Forbidden Kisses

by Annie Rains

  Jack pulled into the parking lot of Blushing Bay Memorial. He handed Tristan a card for Joey’s cab service. “Call this number. Someone there will get you home.”

  Tristan nodded. “Sure. Good luck.”

  Jack’s large steps ate up the parking lot. Everything seemed to be going too slowly, though. The lot was too long. The elevator took an exaggerated amount of time to open and then carry him to the second floor. The door seemed to tease him as it waited to ping and open. When it did, Jack burst down the hall, ticking off the room numbers as he passed. Turning a corner, he entered Grace’s room, hoping for a bandaged arm or something equally inconsequential.

  Grace lay in the bed, eyes closed as if she were sleeping. Monitors beeped around her, attached to her by colored wires and sensors. His gaze scanned over her as he tried to assess what exactly was going on. Her left arm was in a sling and there was a bandage circling her forehead.

  “Jack!” Krista threw her arms around his neck. “I’ve been calling you. Where have you been?”

  He shook his head. “I was in the water. Left my phone in the truck.” But none of that mattered. “What happened?”

  Krista slid away and looked at Abby, who was sitting on the other side of the room. Blushing Bay’s newest terrific trio, or terrible depending on the women’s moods.

  “Abs?” Jack asked, looking at his former sister-in-law.

  “The doctor thinks Grace will be okay. She has a concussion. The sling on her arm is to stabilize a fractured collarbone. She’s medicated for the pain right now.”

  Jack struggled to breathe. “He thinks she’ll be fine?”

  “Of course she’ll be fine,” Krista offered. “This is Grace. She’s the toughest woman I know.”

  “How did this happen?” he asked next, because those weren’t everyday injuries.

  Krista hugged her arms around her body. “We were on Joey and Dad’s boat.”

  Jack’s gaze snapped up. “Boat? Grace called in sick today. Why was she on your family’s boat?”

  Krista and Abby exchanged another look.

  “Stop that, all right? Just tell me what’s going on,” Jack said, anger heating his voice. He couldn’t help it. They’d been stupid and now Grace was hurt.

  Krista took a tiny step backward. “You’re the one who called off the tournament, okay? Grace was devastated, so we decided to do it ourselves.”

  Jack slammed the heel of his palm into his forehead. “Kris. You’re not a fisherman.”

  “I know my way around a boat,” Krista argued. “So does Abs.”

  “You, too?” Jack looked at Abby and shook his head. “Whose ridiculous idea was this?”

  “All of ours. We did it for Grace,” Krista said softly.

  All eyes went to the patient on the bed.

  “The tournament is important to her,” Abby said. “And we had Joey, too. He’s a fisherman in his own right.”

  “He’s a cab driver,” Jack ground out, irritated and upset with himself.

  “Well, if you hadn’t quit on Grace.” Krista stepped forward this time, pointing her finger at his chest.

  “So this is my fault?” He shook his head. “I didn’t quit on her. I quit on her silly idea that a boat was ever going to make me like her mother.”

  “It would if you weren’t so pigheaded,” Krista argued.

  “Pigheaded?” Jack repeated angrily.

  A nurse stepped inside the room. “Excuse me. I’m going to have to ask you all to leave if you can’t keep your voices down.”

  “Sorry,” Krista said.

  “When will she wake up?” Jack asked, turning to the nurse, a young woman with kind eyes and short, wavy hair.

  “Well, she hit her head pretty hard. We have her on pain medication and a sedative to help her rest right now. We want to give her brain a chance to heal.”

  “How long?” Jack asked. He needed to talk to Grace. He needed to tell her how sorry he was…and how he felt about her.

  “We want to monitor her for the next twenty-four hours. Are you family?” the nurse asked.

  “No. Kind of.”

  “Grace’s mother is on her way,” Krista told the nurse. “I sent my brother to go pick her up in his cab.”

  Jack groaned. “That’s just great.”

  “Do you seriously think we wouldn’t call Grace’s mom?” Krista shook her head. “You need to get over your grudge against Tammy, Jack.”

