Tempted Again (25 page)

“So far the attendance this year is above last year’s,” Brenda said before abruptly changing the subject. “My date fizzled out at the last minute. His wife called. The joke is on me because I thought he was divorced like me. But no, he just lied and told me he was. You’d think in a small town like this that I’d know who is divorced and who isn’t. I mean, it’s almost like we have giant
D
s plastered on our foreheads that scream ‘Divorced!’ judging by the way some people look at us.” She paused to do a fake smile and wave at someone who walked by. “I
refuse to fall into a pity pile just because I was deceived. Again. Thankfully we hadn’t gotten intimate yet. In fact, we hadn’t even kissed yet but still…” She sighed. “Well, look at it this way. At least I’ll have plenty to talk about at our next support group meeting. How about you?”

“I’m good,” Marissa said. “Busy working here at the booth. Our teen group is gathering donations for the local food pantry.” Marissa pointed to the sign that Jose had painted and the container that Molly and Tasmyn decorated with photos of kids and food.

“At least I don’t have to go to the food pantry myself,” Brenda said. “Not yet, at any rate.” She reached into her trendy leather shoulder bag and dropped a few dollars into the donation bin. “I’ll see you at the meeting next week,” she told Marissa before moving on.

“She doesn’t look very happy,” Molly noted.

“I know,” Marissa said.

“But she’s pretty.”

“Being pretty doesn’t automatically make you happy,” Marissa said.

“It would make me happy,” Molly said wistfully.

“Me, too,” Tasmyn agreed. “So would having a purse like that. It looked like a Sharif design.”

“Purses don’t make you happy either.” Okay, that may have been a bit of a lie. Marissa could still remember getting a Coach purse from Brad for Christmas and being delighted. But the feeling hadn’t lasted and neither had the purse. She’d had to sell it on eBay to pay off her bills after the divorce. “Not a happy that lasts.”

“What can make you a happy that lasts?” Molly asked.

Marissa was still trying to figure that one out herself.

Luckily, they were interrupted at that point by Roz’s
arrival. Molly and Tasmyn retreated to their corner of the booth.

“I just wanted to give you a heads-up that our library board president isn’t very happy with all the activities in our booth,” Roz quietly said with a subtle nod toward the teens. “I told Chester you have my full support, but he may still stop by and say something.”

“Thanks for the warning. I appreciate it.”

“And I appreciate the way you’ve really pitched in at the library. I realize you’ve put in plenty of extra hours and gone above and beyond,” Roz said. “Even though you haven’t been with us that long, you’ve really made a difference.”

“A good one, I hope,” Marissa said.

“Definitely.” Roz tilted her head toward Molly and Tasmyn, who were talking to a family about donating. “Especially with the teen group.”

“I just wish I could do more.”

“You do plenty. How is it working out with Connor?” Roz asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The two of you overseeing the teen program.”

“Right. We’re okay. Why? Did he say something to you?”

“No. Should he have?”

“No.” Marissa nervously fiddled with her silver dangle earring. She hadn’t worn moonstones since that fateful night when Connor had been in her bed. Now she stuck to turquoise, which was supposed to relieve mental stress. Her dad had already stopped by earlier to remind her that turquoise jewelry dated back to the ancient Egyptians. He was once again manning the mummy booth.

“Well, I’d better be off. I have to go judge something in the Food Hall—corn relish, I think it is.” Roz waved and took off.

Marissa expected the other members of her family to stop by. Since her mom loved the Rhubarb Festival best, she didn’t participate in the Corn Festival as anything other than an observer and consumer. Ditto for Marissa’s sister, who came strolling by on the arm of one of the Roberts brothers.

Jess shook her head at the sight of Marissa working the booth. “You lead such an adventurous life,” Jess said.

“I’m not looking for adventure,” Marissa said.

“What are you looking for—the reason you can’t dance?”

Marissa was looking for peace and quiet but she obviously wasn’t going to find it today at the festival.

“That’s right,” Jess told the teens at the back of the booth. “My big sister can’t dance.”

“My big sister can’t sing,” Molly said, immediately leaping to Marissa’s defense.

“I don’t have a big sister,” Tasmyn said. “But if I did, I wouldn’t make fun of her.”

Jess grinned. “Yes, you would. That’s part of a sister’s job.”

“What’s the other part?” Tasmyn said.

“To have your sister’s back through thick and thin.” Jess wiggled her fingers in a teasing wave and took off.

Marissa spent the next hour answering questions about library services and programs while silently mulling over Jess’s words. They’d surprised her.

She hadn’t thought of her sister as someone who had her back. Not that she thought of her as someone who’d necessarily stab her in the back, either. But Jess just
wasn’t the first person Marissa would call if she needed moral support.

Maybe that would change. There was always the chance that their relationship would continue to grow and flourish.

Marissa’s thoughts turned to her relationship with Connor. She missed him. She missed watching the way that sexy mouth of his moved when he was smiling. She missed having his mouth on her body. No. No, she didn’t. She pulled herself away from sex fantasyland and focused on her job.

Sure enough, Chester stopped by as Roz had warned. “A reminder that you weren’t hired by the library board to baby-sit a bunch of teens. You’re supposed to assist all the people of Hopeful.”

“I realize that. My time with the teens doesn’t reduce my attention to other library patrons in any way.” Marissa had made sure of that. She suspected her job depended on it. So she researched new titles for Reluctant Readers on her own time, listening to
Booklist
podcasts on her laptop at her apartment on subjects like graphic novels and Young Adult award nominees.

“I’m watching you,” Chester said before moving on.

