“Habit. I spent a lot of time sharing with twenty guys. It was be neat or suffer the consequences. Make yourself at home. I’ll be quick.” He slipped through a door, and she heard water running a second later.
Left to entertain herself for a few minutes, she eyed a stack of books on the sofa table. She sorted through the titles, curious about what Adam might read. A few westerns, a mystery, a book on navigation, and a ragged copy of Robinson Crusoe. She picked up the last and sat on his sofa to leaf through it. The yellowed pages crackled when she turned them.
When she paused to look at an illustration, she noticed the edge of a photograph sticking out about half way through the book. Gently pulling the picture free, she blinked in surprise at the photo of two men in graduation caps and gowns. The one was definitely Adam, younger, a smidge thinner, but with the same mischievous expression she’d seen so many times. The other man was nearly identical in size and appearance, except for the serious smile and quiet eyes.
She was so intent on the photo she didn’t hear the water turn off or the bathroom door open. A sense that someone watched her made her look up. Adam stood across the small room in only his trousers. The muscles in his chest rippled under his skin with the tenseness of his stance, but it was the unreadable expression in his eyes that held her in place, unspeaking. Finally, he broke the moment by walking to a wardrobe and yanking out a blue shirt.
“Is this...?”
“My brother and me.” He struggled with the shirt against his still-damp skin.
“Are you twins?” She didn’t know how else to explain the similarity in their appearance.
“No. Jack was a year older, but he lost the sixth grade to scarlet fever. It nearly killed him and put him behind in school, so we graduated together.” Still buttoning the shirt, he came toward her and took the photo from her hand. After glancing at it, he placed it carefully back in the book.
“I always heard scarlet fever weakens the heart. I’m surprised your brother qualified for service,” she said thoughtfully.
“He didn’t.”
“But I...” She recalled her conversation with Maggie earlier today.
“I took the physical for him. The Army and Marines had already deferred him, and he was desperate to enlist, so I presented myself as him at the Navy recruiting office.”
She couldn’t find words to express the sympathy she felt for him. In helping his brother, Adam had unknowingly sent him to his death.
“My parents will never forgive me.” His tone was matter of fact with its air of finality.
“They know?” She stood and rested her hands on his chest.
“Didn’t take them long to figure it out. Then when he was killed...” He trailed off.
“They blame you for his death?” She couldn’t imagine living with the guilt of a loved one’s death, let alone bearing the blame for it.
He shrugged. “They’ve never said it outright, but I know it’s there.”
“Oh, Adam.” She couldn’t prevent the tear trickling down her cheek.
“Don’t.” He flicked the tear away with his finger. “No sadness. We can’t change what happened, even if we want to. All we can do is live.” He lifted her face up and kissed her gently. “Tonight I plan to enjoy being alive, not living in the shadow of the past.”
They caught up with the Lantern Regatta as it left the harbor and made its way around the curve of land to the beach. After a cruise the length of the beach and back to show off for the crowd already gathered at the feast, they docked at the old wharf near her house and walked the short distance to the party.
Three bonfires, burned down to coals, contained the oysters, clams, and sweet corn. Tables set up on the sand were laden with other food, and party goers were already filling their plates. Some people spread blankets on the sand, while others brought lawn chairs to form circles around the fires. Children ran through the crowd playing tag and other games.
Adam unfurled the blanket he’d taken from the Eve, making a place for the two of them between a fire and the dark water of the bay.
“Front row seats,” she commented, sitting on the red blanket.
“The idea was to be seen, right?” He sprawled out next to her, stretching to his full length.
“I guess.” Farther down the beach, her sister and nieces were lugging a picnic basket toward them. Being seen with a man, a man she wanted to be seen with, had been her idea, but now she felt conspicuous. People were watching them and trying hard not to be obvious about it. “Do you want to eat?”
“In a little bit.” He rolled onto his side and reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together on the blanket. “What are you so nervous about?”
“Nothing. I’m being silly.”
“It’s okay. It is our first time together as a couple. I’m a little anxious, too.”
“You don’t look it.”
“Years of playing cards. I’m good at concealing, especially when I want to win. Come here.” He tugged on her hand, pulling her toward him until they were face to face. For a second, he studied her like he was looking for some sort of answer in her eyes. Then, he kissed her in front of half the town. A few giggles and a low whistle came from the blankets around them.
“What do you want to win?” she whispered, but a hard clearing of the throat made her open her eyes and focus beyond their little area.
“May we join you?” Her sister asked, but her nieces were already on the blanket. “Chris—he’s my husband,” she explained for Adam’s benefit, “had to work unexpectedly, so it’s just me and the girls. If you’d rather be alone...”
“No, please join us. Glad to have the company.” Adam scrambled to his feet. “I’m Adam.”
Natalie gave him a hard look. “I know who you are. And by the starry look in my sister’s eyes, I think I’m glad to meet you.” Natalie shook Adam’s hand. When Shelby’s nieces had been formally introduced, Adam spread Natalie’s blanket next to theirs and turned to the girls.
“Will you help me get drinks for everyone? Then we’ll hit the food tables.” Adam raced the kids across the sand to where members of the ladies’ aid society were handing out bottles of lemonade and ice tea.
