by Force, Marie
She stopped at home to shower off the sunscreen and salt spray, changed into shorts and a tank top, grabbed a sweatshirt and called in a takeout order to Mario’s. By now she knew that Dan was extremely fond of Mario’s fettuccine alfredo. Despite her efforts to get him to try something else, he asked for the same thing every day and always insisted on paying for the food.
So they’d slipped into this odd routine without a mention of the night they’d spent together or the awkward parting the morning after when he left to join his friend Grant and Grant’s brothers on the ill-fated sailboat. It was like the night of amazing sex had never happened.
Kara tried to tell herself that was because he was recovering from painful injuries, but she couldn’t help but wonder if or when the Dan she’d known before the accident would ever reappear. That Dan had been positively besotted with her—or so it had seemed. He’d pursued her relentlessly until she finally broke down and went out with him—and slept with him on the first date, breaking her own personal rules about such things.
Their uncomfortable exchange the next morning had haunted her during the long day of waiting to hear if he’d survived the horrific accident. Over and over again she’d regretted telling him that despite the best sex of her life, she wasn’t interested in a relationship with him. She’d told him nothing was going to happen, and he’d accused her of using him to get laid.
Kara had been a mixed-up jumble of emotions after he left to go sailing. The night with him had been her first sexual encounter since her longtime boyfriend dumped her two years earlier for her sister. With the hindsight of a week and a horrible day of not knowing whether Dan was alive or dead, Kara now knew that she’d been frightened by the powerful connection she’d found with him.
She’d never experienced that, even with the man she’d once planned to marry. Dan had rocked her in every possible way, first with his relentless determination to get her to go out with him and then in bed with lovemaking unlike anything she’d known before. Now she could see that she’d been frightened, which was why she’d pushed him away.
He was too damned much for her and had been from the start. But then the accident happened, and he’d been the most severely injured. He’d asked for her that night, and she’d been with him ever since, except for the hours she spent at work. She even slept most nights on his sofa after working long hours to type his manuscript for him.
After seven days of this routine, Kara was running on fumes but determined to help him make his deadline. Perhaps when the book was done they would talk about the mess they’d made of their fledgling relationship. A big part of her didn’t want to talk about it. He was still too much for her, and always would be. The drama of the accident and its aftermath hadn’t changed that fact.
She picked up the order at Mario’s and arrived at the house Dan was renting from Ned Saunders, the island’s resident land baron and cab driver. The small house was nestled in a wooded area near the island’s south coast. In the distance, the sound of waves crashing against the rocks reminded Kara of how close they were to the shore.
Bags in hand, she let herself into the house and followed the sound of Dan’s voice to the living room. He was on the sofa with his broken arm resting on a pillow, papers scattered around him, his dark hair standing on end as if he’d been tugging at it, and he wore a look of bemused aggravation on his face. Even with the dishevelment, he was sinfully handsome. Smiling, he waved her in, seeming happy to see her as always.
She was never certain if he was happy to see her or if anyone would’ve done after the long day alone.
“He said the keys you’re looking for are in the bedside table drawer next to your pleasure devices.” Dan held the phone away from his ear as the person on the other end screamed so loud that Kara could hear her. “Don’t shoot the messenger.” He grinned at her, flashing the dimples she found irresistible. “Those were his exact words.” Dan continued to placate the woman on the other end of the line for another five minutes before he ended the call. “That, right there, is why I hate handling divorces.”
“I didn’t think you did divorces.”
“I don’t, usually. But after I helped Tiffany Sturgil with hers, I’ve been in hot demand around here.”
“I thought her ex-husband was the island lawyer.”
Dan scratched at the stubble on his jaw. Though he wrote with his left hand, he shaved with his right, which was why Kara had been helping him with that, too. “He is, but since the town council meeting when Blaine told off Jim, his business has been way down. I’ve been flooded with calls.”
“You don’t have time to be taking new cases with your book due.”
“I know, Mom, but Tiffany asked me to help out her friend, so I did.”
This was said with a shrug and the charming grin that Kara had fallen victim to the night he’d taken her out and ended up in her bed. “Are you ready to eat?”
“I’m starving. I thought you’d never get here.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting, but I do have a business of my own to run, you know.”
He got up off the couch slowly and painfully.
Since she couldn’t stand to see him in such agony, she looked away and busied herself with getting dinner on the table.
His hand on her back made Kara freeze with surprise. He hadn’t touched her since the morning after their night together.
“I know you have a business to run, and all I meant was that I was looking forward to seeing you.”
“Oh.” She turned to face him, taking a careful study of the healing cuts and bruises on his stunning face. “You were?”
“Of course I was. Why would you think otherwise? I live for the time with you every day.”
Kara stared at him, wondering if she’d heard him correctly.
“Why are you so surprised?”