  “Voices. Remember to keep it down. I really should’ve already asked you to leave,” the nurse warned. She probably knew Krista, since they both worked at the hospital.

  “We promise,” Krista said. “Abby, let’s go get some coffee downstairs. Jack might want some time alone.”

  “Thanks.” Jack sat and took hold of Grace’s hand. A zing of electricity ran through him. Their touch had always been that way.

  He willed Grace’s eyes to open. Just for one second. He needed to see that she was going to be okay. He couldn’t lose her.

  The door behind him creaked open. The scuffling steps of someone who was either too lazy to lift their feet or couldn’t entered the room.

  Jack had one guess who the visitor was. He didn’t look back. Instead, he steeled himself against his emotions. Krista was right. He needed to get over his grudge, but he had no idea how. “This is your fault, you know,” he finally said. “Grace was doing this because you asked her to.”

  Tammy Donner stepped up to the bed.

  Jack could hear her sniffles beside him. She walked around and sat in the chair that Abby had occupied earlier. She was slow to sit, careful.

  “You asked her to fix things between our families when it wasn’t hers to fix.” He met Tammy’s gaze across Grace’s bed. Without meaning to, his grip on Grace’s hand tightened. He pulled his hand away and wiped it over his face, willing the hardness of his muscles to ease. He wasn’t going to verbally spar with a woman who was sick.

  Tammy reached for Grace’s other hand. “That’s where you’re wrong, Jack. I told her not to do the tournament. She was determined. You know how Grace is. No one has ever been able to tell her what to do.” Tammy kept her gaze firmly on Grace. “Besides, you’re the one who agreed to do this dangerous thing with her. Didn’t you learn your lesson after your friend died?”

  Jack erupted out of his seat, unable to contain his energy. “Don’t talk to me about mistakes or lessons learned. You don’t get to talk to me about anything.”

  Tammy pulled back, her eyes rounding as she stared at him.

  Dammit.

  “I’m sorry, but one of you needs to leave,” the nurse said, stepping in again. She folded her arms under her chest.

  “I’ll go.” Jack cast one more glance in Tammy’s direction, not meeting her eyes fully, then stormed out of the room.

  —

  Early the next morning, Jack went to the hospital to check on Grace, but she was sleeping soundly. Whatever drugs they were giving her apparently worked well. Instead of pacing her hospital room and waiting for his chance to make amends, he left and distracted himself by giving his only employee a birthday gift. It wasn’t every day that a boy legally became a man.

  “What do you think?” Jack asked.

  Tristan turned back to him, a wide childlike grin sweeping over his face. Even though he’d just turned eighteen, he still looked like a boy to Jack. The kid cursed excitedly and added, “Are you serious?”

  “Watch your language. And yeah, I’m serious.” Jack matched the teen’s grin, slipping out of his bad mood for a moment.

  “No way!”

  “You don’t want it?” Jack asked, knowing that wasn’t at all what the kid meant. The RV had belonged to him and Chris. They’d taken it on a lot of wild trips back in the day. Since the accident, though, it’d just sat in Jack’s backyard. He couldn’t imagine ever using it again without his friend. Chris would approve of passing it on to someone like Tristan.

  “Yeah, I want it.”

  “There’s a campground down the st
reet. You’ll have to pay rent for the lot there. I figure you’ll make more than enough working for me.”

  Tristan’s eyes were like saucers. “I can’t believe this! This is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

  “Well, go in. Look around. See it from all angles. It should be spacious enough for one eighteen-year-old.”

  Tristan ran inside and popped back out in less than a minute. “Seriously?” Enthusiasm poured out of him.

  “Happy birthday, Tristan.”

  The distraction and the kid’s reaction made it all worth it. Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked for missed calls. As he looked, the phone started buzzing in his hand.

  He pulled it to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Get over here, man,” Noah said into the receiver.

  “Over where?”

  “The docks. Krista, Abby, and Joey are bringing in the big one!”

  Jack had completely forgotten about the East Coast fishing tournament going on today. “What?”