“Are you in trouble because of us?” Molly came closer to tentatively ask.

“Not at all. Don’t worry.” Marissa shifted the conversation. “It looks like the crowd is growing even bigger, doesn’t it?”

Molly nodded. “And it’s getting hotter.”

The temperature had to be in the upper nineties with matching humidity. Marissa had set up two electric fans in the booth but it was still extremely sticky. Molly and Tasmyn wore tank tops and shorts but Marissa didn’t
have that option. Her sleeveless dress was a chili-pepper red, which Flo had informed her at last week’s divorce support group meeting was a power color. In an effort to stay cool, Marissa had gathered her hair up into a ponytail.

During a break from people stopping at their booth, Marissa paused to look around. She remembered coming to these festivals as a kid. She’d been so excited at the prospect of booth games and special food and rides. The young kids seemed to be enjoying themselves on the various rides being offered—from a merry-go-round with colorful carousel horses to the tilt-a-wheel. A new attraction, in which kids crawled around in large, clear spheres, reminded Marissa of something a gerbil would love.

The accident happened so fast that Marissa was completely unprepared. The rides were set up near a paved walkway through the park. A boy around eight was racing down the path when he tripped and fell, hitting his head on the cement and bleeding profusely.

Connor was there an instant later and the EMTs showed up shortly thereafter. By the time they took the child and his hysterical mother away, Connor’s shirt was covered in blood.

He stood there frozen, for a second staring down at his chest. Marissa saw Sully say a few words before drawing him away. But it was the look in Connor’s eyes that hit Marissa so hard. Sully was assuring everyone that the child would be okay, and that head wounds bled a lot. Marissa was relieved to hear the kid would be okay, but she was worried about Connor. She’d never seen him so devastated. The expression on his face had only lasted a moment but even so…

“Are you okay, Connor?” she asked as Sully rushed Connor past the library booth to the exit. “Are you hurt?”

Neither one of them answered her but she could tell that Connor wasn’t okay and that he was hurting in a soul-deep sort of way that she’d only seen on the faces of soldiers returning from war.

She saw Connor at a distance a while later. He’d changed into a clean uniform shirt and had his sunglasses in place as well as his warrior cop face. You’d never know by looking at him now that he’d been through some sort of personal hell earlier.

But she knew. And she knew what she had to do about it.

After the festival closed for the night, she waited for his car to pull into the apartment lot. She refused to get cold feet again. She had no doubts this time. She’d changed her clothes but she was not changing her mind.

She knocked on his door.

“What do you want?’ he growled.

“You.” She reached out to trail her fingers down his cheek. “I want you.”

Chapter Sixteen

Connor
didn’t appear surprised or pleased. His expression remained remote. “Why?”

Marissa blinked. She hadn’t expected this reaction, hadn’t expected having to explain her actions. But she wasn’t about to back down now. “I want to pick up where we left off.”

“You mean when you kicked me out of your bed?”

She looked around nervously. “Can we discuss this inside your apartment?”

For a moment she feared he was going to refuse, but he backed up and let her in.

“Are you offering me pity sex?” he said bluntly.

“Were
you
offering me pity sex?” she countered.

“Hell no.”

“Why should I pity you?”

“Lots of reasons,” he growled.

“There’s been something between us since I came back to town. You know it and I know it. The time has come for us to do something about it,” she said.

“Like what?”

“Do I have to show you?”

He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. She did notice that he couldn’t help glancing at
her
chest, however. She’d chosen her ruffled blouse carefully. She’d noticed his interest in it when she’d worn it before. Actually his interest was in her cleavage. She leaned closer, giving him a better view.

She took one of his hands and guided it to her breast. “Can you feel my heart beating?”

“Is this some kind of trick?”

She shook her head and sent her own hands under his dark blue T-shirt. “I’m not going to get cold feet this time.”

“Are you sure?”

Leaning her lower body against him, she nodded emphatically and smiled. “I’m positive.”

“You better be.” His voice was becoming husky and that distant expression had definitely disappeared. Now those awesome eyes of his were more smoky blue than green.

“How can I convince you?”

“This way…” His mouth covered hers.

She responded to his hunger with an equal passion.

A second later, he had her backed up against the wall and was peeling off her ruffled top. She reciprocated by removing his T-shirt. They left a trail of clothing en route to his bedroom.

Marissa didn’t know where their relationship was going but she knew that making love with him tonight was the right thing, and the only thing she was concerned with at the moment.

She was soon naked and so was he.

“Resistance is futile,” she said with a husky laugh.

His grin was appreciative. “Who’s resisting?”

He swept his hand from her breasts down to her hip and below. Foreplay was all well and good but she was about to go up in flames here.

She helped him put on a condom and guided him to the part of her body that was aching for his entrance. “Now,” she moaned. “I want you now.”

He obliged, sliding into her with one thrust. Her gasp of pleasure was incorporated into their kiss. Those gasps increased as he reached down to caress her where they were joined. The erotic friction he was creating with his body and his fingers was more than she could take.

Her orgasm grabbed hold of her, starting with sweet spasms deep within her womb and spreading to powerfully clenching waves. She felt more in that moment than she had in years. “Flashes of lightning,” she gasped.

“Where?”

“Inside me.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yes, yes!”

The crescendo sent her soaring over the edge of satisfaction into pure bliss.

Connor’s shout followed soon after as his body stiffened and then relaxed in her arms.

She couldn’t speak for some time. And when she finally did, she simply said one word. “Wow.” Her voice reflected her amazement.

“Double wow.” He tucked a loose strand of her hair away from her face.

“Triple wow. Was it like this between us before?” she asked.