McCarthys of Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-3 (44 page)

“Anything.”

“Why’d you bring her there? Why would you do that in the bed you shared with me?”

He glanced down at his feet and then winced at the pain the movement caused him. “She works at the hospital, and she. . . she has roommates.”

Janey released a harsh laugh. “Ahh, I see. And you couldn’t let the people at work find out that the honorable Dr. Lawrence is really a cheating pig.”

“I’m sorry, Janey. What can I do to make this up to you?” He took a step forward, but Janey pulled on the handle to the screen door to keep him out. “I’ll do anything.”

“There’s nothing you can do or say that will ever scrub that image from my memory. I
saw
you, David.” She hated how her throat closed and her eyes burned with tears. “I saw you.”

“I’d give everything I have to take back what happened that night. If only I’d known you were coming—”

“
What?
You wouldn’t have screwed someone else because your oh-so-willing fiancée was coming to town? You make me sick!”

“That’s not what I meant! I would’ve been thrilled you were coming! I miss you all the time, Janey. I hate living like this. I can’t wait for our wedding.”

“There isn’t going to be a wedding. It’s over.”

“It’s not over. You can’t just walk away from thirteen years like they never happened over one mistake. That’s all it was.
One
mistake.”

“Go back to Boston, David.”

“I can’t go back there looking like this. I told them I was in an accident, so I’ll be sticking around for a few more days.”

“Great. Have a nice visit with your mother. Just leave me alone.” She started to close the inside door, but he moved quickly to push open the screen door to stop her.
 

“Janey, honey,
please
. Let me come in. Let’s talk about this. There’s nothing we can’t get through. Look at all we’ve already survived to get to this point.”

A low growl came from behind her. “It’s okay, Riley. David was just leaving.” With a hand to his chest, she pushed him out of the way, closed the door, flipped the lock into place and rested her forehead against the cool wood.
 

“Janey!” David called from outside. “Come on! You can’t do this!”

“Please go or I’ll call the police, David. I mean it.”

“Fine. I’ll go. But I’ll be back. This is
not
over. Far from it.”

Janey didn’t breathe until she heard him stomp down the front stairs and slam the gate behind him.

Whimpering, Riley nudged at her leg, and she reached down to stroke his silky ears. “He’s gone now, boy.”

“Everything all right?” Joe asked.

Chapter 12

Janey spun around to find Joe standing outside the bathroom door, a towel wrapped around his waist. Just the sight of his sculpted chest and abs and the light dusting of blond hair that trailed into the towel was enough to stir the hum of desire she was coming to expect in his presence.

Tipping his head, he urged her over to him.

Janey crossed the room and let him envelope her in his warm, welcoming embrace. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough to get that he’s not planning to go quietly.”

“No,” she sighed.
 

Joe smoothed a hand over her hair. “You’re shaking, baby.”

“He caught me off guard.” Janey looked up at him. “I hope you understand why I asked him about bringing her to his house.”

“That’s exactly the kind of stuff I was talking about when I said you need to work your way through it all. Naturally, you have questions. Anyone would.”

Janey returned her head to his chest. “I don’t know if I’d be able to deal with this quite so well without you to lean on.”

“I’m here.”

She nuzzled her lips into curve of his neck. “I’m glad for that, Joe. I really am.”

“I need to get to work. Will you be okay today?”

Reluctantly, Janey let him go, followed him into the bedroom and sat on the bed. “I have a few things I need to do. Keeping busy will help.” When he dropped the towel, she let her eyes take a leisurely stroll from muscular shoulders to sculpted chest to belly and below. Licking her lips, she took her gaze back up to find him watching her, his own eyes blazing.
 

He pulled on his shirt. “What?”

“I’m just wondering how I never noticed the supreme hotness you’ve got going on over there.”

He stopped in the midst of buttoning his shorts. “Is that so?”

“Uh huh.”

Keeping his eyes fixed on her, he came over to the bed, bending at the waist to bring his face level with hers.

Janey smiled, looped her arms around his neck and dragged him down on top of her.
 

“Listen you sex-crazed vixen, I have to go or I’ll get fired.”

She rubbed her lips back and forth over his, reveling in the moan that rumbled from deep inside him. “You can’t get fired. You own the place.” Her hands traveled over his back to cup his ass.
 

“Could you hold that thought for twelve or so hours?”

“
That
long?”

He pressed hot, open-mouth kisses to her neck and trailed his tongue over her collarbone. “Mmm, I’ll make it well worth the wait. I promise.”

Janey ran her fingers through his hair. “Is this real, Joe? Is it really happening?”

“It’s real and it’s happening and it’s magic. Do you feel it, too? Even just a little?”

“I feel a lot of magic, and that’s what I can’t believe. We’ve been friends forever. And now this.”

“And now this.” Holding her gaze, he linked their fingers and stretched her arms over her head, aligning their bodies.

Janey wrapped her legs around his, marveling at the emotion, the desire, the overwhelming passion. “You have to go.”

“I know.” But he made no move to leave. Rather, he devastated her with wet, open-mouthed kisses that quickly had her craving more.

She ran her tongue over his bottom lip, and he pulled away.
 

“No,” he said, once again capturing mouth with just soft lips on lips.

Janey groaned with frustration. “You’re being mean!”

Chuckling, he said, “I’m just making sure you’ll think about me today.”

“Oh, I will.”

Another soul-stirring kiss. “Promise?”

“Yes, Joe,” she said, laughing. “I promise I’ll think about you today.”

“Then my work here is finished.” With what appeared to be great reluctance, he pushed himself up and off her. “Meet me at the ferry landing at seven forty-five?”

