by JoAnn Ross
“Where does it hurt?” he asked when they finally came up for air.
“Here.” She touched her forehead.
“Then that’s where we’ll start.”
He kissed his way from temple to temple, lingering in the center, where she’d touched. Then he ran his fingers over her wet skin. “You really are tense. I once interviewed a medic in Iraq who was into alternative medicine,” he told her casually, as his mouth moved down her cheek, returning to her lips, before continuing. “Since you can’t always use heavy drugs in a battle situation, he was big on using pressure points to help alleviate pain. “
He touched her everywhere, his hands heating her to an internal temperature even hotter than the water streaming over them. When he’d worked his way down to the tile floor, where he even ministered to the arches of her feet, he began his journey back up again.
“Mac.”
“Shh.” He turned her around so her breasts were flattened against the tile as his hands moved up the backs of her legs and over her butt, which had her wishing she’d spent more time doing squats with Kara at the gym. “I’m concentrating.”
Which was more than she was able to do. Her thoughts were as fogged as the warm and steamy room.
When his hand moved between her legs, a sound somewhere between a moan and a cry escaped her lips.
His mouth continued up her back, his hands massaging her shoulders, even as his erection pressed against her.
“Now here’s the key,” he said. “The trick is to get your brain concentrating on some other place.”
His hands cupped her hips. “Ready to try it?”
“If you don’t, Kara’s going to have to arrest me for justifiable homicide when I kill you,” she managed, every nerve ending in her body concentrating on that one place that was aching for fulfillment.
“Can’t have that.”
He slid into her, tight and perfect, as if they’d been made to be together in just this way.
Instead of hurrying, as they had in the car, he took his time, and as her palms pressed against the tile she’d spent weeks picking out, he moved, languidly at first. In. Out. In. Out. Deeper with each fluid, rhythmic stroke, until her lungs clogged and white spots began to float in front of her eyes.
Just when she realized that it was, indeed, possible to pass out from sheer pleasure, he went for it, diving deep, until she screamed his name, the sound of it bouncing off the tile walls like an echo. That, and her orgasm, went on. And on. And on.
He caught her as her knees buckled and lowered her to the floor of the shower, where he took her onto his lap and held her tight.
“How’s the head?”
Head? How could he ask about her head when somehow her orgasm was still rocking her from the inside out? She wondered if whatever he’d learned from that medic had done something permanent to her. Like those erections they were always talking about on the TV commercials that lasted more than four hours.
“Uh.” She closed her eyes, trying to focus on something besides that hot, pulsing place between her thighs. “Uh, it’s still there.”
“The headache?”
Headache?
“No. My head.” She lifted her fingers to make sure it was still on her shoulders where it belonged. “Are you sure that was really a medic? And not some kind of voodoo doctor?”
“U.S. Army,” he said. “But he was from Louisiana, so I suppose he could’ve learned it from some voodoo practitioner. Why?”
“Never mind.” Her headache was actually gone, she realized. And those intense contractions were beginning to calm down enough for her to notice her surroundings. How long had he been in here with her?
“We steamed the room up.”
“That’s not all we steamed up.” He shifted her on his lap and she realized that once again he’d managed to hold back, letting her take what she needed. Wondering if that was another trick the possible voodoo medic had taught him, she said, “I’m not a doctor. Or even a medic. But just maybe, if you got into bed, I could help you with that problem.”
“You’re on.”
As she climbed off him and they both got out of the shower, turning off the still-hot water that had Annie thinking she really ought to consider writing Lucas a thank-you note for having suggested the tankless heater in the first place, he asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve got one of those little nurse outfits. With the short, skintight white uniform and thigh-high white nylons?”
“Sorry.”
“That’s okay.” He caught her hand as she began to dry the part of his body still needing attention. “You’re perfect, Annie.” Although his tone had been teasing, his eyes were as serious as she’d ever seen them. “Just the way you are.”
