by Marie Force
Chuckling, he said, “You’re not going to remember any of this in the morning.”
“I will, too!” She cupped him through his jeans. “How could I ever forget this?” Under her hand, he throbbed to life. “Mmm, look at that. You’re so easy, Mac McCarthy.”
“Maddie…”
“Mac… I wanna get naked. Let’s go. Hurry up.”
“You need to sleep it off.”
“I will sleep it off, after you do me. Now, get busy.”
He stared at her, seeming astounded at the blunt talk that was wildly out of character for her. Apparently, the blunt talk was having the necessary effect on him as he hardened under her hand.
“You’re not getting busy.”
Apparently resigned to his fate, he pulled his shirt over his head, revealing the most excellent chest and belly that had captivated her from the first time she’d ever seen him shirtless. Her husband was a fine, fine looking man, and she loved him fiercely. “Hurry.” She tugged at the button to his jeans, her hands not working as well as they usually did.
“Whoa,” he said, grabbing her hand. “Careful with the zipper, babe.”
“You do it, then. Just hurry up!”
“You’re bossy when you’re drunk.”
“You’re bossy all the time, so now it’s my turn.” She wiggled out of her jeans and panties, pulled off her bra and tossed it across the room. It didn’t even occur to her anymore to worry about baring her obnoxiously large breasts to her husband. He loved every inch of her and never missed a chance to tell her so.
She pushed back onto the bed, raising her arms above her head and letting her legs fall open. There was a lot to be said for liquid courage, she thought, as she watched her husband’s eyes darken with lust. She loved that she could do that to him. “You’re not hurrying,” she purred.
“I’m trying to figure out who you are and what you’ve done with my shy, demure wife.”
“Are you complaining?”
He came down on top of her, settling into the V of her legs. “Not even kinda.”
“Good,” she said, smiling as she dragged him into a kiss designed to show him how badly she wanted him.
“I need to stock up on champagne,” he said, making her snort rather inelegantly with laughter.
“The champagne is only part of it.”
“What’s the other part?” he asked, looking down at her with love and desire.
“You.” She reached up to comb her fingers through his dark hair. “I look at you, and I want you. You walked into the restaurant tonight, and my heart skipped a happy beat because there you were. My guy, coming to find me because he can’t stand to spend even one night out without me.”
“Maddie…”
“I like to pretend I’m mad when you crash girls’ night, but I’m never mad. I’m always thrilled to see you, because there’s never a time I wouldn’t rather be with you than with anyone else.”
“You humble me, Madeline.” His words were a low rumble against her ear as he slid into her, hard and hot and exquisitely perfect. Always so perfect.
In the back of her mind, something nagged at her, but she was too caught up in him to stop to think about what it might be. She was forgetting something. Whatever it was, she’d worry about it later. Right now, she had far more pressing concerns as his control snapped, and he took her on a hard, fast thrill ride.
She gripped his ass to keep him deep inside her as she crested the first peak, crying out even though she knew she should be quiet with the kids sleeping.
“Shhh,” he whispered, his lips curved with amusement as he continued to thrust into her.
“So good,” she said as her eyes fluttered closed. She let her hands fall to the mattress and loved that he reached for them, gripping them tightly as he took her up and over again before finding his own release.
As he lay panting above her, still clutching her hands, Maddie opened her eyes and let out a squawk when she found Thomas standing by the bed, teddy bear in hand, staring at her with blue eyes brimming with tears.
“Why is Daddy hurting you, Mommy?”
“Oh, Christ,” Mac muttered against her neck as he released her hands.
Maddie’s champagne buzz fizzled as mortification set in. She didn’t dare move out of fear of showing him even more and making it worse, as if it could get any worse. “Daddy isn’t hurting me, honey. He’s hugging me.” She put her arms around Mac. “See?”
“But you were crying. I heard you.”
Mac’s body shook with silent laughter.
Maddie pinched his rear, and he surged deeper into her. Fabulous. “Go back to bed, and Mommy will be there in just a minute to tuck you in.”
“Not until Daddy gets off of you.”
“I love Mommy,” Mac finally said. “I’d never hurt her. You know that.”
“Go ahead, Thomas,” Maddie said sternly. “I’ll be right there.”
When the little boy finally turned away and padded off to his room, his parents dissolved into laughter.
“Oh my God!” Maddie said, pushing at her husband. “Get off me! I have to go make sure he’s not scarred for life!”
“I told you to be quiet.”
“It’s your fault!”
He withdrew from her and rolled over. “How in the world is this my fault? I was trying to put you to bed, and you went all vixen on me.”
Maddie got up on rubbery legs and went to the closet to find a robe. “You made me scream.”
“Right. Okay. I made you scream.”
“You did!”
He rolled his eyes at her, clearly not buying her logic. “Want me to come with you?”
“No, I’ve got this.”
“It bums me out that he thinks I was hurting you.”
She went to him and bent to kiss him, patting his face. “I’ll take care of it.” Steeling herself for an awkward conversation with her son, Maddie went into his room to find him sitting up in bed and clutching his poor bear. “What’re you doing awake?” Maddie asked as she sat on the bed.
