Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-16 (Gansett Island Series)

by Marie Force

“Did she talk about me? Tell me the truth.”

  “She didn’t say a word about you,” Jenny said with a straight face.

  “Nothing at all? I’m gutted, crushed, devastated.”

  “You’re also very dramatic.” Amused, Erin handed over a twenty to pay for the winterberry and took the ten in change. “Let’s get going. We’ve got a tree to decorate.”

  “I’ll see you tonight,” Jenny said.

  “See you then.”

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do in the meantime,” she whispered to Erin. “Which means anything goes.”

  “Shut it!” Erin said, leaving Jenny laughing.

  While Slim put the tree in the back of his pickup truck, she got into the cab that smelled of his distinctive cologne. If rakish sex appeal, quick wit and sharp intelligence could be captured in a scent, whatever he wore did the trick for her.

  He got into the truck and fired it up, blasting the heat. The frigid day was overcast and stormy, the kind of winter day she loved and the majority of sane people hated.

  Erin never used to love winter as much as she did now, but the older she got, the more she enjoyed hibernating in the winter. Although on Gansett Island, an endless array of social events kept everyone busy during the off-season, making hibernation difficult. It was probably just as well, or she’d be a total hermit by now.

  “Where to?” she asked as he pulled the truck onto the main road.

  “Now we go to find some lights and ornaments for the tree.”

  “I saw some stuff at the pharmacy last week. Not sure if it’s still there or sold out by now.”

  “We’ll start there. If necessary, we’ll go beachcombing for ornaments.”

  Erin liked the way he operated, how he didn’t sweat the small stuff and made the most mundane things, like eating breakfast, fun. In that way, he was her polar opposite. She sweated everything—big stuff and small. She was an obsessive over-thinker, which was why she’d shocked not only him but herself with the spontaneous invitation to stay with her.

  For once, she hadn’t taken the time to think the plan through from every possible angle and outcome. She’d just acted, and the look on his face had been priceless and well worth the lack of dithering that would normally precede such a decision.

  She hadn’t always been this way. At one time, she’d driven her parents insane with the number of times she’d changed her major before settling on pre-law. Her spontaneity had gotten her in trouble on more than one occasion, never more so than when perpetrating pranks with her equally mischievous twin. That side of her had died with him.

  She’d read once about a man who’d detested chocolate until he had surgery and awoke from the anesthesia craving chocolate. Similarly, Erin had emerged on the other side of her tremendous loss a completely different person. Even all these years later, she was still getting to know that new person—and new Erin was someone else altogether when Slim Jackson was around.

  Rediscovering the lighthearted girl she used to be had been an interesting side effect of her friendship with him. She’d nearly forgotten that girl had once resided inside her, but finding her again after all this time was like a revelation in and of itself. And that, more than anything, was why she’d asked him to stay. She liked how she felt when he was around—unburdened, hopeful, giddy, aroused, breathless, off-balance.

  Those feelings also made her nervous for what would happen after he left again. His invitation to join him in Florida had stunned her. But what had stunned her even more was how much she wanted to take him up on it.

  He was slowly but surely dragging her out of the shell she’d crawled into long ago, hiding from the parts of life she found too painful to deal with. Inside that shell, she was safe and protected from things that could hurt her. The thought of a life outside the shell made her shudder in fear of what happened when you loved someone too much and they were ripped from your life suddenly and without warning.

  “Are you cold?” Slim asked, turning up the heat.

  “Little bit,” she said, rather than confess to the fears that had her shuddering.

  Being on the island had helped to crack the shell somewhat. It was impossible to be around the people who lived here and not engage in meaningful relationships and new friendships. They simply wouldn’t allow anyone to wallow by themselves for too long, and now there was a man who wasn’t going to allow her to wallow either. At some point, she’d have to decide how far out of the shell she was willing to venture.

  Slim parked the truck at the pharmacy and turned off the engine. “You okay over there? You’re awfully quiet.”

