Maid for Love, The McCarthys of Gansett Island, Book 1

by Marie Force

  Smiling at his irreverence, she said, “I’ve never been on a motorcycle.”

  “Then you’re in for a treat.” He helped her into the helmet. “You’ll love it.”

  “I’m glad I bothered to do my hair,” she said dryly.

  “It’ll bounce right back.” Tipping his head, he pressed a kiss to her neck. “You look amazing, and you smell even better.” He adjusted the strap under her chin and helped her onto the bike. Sliding on in front of her, he said, “Hold on as tight as you can.”

  Maddie laughed and wrapped her arms around him. “I can see right through you, McCarthy.”

  “Tighter,” he said with a chuckle.

  As she flattened her hands against his taut abs, she discovered he didn’t have an extra ounce on him. With her legs snug against his hips and her hands flat against his belly, Maddie wanted to purr with contentment.

  He started the bike and headed down the driveway.

  Going by Tiffany’s deck, Maddie noticed the glow of a cigarette, which lit her sister’s face and illuminated her disapproval. Maddie turned away, refusing to let anyone ruin this night for her.

  Chapter 10

  They took the long way around the south side of the island on their way to Dominic’s, an Italian restaurant located off the main drag. Maddie loved being on the motorcycle and was impressed by the skillful way Mac operated it. They leaned into turns as if they’d been riding together for years, and when they finally parked, Maddie took off the helmet and shook out her hair.

  “Well?” he asked. “What’d you think?”

  “I loved it.”

  “I did, too.”

  She looked at him, perplexed. “You do it all the time.”

  “Not with you pressed against me. That was the best ride ever.”

  She couldn’t believe the stuff he said to her!

  Before they went any further, he called Janey and confirmed that Thomas was doing just fine.

  “That’s a relief,” Maddie said. “Thanks for checking.”

  “No problem. This used to be one of my favorite restaurants. Is it okay with you?”

  “I’ve heard it’s expensive.”

  “I don’t care about that.”

  “You’re not even working right now. How can you not care?”

  “Honey, I’m a partner in the business. I get paid whether I work or not.”

  “That must be nice.”

  “It doesn’t suck.”

  Maddie laughed, and he put his arm around her shoulders to lead her inside. “Does my hair look okay?”

  “You’re gorgeous. Every guy in there will be envious of me.”

  Could he be any more outrageous? “Right.”

  Inside, they were led to a table in the middle of the big busy dining room. Mac held her chair for her and then sat to her left rather than across the table. It pleased her that he wanted to sit so close to her, but Maddie felt the eyes of everyone in the room focused on her as heat crept up her neck to settle in her face.

  “What’s wrong?” Mac asked.

  “Everyone is looking at us.”

  “They’re wondering how I managed to get such a beautiful woman to have dinner with me.”

  Maddie shot him a withering look. “Sure they are.” She took a drink from her glass of ice water. “Want to know what they’re really thinking?”

  He reached for her hand and linked his fingers with hers, sending a clear message to anyone who was watching. “I couldn’t care less.”

  And just like that, he diffused her anxiety. Why did she care? “It must be nice to go through life not giving a thought to what anyone thinks of you.”

  “I’ve had it a bit easier on that front than you have.”

  When the waiter returned to the table, Mac perused the wine list and ordered a bottle of red. “Is there something else you’d rather have?” he asked Maddie.

  “No, wine is fine. Thank you.”

  “Very good,” the waiter said. “I’ll be right back to take your order.”

  Maddie scanned the menu and didn’t see a single entree for less than thirty dollars.

  “What looks good to you, hon?” Mac asked.

  “I’m not really that hungry. I’ll probably just go with soup.”

  “Oh, come on. You can do better than that.”

  “Really, that’s all I want.”

  He put down his menu and leaned in close to her. “What’s the matter, Maddie?”

  Her face once again heated with embarrassment. That had happened more since she’d known him than in her whole life before him. “The prices are ridiculous,” she whispered.

  “Maddie, honey, please. Have whatever you want.”

  “I could live for two weeks on what this one meal will cost.”

  “Would you rather go somewhere else?” He brought her hand to his lips. “I want you to have a good time tonight. I don’t care where we go.”

  “I’m sorry. You’re trying to do something nice, and I’m ruining it.”

  “You’re being practical, and I’m being frivolous.”

  “I can’t help it. I haven’t had much of a chance to be frivolous.”

  “Would you mind letting me spoil you a bit? Just for tonight? Pick something fabulous that makes your mouth water just reading about it—and don’t look at the cost.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  “Then I’ll do it for you.” He flipped open the menu. “You’ve told me you love shrimp. How about the scampi?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Too garlicky.”

  “What if I have it, too? Then we’ll both stink when we make out later.”

  Maddie laughed even as his words filled her with edgy anticipation. “What are my other options?”

  “Seafood fra diavolo.”

  “What’s in that?”

  Mac read the description of the spicy pasta dish that included clams, mussels, scallops and shrimp.

  “That does sound good. Is it under fifty dollars?”

  When he raised a dark eyebrow, he went from sexy straight to rakish. “We’re not looking at that, remember?”

