealing a kiss from his wife.
Adam leaned in to whisper in Abby’s ear. “Having fun?”
She loved that his arm was resting on the back of her chair, just shy of touching her. “Lots of fun.” The endless flow of champagne had made her a tad bit giddy. “I think I’ve found my drink.”
He raised a brow as he took in the empty bottles on the table. “Is that so?”
“Uh-huh. It’s my favorite so far.”
“How much have you had?”
“Just enough,” she said with a wink that made his eyes darken with what might’ve been desire.
Janey turned to them and gave her brother the death stare. “What did Grant have to say about this?” She waggled her finger between him and Abby.
“You told my sister?” he asked Abby.
“They were going to fix you up with Jenny. I couldn’t let that happen.”
He smiled at her and then turned his attention to Janey. “He, um, he told me not to screw it up the way he did.”
“And how’s he doing?” Janey asked Abby.
“So far, so good,” Abby said, her inhibitions lessened by the champagne. “There’s still time for him to mess up, though.”
“True,” Janey said. “He is a man.”
“And he’s fully equipped with ears, among other things,” Adam muttered.
Abby giggled at their sibling banter.
“If you screw it up, I’ll kill you myself,” Janey said.
“I stand warned,” Adam said.
In a matter of minutes, the guys had completely infiltrated their group. With the restaurant emptying of diners, Owen fetched a couple of guitars that he and Evan put to good use.
Abby couldn’t recall an evening she’d enjoyed more than this one. Throughout the sing-along, Adam kept a warm hand on the inside of her thigh, reminding her of their plans for later. Maybe it was the champagne or perhaps it was the excellent company, but suddenly it didn’t matter that he might be leaving or that she’d allowed herself to get more involved with him than she’d planned to. The only thing that mattered was right now. Tonight.
The rest would take care of itself. New Abby could handle a fling with a smart, sexy, sensitive man. If only Old Abby weren’t so worried about her heart being broken once again when he left, everything would truly be perfect.
Grant came awake slowly, disoriented by the dark and the deepest sleep he’d had in more than a week. As it occurred to him that he’d slept without the assistance of sleeping pills, he remembered what’d happened earlier. He’d totally lost it in front of his dad and brothers. Thinking of the scene he’d made and the way they’d come to his rescue brought new tears to his eyes.
Stephanie’s hand landed on his chest. “You’re awake.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost midnight.”
“Wow.” The last he’d known, it had been around seven when Stephanie suggested he lie down for a while. “Have you been here the whole time?”
She kissed his shoulder. “Right here.”
Wrapping his arm around her, he caressed her hair with his lips. “You missed girls’ night out.”
“There’ll be others.”
“You were looking forward to it.”
“This was more important.”
“I owe you an explanation for why I’ve been behaving so strangely since the accident.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Grant. If you want to talk to me, you know you always can. If you’re talked out, that’s fine, too.”
“I should’ve told you before I told everyone else.”
“There’s no protocol for something like this. You talked about it when you were ready to. I’m glad your dad and your brothers were there for you.”
“I lost it big-time. I think I scared the hell out of them.”
“They were more scared when you were silent.”
“How do you know? Have you all been talking about me?”
“Maybe a little.” He could hear the smile in her voice as her hand moved in a soothing pattern on his chest and belly. “We’ve been very worried about you. How do you feel now that you’ve let it out?”
“A little better. It was hard to see Steve’s mom and to hear he was her only child. I wish there was more I could’ve done for him.”
“Do you realize that everyone considers you a hero for what you did for Dan?”
“I’m not a hero. Don’t let them say that about me.”
With her hand on his face, she turned him into her kiss. “Ask Dan if he thinks you’re a hero. You did all you could, Grant. You did more than most people could’ve done. I try to imagine what it must’ve been like… To be separated from Mac and Evan, to not know what’d become of them while you’re trying to keep yourself and Dan afloat in freezing cold water and dense fog for hours. You had to have been terrified and despondent and worried about me and your family and a million other things, yet you took care of Dan and saved his life as well as your own. If that’s not the definition of a hero, I don’t know what is.”
Touched by her kind words, Grant deeply resented the tears that came despite his desperate desire to make them stop. “I couldn’t help Steve.”
“I know, but there’s a very good chance that Steve was killed on impact.”
“We’ll never know that for sure.”
