by Jamie Pope
“How are you holding up?” He placed his hand on her knee as they drove up a road that didn’t appear to be open to the public.
“Why are you asking? Am I being cranky?”
“No. You’re being pleasant. I don’t trust you when you’re pleasant.”
“Do you think I’m one of those women who gets all nice and quiet when she’s upset? You should know from experience that I get very loud and angry when I’m mad.”
“I dragged you out of bed, made you work in my shop and then dragged you around half the island. Not everyone can handle my schedule.”
“Not everyone gets to have the mayor give them orgasms, either, and I got two in less than twelve hours. Or am I wrong? Do you give orgasms as frequently as handshakes?”
“Not yet, but if you think it will help me win reelection, I will.” He grinned at her briefly. “I need to stop here for a minute and say hello.”
They pulled up in front of a retirement community, which had a lovely view of the ocean. If Derek were any other man, she would think he was only stopping here to seem like a good guy for the voters, but she had seen him in action enough today to know that he was coming here, because it was just what he did.
“This is a very interesting project we have going on here. It’s partly residential and privately owned but there is a center here that is free and open to all the seniors on the island.”
“It’s really beautiful,” she said, seeing people stroll along the path that overlooked the ocean. There was a lovely garden filled with lush tropical flowers and a covered courtyard where people were playing card games or just chatting with cool drinks in their hands.
“The restaurant in this place also has the best pot roast I have ever had, but they won’t let just anybody eat in there. You have to be accompanied by a senior. I can’t wait till I’m sixty.” He grinned at her. “I’ll finally be able to break my takeout habit. Although I’m sure the delivery drivers of the island would go into mourning over the loss of their tips.”
“You’ll break your take-out habit before you’re sixty,” she said as they walked toward the entrance. “Your wife probably won’t want to eat out every night.”
“My wife? You think I’m going to be getting married?”
“Of course I do. Every single woman in this town has their eye on you. Especially that little bakery owner. I think she’s got your spring wedding already planned out in her head.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. She gave you her pies.”
“So? A lot of the business owners give me their goods. I have had something from practically every business in town at this point.”
“But she batted her eyelashes at you and told you that she just didn’t give her special pies away to anyone, and that she had been planning a special trip to city hall so she could deliver them to you. I’m seeing a beach wedding. I think a tux isn’t the right tone for that wedding.”
“I wouldn’t get involved with a citizen.”
“Why not? It’s not against the law.”
“I would have to fall in love pretty damn hard to get involved with a woman who lived on the island. I don’t want to be involved in any messiness if things don’t work out. I am determined to be a scandal-free mayor.”
“A breakup doesn’t have to be scandalous. Unless you’re me. I insist that all my relationships end in a dramatic soap opera fashion.”
“I’m not looking to get involved with any of my residents. I love this island. She’s who I’m married to.”
“I know you love this island, but when you’re cold and lonely at night this island can’t love you back like a woman could.” She paused for a moment and looked up at him. “You’re a young, single, sexy man. Who do you go to? I don’t believe that you’ve never slept with anyone from the island.”
“We’re in public.”
“No one can hear me. I’m being quiet. You just don’t want to tell me.”
“The only woman I can think about getting anything from is you, and it’s a huge pain in my ass.” He surprised her by kissing her lips. It was an incredibly brief kiss and she could tell it had been impulsive, but he had kissed her in public.
She should be more concerned about it, but at the moment she didn’t really care who saw.
Chapter 10
Derek took Ava’s hand and led her inside the senior center until he realized what he was doing. All day he had denied himself. It had just seemed natural to take her hand whenever he was near her. Her fingers just slid so perfectly into his. She was a woman who had just gotten out of a relationship, and he was a man who wasn’t looking for any entanglements, but there they were. And he had just kissed her in public, for the entire world to see.
But honestly the kiss didn’t matter. He had taken her around town with him. He had introduced her as his friend to everyone they had encountered. It didn’t matter if he had never touched her; the fact that they were simply together would get people talking. He hadn’t thought about what that might mean for them when he’d asked her to come with him that morning. He just knew that he hadn’t gotten enough of her.
She’d sat on the floor with him and sanded a table. She’d lifted and lugged and labeled, and she didn’t complain once. He had been so wrong about her. He felt so incredibly right with her, but it was just the wrong time for it. Plus, he knew her time on this island was limited. She was getting bored here. She was going to move on with her life soon. He knew she was joking when she told him she was going to find herself another rich husband, but it was probably the truth.
Ava was the kind of woman who deserved the best. A successful husband, a life that wasn’t this simple. She would be gone before winter, and whatever he was feeling would vanish.
“Is that my long-lost grandson?” He heard his grandmother’s voice. “I can’t tell. I haven’t seen him in ages.”