  “Just thinking.”

  “What I wouldn’t give to know what goes on inside that head of yours.”

  Erin laughed at the way he said that. “It’s probably better that you don’t.”

  “I don’t know about that. Wait for me.”

  At first she didn’t know what he meant, and then he was opening her door and helping her out of the truck. “While I appreciate your manners, I’m perfectly capable of getting out by myself.”

  “You get me, you get my manners, too, sweetheart.” He also held the door to the pharmacy for her and ushered her in ahead of him with a hand to her lower back.

  As a fully self-sufficient woman, she wanted to argue some more about his need to play the role of protective alpha man. But she enjoyed the courtesy too much to protest. She’d never been with a man who was so consistent about holding doors, and though it would take some getting used to, she decided she could live with his brand of gallantry.

  They found a picked-over display of Christmas decorations in the front of the store. There were six boxes of white lights left, and he grabbed all of them.

  “Why do we need so many lights?” Erin asked.

  “My rule is, until it hurts to look at the tree, you don’t have enough lights. Six boxes ought to do it.”

  “That’s ridiculous, but if you insist...”

  “I do.” With the lights tucked under one arm, Slim reached for a box of gold ornaments.

  Erin stopped him. “I like your beachcombing idea. It’s much more original than generic gold balls.”

  “It’ll be cold out there today.”

  “I can handle it if you can with your thin Florida blood.”

  His rich, wicked-sounding laugh sent a bolt of heat rippling through her body. He was sexy all the time, but when he laughed or smiled, his sexiness reached incendiary levels. “You’re on, babe.”

  And she liked when he called her that and sweetheart. She liked it an awful lot.

  Chapter 3

  When they went to pay for the lights, Grace Ryan was working the register with another woman who was also wearing a white pharmacist’s coat.

  “What’re you doing up here and not doling out drugs in the back?” Slim asked.

  “This is what happens when you own the place and someone calls out sick,” she said with a wry smile. “This is Fiona Connolly, also a pharmacist. Fiona, meet Slim Jackson, resident summer pilot, and Erin Barton, lighthouse keeper.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Fiona shook hands with both of them. She was tall and fair-skinned with reddish brown hair and pretty brown eyes.

  “Another pharmacist on Gansett?” Slim asked.

  “She’s covering when I’m away for the wedding and possibly longer if I can talk her into staying.”

  “Where’re you going?” Slim asked.

  “Evan has decided to make a go of his music with Buddy’s label, and I’ll be traveling with him. Fiona is one of my pharmacy school friends. She’s thinking about holding down the fort for me here while we’re on the road.”

  “I’m spending a few days here before the holiday to see how I feel about the isolation,” Fiona added.

  “That’s amazing news about Evan and the plans to tour,” Slim said. “I wondered what he’d do after his song hit number one.”

  “He’s doing what he should be doing, and I’m going with him. So we need to show Fiona how much
fun we have here on Gansett, even in the off-season, so she’ll want to stay for longer than a week,” Grace said, smiling at Fiona.

  “Are you coming to Alex and Jenny’s tonight?” Erin asked.

  “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Bring Fiona. Jenny won’t mind. The more the merrier.”

  “That’s our motto on Gansett,” Grace said for Fiona’s benefit. “Which is why our circle of friends seems to expand exponentially.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Fiona said. “I’d love to go, if you’re sure your friend won’t mind.”

  “I know she won’t,” Erin said, “but if you’d feel better, I’ll text her to tell her I invited you.”

  “That’d be nice. Thank you.”

  Grace rang up the sale of the lights, which Slim paid for before Erin could get her wallet out of her purse. He was too quick for her.

  “Are you counting down to the big day?” he asked Grace as he pocketed his wallet.

  “I can’t wait.” To Erin, she said, “You should come with Slim. We’d love to have you.”

  “Come where?”

