Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-16 (Gansett Island Series)

by Marie Force

  While Tiffany knew she ought to be celebrating the end of a marriage that had died a long, painful death, she hardly felt like celebrating. She wanted her baby girl to snuggle and cuddle up to after the miserable disappointment of her grand opening, but this was Jim’s weekend with Ashleigh.

  She briefly pondered Blaine’s directive that she call him the second her divorce was final so they could pick up where they’d left off last fall. But she was too worn out and defeated after the day she’d had to go another round with him.

  Her heels echoed through the empty house, reminding her once again that she would’ve been better off using her settlement money to buy furniture and pay some bills. “Well, I didn’t,” she said to the gaping emptiness that was her home. “So stop reminding me of what I should’ve done. What’s done is done, and now I have to find a way to make it work.”

  On the way up the stairs, she unbuttoned her silk blouse and headed to the garden tub in the master bathroom. Pouring in strawberry-scented bubble bath, Tiffany stripped down and watched the bubbles bloom. She grabbed her robe and ran downstairs to pour a big glass of chardonnay and returned to the bathroom as the bubbles reached ideal height. Tiffany went to the stereo Jim had installed years ago and smiled as Andrea Bocelli’s distinctive voice filled the room. The only reason the stereo was still there was because he’d hard-wired it into the house. Slipping into the warm suds, Tiffany felt the tension leave her body in one long wave. Nothing fixed what ailed her quite like a bubble bath.

  As she floated on a cloud of strawberries and Andrea, she willed away the worries of the day, like she’d done for more than a year, since Jim lost his mind and left his perfectly lovely wife. And she’d been a perfectly lovely wife. That was one thing she knew for certain. She’d cooked and cleaned and worked to support them while he was in college and law school. When they bought this house from his parents, she’d labored nonstop for months to make it a place he’d be proud to bring his friends and business associates. She’d entertained lavishly and often, without much notice, any time he asked. She’d done absolutely nothing to deserve the way he’d treated her. Knowing that gave her some measure of comfort, but it did nothing to warm her bed on cold winter nights.

  Tiffany soaked for close to an hour, and only when the water started to cool did she move reluctantly from the tub to the enormous steam shower to rinse off the suds and wash her hair. When she first saw that shower, she’d imagined making slow, steamy love with Jim in there. Never once, in all the time they’d lived there together, had that happened. “What a waste,” she whispered, annoyed with herself for still being hung up on the memories of him and what might’ve been.

  All at once, images of the sexy police chief pushed Jim from her thoughts. Blaine had been so hot and so bothered earlier as he’d tried to cover her up. Tiffany laughed at how annoyed he’d been. The more he’d tried to cover her, the more fun it had been to torment him. It hadn’t been lost on her that once he’d realized she wasn’t going to allow him to cover her, he’d kept that heavy jacket of his strategically placed to hide the effect her outfit had on him. Too bad they’d been unable to capitalize on all that chemistry zinging between them.

  She towel-dried her hair and brushed it out. Letting it dry on its own would result in wild curls by morning, but she was too tired to bother with the drying and straightening ritual. Wrapped in a pale pink silk robe, Tiffany rinsed out the tub and took her wineglass downstairs for a refill.

  The clang of the doorbell echoed through the empty house like the bells at Notre Dame, startling her. She couldn’t imagine who’d be calling at this hour. As a woman living alone with a small child, her first thought was always safety. She peered through the peephole and nearly swallowed her tongue when she saw Blaine Taylor’s handsome face.

  Should she ask him to wait while she dashed upstairs to find more appropriate attire? Why bother when he’d seen her in much less earlier?

  She swung open the door. “Have you come to gloat?”

  He took a long, slow, perusing look at her, making each of her most important parts stand up to ensure he didn’t miss anything. “Of course not.”

  The bob of his Adam’s apple satisfied her. “Then what can I do for you, Chief?”

  “I thought we’d progressed to first names.”

  Standing in the soft spring breeze with only a thin layer of silk covering her, Tiffany was acutely aware of all her pleasure points, because each of them had come to life the moment she opened the door to him.

  His deep, gravelly voice, the hint of rough stubble on his well-defined jaw, the honey-colored hair, those liquid brown eyes, the uniform… Tiffany had never understood why women went wild over a man in uniform. Now she got it, and for the first time since Jim left her, she was truly grateful to be single—and now officially divorced.

  “What brings you to my doorstep on this fine evening?”

  “I wanted to check on you. I thought you’d be more, you know, upset. About today.”

  Tiffany shrugged. “It’s the first day. Things will pick up.”

  “Are you always so optimistic?”

  “What choice do I have?”

  “I admire that.”

  Startled by the unexpected compliment, Tiffany stared at him, taking note of a pulsing twitch in his cheek. All at once, it dawned on her that he wanted her. Fiercely. The realization sent a charge of desire sizzling through her, as if she’d touched a live wire. She felt her nipples get even harder under the soft silk and watched his eyes lower to take in the show. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was looking, which pleased her. It’d been so long since a man had looked at her with anything other than contempt.

