Her Maine Man

by Owner

  Feeling like a part of a major conspiracy, she forced her warring emotions about the island, her parents, and herself aside and hugged him back. Since childhood, he’d taken her part against Barb whenever possible.

  He released her to ask, “How did work go? Did you have to double up on your appointments?”

  She shook her head, concentrating on the question rather than the impact of his plans to all of their lives. “I treated some of the rescheduled PT clients today, but poor Lyndsey covered the ones we couldn’t cancel. Mrs. Muttley left after her hot packs on Friday, ranting to her husband how she couldn’t work with anyone else, and the Gregory boy yelled throughout his whole session.”

  “You spoil your patients.”

  “No, I don’t really. I make them work hard.”

  “It’s your kind manner that wins them over.”

  Maddie blushed the compliment away. “What’s new down at the mayorship?” She wasn’t really interested, but she needed to latch onto the ordinary. Too many complications to life-as-she-knew-it had hit her head on, making her world feel unsteady, like the sand shifting beneath her feet.

  “The new consultant the board hired stopped in. Name’s Matthews. Nice looking fellow but clumsy as all hell.”

  Picturing the type, she nodded. Office mouse. Carpal tunnel, thick lenses, eyes red-rimmed from computer strain, wit as dry as July.

  “It’s time we join your mother for dinner.” He snagged Maddie’s arm.

  Her eagerness to see her mother had turned into distaste, like standing downwind of the cat spruce tree on the hill that smelled like a litter box. “What do you think is behind Barb’s sudden decision to dine with us?” she asked. “She hasn’t left her suite in weeks. Why the sudden change of heart?”

  “While you were away, I convinced her that dining downstairs was better for her state of mind. Less depressing for everyone. Besides, the sooner she recuperates the sooner everything returns to normal.”

  Until today, normal meant her mother would return to Portland and her law practice. Now, she didn’t know what it meant. But Barb agreeing with Dad on anything, even something as simple as dining downstairs, wasn’t normal.

  “Okay, let’s eat.” Or try to. “I don’t want to be the one responsible for hindering her progress.”

  “None of us do.”

  Maddie kicked up sand with the toe of her sneaker and looked up at the house. Barb was difficult at her best. What would she be like at her worst?

  ****

  Bitch. Bastard. Barbra gripped the heavy drapery in her fist, her fingernails biting into her palm even through the material.

  Look at the two of them, their heads together, plotting and scheming against her. Smiling while they did it.

  She stood at her bedroom window, her chair abandoned behind her. If they only knew or saw…would they expose her fraud?

  The empty wheelchair was the lesser of her crimes. A much bigger offense loomed, the one of aiding and abetting a criminal.

  Just then, her husband-in-name-only and her heir-apparent daughter glanced up as they walked. She flicked the curtain shut, let go, and plopped back into the wheelchair she detested.

  Bile surfaced in the back of her throat. How she hated being confined to the island and the house. Isolated. Lonely. But she couldn’t find a better place to hide out.

  Chapter Twelve

  “That was a great pitch, Lyndsey.” Maddie grinned at her friend the following night before dipping her spoon into a steamy bowl of fish stew at the Chowder House near the bay.

  “Did you see coach’s face? First time I ever struck out their power hitter.” Lyndsey elbowed Sue, who played shortstop and tried for the third time to sip her glass of ale.

  “I saw, I saw. Let me drink and be merry already.” With a swish of her dark ponytail, Sue attempted to gulp down a large mouthful by turning away to flash them the back of her blue baseball shirt with its white letters, Bain’s Bane. “Look over there. Tell me he’s not a tourist. Tell me he’s for real,” she pleaded, holding her glass away from her lips.

  “Where? Where?” Lyndsey’s head swiveled like a lighthouse beacon. “Oh, he is cute in a conservative kind of way.”

  Maddie looked up at the only guy at the bar. “Oh, no.”

  “You know him?” Sue wiggled her brows at Maddie before twisting further around in her captain’s chair to ogle the man.

  “She must.” Lyndsey chuckled. “He’s waving to her.”

