The Courage To Love (Love On The North Shore) (11 page)

With no hesitation, Mia slid the rest of the way across the bench seat and her hand dropped on his shoulder as she leaned toward him.

Fueled by her response, he slipped a hand under her top. At first he let it rest on her waist, her skin hot and soft under his fingers. When she didn’t protest or pull away, his fingers found their way up her firm torso until they hit lace. Again he paused until he felt a tug on the back of his shirt as she pulled it from his pants. Not needing any further encouragement, he let his fingers slip inside her bra and rub against her taught nipple.

With a moan, she tore her mouth away and looked at him. “Now might be a good time to go up to your room,” she said.

Reluctantly withdrawing his hand from her bra, he nodded and opened his door. Then in silence they crossed to the back kitchen door and up the old servants’ staircase to the attic and his bedroom.

Chapter 6

He’d always been able to compartmentalize and put work first when need be. Since his father’s first email, that ability had started to diminish. Now every time Sean walked into the main foyer he expected to see his father there again. Each time he logged into the bed and breakfast email account he kept an eye out for a message from him. As far as he could see, his father had only one reason for contacting him now and that reason was green with giant dollar signs.

Unless the SOB had been living under a rock for the past few years, he had to know Charlie had married into the Sherbrooke family. More than likely he’d also heard how well The Victorian Rose was doing since Jake Sherbrooke’s visit following the hurricane. But if money was Seamus O’Brien’s main objective why wait until now? His sister and Jake had been married for over a year. Why wait that long? It made no sense to him, no matter what angle he looked at it from.

Sean pried the wooden baseboard away from the wall. Before he could retile the bathroom floor, the old flooring needed to come up, including the baseboard along the wall. He would’ve been even further along if he could stay focused. Each time his mind drifted he managed to either make a mistake or injure himself. Already today he’d cut his finger while opening cases of paper towels with a box knife. Thankfully a few butterfly strips took care of the problem, making a trip to the emergency room unnecessary. He’d come upstairs when he’d finished that task, hoping some physical labor would keep his mind occupied. So far, though, it hadn’t worked. To make matters worse, when his head wasn’t consumed with thoughts of his father, Mia took center stage.

Only one word could describe their night of sex when they came back from the ghost tour: incredible. Even before that night of passion, she’d occupied his thoughts. Now she all but consumed them. She’d said she wanted to get to know him better and they’d certainly accomplished that in his bed. More than fourteen hours later he wondered if there would be a repeat performance or if it had been a one time deal.

Rather than waste his energy on thoughts of his father, or sex for that matter, he should’ve been focused on convincing his mother to agree with his plans for expansion. When he’d first proposed the idea, she brushed it off saying they could discuss it later. Since then he’d tried to sit down and review his proposal with her, but she kept putting it off. Her reluctance irritated him. It wasn’t like her to brush off anything business related. Moving on to the next wall, Sean slipped the crowbar behind the wooden baseboard and applied pressure. So far everywhere else the wood had come loose easily; here it didn’t budge. Readjusting his grip on the handle, he applied more pressure, only to be rewarded with the sound of splintering wood.

“Son of a bitch.” He’d managed to not ruin a single piece of wood until now, which meant he could sand them down and use them again. He couldn’t do that with this one.

“Sean,” Mia’s voice carried into him from the other room.

“In here.” He tossed the broken wood off to the side.

“You’re mom said you might be up here.” Mia appeared in the doorway that connected his personal living room to the bathroom. “I hope you don’t mind that I came up.”

Mind wasn’t the right word, although an appropriate word eluded him. “No, it’s fine. What’s up?” Coming to his feet, he moved closer.

“Unless you have plans, I thought we could do something tonight.”

He’d planned on ripping out the old tiles on the floor, but that could wait until tomorrow. “I’m free. Did you have something in mind?”

Mia shrugged and the thin strap of her top slid from her shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe another pool lesson, or a movie at the Edgemore. I’ve never been to a drive-in and the weather is supposed to be nice.”

Unable to stop himself, he slid the strap back into place. Tiny nuclear explosions detonated in his body as his fingers brushed across her skin. “How about we see how we feel later and decide? I’ll meet you downstairs around six?” Loath to remove his hands, he let his fingers wander up her neck and under her chin.

Mia took a step closer and kissed him. Then she pulled away and smiled, causing his heart to pound erratically.

“Sounds good,” she said in a silky voice before she walked away.

Kneeling down, he attacked the wood trim again, hoping the physical activity would diminish the desire now heating his blood.

***

Unsure of their exact plans, she stuck with casual clothes. Despite her choice of dress, she took her time getting ready, although she figured she could show up downstairs wearing yesterday’s clothes, no makeup, hair unwashed and Sean wouldn’t care. That wasn’t to say he wouldn’t notice, just that those things didn’t seem important to him. Unlike the guy at the store today when she’d stopped for a Diet Coke, Sean didn’t go out of his way complimenting her. While a compliment was nice from time to time, she didn’t need or want to hear it 24/7. In fact for the most part, Sean treated her like a regular plain Jane, and she loved that. She found it refreshing, almost exciting.

Later, as Mia leaned against one of the posts inside the gazebo behind the house, she said, “I don’t think I’ll ever get the hang of that game.” They’d played, or attempted to play, two games of pool before grabbing a little dinner from the kitchen and taking it outside. During her lesson she’d only managed to sink three balls on her own.

“You’ll get it. It takes practice.” Sean sat next to her, his long legs stretched out and his Irish Wolfhound, Max, not far away. “It took my sister a long time to learn, but she can hold her own now. Every once in a while she’ll even beat me.”

