Before the other eye shuttered open, she felt the hard part of Ryder’s anatomy nestled against her leg that she’d enjoyed twice last night.
She tried to move to the edge so she could extricate herself from the sheets without waking him. But as soon as she inched over to the side of the bed, he latched on in a death grip and started nuzzling her neck.
“Where ya goin’?”
“Pee.”
“Ah.” He raised his head to listen. “What’s that sound?”
“Rain. Which only makes me want to pee more.”
He rolled to his back, allowing her the freedom to dart to the bathroom. “Are you saying we got our wish?”
As she beat a path down the hallway, over her shoulder she hollered out, “The rain gods must’ve been listening. The sky opened up and the rain’s coming down out there in buckets. I have no idea for how long.”
When she got back, she snatched her cell phone off the nightstand.
“What does all this rain mean for the fair?”
“According to the text message Murphy sent at seven o’clock, that’s forty-five minutes ago, the storm put an early end to the festivities. Wind damage to some of the vendor tents. Even the carnival is packing up and calling it quits, heading to the next town.”
“Should we go check on your stuff?”
“I didn’t have many items left,” she said as she slid in between the covers. “And if the tent collapsed, what’s still there is probably already soaked from the downpour.”
The phone on the nightstand rang and she flipped back over to answer it. “Hello. Oh hi, Pop. You know what? Let’s both take the rainy day off and be slugs. No, there’s no reason… Pop, why won’t you stay put? You deserve a day to kick back. Instead of picking up what’s left, indulge yourself, catch a preseason baseball game on the tube from sunny Florida. Okay. Great. See you then.”
“Nicely done.”
“He’s been working too hard. Like someone else I know.”
“But maybe we should go load up your things.”
Wrapping her arms around his chest, she snuggled into his body, ran a hand down his midsection. “If you really think my father will stay where he is, you don’t know John Dickinson. He’s probably already heading over there now despite what I say. Besides, do you really want to move from this spot?”
He kissed the top of her hair, nibbled down her jaw to her neck. “No.”
“Then I say we make the most of today.”
He rolled, reversed their positions. “Just so you know I’m more than okay right here.”
“And just so you know, I’m stronger than I look. I’ll keep you where I can take advantage of you. Don’t exert yourself. Save your strength. Because you’re going to need it.”
“Same goes.”
When they finally crawled out of bed, they had to get creative to scrounge up something for breakfast.
Julianne made use of her last three eggs and the last drop of milk to scramble up an omelet.
Because Ryder had scouted her kitchen the night before, he made himself to home and started coffee.
Over their first cup, the phone rang again.
While listening to the caller on the other end, she mouthed the words, “It’s Jordan wanting to know if I’m alive.”
“I’m sorry,” Julianne finally said aloud into the receiver. “I didn’t mean to make you worry. I should’ve found you at the dance and explained that I had decided to spend Saturday night back home in Santa Cruz. I appreciate the concern. No, no, really, I’m fine. Thanks for caring enough to make sure that I wasn’t in a ditch between here and there.”
When she hung up, she turned to Ryder. “I don’t think I fooled her for a second.”
He chuckled into his mug of caffeine. “Probably not. Are you worried about your rep because you’re the school principal?”
“Not really. I haven’t even started the job yet. And…well…my private life is my own.”
Pleased to hear that, he said, “Have you ever thought about opening up a resale shop in town in one of those empty buildings along Main?”
“But I love being around the kids.”
He shook his head. “I’m not saying give it up. Rent one of those old empty spaces, stock it with your inventory, pay someone to run it during the nine months you’re principal. With jobs so scarce it shouldn’t be that hard to find a willing employee.”
She sat back, sipped her brew. “That’s not a bad idea. It might be a way to add to my second income, which I might point out, will be sorely missed if being principal takes up most of my time. What about you? I’m not trying to needle you but when do you plan to take your idea to Nick?”
“Monday. That reminds me I need to make a few changes to my business plan. You know, I’ll need to get back to the farm for the evening milking.”
“We could work on the proposal for Nick here.”
“I don’t have my laptop.”
“We’ll make notes the old-fashioned way. Let’s do the dishes and get started that way you can transfer everything to your computer file, print out the hard copy before morning.”
It continued to rain throughout the morning as they put on music and absorbed themselves with all the right buzzwords to impress a banker about Ryder’s acumen, as well as Zach’s and Troy’s.
In between putting together the game plan for the boatbuilding venture, she tossed every wilted vegetable she had on hand—potatoes, carrots, celery, spring beans—into a soup pot to simmer for lunch.
“Whatever it is you’re cooking, it smells delicious.”
“Nothing like having soup on a rainy day.”
He leaned against the doorframe and watched her mince garlic, strip fresh rosemary and chop basil to dump into the pot.
“Where did you learn to cook?”
“Between Pop and Danny’s mother those two taught me all I needed to know about putting together a meal on a tight budget.”
“Tell me about Danny.”
“You want to hear about Danny? Now? Today?”
“You don’t say much about him. While I’ve gone on, ad nauseam about ‘what’s her face’ to the point that I’m sick of hearing myself talk.”
