Treading Water (10 page)

“
Where’s Frannie?” Kate
asked.

“
I think she went somewhere
with Uncle Jamie,” Jack said.

“
She seemed mad,” Kate
said.

“
I’m sure they’ll work it
out—whatever it is.”

“
Dad, why do we call
Frannie, who’s our aunt, just Frannie, but we call Uncle Jamie,
who’s not really our uncle, Uncle Jamie?” Maggie asked with a
serious expression.

The others cracked up.

“
That’s a good question,
Maggie, and I have absolutely no idea why we do that,” Jack said,
ruffling her hair.

“
It’s weird,” Maggie
decided.

“
Yes, it is,” he agreed.
“And now it’s your bedtime, Miss Priss.”

“
No way! I want to go work
on my room. Michael told me just what to do. Plus, it’s summer
vacation. I can stay up late.”

“
Nice try, but it’s almost
eleven. That’s late enough.”

“
Come on, brat, I’ll tuck
you in,” Kate said, herding her sister along.

“
Thanks, Kate. I’m going to
run Andi over to her hotel. I’ll be back soon.”

“
Okay.” Kate chased her
sister up the stairs, tickling her as they went.

“
Kate’s good with her,”
Andi said.

“
They used to fight like
wombats,” Jack said, “but since everything happened… They’re a lot
closer now.”

“
You don’t have to drive
me. I can go with the others.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Of course. There’s no need
for you to make a special trip.”

“
Okay,” he said,
disappointed that he wouldn’t get more time with her.

A few minutes later, Andi and her team left
with a burst of “thank yous” to Jack and compliments on his
daughters and his home.

Watching her leave with the
others, he thought about how much he’d enjoyed the day with her—and
how badly he wished he could spend the night with her. Sick with
guilt, he felt as if he’d
already
been unfaithful to Clare. The quiet ache he’d
carried inside for so long resurfaced with a sudden, powerful
intensity. He closed the door and leaned his head against
it.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Frannie and Jamie were quiet on the short
ride to his downtown condo. The whole way, her heart beat a wild
staccato that left her breathless. She couldn’t believe this was
actually happening.

Seeming to sense her out-of-control nerves,
Jamie reached over to put his hand on top of hers, and just like
that, her heart rate slowed to a more normal speed.

Frannie watched the city lights whiz by as
he drove his vintage Porsche faster than he probably should have.
What if it was weird between them? What if they’d been friends too
long to take this leap? What if it was every bit the disaster she’d
feared it would be?

“
Frannie?”

His voice jostled her out of the pensive
state she’d slipped into, and she realized they’d arrived at his
place.

When she went to release her seat belt, she
was all thumbs.

Once again, he stopped her and took care of
the task himself. “Come here.” He reached across the console for
her.

As he wrapped his arms around her, his
enormously appealing scent surrounded and calmed her. “Tell me
we’re not crazy to be messing with a good thing,” she said after a
long moment of charged silence.

“
We’ve been crazy to wait
this long to mess with a good thing.”

“
But what if—”

His fingers slipped into her hair and held
her still as he kissed the words off her lips. He used his tongue
to coax her mouth open, making her burn from head to toe. No other
kiss had ever had such an effect on her.

As she sent her tongue to
tangle with his, she wanted to cry from the sweet relief that came
with being in his arms. This was Jamie.
Her
Jamie. The man she’d loved
forever.

The kiss went on so long that Frannie lost
track of time and place.

By the time he finally shifted his attention
to her neck, her heart was racing again, but for different reasons
this time.

“
Let’s go in,” he
whispered, sending goose bumps skirting down her spine.

Frannie released her hold on him and was hit
with a fit of laughter when she noticed they’d steamed up the
windows of his car.

“
Just like a couple of
teenagers.” His grin was so sexy and so compelling that it was all
she could do to let him go long enough to get out of the car and
come around to retrieve her. Standing next to her door, he held out
a hand to her.

Frannie reached up to put her hand in
his.

He kept a firm grip on her hand as he led
her inside and up the stairs to his second-floor condo. The faint
glow of streetlights made it so they could barely see each other in
the darkness. She expected him to turn on a light, but the minute
he closed the door, he drew her into his arms and devoured her with
more passionate kisses.

“
God, Frannie,” he
whispered as he dropped kisses from her jaw to her neck to her
throat. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted you? How many
times I’ve sat across a table from you and wondered what it would
be like to do this?” His hands moved from her hips to cup her
breasts. He tweaked her nipples, and she cried out from the
sensations that darted through her. “Sometimes I’d get hard, right
there at your brother’s table, imagining pushing you against a wall
and taking you.” His teeth clamped down on her earlobe as he backed
her up to the wall and pressed his erection into the V of her legs.
“I wanted you so badly. Every minute I’ve spent with you since the
day I met you, I’ve wanted you.”

Inflamed and astounded by his words, Frannie
gripped a handful of his hair and urged him into another deep kiss.
“Do it,” she said when they came up for air. “Just like you
imagined.” No longer concerned about implications or potential for
disaster, she pushed back against him, telling him exactly what she
wanted.

His blue eyes heated as he tugged at the
button to her shorts. He undressed her reverently, until she stood
naked before him. His gaze devoured her, sending heat zipping into
sharp desire between her legs.

She pulled at his shirt, wanting to see him
and touch him.

Reaching over his shoulder, he shed the
shirt in one quick move.

Frannie unbuttoned and unzipped his shorts,
pushing them and his boxers down over his hips. When his erection
sprang free, long and thick and hard, her mouth went dry. She
wrapped her hand around him, stroking, as his hands found her
breasts.

