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“I wanted to hear news of her. I thought it was harmless enough.” He sighed. “Plus, your mother insisted, wanting him here to keep her abreast of island business until he began asking probing questions.”
“Didn’t you consider the hazards involved if Jon and I should happen to fall in love?”
“I didn’t figure he’d be here long enough.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. It was selfish of me.” With stooped shoulders, he gazed out at the sea unaware of her.
Through teary eyes, Maddie tried to blink away her father’s diminishing stature. She hugged his motionless figure before she walked away.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The christening went off without a glitch.
Jon sucked in his breath, keeping his eyes away from his father and on baby Gracie, all pink skin and white lace in her christening dress.
He only had to get through the celebratory dinner at the local restaurant without slugging him or saying anything too far out of line, and afterward Jon could put this nerve-wrenching day behind him.
“Calm down.” Sarah’s friend and Gracie’s godmother sat across from him at the long table reserved for their party. “The worst is over. Neither of us dropped the baby.”
He chuckled. “And we bared the proper end for water dousing.”
“I’ll get us a well-deserved Bloody Mary.” Bethann got up, bumped the table, rattling the salt and pepper shakers, which rolled onto the floor, before she trotted away toward the bar.
Jon bent down to retrieve the shakers, and on his way back up, met with a pair of fuck-me high heels, open-toed ones that flashed a sinful deed to his mind.
Hard as he tried to clear his brain, his eyes remained riveted on the soft, dark leather and the red-painted toenails. Finally, he blinked and his eyes roved upwards to long, lanky legs…familiar legs. Attached to an even more familiar body that held in its hands a big, white, bow-wrapped christening present.
“Congratulations.” Maddie smiled and handed the gift to his sister.
Jon dropped the shakers back onto the floor.
Between coochey-coos to the baby, she introduced herself to the family and friends at the table. After handshakes or hugs, depending on the gender of the person, she sat down next to Jon, facing him instead of the table.
His stomach knotted. Now he had both his father and Maddie to contend with.
He watched her cross her legs and dangle her foot, the sexy high heel and flashy toenails swinging up and down, up and down. His blood pumped hot and he felt himself rising to the occasion. He fought back.
Forget her fuck-me pump.
She’d lied to his love-me heart.
“Why are you here?” he accused.
“I was invited.” She smiled. “You invited me.”
“Maddie, go home.”
“Not until we talk.” She stopped dangling her foot and recrossed her willowy legs, giving him an eyeful of her pert knee, creamy thigh, and the lacy edge of a silky stocking. His breathing became uneven. He gulped for control, but his dick had a mind of its own and chose to rear its ugly head and knock against the zipper of his dress pants.
“I have nothing to say to a liar.” That should send her packing.
“You need my help.” She stroked the fingers he’d curled around his butter knife.
“I give help, not take it.” He figured that one would send her running.
She pried the knife from his hand and swiveled in her seat to face the table and butter a roll. Holding a piece to his mouth, she said, “Not this time. Bite.”
He bit down, chewed, and swallowed. “You’re leaving when dinner is over. Right?”
“Not until we have a quiet drink and talk at one of those cozy tables near the bar.” She waggled her finger toward a grouping of small, round tables for two.
“I have nothing to say.” He clamped his lips shut.
“When I called your sister, after getting her number from our phone records, she insisted I stay on as her houseguest. I’ll move in if I have to.” Her violet eyes flashed deep purple.
“Okay.” He nodded. He’d let her bounce her ideas off him and then call her a liar again. That should do it.
Bethann returned with his drink and he gulped down a mouthful while Maddie introduced herself yet again, and Bethann said, “Oh, you’re the physical therapist.”
Did everyone know about her?
The vodka hit his empty stomach but didn’t relax one coiled nerve. His sister was counting on him to make her and baby Gracie’s day special, despite his father’s presence a mere table width away. Then there was Maddie, who wanted him to hear her out, forgive her and her parents, and make their problems go away. He gulped another mouthful of the vodka and tomato juice.
Maddie smiled, took his glass from his hand and sipped. She passed the drink back to him. “Needs salt.”
Just then his father extended his hand across the table, stopping Jon’s heart. Until he noticed the salt shaker in the old man’s mitt. Jon grabbed for it but dropped the shaker when their fingers touched. He didn’t want any personal contact with the dirt bag.
Maddie scooped up the spill and tossed it over her shoulder. Only it was pepper, and it missed her shoulder and landed on his. Jon sneezed, loud.
“Bless you, son.”
Silence.
Quiet stretched, until luckily the meal was served. Jon nibbled his tasteless chicken. No sooner had he chewed a few bites than Maddie nudged his elbow, nodding toward his father and Sarah. His sister was enthralled in whatever the old man seemed to be saying. Jon listened.
“Every meal. Young Jon sneezed at every single meal until his mother figured out I was over-peppering my food.”
Laughter. The old coot was relating family anecdotes. How touching. Jon remained unmoved, until his father’s sullen eyes rested on him.
“Sorry, I left. It must’ve been hard on you being the oldest.”