She hated the way he could see right through her. That had been a source of aggravation from the first time she met him the winter before at Luke and Sydney’s house. He’d undone her from the very start. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”
Dan took her hand and brought it to his lips. “What don’t you know?”
Despite the zing of absolute pleasure that traveled up her arm when his lips brushed over her skin, Kara worked her hand free. “Let’s eat and get to work. We’ve got a lot to do and not much time to do it.”
The wounded expression on his face reminded her a lot of the morning she’d told him she wanted nothing more with him. Why was it that his hurt became hers? Why was it that she couldn’t find a way to broach the elephant standing in the room between them? They’d gone on like nothing had happened between them, falling into this strange businesslike relationship.
Kara had no idea what it meant or what he wanted from her, other than someone to bring him dinner and type his notes for him. And what did she want from him? That too was a puzzler. She’d thought she wanted nothing to do with him until the long day when she didn’t know if he was dead or alive. That day had changed everything.
“Aren’t you hungry?” he asked when he was seated at the table.
Kara got him a beer and opened it for him the way she did every night. “Yes, I’m hungry.”
“I wish you’d tell me what’s bugging you,” he said between mouthfuls of pasta.
“Nothing.”
He winced, wiped his mouth with a napkin and sat back in his chair. “I hate that word.”
Kara regretted using it when she’d vowed never to say it again in his presence. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean it that way.”
“You mean the way you used it to describe what you wanted from me after we had sex?”
Kara’s face got very hot as she put down her fork. Her appetite was suddenly gone. “Why are you doing this? You haven’t said a word about what’s going on between us since the accident—”
“Because I don’t know what’s going on! And I’m afraid to scare you away by asking.”
“You, I… I don’t know either.
Everything is so different, and I’m not sure…”
He took her hand and wrapped his much warmer hand around it. “What are you not sure of, honey?”
His use of the word “honey” made her belly quiver. “You, us. This. Whatever it is. This is exactly why I told you I didn’t want to get involved. I hate all the uncertainty and confusion.”
Dan tugged on her hand. “Come here.”
“I’m right here.”
“Closer.”
Though she was still uncertain and confused, she stood and let him guide her onto his lap. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then don’t make any sudden moves.”
Kara couldn’t help but smile at the amusement she heard in his tone as she sat perfectly still on his lap.
His good arm encircled her. “Kiss me.”
“We were having a conversation.”
“We still are. Now kiss me.”
Exasperated by him—as usual—she leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.
“I know you can do better than that.” He swept her hair off her neck and set off a riot of sensation with his lips. “But I suppose I haven’t exactly earned better in the last week.”
“Don’t say that. You’ve been in a lot of pain.”
“That doesn’t mean I should neglect you.”
“You haven’t neglected me.” Now she felt guilty for thinking about herself in the midst of what he was going through.
“Yes, I have. I’ve taken advantage of your good nature.”
“That’s not true. I’ve been happy to help you.”
“That day when I left your place… I was really upset.”
Kara cringed, hating that she’d done that to him. When she started to say so, he stopped her with a kiss.
“The thought of never having the chance to be with you that way again was killing me. It was all I was thinking about on the boat. Grant even asked me what the hell was wrong with me. I told him I was hungover, only I was heartsick rather than booze sick.”
“I’m sorry. I never meant… I don’t know what I meant. I was overwhelmed after spending the night with you. I handled it badly.”
“I figured that out about an hour after we left the dock. It occurred to me that it’d been a big deal for you to be with me after what you went through with what’s-his-name and your sister. I thought maybe you were dumping me before I could get around to dumping you.”
If she wasn’t trying so hard to remain still, she might’ve squirmed because of how accurately he’d pegged feelings she had yet to acknowledge.
“Am I warm?” he asked, gazing up at her.
She nodded.
“The last thing I remember before we got hit was reaching for my phone to call you. I was going to tell you that no matter what you were thinking or feeling after the night we spent together, it was all going to be fine. I was going to tell you that I’d be over after I got in to talk to you. And I would’ve said that our night together was the best I’d ever spent with anyone.”
Kara’s mind raced as she tried to process everything he’d said.
“I sure do wish I’d gotten to make that call. Maybe then you wouldn’t have spent the last week wondering where you stood with me, and I wouldn’t have been tiptoeing on eggshells, worrying about driving you away when all I wanted was to keep you close.”
Kara moved very carefully to put an arm around him, leaning her head against his. “Well, this is a fine mess we’ve made of things.”
He laughed and then groaned when his ribs protested. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“Sorry.”
“When I woke up at the clinic, all I could think about was you. And when you came, when I saw you there by the bed, I felt better. I felt like I could breathe again.”
“I couldn’t believe it when Blaine came to my house and said you were asking for me. I thought you’d never want to see me again.”
“No such luck.”