“Maybe we shouldn’t sit with you. I wasn’t thinking.” Natalie started to rise.
“No, it’s fine.” Shelby gestured to her sister to sit. “I want you to get to know him.”
“Why?” her sister demanded.
For a moment she struggled to come up with an appropriate answer. “Because I like him, and there’s some...”
“Chemistry? Because it sure seemed like it when we were walking up.”
Shelby didn’t get a chance to respond before Adam and the girls returned with the drinks. “Straws in my chest pocket,” he said leaning over her and handing her a bottle. She slipped her hand under the edge of his jacket to feel for the straw. Her hand brushed against the soft fabric of his shirt and his warm chest. He gave her a wink and a quick smile when she drew the straw free.
“Guess he knows you pretty well,” Natalie commented from behind her before turning her attention to her daughters.
“Starting to,” he sat next to her and bent close, “and I’d like to know more.”
“Me, too.” She wanted to kiss him again but caught sight of Ned and Maggie coming toward them. “More friends. I guess we’re going to be on display for awhile. You okay with that?”
“If you are. I’ll comfort myself with the knowledge that we have a moonlit ride back on the boat later.” His tone and quick caress of her arm sent happy shivers through her.
****
As the warm evening started to chill, they waved goodbye and walked toward his boat. Finally, he could have her to himself. The others were family and friends, but he was done sharing her for the night.
“I suppose you could just go home, and I’ll get your car to you tomorrow,” he suggested half-heartedly when they passed her dark house. It might be selfish of him to want to take her home with him, knowing
she’d have to drive back to her place, but he couldn’t help it.
“Someone promised me a moonlit ride and some time alone. I’m not missing out on that.” She led the way down the wharf where the Eve was docked.
Soon the inky water flowed past them. When they were well offshore, he killed the motor and let the boat drift. Hugging her to him, he tipped back her head and kissed her until she clung to him. Her body fit tight to his despite their height difference.
“I’ve been waiting to do that for two hours,” he murmured as he kissed his way down her neck to the open collar of her dress. Her encouraging gasp of pleasure made him scoop her up in his arms and head for the seat at the back of the boat. With her lying across his lap, he continued kissing her and couldn’t resist running his hand up her thigh under the edge of her skirt. As his hand traveled higher, she moaned in desire, making him hard.
He stilled his hand when his brain managed to function well enough to tell him this was a bad idea. A very bad idea. But she didn’t give him the chance to put on the brakes. Rising from his lap, she placed a knee on either side of his thighs and straddled him. The pressure of her body against his made him lose any sense he had left, and his hands freely explored her while he continued to kiss her.
Running his fingers down her sides, he brushed his thumbs against her breasts until hard peaks formed under the tight fabric of her dress. She urged him on with her soft passionate sounds when his hands dropped low over her belly.
“More,” she whispered, driving him to do what he desired. His hand returned to the warm, soft skin of her inner thigh. With one finger, he stroked against the lace of her panties, feeling the dampness through the fabric. She broke from the kiss to toss back her head, and for a moment her eyes met his. Hers were clouded with desire and passion. Only the knowledge that she wanted him made him go on.
Pulling away the lacy panties, he touched her moist center, rubbing at the core of her. Tremors rolled through her almost immediately, and he nearly stopped. But, leaning closer, she nibbled his ear, licking the outer curve, and any thought of her as the prim, sad widow disappeared forever. He thrust his finger into her, making her writhe until she convulsed around him. With a satisfied moan, she shuddered for the last time and stilled. The only sound was their heavy breathing and the lap of waves against the boat’s side.
For a moment, the silence lay between them and he closed his eyes to try to calm his own raging body. Her hand slid down his chest and stomach until she grasped his erection. Even through his pants, he hardened more at her touch.
“I want you so much.” He managed to say but all his being was focused on what she was doing to him. “But we can’t. Not now.” Reluctantly, he caught her hand, kissed it, and set her beside him on the seat.
“Why not?” Her eyes opened fully. “We’re both adults.”
“It’s too much of a risk.” He rose to put some distance between them. Distance he needed to calm his body, but she followed him to the front of the boat.
“I know we’ve only been together for a little while, but we’ve known each other for a year. And although we may not have thought of each other this way—”
“I have.” His hand was on the ignition, but he hesitated. “I wanted you the first time I saw you.” He replayed the scene in his mind. She and Maggie were coming out of the ferry line’s office on a sunny day last fall. “You wore that floppy hat you love so much, but when you lifted your face, I was done.”
“Why didn’t you... Oh,” she finished when she realized why. “Because you knew I was a war widow.”
“Maggie had told me about you, so I figured it was hands off, and I kept away.”
“And acted like an arrogant jerk to me. Although,” she rested her hand on his chest, “other times you were sweet. I never knew what to expect, and I came to dread running into you.”
“I deserved that.” He cringed inside at the way he had treated her.
“What changed?”
“That’s easy.” He laughed, and although he knew better, he put his arms around her. “At Ned and Maggie’s wedding when I had you like this, dancing, I got that same sensation I get when I’m dealt four aces. I’ve never felt like that before about a woman, so I kissed you. Couldn’t stop myself.”