And the wonderful thing was, as they spent another night exploring yet more ways they could be perfect together, Annie believed him.
56
Charlie was already dressed in his uniform when Mac and Annie arrived at Still Waters.
“Ha! You owe me fifty clams, boy,” he greeted Mac.
“Clams?” Annie looked momentarily concerned that his grandfather was having another reality lapse.
“It’s a bet,” Mac said, trying to shrug the subject off. “Ready to go?”
“Not until you pay up.”
Mac cursed under his breath, pulled out his wallet, and handed Charlie two twenties and a ten. “Happy?”
“Am now,” he said. “How about you?”
“Yeah.” Mac took hold of Annie’s hand. “I am.”
“I told you she was a keeper,” he said. Then he turned to Annie. “His first wife was a nice girl. Pretty, too. Miss California, or Rose Bowl Princess, or something like that.”
“Miss San Diego,” Matt said between clenched teeth. Charlie may be living in reality today, but Alzheimer’s had definitely taken away any conversational filters.
“That’s it. Anyway, like I said, she was a nice girl. With a daddy who was in the Navy, like me, so that was a plus. But she was never right for Mackenzie. And he was never right for her. I could tell that right off from the day of their wedding.”
“Pops,” Mac warned. It wasn’t that he hadn’t already told Annie much the same thing. But she didn’t need to have his former wife thrown in her face.
“Not every marriage is meant to be,” she said mildly. “And even when they start out right, some just take a wrong turn along the way.”
“Not me and my Annie,” Charlie said, crossing his arms. He swept a look over them. “And not you two. I told you”—he turned back to Mac—“this one’s a keeper.”
• • •
“I’m sorry if Gramps embarrassed you,” Mac said later, as they sat on the curb of Harborview Drive, watching the Shelter Bay High School marching band strut by while blasting out John Philip Sousa.
“Don’t worry about it. You know I’m a little in love with Charlie.”
“I didn’t realize I had competition.”
“I wouldn’t stand a chance. Because I’m the wrong Annie.” Her gaze drifted to Adèle and Maureen Douchett, seated across the street, waiting for their husbands to march past. “I envy people who can stay in love for so many years.”
“I suspect it’s not as easy as it looks,” Mac said. “But if my mom hadn’t died, I think she and Boyd would’ve been like Charlie and Annie. Charlie’s parents were married eighty years.”
“That’s a wonderful family history.”
“Yeah. Another reason I felt bad when I screwed up the record.”
She looked as if she was going to respond to that, but just then Emma, who was seated beside him, began jumping up and down. “There’s the float,” she shouted.
She pulled the cards she’d made out of the pink backpack she’d brought with her, and along with the other children, went running up, handing them out to the marching military men and women. One Marine lifted Emma up so she could hand a card to her poppy, who, for a guy in his nineties, looked damn fine, Mac thought. The second card went to her grandfather.
&
nbsp; “Why aren’t you in the parade?” Annie asked. “And don’t say because you were just the guy on the radio.” She ran a hand down his leg. “Don’t forget, I’ve seen the scars.”
“Easy.” He put his arm around her waist. Instead of her usual sundress, she was wearing a red-and-white-striped T-shirt, white capris, and red sandals. While she might have left the stilettos and diamonds at home, she was still the sexiest woman in Shelter Bay and he couldn’t wait to get her alone for a few hours of highly inappropriate sex. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”
“Did you see?” Emma asked as she ran back to them. “I gave away all my cards. But I saved my most special for Poppy and Grandpa. “
“We saw,” Annie said. “And you did great.”
“I know. Poppy said it was the best card ever.” Her grin took up most of her face. “I knew Peggy was wrong about no one wanting pink ink.”
“I brought you something,” Annie said, reaching into her bag and pulling out the package tied with pink and purple ribbon.
Emma’s eyes widened. “You got me a present?” she asked as she excitedly tore away the pink-flowered paper.
“For your scrapbooking,” Annie said.
