Return by Sea (Glacier Adventure Series Book 3)

by Tracey Jerald

  “What I want to know is how on earth could you think I would hold something like that against you?”

  There’s silence on both ends of the line until I whisper, “Excuse me?”

  “You were strung out on pain meds from just having surgery. You had just been told you couldn’t ever have children and somehow, somehow managed to stay on the phone with me while I gave birth to your godchild. You didn’t bow or break until after you knew I made it through. And still you’re worried about me? What did that do to you?” By the end she’s yelling and crying.

  “Held that in a while, did you?” I joke through my tears.

  “Damn you, Maris, this isn’t funny. If I thought for a moment it would have hurt you the way it did, I never would have asked Dean to make that call.”

  “And I would have been devastated even more if you hadn’t. Hearing Kevin cry for the first time is one of the most cherished memories I have. It was as if I was in that room with you, helping push that baby out. I may never have the physical experience, but because of you I have the emotional one.” And as I say the words, I know it’s the truth.

  “You’re going to be an amazing mother, Maris.” Kara sniffles.

  Just as I’m feeling the glow of her words trickle over me, she throws a bucket of water over me. “By the way, Jennings wants you to know that he loves you. And he got over being irritated with Jed a long time ago.”

  My breath catches. “Oh God, Kara. Tell him, I’m…”

  “Maris, it’s…not…your…fault. None of this was. You were the strongest friend you could be. And in the end, where did we all end up?”

  “Together,” I whisper.

  “Exactly. Do you think your brother isn’t looking down at us with a smug-ass smile on his face?”

  I giggle. “No. I think he looks like a serial killer because he’s smiling so big.”

  Kara laughs so hard on the other end of the line, the pieces of my soul ease back into place. “I love you, Kara.”

  “I love you too, Maris. But you’re still not getting the poster back.” And on that note, she hangs up the phone.

  So it’s with a huge smile I toss my cell down on my desk. Less than three seconds later, it rings again. This time, it’s Rainey.

  “Hey. What’s up?”

  I barely get the question out before she starts ranting. “You have to get him out of my house. I can’t keep these hours anymore. The imps of Satan are starting to keep them.”

  “Whoa. Slow down. What are you talking about?”

  “Nick! He’s up at five every. Single. Day. What kind of psychopath goes running at that hour? Now the demons I spawned are doing jumping jacks at that hour. Do you know what I’m normally doing at that hour?”

  “Your husband?” I guess. Reaching for the bottle of water on my desk, I take a drink.

  Big. Mistake.

  “Yes!” she yells. I spit my water everywhere. “What I am not doing is running a boot camp. If Nick wants to take that on, he can take them into the backyard and we can stop being quiet while getting in some NC-17 time.”

  “Rainey, you just rated your sex according to movies,” I feel the need to point out as I wipe off the papers on my desk with a stack of tissues.

  “Watch enough cartoons and you will too.”

  “I look forward to that day,” I tell her honestly.

  “Oh, honey. I know you do, but before you do, save me from Nick. Please. I’ll do anything.”

  I pause. “Anything?”

  “An-y-thing.” She draws out the word.

  “I’m holding you to that.”

  “Wait, I was just calling to bitch. Are you serious?” There’s such hope in her voice I hate to be cruel and remind her of the agreement we just struck.

  “Just remember this when tax season rolls around again next year,” I say sweetly.

  “Now wait, Maris…”

  “You did say anything.” I emphasize the word exactly like she did.

  “Damn, I did. Well, Brad’s going to have someone in the office by then.”

  I don’t delude her of her fantasy. “Where’s Nick at now?”

  Rainey rattles off the name of the gym. “He’s working with the guy Reece and another guy from the camp in New Mexico who is staying somewhere other than my house. Why Nick couldn’t do that—”

  “Because likely your husband invited him,” I interrupt.

  There’s a silence before, “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Who? Nick or Brad. Because if you’re killing Brad, then the point of my going to talk to Nick is kind of fruitless, isn’t it?” I point out.

