The Courage To Love (Love On The North Shore) (18 page)

“What?” the older man asked, his voice louder than necessary as he inclined his head toward his wife.

“I said they remind me of us,” the woman shouted louder this time and her husband nodded. “It goes by fast. We’re here celebrating our fiftieth anniversary this weekend,” she said, her voice back to a normal volume now. “Enjoy every minute together.” With her final words of wisdom, the couple shuffled off again.

Happy and in love? Evidently, the elderly woman assumed they were newlyweds. Something he knew would never happen with Mia. If he ever got married it would be to someone who lived in or near North Salem. A woman that would be content to live either at The Victorian Rose or near it. While the woman got that part wrong, she had gotten the happy part right. Since spending time with Mia, he had been happier and having more fun than he’d had in a long time. When she left in another few weeks, he’d miss their time together.

“I love seeing older couples who still look in love like that. So many people I know get married and divorced, then married again, as if it’s a game. My friend Becca Kent—she played my older sister on Family Life—is only three years older than me and on her fourth marriage.” Mia looked back over her shoulder at the couple that stopped them. “I forget sometimes that not everyone is like that. That people can stay married to the same person for the rest of their lives.”

Something in the tone of her voice caused the hairs on his neck to stand up. She hadn’t said it, but her message got through loud and clear. She wanted what that couple had someday.

She doesn’t mean with me. His brain pushed aside his emotions. Right now she was having some fun, a way to pass her free time until she went back to California, nothing more, nothing less. If she wanted someone who was husband material, she’d look toward men like her co-star, not to him. His words of logic wiped away his unease, but at the thought of her co-star a burning started in his chest. Then the image of Mia and Mark naked in bed, wrapped in each others arms, formed and bile surged upward. Tonight I’ll be the one naked with her. He forced himself to replace the image of her and Mark together with the memory of them together that morning.

“You never did answer me,” Mia said, when they hit the edge of the park.

He glanced over at her. The sun danced across the highlights in her hair and for a moment he could only stare. Damn, she was beautiful. Then with a mental shake, he cleared his throat. “We have not talked about it again, but Ma will come around.”

***

He finished the chocolate hazelnut torte left over from the night before and flipped through the television channels. Not long after they returned from their late afternoon lunch, Mia’s cell had rung and she’d disappeared into her room to discuss something Avery insisted couldn’t wait until later. Bored and a little hungry, he’d grabbed the few things left over from their picnic dinner the night before and started channeling surfing. When he came across the first Lord of the Rings movie, he tossed the remote control off to the side and put his feet up. The movie was a couple of hours long; that should be enough time for Mia and Avery to talk. At least he hoped so.

“I told Avery we’re busy tonight,” Mia appeared in the room wrapped in a white bath towel.

Sean unwrapped the rest of the cookie Mia hadn’t finished the night before and broke off a piece, as the main character on the screen woke up after being helped by the elves. “It took that long to tell her that?”

Mia walked farther into the room but stopped a few feet from where he sat. “No. My agent contacted her this afternoon when she couldn’t reach me. Avery wanted to fill me in on the details of a possible new project. Then she invited us out, but like I said I turned her down.” Lifting one hand, she slipped her fingers under the knot in her towel. Once undone, the towel slipped down her body and landed in a pool at her feet. “After all that walking today, I thought I’d soak in the hot tub.” She turned on her heel rewarding him with an unobstructed view of her perfect butt. She took a step away, then looked back over her shoulder. “You’re more than welcome to join me,” she said, her voice low and purposefully seductive.

Heat flared through him, overwhelming every one of his senses, and he stood, pulling his shirt out of his jeans as he followed her into the bathroom. With slow deliberate movements, she turned on the hot tub jets and the water began to bubble and swirl much like the blood pounding through his body. He paused in his undressing, transfixed as she stepped into the frothy water and slowly lowered herself. When her breasts disappeared under the water, he snapped out of whatever trance he’d been in. In one movement he rid himself of his jeans and underwear.

“The water is perfect. All that is missing is you,” she said, her voice silky and more sensual then he’d ever heard it.

Sean stepped into the water and pulled her onto his lap as he sat. “Better?” Before she could answer he set his lips against hers, intent on giving her a kiss she’d not soon forget.

“It’s getting there,” she teased when she pulled back for air.

So that was how she wanted to play it. “How about now?” He slipped a hand under her breast and lifted it out of the water then took her nipple in his mouth. Mia gasped and he smiled before sucking again. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders, and he pulled back letting her breast dip back into the water. “Does this help?” He brought the other one to his mouth and circled the nipple with his tongue. In response her nails dug into his shoulders even more as she moaned. 

Thanks to the feel of her wet slick body against his and her responses to his touch,  his body had almost reached its breaking point. Digging down deep inside himself, he wrestled with the last of his self-control. He wanted to make this moment unforgettable for her. Give her a memory that she’d carry back home with her. Switching his mouth back to her lips, he let his hand travel down her ribcage and across her taut stomach before dipping lower. He let one finger slip inside.

“Stop teasing,” she said, her voice a sensual order as she squirmed on his lap.

He let his other hand tease her nipple. “I will, but not until I’m ready.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue. Instead he kissed her again, his tongue slipping inside and mimicking the same movements his finger made inside her.

Only when he sensed her climax did he shift her position on his lap and slide inside. Damn. Every one of his senses went on overload and his brain slowly tuned out as pleasure took over. Perfect. The simple word flashed in his head before he lost himself completely to the woman in his arms.