Jon weighed his options. Knock the old goat off his chair and tell him what he really thought. Or say nothing for Sarah’s sake. He chose Sarah.
Apparently, Maddie didn’t have the same qualms. She jumped in. “Jon’s mother relied on him, heavily. Is amending wrongs part of your twelve-step program?”
What had gotten into her?
“As a matter of fact it is,” he replied, going into a breakdown of the steps instead of asking for the forgiveness he was supposed to be seeking.
“Why aren’t you demanding he be accountable?” She stuck her pert nose in Jon’s face, but all he saw were her sensational eyes.
He washed down his last mouthful of Bloody Mary. Saying nothing was getting harder, but it was the only way to hold true to his word to Sarah and keep the party low key. If he said what was on his mind, her postnatal blues would kick in and she’d bawl. And baby Gracie with her.
“I left rather publicly and I felt I owed you an equally public apology,” the old man ended by saying, obviously not having made any vows to Sarah to stay low profile.
“Well, he can’t accept a general apology,” Maddie answered for Jon yet again. “A private, sincere confession would’ve been more suitable.”
The old man shut up. Jon was speechless. She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting.
“Tell me about me.” Sarah tried to relieve the awkwardness that followed. “As a baby.”
As soon as everybody returned to their meal and chatter, Maddie turned to him. “You certainly didn’t do much with that window of opportunity. Maybe you should see a therapist about your problem.”
“I had a therapist,” he grumbled, tossing his napkin onto his plate, his appetite nil.
“She doesn’t mean a physical therapist.” Bethann looked up from her plate.
He rolled his eyes and she went back to her chicken.
“Are you going to let bygones be bygones with that limp excuse of his?” When he shrugged, Maddie huffed, “Men. I thought you were different.”
“Not what your dear old dad would do, huh? Well, I’m not lik
e him.”
“You’re not like either of our fathers.” Her violet eyes pierced to his soul. “You interfere. That’s why you never let anyone down. I love that about you.” She groaned. “But you shouldn’t let yourself down either.”
“You think I settled.”
“Yes.” With a nod, she went back to eating her dinner.
Eventually, an end came with the rose-decorated party cake. He dug into the sweet icing on his slice, hoping for a sugar rush.
After cake, people began taking their leave. He walked his family to the door. While Craig and Sarah occupied themselves saying goodbye to their friends, he kissed Bethann on the cheek, and then cornered the old man.
“About earlier…” He shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Tell your girlfriend I wasn’t sure I’d get the chance to tell you one-on-one that I was sorry.”
Jon nodded, not sure what to say or do. Sarah turned to them and signaled it was time to leave. Jon shrugged, figuring nothing else needed to be said.
“You’re the best of me,” his father murmured before he departed.
Great. He was the best of a man he’d spent most of his life thinking the worst of.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Maddie was waiting for him at a tiny table near the dimly lit bar, sipping a glass of white wine.
Her lips glistened, wet and tempting. Her blonde hair flowed loose about her shoulders and appeared luminous in the candle glow of the small, dim room. Jon pulled out a chair. When he sat down his knees touched her crossed ones. She felt alluring and way too close.
At this early hour in the day, they had the bar area to themselves. He wouldn’t protest if she rubbed one of her sexy high heels against his crotch.
She didn’t. He didn’t.
“How did it go with your father?” Concern laced her words.
“Better.” He didn’t want to talk about him.
Jon didn’t want to talk about them either. He didn’t want to talk at all. He was in the mood for a goodbye lay. A tension breaker. But by the no-nonsense look on her face that wasn’t going to happen.
He waited. She wanted this talk. Let her talk. As far as he was concerned it was over between them. The emotional attachment anyway. Physically, he didn’t deny he was interested. Ready.
Blood pounded in his brain, against his eardrums, rushing through his veins and heating his extremities. One hard one in particular begged for release.
“The questions I originally wanted to ask seem…” He watched her mouth form words and tried to steel his mind against her. His heart hammered, refusing to shut her soft voice out. Who was he kidding? He wanted her emotionally as well as physically. “They seem insignificant,” she continued, “since you called me a liar.”
That drained his blood, chilled his extremities, and softened his physical attraction, while putting his heart in a stranglehold.
“Go on, ask anyway,” he said, the chokehold making him give in to reason and listen.
“First, I want to clear the air about that last day on Bain Island.” She toyed with her cocktail napkin.
“Glad it was my last.” But he wasn’t. He wanted like hell for her to pull something out of her beautiful hatless head that would explain her lies and make things right between them again.
“You were correct about Barb’s paralysis being a fake. When I saw your anger, I didn’t trust you enough to tell you the truth. I was doing PR for Barb and Dad.” Maddie stared across the table and waited for him to react. Jon watched her through hooded eyes. She pushed on. “I, we lied to you about the open marriage, too. My parents are divorced, have been for years but the islanders don’t know yet. I didn’t know until recently.”
“But you’re telling me.” She was entrusting him with the details, knowing what it would cost her if he blabbed. His heart softened.
