by Joanne Rock
Jack slammed his drink down on the wrought-iron table between them. He hadn’t told his brother the more intimate details of his reunion with Alicia, obviously, but he’d given the highlights, after Dan had hounded him about why he looked so down in the dumps.
“Don’t go there.” He jammed a finger in Dan’s face, unwilling to listen to any more. “You know why I joined the navy.”
He knew a moment’s regret for even bringing it up when a shadow passed through his brother’s eyes. Dan had been wrecked when Stephanie Rosen had been taken captive. The guy had always been a rebel, so Jack was convinced he’d try to pull some lone-wolf vigilante crap if left to his own devices. No one else had known what Stephanie meant to Dan, but Jack had been in the city to see Danny’s band the weekend they met.
He’d give his eyeteeth to know if his brother had tried to contact her since they’d returned home. Last he’d heard, Stephanie was still single, recovering from her ordeal through work at a counseling center. Dan was due to ship out again in six weeks.
“Free pass this time, bro, because I know you’re in a bad place.” Danny shot him a level look, a vein pulsing hard down the center of his forehead. “But you’ve got no excuses for letting her slip away. And I can tell you firsthand, the longer you wait to see her, the harder it’s going to be…?.”
Dan plucked the brandy bottle from the floor and topped off their glasses.
Jack eased back in his chair, gaze fixed on the horizon, where the lights of a handful of boats blinked in the misty, late-summer evening. Danny might be messed in the head with his own love life, but his advice was sound. Jack had checked out on Alicia once before. How could he have done it a second time? Why hadn’t he stuck around and talked it through even if that talk—or fight—had been tough?
That day, it had seemed like a good plan. He’d thought he was being a stand-up guy, keeping his business offer separate from what he wanted from her personally. But he hadn’t explained that to Alicia, falling into the same old dumb-ass thinking that he knew what was best.
“You’re right.” He set down the brandy and stood, wishing the Vesta was in its old slip at the marina so he could take off tonight. Then again, why not ring for a plane as he had when they’d gone to the hockey game? That would put him back in Bar Harbor before midnight. “I’m going to talk to her tonight. Now.”
“Seriously?” Danny’s feet slipped off the railing. “You’re taking my advice?”
“Yes.” He clapped his brother on the back. “You’re not a head case all the time. Now and then, I could swear you know what you’re talking about.”
Jack grinned, liking his plan more and more by the minute. He would do what he should have done three days ago. Tell Alicia that he didn’t just want to buy the damn inn for her. He wanted to be a part of the future she was building.
He just prayed it wasn’t too late.
ADJUSTING THE CLOSED SIGN on the front door of the inn on her way out, Alicia took a cup of tea onto one of the wide, crooked porches that needed refurbishing. She’d spent the last few days roaming all over the property, doing an inventory with the help of a home inspector to catalog the work that needed attention. They had yet to set a closing date, but she was working on it. The seller was only too happy to let Alicia stay in one of the rooms, as long as she paid for the utilities.
After Jack had left, she’d found a copy of his list of projected repairs and costs in her email in-box. No note. No personal message. Just an orderly review that was more thorough than what she’d paid a professional for the day before. But wasn’t that just like Jack? Smart. Efficient. Well suited to take charge and be a leader.
As she settled into a porch swing hung from sturdy rafters that hadn’t shifted with the rest of the structure, Alicia wrapped her hands tighter around her mug in the cool night air, wondering how she’d repay Jack. Regardless of how she felt about what he’d done, she needed to send him some kind of business plan and a payment schedule. Too bad the renovations on the inn didn’t feel as exciting without him in her life to share the project.
A neighbor must have lit a bonfire somewhere nearby, for the fragrant musk of burning fruitwood hung sweet in the air. Still, it couldn’t mask the scent of the ocean, a briny smell that made her think of Jack and their time on the boat, and on the Vesta when they were dating. He was such a big part of her best memories.
Lifting her tea to her lips, she drank the blackberry-sage brew from a local tea shop. The flavorful drink didn’t soothe her one bit. Her heart ached without Jack. The hollow pit in her chest reminded her that she should have fought harder for him. Should have yelled at him and argued with him about ditching her again. Maybe it would have been an exercise in embarrassment and futility, but then again, maybe not. They’d argued plenty of times over far less important things. Why not fight for each other? For something that mattered? She’d never really stood up to her father, and she hadn’t truly stood up to Jack, either. She’d just let them walk away. She’d let the relationships fade because it was easier than a deeper confrontation that might have yielded results.
Why had she let her issues with her dad get in the way of how she felt about Jack? Jack was so much more openhearted than her father, which made it all the more tragic that she’d let her problems with her dad shut down her relationship with a great guy. Not a perfect guy, but a damn amazing one all the same.
