by Marie Force
Everything was falling into place for everyone, except him, Evan decided after another long dinner with his family at which he’d been the butt of every joke. The only one who seemed to understand what he was going through was Owen, who’d been making some rather dramatic changes in his own life lately, also thanks to a woman.
Evan loved the idea of Owen and his cousin Laura together and was pulling for them to make it work. Her ex-husband was making all sorts of threats that didn’t sit well with any of them, and Evan didn’t envy them the road they had ahead.
During dinner, Evan had been counting the minutes until his self-imposed deadline to call Grace. When he’d last talked to her, two endless days ago, he’d asked her if she missed him. She’d teasingly said that since he called her every night, she hadn’t had time to miss him. So he’d waited two hellish days to call her again, hoping that maybe he’d hear from her in the interim. But there’d been no call, no text, no nothing. And he was slowly going out of his mind from missing her and worrying that she might’ve changed her mind about him.
When Grant and Stephanie finally went home, Evan helped his mother clean up the kitchen.
“Everything okay, Ev?” she asked as she wiped the countertops.
Startled, he was immediately on guard against whatever form of inquisition she might be preparing to mount. “I’m fine,” he said, loading the last of the plates into the dishwasher.
“If you ask me, your brothers are being rather hard on you.”
“It’s fine. Nothing I didn’t do to them.”
“When they were falling in love with Maddie and Stephanie, you mean.”
Trapped, he stared at her as he tried to think of some way to wiggle out of this conversation.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I know what you’re going through.”
“Oh, you do, huh?” he asked, amused by her when he knew he should be running for his life away from her.
“Sure, I do. I went through it once myself, don’t forget.”
“You’re not going to share details about you and Dad that’ll scar me for life, are you?”
Linda laughed and tossed the dishrag at him.
He caught it and dropped it into the sink.
“You know how Uncle Frank introduced me to Dad. I went to a party at Frank’s house with Aunt JoAnn when she and Frank were dating.”
“I don’t remember much about her,” he said of his cousin Laura’s mother, who’d died young.
“No, you wouldn’t,” Linda said sadly. “She and I were friends from school, and we lost her far too soon. Anyway, Dad was over on the mainland for a week visiting Frank and their parents when we met. Of course, I’d heard about Gansett, but I’d never been here. To hear Dad talk about it that first night, it sounded like paradise.”
Evan couldn’t help but be intrigued by parts of his parents’ story he hadn’t heard before.
“He made it sound so great that I eventually came over for a day and totally fell in love.”
“With the island?” Evan asked in a teasing tone.
“Among other things.” Smiling, she looked up at him. “I know that feeling of wanting someone so badly and seeing nothing but obstacles in the way of making it happen.”
Evan was reluctant to say too much to the woman they called Voodoo Mama for good reason. “Well, it certainly worked out well for you.”
“And there’s no reason to believe it won’t work out just as well for you.”
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
She put her hands on his shoulders. “You’re a terrific guy, Evan McCarthy, and any woman would be lucky to win your heart. It certainly wouldn’t break my heart if that woman was Grace.”
Evan smiled. “You liked her, huh?”
“Very much so.”
“I’m glad. That matters to me.”
She went up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “It’s all going to work out. Try not to worry.”
Big Mac strolled into the kitchen. “Are you badgering that boy, Lin?”
“For once, I’m not,” she said with a wink for Evan that made him laugh.
“She’s on best behavior,” Evan confirmed.
“Well,” Big Mac said, “that’s a first.”
“She might just be growing up,” Evan said.
Linda rewarded that comment with a middle finger aimed at both of them.
Laughing, Big Mac slung an arm around his wife. “Let’s go for a walk. I need to burn off that amazing dinner you made.”
“I’d love to. We’ll be back in a bit, Ev.”
“Take your time.”
They were holding hands and whispering to each other by the time they walked out the door, and Evan was relieved to realize they’d apparently patched up whatever differences had come between them. His love life would probably be the topic of their conversation on the walk, and whereas that once would’ve bothered him tremendously, it didn’t anymore. Apparently, he was doing a piss-poor job of hiding his torment over Grace.
The moment he was alone, he rushed upstairs to his room and shut the door to make the call he’d been dying to make for days now. By the fourth ring, he was convinced she wasn’t going to pick up, so when she did, he was too tongue-tied to even say hello. What a fool she’d turned him into!
“Evan? Hello?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m just great,” he said, his tone rife with sarcasm. “You?”
“I’m tired. Moving is hard work. The furniture I ordered for my new apartment arrived today. We had to move it to the truck I’m bringing to the island. Thank goodness my brothers were able to help me. But every muscle I have is screaming.”
“When you get here, I’ll give you a massage.”
“That’ll be nice.” She paused for a moment. “I was worried when I didn’t hear from you. Is everything okay?”
“I wanted to give you time to miss me. Did it work?”