His grandmother was standing just to his left, looking elegant as usual in her designer resort wear. It was hard to believe that his mother came from such a woman. They were polar opposites. “Hello, Nanny. I was hoping to see you here.” He walked over and hugged her.
“No. You weren’t.” She gave the back of his head a small smack. “If you wanted to see me, you would have come to my house. I’m guessing you must have forgotten where it is. You have a GPS on your phone, don’t you? I’m sure you can get it to navigate my way.”
“I love this woman.” Derek heard Ava say. He looked over to see her smiling. Good lord, it knocked him right upside his head every time he saw it. He didn’t know how she could be self-conscious about the way she looked. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He could see a million more women, and his opinion wouldn’t change. Naked. Clothed. Face full of makeup or not a stitch on, she was truly one of those rare beauties that he would never tire of seeing.
“I’m sure I would love you, too, dear, if my grandson would introduce us.”
“I’m Ava Bradley.” She stepped forward and shook her hand. “Derek has decided to be my caretaker this month.”
“This is my grandmother, Felicia Patrick,” Derek said noticing his grandmother studying her intently. She never missed a thing, and he was wondering what was going through her head in that moment.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Patrick.”
“Call me Nanny. Come sit down and have a chat with me.”
“Gladly. I’m living for your ensemble. Your blouse is vintage Ferrara, isn’t it? The 1978 collection.”
Nanny froze. “How did you know that?”
“I was a fashion buyer. And you’re a sample size, aren’t you? I bet your closet is amazing.”
“Yes, yes, it is.” Derek saw excitement in his grandmother’s eyes. Ava had just managed to do something that so few people could: win over his grandmother instantly.
>
Nanny led them to a seat by the window, and the two women launched into a conversation about fashion that Derek didn’t understand a word of. He knew that before his grandmother had met his grandfather and settled here, she had led an exciting life. She had modeled all over the world. Spending most of her time in Europe.
“This is such an exquisite ring.” Ava took Nanny’s hand. “I can’t stop looking at it.”
“Thank you. It has been in our family for over a hundred years. The Patrick men have proposed with it for the past century. I had all girls and was secretly happy when I did because I’m very attached to it.”
“I would be, too.” Ava sighed. “If my ex had gotten me something like this, I might have considered going back to him.”
“No, you wouldn’t have,” Derek said.
“I might have. It would have meant that he really knew what I liked, instead of buying me the most expensive thing he could think of. I would have taken it as a sign that he knew the real me.”
“But you don’t love him. He could give you the world, but I know you wouldn’t go back.”
“You think you know me so well?” She turned fully in her chair to look at him.
“Not all of you. Not yet. But I’ll get there.”
And unreadable look flashed in her eyes before she turned back to his grandmother. “Men.” She huffed. “Think they know everything.”
“I know, dear. Never met a man who didn’t think he did.” Nanny stood up. “I have a bridge game to get to, but I have loved chatting with you and would very much like to see you again. Come to the house for dinner on Wednesday.”
“Nanny, I have a meeting that night,” Derek said to her.
“I didn’t invite you to come to dinner. I invited Ava,” she retorted.
“I’ll wait for Derek for dinner, but would you like to go to lunch with me and maybe shopping?”
“That would be wonderful. Let’s say the day after tomorrow. We’ll meet at eleven thirty in front of Derek’s store on Main Street.”
“You have a store on Main Street?” Ava’s eyes went wide.
“Yes.”
“And you choose to keep all that stuff in your home?”
Nanny laughed and walked around the table to hug Ava. “I like you. Keep him on his toes.”
“I’m so glad I got to meet you today.”
Nanny then came to hug him. “Do not let her go,” she said into his ear. He blinked but didn’t ask her to clarify, because he knew what she meant and he knew the more time he spent with Ava, the harder it would be to let her go.
* * *
The next morning Ava walked over to Derek’s house, an open package in her hand. She hadn’t planned on seeing him today. She had spent the entire day before with him. From the moment she got up to the moment she went to bed. She ate her meals with him, did chores with him, worked with him, spent the evening winding down with him, and she never got sick of being with him. She had spent more time with him than she ever had with Max. Even when Max was in town with her. He was always on the phone, always on his laptop, making deals, doing business. Even the night of his proposal he had stepped away to take a call. Derek was present when he was with her. It made her feel special. She was just his neighbor who he had taken under his wing, but she felt important to him.
He would make some woman a wonderful husband.
She opened his door and walked straight inside, knowing that even if she knocked, he wouldn’t hear it anyway.
“Derek?” she called out to him.
“Up here.” She followed his voice up the stairs to his bedroom, which was the last place she expected him in the middle of a workday. He walked out of his bathroom. He was in his underwear, a pair of black boxer briefs. Her mouth went dry while other parts of her flooded. His body was so beautiful, his legs were muscular, his thighs rock hard and well developed. Every time they were intimate she was the one who had no clothes on while he was fully dressed. She never got to fully appreciate his body, but today she could see it all. He looked good in his clothes, but he looked spectacular without them.