She had half a mind to march into the Murphy house and issue a challenge to Jack. Winner take all; the stakes being a real relationship. Maybe she could suggest a windsurfing contest. She’d definitely beat him at windsurfing.
Alicia was so swept up in her visions of outdoing Jack and winning back a chance to be with him that she didn’t realize someone was approaching the inn until she heard boot steps on the plank porch.
“Hello?” She jumped off the swing, sloshing her tea on the painted floor as she hurried to peer around the corner of the wraparound porch, where it extended along the west side of the inn.
Who would show up here so late? Someone seeking a room at the inn? Edging around a plant stand with a pot of heirloom tomatoes, she nearly slammed into the unexpected guest.
“Jack?”
Stunned to see him, she scrambled back, righting herself against a heavy support post.
Eyes adjusting to the shadows, she took in the familiar lines of his face. The softly worn leather jacket and jeans.
“Hello, Alicia.” His voice hummed through her as if someone had started an engine inside her.
“What are you doing here?” She thought about her chaotic thoughts just moments before, risking all for a chance to be with him. Could she be so brazen? Put her heart on the line for a third time? But then, maybe she hadn’t put anything on the line those other times.
Maybe she needed to risk everything so there would be absolutely no regrets. No room for self-doubt.
“I came back to tell you a few things I left out the last time we spoke.”
“Did you drive up?” She arched up on her toes to see past him to the parking area in front.
“I flew, actually. Although I did rent a car after I got to the airport. When I realized how much I needed to see you, I didn’t want to wait an extra minute.” He gestured toward the porch swing, which was still swaying from when she’d jumped out of it. “Do you mind if we have a seat?”
He needed to see her? She realized she was trembling all over. Her nerves made her jittery inside and out. It occurred to her that he’d never sought her out before. Not for his own sake. The first time he’d kissed her and asked her out, it had been the result of a dare from his older brother. Then, when they’d gotten together this time, it had been pure coincidence. Or maybe some romantic machinations on Keith’s part. But either way, Jack hadn’t been looking for her.
Alicia wanted to see what he had to say for himself when left to his own designs.
Setting her mug on the porch rail, she nodded toward the beach. “Could we walk down by the water instead?” She was wa
y too nervous to sit.
The clean, crisp late-summer air would help steady her. The sound of the water rolling gently along the shore always soothed her. Besides, maybe it would help to be on more neutral ground than the porch of the house they’d already fought about.
He followed her down to the water. Out from under the canopy of pine trees, the night turned brighter. The full white face of the moon reflected on the bay in a long, liquid stream.
“I wasn’t using my head when I bought the bed-and-breakfast,” he started.
Her feet halted in the damp sand as her heart sank. “You want me to repay the loan already?”
“No.” He shook his head and she could see the strain in his eyes as he searched for words. “Not at all. Wow, I’m not cut out for this.”
She shifted from one foot to the other, suddenly chilled. Still, she remained silent, determined to find out what could have incited him to take a plane to see her on the spur of the moment.
“What I meant was, I wish I’d consulted you first. I see now that you’ve put up with a lot of maneuvering from your family in the past, and it would have been better to discuss the purchase with you instead of trying to make a big gesture.”
She took in the words, letting them roll through her as she absorbed the sincerity in his eyes. She wanted to tell him she understood, that she’d had an idea for fighting through this together, but he cut her off.
“Wait.” His determined look told her he had more to say. “I just want you to know that I understand I screwed up. But I’d like to think I’m smart enough to learn from my mistakes. Can you forgive me?”
“It’s okay.” She tugged her feet out of the damp sand and used the toe of her sneaker to fill in the depression where she’d stood. “I had my heart set on this property, so even if you told me the roof was caving in, I would have found a way to buy it and fix it up. You just…caught me off guard when you bought the place. Sometimes I’ve felt like you were being overprotective, and I thought this might be your way of assuring I didn’t fall on my face.”
“I don’t doubt for a minute your ability to turn this inn around. I just wanted it to be something you could enjoy instead of something stressful. But I get it…you wanted to accomplish it on your own.”
She nodded, thinking maybe he did understand, after all.
Yet his shoulders remained tense. His jaw tight. Clearly he had more to say. She could see him thinking over how to best express himself.
“I had something else in mind, too, when I bought the place. But I didn’t know how to tell you at the time, since I didn’t think it was right to mix business with pleasure.”
Pleasure?
She frowned, indignation burning away common sense. “You wanted booty-call privileges?”
He looked horrified.
