Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 10-12

by Marie Force

  “Hmm?”

  “I really like kissing you.”

  “I really like when you kiss me.”

  He shifted to her neck, breathing in the earthy, feminine scent of her. Taking a chance, he moved his hands from the counter to her hips, bringing her in closer to him. There’d been other women, here and there, since his wife died, but never anything serious. Until now. Until her. And this was starting to feel awfully serious to him.

  When her arms encircled his neck and her body molded to his, there was no hiding his reaction to her.

  He found her mouth again in another kiss, his tongue tangling with hers as her fingers combed through his hair. “It’s been,” he said between kisses, “a very long time since I’ve wanted a woman the way I want you.”

  “How do you want me?”

  The question as well as the sexy tone in which it was asked only added to his desire for her. “Naked in a bed, under me.”

  “Well…” Her nervous laugh had him wondering if he’d been too blunt. “Tell me how you really feel.”

  “I think I just did.” He kissed her again, softly this time, but that packed no less of a wallop than their earlier, frantic kisses had. “I’m sorry if that’s too much too soon.”

  “It’s not. It feels like just enough at the perfect time.”

  Frank raised his head to meet her gaze. “It does? Really?”

  She nodded and then shocked him when she took hold of his hand to lead him into her bedroom.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Where you said you wanted to go.”

  “Is it what you want, too?”

  “It’s what I’ve wanted for a while now.”

  “You might’ve clued me in,” he said with a chuckle.

  “You figured it out—eventually.”

  He put his arms around her and drew her into his embrace, gazing down into her beautiful, smiling face.

  “What’re you thinking?” she asked.

  “That it’s been such a long time since I felt this way.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “Happy, content, excited about the future, intrigued, curious, eager…”

  “Eager for what?” she asked with a coy smile.

  “To hold you and make love to you.”

  She kissed him. “Mmm, I’m eager for that, too.”

  “I should take a shower. I’ve been out in the sun all day.”

  “I could use a shower, too.”

  “How about we conserve on water and take one together?”

  “I’m all for conservation.” She gestured for him to follow her to the bathroom across the hall from her bedroom. After she started the water, she turned to him, her smile suddenly shy and uncertain.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I’m not twenty anymore. I hope you aren’t disappointed.”

  Frank couldn’t believe she would say such a thing. Disappointed? In her? Never. “Betsy, honey, I think you’re gorgeous and vivacious and amazing. And speaking of not being twenty anymore, how do you think I feel? I’m fourteen years older than you—an official senior citizen cavorting with a youngster.”

  “Cavorting? Is that what we’re doing?”

  “Call it what you will.”

  She pulled the smock up and over her head, revealing a black lace bra that barely contained her full breasts.

  Frank knew it wasn’t polite to stare, but damn, she was sexy.

  She tugged at his polo shirt. “Your turn.”

  Frank whipped it up and over his head, hoping she liked what she saw as much as he did. He’d taken care of himself over the years, spending a lot of his free time in the gym, and if her heated gaze was any indication, those hours had paid off. “Your turn.”

  She unbuttoned and unzipped her shorts, letting them drop to the floor, leaving her wearing only the bra and a matching pair of barely there panties.

  “Why do I feel like you knew this was going to happen when I had no clue?”

  Betsy laughed at his distress. “I like nice underwear. I always have.”

  “I like your nice underwear, too, but I think it would look better on the floor.”

  “Your turn.”

  Holding her challenging gaze, Frank removed his shorts and kicked them out of his way. Standing before her wearing only a pair of boxers that didn’t do much to hide what her striptease had done to him, he reached for her. “I’d be happy to help with the next phase.”

  “By all means.”

  He reached around her to unfasten her bra, pushed the straps off her shoulders and sighed with pleasure as her lush breasts sprang free into his waiting hands. “Beautiful,” he whispered as he kissed her.

  “We’re wasting water,” she reminded him as she very casually divested him of his boxers and then allowed him to remove her panties.

  Frank expected to feel awkward or self-conscious, but all he felt was desire beating through him in a steady thrum that heated his blood as it zipped through his veins. And then she turned toward the shower, showing him her gorgeous ass, and it was all he could do not to drool. How had he managed to attract such an amazing woman?

  This was no time for such questions, he told himself as he followed her into the shower. This was the time to show her what she’d come to mean to him, and he planned to fully enjoy every second of what was about to happen. He’d waited a long, lonely time to feel this way again, and as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, he was grateful for this second chance with her.

  “You feel so good,” he whispered as the warm water beat down upon them.

  “So do you.” She reached for a bottle of shampoo and handed it to him. “Would you like to do the honors?”

  “I’d love to.”

  Betsy turned to face him, wetting her hair under the spray.

  Frank took advantage of the opportunity to kiss her before he got to work shampooing her long dark hair.

  She laid her hands flat against his chest as she leaned forward, giving him access to her hair.

  He took his time, massaging her scalp and spreading the shampoo liberally through the strands.

