Fool for Love (23 page)

"It was tougher watching you with
someone who didn't deserve you." He cupped her cheek and guided her back
to him for more of those sweet kisses. "That was unbearable."

She kept her kisses chaste, as if she
intended to torment him.

Joe groaned and tightened his hold on her
hair, to keep her where he wanted her. "You're being mean."

"I'm very, very sorry."

"You are
so
not sorry."

Janey laughed, and he released her hair to
comb his fingers through it.

"I know we're not talking about the
future or even tomorrow, but I want you to know that I really, really love you,
Janey." The minute the words were out of his mouth, Joe regretted them,
because her smile faded and the playfulness was gone. "I shouldn't have
said that."

"It's okay."

He linked their hands and brought them to
his chest. "You're not ready to talk about serious stuff."

"I love you, Joe. You have to know
that."

"Sure. I know." Joe released her
hands, helped her off him and sat up.

From behind him, Janey looped her arms
around his shoulders and kissed his neck. "Then what's wrong?"

"I don't want you to love me, Janey.
I want you to
love
me love me."

"I just need some more time."

"Maybe we should take a break until
you're ready." The hand that had been caressing his chest went still.

"Is that what you want?"

"No, but it may be what I need."

"Oh. Okay. If that's how you
feel." Janey got up and reached for her dress.

As he watched her take off the T-shirt he
had loaned her, he called himself fifty different names for being so damned
stupid. He started to tell her to stop, that he didn't want her to go, but the
words wouldn't come.

She finished getting dressed and slid her
slender feet into sexy silver sandals.

What are you doing? You're really going
to let her leave? Are you out of your mind?
"Wait. Janey. Wait."

On the way to the door, she turned back to
him.

He got up and went to her. "I don't
want you to go."

"But I probably should. I don't want to
hurt you, Joe."

He took her hands. "Is it at all
possible that down the road, at some point, you might maybe love me love
me?"

"Yes!" She laughed and threw her
arms around him. "Yes, yes,
yes
."

Smiling, Joe lifted her off her feet.
"I hate when you mince words that way."

She let her head fall back, laughter
gripping her.

He took advantage of the opportunity to
nibble on her exposed neck. "Can you give me an idea of how far down the
road we're talking?"

Her fingers sifted through his hair, her
eyes alight with amusement. "A block, maybe two."

"Wow. That close, huh?"

"Yep."

Setting her down, he kept his hands on her
shoulders. "If we're that close to our destination, perhaps we should hold
off on any more … how should I say this…"

"Hot sex?"

Just hearing her say the words made him
want it. He swallowed hard. "As much as it pains me to even suggest it,
maybe we should wait until we arrive?"

"That's probably not a
bad
idea."

"It's a truly terrible idea. Forget I
ever said it. Let's go back to bed."

Still laughing, Janey resisted his efforts
to drag her to bed. "You wouldn't have said it if you didn't think it was
sort of a good idea."

"You're not going to forget this, are
you?"

"Nope."

"And you won't have sex with me?
Really?"

"Not until I'm very, very sure that
I'm in love with you."

"But you're taking away one of my
best weapons to make you fall in love with me!"

"I said we couldn't have sex."
She pushed him onto the bed and straddled his lap. "I didn't say we
couldn't do other stuff."

"What other stuff?" Intrigued,
Joe ran his hands up her legs, pushing her skirt up as he went.

"Well, there's kissing," she
said, pressing soft kisses to his face that made his heart race. "And
touching." She massaged his shoulders and chest.

Joe closed his eyes as he realized it was
possible that
not
having sex with her could be even more exciting than
having
sex. "What else?"

"Cuddling, snuggling, talking.
Dating—like normal people."

"You want to date."

Her fingers danced over his skin, giving
him goose bumps—among other things. "Do you have a problem with
that?"

"No, no problem. So let me get this
straight. After we've done, well, everything, you want to go back to holding
hands?"

She reached for his hand and brought it to
her lips, pressing a kiss to his palm. "I love to hold hands. Don't
you?"

"All depends on whose hand I'm
holding."

"What do you think of mine?"

He loved this coy Janey, who was having so
much fun playing with him. "Your hand," he said, nibbling on her
fingers, "is my most favorite."

A smile lit up her face. "Wanna make
out?"

"We're really going on a sex
diet?"

"Yep."

"In that case, I'd love to make
out."

Joe walked Janey home the next morning and headed to the South Harbor Diner
where he met Mac and Thomas for coffee just about every morning he was on the
island. Joe told himself it didn't mean anything that Mac didn't show. Perhaps
he'd decided to sleep in or to make it an early morning at the marina. As Joe
bought coffee and a blueberry muffin, he figured if Mac was still mad with him,
he'd find out soon enough.

Feeling the first sting of coffee against
his abused lips brought back memories of the night before. Making out with
Janey for
hours
had turned out to be among the most exciting and
frustrating experiences of his entire life. After having all of her, it was
damned hard to settle for less. She'd allowed second base but nothing more, and
Joe had gone nearly out of his mind with wanting her. In fact, long after she
had fallen asleep in his arms, he'd lain awake vibrating with desire and dissatisfaction.

Janey had to work most of the day, and he
had to take care of the final details for Mac's bachelor party that night, not
knowing if the groom-to-be was even talking to him. "Fabulous," Joe
muttered to himself as he left cash on the table and got up to leave the diner.
With the bachelor party tonight and the bridal shower tomorrow, Joe didn't
expect to see Janey again before tomorrow night at the earliest. Another reason
to be in a foul mood.