“I was so scared that day,” she whispered. “When I heard about the accident and that you were missing… It was like someone had pulled the chair out from under me and sent me reeling. All I could think about was how we’d left things and whether I’d get a chance to tell you how sorry I was for what I said.”
“Don’t be sorry. I get it.” His hand slid over her hair in a soothing pattern that made her sigh with pleasure. “So how would you feel about going steady?”
Kara laughed. “Are you sure you want to take on an emotional basket case like me?”
“Very sure.”
“All right, then. But don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
“I’ve been warned, and I still want you. I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you last winter at Luke’s. And I want you even more after the night we spent together. As soon as these damned ribs heal, and I can move without feeling like I’ve been stabbed, we’ll pick right up where we left off.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
“No problem.”
“You have a book to finish.”
“I know.”
“We should get to it.”
He held her even tighter. “Uh-huh.”
“Dan…”
“Hmmm?”
“Dinner? Work?”
“Kiss me.”
“I did kiss you.”
“Do it right this time.”
He was positively incorrigible, and she adored him. The realization shocked her. Where had that come from? When had she begun to adore him? If she were being honest, probably when he brought her diet Mountain Dew and talked her into going out with him.
“What’s wrong now?” he asked, his brows furrowing with concern.
“Nothing,” she said, running her fingers through his unruly hair, attempting to bring order to it.
“For once, I don’t hate that word,” he said with that smile—and the dimples—that made her melt.
She tipped her head and kissed him as softly and as sweetly as she possibly could, mindful of his injuries and the need to stay still.
His hand in her hair anchored her to him as his lips parted and his tongue teased her lips.
Kara tightened her hold on him, falling into the kiss with a kind of abandon she’d never experienced before him. But he had battered his way through her defenses with his easy charm and cutting wit, wiping all thoughts of what’s-his-name and what he’d done to her from her heart and mind.
“Whoa,” Dan said when they came up for air many minutes later. “You’re making me forget I’m injured.”
As her lips tingled, she leaned her forehead against his. “If you try to do anything more than that, you’ll remember.”
“Can we do some more of that later?”
“Only if you get all your work done.”
“Let’s get busy!”
Big Mac took a walk down the main pier of the marina, checking to make sure the boats were secured, the power cords were on the docks and not in the water where they didn’t belong, the hoses had been turned off and everyone was tucked in for the night.
At the far end of the dock, a forty-two-foot powerboat full of young people enjoyed a Race Week party. Why was it that every year Race “Week” lasted longer and longer? The sailboat races attracted all sorts of people and boats, even powerboats like this one that came to the island for the parties rather than the races.
“Evening,” Big Mac said to one of the men on the boat’s aft deck. “Is the captain around?” He’d seen the guy earlier in the day but didn’t see him among the crowd.
“Hey, Tony! The marina guy is looking for you.”
“Marina guy” was damned proud of the business he’d built over the last forty years from a collection of rickety buildings and falling-down docks.
The captain emerged from the cabin, wearing a dopey smile to match his glassy eyes. “Hi there, Mr. McCarthy. What’s going on?”
His regulars called him Big Mac, but he appreciated the show of respect from the young man, even if the words were
slurred. “I want to remind you we have an eleven p.m. quiet time here. Have your fun, but wrap it up by eleven.”
“Oh, we will, don’t worry.”
“My good friend the police chief makes sure to send someone by every night to make sure no one is disturbing the peace.”
“I hear ya. We’ll behave.”
“Thanks very much. Have a nice evening.”
“You, too, sir.”
The “sir” was a bit much, Big Mac thought with a chuckle as he wandered to the end of the pier and looked out at the pond, where deck lights on hundreds of boats sparkled like stars in the darkness. He’d been standing right here talking to his son Mac when Steve Jacobson had approached them about recruiting some guys to fill in for a crew that had been stricken with the stomach bug.
Big Mac had urged his hardworking son to take a day off and go with Steve. Mac had recruited Evan, Grant and Dan to go, too. They’d set off in high spirits, looking forward to the day on the water that had ended so tragically.
Alone on the dark pier, Big Mac rested his elbows on the top of a piling and used the his palms to mop up the tears that kept coming and coming and coming, no matter what he did. He wondered if they would ever stop. He’d always known he probably loved his kids a little too much. Just as he’d always know that his effusive love drove them crazy, especially when they were younger and more easily embarrassed.
Unfortunately for them, he didn’t know any other way to love but all the way. An entire day spent pondering what it would be like to lose even one of them, let alone three at once, had broken something in him that wouldn’t be easily mended.
“Oh, hey,” Luke said. “Didn’t realize you were out here.”
Big Mac wiped his face and turned to the young man who’d been a son to him in every way that mattered. “What’re you doing here so late?”
“I suspect the same thing you are—checking on our friends at 11 D.”
“I had a little talk with them. I think we understand each other.”
“Oh good. I’m sure you were more diplomatic than I would’ve been.”
“You would’ve done fine.”