“Why didn’t you say it to me then?”
“Because I’d been such a jerk, and I’m in no position to...”
“To what?”
“To take care of a woman. Look, Shelby, I’ve poured everything I’ve got into what we’re standing on. I’ve made no secret of that with you. If this boat fails, I’ve got less than nothing.”
“We seem to be floating. I’d say you’ve got something.”
“You know what I mean. If I’m not successful at the boat show, I’ll be stuck working on the ferry until I can save up, and even then...” The thought of starting over was too much now that his life had changed. The woman in front of him had done that. He didn’t know how to go back.
“I thought you were a risk taker.”
“Not with you.”
“So stubborn. You know I don’t need a man to support me. I can work, and I have money.” When she finished speaking, he gently put her aside and turned to the control panel. “That makes it worse, doesn’t it?”
“Yep.” He started the engine, ending their conversation and probably any chance at a relationship. But he sure as hell wasn’t taking money from her earnings or from her dead husband. He didn’t have much left, but pride was still free.
Chapter Seven
“Son of a bitch,” Adam kicked the tire of Ned’s old car.
“Careful. She’s got some age on her and doesn’t need your abuse. Jesus, I’ve never seen you so testy.” Ned slid out from under the car and got to his feet. “But no way is this car going to Atlantic City anytime soon. Axle’s broken.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do?” Adam’s frustration boiled up and over when he glanced at the Eve on a trailer, waiting to go. He was supposed to be on the road in an hour.
“Find somebody else who has a car,” Ned suggested, as if it were the easiest thing in the world to do.
“Like who?” He’d already run through a mental list of everyone he knew with a decent vehicle and had come up with nothing.
“Like Shelby. Her Packard will easily pull the trailer.”
“I’m not asking her.” He’d already revealed too much of himself to her. He couldn’t ask her for more.
“You two have a fight or something?”
“No.”
“Her car left as soon as the Eve was docked last Saturday night.”
“You were watching?”
“Mags and I had a bet going. Thanks to you, I won. Mags bet on her staying for several hours. I said she’d be gone in less than ten minutes.”
“What’d you win?”
Ned grinned and turned a little red. “Can’t say.”
“Glad somebody got something out of the night.”
“Mags isn’t usually wrong about, you know, relationships. What’d you do to piss Shelby off?”
“Acted like a man. I’m going to go make some calls. Maybe I can pull in a favor from somebody.” Adam slammed the door of his boathouse so hard the walls shook. Over the next hour, he called anyone he could think of with a vehicle. They either weren’t home or couldn’t help him.
For a desperate minute, he considered boating to Atlantic City, but he had no way of getting the Eve out of the water when he got there. The show was being held in an old arms factory converted to civilian use for exhibitions. Boats for the show had to be on trailers.
The rumble of tires on gravel sounded below, followed by a car door closing. “Adam, are you in there?” Shelby’s voice came through the thin wood. Why the hell was she here now? Nothing had passed between them during the week and now, when he was on the verge of failure, she showed up. “Let me in.”
“It’s open,” he called, descending the stairs and flinging the door out so hard it bounced on i
ts hinges.
“Hi.” She took a step back from him. “I hear you’re in need of a car.”
“How’d you know?”
She nodded her head toward Maggie and Ned’s house. “No secrets around here. I came to see if I could help.” She eyed the Eve as it stood shining in the afternoon sunlight. After he’d pulled the boat out of the water, he’d spent all his free time making sure she looked perfect. “I see you’ve been busy. I guess that explains why you didn’t call.”
“Yeah. You didn’t call me either.” It was a stupid thing to say after he’d all but escorted her from the premises on Saturday night.
“I was busy. Packing,” she retorted.
“You’re going then.” The words came out in a normal tone, but all the air vacated his lungs.
“Can’t find a reason to stay.” She studied his face. “But I’m still looking.” Before he had time to say anything, she continued. “Now, about this trip to Atlantic City. You may use my car on one condition. I’m going with you.”
“No.” Trusting himself for the weekend with her wasn’t a good plan. Just seeing her in that damned floppy hat was enough to undo him.
“Do you have another option?”
“No,” he admitted.
“And if you don’t go, you won’t sell any boats and, as you say, you’ll be stuck working on the ferry.”
“I like the ferry.”
“I believe that, but it’s not what you want. I’m giving you the opportunity to get what you want. Stop being stubborn and take it.”
He sucked in a breath and tried to think of a reasonable argument against her going, but couldn’t. “I get to drive.”
“Fine with me. I’ve never towed a boat before. I’d be afraid of wrecking it.” She walked toward the passenger side of the car.
“Shells…” His heart dropped when she turned and tilted her head up, her hazel eyes flashing in the shadow of her hat. “Thank you.”
He didn’t think he deserved the smile she gave him, but he’d take it anyway. “Get your suitcase. We’ve got a long drive.”
****
She jolted awake when the car door opened and Adam leaned out to see where he was going. He drove through a huge doorway into a dimly lit space already filled with boats of various sizes.
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