It Began with a Crush (The Cherry Sisters)

by Darcy, Lilian

  Two people wondering where their lives went.

  She’d fought him on that, and on what it meant, but really he was right. Where had her life gone? Not down the road she’d thought it would, and now she was here, and Joe had slid out from under an engine and into the picture with those motherless girls of his and Mary Jane had fallen so far and hard and fast for all three of them that she could barely breathe.

  Twenty-four hours. Twenty-seven, max.

  Did she have the same good sense she’d had in high school? Surely she ought to have more!

  She could not possibly think about putting herself into the cute picture that was Joe with his girls. She didn’t belong there, and it was just a fantasy. Gorgeous man, ready-made family, people who needed her.

  There, Mary Jane, isn’t that the heart of the problem? They need a nurturing woman in their lives and you’re a total soft touch for that.

  And it probably showed.

  Joe could probably see it all too clearly, and if he wanted to use it—use her—then he easily could.

  No, Mary Jane, don’t tell yourself that he’s not that kind of man. How would you know?

  Alex had used her for years and she hadn’t seen it until the bitter end. Until after the bitter end. Did she trust herself to pick up on the same thing in Joe, when her yearning for a family blinded her as much now as it had blinded her with Alex?

  She had no idea.

  *

  The parts for Mary Jane’s car arrived the next day.

  At eight in the morning Joe delivered the girls to the Richardsons’ housekeeping cottage at Spruce Bay and spent a half hour getting to know Vanessa and Phil, nanny Lucy and the two children, eight-year-old Jessica and six-year-old Simon.

  Phil was English, like Penelope, but Vanessa was American, and they’d met through their shared involvement in equestrian competition. Clearly, they’d both grown up with much privilege and family money, but they somehow managed to be reasonably down-to-earth in spite of it.

  Meanwhile, Dad was manning the garage, dealing with the clients who were dropping their vehicles in today for service and repair, which meant that Joe had enough time to reassure himself that the new arrangement was off to a good start.

  Vanessa and Phil were both wiry and very fit in their expensive-looking English-style jodhpurs, but the two children just wore jeans, so Holly and Maddie weren’t out of place. Lucy seemed friendly and sensible, and he contented himself with one half joke of a warning. “Watch these two! They’re not as innocent as they look!”

  Lucy just laughed.

  The Richardsons had come from Kentucky with two vehicles. They had their massive ten-horse trailer currently parked at Penelope’s, and a seven-seater SUV which they used for driving around locally. Maddie and Holly put their daypacks in the back of it and Lucy and the Richardsons climbed in with them and drove away, leaving Joe to remind himself firmly that the girls had been to babysitters and child-care centers their whole lives and nothing seriously terrible had happened yet.

  Still, he stood there for longer than he needed to, watching the SUV disappear behind the trees that lined Spruce Bay Resort’s long driveway, before he stirred himself to leave. There’d been no sign of Mary Jane this morning. He could go look for her, of course—nothing stopping him. But it didn’t seem like a good idea, so he left it, and tried not to stare over in the direction of the office and attached family apartment. If she was anywhere near a window and saw him looking…

  But when he arrived back at the garage, there were her car parts. He would hopefully have time to begin tackling the vehicle today, which would mean he’d finish it tomorrow, and he might get as far as starting on the car she’d crashed, by the weekend.

  He worked hard all day, and thought he’d probably be able to call Mary Jane midmorning tomorrow to tell her she could collect her car.

  At four o’clock, he went to pick up the girls.

  “How was it, pumpkins?” he asked them once he’d said thanks to Lucy and hi to Jessica and Simon, and had the girls safely in the car. Vanessa and Phil were still at Penelope’s, working with their horses.

  “It was fabulous, fabulous, fabulous,” Holly said.

  “And wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,” Maddie agreed.

  “Only that good?” he returned mildly. “I thought you might like it a little more than that.”

  They thought this was hilarious.