“I heard you crying.”
“I wasn’t crying, honey. I was laughing. Daddy was being silly.”
“It sounded like you were crying.”
“I promise I wasn’t, and Daddy wasn’t hurting me. We were just playing.”
“Why were you playing without your clothes?”
Maddie wanted to expire on the spot. “Um, we were snuggling. Sometimes mommies and daddies snuggle without their clothes.”
He wrinkled his little nose in disgust. “That’s yucky.”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” she said, suppressing the need to giggle madly. “We’ll snuggle with our pajamas on from now on.” She raised the covers. “Time to go back to sleep.” Tucking the covers up to his chin, she bent to kiss his forehead. “Honey, you know Daddy would never, ever hurt me, right?”
As he nodded, his big eyes were solemn.
“I don’t want you to worry about that. Daddy loves me so much. He loves me and you and Hailey. He’d never hurt any of us. I promise.”
“He’s a good daddy.”
“He’s the best daddy.” She kissed him again. “Have sweet dreams.”
He turned over and popped his thumb into his mouth—always a good sign that he was on his way to sleep.
Relieved to have survived the crisis, she got up and felt a surge of moisture between her legs. That’s when she knew what she’d forgotten earlier. She managed to maintain her composure long enough to check on Hailey and return to the bedroom where Mac waited for her under the covers.
“Everything okay?”
“We forgot to use a condom.”
His face sagged with shock and dismay. “Oh. Shit. I never even thought of it.”
“You were the sober one! You should’ve thought of it!”
“So this is my fault, too?”
“Yes!”
Grinning and shaking his head, he held out his hand to her. “Come to bed.”
“In a mi
nute.” She went to use the bathroom and brush her teeth. All the while, her heart beat an out-of-control rhythm as the possibility of another pregnancy left her flat-out terrified. With her hands on the countertop, she let her head drop as the implications settled into a hard knot in her belly.
Mac came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, his face warm against her back. “I’m sorry, honey. You got me so worked up, I never gave it a thought.”
“I knew you’d find a way to make it my fault,” she teased.
He urged her to turn to face him. “Just because we slipped up once doesn’t mean you’ll get pregnant.”
“It’s been two weeks since my period,” she said, watching his face carefully as the information registered with him.
“Still, that doesn’t mean it’ll happen.”
“I hope not. I’m not ready to be pregnant again.”
“I’m not ready for you to be pregnant again either. I may never recover from the last time.”
That drew a small smile from her. “What’re the odds of something like that happening again?” she asked of their daughter’s wild home delivery during Tropical Storm Hailey.
“I have no desire to find out anytime soon.” He hugged her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “No matter what happens, we’re in it together, you and me. All the way.”
His words went a long way toward defusing the panic that had gripped her since she realized they’d forgotten protection. But the panic would gnaw at her until she knew for sure that she wasn’t pregnant. It was going to be a very long ten days.
Chapter 3
Daisy was up early the next morning to get ready for work. Since Mrs. McCarthy had put her in charge of the housekeeping department on a trial basis earlier in the month, she was trying to get there early every day so she was ready when the others arrived. She only had the job at all because Maddie had put in a good word for Daisy with her mother-in-law, but Daisy was determined to do the best job she could and earn the position permanently.
Emerging from the house, she was dejected to realize it was raining. Normally, she walked the mile and a half to work every day and enjoyed the exercise and the scenery along the way. But with the rain coming down hard, she went back for her umbrella and headed to the ferry landing to hail a cab.
Ned Saunders waved her over to his cab, running around the front to open the passenger door for her.
“Thank you so much, Ned,” Daisy said as she got in and shook off her umbrella before Ned closed the door.
“Not a good day fer walkin’ about, doll,” Ned said as he fired up the old station wagon and took off toward North Harbor without even asking Daisy where she was going.
Such was life in a small town. Everyone knew your business, which wasn’t always a good thing. However, since the awful night with Truck, the island community had been extra nice to her. She hadn’t heard a word of derogatory gossip about her, though that didn’t mean there hadn’t been any.
“How ya been feelin’?”
“Much better. Thank you again to you and Francine for the casserole and the brownies. That was very nice of you both.”
“I gotta give my gal credit for that. I was just the delivery boy.”
Daisy smiled at him. He was so damned cute and crazy in love with Maddie’s mother. They gave romance losers like her hope that there might be someone out there for everyone. “Just the same, it was nice of you, and I appreciated it.”
“Our pleasure, honey. Glad to see ya up and around and back ta work. I hope yer not lettin’ Linda push ya around at the hotel. She runs a tight ship, but she’s a lot more bark than bite.”
Daisy had learned as much since she’d been promoted. “She’s been very nice to me, especially since I had to call in sick for a whole week right after I got the new job. And she brought me dinner, too.”
“That sounds like the Linda I know and love.”
He was quiet for a moment but glanced over at her twice.
“What is it that you’re dying to say to me, Ned?”
“Tisn’t my place to interfere.”
Daisy smiled at him, well aware of his sweet yet meddling propensities. “And yet…”
“I’m concerned ’bout yer new friend, Dr. David.”