How was he supposed to make her fall in
love with him when they couldn't spend much time together? Just as he had that
thought, he passed the florist shop. A bright yellow arrangement caught his
eye. The sunny colors reminded him of Janey as he pushed open the door and
stepped inside. Ten minutes later, he had arranged for delivery of the yellow
bouquet to the vet clinic and was laboring over what to write on the card.

When the phone rang, the nosy florist left
him to go answer it. Joe stared at the card. What to say? He chewed on the end
of the pen for another minute, until he heard the florist wrapping up her call.
He wrote quickly: "Pick you up at 8 tomorrow night. Wear something sexy.
Love, Joe." By the time the florist returned, he had sealed the note into
the tiny envelope. "That'll do it." He figured the news would be all
over the island within an hour that Joe Cantrell had sent flowers to Janey
McCarthy.

"Very good, Mr. Cantrell. We'll
deliver your order this afternoon."

"Thanks." Joe left the shop and
whistled all the way to Mario's. He confirmed the bachelor party food order,
which would be delivered to McCarthy's Marina at seven. Checking his watch, he
was surprised to realize he had wasted so much time at the florist. He was
captain on the eleven o'clock boat back to the mainland and returning on the
two. While he was on the mainland, he had to run home to pick up a suit for
tomorrow night.

Approaching the ferry landing, he smiled
to himself. "She wants a date? I'll show her a date."

"There has to be something you can do," Mrs.
Roberts said, tears streaming down her wrinkled face as she held the limp and
listless Molly to her chest. The seventeen-year-old yellow mutt kept a watchful
eye on the people in the room, but raising her head took more energy than she
could summon.

"I'm sorry," Doc Potter said
gently, resting a hand on the elderly woman's shoulder. "I'm afraid her
time has come."

Watching the scene, Janey wiped a tear
from her cheek. This was Doc at his very best, and she learned something from
him every day she worked for him. She couldn't begin to imagine Mrs. Roberts'
pain. The idea of losing any of her pets killed her, but at least she had a
big, loving family all around her. Mrs. Roberts only had Molly, and she'd
resisted their suggestions over the last year that she might want to think
about getting another pet so that when Molly's time came, she wouldn't be all
alone.

"Am I doing the wrong thing?"
Mrs. Roberts asked between sobs. "Letting nature take its course?"

"She doesn't seem to be in any
pain," Doc said.

"What do you think, Janey?" Mrs.
Roberts asked.

"I think Molly wants to stay with you
as long as she possibly can, but she hopes you'll know when it's time to help
her along."

Doc nodded with approval. "That's
right."

"Okay, then," Mrs. Roberts said.
"That's what I'll do."

"Just keep her comfortable and try to
get some liquids into her." Doc helped the elderly woman up and escorted
her to the door. He scratched Molly's ears and kissed her sweet face. "I
can come to the house if need be. You have all my numbers, right?"

"Yes. Thank you both so much. I
wouldn't be able to get through this without you."

"That's what we're here for,"
Janey said, feeling bruised and battered by Mrs. Roberts' terrible grief.

"It's so sad," said Lisa, the
receptionist, after the door closed behind Mrs. Roberts.

"I can't stand it," Janey said.
"Seventeen years!"

"Molly doesn't want to leave
her," Doc said. To Janey, he added, "You said just the right thing in
there. Well done."

"My heart was breaking the whole
time."

"Mine, too," he said with a frown.
His bushy white eyebrows and mustache drooped with sorrow. He took these things
hard. They all did. "I hope Molly goes on her own so we don't have to put
her down. I don't want to have to do that."

"I hope so, too," Janey said.
"Just the thought of that makes me ill."

"Something came for you when you were
in with Mrs. Roberts, Janey," Lisa said, smiling. "I put it on your
desk."

"Thanks." She wandered back to
her office and gasped when she saw the huge bouquet of yellow flowers. Even
before she found the card in the midst of all the bright blooms, she had broken
into a smile.
Joe
. Tearing the envelope, she read the brief message over
and over, her heart fluttering with anticipation. How would she stand to wait
until tomorrow night to see him again? If he was out to make her fall in love
with him, he was off to a great start. She couldn't remember the last time
she'd received flowers.

"Oh, hey, nice flowers," Doc
said from the hallway.

Janey leaned in to take a deep breath of
fragrant lily. She loved picturing Joe going to the florist to buy flowers for
her, even if it meant the whole island would know about them by sunset.
"Aren't they?"

"From David?"

Janey held the card against her chest.
"Nope." Doc had always been more like a beloved grandfather than a
boss, and he loved to tease her about anything and everything.

"Well, who else would it be?"

Janey was surprised that news of their
breakup hadn't reached him yet. "David and I broke up last week."

"Oh. Well. Mac said you had a
situation, but I didn't imagine… Wow."

"It's okay, Doc. It was for the
best."

"You're handling this quite
admirably. Had to be a big disappointment."

"It was, but I've come to realize it
was over a long time ago. We just chose not to see it."

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks for all the time off. It
really helped."

"Pshaw," he said. "It's
been quiet this week with the holiday and all. Besides, you hardly ever take
time off."

Janey tucked the card from Joe into the
pocket of her lab coat. "Do you have a minute? There's something I need to
talk to you about."

"Only if you tell me who sent the
flowers," he said, smiling as he came into her office and shut the door.