  “Feels so good,” she said. When he was finished, she rinsed the suds and added conditioner. “My turn.”

  “Am I going to smell all fruity and girly after this?”

  “Possibly.”

  “I’m cool with that.”

  Her laughter took his desire to a whole new level as he bent his head so she could reach his hair. When his hair was washed and rinsed, he found a bottle of citrus-scented body wash and filled his hands and took great pleasure in spreading it all over her soft, warm skin. He gave extra special attention to her breasts, sliding his soapy hands over the nipples that tightened against his palms.

  “Frank…”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re making me crazy.”

  “Am I?”

  “You know you are!”

  She grabbed the bottle of body wash and returned the favor, her hands sliding from his shoulders to his chest and then down to his stomach. As her soapy hand encircled his erection, he had to remind himself he wasn’t a boy doing this for the first time. But, damn, she made him feel like an unseasoned virgin.

  “Christ, Betsy,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Something wrong?”

  “No. For once, everything is just right.”

  She smiled up at him, her eyes aglow with pleasure and anticipation and desire.

  Ready to move things along, Frank reached behind her and killed the water. They dried each other with the same towel, their movements hasty and jerky. “Bed,” he said, biting down on her shoulder and making her gasp. “Now.”

  He followed her across the hall and into her bed, where she reached for him, wrapping him in her arms as their legs intertwined and their lips came together in a combustible kiss. With her soft, fragrant, welcoming body pressed against his, Frank needed to be inside her.

  “Do we need protection?” he asked as he kissed he
r neck.

  “I don’t. Do you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m clean, and I can prove it.”

  “So am I.”

  “And no chance of later-in-life offspring?” he asked teasingly but seriously, too.

  “No. I had a procedure to stop my horrible periods that also ended any chance of more babies.”

  Looking down at her, he kissed her softly as he began to enter her, slowly, giving her time to adjust. “God, you feel so good.”

  “You do, too. You don’t have to go slow.”

  “I do unless you want this to be over before it starts.”

  She laughed at his distress, which caused her muscles to clamp down on him, nearly triggering his release.

  “You’re out to wreck me, aren’t you?”

  “Nah. I like you exactly the way you are.” She drew him down for a kiss that started softly and escalated quickly to tongues and teeth and moans of pleasure.

  He broke the kiss and bent his head to give her nipple some attention, sucking and teasing it with his teeth while she squirmed under him. Though he’d planned to take his time, his plans were shot straight to hell by the incredible pleasure he found in her arms, and he couldn’t hold off.

  Determined to take her with him, he reached down to where they were joined to coax her and was gratified by her sharp cries of pleasure. He gave up on trying to hold off and picked up the pace, hammering into her until his release was upon him, intense and consuming.

  He came down from the incredible high to find her blissed out and smiling, her eyes closed and her arms around him. That little smile made his heart ache with emotions he hadn’t experienced in so long he’d forgotten what they felt like. “Am I crushing you?”

  “Not at all.” She wrapped her legs around his hips, encouraging him to stay where he was, which was more than fine with him.

  “That was…”

  “Mmm,” she said, her eyes still closed. “For me, too.”

  “We might have to do that again. Soon.”

  “I could be convinced.”

  Frank dropped his head to her shoulder, thankful to have found her and to have all the time in the world to spend getting to know her better.

  Chapter 8

  After seeing off her siblings on the noon ferry, Katie moved her things into the room that had been her mother’s, three doors down the hall from Shane’s room.

  “You don’t have to do that, Mom.”

  “I don’t mind,” Sarah said as she hung Katie’s clothes in the closet. “What’re you planning to wear tonight?”

  “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “This one’s nice.” Sarah held up a lightweight orange dress.

  “Is it too dressy for a casual night out?”

  “I don’t think so. It’ll look great with your tan.”

  “Am I tan?”

  “You’re more tan after one day at the beach than I’ll be at the end of the summer.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I say so, and I’m the mom, so you have to believe me.” She came over to hug Katie. “I’m so glad you’re staying for a while and we get to spend some time together. I know I’ve already said it, but I’ve missed you so much.”

  “I’ve missed you, too, and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see you glowing with happiness.”

  “That’s nice to hear. I hoped you kids would be happy for me.”

  “How could we not be?”

  Sarah’s smile faded, and she looked down at the floor. “I wondered if you’d think I was selfish.”

  “Selfish? Why in the world would we think that?”

  “Because I stayed with your father for so long when all of you were begging me to leave him, and then while most of you stay stubbornly single because of the way you were raised, I go off and fall in love with someone new.”

  Katie led her mother to the double bed that took up most of the space in the room. They sat next to each other. “Mom, please don’t think that. All we’ve ever wanted was to see you safe and happy. If Charlie makes you feel safe and happy, we’re all for it.”

  “He does,” Sarah said softly. “He’s incredible.”

  “No one deserves that more than you do.”

  “You do, too.”

  “What I went through was nothing compared to what you endured.”

