by BETH KERY
“Ryan came home.”
Mari nodded. When he saw how dull her usually brilliant eyes looked, he pulled her into his arms. She held herself stiff at first, but as he stroked her back, he felt her muscles begin to mold against his body. He didn’t think she was crying, but he sensed she needed comforting, nonetheless. He felt a measure of satisfaction when her arms surrounded his waist.
It must have been a hell of a day for her.
Neither of them spoke for a minute or two, but he had never been more aware of another human being in his life. He held her against him, all the while thinking of her saving that lawsuit money got for all those years and slowly coming up with the plan for The Family Center.
He nuzzled her temple, inhaling the fresh, citrus scent of her hair, urging her to lean back and look at him. She complied. He stared down at her lovely face, glad to see some of her typical vitality had returned to her eyes.
“All these years, I thought maybe you’d forgotten Harbor Town.”
“How could I ever forget this place?” she whispered. “It was the place where I’d been the happiest I’ve ever been in my life…and the saddest. It was the place where I’d lost the most.”
He kissed her softly. Her lips felt warm and responsive beneath his.
“And you came back to try and make some sense out of it all,” he said next to her mouth a moment later. “To give some purpose to a random, meaningless act that should never have happened.” He shook his head slightly, still half in awe. “You’re incredible, Mari.”
“I’m not incredible. I’m beginning to think it was all a mistake.”
“No. It wasn’t a mistake,” Marc said steadfastly. “I want to help you with it, if I can.”
“You do?” she looked up at him, her golden-brown eyes huge in her face.
“Does that surprise you?”
“No. Yes. A little.” She bit at her lower lip. “Ryan wants to help, too.”
“Does he?” Marc asked, not paying as much attention as he should because he was still enthralled by the vision of Mari’s white teeth scraping across her damp, plump lower lip. He blinked when he realized she was staring at him, her brow arched in a query. “Oh,” he said as understanding dawned. “So you’re foreseeing conflict between the Itanis and the Kavanaughs if we try to work together on this project.”
“It did cross my mind.”
“It could potentially be a land mine,” Marc conceded after a moment.
“It seems like I’ve done nothing but navigate around a land mine since returning to Harbor Town,” Mari admitted bitterly.
“Which brings me to the reason I climbed your tree tonight.”
She gave him a wry glance. “I thought you did that because you’re an idiot.”
He smiled good-naturedly and flicked his eyebrows. “In addition to that. See, it struck me sometime today— maybe it was as your brother came to save you from the evil Kavanaughs—that you and I really need to get out of this town. Just for a few days,” he added when she looked at him like he was crazy.
“Marc, I have a million things to do in order to get things started with the Center before I leave the week after next. The last thing I should be considering is leaving town.”
“You just said that Ryan was going to help, and Colleen is on board now. Once Liam hears about the news, he’ll likely volunteer some of his time. And I’m assuming Eric Reyes is involved in the project?”
Mari nodded doubtfully. “And his sister, Natalie. You remember her?”
Marc closed his eyes briefly and glanced away. He’d remember the young girl who’d been injured and scarred by the crash until the day he died.
“Of course I remember,” he mumbled. “You’re making my whole point, Mari.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, obviously bewildered.
“You said you’d give this a chance,” he murmured as he flicked his finger between them. “But I don’t stand a chance with you while we’re here in Harbor Town. There are too many obstacles. Too many memories. It’s not a fair playing field.”
“So what do you suggest?” she asked, looking wary.
“That you come to Chicago with me this weekend. Just for two nights,” he added quickly when he saw her mouth open to argue. “There’s nothing that can’t be taken care of at The Family Center for a couple days without you.”
“I can’t, Marc!” she exclaimed. “Ryan just got home!”
“We won’t be leaving for a few days, and you’ll be back by Sunday,” he reminded her. “Ryan is home for a while, isn’t he?”
Mari nodded reluctantly.
When he sensed her wavering, he pulled out all his ammunition. He pressed his forehead against hers and kissed the end of her perfect nose. “Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to get away from all the distractions for a period of time and just focus on us? Wouldn’t you regret knowing that you’d never found out…for sure?”
She leaned back slightly, and he saw a world of doubt and longing in her eyes.
“I let you go once, because I thought I didn’t have a choice,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’m not willing to do that again. If you spend this time with me in Chicago, and you decide to walk away, I’ll accept it. But I’m not willing to let you go this time until I know for sure you’re certain, absolutely certain, that it’s what you want. How else can you know that until you spend some time away with me, away from all the history of this town and the people? It’s almost impossible to figure out here with everything and everyone around us.”
He put his hand on the back of her head and tilted it forward, so that their foreheads once again met and their breaths mingled. Her long hair fell like a drape around them, increasing the sense of solemn intimacy.
“It’s only fair, Mari.”
“You always could talk me into anything,” she whispered.
He smiled slowly.
“Don’t be so cocky, Kavanaugh. I’m not so sure I’m happy about that fact,” she added. “I can’t seem to think straight around you.”
“Come to Chicago with me,” he entreated in a hoarse whisper.