Groaning from what she was doing to him, he
dipped his head and drew her nipple into his mouth, sucking and
licking until she wondered how much longer her legs would support
her. Seeming to sense her concern, he tightened his arm around her
waist and shifted his attention to her other breast.

“
Jamie,” she
gasped.

“
What, baby? Tell
me.”

She squeezed him and felt him pulse against
her hand. “Now. Please.”

“
Do we need
protection?”

She shook her head. She hadn’t had a period
in more than a year, not that she’d ruin this moment by sharing
that unsavory detail with him.

He ran his hands over her back and down to
cup her bottom. Lifting her, he propped her back against the wall
and stepped between her legs. As he brought her down on him,
Frannie cried out from the sensations taking her over. Nothing had
ever felt so good, so right, so meant to be.

“
Okay?” he asked, sounding
as breathless as she felt.

“
So far beyond
okay.”

He smiled against her lips as he captured
her mouth again.

Frannie held on tight as he took her hard
and fast against the wall.

All at once, he tore his lips free of hers
and threw his head back as he pushed deep, triggering an orgasm
that she felt in every cell of her body.

He surged into her, lost in his own
release.

For a long time afterward, they held each
other, breathing hard and recovering their bearings.

Jamie tightened his hold on her and walked
them to the sofa, coming down on top of her without losing their
connection.

Frannie combed her fingers through his hair,
wiping away the dampness on his forehead. “I thought it would be
weird,” she said after an extended period of silence.

“
What?” he asked, his lips
brushing against her neck.

“
You. Me. This.”

“
What’s weird is that we
haven’t been doing this for years.”

“
I can’t believe you never
said anything.”

“
Neither did you,” he
reminded her.

“
Stupid.”

“
So stupid.” He pushed his
hips against her as his reawakened erection made its presence
known. “You know what would be really stupid?”

“
What’s that?”

“
If either of us ever does
this with anyone else.”

Frannie smiled up at him. “I’d like to think
I’m done being stupid.”

He brushed a sweet kiss over her lips. “Me,
too.”

Chapter 7

Jack ran on the beach where the sun was
rising on another hot summer day and returned home to shower before
anyone else was up.

He checked Frannie’s room and found her bed
empty. While he was delighted for her and Jamie, the idea of them
as a couple still surprised him, even though it probably shouldn’t.
They’d shared a special friendship since she first came to visit
them in California, and he’d always wondered if she felt more for
Jamie than she let on. Even Clare had had her suspicions.

Well, I guess now we
know
. Jack wished he could talk to Clare
about it.

After leaving Jill and Kate a note asking
them to keep an eye on Maggie until Frannie got home, he headed out
to his car.

He drove along the beach and stopped at the
florist to pick up a dozen yellow roses before continuing down the
block to a row of oceanfront condos. Using his key, he let himself
in and walked into the kitchen, where Clare’s head nurse, Sally,
was having a cup of coffee. She was a stout grandmother with gray
hair and warm blue eyes. Jack had liked her the instant he met her,
and she’d been a godsend to him since the accident.

She greeted him with a smile. “Morning.”

“
Hi, there. How are
things?”

“
Pretty good.
You?”

“
I’ve been keeping busy
since I went back to work.”

She took the roses from him and reached into
a cabinet for a vase. “It’s good for you to be working.”

He shrugged. “Life goes on, right?”

“
It sure does,” Sally said
as she trimmed the roses. “Go on in and say hello. I’ll get these
gorgeous flowers ready for Clare.”

“
Thanks.” Jack took a
moment to prepare himself and walked into Clare’s bedroom, which
was still dark even as sunlight beamed faintly through the closed
blinds. He ran his hand over her blonde hair and down her soft
cheek. The other physical signs of the accident were long gone, and
she looked just as she had on all the mornings over nearly two
decades when he’d awakened to her next to him.

Flipping a lock of her hair around his
finger, he leaned in to kiss her forehead. The unfamiliar scent of
her hair saddened him. He needed to stop by the salon she’d
frequented to buy some of the shampoo she liked.

“
I love you, sweetheart,”
he said with a last look at her in the narrow hospital bed. For
better or worse, she was still his wife.
What am I doing even thinking about another woman?
A fresh wave of guilt struck him as he stepped out
of the room.

“
I’m leaving,
Sally.”

She emerged from the kitchen. “Okay, I’ll be
starting her therapy soon. Don’t worry about anything here.”

“
Thanks.”

Frannie eased herself from under Jamie’s arm
and watched him sleep, still amazed by what’d happened the night
before. She stretched, exhausted from making love with him all
night long, pulled on the discarded T-shirt that bore his scent,
and went in search of coffee.

Rummaging around his kitchen, she found
coffee and filters and started the coffeemaker. She ran her hands
through unruly curls and stretched again as a big yawn rippled
through her.

Jamie’s condo occupied the top floor of a
building that housed shops and restaurants in the heart of downtown
Newport. The small balcony off his living room faced the busy
harbor. She leaned with her coffee over the railing as a small
truck pulled up below with lobsters for one of the restaurants.
Farther down the street, she was mesmerized by a trash truck
lifting a Dumpster to empty it.

Everything seems magical
this morning, even a garbage truck
, she
thought with a snicker.

Jamie crept up behind her and nuzzled her
neck. “Mmm. There you are. I was worried when I woke up and you
were gone.”

When she turned to face him, he captured her
mouth in a long, searing kiss that made her want him all over
again.

“
Good morning.” He walked
her backward into the condo, took her coffee cup, put it down, and
led her back to bed.

“
Don’t you have to work?
It’s Monday.”