Chapter 9
Nine
Jack and Andi fell into the habit of talking late at night, sometimes for hours, about the kids, work, friends, places they’d been, people they knew.
Jack lived for that time with her at the end of every hectic day.
The night before she was due to arrive, he got home late from a dinner meeting with clients and found Frannie in the family room, watching a movie.
“Where is everyone?” he asked, plopping down next to her on the sofa.
“Finishing homework and taking showers.”
“I’ll run up to see them in a minute.”
“Everything all set for this weekend?”
Resting his head back on the sofa, he glanced at her. “I guess.”
“What’s wrong? You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“Not about wanting to see her. I can’t wait for her to get here. I just feel kind of…”
“Guilty.”
Nodding, he said, “I went to see Clare today, and it was so weird knowing I’d be spending the weekend with someone else.”
Frannie reached out to rest her hand on his arm. “There’s nothing you could do for Clare that you haven’t already done or tried. It’s time to move on.”
“You’re sure I’m doing the right thing by not telling the girls I’m seeing Andi?”
“I can’t see any reason to involve them until you know where it’s going.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Jack didn’t like keeping things from them but didn’t want to upset them when they were finally getting back to some semblance of normalcy.
“I’m going to head over to Jamie’s now that you’re home, but we’ll be here this weekend.”
“Thanks, Fran, for everything. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Have a great time, and don’t worry about anything.”
The flight was thirty minutes late. After waiting ten torturous days, the extra half hour was unbearable.
Jack paced the waiting area at the bottom of the escalator, keeping an eye on the passengers descending from the second-floor arrival area.
Just when he thought he’d go mad if he had to wait another second, he caught sight of those curls, those eyes, that smile. Oh, that smile gets to me.
She signaled for him to stay put rather than fight his way through the crowd.
The metaphor wasn’t lost on Jack as he watched her come toward him, knowing exactly what she could expect from him—and what she couldn’t.
In that moment, he realized with clarity he couldn’t easily understand or explain—even to himself—that he loved her.
At some point over the last two weeks of talking to her and sharing confidences he had fallen hard.
Before he had time to process the startling discovery, she was standing in front of him, and he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to hug her or kiss her or maybe both.
Reaching out to frame her face with his hands, he bent his head and brushed a light kiss over her lips. “I thought you’d never get here.”
Her eyes flittered shut as she dropped her bag and stepped into his embrace.
He held her for a long time, breathing her in and wanting her more than he’d wanted anything in longer than he could remember. They held each other for several minutes before he released her, reached for her bag, and walked with his arm around her to the parking lot.
In the car, he turned to her. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Her face flushed with a slight blush that he found charming. “All the way here,” she said, “I kept thinking, what am I doing? But I wanted to see you again. So badly.”
“I wanted to see you just as badly.” He cupped her cheek and brought her close enough to kiss. Skimming his tongue over her bottom lip, he fought the urge to devour. “Mmm,” he whispered against her lips, “all I’ve thought about since that amazing kiss in the office was doing it again.”
Her fingers combed through his hair, encouraging him to take more. “Me, too.”
He kissed her again, this time holding nothing back. Her slick lips and teasing tongue made him want her naked and horizontal under him with a fierce urgency he wouldn’t have thought himself capable of anymore before he met her.
Breathing hard, he rested his forehead against hers and gazed into her soft brown eyes. “I told myself I wouldn’t do this.”
“Kiss me?” she asked with that teasing smile he so adored. “I would’ve been disappointed if you hadn’t.”
“Jump all over you like a hormonal teenager the minute you got here.”
“We jumped all over each other.”
“I can’t remember the last time I made out in a parked car,” he said with a smile as he reluctantly pulled himself away from her to drive them to Newport. “I’d forgotten how fun it can be.”
The ride was punctuated by small talk and comfortable stretches of silence. On the way, Jack struggled to process the strong reaction he’d had to seeing her again as well as the discovery that he’d fallen in love with her.
“What’re you thinking about over there?”
Startled out of his thoughts, Jack glanced at her. “A lot of things.”