She continued to dice up leeks as she talked. “Danny was a gentle soul. That’s not to say he didn’t show his temper when the situation warranted one because he did. And he could be stubborn to the point that I wanted to knock some sense into his head. That’s what put him on the road where he was killed. You see, we used to love going to junk yards, exploring old second-hand shops for just about everything we had on hand. He’d pick up old car parts he could use in his garage while I’d find some old table or chair I couldn’t live without. But that day I had to study for exams. I was working on my Master’s at the time. I begged him not to go. Call it a second sense or a premonition or whatever but I wanted him to stay and fix a leaky faucet in our apartment. But he went running out the door anyway to pick up some stupid special carburetor for a Mustang he’d been refurbishing for a friend.” The knife in her hand stilled as she bit her lip, fought back tears. “Danny didn’t make it back.”
Ryder came up behind her, wrapped her up, and kneaded her breasts through her shirt. He grated his teeth along the underside of her ear. “You know what I’ve always liked to do on a rainy day?”
She relaxed against him and breathed out, “What?”
“I like to take a leisurely bath, especially if I don’t have to do it alone.”
She turned into him, buried her face in his chest.
He scooped her up, carried her to the bathroom, dropped her on her feet to turn on the tap to let the water run. She began to pour in bubble bath. To get the perfect balance of froth and fragrance, she dabbled with two different bottles before getting it just right.
They took turns undressing each other. As eager as they’d been the night before, this was an unhurried, seductive intimacy born of a lazy afternoon. It was a time to share secrets, discover mysteries.
&nbs
p; His eyes took in her slender waist, the curve of hips and breasts until he reached for her to feast on her mouth.
Ryder stepped into the steamy foam first, took her hand to help her over the rim. The smell of coconut and vanilla had them easing down into the velvety bubbles together. Their bodies hummed with want as she settled against him, surrendering to the moment.
His hands roved along her slick skin, nudged her legs apart. The brush of his tongue along her neck brought delightful quivers. His lips skimming flesh created quakes that went on and on. He turned her in his arms to join, to mate. She straddled him, locked her legs around his waist, her hands around his head. Sinking together, the water rose and swished back and forth as they floated through their own swells. Then it was all lust, a rush, a race to reach the torrent. Greed flooded them. The finish came in a burst, a tsunami of tremors and triumph.
He labored to catch his breath, rested his forehead on hers. “I can’t get enough of you.”
“For someone who hasn’t done that in a while, you don’t seem out of practice,” a breathless Julianne noted. “This was a grand idea.”
“I was inspired.” He ran a hand down her cheek. “You have to check out of the B&B and I have to get back to the farm. I hate to say this, but it’s about time we left our little nest.”
“I know.”
During the downpour, Troy and Zach helped take down the vendor tents. But it was Troy who spotted John Dickinson loading the leftover odds and ends of furniture belonging to Julianne into the back of his truck.
“Need some help?” Troy asked.
“Thanks, I wouldn’t turn down an extra pair of hands,” John said.
“Where’s Julianne and Ryder?”
“Taking a day off I reckon.”
Troy caught the gleam in the man’s eyes and knew Ryder and Julianne weren’t fooling anybody, least of all John. With no wish to plod further into that minefield, Troy changed the subject. “Are you taking this stuff back to Santa Cruz?”
“Don’t see why I should. I thought I’d just store it at the new house in the garage. What do you think?”
“That’s a good idea. Practical.”
They were hauling it out of the pickup when Julianne and Ryder pulled to the curb.
“Pop, I knew you’d do this. I told you to take a day off. Why don’t you ever listen?”
“I’d already made the drive to town to extend the flooring from the kitchen into the laundry room. I decided I might as well remove the stuff in the tent.”
She threw her arms around his neck, kissed his cheek. “How did I get so lucky in the father department?”
John blushed as he always did when his daughter heaped on praise. “You’d better check out the floor inside and see if it meets with your approval.”
“Pop, with you doing the work, I already know it’s perfect. Now head home and get some rest before you have to go back out tomorrow.” She aimed a finger in his direction. “Do not argue with me about this.”
“And how will you get back home?”
“My van’s still parked at the B&B. I still have to go get my stuff and check out.”
John didn’t push for details. “Then I’ll head back.”
“Pop.”
“What?”
“Be careful driving back.”
When John had gone, Ryder turned to Troy. “Thanks for covering for me at the farm. I owe you.”
“Just get that business proposal done and we’ll call it even. I’m no good at stuff like that.”
“Julianne offered to help. I think we hashed it out to where we won’t embarrass ourselves in front of Nick.”
Out of earshot of Julianne, Troy lowered his voice. “If you worked on the business plan something tells me you didn’t have the kind of night I thought you had.”
Ryder gave him the one-finger salute. “This is your IQ.”
Troy guffawed with laughter.
“What’s so funny,” Julianne wondered when she came up to them. But without waiting for a response, she added, “I have an idea. Why don’t we call Zach and Bree and get their take on what we put together, get their input before tomorrow? In the meantime I’ll go back to Promise Cove and get my stuff.”