It took a moment before she noticed that he was holding a bloody washcloth to his hand.
“What happened to you?” She dropped what she had been planning to give him on his bed and rushed over to him. She removed the cloth to see that he had sliced all the way across his palm. “We need to go to the hospital. Put on some clothes. I’ll drive.”
“We do not need to go to the hospital. It’s not that deep. I’ve cut myself before. It’s just one of those things that comes with making furniture for a living.”
“It’s still bleeding. Did you even clean it well? You probably have tiny little wood splinters in your wound. And bacteria. Your hand is going to fall off and die.”
“My hand isn’t going to fall off and die.”
“Derek, I’m worried. Let me take you to the hospital.”
He wrapped his arm around her and kissed the breath out of her. It was the kiss she had wanted all day yesterday but never got. He had just kissed her forehead last night before he left. She hadn’t wanted him to leave. She wanted to take him to her bedroom and ask him to stay for the entire night.
But she knew that would be the exact opposite of what she was supposed to be doing. “Yuck,” she said when she broke the kiss. “You know that I don’t like it when you do that.”
“Okay, Ava.” He kissed her again, but a little softer this time. She ran her hands up his strong, bare back. She could get addicted to touching him, addicted to the closeness.
“You are just kissing me to distract me from your hand.”
“I like that you’re worried about me.” He cupped her face with his good hand and kissed along her jawline. “It means that you care. It means that you’re sweet. It means that you actually like me.”
“Shut up. It means I don’t want your rotting hand to stink up the neighborhood.” She sighed in frustration. “Damn it, Derek. Put on some clothes. How can your body stay hard with all the crap you eat?”
“Why are you so overdressed?” he reached for the hem of her dress and started to hike it up. “I wasn’t planning to see you today. You told me you were busy. But now you’re in my bedroom. I think we both know what that means.”
“I... I... I...” He was distracting her with his lips on her neck and his hand on her bottom. “I didn’t know you would be half-naked when I came here.”
“But you came here.” His lips went to her throat, and he proceeded to give her slow, hot openmouthed kisses. “You wanted to see me.” He hooked his thumb into her underwear and, in one of the slickest moves she had ever seen, pulled them down single-handedly. She couldn’t stop him even if she had wanted to. He made her insides liquid. He turned her knees to jelly. She found herself landing on his bed.
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” Derek whispered into her ear as his body settled on top of hers. “I hate you for it. I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready for this, but I want you too much to stop.”
He froze and shifted their bodies so that they were on their sides and face-to-face. “I’ll wait for you. I told you I would, and I meant it. I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
This was one of those times she didn’t want Derek to be such a gentleman. She wasn’t sure she was ever going to be ready. She was afraid she was going to need one big push to make her finally move on for good. Even though Max had betrayed her, they had had some great times. It was true that he didn’t stir any of the feelings inside her that Derek did, but there had to be something about him that made her want to spend the rest of her life with him. And if she was willing to do that, it must have been something big, right? Big enough to make her ignore all those little signs that kept popping up. Maybe she was making the same mistakes with
Derek. Maybe she was ignoring all the little signs that should send her running for the hills. But the big difference with Derek was that she wasn’t planning to make a life with him. She wasn’t even planning on staying on the island forever.
She should let herself have this fling. Let herself enjoy this beautiful man who just wanted her for her. But Derek just wasn’t the type to have a fling with. At least not for her. He would end up meaning too much to her.
“I came over here for a reason, and it wasn’t to have my underwear stripped off.” She rolled away from him for a moment to retrieve the open package she’d brought for him. “I thought this was for me, but when I opened it I realized it was for you.”
“Is Max sending me diamonds now, too?” He winced a little as he took the package from her.
“Your hand.” She took it and studied it. His cut looked angry. “It needs to be cleaned again and wrapped.”
“Stop looking at me like that. This is how we got here in the first place.” He shut his eyes and rested his head on her chest. “Just tell me what’s in the package.”
“It’s a very fancy invitation.”
“For what? Did you decide to get married again and invite me this time?”
“No, you ass. There’s a gala in Miami, honoring local politicians who have made a difference in their communities. They want to honor you. There’s a letter inside. You donate your salary back to the community and they cite your numerous good works.”
“That’s nice.” He kissed her collarbone.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“Yeah. I’m not going to go.”
“You have to! How often do you get honored like this?”
“I don’t do what I do to have some people I’ve never met honor me. I don’t need the salary. My furniture business has been doing very well for many years. And when my neighbors need me, I help. I don’t deserve a damn thing for doing what I’m supposed to do.”