She followed him into the kitchen and filled her favorite travel mug with black coffee. “I’ll be there. Want some cereal or something?”

“I’ll grab something at the diner.” He examined the mug she’d handed him. “Seriously? You expect me to walk through town carrying a cow full of coffee?”

“It’s my favorite,” she said with a playful pout. “It’s a huge honor for me to bestow my cow upon you. I expect you to take very good care of Bessie.”

Rolling his eyes, he kissed her once more, fast and far too brief, and headed for the door. “Thanks for the coffee. I think.”

“Joe! Wait.”

Turning, he raised an eyebrow in question.
 

“Just, you know, take a look before you go out.”

A flash of hurt crossed his face and then vanished just as quickly. The sneaking around bothered him, and Janey hated that.
 

“Sure,” he said. The lips that had teased her so sensuously a few minutes earlier were now tight with tension. “We wouldn’t want anyone to know, right?”

“Joe—”

“It’s okay.” He glanced back at her. “For now.”

Linda McCarthy stepped into the South Harbor Diner and looked around. Kay Lawrence waved from one of the booths in the back. Feeling every eye in the bustling restaurant on her, she slid in across from Kay.

The other woman reached for Linda’s hands. “Thank you so much for meeting me.”

“It was no problem.”

Kay released her hands and sat back in the booth. “You’re angry.”

“I’m furious. And with good reason.”

“Believe me, I’m as angry as you are. I love Janey like my own. You know that.”

“Yes.”

“I just can’t believe David would risk everything he and Janey have worked so hard for by acting so foolishly.”

Linda nodded to the waitress who offered coffee. “And thoughtlessly.”

“That, too.” Kay took a sip from her mug. “I’m truly appalled by his behavior, Linda.”

“I have no doubt. You’ve always been so proud of him.”

“Which makes this so much harder to understand.” She dabbed at her eyes. “How’s Janey? I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“She seems to be holding up okay. She insisted on going home last night so she could be with her pets. They make her happy.”

“David loves her so much. He’s beside himself.”

“He has an odd way of showing his love.”

“He swears it was a one-time thing, and he deeply regrets it. If you could’ve seen how stirred up he was last night, you wouldn’t doubt his sincerity.”

“I’m not sure what you think I can do about it,” Linda said. In the mirror, she watched Mac come through the door, holding Maddie’s son Thomas. Joe followed them into the diner. Linda waved to them as they took over a table inside the door.

“Oh, that Joe Cantrell,” Kay whispered. “He broke my David’s nose! Can you imagine?”

“He’s like a brother to Janey. My husband or son might’ve done worse if they’d gotten to David first.”

“It’s no way to handle a disagreement.”

“This is far more than a disagreement, Kay. He
cheated
on her, and she
saw
him.”

Kay’s brown eyes filled with tears. “Surely there has to be
something
we can do to help them find their way back to each other. All those years. . . I can’t imagine either of them without the other.”

“I don’t know if I want her back with him. Not if that’s the kind of husband he plans to be.”

“He’s having some challenges right now,” Kay said tentatively. “Things he needs to discuss with Janey.”

“She has no interest in discussing anything with him.”

“Once they’re married and living together, everything will be perfect—the way it was always meant to be since they were kids. If we can just help them get there, I’m sure they’ll be so happy. It’s meant to be. We both know that.”

“I used to think so, but now. . .” Linda recalled how upset she and her husband had been when David discouraged Janey from going to vet school. Other than that fiasco and the current one, however, Linda had to acknowledge that their relationship had always seemed solid.
 

“We have to do something, Linda. We can’t let them lose their way now, not when the wedding is just a year away.”

“I don’t know.”

“Can you imagine Janey being happy, truly happy, without David?”

“She’s amazingly resilient. I’m sure she’ll bounce back in no time at all.”

“She’s never been tested like this before. You can’t know that for sure.” Kay again reached for Linda’s hand. “How can we not at least try to help them figure this out? That way, if they decide in the end to part, at least we know we did all we could for them.”

Linda had to acknowledge the other woman made a good point. “What do you suggest we do?”

Kay leaned in and lowered her voice. “Okay, here’s what I’m thinking.”

Sitting across from Mac and Thomas, as he did most mornings lately, Joe tried to focus on the conversation, but what he really wanted to know was why Linda McCarthy was engaged in an intense conversation with Kay Lawrence.
 

“Luke said you guys have big plans for a bachelor party,” Mac said.

Joe tore his eyes off the table in the corner and returned his attention to Mac. “Oh, yeah, I was going to talk to you about that today. You up for some poker and beer on the fifth?”

“Sure. My brothers are due in that morning, so that’s perfect.”

Joe took a sip from the cow mug Janey had given him.
 

“Where’d you get that goofy mug?” Mac asked.

“Oh, um, a friend gave it to me.” He cleared his throat, anxious to steer the conversation in any other direction. “So, it’s starting to look like this whole wedding thing is really going to happen, huh?”

Mac uttered an ironic laugh. “Hard to believe.” He glanced down at Thomas. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Thomas flashed a gummy grin. “Dada, dada, dada.”

Joe smiled at the soft look of love his friend bestowed upon the blond, blue-eyed baby. “If you ask me, you fell for him even before you fell for his mama.”

“I sure did. He’s the frosting on a very nice cake.”

“I give you credit, man. Raising someone else’s kid isn’t the easiest thing to take on.”

“He’ll never know me as anything other than his father. I have a feeling it’ll be the easiest thing I ever do.”