She bit nervously at her lip. He waited on tenterhooks.
“Okay.”
He seized her mouth with his own. He’d waited for that acquiescence. Now that he had it, he didn’t bother to hide his hunger for her. She moaned softly when his tongue probed the sweet cavern of her mouth.
She sealed their torrid kiss a moment later, panting.
“Marc…if I go with you, you have to give me some space. I meant it when I said I can’t think straight around you. I want to make a well-thought-out decision about whether or not we can have a future. I can’t do that if you’re always…doing that.”
“Doing what?” he asked silkily as he plucked at her lips.
She joined him, despite her protestations, seeking out his mouth, sliding her tongue teasingly against his lower lip until he groaned and kissed her deeply once again. She tasted wonderful, like peppermint and woman and sex. He spread his hands over her satiny-smooth shoulders and pressed her down to the mattress. He came down over her, kissing her all the while, coaxing her until his body throbbed with a dull, insistent ache. Her breasts were a delicious, soft firmness against his ribs.
“This,” Mari hissed a moment later against his mouth.
It took his lust-drunk brain a few seconds to understand what she meant. When he recalled their former conversation, he sighed and sat up, trying to ignore the tempting vision she made lying on the bed with her hair spread out around her and her breasts heaving beneath the thin, gold fabric.
She stood and tried to smooth her hair, which Marc had mussed with his fingertips. He watched her, scowling, as she went over to her closet and withdrew a robe. His frown only deepened when she covered herself. She was all serious business by the time she belted the garment with a defiant tug.
“I won’t agree to go with you on this trip if you continue to do that, Marc.”
“What? Do the most natural thi
ng on earth?” he asked, trying to hide his irritation and failing.
“I’m serious,” she said so loudly that he started. He narrowed his eyes on her. She looked desperate. “We both know we’re sexually compatible. That’s the easy part,” she said, the stain on her cheeks deepening. “You brought up this proposition. If you truly want to discover if we have a future together, then we need to do more than…roll around in bed together.”
His annoyance evaporated when he saw how nervously her hands moved over her belly. He sensed her fragility in that moment. “All right. If that’s what you want, you’ve got it. I promise to follow your lead in regard to the…rolling around in bed.”
She flashed him an irritated glance, but when she saw his smile, she broke into a grin, as well.
“Do you really want to do this?” he asked her.
“Yes. I’ll go—if you promise not to push me.” She glanced up at him through thick lashes, her gaze flickering down over his chest and abdomen and sighed. “You’re very hard to resist.”
He leaned back, his arms bracing him on the mattress.
Patience was what was called for with Mari, but he’d never had to tamp down his lust more than this. Maybe he was as aware as she seemed to be that when they made love, no barriers could exist between them. He supposed Mari was saying that some of those obstacles existed for a reason—they were a defense against hurt, against bad judgment.
She had to let down those barriers at her own pace, not his. He wasn’t planning on hurting Mari, of course. Look at what’d happened today at his mom’s house, though. Marc hadn’t wanted that. Pain seemed to be inherent to any scenario that involved Mari and him together.
He was willing to deal with that potential pain, but Mari had to decide on her own if she was willing to endure the bad that might come with the good.
“I guess there are worse things than you finding me irresistible,” he murmured ruefully.
She ducked her head, hiding her smile. “Much. But for now…” She nodded significantly toward the window. “Don’t break your neck on the way down, Tarzan.”
Marc grimaced as he stood and headed toward the window. He was still hard with arousal. “A broken bone might get my mind off some other aches,” he said under his breath.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he said as he threw one leg out the window and paused, straddling the low sill, his head still inside Mari’s room. She watched him with a small smile, her arms crossed beneath her breasts.
“You’re sure you want me to go?”
“Quite sure.”
“Do you want me to help you out with anything tomorrow?”
She considered for a moment, her mouth pursed. “You could babysit Jenny and Brendan for Colleen. That way we could go over her contract, and I could show her around the facility after she gets off work.”
Her eyebrows arched when he frowned. She obviously guessed that he’d have preferred to help out with something a little more hands-on in Mari’s company.
“Okay, I’ll take Jenny and Brendan to the beach,” he conceded. His gaze sharpened on her. “But come Friday morning, we’re leaving Harbor Town and everything in it behind for a few days, agreed?”
“Agreed,” Mari said.
Marc hesitated when he saw her expression. “Come here,” he said after a moment.
She approached the window slowly. When he palmed her jaw he saw tears swell in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered. “Why do you look so serious?”
“I just don’t want to screw up things any further than they already are.”
He placed a hand on her hip and leaned forward, pressing a kiss just below her ribs.
“I know you’ve felt lonely for a long time now,” he told her. “But you’re not going to be standing alone this time. I promise.”
He placed another kiss on her upper abdomen and felt a shudder go through her. He kept his face pressed just below the fullness of her breasts for a few seconds. She smelled so good he needed to concentrate all of his will in order to leave. After a moment, he lifted his head and looked up at her face. She watched him with liquid, fathomless eyes.
“Okay?” he whispered.
