Harbor Nights (13 page)

“And if your job was to tick off everyone, what would you do?” When she'd first started the job at the paper, she had been thrilled to have a column of her own. She was now having second and third thoughts. The heart of the matter was that she had discovered she wasn't a confrontational person. She didn't like pushing people's hot buttons. She would rather make a friend than an enemy. As it was, she hadn't made too many friends since moving to Maine. Ned was probably her only one, and come two weeks, he wasn't going to be too happy with her.

“Someone giving you a hard time?” Ned's voice lowered, and a look of understanding softened his face.

“Ah, not yet.” She didn't want to feel guilty. It was her job to write that article.

“Worried about an upcoming column?”

“Tom seems to know what buttons to push around the county. He wants to open people's eyes and get them talking. Get them thinking outside of their safe, little boxes, as he so delicately puts it.” As soon as Tom had mentioned the logging issues, she had voiced her objections against the piece. Her arguments had fallen on deaf ears.

“Tom's right, you know.”

“Is he?” She wondered if Ned would remember this conversation in the coming weeks.

“Are you writing the facts and telling the truth as you see it in your column?”

“One man's fact is another man's fiction.”

“Don't let the naysayers get to you, Norah. Write the facts; they will speak for themselves. Sometimes people need to see the other side of the story.”

“Uncle Ned”—Hunter came running over to the couch and jumped on it—“I'm hungry.”

Norah saved her coffee from being spilt all over the place and chuckled. “Easy there, Hunter.”

Morgan came running over now that a commercial was on and climbed up on Ned's lap. “Me too, Uncle Ned.”

Tyler, still holding the dog, bounced down between her and Hunter. “Me three.”

“What do you guys want?” Ned seemed resigned to the fact that he was at their beck and call all weekend. He didn't seem too upset by it.

“What do you have?” asked Tyler.

“How about we do bananas?” Ned placed Morgan on her feet and headed for the kitchen. “Fruit won't ruin your lunch, and it will keep your parents happy.”

She smiled at Morgan, who was spinning in circles. “Hey, ballerina girl, why don't we go find your clothes while Uncle Ned is peeling those bananas.”

“Okay, but they're all wet. There was an accident in the sink,” Morgan said as she dashed across the room heading for the powder room under the stairs.

Her feet faltered. What did Morgan mean by an accident in the sink?

Ned flashed her a crooked smile over his shoulder as he and the boys went in search of the bananas. “Thanks.”

She felt the heat of that smile melting her knees and speeding up her heart rate. His smile wasn't the kind a man gave a friend. Ned was looking at her differently today. If she wasn't mistaken, there was now a subtle hint of desire in his gaze. Ned might have invited her over because he needed the help with the kids, but there was something more to the invitation.

The question now was what was she going to do about it?

 

 

By nine-thirty that night, Norah didn't know if she had the energy to get up off the couch and head home. She was exhausted. She watched as Ned slowly backed out of the den, partially closing the door behind him. Amanda was finally asleep for the third time that day and hopefully, for the night. The three other kids were crashed in the living room in their assorted sleeping bags, surrounded by a menagerie of stuffed animals.

“How do mothers do this every day?” She had new respect for the mothers of the world. Kay and Jill in particular. The Porter children had been nonstop all day. They had only slowed down long enough to shovel food into their mouths before moving on to the next activity. The boys had been worse than Morgan, and the little girl had been only semi-still while sitting in front of the television or when she had gotten her hair washed and combed earlier. Ned had handled the boys' bath-time, while she had done Morgan's with Amanda looking on from her vibrating infant seat.

Ned plopped down on the sofa beside her. “Got me how they do it. Working twelve-hour days placing logs is a vacation compared to this torture.” Ned leaned his head back, gave a hearty sigh, and closed his eyes. A smile curved his mouth.

“You enjoyed yourself; I know you did.” After lunch, Ned had taken all three kids out back to play ball while she sat in the shade cradling Amanda and enjoying the view and the day. She had spent hours watching Ned with the children and had realized how sweet, caring, and loving he had been during every moment. Even when Hunter had given Flipper his cupcake to eat or when Tyler had accidently squirted him with the hose while filling Flipper's water dish. Whenever Ned touched a child, his voice had been soft and his hands gentle.

She glanced at his big work-roughened hands. Hands that had cradled tiny Morgan's hands to show her how to catch a ball. Hands that had flipped the burgers on the grill and helped with the boys' baths. Tender hands that had securely held a squirming, slippery Amanda in her tub, all the while making sure shampoo didn't drip into her eyes.

Hands, she was positive, that would never strike out and hit a woman. No man could have that much love and tenderness for a baby and then strike out at the woman who had given that child life. Ned was not her father, and her mother was right. Not all men were created equal.

For the first time in well over a year, she felt safe in a man's company. She felt normal again.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Ned softly said.

She tried not to blush as she met his gaze. Ned had been watching her the whole time she had been staring at his hands. “I was thinking I might not make it up off this couch.”