  “So tell me,” he invited them, and received a blow-by-blow description of their day that lasted all the way home.

  They were wiped that night. He ordered them into the bath before dinner, while he finished grilling some Italian sausages and setting out store-bought potato salad and coleslaw. After the meal, they just had enough energy left for him to sit with them and read out loud. Really, their reading was good enough that he didn’t need to do this anymore, but it anchored the end of their day with something quiet and close for all three of them. They weren’t ready to give it up yet, and neither was he.

  Tonight, he refused to read them anything about ponies. “Now that you’re riding real ponies, you don’t need to read about other girls doing it.” So they started on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe instead.

  They could barely keep their eyes open until the end of the first chapter, and when he’d left their bedroom it was still early enough that he went to his law books and practice tests with more energy and enthusiasm than he’d managed in weeks. Since Dad had had a quiet, restorative day he insisted on clearing up the meal, and Joe didn’t argue because every minute of studying for that bar exam gave him a better chance of passing it.

  Friday worked out just as well.

  Joe delivered the girls, fixed cars and called Mary Jane when hers was ready. Once again, he hadn’t seen her at Spruce Bay this morning and he wondered about that.

  If she was avoiding him.

  If he minded.

  If he would kiss her again the moment he had the slightest chance.

  No answers sprang to mind on any of the above.

  She was warmly grateful about the repair job. “Oh, it’s done? Already? You thought it might take longer.”

  “The parts arrived promptly, which was a big help. You can pick it up whenever you like. I’ll be here until five.”

  “Let me have a think about how I’m going to organize it, with returning the rental car.” Her voice was a little more distant and formal now, down the line, as if she wasn’t happy with the way she’d sounded before. “Do I need to give you an exact time?”

  “No, just get here when you get here.” He resisted the temptation to help her out by driving her vehicle to the car rental place and meeting her there, because the kissing thing was filling his mind too much, and he didn’t trust it. He didn’t want to do anything that might strengthen their personal connection, if her coolness was a signal that she wanted to get back on a business footing again.

  “Really?” she said. “That’s great, because we’re pretty busy here today.”

  “Vanessa and Phil are dropping the girls home this afternoon,” he said, “because they’re all going mini golfing later this afternoon, so I’ll be here without a break all afternoon.”

  “Great!” she repeated. “Thanks.” And that was the end of the call.

  She came at four.

  From the office, he saw a teenage girl in an old Ford Escort drop her out front and then zoom away with a quick wave. The distance Mary Jane then had to travel to reach the office gave him plenty of time to wonder about how they were going to handle each other and not nearly enough time to make any decisions about it.

  When she came through the doorway, he saw exactly the same uncertainty reflected in her own expression.

  And he really hadn’t intended to answer her unspoken questions in the way he did, but it happened anyway. She came toward him with her purse open, hanging from its strap on her shoulder, and her attention suddenly focused on taking out her credit card as if she didn’t want to meet his eye, and he just sli
d the purse strap off her shoulder, dropped it on the floor and moved in on her mouth with unwavering intent.

  Jiminy!

  They hadn’t said a word to each other. It was all in their bodies, their lips, their hands. She gave one cry of surprise but didn’t fight him for a second. She wanted it as much as he did. Her enthusiasm was blind and hungry and wonderful. No coaxing or cajoling required. She melted into him, and she was so soft and luscious, he was throbbing within seconds.

  It was a deep, hot kiss. He ran the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips to coax them open, but she was way ahead of him, parting them and panting out a breath against his skin. He ran his fingers into her hair, and let them tangle them there, loving the silk of it and the sweet, floral scent released into the air.

  He let his eyes close in blissful need, then opened them again so he could look at her. So close. A blur. Dark crescents of lash against her pink cheeks. Pale ear sticking out like a pixie’s from the streams of hair. Neck he wanted to kiss, too, except he couldn’t take himself away from her mouth.