  “Oh, sorry—to my wedding in Anguilla. It was supposed to be in Turks and Caicos, but our resort was damaged by a storm, so they moved us to Anguilla. Somehow we will make do.”

  Slim laughed at the way she said that last part.

  “I’d love to have you there, Erin. Please think about coming. It’s going to be a blast. I think half the island is coming.”

  “Now that you mention it, I remember Jenny saying that she and Alex are going. Thanks for the invite. I’ll have to see what’s going on.”

  “No pressure, but it’s a chance to escape this freezing weather for a few days.”

  “That does sound tempting,” Erin said as her heart pounded with anxiety at the thought of flying to Anguilla—or anywhere else, for that matter.

  “Could I trouble you for an extra bag?” Slim asked Grace.

  “Sure, here you go.” She gave him a plastic bag with the words Ryan’s Pharmacy stamped on it in blue letters.

  “Thanks, see you tonight,” Slim said as he ushered Erin out the door with the proprietary hand on her lower back. He held the door to the truck and waited until she was settled to close the door.

  “Should we hit the grocery store while we’re in town?” he asked after he got into the driver’s seat.

  “I have plenty of everything, but if there’s anything in particular you want, we can.”

  “I need my Ketel One. And beer.”

  “I got your favorite vodka, but we can stop at the liquor store for the beer on the way home.”

  “Thanks for thinking of me.” He directed the truck to the town beach and parked in the deserted lot. “Let’s go see what we can find.”

  While indulging his need to come around and help her out of the car, Erin pulled on gloves and tied her scarf tighter around her neck. Then she tied and untied the scarf again, making sure the left side was knotted over the right. Why that mattered, she couldn’t say. It just needed to be that way or bad things might happen.

  Carrying the bag he’d gotten from Grace, Slim took hold of her hand to help her over the sea wall and kept his hand wrapped firmly around hers while they walked. She was almost sorry she’d put on gloves, but she could still feel the heat of his bare hand warming hers.

  They went down close to the water, where a long strip of seaweed made for fertile beachcombing. As was her routine, Erin stepped over the seaweed with her left foot. The right foot could never go first.

  He stopped to pick up a scallop shell and held it up for her inspection.

  Nodding in approval, she took advantage of the opportunity to remove her gloves, hoping he’d hold her hand again.

  They walked the length of the beach, filling the bag with shells of all shapes and sizes as well as tiny pieces of driftwood and a long-dead starfish. With the wind whipping around them, it was hard to hear each other, so they didn’t say much. They didn’t need to. They kept up a steady communication with expressions and shared smiles over a particularly good find.

  He ran ahead of her, stopping to scoop up an object that defied description. At one time it might’ve been a shell of some sort. Now it had barnacles growing on it and a starfish stuck to one end. Slim held it up high and shouted, “Topper?”

  “Works for me!”

  Smiling, he added it to the bag, which was nearly full. He took hold of her right hand for the walk back to the truck against the cold wind that brought tears to their eyes. Erin wanted to switch hands so he’d hold the left one instead. It took effort not to ask if they could switch, but she withheld the obsessive urge, hoping he wouldn’t notice the way she favored her left side, even though she was right-handed.

  She’d given a lot of thought to the question of why the left side and had come to the conclusion that it was because when they were photographed as children, Toby had usually been on the left and she on the right. That was the best explanation she—and many therapists—had for the odd left-side fixation she’d developed after his death.

  Back in the truck, he blasted the heat and rubbed his frozen hands together. “This is going to be the coolest Christmas tree ever.”

  “It’ll certainly be the most unique.”

  “I just thought of something we need from the grocery store,” he said as they drove away from the beach.

  “What’s that?”

  “Bleach. Unless we want your cute little lighthouse to smell like a bait shop tomorrow.”

  “Um, no bait shop, please.”

  “Not to worry. I gotcha covered.” He told her to stay warm in the car while he ran into the store, emerging ten minutes later with three big paper bags in his arms. “Saw a couple of other things we needed to get into the Christmas spirit.”