“No, but you have to find a way to live with what happened. You did the best you could in unimaginable circumstances. No one blames you, not even Steve’s mother. You have to find a way to forgive yourself.”
“I’m trying.” He used the back of his hand to brush the tears off his face.
Stephanie shifted onto his chest, pushed his hand away and finished the job, peppering his face and lips with soft, sweet kisses. “I love you, and I’m so proud of what you did out there. I’m choosing to focus on what you were able to do, not what you couldn’t. I wish you’d try to do that, too.”
“I will. I’ll try.” He tightened his arms around her, drawing strength from her love. “Thanks.”
“For what, babe?”
“For staying home with me tonight, for standing by me this last week, for not giving up on m
e when I would’ve given up on myself.”
“I’ll never give up on you. I love you too much. Way too much.”
“Not as much as I love you.”
“Want to bet?”
“I’d bet on you any day, baby.”
“I bet on us. There’s nothing we can’t handle.”
He would do his best to get past what’d happened. He would try to stop thinking about the awful choice he’d been forced to make. He would focus on what he had rather than what had been lost. As long as he had Stephanie by his side and in his arms, he was confident he’d get there eventually.
It was after one the next morning when the party at the Surf finally broke up. Fortunately, Abby had traded champagne for water hours ago. Other than a few curious looks, no one had made much of her sitting close to Adam all night, which had been a relief. No one really seemed to care that they were spending time together.
With his hand on her lower back, he escorted her across the street to the Beachcomber.
“What’s this about you renting my sister’s place?” he asked.
“She’s decided to take a year off from vet school after the baby comes.”
“So I heard.”
“They need a bigger place for the baby. When she said she’d be renting her place, I snapped it up.”
“I love her house. It’d be perfect for you.”
Her heart ached at the reminder that she’d be back to living alone, no closer to her one-time goal of being a wife and mother. That was okay, she told herself as they took the stairs to the third floor. She’d make a happy, productive life for herself, and if she fell in love again someday, it would be with someone who wanted her more than he wanted his next breath. Being with her friends tonight, she’d seen that kind of love in action and wanted nothing less than what she’d seen among the other happy couples.
“What’re you thinking about?” Adam asked as he watched her withdraw her key card from her bra.
“You ask me that a lot, you know.”
He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “It’s because I genuinely want to know what’s going on in there.”
She smiled at him, amazed once again at how attentive he was. “I was thinking about how happy everyone seems to be. Mac and Maddie, Luke and Syd, Tiffany and Blaine, Evan and Grace, Laura and Owen, Janey and Joe… Engagements and babies… They’ve all found the one they were meant to be with.”
“I confess to feeling a twinge of envy over that tonight.”
She opened the door and went in ahead of him. “Really?” she asked, turning to him.
“They’ve got it all figured out. They know who they’re going to spend forever with. It must be nice to have all the questions answered so definitively.”
“They’re lucky to have that.”
He put his arms around her. “I want that,” he said. “I want the answers to the questions.”
“Despite my statements to the contrary on the ferry the other day, I suppose I do, too.”
“Have you considered that this, right here, might be the answer for both of us?”
Abby stared up at him, amazed again.
“I’m sorry,” he said when she didn’t reply. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, I mean yes. Yes, I’ve considered it.”
“You have. Really?”
She nodded. “I’ve let myself entertain a few fantasies in which you play the starring role.”
He took her hand and sat on the bed, tugging lightly to bring her down next to him. “Tell me about them.”
“I can’t. You’ll think I’m crazy. I left Cal only a few days ago. I’ve got no business having fantasies about you.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“After the stuff we’ve done together, you’re still embarrassed around me?”
“This feels more intimate somehow.”
He caressed her face, his touch setting off a riot of sensation that traveled to all her pleasure points. “Before you tell me, I have a confession that might make you never speak to me again.”
She couldn’t imagine never speaking to him again. “What’s that?”
“When I found you on the beach last night? It was because I programmed your phone so I could find you. I felt guilty about it the minute I did it, and I felt worse when I actually used it.”
“I don’t understand why you would do that.”
“Because I was worried about you. I didn’t want some dickhead like that guy in the bar taking advantage of you. Selfishly, I wanted you all to myself. I’m sorry. Are you mad?”
“I want to be.”
“My intentions were good even if I went about it the wrong way. I wanted to make sure you’d be safe. That’s all. I promise.”
