The Scale (Martha's Way) (16 page)

After high school, they went their separate ways for
college, but returned home after graduation except for Blake. He chose to make
the trendy area of Philadelphia his home. Claire was now mostly on the road,
but apparently always made it back to The Vineyard. Minka remembered the
pictures of Claire and Jason on the internet paddle boarding or dining
together. It dawned on her the two were photographed here on the island.

The conversation remained colorful with stories until Adam
dropped the ball. “I stopped at Vapor today.”

A chill ran down Minka’s back.

“Good. You’re a lazy partner.”

“Maxie told me you were there last night.”

Minka watched as Jason nodded. He sat back and placed one
arm over the back of her chair. His face gave nothing away. From across the
table, Keely smiled at her as she took a bite of her scallop.

Minka avoided looking at Adam.

“As a matter of fact, I was,” Jason confirmed. “You know
both of us can’t be slackers.”

Adam smiled and nodded. “That’s a good point. I had a date.
I doubt I was slacking. But, more importantly, Maxie said you left with
someone. You know how everyone gossips here.”

As Minka sat there listening, it suddenly made sense to her
why some people often say they felt like they wanted to crawl into a small box
and hide from it all.

It was one thing for her sister to know she slept with Jason
last night, but apparently Adam also had knowledge of it too. Reluctantly she
met the twinkle in his eyes. He winked at her.

Yup, he knew.

Minka tried to focus on the plate of food in front of her,
surprised to see she had eaten most of it.

“If you must know, I was with your mom,” Jason said with a
smirk. “I had her begging in Italian.”

Laughter went around the table, and even Adam chuckled. “My
mother is American.”

“I made her speak Italian,” Jason said with a laugh.

Adam feigned being hurt and looked around the table for
support, but everyone shrugged and reminded him he had started it. “You’re an
asshole.”

“I’m my father’s son.”

“Hey, your father is not an asshole,” Claire chimed in.
“Let’s play nice, boys, and keep the vulgarity off the table for now. We have
ladies here.”

“You’re not a lady,” Adam and Jason quipped together.

Claire rolled her eyes. “So then, Jason, who did you bang
last night?”

 
“I didn’t bang
anyone,” Jason clarified. “That sounds so impersonal.”

Her sister coughed loud at his words, clearly choking on her
food.

Massaging his fiancée’s back, Blake leaned forward with a
smile.
“So why the secrecy?”

“There’s no secrecy. You’re all too nosy.”

Forrest shrugged. “Hey, you forget we are in Martha’s
Vineyard.”

Jason smiled. “Gossiping goes into remission during peak
season.”

Blake acknowledged his friend’s brilliant response with a
chuckle. “Good rebuttal.
A lawyer till
the end.”

“I choose not to tell you losers. Besides, I am technically
on a date tonight and I choose not to divulge any information about whom I
spent the night with in front of her.”

To her relief, Adam didn’t press the issue. He sat back and
seemed satisfied. Desserts and more drinks were ordered. Minka gave in to
Jason’s coaxing and took a bite of his key lime pie, and when the bill was
placed on the table, Jason reached into his wallet, ignoring his friends’
objections.

“My treat,” he insisted. “It’s nice having the family back
together and I hope to keep my balls.” He winked at Keely, who shot him the
death look.

“What are we missing here?” Forrest asked with a smile. “Who
wants your balls?”

“I may have to cut them off,” Keely volunteered, “but, it
will all be done with love.”

Jason chuckled and reached for Minka’s hands as he came to
his feet. The restaurant manager approached the table for a brief conversation.
He placed a kiss on Claire’s cheek and reminded her she owed him a date. Claire
smiled and promised they would get together while she was on the island.
Forrest came to stand behind Claire and placed a hand on her lower back. Minka
noticed the other woman had straightened herself and Forrest slowly let his
hand fall to his side.

