Promise Cove

by Vickie McKeehan

  “Do we need to get out the buckets just in case?” Jordan teased, as she walked in carrying a tray laden with cake and coffee.

  “It might not be a bad idea as backup.” He sat down next to her on the sofa, picked up a fork, took a generous mouthful of cake. “God, this stuff is addictive. Your desserts are the reason I’ve gained five pounds over the last few weeks.”

  Eyeing his trim waist, she laughed. “You could use the weight, Slim. You don’t exactly have a lot of excess mass on you,” she said, reaching for her own plate. She forked over some of the cake and concluded, “As with everything you did around here I have every confidence in the job you did on the roof.”

  Their eyes met. “Your belief in me is…remarkable―and new.”

  “Somehow I doubt that.”

  “Once upon a time, I was cocky. Lately, not so much.” He reached over and ran a finger along her cheek. “Have you any idea how beautiful you are, Jordan?”

  She smiled as she picked up his hand, lightly kissing each one of his fingers. “Your pickup lines need a little work.”

  “You’re perceptive. That’s just one of the things I like about you.” He leaned over and touched his lips to hers. She tasted like spice. The kiss was tender, gentle, lips lightly touching. Then as if control finally snapped, he took the kiss deeper and felt Jordan melt into his chest.

  “Damn,” he groaned and started to pull away. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Refusing to give in to defeat this time, she pulled his head back down to her, teased his mouth open again with her tongue. Hunger gnawed in her belly. “Don’t run tonight, Nick. Don’t lock yourself away from me again.” To lighten the moment, she teased, “My ego can’t handle any more rejection.”

  But the look in his eyes told her he wasn’t getting the joke. “Don’t you understand? This is killing me because I want you, but...”

  “I’ve been ready for some time, Nick. I just haven’t been able to convince you.” When she saw his brow crease, she drawled, “Don’t think it to death, Nick. Trust me on this.”

  That was all Nick needed to hear. “Aww, baby. I’ve waited to hear you say that for so long.” Pulling her in to him, he closed his mouth over hers.

  Jordan thought the kiss just might liquefy her bones. Knowing he needed to hear the declaration, the words, so there was no mistaking her intent, she whispered in his ear, “Take me to bed, Nick.”

  He closed his eyes. A sigh of relief escaped. If she knew who would be here with her, who would be kissing her, loving her made all the difference in the world to him. He’d never waited this long to be with anyone before. Ever. Tired of waiting, tired of the torture he felt every time he got near her, every time he touched her, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

  As he made his way to the bed the rain picked up outside. He could hear the thick splats hit the bedroom windows, fall harder on the roof, as he simply dropped down on the bed, settled her on his lap.

  In the dark, their tongues waged a playful little tug of war before he moved to nuzzle her neck, began to trail kisses down to her breast. He nipped at the bud of a nipple through her cotton shirt increasing her arousal. As he laid her back on the bed, she reached for the bedside light. But he stilled her hand and distracted her by planting another mind shattering kiss on her mouth. He pulled her shirt up and off, unhooked her bra in one adept motion. Her breasts tumbled out. His breath hitched. “God, you are so beautiful.”

  He covered her mouth with his again while his long fingers found her breast and toyed with the rose pink tips. He trailed kisses along her jaw, down her neck until he found her breast with his tongue, suckling, relishing.

  He ran his thumb down her cheek. “Do you know how much I love seeing the sunlight hit your hair just so? Or the sleepy look on your face first thing in the morning when you walk into the kitchen? Or the way your eyes get that certain sheen whenever you watch Hutton play with Quake? Or the concentration on your face every time I catch you standing at the kitchen counter creating one of your dishes from scratch?”

  “Nick, you say the sweetest things.” She started working on getting him out of his clothes. “But you talk too much.” She reached to lift up his T-shirt.

  But again, he stilled her hand. Instead, he moved both of her hands down to the bulge in his jeans. “Touch me, Jordan. I’ve waited so long to have you touch me.”

  “I will, everywhere. I want you, Nick. I’ve wanted you for so long.” She began working the buttons open.