“Oh!” Emma drew in a sharp, pleased breath, then held the pink Disney Princess digital camera out to show Mac. “It’s my very own camera!”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool,” he said.
“It’s better than cool.” Emma hugged it to her chest. “It’s amazing!” She flung her arms around Annie’s neck. “Thank you!”
As she hugged Mac’s daughter back, Annie felt a mental camera click, preserving this moment, and the day, forever.
The bidding for the lunch baskets began and Annie realized, when everyone seemed to wind up with the basket made by the person they’d come with, that although the rules stated it would be a blind auction, no one was paying any attention.
The Douchetts had all ended up together, as had Maddy and Lucas and Charity and Gabe. Across the expanse of green lawn, lost in their own world, Kim and her fiancé were feeding each other bites of what appeared to be crab sliders.
After agreeing to go to the picnic with Mac, Annie had found a red, white, and blue hand-stitched quilt in the Dancing Deer’s expanded home-decorating section, and she and Mac spread it out on the lawn for everyone to sit on.
“This is damn good,” Charlie said as he dug into the potato salad.
“Chef Maddy, from Lavender Hill Farm restaurant, made it,” Annie confessed.
“Not surprised the girl grew up to be a famous chef,” he said. “Her grandmother could always cook circles around everyone in town. This tastes a lot like what Sofia De Luca always made for potlucks. My Annie used mayo in hers, which was really tasty, but I’ve got to admit that the spicy mustard gives this an extra zing.”
Speaking of zing . . . As she looked up into Mac’s eyes, which were looking down at her as if she were a decadent dessert that he couldn’t wait to taste, Annie experienced an entirely different type of zing in parts of her body she’d only recently discovered could go zing.
Unsurprisingly, Maddy’s potato salad and her crunchy, moist fried chicken were delicious; they could have been served in any four-star restaurant in New York City. And the brownies Sedona had contributed as a change from her usual cupcakes were rich and fudgy and equally perfect.
As Boyd and Charlie talked with one another about other vets who’d been in the parade, and Emma went dashing around, snapping photos of seemingly everyone and everything, Annie thought how lucky she was that Mac had already professed that her cooking was not what it was about her that had attracted him.
The city council had contracted with a company to set up a Ferris wheel on the bay by the pier. After taking Charlie back to Still Waters, Mac’s father, apparently remembering what it was like to be newly in love, took Emma with him in one of the cars of the ride, leaving Mac and Annie alone.
“I have a question that’s been bugging me,” he asked as the Ferris wheel stopped for a couple to get on below them.
“What?”
“Why Sandy from Shelter Bay? Why didn’t you just give your name?”
“Not everyone does,” she pointed out. “Unless his mother actually named him that, Cowboy doesn’t.”
“I’ll give you that one.”
“I’d never called a radio station before. And when I realized I had to tell you my name, Sandy was the first one to pop into my head.”
“Why that one?”
“It’s silly.” She sighed as the wheel started turning again. Below them Boyd was making the chair rock just enough to have Emma squealing with delight.
“When I was little, kids at school used to do a play on my name and situation, calling me Little Orphan Annie.”
“Kids can be cruel.”
“True. But after a while I developed a sort of shell, so it didn’t hurt as much.”
“No?” He pretended shock. “You? A shell?”
“I did. Until you.” Because it had been too long since she’d kissed him, Annie lifted her lips to his. The wheel stopped again, leaving them at the top of the world. At least their pretty corner of it. From here Annie could see her store. And Take the Cake, which, from the line out in front, appeared to be doing a brisk business.
Cole’s blue fishing boat, appropriately named the Kelli, was tied up at the dock. And as they did most every day, sailboats skimmed across the blue bay, some of them going beneath the bridge, out toward the sea.
“So, anyway, when you asked me my name, that came flashing back, and I thought of Sandy.”
“Little Orphan Annie’s dog.”
“Yeah. Silly, isn’t it?”
“Not at all. Though if you’d used your real name, I might have made the connection faster.”