It had happened so fast she was sure no one else noticed it.
Claire turned to look at Forrest and flashed him a polite but distant smile
before walking past him out of the dining area to the bar. A troubled look
settled on his handsome features, and after a slight hesitation he walked away
from the table. The others seemed unaware of the tension between the two and
made their way to the lounge.

As they walked across the room, Minka spotted Claire and
Forrest standing at the bar engaged in what appeared to be a heated
conversation. She slowed her steps, not because she wanted to overhear the
conversation but something about them pulled the strings in her heart.

“They will figure it out,” Jason whispered behind her.
“Claire is a wildflower, Forrest is a local. His heart is here on The Vineyard.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

He ran a hand through his hair away from his face. “I want
them to be happy, whether together or apart.”

“Oh, I thought…”

Realization dawned over his attractive features. “Ah! Claire
is as close to a sister to me as those guys are brothers, nothing more. She and
I grew up in the same house. My father helped raise her. Her mother oversees my
father’s house in Chappaquiddick,” he explained. His voice held warmth as he
spoke of his childhood.

There was so much of Jason she didn’t know. If she dared,
she could see a younger version of him with sun-bleached blond hair running
around with Claire. Hints of jealousy stirred inside her, knowing the other
woman knew a part of him she would never know.

Be careful, Minka,
you’re getting ahead of yourself.

“I only want you, Minka.”

The words caressed her, making her feel lightheaded. She
knew they were temporary with no true substance. But instead of running away
from the unknown, she welcomed it. When he reached to brush his hand over the
thin shoulder strap of her dress, she smiled. When he brushed his lips against
where his fingers had been, she buried her hand in his hair and pulled him
closer.

“There’s no holding back tonight, darling,” he whispered
against her neck. “Are you sure you’re ready for me?”

Already breathless, her body trembled in anticipation. “I’m
ready.”

*
* * *

The buzzing sound of her alarm
forced Minka to open her eyes. In a daze, she reached for the phone.

6:00.
Go run
, the letters flashed on the screen.

She hit the snooze button.

“What’s that?” Jason mumbled in
obvious half-sleep next to her.

“My alarm. Sorry.”

“You have somewhere to be?”

She lay back against his warmth.
“No.” And closed her eyes.

What seemed like two seconds later,
but actually fifteen minutes had passed, the phone vibrated again.

6:15.
Seriously fatty, go run
.

This time with her eyes barely
open, she reached and turned off the alarm.

“What’s so important?” Jason
mumbled.

“Nothing. Sorry.”

“Come here.”

He pulled her against him and Minka
swore no exercise could feel better than this. She nestled into him and closed
her eyes only to wake up once more to the freaking alarm. By this point she
wanted to smash the damn phone. She grabbed it to turn it off but couldn’t
avoid the words that greeted her.

6:30.
Fine. Be fat forever.
She chewed her bottom
lip, assessing the situation. Leave Jason and go for a run that would probably
last about ten minutes or stay in the warmth of his arms and burn some calories
later. Yeah, the latter was much more appealing.

Jason finally opened his eyes. “Are
you sure you don’t have to be somewhere with Keely?”

“Just my exercise alarm.”

His eyes twinkled. “I have some
ideas about how we can burn some calories later.”

That was good enough for her and
she slipped back into his arms.

When Minka again opened her eyes, Jason’s side of the bed
was empty. The bright morning sun hit her face and she winced as she forced her
body out of bed.

Twenty minutes later, she entered the kitchen and had to do
a double take as the man who stood in the middle of the room looked nothing
like the Jason she had become accustomed to. Gone were the worn jeans and
T-shirt. Instead he was dressed in a slim, fitted, gray wool suit with a sky
blue shirt. His long blond hair was slicked away from his face and his barely
tamed beard appeared to have been slightly trimmed. A sudden urge to touch him
overcame her.

He greeted her with a smile and moved closer to her. His hands
squeezed her hips and gently pulled their bodies together. Minka wrapped her
arms around his neck and faced Jason head-on, accepting his summons. Her eyes
zoomed to his lips. Her head twirled and heat radiated between them.