Ryder nodded. “We could all meet at the farm.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
While Ryder did the milking and caught up on work in the admin offices, Julianne started a batch of cornbread and cheesy macaroni. Comfort food on a rainy day seemed a good complement to talking business. To offset the starch, she tossed together a salad, sliced apples and made veggie omelets.
“Need help? Bree asked.
“Nope, I’ve got it. Ryder doesn’t have a lot, so I put together a meal with what he had on hand.”
“Leave it to a guy. It looks good anyway. My omelets never look like they do in magazines. That’s why I usually serve eggs up scrambled.””
Ryder came in the back door and after washing up, he reached over to plant a kiss on Julianne’s forehead. When Zach handed him a beer from the six-pack he’d brought, he twisted off the cap, leaned back on the counter. “Smells good in here.”
Once the cornbread came out of the oven, the five of them gathered around the table, eager for the food.
“Looked over the proposal, looks fine to me,” Troy muttered in between bites. “What about you Zach?”
“I like the way you laid out the responsibilities of each of us.”
“Nick may ask how you know this Jacob Hettinger. Are you willing to tell him?” Ryder asked.
“Other than the fact the multimillionaire owes me a huge favor? Not a problem.”
“What about a name for the business?” Bree asked.
“No point in doing that until we take the first step,” Ryder said in between scooping up macaroni.
“Yeah, we should make sure we get the go-ahead before getting too excited about all this.”
“I still don’t see how the bank will loan us money,” Zach said cutting into his eggs.
Bree sent a glare in the direction of her brother. “Do you think you could can the negativity for five minutes? Just once try a little positive thinking instead of that dour, sour face.”
Zach nodded and buttered his cornbread. “Sure, I can try. We’ll see if it does any good.”
Chapter Fifteen
Monday morning Ryder, Zach and Troy stationed themselves outside the First Bank of Pelican Pointe before it opened. They’d told Logan about their plan and the boss had given them the time off along with a much-appreciated thumbs-up.
When Ryder spotted Nick’s car pulling in, he readied for the meeting they’d both dreaded and prepped for.
“Hey guys, good to see you.” But then Nick noticed that all three men were sporting matching white shirts. The only difference in their attire was the varying fade of their jeans and a different shade of brown work boots.
“I hope you’ll feel that way when you hear our crazy idea,” Ryder stated.
“What’s up?”
Zach and Troy let Ryder do the talking. “Remember at the party for Julianne when you encouraged locals to apply for business loans. The three of us are here to do that. Zach and Troy grew up here. I’m the outsider but one who decided to make this place home, put down roots and see them grow.” He went on to explain about building boats.
“Okay, let’s go into my office.”
Before they all sat down, Ryder handed Nick the proposal.
Ryder watched Nick look it over, flip through the pages—a little too quickly to suit Ryder. After a short five minutes of perusing what had taken him days to put together, Ryder feared that was the end of that. That’s why Nick’s speech took him by surprise.
“When I took over this job, the bank was in deep trouble. Not only had the previous president, Milton Carr, pretty much run it into the ground by showing favoritism to certain depositors in town, he mismanaged funds to do it. He wouldn’t extend loans to anyone with potential. In fact, he discouraged taking applications. Ev
en after Carr resigned, for six long weeks, we had the feds crawling up our ass. It was an embarrassment to the hardworking people who make up this town—the ones who had a dream, who busted their tails to keep it from turning into a ghost town.
“Having the feds here was awkward and a humiliating experience. Something I never want to see happen again in my lifetime for obvious reasons. Not only did Carr bring shame to the town, but he refused to keep up with technology. The bank lagged behind in how it did business every day. I tell you all this because after skimming your proposal, my initial reaction is positive. So relax. But I wouldn’t be serving the depositors if I didn’t ask a series of pertinent questions.”
“Okay, shoot,” Ryder said, his dread beginning to ease up.
“First, do you three actually know each other well enough, get along well enough, trust each other enough, to go into business together, share bills, headaches, lean times. Because it’s almost like a three-way marriage which is tough enough with two headstrong people let alone three. Each of you has to be willing to accept each other’s imperfections, as well as recognize your individual strengths and build on them.”
Ryder nodded. “We’ve only really gotten to know each other over the last three months. I admit there might be some things we still need to iron out. But we all share the same work ethic and the same approach to putting out a quality product.”
“I echo that,” Troy said.
“Okay then. I need to know what unique talent each of you brings to the partnership?”
Zach took this one. “Ryder prepared the business plan. As you well know from his work at the farm, he has the know-how to use the computer and the software to keep the books, pay the bills electronically, that sort of thing. And Troy and I can certainly learn. If we have to, we’ll take a course to get up to speed in the tech arena so it all doesn’t fall on Ryder’s shoulders down the road. Add to that, we all three have above-average carpentry skills. Ask Logan and he’ll tell you the same. We plan to all three share in the physical labor. All three of us plan to work on the boat design. To do that we’ll probably have to take a class to get more familiar with the software program they use for drawing up models.”
Last Chance Harbor Page 21