  “Would you like to come in?”

  “I probably shouldn’t.”

  “Probably not.”

  He took a step forward to close the distance between them, but still, he didn’t touch her. “Are you divorced yet?”

  “Funny you should ask. I got the papers today. It’s official.”

  His eyes narrowed a bit at that news. “You were supposed to call me the second it was final. We had a deal.”

  “I was a little busy today.”

  “Still, we had a deal.”

  “I figured maybe you’d forgotten about that.”

  He shook his head. “I think about you way more than I should,” he said softly.

  His confession warmed her all the way through, the same way a shot of fine whiskey would. “I think about you, too.”

  “What do you think about?”

  As he moved closer to her, his breath whispered against her neck, making her tremble. “What do you think I think about?”

  “Probably the same thing I think about.”

  “Does that mean you want to come in?”

  As if he couldn’t wait another second to touch her, his hands landed on her hips, sending heat blazing through the silk that covered her. “If I come in, we’ll end up in bed.”

  Tiffany wondered if it was possible for a heart to leap right out of a chest. “You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  “Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

  “I’m awfully sure that I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.”

  “Well, in that case…” Tiffany somehow managed to saunter away from him on legs that felt like noodles. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she said, “Are you coming?”

  “Not yet,” he said as he walked in and shut the door behind him. “But I will be soon, and so will you.”

  Chapter 3

  Just as she’d never found uniforms to be particularly sexy, overly confident men had never really done it for her, either.

  Until now.

  He walked into the house like he owned it and everyone in it. To say he had a predatory look in his eyes would be putting it mildly. Tiffany marveled at how quickly he got her motor running, and he’d barely touched her. He followed her to the kitchen, also known as the scene of their earlier crime, where she
planned to buy herself some time by getting a glass of ice water.

  But Blaine had other ideas.

  He backed her up against the same expanse of countertop that had hosted their previous encounter and pressed his body tight against hers, placing his hands on either side of her on the counter.

  Tiffany gasped from the impact of his erection pressing against her belly.

  “Where’s your daughter?”

  “With her father.”

  His lips hovered over her neck without touching her fevered skin. “I saw you this afternoon.”

  “I could feel you watching me.”

  “Was that show for me or everyone else?”

  “Mostly you,” she somehow managed to say. His nearness, the scent of sandalwood and citrus, the hard press of his muscles against her softness… Tiffany would implode if he didn’t do something, anything, very soon. She pressed her pelvis against his erection, drawing a low growl from him. Her fingers curled tightly around the edges of the countertop.

  “I didn’t like it,” he said.

  Tiffany swallowed hard. “Naughty nurses aren’t your thing?”

  “I don’t like that every guy in this town is thinking about you tonight. Fantasizing about you.”

  Tiffany glanced up at him. If she were in her right mind, she might’ve been put off by the almost feral look in his eyes. In her current state, the look sent an urgent surge of liquid heat straight to her core. “You don’t?”

  He held her gaze as he shook his head.

  “Why not?”

  Tugging on the sash to her robe, he nudged it open and took a long, measuring look at what he’d uncovered. “I don’t want anyone else to see you.”

  Even though she was wildly aroused, Tiffany couldn’t let that statement go unchallenged. “You make it sound like you have some sort of claim on me. One orgasm doesn’t give you the right—”

  His lips came down hard and fast, his tongue surging into her mouth at the same instant his fingers slipped between her legs and into her slick channel.

  Tiffany gasped from the dual assault and gripped his biceps with both hands.

  “Do two orgasms give me any rights?” he whispered against her lips as his fingers slid in and out of her in a suggestive rhythm that had her on the brink of climax faster than she’d ever gotten there before.

  “I’ll let you know after the second one. It might not be as good as I remembered.”

  His sexy grin lit up his face. “It’ll be as good.” He shifted his fingers to focus on the spot that burned for him. “It might even be better.”

  Having no doubt about that, Tiffany let her head fall to his shoulder as he used his feet to slide her legs farther apart. If he hadn’t been pressing her so tightly against the counter, her legs would’ve buckled under her.

  “Mmm,” he said. “So wet, so hot.”

  A tremble began in her thighs and worked its way through her entire body.

  “I love that you always smell like strawberries.” Cupping her breast, he bent his head to suckle on her nipple as he once again drove his fingers deep inside her. “And taste like heaven.”

  Tiffany cried out when the orgasm slammed into her. Her head fell back, and she was vaguely aware of his teeth closing around her nipple and his hair brushing against her neck. Wave after wave of exquisite pleasure pounded through her. He kept up the movement of his fingers and sucked hard on her nipple, making her come again. That had never happened before, and it left Tiffany feeling boneless and sated in a way that was new to her. Before she’d begun to recover her senses, he bent and scooped her into his arms. Her robe fell open as he strode with purpose toward the stairs. She didn’t have the energy to care about covering herself.

  “Tell me there’s at least a bed up there.”

  “That and not much else.”

  “That’s all we need.”

  Tiffany directed him to the master bedroom at the end of the hallway.

