Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 1-16

by Force, Marie

  “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 other 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 happen
ing 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.

  He made her feel sexy, not only with how he looked at her now, but with the way he flirted with her constantly, letting her know how interested he was in being with her. A woman could get caught up in a man who made her the center of his attention.

  He placed soft, strategic kisses along the tops of her breasts, which were overflowing the confines of the bra.

  Erin squirmed under him, pressing against the thick erection that rested against her leg and drawing a deep groan from him. Finding the hem of his sweater, she worked it up and over his head, desperate for the feel of his skin against hers. His back, chest and arms were ripped with muscles that flexed as he moved above her.

  He tugged on the bra. “Where’s the hook?”

  She reached between breasts that had always been too big for her liking and released the front clasp. His gaze burned with lust as her breasts sprang free of the bra and into his waiting hands, making her thankful for the overabundance for the first time ever.

  “So, so hot,” he whispered as he took her right nipple into his mouth and sucked hard, making her cry out from the shock as much as the powerful sense of need that had her arching into him, asking for more.

  She grasped handfuls of his hair and held on as he tended one nipple and then the other.

  His cell phone rang, but he ignored it as he kept up the sensual assault that had her on the verge of release, and he’d barely touched her. If he could do that with his hands and tongue…

  God, this was crazy. She’d never reacted to any man the way she did him, and she was about to give in to the overwhelming attraction when his phone rang again.

  Slim groaned and dropped his head to her chest. “Don’t they know I’m very busy at the moment?”

  She laughed at the frustration she heard in his tone, because it more than matched hers.

  The phone went silent, and he smiled down at her, keeping his gaze fixed on hers as he kissed her softly. “One minute we’re topping off the tree, and the next…”

  She ran her hands over his back. “Not sure how we got all half naked.”

  His smile was positively wolfish. “Do I need to give you a recap?” The phone rang again, making him groan louder than the first time. “This had better be a fucking code-red emergency, or someone is a dead man.” Raising himself up and off her, he went to get his phone from his coat pocket while she took in the sight of his spectacular chest and back. “What?” His scowl immediately morphed into concern. “Hey, take a breath. Say that again?” After a long pause, he said, “Yes, of course. I’ll meet you there in ten minutes. No, it’s fine. Just keep breathing, okay? Yeah, I know. I’ll see you in ten.”

  Erin sat up, found her sweater inside out on the floor and put it back on. “What’s wrong?”

  “That was my buddy Luke. His wife is pregnant and having some issues. The clinic here recommended she get to the mainland, so he asked me to fly them over. It’s faster than the ferry.”

  “Oh God, poor Sydney.”

  He pulled on his sweater and ran his fingers through his hair to bring some order to it. “I know.”

  “I hope she’s okay.”

  “Sorry to leave like this.”

  She stood and went to him. “Don’t apologize. Your friend needs you. You have to go.”

  “You want to come?”

  “Oh. Ah… No, thanks. I’ve got some stuff to do here. I’ll see you when you get back.”

  He kissed her quickly. “Don’t wait for me to go to Jenny’s. I’ll catch up.”

  “Okay,” she said, oddly disappointed by the interruption in their time together, even though she wanted him to help Luke and Sydney.

  He started toward the stairs but then turned back, wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her into another deep, sensual kiss that started her motor running all over again. “I don’t want to be anywhere but right here.” And then he was gone, his footsteps echoing off the metal treads of the spiral staircase as he ran for the door.

  Chapter 4

  Erin watched his truck go up the lane that led to the main road, noting he was driving much faster than he normally did. She hoped that whatever was going on with Sydney was minor and that she and the baby she and Luke wanted so desperately would be all right.

  Reaching under her sweater, Erin refastened the clasp on her bra, gasping when the fabric rubbed against her sensitive nipples.

  With his electric presence gone, the lighthouse was strangely silent, and Erin was slightly bereft in the wake of his hasty departure. She who had no problem staying busy on her own found herself at loose ends, unable to decide what to do with the rest of the afternoon she’d expected to spend with him.