  He had a way of making everything fun, even her freak-outs about money. “I don’t know how you do it,” she said with a sigh.

  “Do what?”

  “Talk me down off the ledge without breaking a sweat.”

  “I just want you to be happy. I don’t care what I have to do to make that happen.”

  “You really don’t, do you?”

  Without taking his eyes off hers, he shook his head. “Whatever you want. Whenever you want it.”

  “I still can’t believe you feel that way about me. I’m finding it hard to get used to.”

  “Well, you need to get used to it. It’s here to stay.”

  “How can you possibly know that after just a few days?”

  “I told you. I knew after a few minutes.”

  Their waiter returned with the wine Mac had ordered and went through the ritual of uncorking it and giving him a sample. Maddie watched him as he tasted it, nodded his approval to the waiter, and ordered dinner for both of them. Clearly, he’d done this a few times.

  “The food here is unreal,” Mac said when their calamari appetizer was delivered.

  “It should be for what it costs,” she muttered.

  Mac laughed and fed her a ring of fried squid. “So I was thinking. . .”

  Maddie eyed him warily. “About?”

  “Tom.”

  “What about him?”

  “You said Thomas’s father was a writer. You didn’t say he was Tom Wilkinson, the bestselling author.”

  “Did I forget to mention that?”

  “You know you did. But what I don’t get is why you’d let him get away with what he did when he could make life so much easier for you and Thomas.”

  “Because I’d never want to risk him trying to take Thomas away from me. What if he decided he couldn’t live without his son? How would I fight back when he has the kind of resource
s he does?”

  “I don’t know too much about being an author, but I can’t imagine he’d want people to know that he lied to you about having a vasectomy and then left you alone and pregnant with a text message to say good-bye. If I heard that, I wouldn’t buy any more of his books, that’s for sure.”

  Did he have any idea how adorable he was when he got so indignant on her behalf?

  “What?” he huffed. “What’s so funny?”

  “You are.”

  “I’m serious, Maddie! It’s ridiculous that you’re worried about money when he could be supporting his son in high style.”

  “We don’t need high style. We’re managing just fine.”

  “It’s not right.”

  “Maybe not, but I’d never risk losing Thomas. Besides, now he thinks I’m a happily married mother. I won’t hear from him again.”

  Mac toyed with the stem on his wineglass. “How did it feel?” His eyes met hers. “To see him again?”

  “All I could think about on the ferry was that he’d take one look at Thomas and know he was his son.” This time she reached for his hand and enjoyed the surprised expression that lit up his face. “But because of what you did, I’ll never have to worry about that again.”

  “You think he bought it?”

  She squeezed his hand. “I know he did. You may not realize this, but you saved me from one of my biggest worries today. I used to be afraid all the time that he’d show up at my door someday, and the jig would be up. But because I met you—because you knocked me off my bike and insisted on inserting yourself into my life—”

  “Hey! You like having me around!”

  Maddie bit back a laugh. “Because of all that and because you were so quick today, you made it so I don’t have to worry about that anymore. And I appreciate it. More than you could ever know. If I hadn’t been with you, he would’ve shown up at my door, and who knows what might’ve happened?”

  “I don’t want you to have to worry about anything or be afraid.” He glanced down at their joined hands and then back up at her. “So you didn’t feel, you know, attracted to him?”

  Smiling at his concern, she said, “Not one bit. I seem to be rather attracted to someone else at the moment.” She loved the befuddled look that crossed his face.

  “What’s his name?” he asked, attempting a stern tone that failed miserably.

  “You don’t know him.”

  “Oh, man!” He clutched his chest, pretending she’d stabbed him. “She giveth and she taketh away!”

  Watching him—playful, sexy, generous, solid—Maddie realized that despite all her best efforts to resist him, she’d fallen as hard for him as he seemed to have fallen for her. Now she had to decide if she was willing to risk everything to see where he could take her.

  Mac and Maddie held hands as they left the restaurant. Sated after the meal, the wine, the conversation, he wanted to rush her home so they could be together. It was too soon. He knew that, yet he also now knew that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  Unlike any woman he’d ever known, she made him breathless and anxious and edgy and nervous. He couldn’t wait to get her back on the bike, to have her wrapped around him, to have her legs tight against his hips and her breasts flat against his back. Good thing she hadn’t seen what having her close to him like that had done to him earlier. She’d never trust him to keep the bike on the road.

  “Look at the stars,” she marveled.

  “That’s one thing I miss in Miami. Too much city light.”

  She continued to gaze upward at a sky littered with stars. “Sometimes I really love it here.”

  Because he couldn’t bear to wait another second, he caressed her face and pressed a chaste kiss to her sweet lips. Her arms came up to encircle his neck, and her tongue traced the outline of his mouth. Mac stopped breathing as she teased her way into his mouth. He groaned from the effort of holding back the need to plunder.

  “You’re killing me,” he whispered.

  “Good.”

  “I won’t be any good to you dead.”

  She laughed against his lips and killed him some more with dainty sweeps of her tongue that sent electrical currents rippling straight through him.