“Barb had an affair with Charles Chambers. She swears she had no idea he planned to keep the islanders’ money. He promised to pay it back. Instead, the other day, he came to Tidewater to steal her diamond bracelet and hock it to pay off more of his debts.”
“Didn’t get it, did he?” he stated more than asked.
“No.” She shook her head.
When he glanced around the room, her eyes followed his. The bar was empty except for them. The bartender must’ve gone on break.
She sipped her wine, wondering what to say next. Jon wasn’t contributing much.
“We done?” He spread his hands on the table as if to stand.
“No,” she blurted.
He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.
She wasn’t sure where to begin. “Some surprise about your mother and my father.”
“Was it?” He raised his eyebrows slightly.
“About fidelity.” She didn’t want him to think all Bains were screwed up. “Generations of Bains have remained married until death do they part, according to the records and diaries I’ve read.”
His face remained blank.
She gulped back her wine before zeroing in on his eyes. “You’re not planning to show up next year, are you?” She moved the empty glass aside and leaned her elbows on the table.
He exhaled a long breath and leaned in, too. “Maddie, you’re a good friend and confidante. As a girlfriend, you’re fun and sexy, but when it comes to intimacy and love, you suck.”
Her spine stiffened and her elbows locked, but she hadn’t come this far not to hear him out. “I thought you liked the sucking part,” she said glibly. “But get to the lying part.”
He moved back. Too much intimacy for him, she figured. “You lied about why you were on Rose Island,” he said.
“I never said why I was on Rose Island. Neither did you, not specifically.”
“But you led me on when you knew damn well who I was.”
She stabbed her chest. “I never knew who you were. And if you want to play the blame game, how do I know that you didn’t know who I was?” That wiped the smug look from his mouth. “How do I know you didn’t try to use me to get even with my father?” If he wanted to fling accusations, she’d fling away.
“Now that’s silly.”
“Not any sillier than what you’re saying.”
“I heard you and Barb yelling about Grace.”
“I didn’t know her last name was Matthews. Or that your mother’s name was Grace. You’d never mentioned her to me by name. Even if you had, why would I imagine your business on Rose Island had anything to do with my father and his lady friend? Think about it.”
“I am thinking.” He rubbed his temples.
“Let me help you.” She reached out.
“Don’t interfere.” He flinched.
“Listen to yourself.” She grabbed his head and massaged it as if it were a medicine ball.
He grimaced. “I’m done thinking. Let go.”
She did.
“You’re telling me you didn’t know I was Grace’s son and that your father was seeing my mother?” The furrow in his brow had relaxed a bit as belief sank in. He inched his hand across the table, touched her fingertips with his. “You think I should’ve jumped between you and Barb and asked questions instead of jumping to conclusions.”
She squeezed his strong, familiar hand. “It’s so unlike you not to.”
“And the lesson here is…”
“When it comes to your own problems you’re not as quick to mix it up.”
He shrugged. “Back to the dear old dad issue.”
She didn’t want him to feel defeated. She wanted him to know he could rely on her. “But that’s where I come in. I’ll mix it up for you. I love you.”
His dark eyes spoke the words before he did. “I love you, too.”
“I’m sorry I lied, but I’ve been afraid to confide in anyone my whole life. Rose Island with you was a breakthrough that needed more time to gel. Can you forgive me?”
He intertwined his fingers with hers from across the table. His hand was warm and welcoming.
�
��When you left the beach that day, I couldn’t leave Dad to go after you. He took Grace’s death very hard. He planned to reveal the divorce and risk the scandal when I became of age to inherit the Bain legacy this year. He intended to marry your mother.”
Sadness flickered in his dark eyes. He blinked and cleared his throat. “What’s going to happen with your parents?”
“Barb decided to take her own advice and not combine affairs and business. She turned Charles Chambers in.”
“A woman scorned.”
Barb was nothing if not vindictive.
“What happens to the Bains now?” His eyes said the only Bain he was interested in was her.
“Dad’s going ahead with the divorce declaration. He’s resigning as mayor and taking a hiatus away from the island to grieve and heal.”
“And Barbra?”
“Rather than risk disbarment, she made a deal with Tolliver & Partners to make restitution to the island and retire from law. She sold her bracelet and a few other assets to pay the debt. When all is said and done, she’s a Bain. Especially, I suspect, if I’m not there to carry on her duties for her.”
“Where will you be?”
“I was invited to stay with your sister. We struck up an immediate friendship over the phone. She thinks I’m good for you.”
“What do you say you stay at my place instead?” He leaned across the table and touched his lips to hers.
And Jon was so good with his mouth. The man could kiss, and kiss. This kiss spoke of forgiveness and love and a future. Her heart thudded with hope.
While they kissed, he stood, bringing her to her feet with him. Grabbing her around the waist, he molded her body to his in the empty room, cupping her bottom in his hands.
She arched her hips to get closer. He felt so good. She’d missed him and her body responded instantly. Her nipples peaked, her clit throbbed, her blood pumped hot and wild. His tongue slipped in and out of her mouth in a rhythm she was eager to have him simulate with another body part. A hard, hot one that rode the ridge of her cleft, arousing her faster than being in public should allow.