  She was brewing another cup of tea when she heard a plane fly over the lighthouse. She went to the window to watch until it was out of sight. Though she knew he was an expert pilot with thousands of hours of experience, her heart still leapt into her throat at the thought of him in that tiny metal box hurtling through the sky.

  The thought of flying made her feel physically ill. It hadn’t always. She used to love to travel and had spent time in Europe and Asia during the summer between college and law school. At one time, going to Australia and New Zealand had topped her to-do list. But after seeing those planes fly into the buildings where her beloved brother had worked…

  Those images had haunted her for years. To this day, she avoided TV and the Internet in the weeks surrounding the anniversary out of fear of encountering them again. She’d gone so far as to delete her social media accounts because of the random way the photos and videos would show up out of nowhere, sending her spiraling for days. There was no way to prepare herself to experience the horror all over again, so she went out of her way to avoid it—and airplanes of any kind.

  Which made for a cruel dilemma for her and the sexy pilot who had turned her comfortable existence on end since he came into her life, making her wish for things she’d given up hoping for a long time ago.

  The phone rang, jarring her out of the pensive thoughts. Erin took the call from Jenny. “Hi there.”

  “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

  “You would’ve been about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Really?” Jenny asked in a high-pitched squeal. “Do tell.”

  “There was some kissing. And stuff. Before he got called out on a job.” Though Jenny and Sydney were close friends, Erin didn’t mention Luke’s frantic call to Slim. Until they knew more, Erin didn’t want Jenny to worry.

  “I love that kind of stuff,” she said with a sigh. “He’s so sexy.” A deep voice in the background said something Erin couldn’t make out. “Oh be quiet! I’m married, not blind.”

  Erin laughed at the banter between Jenny and her husband. “I can’t disagree about his sexiness. But he’s also very sweet and funny and…”

  “You like him.”

  “I like him. A lot.”

  “He’s crazy about you. He was watching you the whole time we were talking in the shop. This is so exciting, Er!”

  “Don’t lose your mind just yet. It’s still very new.”

  “But it has potential.”

  “Maybe.” As they talked
, she arranged and rearranged the magazines on the coffee table, aligning the edges and then redoing it when she wasn’t happy with how they looked.

  “Why’re you doing that thing you do any time someone gets a little too close?”

  “What thing? I said maybe. How’s that a dirty word?”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about. This guy could be perfect for you, and you’re already battening down the hatches to keep him out.”

  “I am not! That’s not true at all.” Her hatches had been anything but battened down when he’d been sucking on her nipples. The thought nearly made her laugh out loud.

  “Then what is it?”

  “You know.” Jenny was one of the few people in Erin’s life, including her parents, who knew about her unwillingness to fly since the attacks. “Think about what he does for a living. He’s already asked me to go to Florida with him and to Evan and Grace’s wedding in Anguilla. How do I do that stuff?”

  After a long pause, Jenny said, “Maybe it’s time to put that fear aside and get back to traveling again. You used to love it, and Toby would hate that you lost that part of yourself because of him.”

  “It wasn’t because of him,” she said more sharply than she’d intended.

  “I know, honey,” Jenny said gently, “but you get what I mean. Slim is an excellent pilot. Everyone says so. If there’s anyone who can get you past this, it’s him. All you’d have to do is ask him to help you try.”

  She began to rearrange the magazines once again. “I have no desire to put myself through that.”

  “I understand better than most people would. It took me a long time to get back on an airplane. You know that.”

  “Yeah. I remember the first trip you took and how hard it was.”

  “It will be for you, too, and then it’ll get a little easier every time.”

  “I just don’t know if I can.”

  “You’re interested in a wonderful man who happens to be a pilot, and you have a very real and very understandable fear of flying that’s going to cause a problem in your new relationship if you don’t try to address it somehow.”

  “Jeez, when you put it that way, I sound like I need to be committed.”