Chapter 12

Light spilled out from the windows above the garage Monday night. Climbing out of his truck, he left his pool stick behind and headed for the stairs. As he climbed, the stairs creaked, and Sean made a mental note to check them in the morning.

“I heard you pull in,” Maureen said as she pulled open the door before he even reached the main landing.

His eyes swept across his mom, looking for any indication that something was wrong. Why else would she appear so eager to see him. Yet everything from her neat bun to her pink fuzzy slippers looked the same as usual. “Are you okay?” he asked as he walked inside.

Maureen’s eyes danced with joy, and his initial unease faded away.

“I have some wonderful news.” Maureen perched herself on the edge of her sofa.

“Charlie’s pregnant?” Aside from becoming a grandmother, he couldn’t imagine what else would make her so happy.

“No. At least I don’t think so. Did she say something to you?” she asked her eyebrows coming together.

“Not me.” Sean dropped into the arm chair. “It’s been at least two weeks since we talked. I was just guessing.” The last time he and Charlie spoke, they’d discussed the reappearance of their father. So if Charlie wasn’t pregnant what other news could excite his mother like this?

“Oh. Well, hopefully that will happen soon, too.” Maureen waved a hand in the air. “But this is almost as exciting. Sean, Ray asked me to marry him.” A voice too young and giddy to belong to his mother reached his ears.

“And I said yes.” The breathless carefree voice sang out again.

Goosebumps formed on his arm despite the warm temperature. “Ray who?”

“Ray Larson. How many other Rays do we know?” His mother’s face glowed as she answered.

His father’s words three weeks earlier repeated in his head. “You see him once a week for card games. How does that add up to marriage?” Okay, maybe they’d gone out a few times, too. He really didn’t know, he never considered his mother’s social life his responsibility.

Pink crept up his mom’s checks, and she looked down for a moment. “That’s not entirely true. We’ve been spending a lot of time together again.” The giddiness in her voice disappeared and she sounded more like his mom again.

His brain locked on the word again and icy fingers wrapped around his heart and squeezed. “What do you mean again, Ma?”

The pink in her cheeks changed to bright scarlet. “Ray and I dated in high school. He graduated the year before me and when he went to college we broke up.”

Pain shot up his jaw and into his temple.

“Right after I graduated high school I married your father, and Ray moved out to Seattle after college.”

A throbbing began at the base of his skull. Although Ray had only moved back to North Salem a few years ago, he’d visited several times a year before that since most of his family lived in town.

“We reconnected again when we started playing cards last year.” His mom looked down at her hands.

“The bastard was telling the truth,” Sean whispered. He had no evidence, but his gut told him what his father said about Ma and Ray was true.

“What did you say?” Maureen asked with an audible note of concern.

The pain in his head increased. Like snippets from a movie, memories passed through his mind. The fishing trip he’d gone on with his father, and the fights that became commonplace after their return. Sure his parents had argued before that, but not like after the fishing trip. They’d been different, more intense and so much more frequent.

“Christ, Dad didn’t lie. You did cheat on him with Ray.” This time Sean didn’t keep his voice lowered.

All the color drained from his mother’s face. “You spoke with your father? When?” Her voice cracked and guilt flickered for a moment in his chest.

Then his father’s words rushed forward again. “Three weeks ago. We met in Boston.” His anger threatened to choke him. He’d given up so much when his father split, the whole time believing his mother was the victim of his dad’s callous behavior, only now to find out she’d set it in motion and turned his life upside down. “He explained everything. It’s your fault he walked out on us.”

“I doubt he told you everything, Sean.” Tears glistened in her eyes as she spoke. Normally such a sight would pull at his heart, tonight it did nothing.

“He told me enough. He only left after you and Ray hooked up. If you hadn’t done that he wouldn’t have left, and I wouldn’t still be stuck here!” He all but shouted the last of his sentence as he stood.

From the sofa his mother stared wide-eyed at him. He’d never in his life raised his voice to her.

“Sean, please let me give you my side of the story. Then maybe you’ll understand.” Tears slipped down her face. “I started dating your father at the beginning of our senior year. Ray and I had broken up around the 4th of July, right before he went off to college.” She wiped a tear away and the diamond on her left hand caught the light.

“The first several months together were wonderful. He was always thoughtful. He acted the perfect gentleman. My parents loved him. But after a while he changed and that April right before Easter we broke up. We probably never would’ve gotten back together if I hadn’t found out in May that I was two months pregnant. No one took the news well, including your father. Our parents insisted we marry right after graduation, so we did. Our graduation was on a Friday night, and the following weekend we got married. Then we moved into a tiny two bedroom apartment in one of those old apartment buildings they tore down after the hurricane.”

The buffalo wings he ate at the bar rolled in his stomach. How could everything he’d ever believed have been a lie?

“From the beginning our marriage was rocky, but we tried to make it work. Or at least I did. Your father started drinking heavily not long after you were born. I don’t know if it was the stress of supporting a family while in college or what. By the time you turned four he was coming home a couple of nights a week drunk. After your grandfather died, we moved in here with my mom. I thought that would help ease some of his stress.”

Other memories, ones he hadn’t thought about in years surfaced. Many times he’d come downstairs on a Saturday morning to watch television only to find his father asleep on the couch, dressed in the clothes he’d left in the day before. The trash can over flowing with empty beer cans when he dragged it to the curb on Thursday mornings.

“When I got pregnant with Charlie, I thought it would help our relationship, but the longer we were married the more he controlled my life. I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without his permission. That fishing trip you two went on was the first time he left me home alone for even a night.”

Sean laughed. “And you just had to sleep with the first guy that came around,” he said, his voice cold.