She nodded. He leaned forward and kissed her once more—this time on the naked skin above her left breast—and ducked out of the window.
Chapter Ten
Mari arrived at the facility the following afternoon and exclaimed in pleasure when she saw all the bushes and flowers that had been planted. As she alighted from the car, Mari caught a glimpse of her brother carrying a shovel and walking toward the back of the building. Eric Reyes, on the other hand, was crouching and maneuvering a lilac bush into the newly dug earth. He stood as she approached and waved.
“It looks fantastic,” Mari enthused. “I can’t believe how much you and Ryan have done.”
“It’s coming along,” Eric agreed as he removed a pair of gloves. They were practically the only things he was wearing, besides a pair of shorts, socks and tennis shoes. The sun had deepened his muscular torso to a dark bronze. Mari glanced around when she heard the sound of another car pulling into the lot. Eric’s expression stiffened when he saw Colleen step out of the car and start toward them. Mari knew the second Colleen recognized Eric because she halted momentarily and kicked up a few pieces of gravel before she resumed walking.
Mari cleared her throat, acutely aware of the tension in the air as Colleen joined them.
“You two are going to be working together in the future. I’m hoping you’ll end up respecting each other as much as I respect both of you,” Mari said after she’d greeted Colleen.
She glanced at Colleen, whose chin was slightly raised as she regarded Eric. His expression was also rigid.
Suddenly he smiled, his white teeth flashing in his tanned face. “It’s not going to be me starting any fights,” he said significantly. “Welcome to The Family Center, Colleen. From what Mari tells me, we’re lucky to get you.”
Colleen looked a little taken aback, as if she was deciding which parts of Eric’s greeting were sarcastic and which parts genuine. “Thank you,” she murmured.
Mari sighed and led Colleen into the building to show her around, hoping fervently she hadn’t made a mistake by involving both of them. But the fact was, she trusted Colleen and Eric implicitly. It was their working together that created some cause for concern.
After they’d toured the facility and Colleen had chosen an office, they sat down together to go over the employment contract.
“Mari… I’ll have to tell my mom about the job soon,” Colleen said when they were wrapping things up an hour later. “From some of the things you’ve said so far, I’ve gotten the impression you were trying to keep the Center under wraps for the time being. Is it okay with you that Mom knows?”
Mari paused in the action of putting a stack of papers into her briefcase. “Of course you should tell her,” she said firmly, although it was trepidation that filled her, not confidence. “She’ll have to find out sometime, right? It’s inevitable.”
“I thought…perhaps you’d like to tell her,” Colleen said cautiously. “Me? I don’t think that’s a very good idea. You saw yesterday how your mom feels about me.” She sighed when she saw Colleen’s worried expression. “Look, I’d like to think that the news about The Family Center will be welcome to Brigit, but I have a feeling she might view it as an insult.”
“An insult?” Colleen asked.
Mari nodded. “I hope she doesn’t, of course. But that’s been haunting me, that your mother might see me starting this project as a sort of sanctimonious slap to the face. It’s her town, after all. She might consider it intrusive, as if I’m purposefully throwing the crash into the spotlight again…re-opening old wounds.”
“But you’re trying to heal old wounds. This project is about the future, not the past,” Colleen exclaimed.
“I’m so glad you see it that way. But you must see what I mean. Not everyone will agree.”
“Like your brother?”
Mari sighed. “Yeah. Like Ryan. He also believes the past should remain safely buried and contained.”
Colleen inhaled deeply. “Well, we’ll just have to take it one day at a time. People have their opinions, it’s human nature. Just because everyone in Harbor Town isn’t on board initially doesn’t mean we can’t change their mind. They’ll come around once they see the positive things that come out of The Family Center. The proof is in the pudding, right?”
Mari chuckled, feeling a little less weary. “Bless you, Colleen.”
A few minutes later, Colleen checked her watch and gasped. “Look at the time. I’d better get back to make the kids something, or Uncle Marc will have already fed them pizza and Cheetos or something.”
“He’s not that bad, is he?” Mari asked, grinning.
“No, in all fairness, he’s not. Marc would probably throw in an apple and make them drink milk, along with their Cheetos. Liam, on the other hand, thinks pizza ought to be served for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and Brendan totally agrees.” Colleen paused in the process of getting her keys out of her purse and glanced at Mari speculatively. “Marc told me you were going with him to Chicago this weekend.”
“He did?” Mari asked weakly.
Colleen’s aquamarine eyes sparkled. “Yeah. And I think it’s a brilliant idea.”
“Really?”
“Do you know how rare it is to be given a second chance with someone?” Colleen asked, suddenly sober.
“Colleen, I’ve meant to say… I’m so sorry about your husband. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I just never got around—”
Mari was reminded of Colleen’s courage when she smiled and stood. “There’s no need to apologize, Mari. Darin and I had some wonderful years together. I cherish every moment I had with him. You and Marc should do the same.”
“It’s hard,” Mari admitted. “The future can be so uncertain.”
“All the more reason to grab your chance at happiness while you can. I’ll talk to you soon,” Colleen said before she left the room.