  “It wasn’t nothing. It was a nightmare, and it was my fault that it went on for as long as it did. If I could turn back time—”

  “Don’t do that. Don’t beat yourself up over things that are so far in the past they don’t matter anymore.”

  “They do matter, Katie. You said yourself that you’ve never even been on a date with a man because you’re afraid of finding one like your father. That’s on me as much as it’s on him.”

  “No way is that true. I blame him—and only him—for what happened in our home. None of us blame you, Mom. You were as powerless in that situation as we were.”

  “Not quite.”

  “You think that now that you’ve had some time and space away from the situation, but when you were in it, you certainly didn’t feel powerful.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Sarah said with a sigh. “I just wish I’d been stronger then.”

  “What matters is you’re stronger now—strong enough to see something you want and to reach for it. That takes tremendous courage after everything you went through with what’s his name.”

  “I want you to know the truth about Charlie before you hear it from someone else and jump to the wrong conclusions.”

  “What truth?”

  “He was in prison for fourteen years—”

  “Mom!”

  “—for a crime he did not commit. He was accused of kidnapping and beating Stephanie, his stepdaughter, when in fact he rescued her from her mother, who surely would’ve beaten her to death if he hadn’t intervened. Stephanie spent just about every minute of those fourteen years trying to get him out of jail.”

  “Wow,” Katie said on a long exhale. “I’m sorry if I overreacted.”

  “Don’t be. I understand why you did. I did, too, when I first heard about it.”

  “How long has he been out?”

  “Almost a year. He came here to be close to Steph and to figure out his next move. He did some work here at the hotel during the renovations, which is how we met. He told me the truth right away and gave me the chance to decide if it was too much for me to take on.”

  “I’ve got to give him credit for coming clean at the outset.”

  “I did, too. When you get to know him, and I hope you will while you’re here, you’ll soon realize he couldn’t harm a flea, let alone Stephanie, who he loves beyond reason.”

  “That’s quite a story.”

  Sarah ran a hand over Katie’s hair, brushing it back over her shoulder. “Will you do something for me?”

  “Anything.”

  “Will you allow yourself to take a real, honest chance with Shane?”

  “We’re just going to dinner, not planning a wedding.”

  Sarah smiled. “I simply want you to put aside all the concerns that have kept you away from men in the past and give one very nice man a chance to show you what you’ve been missing. There’s nothing quite like spending time with a man who knows how to treat a woman.”

  “And you think Shane knows how to treat a woman?”

  “I’m sure he does. If you could see the way his cousins treat their women, you wouldn’t have a doubt. He was raised by the same kind of man they were. Frank is wonderful, and so is Shane.”

  “I’ll give him an honest chance, but I’m not making any promises beyond tonight.”

  “That’s fair enough.” Sarah kissed Katie’s cheek and gave her a one-armed hug. “I hope you have a wonderful time, and I’ll want to hear all about it.”

  “Could I ask you something else?”

  “Of course.”

  “How do you feel about Gram and Pop giving the hotel to Laura and Owen?”

>   “I think it’s a brilliant idea, and I was all for it.”

  “So they talked to you about it before they did it?”

  Sarah nodded. “They wanted to ensure that I wasn’t interested in the place—and I’m not. I’ve seen how hard Laura and Owen work here, and I’m more than happy to defer to them. Besides, apparently I’m not going to need the income.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s not public information yet, so keep it between us, but Charlie is getting a seven-million-dollar settlement from the state—half a million for every year he spent in prison. He’s already told me I can pick out any house I want on the island and decorate it any way I see fit.”

  “That’s amazing, Mom. Congratulations to both of you.”

  “My only wish now is to see all my children as happy as I am and as happy as Owen is.”

  “It may take some time, but I think we’ll get there.”

  “I sure hope so.” Sarah stood. “I’ve got to get going, but I’ll be by tomorrow to see how your evening went.”

  Katie got up to walk her mother to the door. “I’ll look forward to that.”

  Sarah hugged her. “Have the best time tonight. Let go of the past and embrace the present. I promise you won’t be sorry you did.”

  “Love you, Mom.”

  “Love you, too, sweetheart. See you later.”

  Katie closed the door and went to stretch out on the bed, thinking about everything her mother had told her about Charlie’s story and the risk Sarah had taken to open her heart to him. Her thoughts turned to Shane and how adorable he’d looked earlier as he tried to figure out what had possessed her to change her mind about his invitation.

  She giggled softly to herself as she pictured the look on his face as he dealt with a crazy woman on his doorstep. Maybe she was fifteen years overdue for her first date, but she was glad she’d waited for him. All at once, she couldn’t wait to see him again and spend more time with him.

  * * *

  Shane felt ridiculous for being so nervous about a date. It was just dinner, so how had he managed to build it into such a big deal in his mind? The answer, he knew, was because it was his first date since his divorce, which made it a bigger deal than it normally would’ve been. He’d done plenty of dating before he met Courtney and even had a couple of girlfriends. But no one date had ever felt so important, not even his first date with the woman who’d become his wife.