  Blaine kicked the door open and deposited her gently in the middle of the king-size bed.

  The silk robe pooled beneath her ultrasensitive skin as his eyes took a leisurely journey from her face to her breasts to her belly and below. Heat rushed through her, stealing her breath as she watched him peel off his uniform shirt, exposing a most excellent chest. He was lean and muscular but not bulky. His chest was covered by the perfect amount of golden hair that made a tantalizing trail into brown uniform pants, where an impressive bulge marked the front. Tiffany stared at that bulge, desperate to see all of him.

  “Raise your knees,” he said as he reached for his belt buckle.

  Tentatively, Tiffany did as he’d asked.

  “Now slide your feet apart.” He watched her every move while unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. “More.”

  Tiffany moved her feet until her legs were as far apart as she could get them. Her thighs quivered with anticipation as she waited to see what he’d do next. The breeze from the ceiling fan fluttered against her heated flesh, and she fought for every breath. She felt exposed and vulnerable but completely safe.

  Leaving his pants open and hanging from narrow hips, he propped a knee on the bed and bent to press his face to her sex. He took a long sniff and exhaled with what sounded like sheer pleasure.

  “Strawberry fields forever,” he said as he licked her.

  Tiffany fought to stay still as he took another long lick before twirling his talented tongue in circles around her clit. She reached for his hair and buried her fingers in the coarse strands. He had her on the verge of another explosive release with a few more sweeps of his tongue. Her legs closed around his head, and she rode his tongue with total abandon.

  He pushed two fingers into her and took her right off the cliff, shrieking like the shameless hussy she became in his presence.

  “Mmm,” he said, his lips vibrating against her sensitive flesh. “That’s four. Do I have any rights yet?”

  Even though she was gasping for air, she laughed as she said, “Still haven’t decided.”

  Kissing his way to her breasts, he looked up at her. “Need more convincing?”

  Tiffany nodded and curled one of her legs around him. Using her foot, she pushed his pants down and then went back for his boxers.

  Blaine rolled off her. “Let me help you with that.” He pushed off his shorts to expose his erection.

  “Oh.” She took a good look at his long, thick penis. It reminded her of some of the larger dildos she’d stocked in the store, and for a brief, paralyzing moment, she wondered if it would fit inside her.

  “See something you like?”

  “Maybe.” When he would’ve returned to his position on top of her, she stopped him and rose to her knees, shedding the robe as she went. Bending over him, she peppered his chest with kisses. His soft chest hair brushed against her face as she paid homage to both nipples before dragging her tongue over the defined ridges of his belly. She felt his fingers in her hair, and when he tightened his grip, she could tell she was having the same effect on him that he’d had on her.

  Her hair slid through his fingers as she traveled down his long body. She dragged the loose strands over his erection, which drew a moan from him. After she’d teased him with her hair for a few minutes, she ran her hands over his legs, pushing them apart as she went. He watched her every move as she learned the muscular contours and planes of his body. When she had him spread open the way she wanted him, she bent to run her tongue over his balls, back and forth several times before traveling up to his weeping cock. She kept her hands on his thighs and felt each reaction as it traveled through him.

  “If you keep that up,” he said through gritted teeth, “we’ll be done before we start.”

  “I’ll take my chances.” She looked up at him as she slid her lips over the head and sent her tongue into the salty slit.

  “Oh God, Tiff,” he said, his eyes fluttering closed. “That feels so good.”

  Emboldened by his surrender and heartened by his use of her nickname, she
closed her hand around the base and took him deeper into her mouth, letting her tongue explore as her hand worked him.

  His fingers guided her head, and his hips surged, urging her to take him deeper.

  Tiffany tried to take as much of him as she could, but he was so big and so thick. Her sex clenched in anticipation.

  “Tiffany,” he said, the warning loud and clear.

  Despite frequent pleading, Tiffany had only let Jim come in her mouth once, and she’d hated the taste. So she debated about whether to allow it now. For some reason, she felt freer and more uninhibited with this man she barely knew than she ever had with the man she’d married. So when Blaine uttered one more dire warning, Tiffany went for broke, driving him to an explosive finish that filled her mouth and throat with his essence. She swallowed every drop and then licked him clean as he twitched beneath her. Everything about him was different than what she’d known in the past, even his taste.

  Like he’d done to her, she kissed her way up his chest until she was stretched out on top of him. His arms closed around her, and his lips skimmed her forehead. “That was incredible,” he said, eyes closed, breathing ragged.

  His heart hammered under her ear. “Really?”

  “Mmm. The best ever.”

  Tiffany smiled against his chest. Even if that wasn’t true, it felt good to be the best at something.

  His hands moved slowly over her back, massaging as they went. He cupped her bottom and squeezed. “Kiss me,” he whispered.

  Tiffany raised her head to kiss him and laughed when she realized they’d had five orgasms between them but had barely kissed.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, his hands kneading her cheeks.

  “This turned out to be a pretty good day after all.”

  He smiled, and Tiffany was struck by how it softened his normally austere expression. “Do you have to work tomorrow?” he asked.