“What about him?” Daisy asked, not wanting to hear anything about David that would change her opinion of him.
“His track record ain’t the best. I’d hate to see ya git hurt again, ’specially after what happened recently.”
“That’s very nice of you, Ned, and I know there are things in his past he’s not proud of. In fact, he’s going to tell me about it himself the next time I see him. If it’s all the same, I think I’d like to hear it from him.”
“Fair ’nough. So long as ya know there’s somethin’ ya need to hear. And fer what it’s worth, it’s good he wants ta tell ya ’bout it. Says somethin’ ’bout him.”
“I agree.”
“Sorry to be nosing in where my nose don’t belong.”
“You were looking out for me, and that’s very sweet of you.”
“Aww, shucks, t’ain’t nothing I wouldn’t do fer my own girls.”
Daisy thought it was doubly sweet that he thought of Maddie and her sister Tiffany as his girls, especially since their own father had been a total deadbeat until recently. Anxious to change the subject as they approached the last intersection before the hotel, Daisy tried to think of something else to talk to him about. And then she knew what she wanted to ask him.
“How does Maddie seem since her dad came back around? She told me he set up college funds for the kids.”
“Yep. Too little too late, if ya ask me, but ain’t no one askin’ me.”
“It’s something, anyway, but I do see what you mean. I can’t help but wonder if he did that to guilt them into spending time with him.”
“’Twas my thought as well.”
“Hmm, well, we’ll have to keep an eye on her and make sure he can’t hurt her again.”
“On that we agree.” He brought the car to a stop at the bottom of the grassy hill that led to the hotel. “If it’s still rainin’ this afternoon, I’ll be back to getcha at four.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want ta do it, so don’t give me no sass.”
Daisy laughed and shook her head at him as she reached for her wallet.
His hand covered hers. “Keep yer money, doll. Tain’t no good here.”
Charmed by him, Daisy leaned over to kiss his cheek. “You’re the best. Thank you.”
Daisy scrambled up the hill under the umbrella, thinking about her chat with Ned and more concerned now about whatever it was that David had to tell her.
She tried to push those worries aside as she got busy preparing the schedule for the next week and organizing the supply order that was due by noon so the delivery could make the Friday ferry.
At nine-thirty, she met with “her” team of housekeepers, which still made her feel like an imposter. What was she doing overseeing Sylvia, Betty, Sarah and Maude, who, along with Maddie, had taught her everything she knew about hotel housekeeping? When their old boss Ethel retired, Maddie had been promoted. After Hailey was born, she’d decided to stay home with her kids and had recommended Daisy for the job, which Daisy still couldn’t believe.
She’d cried like a baby when Maddie first told her that she’d encouraged Mrs. McCarthy to put her in charge. And she’d totally understood when Mrs. McCarthy asked for a summer-long probationary period so they could make sure it was a good fit for both of them before they made it permanent. Daisy had never had a job with benefits or paid vacation or the kind of salary she was earning. Even with the increased salary, however, the cost of living on the island was rising all the time, and she was constantly short on cash.
However, she had health insurance for the first time since she left home ten years ago at eighteen, and she was going to do this job brilliantly even if it killed her. Some days she wondered if it would act
ually kill her, because she was working as hard as she ever had, even if the labor wasn’t as physical as it used to be. As the manager, she still ran up and down three flights of stairs all day long and was wiped out at the end of every shift—more so since she’d been injured.
She didn’t want Mrs. McCarthy to think she couldn’t handle the job, so she’d been pushing herself since she’d come back to work. As she returned to her office at noon, her entire body ached, and she was anxious to take a painkiller to get through the afternoon. Two pills would be ideal, but the second one would put her to sleep. One pill would take the edge off the pain radiating from her ribs.
Daisy popped the pill and chased it with a drink of water.
Maddie came to the door, looking a little bleary-eyed, which was to be expected after her big night out.
“Hungover?” Daisy asked with a cheeky grin for her friend.
“Maybe a little.”
“I’m surprised you can move today,” Daisy said, inviting her into the office.
Maddie slid into the visitor chair and took a closer look at Daisy. “Are you okay? You’re pale.”
“Little bit of pain, so I just took a pill. It’ll be better soon.”
“I hope you’re not pushing yourself too hard, Daisy. You were seriously injured, and you only took a week off.”
“I’m fine. I promise. I love the job, and I want to be here.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“I hired two new girls for the summer. They’ll be here next weekend. My first hires. Fingers crossed.”
“Look forward to meeting them.”
“I can’t thank you enough for giving me this opportunity. You have no idea what it means to me.”
“Yes, I do. It wasn’t that long ago that I was living on a shoestring. I understand how new opportunities can change a life. And you don’t have to keep thanking me, Daisy. I recommended the person who I thought would be best for the job.”
“It feels weird sometimes, being the boss of Betty, Sarah, Maude and the others. They’ve been here forever.”
“And they don’t want to be the boss. I had the same concerns, but Linda told me they didn’t want the job. They were nothing but supportive of me when I was in charge.”