  “Like what?”

  “Hot chocolate, steak, baked potatoes and candles for the table. I’d rather make you dinner than take you out when it’s freezing.”

  “You might be the best houseguest I’ve ever had.”

  “You just found me out. My goal is to get invited back.”

  Erin could tell she surprised him when she reached for his hand. “You have a standing invite.”

  His smile lit up his eyes, and he leaned in to kiss her. “God, I’ve been dying to do that for hours now.”

  “So why didn’t you?”

  “Afraid to scare you off. You’re kind of skittish about all this, aren’t you?”

  “I guess you could say that.”

  “How come?”

  Erin drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “It’s been a long time, a very long time, since I allowed anything like this to happen.”

  “And what exactly would you say is happening?”

  His intense gaze made it impossible for her to look away. “I don’t know yet, but today’s been fun so far.”

  He reached out to drag his fingertip over her cheek, which made her want to lean into his touch. “Best day I’ve had since the last time I saw you.” Keeping his eyes open, he kissed her again, softly, fleetingly. Too fleetingly for her liking. It only left her wanting more, which was probably another one of his goals.

  After a quick stop at the liquor store, they headed to the lighthouse, where Slim wrestled the tree up the spiral staircase. “Whoever had the big idea to put spiral stairs in here wasn’t thinking about Christmas,” he muttered, holding the tree over his head as he navigated the tight curves.

  “And now you see why I didn’t bother with a tree.”

  “It’ll be worth it. You’ll see.”

  Thankfully, the tree came with a built-in cross stand that made it easy to position in a corner of the living room. Next, he saw to soaking their “ornaments” in bleach in a bucket he unearthed from the mudroom.

  Entertained by his industriousness, Erin brewed a cup of tea and offered him some.

  “No tea for me, thanks. I’m a coffee guy, and only in the morning.”

  She filed away the information along with the ot
her things she was learning about him as they spent more time together. Taking her tea to the sofa, she watched him string the lights until he was satisfied with the coverage.

  “Does it hurt to look at?” he asked.

  Smiling, she said, “Downright painful.”

  “Perfect.”

  Using fishing string and superglue he found in a kitchen drawer, Slim created hooks for their ornaments and handed them to her for placement, until the only thing left was the topper that was so ugly it was beautiful. Slim surprised her when he placed his hands at her hips and lifted her so she could do the honors.

  He brought her down slowly and gently and then turned her, his hands resting on her shoulders. “It’s beautiful,” he said of the tree, but he was looking at her.

  “Yes, it is. I love it. Thank you for talking me into getting a tree.”

  “Thank you for letting me talk you into it.”

  He stared down at her, and then raised his hands to frame her face.

  Erin couldn’t breathe as she waited to see what he would do, and he didn’t disappoint.

  His lips came down on hers, and there was nothing tentative about this kiss. This one was all about desire and passion and the desperate need that had been building between them for months.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her mouth to his tongue. Then they were falling, landing on the sofa in a tangle of arms and legs and hot, sexy kisses that left her breathless and yearning for more. Too fast. This was happening way too fast, but damn if she could summon the wherewithal to slow it down.

  In reality, it’d been happening for months with hours of conversation and flirting building to the kind of spontaneous combustion she’d only read about and heard others talk about. She’d certainly never experienced anything like it herself. Until now, until him.

  When he pushed her sweater up, he pulled back from her only long enough to remove it before recapturing her lips, which were now stinging from the intensity of their kisses.

  “Ah, Christ,” he said, drawing back for a better look at the black bra she’d bought at Tiffany Taylor’s store last week “just in case” something like this happened with him. The dazzled expression on his face was worth the exorbitant cost of the bra. Wait till he got a look at the matching panties. “You’re so fucking sexy, and you don’t even realize it.” His words were uttered in a low growl that had her tingling all over from what he said as much as how he said it.