  He kicked out of his jeans, left his shirt on. Although she’d already seen the scars, he didn’t want to alter the mood and have to explain how he got them. Determined not to ruin this moment, his mind shoved away the images of the past two years and concentrated on the woman under him.

  Beautiful Jordan somehow sensed his self-consciousness and focused on the moment as well. She began to nip and tug at his bottom lip, began to work her body in tune with his. Everywhere his fingers lingered he made her feel like a roaring furnace.

  He kissed his way down her body, stopping to suckle at each rose-pink tip, to lick at her belly button, to savor each taste of her skin. Each time he went lower his tongue sought to tingle and touch, nibble and nip.

  “Oh, Nick, please,” she begged as he sampled and tasted her inner core and sent her over the edge in no time. It hadn’t taken Jordan long to pop.

  “God, you taste so sweet,” he breathed into her.

  And then with patience and care, Nick busied her mouth, while his fingers gently stroked every nerve in her body to life again. Trailing kisses to her shoulders and breasts, he coaxed her with his words. “That’s it, baby. Give it up again, just like before, just like that. Come on now, do it for me. That’s it, sugar.”

  After another glorious wave engulfed her, he quickly got rid of the shirt. In Jordan’s blissful state she never noticed his scars.

  Testing with his thumb he found her slick and hot, and shifted into her in one smooth motion. Building thrusts slowly at first, he fought to make it last. But it had been too long for him. The minute she matched the rhythm beneath him, he lost control, and found everything he’d waited for, in her.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nick came awake, gasping for the next breath. Sweat dripped down his face. He sat up, looked around the room and blinked. Jordan. He was in Jordan’s bedroom. Scott’s bedroom. He checked the time on the clock beside the bed. Four-fifteen. My God what had he done? Just as he started to crawl out of bed an arm snaked out and latched on to his. In a husky voice, Jordan wanted to know, “Where you going, Nick? It’s still pouring outside.”

  Without saying anything he scrubbed a hand over his face. How could he face her?

  “You’re shaking,” she said as she nibbled his ear, noticing he hadn’t said a word in response. “I bet there’s something I can do to help with that.”

  If only that were true, thought Nick, if only she knew the truth. If only she accepted him unconditionally. “You don’t know me,” he whispered hoarsely in a dry throat. He couldn’t even bring himself to look into those gorgeous eyes of hers. After making love to her, he couldn’t even face her. How would she take the news knowing he couldn’t save her husband? What would she say when she found out that he was the reason he hadn’t come back? She’d turn him out for sure. And what would he do then? He couldn’t take the chance.

  He started to crawl out of bed again.

  But Jordan surprised him. She snuggled into him, using her body to push him back down into the pillows. She had him right where she wanted him. Nuzzling his throat, in a sleep-filled raspy voice, she groaned, “No need to be afraid of me, Nick. I don’t bite. Much.” Even in the dark shadows, he could tell her smile widened. What was left of his heart shattered, filled with so much love for this woman he couldn’t contain his need. No matter how wrong it was, he wanted her again. He snaked out an arm bringing her on top of him. “You make me crazy.”

  “That’s the idea. Let go, Nick. Think of me, just m
e.”

  Head to toe, body to body, Jordan took control. It was her turn to sample and taste as she worked her way down his chest and belly, leaving sweet kisses on the scars he’d finally revealed but didn’t want to talk about. When she took him into her mouth, she knew he’d finally let go when she heard the groan of pleasure over and over again.

  And at long last, Nick let her shelter him from all the regret of the past year, as he once again lost himself completely, in Jordan.

  The first thing she realized when she opened her eyes was that the storm had passed. Sunshine drifted through the curtains, instantly warming the room. The second thing she noticed was that the space beside her was empty. She sighed. After a night of lovemaking he’d ran again like a scared rabbit. She glanced at the clock, Six-thirty. Had Hutton slept late? Tilting her head to one side, she listened for any signs of Hutton’s movement through the baby monitor. When she didn’t hear a sound she decided to take the opportunity of golden silence and jump in the shower.