He grabbed a blueberry tart from the basket of food and offered it to her. “Have you tried one yet?”

“I’m good, thanks.” She gestured toward the carrot sticks on her plate. “Are you and your sister close?”

“More now than a few years ago.” Sean popped the tart in his mouth.

Mia watched as the end of his scar moved as he chewed. The thin white line started up near the end of his eyebrow and ended just above his cheekbone. Reaching out she traced it with her finger. “How did you get this?”

Beneath her hand, Sean became still. “A fight with Bruce Austen. He had a big class ring on.”

“What were you fighting about?” Considering Sean’s size she doubted many people picked fights with him and she remembered his comment from other night about learning to avoid fights .

“My sister and a friend of hers.”

She waited for more details, when they never came she spoke again. “About? There’s got to be more.”

“My sister turned Bruce down, which he didn’t like. As payback he started a rumor that he’d had a threesome with her and her best friend, Jessica, after the homecoming dance their sophomore year. I’d picked them both up that night before the dance even ended, so there was no way that happened. I confronted him, and he got in a punch.”

She could picture the scene well. “Just one? How did he fare?”

The corners of Sean’s mouth turned upward in a tiny smile. “Lets just say he looked much worse  than me, and by the end of the week the whole school knew he’d lied about Charlie and Jessica.”

Mia leaned in and kissed the scar. “And you said you two weren’t close.”

“After the divorce I acted more like a father than a brother to her.” His voice took on a gruff tone. “Charlie was twelve when it happened.” The bottle in his hand crackled as his grip on the plastic tightened.

She ran a hand down his forearm, the muscles under her fingertips tight. Gently she caressed his hand until his grip loosened, then she slid the water bottle from his hand. “She was lucky to have an older brother like you. I could’ve used one from time to time.”

“She might disagree with you. She used to love to remind me I wasn’t her father.” The way he said father made her think he referred to some vile devil.

“You really hate him, don’t you?” She could understand being upset with your parents, but not outright hating them. “What happened?”

Sean stared forward for a long time, so long in fact that she assumed he didn’t plan to answer. Finally he blew out a long breath and began. “In the fall of my senior year, he left. He claimed he had to work and couldn’t make my football game. He never came back. About a week later, he called from Florida and demanded a divorce. After that we never saw or heard from him again except the one day at the courthouse.”

“I’m sorry.” She couldn’t imagine what Sean and his family must have gone through. “What did your mom do?”

Sean cleared his throat, and when he spoke again the emotion she’d heard before was gone. “She started renting rooms to college students from Salem State. She’d never worked outside the home. I took a part time job at Quinn’s Hardware until graduation. Then a friend’s father got me a job with the town highway department. I did that full time until we turned this place into a bed and breakfast.”

The selfishness of some people never ceased to amaze her. How could a father do that to his family? “You didn’t want to go to college?” Most people she knew would’ve run from town if faced with the same situation.

“I got a football scholarship to the University of Florida but turned it down. Ma and Charlie needed me here.”

The little she’d already learned about him intrigued her, drew her to him, but this new information strengthened that attraction. Family had always been important to her and for the most part she met few men who felt the same, at least up until now.

“Then both your mom and sister were lucky to have you.” Moving away from the side of the gazebo, she swung a leg over his outstretched legs and straddled him. Then she silenced him with a kiss. His strong arms encircled her waist as she wrapped her own arms around his neck. The kiss started off gentle, just the barest movement against his lips. Ready for the kiss to intensify, she opened her mouth, an invitation for him and he took it. Sliding his hands up her back he pulled her closer, crushing her against him as his tongue tangled with hers.

Thoughts of their previous conversation evaporated and she lost herself in the kiss. A kiss that not only had her body wanting, but also made her feel special. Two emotions she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Something moved against her leg and a few seconds later she heard someone clearing her throat.

“Sean,” Maureen said, her voice laced with embarrassment.

Mia broke away and noticed that the dog that had been near them now stood next to Maureen.

“I really hate to bother you, but the bathroom sink in the Hawthorne room is not draining and the guests are not at all happy.”

Sean’s chest moved against hers as he took in a deep breath, and Mia’s cheeks burned with heat as she recalled where she sat.

“Give me a minute and I’ll take care of it, Ma.”

“Thank you.” Maureen turned back toward the house, Sean’s dog beside her.

“Will it take you long?” She slid her hands down over his shoulders and to his biceps.

Sean brushed a stray piece of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “Shouldn’t, but you never know.”

“How about I wait for you upstairs? The Sox game starts soon.” Only after getting his agreement and one more kiss did she stand. “Go on in. I’ll bring the rest of this food in,” she said.

His mother possessed perhaps the worst timing in the world, and that was just one reason he almost never brought his dates home.  Somehow the idea of having sex while his mother, who until just recently slept only one floor down, was around doused his desire better than a fire hose. Even now with her living in the loft over the garage, he preferred to go to his date’s place rather than bring them back here.

His habit of keeping his dates away from The Victorian Rose wouldn’t work this time. Unless he and Mia checked into a motel somewhere, they had nowhere else to go.

Sean worked quickly. He’d taken apart every drain and sink in the bed and breakfast at some point. In fact, he figured he could do it blindfolded. A wad of dark brown hair stopped the water from leaving the sink today. Short of actually cutting your hair over the sink, he had no idea how that much hair had made it into the sink, and honestly he didn’t care. In the past few years he’d found everything from contact lenses and jewelry to gum in the drains. Each time he simply removed the foreign objects and moved on, which he planned to do now.