“No, damn it.” He stepped closer. Gripped her shoulders. “Alicia, I love you and I want to be a part of this. Help you fix up the place. Realize the dream. I want the chance to convince you that we belong together, and I know I won’t have that in Chatham. So I’d like to be wherever you are. If that means taking an apartment in town because you’re not ready to move in together—”
Her fingers shushed his mouth, her mind racing to try to take in all that he’d said.
She was nothing short of amazed. She’d had no idea he would entertain such a huge move for her. That he could love her. By God, she had underestimated him—underestimated herself, too—because she hadn’t considered that he might feel this deeply for her.
“You’d move up here with me?” She’d start with that much, because she couldn’t imagine him ditching such a great family—although she understood better than most that Jack would never want to be part of his father’s business. The corporate fast track had never been his style.
“I’ve been waiting for inspiration to figure out what I want to do with my life since getting out of the navy.” He reached for a strand of her hair that had blown across her cheek, and smoothed it aside. “I liked the way it felt to be in the service, and now that I’m done, I wouldn’t mind finding other ways to serve. Be a part of a community. Help out some neighbors. I like the idea of building a business from the ground up.”
“But this isn’t some Habitat for Humanity cause, Jack.” She didn’t want to be another project for him to fix. She wanted nothing less than this man’s whole heart. Forever. “I’ll pull this off with or without you. I’m more interested in how you feel about me. About us. Can you go back to the part about loving me? Or maybe revisit the bit about how we belong together?”
Had her wishful heart just imagined that? Jack Murphy had never been a demonstrative man. But right now she craved the words. The security. All packaged up with spine-tingling sex with the hottest, most fascinating man she’d ever met.
He took her hands in his and folded them to his heart. Moonlight glinted in his dark brown hair as his shadowed eyes focused intently on her.
“Alicia, I want to be with you always. I felt that way four years ago, but it seemed like too much to lay on you when you were only twenty years old and a junior in college. It wouldn’t have been fair to ask you to wait for me when I signed the navy contract, but I needed to be there for Danny. I always knew I’d look you up when I came home. Always.”
The declaration took her breath away. And filled her up all over again with visions of what their future together could be like, until she felt light-headed from the sheer perfection.
“Really?” She remembered he’d said something to that effect on the boat, but she’d been too hurt by his long-ago defection to give the statement much credence. “You’d been home for weeks…?.”
“I didn’t want to come on too strong by barreling into your business the moment I set foot in Chatham. And I’d planned on interrogating those old boyfriends of yours to make sure you weren’t serious about someone else. I had some groundwork to do.” The intensity in his green eyes gave way to something more tender. “But yes, I would have come after you if you hadn’t magically appeared in my bed, exactly where I wanted you.”
She felt the world shift under her feet, and it didn’t have anything to do with the waves rolling over the damp sands. A crevice inside her stitched together, an old wound closing. Slowly, she tipped her head to his chest and absorbed the feel of him by her side.
“Jack, I love you. I’ve missed you like crazy. The last three days. The four years before that.” The leather of his jacket was warm from the heat of his body and she wanted to burrow beneath it to touch him. “If you mean what you said, then I’m holding you hostage here. Tonight and every night.”
Relinquishing her hands, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and drew her to him. It was more than an embrace. It was a homecoming.
“I’m going to make you so happy, Ally,” he vowed, his breath a soft whisper against her hair.
“Let’s go inside and you can make good on that promise sooner rather than later.” She found the zipper of his jacket and eased it down to run her hands over the cotton button-down underneath.
“I can do that.” His palms roamed over her back, curving around her bottom and lifting her against him. “I can so do that for you.”
“I have several sexual favors in mind,” she warned him, the cool breeze off the water twining around them. “There’s no contest. No bets. Just you serving my every carnal craving until I can’t see straight.”
Her fingertips slid between the buttons of his shirt and began unfastening. He hoisted her higher against him and carried her up the beach toward the inn, the promise of a future together waiting inside.
“That might not be a contest, but it’s definitely a challenge if ever I heard one.”
“Good.” She grazed her lips over his, savoring the hungry way he nipped at her mouth. “I know you can’t possibly walk away from a challenge, so that guarantees a deliciously satisfying night for me.”
“Not just a night.” He paused on the front porch, meeting her gaze in the dull glow of the wrough
t-iron lantern perched on a nearby windowsill. “I’m offering nothing less than a lifetime, Ally.”
Her heart did a flip in her chest, the words as good as a proposal coming from a man who would never make a promise he didn’t intend to keep. Love for him overflowed inside her, a well that had never run dry.
“I know, Jack. And I can’t wait.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1203-9
MAKING A SPLASH
Copyright © 2011 by Joanne Rock
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