Chapter 17
Seamus carried Carolina’s overnight bag to the Jeep, mourning the loss of the closeness they’d shared during the night.
She hadn’t said more than ten words to him since the call from Joe reminded her that she’d been fooling around with a man roughly her son’s age.
It didn’t seem to matter that the man in question didn’t give a fig that she was older than him or had a son his age or was about to be a grandmother.
He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone else, and damn if he’d let her walk away like what had transpired between them hadn’t rocked him.
“Ya can’t fool me, love,” he said when they were standing beside her Jeep with nothing left to do but say their good-byes.
He’d called the office to get her car on the one o’clock boat.
He was captaining the five o’clock boat or he might’ve gone with her and spent all day trying to convince her to give him a chance.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked testily.
With his hands on her hips, he brought her in close to him and watched her eyes dart nervously around, as if she was concerned the neighbors might see them. “I know you enjoyed yourself last night. Some things can’t be faked.”
Her face flushed with color, which was all it took to make him hard as a rock for her. “I didn’t fake anything, and I never said I didn’t enjoy it.”
“Then why can’t ya bring yourself to look at me?”
“I looked at you.”
“You looked at my dick. You took a good long look and licked your lips because you want more of it. But ya can’t seem ta bring yourself to look at my eyes. Why is that? What’re you afraid of, love?”
She raised her chin and met his gaze, her blue eyes heated with anger and desire. By now he certainly recognized the desire. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
He framed her face and kissed her, hard and long and deep.
At first she fought him, her attempts at protest opening her mouth to his insistent tongue.
He kissed her until she stopped fighting him, until her arms were wrapped tight around his neck and her core was pushed even tighter against the thigh he’d wedged between her legs.
“If you’re not afraid of anything, you’ll see me again. ”
“I told you, I’m not interested in a relation—”
He kissed her again, harder and longer and deeper than before, pressing his leg against her in pulsing movements that had her pushing back just as insistently. By the time he broke the kiss they were both breathing harshly. “Don’t lie to me, and don’t lie to yourself, Carolina.”
“I’m not lying to anyone,” she said, pushing free of his tight embrace.
She wiped a trembling hand over kiss-swollen lips.
“I had a very lovely time last night, but I told you before, that’s all it can be.
I refuse to take up with a man nearly twenty years younger than me, who works for my son. What would people say?”
He hadn’t realized he’d given her the power to hurt him. Staring at her, he hoped to shame her into taking it back. “You disappoint me, lovely Carolina. I thought you were made of more courageous stuff than that.”
“You don’t understand—”
“No, I really don’t, but I’m hardly going to beg. I had a grand time. Best sex of my whole damned life.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips, leaving a tender kiss on the back before he released her. “I’ll never forget it.”
Opening the car door, he held it while she got in.
He reached for the seatbelt and leaned in to buckle it, drawing a gasp from her as his body brushed against her.
As he retreated, he stopped when his face was an inch from hers.
“Worries about what other people would think or say won’t keep you warm during a long, cold winter.
Not as warm as I could keep you.” He caressed her face and gave her one more soft, sweet kiss.
“You know where ta find me if you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
Shrugging, he said, “Okay.”
The Jeep’s tires made a squealing sound as she tore out of the driveway.
Watching her go, Seamus hoped he’d played it right.
He could’ve bowled her over with romance, but until she realized how good they could be together and got past her hang-ups about being with a much younger man, all the romance in the world wouldn’t matter.
No, she had to make the next move. And when she did, he’d be ready.
Big Mac McCarthy was working with his son and Luke, replacing some rotted planks on the main pier, when Linda came flying into the parking lot in her little yellow Bug, skidding to a stop and tooting the horn. “What the heck has gotten into her?”
“Since she’s your wife, we’ll let you go find out,” Mac said with a cheeky grin.
“Thanks, pal.”
“Go on now before she comes after you.”
Luke chuckled at their banter as he continued to pound nails into a pressure-treated plank.
Scowling at his son, Big Mac headed up the pier to meet his wife. “Who put bees in your britches, sweetheart?”
She surprised the heck out of him when she ran to him and launched herself into his arms. They’d had a rough couple of months after he was injured in an accident at the marina earlier in the summer.