  Fifteen minutes later she walked in to the kitchen. There was Hutton sitting in her high chair stuffing her face with blueberry pancakes. Nick sat at the table working his way through his own short stack. When he looked up, caught her standing there in the doorway, his heart felt like it flipped in his chest. He might have been torn between running and telling her the truth but he knew one thing. He was all the way in love with her. Shooting her a grin, he drawled, “Morning, sleepyhead. Want breakfast?”

  He started to get up but she motioned for him to stay seated. After pouring a cup of coffee, she went over to him. After kissing him handily on the mouth, she worked her way between him and the table, straddling his lap. She whispered in his ear, “When do we get to do what we did two hours ago…again?”

  Considering what they had done to each other earlier, he nibbled her ear and throat. Need sprang to life inside him. His heart raced. “First chance we get. Hutton’s nap is when exactly?”

  “The trick is to tire her out. That’s my job.” She nibbled his ear right back before trailing wet kisses down to his mouth. And whispered, “Sex with you makes me work up an appetite. I could eat a horse.” With that, she got up and went over to the counter to fork over her own stack of pancakes.

  “I always heard it was the shy, quiet ones you had to worry about. Now I know for sure.” A new hunger rumbled in his lower belly just watching her from across the room.

  “That’s your first mistake.”

  “What?”

  She tilted her head. “Thinking I’m shy and quiet. But I’m willing to work on rectifying that misconception.”

  From across the room they locked eyes with each other. But when Hutton started dropping sticky chunks of flapjacks from her high chair onto the floor, it was Nick who stood up, started doing wipe-down duty. He sat Hutton down on the floor to play.

  True to her word at ten-thirty Jordan put Hutton down for a morning nap, then went in search of Nick. She looked all over the house before finally drifting outside onto the upstairs balcony where she spotted him below standing near the cliffs, with his hands in his pockets, looking thoughtfully out to sea. Instead of shouting out for him to come back inside, she decided to go to him. Then a thought occurred to her. Grabbing one of the blankets out of the box at the foot of the bed, she ran downstairs, stopping just long enough to pick up the baby monitor from its cradle on the kitchen counter. For what she had in mind, they would need to be able to hear Hutton.

  With her arms full and her heart bursting with lustful thoughts, she raced past the courtyard and toward the cliffs. Breathless, she snuck up behind Nick, dropping the blanket at his feet. She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Hutton’s asleep.”

  Nick put his arms around her and kissed her on the temple. “I’m in awe of this view.”

  “It is beautiful here at this spot. You can see the entire cove from here.”

  “Yeah. But I wasn’t talking about that view.” He took her face in both of his hands. “Now, this one, I’m not quite used to, it seems I can never get my fill. This is the one I’m particularly fond of staring at, studying, especially these chocolate brown eyes of yours.”

  “Ahh, well, I brought a blanket. I thought we could…” Her voice trailed off as he took her mouth. The kiss had a slow burn erupting into a blaze.

  But when it finally dawned on him what she was hinting at, he said, “A blanket? My kind of woman.” And started peeling her out of her clothes as they dropped to the soft grass. Together they managed to spread out the blanket as they rolled in a tangle of arms and legs and body meshing into body.

  Nick promised himself this time he’d slow down and enjoy the leisurely perusal over every texture and taste of her skin. But the minute Jordan began to unbutton his jeans, the fire ignited into a furnace. They couldn’t get to each other fast enough.

  “Hurry, Nick!” Jordan said impatiently as she slicked her tongue along his torso, driving him into madness.

  “That’s all I want to do when you touch me, Jordan, is hurry. I can’t seem to slow down or get enough of you.”

  On his back, stretched out, he watched as Jordan slid down his body and straddled him, quickly taking him into her. As she began to ride at a fast clip, all he could think about was how he couldn’t get deep enough. It would never be deep enough. He tweaked and played with her rosy-tipped nipples as she moved in and out above him. When she let out a low moan of satisfaction, he simply lifted his hips and began to pump faster, draining himself and the sorrows he’d felt earlier into Jordan.

  Later, as she zipped up her jeans and stepped into her sandals, she asked, “Tell me again why we waited so long to do this?”

  He chuckled at the breathless way she huffed that out and shook his head. “We’re making up for lost time.”

  She giggled like a school girl. “What were you doing out here anyway, Nick? You looked deep in thought.”