Reaching over, she linked her fingers with his. “Care to share any of them?”
“Maybe,” he said with a coy smile. “Eventually.”
“Are you feeling okay about…well…everything?”
“I’m conflicted. I won’t lie to you about that.”
“I wouldn’t want you to.”
“This feels like it has the potential to be a very big deal. And it’d be one thing if we had only ourselves to think about, but there’re so many other people to consider.”
“May I make a suggestion?”
“Of course.”
“How about we take this weekend just for us? No worries or talk about the future, the kids, the logistics, or any of the other issues standing in the way. Just us.”
Overwhelmed by the relief of having her and her thoughtful sensibility with him for the next few days, he brought their joined hands to his lips. “That could very well be the best idea you’ve ever had.”
Laughing, she said, “Oh, I’ve got a few others you’ll like just as much—if not more.”
Jack groaned and pressed harder on the accelerator.
When they arrived at the marina, Jack was relieved to find it oddly deserted.
He wasn’t prepared to explain Andi to people he and Clare had known for years, nor did he want rumors reaching the girls before he was able to talk to them himself.
But remembering their vow to keep this weekend all about them, he pushed those thoughts aside and took her bag down to the cabin.
Turning to go back outside, he discovered she’d followed him.
“Hey,” he said, his heart racing.
“Hey, yourself.”
They stared at each other for an emotion-packed moment before she was back in his arms, clinging to him as he plundered. He pulled her in tight against his instant erection.
A mewling sound erupted from her throat.
When he lifted her, she wrapped her arms and legs around him without breaking the intense kiss. Pressing her against the wall freed his hands to cup her breasts, and he ran his thumbs over pebbled nipples.
Gasping, she tore her lips free. “Jack…”
“What, honey?” He dropped soft kisses on her neck. “Tell me.”
A tremble rippled through her. “I want you.”
Her softly spoken words went right to his heart—and a few other places. “Let’s get out of here and go someplace where we can be alone.”
“All right.” She slid down the aroused front of him until her feet were back on the floor.
A few minutes later, Jack cast off the last of the lines and backed the boat out of its slip.
She watched him maneuver the big boat in the small space. “You’re good at that.”
“Lots of practice. It used to scare the hell out of me,” he said with a grin as he guided the boat into the channel that circled Newport Harbor. He steered the boat into the bay so they could see the hotel site from the water.
Zeroing in on the construction site, she said, “It’s going to be spectacular.” The dreamy expression on her face caught his attention.
“Tell me what you see.”
“The rolling lawn is sprinkled with umbrellas and Adirondack chairs filled with guests enjoying the view of the bay. Sunday brunch is being served on the veranda. Green-and-white-striped awnings and huge terra cotta pots filled with lush flowers.”
“Wow, I can picture it. How do you do that?”
She grinned and shrugged.
“I added a second veranda to the plans on the south side, right about there.” He pointed. “I can’t take too much credit for the initial design, but I’m very pleased with what our gang came up with. I wouldn’t have done it much differently myself.”
“They’ve learned from the best.”
“So did I.” Jack steered the boat toward Mackerel Cove to anchor for the night. “Working for Neil was so important. It made everything else possible.”
“I’d love to meet him.”
“You’d be surprised at how normal he is. He’s not at all affected by the attention he’s received. It hasn’t spoiled him.”
“Sounds like you learned more than just architecture from him. You could be describing yourself.”
“Thank you for that, but my career certainly doesn’t warrant the same attention his did.”
“You’ve gotten your share. I knew about your firm for years before we hired you.”
“It still amuses me to hear that. We had no intention of working at the level we are now. We just wanted to keep it simple. That’s why we left Neil’s company, but it hasn’t worked out quite the way we planned.”
“You know what John Lennon said about life? It’s what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
“Ain’t that the truth? If my father had his way, I would’ve been a banker.”
Andi grimaced. “I can’t picture that.”
“Neither could I. My grandfather started the bank, and my father took it over when his father retired. It was assumed I’d follow in their footsteps.”
“What bank?”
“Bank Atlantic.”
“I had an account there when I was in college!”