“Maybe,” she said, laughing at him the way she always did. “I was going to call you, but I figured you were playing at the Tiki with Owen. I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Grace, honey, any time you want to talk to me, call me. I’ll never be too busy for you.”
“That’s very sweet of you to say.”
“What’re you wearing right now?” The question was met with silence. “Grace?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because I do.”
“It was really hot today, so I just took a shower and changed into a T-shirt and panties.”
“Why is it that when you say the word ‘panties,’ I get hard as a rock?”
Her nervous laughter traveled through the phone and wrapped around his heart like a warm blanket. “Maybe because you’re a fifteen-year-old trapped in a thirty-two-year-old’s body?”
“It’s because of the spell you cast over me that makes everything about you sexy.”
“Everything?”
Evan smiled when he realized she was enjoying tormenting him. Well, two could play at that game. “Take your shirt off.”
“Evan! Why?”
“Just do it.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Is your shirt off yet?”
Sighing with exasperation, she said, “Hang on.”
He could hear her moving around before she returned to the phone. “It’s off. Are you happy now?”
“Not quite yet. Is your room near anyone else’s?”
“I’ve got the garage apartment.”
“Good, put the phone on speaker.”
“Evan…”
“Grace… Do what you’re told.”
“Fine. It’s on speaker. I think you’ve lost your mind since I last saw you.”
“I know I have, and that’s your fault, too.”
“Everything is my fault.”
“I’m glad you realize that. Are your nipples hard?”
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
“Roll them between your finge
rs.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Yes, you are. Are you doing it?”
“If you insist.”
“I do. Tell me how it feels.”
“It feels… I don’t know…”
“Close your eyes and pretend it’s me doing it instead of you. Is that better?”
“Yeah.” She was starting to sound a little breathless, which made him even harder, if that was possible.
“Tug on them.”
“If I have to do this, so do you. Take off your shorts and stroke yourself.”
“Really, Grace, I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
“Do what you’re told.”
Laughing at her saucy tone, he stripped off his shorts and boxers.
“Are you hard?” she asked.
“Extremely. Put your right hand inside your panties.”
“Evan, really, that’s enough,” she said with a nervous laugh. “We don’t have to—”
“Are you wet?”
“Extremely,” she said, sounding resigned.
His cock surged at that news. How he wished he could bury himself in her slick heat. “I’m never going to survive four more days.”
“Neither am I.”
“Let your legs fall open and rub your clit.”
“Oh God, Evan, seriously?”
“Do I sound like I’m kidding? Are you doing it?”
“Yes!”
“Keep it up and tell me what you want to do when you see me again.”
Without hesitation, she said, “I want to get naked in bed with you.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to have sex.”
“Surely a girl with such a dirty mouth can do better than that.”
“I want to fuck,” she said tentatively.
“That’s more like it,” he said, laughing. “Are you blushing?”
“What do you think?”
“I can picture it. I bet your nipples are dark red by now. That’s how they get when you’re turned on. Did you know that?”
“No,” she said, panting now.
“Pinch your left nipple.”
She let out a moan. “Are you participating over there?”
“You bet your ass. Speaking of your ass, have I mentioned how much I love it? I can’t wait to kiss you there when you get back.”
“Evan…”
“Do you want to come, honey?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Not quite yet.”
She let out a tortured moan that nearly undid him.
“Tell me how you want to do it when you get back. Do you want to be on top this time?”
“I don’t care how we do it as long as we do it.”
“We’ll do it every way we can think of. Does that sound good?”
Her reply was rather inarticulate.
“Do you want to come now?”
“Yesssssss.”
“Let’s go together, and don’t you dare be quiet about it.”
Her cries of fulfillment did him in, too. For a long time afterward, the only sound was that of ragged breathing on both ends of the phone.
“Do you miss me, Grace?”
“God, yes, I miss you so much it’s not even funny.”
“And have you thought about what you want?”
“I’ve hardly thought about anything but you since the second I left you.”
Evan’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “That’s what I needed to hear.”
“Have you thought about me?”
“A little. Here and there. Nothing much.” When she laughed, he said, “I’ll tell you what I’ve been thinking when I see you, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I can’t wait to see you, babe.”
“I can’t wait, either.”
On the day of Grace’s return, Evan was up early to shower and shave. Studying his face in the mirror, he was glad that the last of the abrasions had finally healed. At least he no longer looked like a creature from the black lagoon, as Grant had said at least a dozen times since it happened.
He walked into town two hours before Grace’s ferry was due in and killed the time drinking coffee at the South Harbor Diner. Evan spent so much time studying the horizon, willing the boat to appear, that his eyes began to play tricks on him. So when the ferry actually appeared, he wasn’t sure if it was real or an illusion.
“You need to get it together, freak show,” he muttered as he crossed the street.
“Talking to yerself now, boy?” Ned asked from his usual post in the line of cabs awaiting the next boat. The guy owned half the island and drove a cab for fun. Go figure.