  He lied. Again. “Just thinking about my list of chores. My morning was already planned out until this vixen came along and sidetracked me.” He slipped on his tennis shoes and quickly added, “While I don’t mind the distraction, it’s past time I replaced the broken window in that upstairs bathroom. I picked up the pane of glass yesterday.” He failed to mention he’d spent the better part of that morning at Scott’s grave before making it into Pelican Pointe where Ferguson had actually opened up on a Sunday for the guy slowly becoming his best customer. It wouldn’t do to dwell on that now. He picked up the blanket and gave Jordan a light kiss on the lips before quietly telling her, “The minute Hutton goes down for her afternoon nap, find me. I promise to make it worth your while.”

  As they started back to the house, she threw him a sultry look, and said simply, “I’m counting on it.”

  Once upstairs, he got to work. His first order of business was to get the cracked pane out of the frame without getting glass everywhere. It didn’t take long to realize there was no way around that. The pane of glass cracked into three not-so-neat pieces. He did his best to tug on each pane until they all popped out of the frame. But not cleanly. Shards of broken glass stuck to his fingers. After painstakingly cleaning up the pieces, he picked up the new pane of glass and eyed the measurements. Damn Ferguson, he thought, and realized the cut was off just a fraction. It would probably be a tight fit. Swearing, he weighed his options. He could take it back to Ferguson’s and have him trim it down or, he could try to force it into the frame. If he could get the piece to flex slightly, it might just work. Gingerly, he positioned the pane into the frame, gently applying pressure to the glass. Suddenly the glass popped back, broke off sharply, and sliced a gash across his left wrist straight across the artery.

  Blood spurted out of the cut.

  At the sound of breaking glass, Jordan ran into the bathroom in time to see blood gush from the wound. Grabbing a towel, she applied force on the gaping cut. “We need to get you to the clinic. Keep the pressure up while I wake up Hutton.” When Nick didn’t move, when he just kept sitting there, she s
aw the dazed look on his face and realized he might be going into shock or something. She yelled, “Now, Nick. Move.”

  Pelican Pointe had one doctor, Jack Prescott. In his mid fifties, he’d moved to the area after spending twenty years as chief resident of emergency medicine in one of San Francisco’s busiest ERs. Burned out, he’d retired on ten acres of coastal ranch land to ride his horses, go fishing when the mood struck, or surf when he got the urge.

  That had been six years ago. Much to his frustration, as soon as the town realized they had a bona fide former superstar surgeon in their midst, they hadn’t let his retirement stick. Residents started showing up at his house at all hours for medical advice or treatment for everything from common stomach ailments to the flu to broken bones. When his wife grew tired of people coming and going in and out of their house at all hours, she put her foot down and decided it was time he open a clinic in town with regular hours.

  Located two blocks off Main, in an old, but renovated Mission-style house, the clinic consisted of six rooms, a waiting area just inside the door, a small kitchen where patients could get a cup of coffee or a soft drink, a bathroom, and three exam rooms filled with donated equipment. If you didn’t want to make the trip into Santa Cruz for a medical visit, the clinic was your only option.

  Jordan threw open the front door and stepped into the crowded waiting area with Hutton on her hip followed by an ashen-faced Nick holding a blood-soaked towel to his wrist. Looking around the room, there were at least four patients ahead of them. But Jordan wasn’t in the mood to wait or offer niceties. She pushed Nick into the nearest empty chair and stormed up to the receptionist’s desk. “We need to see the doctor. Now.”

  Nineteen year old Gina Purvis held up a clipboard and a pen and said absently, “You’ll need to fill this out and wait your turn.”

  Not to be dissuaded, Jordan shook her head. “You don’t understand. I’ve got an emergency. This man’s sliced open his wrist, the cut is deep and he’s bleeding from an artery. We’re not waiting.” With that, Jordan started down the open hallway looking for either Dr. Prescott or at least someone more qualified than a snotty teenager. Gina jumped up from behind her computer in an attempt to block Jordan’s way. But Jordan beat her to the open doorway by a good two steps. By this time she had a good mad-on and had no intentions of letting Gina or anyone else stop her.