  “True. Nick could become a source of income. No, I’ll be creative on how I kill Brad.”

  “Hanging up now,” I tell her before I do just that. Reaching in my desk, I grab my purse and keys. I jog down the stairs and out to my vehicle.

  A few minutes later, I pull up to the gym next to Rainey’s Subaru and a rental. “Surprised the place isn’t mobbed with fans.” But as I get closer, I glimpse a sign that reads, “Gym under construction until further notice. Contact management for hours of operation.”

  I pull at the door and find it locked. Smart man, Nick. I pull out my cell and begin to dial his number when a man at least ten years my junior unlocks the door. He’s shirtless with taped hands, and his eyes widen before he apologizes. “I’m sorry, but the gym’s closed for construction.” He gives me a head-to-toe perusal and swallows hard.

  I bite my lower lip to contain my laughter. “Well, since Nick showed me the picture of Reece the other morning when we had breakfast, you must be the guy who works for him.”

  “You know about…wait. Who are you?” The guy tries to look intimidating, but his boyish good looks don’t quite pull it off.

  “Maris Smith. And you are?” I hold out my hand.

  “Oh shit.” He immediately pushes open the door.

  I make a sympathetic sound. “You poor thing.”

  “Why’s that, Maris? I mean Ms. Smith?” He stumbles over his words.

  “Parents naming you ‘Oh Shit’? Probably got into MMA to beat the crap out of people growing up,” I ask, tongue in cheek.

  “No wonder he’s loopy over you,” the blond Adonis murmurs. Then louder, “Oliver Drake, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Smith.”

  I shake his hand. “Make it Maris.”

  “Did you just pop by to watch?”

  “Actually I…” But as soon as I start to speak, my voice drifts off as what my eyes are seeing in front of me connects with the synapses in my brain. My legs start to tremble, and my nipples start to harden.

  Nick’s in the ring.

  After a few high power kicks from each of them, Nick’s got Reece up against the ropes with a hard left hook and a kick right down the middle. Reece doesn’t take this for long before he spins Nick around and tries to get a knee up to his head, but Nick hooks his other leg around him, trying to take him to the mat.

  Intellectually, I’m surprised Nick is going this route. He’s always been a take his opponent down and out kind of fighter, but the glimpse of Reece’s stats the other day makes me understand why. Nick is trying to get the kid to have a more well-rounded fight strategy, and if it took me all of twelve seconds to recognize his weakness, it will take a professional camp less than that. It takes him a few, and a good elbow, but Nick finally takes him to the mat.

  As they grapple, I grip the back of the chair in front of me, unable to stand on my own. My breath is coming out in short pants as Nick taunts the younger man with slaps, not really hurting him even though he could. He’s trying to find the fire, the passion within him.

  God knows he’s found it within me.

  I’m trembling as Nick lands shot after shot, before the man next to me lets out a piercing whistle. “Okay. Reece, he’d have crushed you if he was trying. Let’s work on your ground game.”

  Nick immediately sits back and slaps the other man on his shoulder. Then his eyes meet mine, and time freezes. �
�Ollie, you didn’t mention we had an audience.”

  “And as I was about to say.” I can hear the eye roll in Oliver’s voice. “Nick, you have company.”

  Even before Oliver can finish the sentence, Nick is slipping through the ropes. “Sunshine, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

  I shake my head.

  Nick lifts a hand to push a strand of hair back. “What is it?”

  I open and close my mouth, but no words come out.

  Cursing, Nick grabs my hand. “Come with me.” Turning he drags me past the ring, past the free weights, through a set of doors. Pulling me in, Nick slams the door shut before throwing the lock behind us. “This is as much privacy as I can guarantee us right now.”

  “Okay.” But beyond that, I have no idea of what I’m supposed to say or why I came in the first place. The only thing I can focus on are the layers upon layers of sweaty muscles that are within reach. Involuntarily, my fingers twitch. Somehow, I manage to not touch him. I don’t know how, but I do.