  She rocked her hips and he moved with her and they bumped the countertop and knocked a pen to the floor. He moved again and trod on it. It gave a plasticky crunch under his work boot, which they both ignored because the kiss was too intense and too demanding.

  They were standing in a garage, for heck’s sake!

  Okay, the garage office, but it was pretty much the same thing. Nowhere soft to sit. Nowhere to get comfortable and private. Not even a clutter-free surface where he could sit her so she could wrap her legs around him and—

  Hell! Was he seriously contemplating having sex with this woman right here and now?

  Well, yes, now that you mention it…

  Joe Capelli, get yourself under control!

  Nope, not yet.

  He kissed her some more. Took it a little further than kissing and she went with him on this, too. When he ran his probably-too-rough-for-her fingers up under the soft stretch cotton of her top in search of her breasts, she arched her back and let him find them. She gave them to him, gasping when his cupped hands closed over their fullness.

  Shoot, he wished she wasn’t wearing a bra!

  Still, the bra was nice. Very, very nice. All lacy and shapely and low-cut in front. He could run his thumbs along the edge of the fabric, where her skin was so tender and soft, and feel the push of her hardened nipples against his palms, through the lace.

  He wondered what color it was. He wondered if all her bras felt this nice, or if they felt even better. If she had satin ones, smooth ones, bras cut even lower, bras that pushed her breasts higher. He wondered what she would do if he reached around and unfastened this one, and in a moment of pure maleness, he took the question to the experimental phase before it was even fully formed in his mind.

  The hook was tricky. She didn’t help, but she didn’t stop him, either. He finally managed it and received his reward. Those breasts. In his hands. Touch making her shudder. Her skin there was so delicate and tender and warm and soft. The weight of her moved with him. Nothing fake about these.

  Nothing fake about any of her, and he wanted to discover it all, with nothing getting in the way. The silky curve of her butt, the knobs of her spine and shoulders, the slightly squishy part of her lower stomach that she probably thought should be harder and flatter. He didn’t agree.

  Maybe if he just swept all this paper off the countertop…

  Not possible.

  He had one more client coming in to pick up a car—a guy he and Mary Jane both knew from high school. He really could not sweep Steve Wright’s invoice onto the floor so he could pull up Mary Jane’s floaty skirt and twist her panties out of the way and make love to her on the laminate.

  In pain, he let her go, pulling his mouth out of their kiss like a pilot pulling a plane out of a dive, releasing her breasts so that they fell a little and bounced—ah, hell, yes, they really did, and it was spectacular—against the fabric of her top. Her nipples were like hard little buttons proclaiming her state of arousal and he loved that.

  So tough to pull back!

  “This isn’t the place,” he said. “Wish it was, but it’s not.”

  “No.” She hunched her shoulders, opposite to the arching movement she’d made earlier. She was hiding herself now, instead of giving herself to him. With some trembling clumsiness and embarrassment, she refastened the bra, while he watched. “What were we thinking?”

  “Not very much.” But he didn’t want to backpedal all that far. He didn’t regret this. “Come out with me tonight. Let’s do this properly.”

  “I’m not sure…” she began, but he wouldn’t let her hesitate and doubt and second-guess them both out of this now. His own doubts had been swept away by the strength of their connection.

  This meant something.

  He wanted it.

  Needed it.

  “I’m sure,” he told her. “We have something here. I don’t know what it is, but it’s something and if we don’t follow through on it, this’ll keep happening.”

  “Will it?”

  “Hell, yes! I’ll come looking for you at Spruce Bay when I drop off the girls. There are all those beds in all those motel rooms and cottages and cabins. And don’t try to tell me you won’t be waiting for it. So let’s agree that we’re doing it and do it properly, rather than pretend we’re not doing it, and do it anyhow, and end up in a mess.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Okay, I won’t try to tell you that I’m not waiting for it. Okay, we’ll have dinner. Okay, we’ll do it properly so we don’t end up in a mess.”