  He slid a hand down her back, cupped her bottom and brought her in tight against his throbbing erection.

  She gasped. “Mac.”

  “What, honey? Tell me.”

  “I want you.”

  “It’s too soon.” He wanted to shoot himself for being so honorable. At times like this, that really sucked. “You need time—”

  She put her fingers over his lips. “I need you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Nodding, she rubbed herself against him, and he nearly lost it.

  “Maddie,” he gasped.

  She tossed her head back and laughed.

  He took advantage of the opportunity to sink his teeth into her exposed neck.

  She shuddered. “Can we go home now?”

  “I was going to take you dancing.”

  “I don’t want to dance.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “You.”

  His heart tripped into overdrive. “Maddie. . .”

  She took a step back from him. “God, that sounded so slutty. I don’t know what I was thinking—”

  He brought her right back. “No, honey. It sounded so sexy that I’m about to lose my mind. I want you to say whatever you want to me. I’ll never think you’re anything but beautiful and funny and smart and so freaking sexy you make me crazier than I’ve been since I was a horny teenager.”

  She looked up at him with bottomless eyes full of what looked an awful lot like love. God, he hoped so. “Take me home, Mac. Please?”

  With shaking hands, he helped her into the helmet and got her settled on the back of the bike. Before he got on, he walked around it a couple of times.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to cool off so I can drive.”

  Maddie giggled and never took her eyes off him as he took another lap around the bike.

  Finally, he got on in front of her.

  “All better?”

  “Not hardly, but good enough to get us home. I hope.”

  Maddie slid her arms around him, caressing his chest and belly before heading south.

  He caught her wandering hands with one of his. “No more of that until we get home,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “You’re no fun.”

  “I’ll show you fun. Just let me get us home without crashing.”

  Whereas before dinner, he’d taken the long way so she’d get a chance to enjoy the bike ride, on the way home, he took the shortest possible route. Having her pressed against him, even more tightly than before, was pure torture. When they arrived at her place, he was relieved to see the lights off in Tiffany’s house and only one lamp glowing in Maddie’s apartment. How quickly, he wondered, could he get rid of his sister without being rude?

  “Don’t be obvious,” Maddie whispered on the way up the stairs.

  He stopped and drew her into another torrid kiss. “That’s just to tide me over,” he said when he came up for air many minutes later.

  Maddie wiped a self-conscious hand over her kiss-swollen lips and preceded him into the apartment.

  “Hey,” Janey said from the sofa. “You’re back early.”

  “Maddie wasn’t feeling well,” Mac said. “Her injuries are acting up again.”

  “Oh, give it a rest, Mac.” Janey rolled her eyes. “You want to fool around, and you want me out of here. Don’t worry, I’m going.”

  “That’s not true—” Maddie said at the same time Mac began to protest.

  “You two are so funny,” Janey said, laughing.

  “Let me walk you home,” Mac said.

  “Not necessary. I walk around town by myself all the time.”

  “I don’t want you doing it tonight.”

  “Tough.” She gathered up her purse and t
he book she’d brought. Going up on tiptoes, she planted a kiss on Mac’s cheek. “You’re not the boss of me, big brother.” She patted his face. “Take care of your lady. I’ll take care of myself.”

  “Call me when you get home. Let it ring once.”

  Janey laughed at him. “All right, Mom, if you insist.”

  “I do.”

  “Thanks so much, Janey,” Maddie said. “I really appreciate you watching Thomas.”

  “Anytime—and I mean that. He’s adorable. I loved hanging out with him.”

  “Thanks, brat,” Mac said as he held the door for her. He watched her go down the stairs to the driveway before he swung the inside door closed and turned to Maddie.

  “You’re crazy, you know that?” she said.

  “Crazy about you, and I got rid of her in three minutes. That has to be a record where Janey is concerned.”

  “So much for not being obvious.” Maddie got up from the sofa. “I’ll be right back.” On the way by, she made sure to rub up against him.

  He was never going to survive her.

  After she disappeared into the bathroom, he got busy pulling out the sofa bed. “We’re getting a bigger place and a real bed,” he muttered. “Immediately.” Going to his pile on the floor, he dug out the gift he’d bought her at the mall and left it on the bed. When she came out a few minutes later, he took his turn in the bathroom, giving her the chance to discover the bag on the bed.

  Janey took her time walking home. The mild evening had brought out the crowds, and Main Street was busy and loud. Since it was still early, she decided to stop at the Beachcomber for a beer before going home. No doubt she’d find someone she knew at her favorite bar. Unlike her brothers, she’d never been confined by island life and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. But she missed David so much that she wondered how she’d ever survive another year apart.

  They were so close to having everything they’d ever dreamed of. All their plans were in place for a wedding next summer, after which he’d move home to Gansett to take over the practice of the retiring Doc Robach. Janey had graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in animal science. She’d had the grades for veterinary school, but David had convinced her that only one of them should go to medical school, or they’d be repaying student loans for the rest of their lives. She knew he was right. Island practices wouldn’t generate the kind of income they’d need to live and pay off massive loans, too. Sometimes, however, she wished they both could’ve pursued their dreams.