“And we probably wouldn’t have talked nearly as freely,” she replied.
“Good point,” he said, then ended the conversation by kissing her again. Then one more time, as the Ferris wheel came around to let them off, earning applause from the people holding their yellow tickets and waiting to get on the ride.
57
“I had a thought,” Annie said as she made waffles for Mac and Emma the morning after the Fourth. They might be from a packaged mix, which Maddy would probably consider a cardinal culinary sin, but at least she’d managed to make a stack without having batter run all over the counter. “About your school uniform.”
Emma’s mouth turned down as she smeared a piece of waffle into a puddle of marionberry syrup. “I can’t wear any pink.”
“On the outside,” Annie said. “But the rules don’t say anything about what you wear under the uniform, do they?”
Blue eyes dazzled like sunshine on a summer sea as Emma caught Annie’s drift. “No. They don’t!”
“Well, then. When I bought my dress for the dance, I noticed that there’s a new Tots to Teens section down at the Dancing Deer Two. What would you say to you and I having a girls’ lunch out, then going shopping for underwear?”
“I’d say yes!” She knocked the chair over as she jumped off it and flung her arms, and the heavy cast that was on one of them, around Annie’s neck. “That’s the bestest idea ever! Isn’t it, Daddy?”
The warmth in Mac’s eyes, as they met Annie’s, had her feeling as if she’d swallowed the sun.
“The bestest,” he agreed.
• • •
“Are you going to be my new mommy?” Emma asked across the table at the Lavender Hill Farm restaurant.
“I think it’s a little early to talk about things like that,” Annie replied, hedging.
“Why?”
Wasn’t that what her friends had been asking? What Annie had even begun asking herself?
“It’s complicated. How was your mac and cheese?”
“Really good. But I like yours better.”
Annie decided not to point out that she’d used this same recipe and, unsurprisingly, Maddy’s was definitely the superior dish.
“Tha
nk you. Do you want dessert? Or would you rather wait and stop for a cupcake after shopping?”
Emma took a moment to weigh her options. “A cupcake,” she decided. “Why is it complicated?” Her smooth forehead furrowed into a frown. “Is it because of me?”
“Oh, no.” Having been rejected so many times growing up, Annie knew that even as bright and cheerful as Emma was, and as hard as Mac was working to fill both parental roles, her mother’s abandonment had to have left the child feeling more insecure than she sometimes let on. “I can’t imagine a more extra-special daughter than you.”
“Then why won’t you marry my daddy?”
“You’ll understand when you’re a grown-up,” Annie tried, not having the answer to that one herself.
Emma’s frustrated sigh ruffled her corn-silk bangs. “I hate it when grown-ups say that.”
“I know.” Annie reached across the table and stroked Emma’s hair soothingly. “But relationships take time if you want to do them right. Your daddy and I are in the getting-to-know-each-other stage right now.”
“Oh!” The last of the worry and frustration on her small face cleared. “Like Belle and the beast did. Although he seemed really mean and grumpy at first, he let her read his books and then they had to become friends before they could have a romantic dinner and dance and fall in forever-after love.”
“Exactly.”
That seemed to settle the problem.
At least for now.
Later that afternoon, as they returned home with cupcakes, shopping bags filled with cotton underwear covered with pink flowers, hearts, and various Disney Princess designs, Annie considered making a thank-you card to send to those Disney filmmakers.
• • •
The days that followed were, hands down, the most wonderful ones of Annie’s life. Although it still took some juggling to make time for Mac and her to be alone, and there were some nights that they barely got any sleep at all, for the first time in her life, Annie was learning to play.
Since summer days were long on the coast, they spent every evening together. Barbecuing, walking on the beach, even going out on Cole’s boat for a private whale-watching trip. As if they were becoming the family she’d always dreamed of, those evenings were always spent with Emma. Less and less with Boyd, who’d begun seeing Marian Long, a widowed nurse he’d met while dropping by the hospital to visit a patient.