He pressed his lips to hers and Minka’s brain shut down. The
pure ecstasy of his lips against hers overcame her entire body. One of his
hands slowly caressed the back of her neck under her hair. She pulled away ever
so slightly to breathe, trying not to show just how vulnerable he made her. But
each intake of breath was another reminder of what
was
really happening, his cologne, and the way his hands entangled in her hair. He
consumed her.

“
Bonjour
,” he
greeted against her lips.

 
She smiled,
loving the way the French word made her feel. “I don’t speak French.”

“I can teach you.”

“I’ve heard it’s difficult.”

He shook his head. “It takes time to learn.”

“I have this week and next.”

“Then we’d better start with a French kiss,” he said before
pressing his lips against hers with a more urgent pace.

When he finally released her, he reached over and handed her
a plate of fresh fruit with two slices of toast. “I made you breakfast.”

Still a little shaken by his transformation, she found
herself speechless. She took the plate and whispered a soft, “Thank you.”

“I have a meeting with my father in Falmouth this morning,”
he said to her. “I figure I’ll drop you off first then head over to the port.
The yacht is waiting there.”

Minka nodded. She knew that Falmouth was on the tip of
Massachusetts, just outside of Woods Hole where she caught the ferry. A boat
was needed to get off the island to get to the other side.

“I can always call a car service,” she offered, not wanting
to cause him any delay.

“Nonsense, it’s on the way.”

She cast him a doubting look and he laughed a soft, rich
laughter.

“Our family boat is docked in town on the pier,” he
explained. “Besides, my lovely
Minka, that
will give
me a few more minutes with you.” Familiar heat burned between her legs. The way
he said her name was so sexy. “And I’ll pick you up for dinner tonight.”

Dinner.
That meant another date.
She couldn’t think. Not when he was speaking to her that way, not when he was
making plans to see her again, not when he was watching her so closely and
standing so near with all of his lean muscles camouflaged in the expensive
suit. She didn’t think it was possible, but the suit amped his sexiness level
over the Richter scale. So she just nodded. Nodded in fear that if she spoke
her voice would betray her and show how much his presence affected her, how
much he had taken from her at least physically. No, she couldn’t and wouldn’t
speak. She was still in awe that this man was showing interest in her.

* * * *

One hour later, Jason sat on the boat, hoping the smooth
rhythm of the ocean would shake off some of the tension vibrating in his body.
He exhaled and checked his watch. Fifteen more minutes before they docked.

He should have had sex with Minka before he left and relieved
some of the frustration bottled inside of him. Hell, he shouldn’t be on the yacht
in a fucking suit heading to Falmouth. Jason swore under his breath. He should
have told the old man to go to hell as he had done five years ago. Digging up
the past was not his idea of passing time. All ties had been severed and that
suited him just fine. Leave things as they
were,
live
for the moment and life to the fullest. That was his new motto and he intended
to stick to it. Why unearth bad memories? Sure, he still harbored a certain
level of resentment but,
give
or take ten more years,
even that would fade. Time had a funny way of healing the soul.

After his mother’s death, he had gone on a mission to
self-destruct and purchased a one-way ticket to hell. As it turned out, even
hell didn’t want him. He lived a life of adrenaline, booze, and women. Fast and
hard, angry at the world, so much so even his friends at times didn’t want to
be around him. He’d partied too hard, drank too much, even gotten stoned a few
times with people he couldn’t recall. As for the women, well, somewhere along
the line he’d lost count. As one of the Montgomery boys, they’d all wanted a
piece of him and he had given, expecting nothing in return. There were
instances when he’d stumbled out of bed with two naked women fast asleep next
to him and he couldn’t remember what the hell had happened. He searched his
mind for some of their names, but even their faces were now a blurry memory.

The mission to self-destruct went on for quite a while until
the three men and the woman he viewed as an extended family performed an
intervention.