But right around Labor Day they’d patched things up, and since then .
. . Well, let’s just say he was reminded of the first year they were married.
The gal couldn’t keep her hands off him, not that he was complaining.
Nope, no complaints. He tightened his arms around her and spun her, noticing that Mac and Luke were watching them.
Stopping the spin, he made sure his back was to the nosy Nellies down the dock. “What’d I do to deserve this?”
Glowing with delight, she linked her hands around his neck. “I just got off the phone with Janey, and she had the most amazing news.” Linda moved her hands to his face and kissed him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Mac and Luke had gone back to work, which made him chuckle to himself. Eat your hearts out, boys. Mom and Dad still got it. “Are you going to tell me the news?”
“You’re going to be a grandpa again!”
Big Mac’s mouth fell open in shock.
“Don’t feel bad,” Linda continued. “Apparently, they were surprised, too. They’d planned to wait until Janey finished school, but she forgot to take her pill—”
Big Mac used a kiss to stop her from sharing too many details about his daughter’s sex life—a sex life he still liked to think was nonexistent despite significant evidence to the contrary. Returning his wife to terra firma, he kept his hands on her shoulders. “Is she feeling okay?”
“She’s been terribly tired, which is what got Joe to thinking something was going on.”
“He must be thrilled. He’ll be a wonderful father.”
“I said the same thing. Although apparently, he’s worried. His own father has been gone so long he barely remembers having a father. He’s afraid he won’t be any good at it.”
“That’s ridiculous. He’ll be a natural.”
“Yes, he will,” she said, caressing his face. “He’s had you, and you showed him how fatherhood is done. That baby will be very lucky to have him as its dad.”
“That’s nice of you to say, babe.” He guided her around the corner of the gift shop, out of the view of Mac and Luke, and bent his head to kiss her more thoroughly. “How about we call it a day a little early?” He waggled his brows to let her know what he had in mind.
Her cheeks flushed with color. “I’d love to, but I need to go see Carolina. Did you hear she’s come back to the island for the winter?”
“Mac mentioned that he went out to check her woodstove and roof.”
“Oh, he’s such a good boy. I’m sure Joe appreciated that.”
“I hate to think of her out there all alone in that old house.”
“She won’t be all alone. She has us and lots of other friends.”
He nibbled on her neck, hitting the spot that got her attention every time. “So that’s a ‘no’ on the go-home-early plan?”
“Give me an hour?”
“I suppose I can do that. Don’t forget we’ve got Luke and Syd’s party later, too.”
“I haven’t forgotten. I’ll see you at home in an hour.”
He slapped her on the fanny. “Don’t be late.”
She left him with a kiss that made him wonder how he’d last an hour. “Tell Mac and Luke I’ll see them later.”
After she drove off, he walked down the dock to rejoin the boys.
“Everything all right, Romeo?” Mac asked.
“I should’ve spanked you more often as a child.” Big Mac picked up his hammer and grabbed a fistful of nails. “It just so happens that I’m going to be a grandfather again. Congratulations, Uncle Mac.”
“Who? Evan or Grant? Or Adam? Not Adam. He doesn’t even have a girlfriend.”
“Stop getting all excited thinking one of your brothers effed up. Your sister is expecting.”
Mac’s hammer froze in midair as he gaped at his father. “They were going to wait until she finishes school! I thought I had years to get used to the idea before I’d have to see my baby sister knocked up!”
Big Mac shrugged. “Finding out where the plan went wrong would require details I can’t handle.”
Mac nodded, his eyes big. “Right there with ya.”
“You two are ridiculous,” Luke muttered. “Absolutely ridiculous.”
Carolina had just brought the last load of boxes from the Jeep into the house when a horn tooted in the driveway. As she went out to see who was there, Linda McCarthy jumped out of her cute yellow car, swinging a bottle of champagne over her head.
Carolina smiled at her old friend. Apparently, Linda had heard from her daughter.
“Congratulations, Grandma!” Linda said as she enveloped Carolina in a hug.
“Same to you!” She put an arm around Linda to walk her inside.
The two women were polar opposites. Linda was petite and polished and classy and always well put-together.
Carolina, who had at least four inches on Linda, preferred torn jeans to tailored suits, and a messy braid was her idea of doing her hair.