Chapter 18 #2
“Of course it’s awesome for you,” Janey said to her husband. “You’re not the one slugging through vet school while knocked up.”
“Why don’t we let you two have this argument in private?” Mac said, grinning at the others. “Congratulations, brat. And Joe.”
“And stop using the words ‘knocked up,’” Big Mac said to his daughter. “I can’t bear it.”
Among much laughter, shouts of love and congratulations, Mac ended the call with his sister.
“I’d say all this good news calls for some champagne,” Big Mac said. When everyone had a glass, he raised his. “To love.”
“Hear, hear.”
Sydney snuggled into Luke’s embrace as Grant hooked an arm around Stephanie and hugged her tight against him.
“To love,” Luke whispered in Sydney’s ear.
Sydney smiled up at him, at peace with her past, content in her new life and excited about the future.
“He’s looking at you,” Maddie whispered to Tiffany.
“Huh?”
“Blaine. He keeps stealing glances at you. Every chance he gets.” Maddie gave her sister a nudge. “Go talk to him.”
“I can’t.”
“Of course you can. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
Tiffany sighed and turned away from her sister.
Maddie poked her the way she used to when they were kids and she wanted to get a rise out her younger sister. “Go. Talk. To. Him.”
“Shut. Up.”
“You shut up.”
“No, you.”
Maddie laughed at the familiar exchange, also a holdover from childhood. “What have you got to lose?”
“Only my dignity. When I think about what happened with him . . .”
“You want more of it?”
“That’s not what I was going to say!”
“So you don’t want more of it.”
“I didn’t say that, either.”
“I hate that Jim did this to you,” Maddie said with a sigh.
That got Tiffany’s full attention. “Did what?”
“The Tiffany I know and love wouldn’t think twice about going after something she wants.
My Tiffany took notice of Jim Sturgil in high school and set out to make him hers.
She started a dance studio when she was barely a kid and made a go of it.
When she had a baby and needed a job while her husband was starting his practice, she started a day-care business that was also a huge success.
My Tiffany goes after what she wants. She doesn’t sit in the corner wishing things were different. ”
“I know what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re trying to piss me off so I’ll march over there and do something stupid that I’ll regret tomorrow.”
“You won’t regret it.”
Tiffany shook her head, and Maddie was astounded when Tiffany’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.” Maddie put her arm around her sister and pulled her close. “It’s none of my business.”
“You’re right, though. I’ve become a total wimp. I’m afraid of my own shadow.”
Maddie couldn’t stand to see Tiffany so defeated and hated her ex-brother-in-law for what he’d done to his wife’s self-esteem. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I really want to talk to him. I do. Just not here. Not with an audience.”
“Why don’t you go out on the deck to ‘get some air’? I bet he’d follow you.”
Tiffany shook her head. “Too obvious.”
“I could go in there and tell him you’d like to talk to him.”
“And that’s not obvious?”
“I’m having flashbacks to high school here.”
“I know. It’s ridiculous. Don’t worry about it. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen on its own.”
“If you say so.”
Carolina should’ve brought her own car. She’d realized her strategic mistake the second she stepped into Luke and Sydney’s cozy home and came face-to-face with the one man she most wished to avoid at the moment, especially with Linda “Voodoo Mama” McCarthy at her side.
“Miz Cantrell,” he’d said in that annoyingly sexy brogue as he bowed gallantly over their joined hands. “How lovely to see you. I didn’t know you were on island.”
Even as a jolt of electricity traveled up her arm, she wanted to wipe that smug I’ve-seen-you-naked smile off his face.
“Nice to see you, too, Seamus.” She pulled her hand free. “How’s business?”
“Excellent. Even in the offseason, the people keep coming and coming and coming.”
The reminder of how many times he’d made her come the night before paralyzed her. “T-that’s good to hear.”
His smile told her he knew exactly what she was thinking. “And how’s Joe?”
“As you well know, since you speak to him several times a week, he’s just fine.”
His amusement at her discomfort was apparent in the devilish glint in his eyes. Fortunately, Linda was distracted as she greeted Evan, Grace, Grant and Stephanie.
“Knock it off,” Carolina hissed at Seamus.
“Knock what off? What’d I do?”
“You know exactly what you’re doing.”
“Let me drive you home.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“You know you want to.”
Before Carolina could come up with a suitably dismissive comment, Linda had come back to claim her.
Carolina managed to steer clear of Seamus after that, but she was acutely aware of his every move—and the fact that he hardly took his eyes off her.
Every time she glanced into the kitchen, her gaze met his.
Each time, she immediately looked away, but her nipples tightened, her sex ached and her face burned with mortification.
She had to get herself under control before Linda tuned into what was going on.
That was the last thing she needed. Linda was already curious enough about Carolina’s young lover.
If it ever got back to Joe that she was sleeping with the man he’d hired to run the business in his absence .
. . The thought of it made Carolina want to die on the spot.
Good lord, what had she been thinking? Letting her mind wander back twenty-four hours, it was clear with hindsight that she hadn’t been thinking at all. She’d been under the influence of Irish charm. That was the only possible explanation for her actions.
“Are you all right, honey?” Linda asked, squeezing Carolina’s arm.
“I’m fine, but in need of the rest room.” She had to get out of there before she burst into tears or did something equally embarrassing, such as grab Seamus O’Grady by the arm and drag him out of there so she could have her wicked way with him. Again. “Be right back.”
She kept her head down as she wandered into the hallway to find the bathroom, which was occupied.
“Feel free to use the one in our room, Carolina,” Syd said, pointing to the last room on the left.