Embarrassed to have been caught talking to himself like a lunatic, Evan was suddenly mad at Grace. This, as well as the torture of the last two weeks, was entirely her fault. Before he met her, he didn’t lie awake all night thinking about a woman or talk to himself in public places.
“Ahhh, boy,” Ned said with a delighted chuckle. “Ya’ve got yerself a bad case, now doncha?”
Since Evan could no more deny that than he could his own name, he didn’t try.
“I heard she’s coming back today and puttin’ us all outta our misery.”
“What misery have you been in?” Evan asked indignantly.
“Watchin’ ya suffer ain’t no picnic for any of us that love ya.”
“Aww, jeez. Don’t be nice to me. I can’t take that right now.”
Ned reached out to squeeze his shoulder. “Follow yer heart, boy. It’ll lead ya home. If ya love this girl, tell her so. Don’t let her wonder.”
Fortified by Ned’s pep talk, Evan nodded.
“Good luck to ya.”
“Thanks.” He walked down the hill to the ferry landing and watched the boat clear the breakwater to South Harbor. Had it ever taken longer for a ferry to make a one-eighty and back into its berth? Evan looked up at the rear controls and wasn’t surprised to see Seamus O’Grady at the helm. Figures. Had Grace spent the passage chatting with her good pal?
A burst of jealous rage made Evan feel like an even bigger fool than he already was.
When the ferry was finally secured, cars and trucks came off first, including a rental truck that Evan realized was probably Grace’s.
As he watched it go by and strained to see inside, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, and there she was, wearing a big smile and looking thrilled to see him.
She threw herself into his arms.
For a second, he was almost too stunned to react, but then he scooped her up and swung her around.
“It’s about damned time you came back to me,” Evan said. “I was this close to losing my mind.”
“How close?” she asked playfully, sounding as if she was enjoying his torment.
“If you laugh right now, I swear to God…”
Of course, she laughed, and he did the only thing he could to make it stop—he put her down and kissed her until he was sure she’d forgotten all about what she found so funny.
“Missed you,” she whispered. “So much.”
“I missed you more.” He stared at her, drinking in every detail.
“Did you think long and hard while I was gone?”
“So long and so hard,” he said, his tone rife with double meaning.
She smacked his arm. “I’m being serious.”
“So am I.” He took her hand and led her away from the maelstrom of people and cars and bikes. Behind the ticket office, he pressed her against the wall and kissed her senseless again.
With her arms linked around his neck, she said, “What did you decide?”
“I decided I’m no good without you. I decided I’ll do anything I can to keep you in my life.” As he’d practiced this declaration over and over during the last few interminable days, he’d expected this last bit to be the hard part. But with her in his arms, looking up at him with her heart in her eyes, he found it wasn’t hard at all. “And I decided I love you.”
“Tha
t works out perfectly,” she said with the cheeky grin he so adored. “Because I love you, too.”
The relief at hearing that and being with her again was so overwhelming, so consuming, it was all Evan could do to remain standing. Holding on to her was the only thing that kept him upright. “Come on,” he said after he held her for a long while. “We need to get you moved in, and then we’ve got a lot of plans—and a lot of love—to make.”
She took his hand and smiled up at him. “Let’s get to it.”
Epilogue
“You are absolutely not having dinner with him,” Evan said as he secured a corner of the fitted sheet on his side of the bed. The move-in crew he’d organized and fed with pizza from Mario’s were long gone along with her brother Craig, who’d taken the truck back to the mainland on the five o’clock boat. She was exhausted from the hard work but exhilarated by the way her things had fit into the apartment as well as the warm welcome from her new friends—not to mention being back with Evan. That was rather exhilarating, too.
“Why not?” Grace was getting a kick out of tormenting him as she tucked the top sheet in on her side. “We’re just friends. I’m allowed to have friends, aren’t I?”
“That bloody Irishman isn’t interested in being friends with you. He wants to get his hands on you, and it’s not happening.”
Knowing this was her moving day, Seamus had come by to help and had flirted shamelessly with her, which had driven Evan crazy. With a house full of people—including his parents, brothers, Stephanie, Owen, Laura, Maddie and the kids—helping her move in, she and Evan had been forced to keep their hands to themselves for hours.
The tension had slowly built to a boiling point, aided by Seamus’s blatant blarney.
“I don’t think I like your attitude,” Grace said indignantly, fully aware that she was throwing gas on a fire.
“Too bad. You need to let him know you’re taken. Off the market. Whatever you have to say so he gets the message.”
Grace put lavender cases on the feather pillows she’d bought for her new place. “And what message is that?”
It was a good thing she was looking right at him, or she might’ve missed the moment he finally snapped. He stalked around the bed, took the pillow from her and tossed it aside. Pulling her roughly against him, he captured her mouth in a savage kiss that would probably leave her lips bruised and swollen tomorrow. Not that she cared in the least, because she’d been longing for him for weeks now. She fisted her hand in his hair and gave as good as she got.