  “They’re doing it for Grace. Now get your butt over here.”

  “Is it big enough to win?” Jack asked, waving at Tristan and climbing into his truck.

  “Could be.”

  “No way,” Jack said, sounding like the eighteen-year-old he’d just left. Minus the childlike enthusiasm. He couldn’t muster excitement when Grace was still lying in room 211. He still hadn’t gotten his chance to talk to her.

  “Krista just called. I’m heading over to check it out myself,” Noah said. “If she wins, I owe her dinner because I told her she’d never pull it off.”

  “Never tell a woman she can’t do something,” Jack said, having learned that lesson the hard way.

  “Why, thank you, O wise one. See you in five?”

  Jack turned his truck in the opposite direction of the community docks. “I can’t. I’m going to the hospital to see if Grace is awake yet.”

  “Got it. Well, tell her we’re all thinking about her,” Noah said. “And this doesn’t get her out of anything at work.”

  Jack laughed. “It’s really weird that my brother thinks of my girlfriend as a sister.”

  “She was my sister before she was your bedfellow,” Noah pointed out.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Jack nearly ran through the parking lot once he arrived at the hospital. He took the stairs over the elevator because he didn’t want to wait a second longer to talk to Grace.

  When he turned the corner into her room, Tammy was seated at Grace’s bedside. Of course she was.

  Jack frowned, his gaze moving over Grace. Her eyes were still closed, just like they’d been when he’d left her this morning.

  “Jack,” Tammy said, turning and offering him a smile.

  He didn’t want her smiles. “I’ll wait outside until you’re done visiting.” He turned to walk back out.

  “No, you don’t have to—” Tammy used her arms to push up from the chair.

  He didn’t want to feel sorry for Tammy, either. In fact, he wanted nothing to do with Tammy. He was standing by his belief that Grace wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her mother. “Do you ever listen to a thing that people say?” he asked, unable to help himself. His voice wasn’t raised or angry. In fact, he was surprised at the calmness in it. “Do you even care about what other people want?”

  Tammy’s expression dropped. “Jack,” she said again.

  Just hearing the sound of his name on her lips irritated him. He remembered a time when he’d called her stepmom. A time when he’d been proud of her and had relished his name on her lips. He’d considered her like a real mom to him.

  “I said I’ll sit outside while you visit with Grace,” he said firmly but calmly. “That way I won’t say anything that I’ll regret.” Not that Tammy wouldn’t deserve every word.

  “Jack?”

  He stopped walking. This time it wasn’t Tammy’s voice. Joy flooded his chest, washing out all the anger and bitterness. He turned back and met those dark brown eyes, so warm and full of life. “Grace.”

  “She’s up. That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Tammy said.

  Jack flicked his gaze toward her. “You couldn’t pick up a phone and tell me that sooner?”

  Tammy huffed. “Well, I didn’t have your number. And Krista and Abby have been out on the boat all day.”

  Grace frowned. “On a boat? The Lone Wolf?” she asked weakly.

  “The tournament that you were so dead set on winning,” her mother said, looking down at her.

  “The one you forced her to enter,” Jack said firmly.

  “I didn’t force her.”

  “They did the tournament without me?” Grace asked, interrupting their exchange.

  Jack stepped back toward her. “They did it for you. I just spoke to Noah. They caught something, maybe a big something.”

  Grace smiled. “Really?”

  Jack nodded and sat in the chair beside her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up.”

  “It’s okay.” Grace slipped her hand in his. “Mom was here.”

  Jack clamped his lips tightly.

  “And she didn’t force the tournament on me, Jack. I wanted to do it.”

  “Because of something she did,” he said, working hard to keep his voice neutral. “But let’s not talk about that right now. How are you feeling?”

  Grace swallowed. “Honestly? The two of you together is kind of stressing me out a little.”

  Jack looked up at Tammy. She’d probably been here for hours. It was his turn now.

  “If you don’t mind, I kind of want to be alone,” Grace said. “I’m really tired.”

  “Do you need a nurse?” Concern tightened Jack’s chest. The doctor had said she’d be fine, but what if they missed something?

