Her Summer with the Marine: A Donovan Brothers Novel (Entangled Bliss) (16 page)

She groaned but got out of bed, put on her shorts, and followed him, grabbing her tank top from the kitchen floor and slipping into it before she went to the deck.

He already had the grill started. “Wanna bring me the steaks?”

“Sure.”

She brought the steaks to him, he kissed her, and all her misgivings about getting out of bed flitted away. She threw together the salad, and they ate on the sunny porch. After clearing the table and cleaning the kitchen, they moved to the chaise longues and read the paper. The big, fat Sunday edition of the
Harmony Hill Gazette
. Stories about football camp, engagements, and group fund-raisers reminded her of the conversations the Dinner Belles had as they cooked a lunch or made pierogis.

She and Finn didn’t talk, except to share a comment or two on a story, then she finally drifted off to sleep. In the sun. Just like a cat or a little kid.

The ring of Finn’s phone woke her. She didn’t bounce up. She uncurled, stretching in the warmth of rays that bathed her in heat and light.

“I’ll be right there.” Finn rose from his chaise. “Alastair McCredie died.”

She shielded her eyes so she could look up at him. “Wow, you mean he was still alive?”

“Yep. Oldest person I knew.”

“He’d have to be like seven hundred or something.”

“I think he helped Noah with the ark.”

She laughed, and he bent and kissed her casually. “I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.”

The warmth of the sun had nothing on the warmth that bubbled through her after that quick kiss. As he disappeared into the apartment, she debated going back to sleep, but looked down at her phone. Not wanting to disturb their afternoon, she’d set it on vibrate. Every time it had shimmied across the deck boards beneath her chaise, she’d glanced down to see the caller was Ashley.

Four hours. Fourteen calls. That had to be some kind of record.

She lifted the phone and hit the contact button for Ashley.

“Where the hell are you? I’ve been trying to call you all day and couldn’t reach you.”

“Did it ever occur to you that I might have a dead body?”

“Oh my God! I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Finn got the body.”

“He’s there?” A pause. “He stayed over?”

She tucked her feet under her legs. “Nope. He was a gentleman. I was a bit unsober so he put me to bed—”

“He undressed you!”

“Nope. I slept in my dress. Face-first. He probably let me lay where I landed.”

Ashley laughed. “You know unsober isn’t a word.”

“Yeah. Basically.”

“So, if Finn left last night, how do you know he got a funeral?”

She tucked her feet a little higher as something soft and sweet warmed her heart. She knew this was just sex, which was why she wouldn’t give Ashley all the details, but Finn was right. It seemed to be something they needed. Not a consolation prize for the one who had to lose, but a gift for both of them.

“That’s the best part. He brought food over to make lunch. We ate it, then read the paper.”

“Read the paper? Who does that anymore?”

She sighed. “People who want a leisurely afternoon.”

“Oh, geez. You have got it bad. And though I told you I thought it was a good idea for you to be together last night, I didn’t necessarily mean you should keep seeing each other. He’s going to hurt you.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh, you have a crystal ball now?”

“No. We have a deal. We’re trying to have fun. Nothing serious. Nothing real. Just fun.”

“You watch yourself. Guys like Finn are hardwired to hurt women.”

Ellie laughed. “Seriously? I think the truth is Finn is hardwired to please women. He’s thoughtful and funny. And he kisses like…I can’t even describe it.”

Ashley sighed. “Well, try anyway. Things between Tom and me didn’t go as well as I’d hoped last night. I could use the pick-me-up.”

Ellie laughed and tried to describe what kissing Finn was like, but in the end told Ashley she’d just have to use her imagination.

He didn’t return that day, and she didn’t care. She knew he had work to do.

Monday afternoon, he called. “Rumor has it they found pieces of an ark in Alastair McCredie’s barn.”

She laughed. “Stop. Don’t make fun of the dead.”

“I’m not. This is just a continuation of what people said about him when he was alive.” He paused. “It’s hard to believe he actually died, you know?”

“Yeah.” Which was another weird thing about the funeral home business. A proprietor didn’t often have a normal discussion about death. People shied away from that with her and probably him, and most likely even her dad. As if talking about dying with the funeral director lured the grim reaper.