  Maddie nodded hello and glanced away to study the fish netting draped on the wall, studded with red plastic lobsters. Why-oh-why did Jon have to be in here? Already, her stomach was fluttering with desire and her thighs twitching to spread wide for him. He had a horny and devastating effect on her. She’d taken a chance having sex with him in a public rest room. She couldn’t afford another lapse in judgment, especially now with her parent’s real divorce pending exposure and her possible rise to the Bain forefront. She groaned, inwardly, burning for his touch, his body.

  It was her turn to get chucked in the ribs with Lyndsey’s bony elbow. “Give him up.”

  “He’s from away.” She scooped up a spoonful of the now tasteless fish.

  Between last night’s dinner with her mother’s accusing stare and now Jon’s arousing one, she’d lost her appetite indefinitely. He seemed to be everywhere. First at the drugstore and now at the restaurant. Where would he turn up next? The small island diminished by the day. She wondered how long before her raging hormones broke down her willpower and she sought him out to have her lusty way with him.

  After thoroughly checking Jon over from head to toe, Lyndsey sighed. “Too bad. The eligible, good-looking ones are never from here.”

  “Maybe he’s a transplant.” Sue’s voice sounded hopeful that he’d moved into town full-time.

  “No.” Maddie shook her head. “A pilgrim.”

  “Forget him,” Lyndsey said to Sue. “Tourists seldom relocate.”

  “So how do you know him?” Sue turned back to her lobster roll.

  “I met him on the ferry. He’s a stranger, really.” She tried to shrug him off. But she could feel his dark eyes on her from across the room. His, along with the dozen, black beady ones from the plastic lobsters. Except his were making her hot and wet, mentally undressing her, and priming her. She craved to indulge in his sizzling sexual expertise. The stroke of his hands, the heat of his mouth, his long, hard penis. She fanned herself with her napkin. “It’s warm in here.”

  “I’m going to check and see how strange he really is.” With that, Sue popped up from her chair and dove for him like a line drive.

  “Wai—” was all she got out before her friend was gone like a grand slam.

  “She’s going to strike out, isn’t she?” Lyndsey shook her curly head of red hair.

  “Maybe not,” she replied. She had better is what she thought.

  One pizza nibble by Lyndsey later, and Sue returned to the table, towing Jon along by his hand. “Look what I found, and I get to keep him.” She laughed.

  Maddie pushed her bowl aside. Why couldn’t he just go away? Quietly. If he talked to the women long enough, he’d surely slip up, say something ripe for gossip. With her family’s image soon to totter on the brink of disaster, she had to be extra careful.

  “This is Jon.” Sue introduced him to Lyndsey before gazing into his eyes and cooing, “I’ll be right back, baby. Got to powder my nose before we leave.”

  “Hello, and take your time. I’ll babysit while you’re gone.” Lyndsey patted the chair next to her, and Jon sat down as if he and Maddie had never had an agreement.

  “Hi.” He smiled at Maddie. “Congratulations,” he said to Lyndsey.

  “Sue told you about my triple play.” Lyndsey grinned.

  “Yes. I had a triple play once.” He looked at Maddie. “Recently, and it was quite a rush.” His eyes were hooded and suggestive, reminding her and her quivering thighs of their triple-score night of passion. And in front of Lyndsey.


  She rolled her eyes at him. But despite her irritation, a flush crept all the way up from her toes to her nose. Her nipples peaked beneath her heavy baseball shirt, begging for his knowledgeable touch. Her fingers fluttered to her throat to hide the pulse beating there, erratically and visibly beneath her heated skin.

  “Nice uniforms.” He plucked Lyndsey’s sleeve.

  “Thanks.” She shrugged. “Blue’s not my color.”

  Maddie leaned in toward her. “Could I have a minute alone with Jon?

  “Sure.” Lyndsey winked, mouthed the word catfight, and left.

  There wasn’t going to be fight over Jon. Sue could have his carcass after she got done with him.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she whispered in a gush.

  “Going to see Sue’s baseball card collection. She has Hank Aaron.”