  He steps closer. I step back. We perform this little dance until my head causes metal to rattle. Lockers. Gym. Right. That somehow jars the reason I’m here. “Rainey sent me.”

  “Did she?” He braces an arm above my head. I inhale the scent of sweat. My eyes track the hair from under his arm across his pecs as it bisects the muscles of his stomach down into the close-fitting workout shorts.

  I barely manage a nod. “Yeah. Said you’re on duty or something.”

  “Uh-huh. Did she mention why?” His voice is so deep it’s caressing all of my nerve endings.

  “Sex” is what comes out of my mouth. I reach between us and slap a hand over my mouth as his lips curve upward. “Not with her.”

  “Of course not.” The hand that isn’t braced over my head trails up my side until it reaches my hair. A single finger twirls in my hair over and over. “There’s only one woman I want that way.”

  “Oh yeah? Anyone I know?”

  Instead of answering me, Nick leans closer until his lips are brushing against mine. “What did Rainey want?”

  “Rainey who?” is what I manage to get out.

  “Good answer.” Just before his lips capture mine. Releasing my hair, he slides both hands under my ass and boosts me up for me to wrap my legs around his waist.

  And in this moment when I want him so badly, I capitulate to the desire and do just that.

  Nicholas

  I have coveted nothing like I do Maris in this moment.

  No title, no wealth, no security means more than the thrumming of her pulse beneath my fingers. My lips savor hers when the animalistic part of me wants nothing more than to strip her of every stitch of clothing she’s wearing before I press her back against the metal locker pressed at her back and do nothing but take her the way I’ve yearned for. But even as her low moans devolve my tolerance to next to nothing, I hold myself back. Maris deserves… I lose all train of thought when her lips pull away and begin to trail down the column of my neck. “Christ, your mouth makes me cross-eyed.”

  Threading her fingers into my hair, she tips my head back to meet my gaze head-on. “Nice to know I have a few moves of my own.” Her hand skims over my sweat-slickened chest. “I haven’t seen you fight in so long, I forgot what it does to me…” Maris stiffens in my arms to such a degree I almost drop her.

  Is there an expression worse than devastation? I didn’t think so until Jed died and sitting behind Maris in a church packed with people not far from here to witness her agony over the loss of the person she loved beyond all reason. I brush a finger over her translucent cheekbone, and not a single expression crosses her magnificent face. It’s as blank as a doll’s. The electricity arcing between us seconds earlier has flicked off like a switch.

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing. Put me down.”

  I immediately do so. She slides out from between the locker and my body. I immediately hate whatever went through her mind almost as much as the phony smile she plasters on her face. That’s not my Maris, I think fiercely. And when she starts talking, I want to throw something. We’ve broken through so many things; what put this look on her face?

  Maris backs toward the door. “I’ve got things to do. I just came by to let you know Rainey’s losing her mind. You need to speak with her about how long you plan on staying.”

  “I will. But please, talk to me, Maris. Don’t go.” But it’s too late. Maris’s hand is on the lock. I suck in a breath as she whirls around, disbelief on her face.

  “About what, Nick?” she lashes out. But in contrast to that devastation, I’ll take whatever she has to throw at me. She stomps forward until her nail jabs me in the chest so hard I’m certain I’ll feel the press of the half-moons long after she leaves. “We agreed to friends, Nick. Friends. I’m not suddenly about to become one of Nick Cain’s temporary toys. I am not disposable.”

  “I am well aware of that.” God, am I ever.

  Nonplussed, she jerks back as she realizes she’s still touching me. “Good.”

  “I care about you more than you will ever know, Maris.” I bare a part of my soul to her.

  Maris scoffs. “Right. And I just became a virgin all over again.” My fists clench and release at my side. I have absolutely no room for fury, but something inside of me quivers in rage with her cavalier statement. Narrowing her eyes, Maris continues. “I will have nothing jeopardizing my chances with this adoption. This little boy is my future, Nick. Certainly not a man who changes women as frequently as he changes his boxers.”

  Leaning in a bit, I just have to antagonize her. “When I choose to wear them at all, Sunshine.”