  “No, I’m fine. I just can’t listen to another argument between you two.”

  “We weren’t arguing,” he objected.

  “It sure sounded like it to me. And not just now. You two have been arguing like a couple of children while I lay in this bed on pain meds. It felt like a horrible dream, and now that I’m awake and can ask you to stop, that’s what I’m going to do.” Her voice rose and shook with anger.

  “I didn’t realize you could hear us,” he said.

  “Does it matter?”

  “Of course it does. I would never do anything to hurt you.” Jack reached for Grace’s hand.

  “You know I wouldn’t, either, Gracie,” Tammy said.

  Jack gritted his teeth. He couldn’t help himself. His gaze went to Grace, who was watching him.

  “Please go,” she told them both. “I’ll call you tonight.”

  He wanted to argue and stay. What Grace needed was for him to leave. Nodding, he headed to the door. “I’m glad you’re awake,” he said, which felt like empty words compared to the ones he wanted to say. He wanted to make sure Grace knew how lost he’d been over the last twenty-four hours. He wanted to tell her exactly how he felt about her—he loved her. That was clearer every second that passed. He didn’t want to live his life without her.

  He cursed under his breath as he exited the hospital room. Then reluctantly, he turned back to Tammy. “How’d you get here?” he asked. Or growled. Yeah, he was a bear this afternoon.

  “Mrs. Smith brought me here. She’ll be back in ten minutes. I’m supposed to meet her downstairs.” Tammy didn’t move. There was only one way to the elevator and Jack guessed she didn’t want to ride with him.

  “Great.” He stepped back along the wall. “You go ahead. I want to talk to the nurse anyway.”

  Tammy started a slow walk past him. “I’m sorry, Jack,” she said, stopping when she was right in front of him. “Really sorry. For everything.”

  Jack watched her walk farther down the hall, wishing he had it in him to forgive and forget.

  Chapter 20

  Grace opened her eyes an hour or two later—there was really no concept of time in a hospital—when the door to her room opened. For the first time that day,
she smiled.

  “Hey, there!” Krista carried a vase of flowers and set them on Grace’s nightstand. “I heard you were awake. How’re you feeling?”

  Grace grimaced as she pushed herself up on the bed. “Like I’ve been hit by a train.”

  “Or just the side of a boat.” Krista sat in the chair beside Grace.

  Grace shook her head. “Speaking of which, I’m so sorry. I asked you guys to help me with the tournament and then I wasn’t even there.”

  “Hold up.” Krista raised a hand. “Are you seriously apologizing for getting a concussion and breaking your collarbone?”

  Grace laughed, then winced at the pain in her head. No quick movements, the doctor had advised.

  “Easy there,” Krista said, eyes darkening.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You could’ve drowned out there, you know. We heard the noise of you hitting the boat, but if we hadn’t—” Krista shuddered. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “Who saved me?”

  “Abby.” Krista nodded. “Now you’re indebted to her for life. Just so you know.”

  Grace was about to laugh again and caught herself. The concussion was still causing her a monster headache. “Thank you.”

  Krista’s smile fell sharply. “Don’t thank us. We didn’t win the tournament. We came in third place.” Her eyes slanted sympathetically. “We caught a really great fish, though. A crazy good fish, but—”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Grace swallowed. “It was a stupid thing to do anyway.” Her voice shook. She’d never been a crier, and yet all she seemed to do was resist her waterworks these days.

  “We can find another way to buy back the Beatrice. I promise. I’ve already been scheming on ways. Maybe we could start a GoFundMe page online.”

  Grace shook her head. “Buying back the Beatrice was a bad idea. It was never going to fix things between the Donners and the Sawyers. Jack was right.” Laughter spilled out of Grace’s mouth, even as she fought her rising emotion. “It would take a lot more than a boat to make things right. Maybe things will never be made right.”

  “Did something happen?” Krista asked, slumping in the visitor’s chair. “I mean, I know you and Jack argued before your accident, but he was worried sick about you yesterday.”