  “You can’t date my friends.” She glanced over to make sure Lyndsey was out of hearing range. The way her arms were flailing, she figured her friend was describing her triple play for Jeb, the bartender.

  “Why not?” He chucked her under the chin. “Jealous?”

  She was, but she wouldn’t admit it to him. Jealousy was the least volatile of the emotions blazing through her body. The mere play of his fingers on her flesh charged her nerve endings to a feverish pitch. She wanted to dip her head and suck his finger into her mouth, pull on it with a provocative rhythm.

  Gritting her teeth against the temptation, she swatted his fingers from her chin in hopes to gain control over her carnal cravings. “We had a pact.”

  “I don’t recall a no-dating clause.” He scratched his head.

  She’d like to squeeze his head like a softball, but she wasn’t a violent person, not until this moment anyway. If he’d only go away before either of them said or did something evocative she’d have to live down.

  She stabbed her finger onto the table. “We discussed this in the men’s room.”

  “Is that what we did in there?” He stilled her finger and ran his thumb across the top of her hand, back and forth, lightly. Heat thrummed through her veins, concentrating between the slick folds of her vagina. She crossed her legs to still the ache. Her pulse raced.

  “You made a promise.” She pulled her hand away not wanting him to speed up anything but his departure.

  “I’m not dating her. We’re just friends.”

  “You can’t be friends with my friends,” she rasped none too softly.

  “Was that a stipulation?” He crinkled his forehead. “Maybe we should renegotiate. The men’s room is over there.” He nudged his chin in the direction of the rest rooms where Sue had just emerged.

  “You know certainly well there were conditions. You even requested some of your own.”

  “Two.” He waggled two fingers, the same two that had titillated her G-spot a few nights ago, tantalizing and driving her to the brink of orgasm. “You only implemented one of them. But your presentation was top-notch.”

  “What was the other stipulation?” she flustered, remembering how hot his lips were and how hard he thrust his hips and how wild the sex had been. “It slipped my mind.”

  “It was kind of slippery in the rest room with the soap and the porcelain and your naked—”

  She muffled his mouth with her hand. “Shush up, before someone hears you. I don’t need a recap. I was there.”

  “It was unforgettable,” he mumbled as she uncovered his mouth. “Wasn’t it?”

  She groaned. “Don’t ask my friends any nosy questions.” He nodded. “And don’t listen to anything anyone says if my name is involved or add to the conversation in any way until we agree to a new agreement.”

  “I promise not to talk or listen until we meet again.”

  “What’s going on here?” Sue was back with a thunk as she plopped onto the chair next to Jon.

  “Ready?” he asked Sue, standing up.

  Her dark, silky hair rustled around her shoulders when she nodded yes and she rose from her seat. Her ponytail was undone and her lips were glossed and pink. She was ready all right.

  “See you.” Jon blew Maddie an over-the-shoulder kiss as he took Sue by the elbow and they made for the exit.

  “Not if I see you first.” Anyway, that was how it had been supposed to work.

  “Bye Lyndsey,” he called over to the bar.

  ****

  “Did you bring your lunch?” Lyndsey asked Maddie the next morning.

  “Uh-huh.” She nodded, holding up her brown paper bag while poring over the patient appointments for the day.

  “Want to take a walk and eat near the bay?” Her coworker snatched the bag and with a whoosh of the refrigerator door stashed it inside along with her own.

  “The park’s better. Anywhere away from the harbor is.” She was steering clear of the bay for a few days until she was sure Jon had deserted the island. Whenever he was within breathing distance, she was hard-pressed to resist him. His persuasive eyes, his tempting mouth, the rest of his sexually brilliant body all taunted her.

  “I don’t blame you. Those pesky gulls.” Lyndsey pushed her arms into the sleeves of her flowery uniform jacket. “They particularly like your lunch with all those nuts and grains.”

  She didn’t bother to correct her friend’s misconception of why she preferred the park. She had a more pressing question to discuss.

  Before she could open her mouth, Lyndsey scooted off. “Got to go.” The phone had already begun to ring, leaving Maddie to wonder about Jon and Sue’s date.