  Maris opens her mouth, and a small scream erupts. Quirking my lips, I ask, “I have the perfect solution to dealing with Rainey.”

  “What do you mean?” she snaps.

  “Before you came I was making plans on staying in Juneau for a while. I was hoping my new buddy Maris might allow me to stay with her.”

  Enunciating clearly, Maris declares, “Fuck you, Nick,” before spinning on her boot heel and out of the locker room.

  After she leaves, the tension in the air doesn’t seem to dissipate. If anything, it coils tighter as I anticipate the welcome I’ll receive when I arrive at Maris’s later this evening prepared to make my case. Wickedly, I debate whether or not I should use the spare key the Smiths have kept hidden in the same spot forever and cook her dinner on the grill—really bring back her memories to the original scene of the crime as it were.

  Whistling, I pad back out to where Reece and Oliver are waiting. Talking softly to each other, they’re eyeballing Maris as she climbs into her SUV. For long moments, as neither of them notices I’m directly behind them, I debate how best to punish them. Extra workout? Sparring? I know Oliver—he wouldn’t give a shit if a woman as classy and sensuous as Maris gave him the time of day. After all, I was once their age and felt the same way about the same woman. I was just too damn stupid to do something about it—then.

  Leaning in between their bent heads, I whisper, “Look all you want, but if either of you try to touch, I’ll make sure a body part you both cherish doesn’t work properly ever again.”

  They both jump back as if I’ve struck them with a cattle prod. “Christ, Nick, way to give us a heart attack.” Oliver clasps his chest. “Is she yours?”

  “Let’s just say I’m working it out,” I say.

  Oliver bellows with laughter. “You? You’re working out something with a potential lady friend? Did she turn you down flat? Damn, makes me appreciate the whole package now more than ever.” Oliver casts an admiring glance back at the now empty glass doors.

  I clap a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Ollie, Ollie, Ollie. That’s a woman who will kick your ass harder than I ever could without ever laying a finger on you.”

  “In other words, she hates your ever-loving guts.”

  “No.” There are days when it’s the exact opposite. Love and hate, best friends, I think cheerfully.
>
  “And you’re in love with her,” Oliver surmises.

  Since the bastard knows me too well for my piece of mind, I merely squeeze his shoulder. Hard. “Be respectful or I might have to rip out your tongue. Understood?”

  “You got it, boss.” I let up on his shoulder, and Oliver immediately begins rotating it.

  When I glance at Reece to see if there’s anything he wants to contribute, he doesn’t say anything—smart man. He merely accepts his warning and continues the warm-up we began before sunshine blew into our corner of Juneau when all we expected was drizzling rain.

  I stop by the local gourmet grocery store Jennings gave me the heads-up on before pulling into the Smiths’ driveway. Loaded up on gourmet cheese, steaks, and salad fixings, I find the spare key and disable the alarm code which Jennings gave me after I told him my plans. After popping all of that into the refrigerator, I head outside to fire up the grill. I set the steaks to marinate and pop those in the fridge before I get the cheese arranged for her to munch on. When I called Jennings to tell him my plan, his first reaction was shock before he immediately said, “Feed her. God, if you never listen to me about anything else, make sure that woman is fed before she begins to attack you. I learned that when Kara and I started out.”

  Considering how well that ended up, I thanked him and immediately went grocery shopping.

  I’m frowning as I arrange crackers around the plate. Tonight, Maris and I are going to have it out about the past—my past—and why I never believed I was good enough for her. Then again, I think as I uncork the wine to let it breathe, she likely knows this since Jed wrote most of it down. I pause.

  And only one thing bothers her still. That she’d be disposable.

  “Well, hell. I’m a stupid ass.”

  “You’re also breaking and entering. I really don’t think that would look too good in the media.” Maris’s voice washes over me.

  My head snaps over to where she’s standing holding a bottle of the same wine I’m carrying. “Hi.”

  “What are you doing here, Nick?” Her voice is weary but not surprised.