Her phone beeped with a call-waiting signal. “Sorry. It’s Dad’s rest home. I have to take this.”

“Okay.”

That’s all he said, just “Okay.” And he was gone, but having a call to answer, she didn’t have time to ponder that.

“Ellie McDermott.”

“Ellie, this is Dr. Hanson from Harmony Hills Hideaway. How are you today?”

“Fine.” Her muscles relaxed. A doctor who called about an emergency with her dad wouldn’t ask how she was. “How is my dad?”

“Well, that’s why I’m calling. He’s not responding to much anymore.”

“You mean the medicines?”

“I mean responding at all. He’s awake very little, and when he is awake, he’s dazed.”

“I thought that was normal.”

“In some ways. But if he continues like this, it means he’s going downhill a little faster than we’d all anticipated.”

All her good, happy feelings from the past few days disintegrated in a poof of sorrow. “Oh.”

“I’m not trying to scare you, but I do think you need to be prepared. Your dad signed a do-not-resuscitate order for Dr. Burke a few months after he was diagnosed.”

“What does that mean?”

“No extraordinary measures will be taken to save his life.”

Her breathing stopped as her brain tried to wrap around that one simple sentence. “What?”

“It’s normal for people with a debilitating disease not to want their life extended artificially.” His voice softened with sympathy. “Especially someone with Alzheimer’s who knows there’s not going to be a quality of life. I’m telling you all this so you can be prepared.”

His meaning finally sank in. Her lips trembled. “Are you saying I need to be prepared for him to die?”

“Prepared for anything. We can’t tell you what’s going to happen. With the rate he’s deteriorating, he could die. But he could plateau and stay in this stage for years.”

The wind came back to her lungs. “Oh. Okay.” Geez, he’d scared her silly. Though it wasn’t fun to hear that her dad probably wouldn’t recognize her ever again, it was also good to know. To adjust to. To accept.

She drew a quiet breath. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome.”

He hung up the phone, and Ellie almost called Finn back. Except she would want to tell him about her dad, to talk about her dad, and they were only having fun.

With another breath to stabilize her body and get her into the present moment, she walked downstairs to the office, where she video-called Nicole. She debated telling her about her dad in the preliminary, how-are-you part of their conversation, but decided against that too.

Her dad was sick. Everybody knew it. True, no one knew that he’d entered the bad phase where he probably wouldn’t know her ever again, but the doctor had said he could live in this phase for years. It was what she’d been waiting for… No. Not waiting for. Expecting, like that stupid other shoe everybody knew would fall. Why burden her friends with it?

“Are you there?”

Ellie looked down at her laptop screen to see Nicole giving her a funny look.

“Yeah. I’m here. I just…” She cleared her throat. She couldn’t talk about her dad, but she could talk about Finn. Maybe have a happy conversation with Nicole instead of bringing her down with bad news. “You know, for once I had a good weekend.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We had a wedding.”

“We?”

“The town.” She laughed suddenly. “It’s strange to live in a small town. When someone popular gets married, a huge chunk of us are invited. We all act like we have a part in it.” She shook her head. With her dad entering the final phase, it was official. She would be in this town until he died. But the knowledge that she was stuck here didn’t trouble her. In fact, after Sandy’s apology, the fun fund-raiser, and Sissy’s wedding, she might have even made peace with it.

“So the wedding was fun?”

“Yes, I sort of made a pact with Finn to just have fun for a few weeks.”

“Ah, Finn, the really sexy guy.” Nicole laughed. “Good for you.”

“Yeah, it’s good.” Except when one of them ran out of money, the fun would be gone. Reality would set in. Would she really be happy living in Harmony Hills if she drove Finn out?

Though it was a struggle, she smiled at Nicole. “I looked at the final cuts of the Tidy Whitiez commercials, and I have to say I love them.”

“We’re proud of them here, too. We were hoping you could come into the office tomorrow so we could do the official critique.”

She hadn’t been to Pittsburgh in a while. And thinking about running Finn out of business had left her with a sour feeling in her stomach. Maybe it would be good to go to the office. “You know what? I think I will.”