  She tugged the sanitized footbath from the closet for her first appointment, an inflamed heel. Elmer Talbrook was always prompt. After Elmer’s ultrasound and massage, she worked with a shoulder problem and a knee and by then it was lunchtime.

  Outside in the sunshine, on a bench in the park she munched celery sticks and listened to Lyndsey complain. “It’s not my fault Flossie Muttley misread her appointment card or forgot to pay her bill. The woman thinks I’m her personal secretary. And I did call her yesterday to remind her of her appointment.” She unwrapped the Saran from her sandwich as her tale of woe wound down. “In the end, I had to reschedule her because she and Mr. Muttley went to the mainland to visit her sister until Monday.”

  “So…” As a boy on a silver skateboard whizzed by narrowly missing her sneakered toes, Maddie broached the subject eating at her since last night. “How did Sue’s date go? Did she mention anything on the ride in this morning?”

  “Not much. It was her turn to drive and she picked me up late, then raced down Fire Road to make it to the gift shop in time to open the doors for the sale. Her mother picked up some fancy lingerie inland and is spotlighting a special for the locals.”

  “I have enough lingerie with the price tags still on to sponsor my own sale.” She tossed a few nuts to a red squirrel who chattered its grateful thanks. How she wished she could wear one of her flimsy teddies for Jon, ask him peel it from her torso with his teeth. And he would. He was ever so good at fulfilling her fantasies.

  “I haven’t worn any nightwear that wasn’t a hundred percent cotton since Tim jilted me last winter.”

  “He didn’t jilt you.” A breeze rustled through the grass and chased the finicky squirrel off.

  Lyndsey crooked her chin. “What do you call it when a man asks for his engagement ring back?”

  “He didn’t ask until he caught you kissing Jeb at the Chowder House.”

  “What’s a kiss? It was Christmastime. I think cheapo Tim Gregory just wanted to get out of buying me a present.”

  A white puffy cloud stalled overhead, casting a shadow over them. Maddie crunched into her energy bar and talked with her mouth full. “As I recall, there wasn’t a lick of mistletoe in sight and you and Jeb were under the bar mixing up more than drinks.”

  “That Jeb sure can kiss.” Lyndsey sighed. “He was almost worth it. Fact is I wouldn’t need any lingerie with him around.”

  “Fact is he kisses and tells. And the reason he kisses so good is because he
’s had more practice than most.”

  “Some bartenders are listeners and some are movers and shakers.” Her friend chuckled. “You ever kiss him?” She ripped the crust from her sandwich before biting into the salami and cheese on thick, homemade bread.

  Maddie nodded, amazed they’d derailed so far off-topic from Jon and Sue’s date. A tinge of jealousy had been pinging at her since last night. Time to wrap up the conversation about the bartender and get back to the one about Jon. “The summer I got my first padded bra, Jeb kissed and groped. I didn’t feel a thing.”

  “Oh, you.” She whapped her on the arm. “No wonder that guy wanted to play a joke on you.”

  “Jeb? The joke was on him. I think he has a phobia about foam rubber ever since.”

  “No,” she protested. “The guy at the Chowder House last night. Jon.”

  “Jon?” At last they were back on track.

  “I promised Sue not to tell. Yet.”

  “Tell, now.” Maddie stretched her arm alongside the back of the green, wooden bench and squinted into Lyndsey’s eyes, knowing her friend couldn’t keep a secret longer than she could stare her down.

  “Okay. This is the deal. I’ll tell you about the joke, but you have to act surprised when Sue springs it on you.”

  “How’s this?” She widened her eyes and put her hands to her cheeks.

  “Actually that’s good. Where did you learn it?”

  “Not at home. There are never any surprises there.” Not until recently, anyway, and she didn’t want to consider those complications until Jon was off the island. She could only deal with one problem at a time. “Don’t try to change the subject. What joke did they pull on me?”

  “They faked their date last night. She didn’t take him anywhere. He went back to the Harbor Inn. Alone.”

  “She didn’t. He did? But, but why?” The energy bar she was holding crumbled. Relief should’ve washed through her as the green-eyed monster deserted her body, but uneasiness filled the void. “I don’t get it.”