She handed him her phone. “Turn off whatever you did.”
Adam took the phone from her, clicked around in the settings and handed it back to her. “Sorry.”
“Don’t use your mad techno skills on me again. You got me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Could I ask you something that might make you mad?”
“What’s that?”
“What happened with Grant today?”
“That doesn’t make me mad.” He relayed the story of what had happened to Grant after the accident.
By the time he was done, Abby had her hand over her mouth as she blinked back tears. “Poor Grant. What an awful thing. Is he okay?” She shook her head. “That’s a stupid question. Of course he isn’t okay.”
“He will be. In time. We’ll all see to that.”
“Is it okay that I asked about him?”
“It’s fine, honey.” He kissed her cheek and then her lips. “Now, you mentioned some fantasies that involve me… I want to hear about them.”
“I’d feel foolish to speak of things that’ll never happen.”
“Haven’t I shown you that it’s never foolish to ask for what you want?”
“That might work in bed. It’s not as cut and dried in real life.”
“It can be. There’s nothing you could say that would make me think you were foolish.” He corralled her hair into a ponytail that he held with one hand. With her hair out of his way, he bent to kiss her neck, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. “Tell me. I really want to know.”
It was hard to form a reasonable thought with what he was doing to her neck. “I had this thought about running my new store while you served as the island’s resident computer geek. See what I mean about it being foolish? Everyone knows you have to go back to New York at some point. You’ll have to get back to your real life.”
“What if that’s not my real life. What if this is? What if you are?”
“Don’t say those things. You don't mean that.”
“How do you know? The last few days I’ve spent with you have been the best I’ve ever spent with anyone. Do you know what I adore about you?”
His use of the word “adore” killed her. “What?”
“That I can be totally myself with you. I don’t feel the need to put on an act so I can be what you want. It seems you like me exactly the way I am.”
“I do. How could I not like you? You’re…”
“What am I?”
“You’re amazing.” Was there any other single word that could better describe him? Not that she could think of.
“Abby…” Their lips came together in sweet communion. His hands on her face made her feel safe, treasured, adored. The kiss turned hot and potent when he wrapped his arm around her, as if he needed to be closer to her.
Abby returned his embrace and let out a sigh of completion when he urged her to lie back on the bed. Wrapped up in his arms, Abby allowed herself to be swept away by the possibility that he might be the answer to all her questions. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to feel this way all the time?
He drew back from her, gazing at her intently. “I want to make love to you. I want to show you what might be p
ossible.”
“I’m afraid.”
“Of what, honey?”
“Of how you make me feel, of what will happen when you go, or what will happen if you stay…”
“Let’s live the fantasy. For one night, let’s pretend it’s exactly the way you imagined it.”
She looked up at him, so handsome and dear to her, and decided to take a gamble. “Okay.”
Chapter 19
At the look of utter trust she directed his way, Adam’s chest tightened with emotions that hit him one after the other—protectiveness, tenderness and fierce longing. Even after what he’d recently been through with Sasha, he had no hesitation about giving himself over to Abby’s keeping. Somehow he understood that he’d be safe with her in a way he’d never been with Sasha. He knew that now.
It had taken only a few days with Abby to show him there might be something far better waiting for him. And now he wanted to share everything with her, beginning with this one night steeped in a fantasy that was quickly becoming reality. During the hours he’d spent away from her, he’d thought of little else beyond getting back to her. Images of her had tormented his mind, making it impossible to concentrate on the poker game or the conversation or anything other than her.
After what they’d all been through with Grant earlier, his brothers had been more subdued than usual, too, which was probably the only thing that had saved him from being grilled by them about his obvious distraction.
He’d met a lot of women in his life, spent time with them, slept with more of them than he probably should have. Sasha had been his third significant relationship, but none of those three women had touched him in years together the way Abby had in the last few days.
One thing had become very clear to him—this was way more than a rebound.
She was different. She was special. She was everything he hadn’t realized he wanted until he was holding her in his arms and she was looking up at him with those big trusting eyes that seemed to see all the way inside him. And she apparently liked what she saw, which made her that much more attractive to him.
All at once it was vitally important that he have a real chance with her. He wanted to find out what they might have together beyond the casual fling they’d begun with. He wanted to show her what she’d come to mean to him, and the best way he could do that was to focus all his attention on her. He needed to convince her that he could be what she needed, both in bed and out.