When Finn came to her door that night with another bag of food, she was abundantly glad she’d decided to go to Pittsburgh the next day. It gave her something to talk about, so she didn’t accidentally mention her dad. That wasn’t their deal. Even though it hung heavily on her mind, alternately scaring her and depressing her, she shoved it to the back of her brain as she led him up the stairs.

Once they were inside, he didn’t hesitate. He pulled her to him and kissed her soundly, running his hands down her back, under her top, beneath the waistband of her jeans.

She almost giggled and told him to stop because she was hungry…but that wasn’t their deal, either. In fact, she supposed she should be happy he kept bringing food because, really, this was only supposed to be about sex.

She slid her hands up his chest, feeling the muscles beneath his thin summer T-shirt. And suddenly she forgot all about food. She lifted the lightweight material high enough that she could touch skin, and he grabbed the hem and shucked it.

“Never let it be said I’m not helpful.”

She laughed, but standing in front of the most perfect male chest she’d ever seen, she didn’t want to waste a minute. She ran her fingers along his pecs and down the indentations of the muscles of his stomach. She traced the waistband of his jeans, both hands starting at the side and meeting in the middle, at the clasp. She popped it.

Never, ever had she been this bold. And she chalked it up to Finn’s being so casual. She slipped her hands under the open material of his jeans, across his hips to his butt, which she squeezed, then brought them back again to undo his zipper. Sliding her hands under the denim, she gave it enough of a shove that his pants tumbled down, then she shoved his boxers down too.

His erection bounced out and he stepped out of the jeans and boxers and stood in front of her naked.

“I seem to remember you having some kind of rule about both of us being unequally dressed or undressed.”

“In a minute.” She made the comment absently, mesmerized by him. He’d clearly kept up whatever exercise regimen he’d had in the service because his body was toned, his muscles well defined. Stepping close, she kissed his chest, then down his stomach and lower.

“Um. If you’re going to start that, we’d better get to the bedroom.”

She pulled back a notch. “There’s a couch in the living room…or a chair right here.”

He chuckled. “Are you getting adventurous on me?”

“It’s hardly adventurous to suggest sex on a chair.”

“Have you done it before?”

She frowned. “Nick wasn’t really one for experimentation.” Their gazes caught and something weird fizzled through her. She’d done more, talked about more with Finn than she’d ever done with Nick.

…

Nick might not have been one for experimentation, but she was. Finn didn’t know why he was surprised. She’d always been a curious kid, but right now, what she was doing to him went beyond fascination and was rolling into orgasm territory. And she wasn’t ready for that yet.

He kicked the leg of a chair, spinning it around so the seat faced them. In one quick move, he had her top off. In two, he got rid of her shorts. Move three, he sat and turned her toward him.

“Straddle me.”

Wide-eyed, she did as he asked. Which put her breasts level with his face. He ran his tongue over both nipples. She groaned, so he didn’t stop. He took one in his mouth, sucked, and then shifted over to the second. She ground her butt against his thighs in frustration. He put his hand on the small of her back and gave her a nudge, aligning her clit with his erection. This time when she ground, they both groaned.

She rose up from his thighs and he guided her until she rose over him and took him in, one slow inch at a time. As she moved up, then down, he took her breast into his mouth, making her moan with breathy pleasure. The harder he sucked, the faster she moved until she cried out.

Spent, she laid her head on his shoulder, but given that he hadn’t joined her at the finish line, they were just getting started. He rose from the chair, lifting her with him, and ambled to the bedroom.

The second time they made love, he let her touch him, taste him any way she wanted, loving the fact that it all seemed so new to her. Then they fell asleep, but woke fifteen minutes later when her stomach growled loud enough that they both heard.

“I think one of us should get out of bed and start making hamburgers.”

She snuggled into her pillow. “My dad always said it was a man’s job to grill.”

He laughed. “If I’m getting up, you’re getting up.”

She groaned but rolled out of bed. She used the bathroom, then he stepped inside to wash his hands.

Ellie glanced around the bedroom, looking for her clothes. Her brain still in sex-coma mode, she couldn’t quite remember where her shorts were, or her shirt.