  Yes!

  Fist pump!

  Wait, Joe.

  He remembered Dad and the girls, and that he wasn’t in high school anymore, and hadn’t been for a long time. His head and heart knew that perfectly well, but his body was slow to learn in a situation like this.

  A situation he hadn’t even been tempted to put himself in for a long time.

  “Can I call you?” he said.

  “Call me?”

  “I have to make sure it’s going to work with Dad. I’ll be asking him to watch the girls. Which should be fine as long as they’re asleep. Can we make it a late meal? Eight?”

  “That suits me, too. I need to make sure things are running smoothly for Daisy and her crew, and that I have someone for the office.”

  “I’ll check with Dad and you’ll hear from me as soon as I know. The minute I know.”

  She smiled—laughed, really—and tilted her head to look at him as if he was being cute. He couldn’t work out why until he took a pause for breath and realized he was acting like the world was about to end and he had to seal the deal in the next three seconds or never. “Call when you can. It’s fine,” she said.

  “Yeah, I guess it is,” he muttered, embarrassed—a little— but smiling just like she was, because…

  Well, just because.

  Because they’d kissed.

  More than kissed.

  And it had felt good, and even though they’d stopped, it still felt good, and she didn’t seem to be in any doubt about coming out with him tonight, and so far she seemed to like the girls, which was important, incredibly important, and it was so long since he’d had this…felt this…

  Had he ever felt this?

  It was just kind of warm and tickly and made his breathing feel like an overinflated balloon. He was giddy with it, dizzy with relief and exultation. The past few years had been so hard.

  He needed a break.

  He needed a woman.

  He needed Mary Jane.

  The other client arrived. Steve, from school. Mary Jane caught sight of him and the expression on her face said that she knew him at once. Well, they’d both stayed in the area. She’d probably run into him a few times since school, or maybe even kept up contact. She wouldn’t have had the same struggle to recognize the guy that Joe had had.

  Steve was a big man, once a star on the
football team. He’d talked of playing at college level and maybe even professionally, but he’d blown his football scholarship in his first year at Ohio State with a failing GPA. But he hadn’t stopped eating when he’d stopped exercising. It really showed now. The drinking showed even more.

  Mary Jane didn’t want to run into him today, it was clear. Seconds before Steve arrived in the office, she’d darted through the connecting door into the service area, where Joe had a car up on the lift and it made a handy shield for her to hide behind.

  “Thanks, buddy,” Steve said after Joe had put the payment through.

  “No problem. It was a little overdue this time. The oil looked pretty dirty. It’ll run better and save you money on gas if you bring it in on schedule. I put a sticker on the windshield, with the mileage and date.”

  “Yeah, that stuff gets away from us sometimes, and money’s pretty tight. Kids cost more and more the older they get!”

  “Isn’t that the truth?” Joe agreed.

  Steve seemed as if he was about to leave, but then he paused. “Hey…nice that you’re back in the area. Hollywood plan didn’t work out, huh?” He was trying to sound neutral about it, or even sympathetic, but Joe caught the clear lick of satisfaction behind the words.

  So the big dreams hadn’t panned out? Welcome to my world, Steve was clearly thinking. It’s where you belong, and I’m glad you know it now.

  “No, they didn’t,” Joe agreed. He could have added more. That he had no regrets. Or that he had a law degree and was about to take the New York bar exam. He wasn’t exactly living in the gutter, despite his various regrets. But he stayed silent.

  It wasn’t a competition. He had nothing to prove. He’d once cared a whole lot about what his peers thought of him, but he didn’t anymore, and he counted that a victory.

  “That’s too bad,” Steve said.

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “I’m real sorry to hear it.” He was practically grinning about it now.

  Please don’t suggest that we have a drink together sometime.

  Maybe Joe was putting more frost into the air than he thought, because the unwanted invitation didn’t come.