“If you fall asleep, I'll throw a blanket over you.” Ned didn't appear worried about the prospect of her sleeping on his couch. Maybe he was hoping she'd handle Amanda if she woke in the middle of the night.

The offer to just sit here and sleep for the next eight hours was too tempting. She needed to head on home while she was still awake enough to drive. “I'd better get going. What time did you say their parents are coming back?” She got to her feet and stretched.

“Around dinner time.” Ned stood up and walked over to where Zsa Zsa was sleeping. The dog had claimed the leather recliner. Ned gently picked her up. “I think they tired out Zsa Zsa too.”

“She had a very busy day.” She took the dog from Ned and picked up her purse. She could either leave now and call it a day, or she could see if there really had been something more in Ned's gaze.

The last time she had asked a guy out, she had been in the eighth grade, and it had been an invite to the Sadie Hawkins Day dance, where if you didn't ask a boy, you weren't going. At fourteen, she'd had more guts than she did tonight. So she hedged, “Do you need any help tomorrow with the gang, or can you manage on your own?” She headed out the door and off the porch.

Ned walked with her to her car. “Oh, I could manage, but having another adult around would keep me sane.”

It wasn't quite the response she had been hoping for. She opened the door and placed Zsa Zsa on the passenger seat. The dog curled up into a ball and immediately went back to sleep. “So any adult would do?” She wanted to make sure she understood him.

Ned moved a step closer, crowding her against the side of the car, but he didn't touch her. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me not to kiss you right now?”

Between Ned's porch lights and her dome light she had plenty of light by which to see him. Ned was serious, and she wanted that kiss. It had been ages since she had been kissed. Held. Touched. “What's stopping you?”

He seemed surprised for a moment. “I didn't want to frighten you.”

“You don't frighten me.” He had at one time, but that had been before she had gotten to know him. Before he had helped with the bookcases. Maybe a six foot, two inch male didn't frighten many people, but when you were only five foot, one inch, and that was stretching it, there was quite a difference in height. A difference in strength.

“You're so tiny.” Ned moved a couple of inches closer and looked down.

“You're so big,” she fired right back while looking up. Way up. She could feel the heat of his body warming the cool evening air. Ned was built for Maine's weather, while she, on the other hand, wasn't looking forward to this coming winter.

“We're back to size, are we?” The corners of his mouth kicked up into a small smile as he inched closer. His chest was nearly touching her chin.

All it would take to put more room between them was for her to lean back and press her back into the side of the SUV. She held her ground. “You started it.”

Ned slowly put his hands on the roof of the SUV. One on either side of her body. “So I did.” He studied her face as he blocked her in. “Can I kiss you now?”

His tempting mouth seemed a long distance away. “Can I stand on my tippy toes?” She didn't want him to get a kink in his neck and then have to stop short. She had a feeling that this kiss was going to knock her socks off.

A low chuckle vibrated his chest. “You can do anything you want as long as you kiss me back.” Ned slowly lowered his mouth and kissed her.

She stretched up and pressed herself into the kiss. Into his heat.

Ned groaned deep in his throat but didn't take his hands off the roof of the car. He didn't wrap her in his arms and pull her closer. The only part of her he was touching was her mouth.

She wanted more. Needed more. Ned was holding back, cheating them both out of their first kiss. She wasn't going to allow him to do it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lightly bit his lower lip.

Ned's hands left the roof and pulled her close as his tongue swept over her lips.

One of them moaned, or maybe it was both of them. She didn't know or care. She was too busy sinking into his kiss to care if the world had stopped turning. Either she didn't remember what being kissed felt like, or Ned's kisses were in a class unto themselves.

Her fingers wove their way into his hair as she pulled him closer. Her tongue danced against his, and liquid heat pooled in her stomach.

The world shifted beneath her feet, and the next thing she felt was cool metal beneath her thighs as Ned sat her on the hood of her car.

Ned broke the intense kiss first. His mouth trailed away and nibbled down her neck to nuzzle a spot below her ear. “I knew it.”

She tilted her head and gave him free access to anywhere he might want to trail that wickedly wonderful mouth of his. “Knew what?” Maybe the earth had stopped turning. She felt weightless and giddy.

Ned pulled back a couple of inches. His fingertip traced her lower lip with slow deliberation. “You taste like trouble.”

She smiled and playfully nipped at his finger. “Is that good or bad?” By the way Ned was breathing heavily and by the slight tremble in his hand, she had the idea it might be good. Very good.

“Depends.” Ned leaned forward and quickly kissed her again.

“On what?” She tried to pull his mouth back to hers, but he wasn't budging. There was no physical way to move him, so she pouted. There was no way she was done kissing Ned. She was dying of thirst, and she had just discovered the taste of water.

Ned grinned at her playful sulking, but he didn't give her what she wanted. What she needed. “Definitely trouble.”

“I'm not sure if I should be insulted or not.” Ned seemed happy about something, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what. You didn't kiss a person senseless, tell her she was trouble, and then grin like a baboon about it.

“It's a compliment.” Ned lifted her off the hood of her SUV and gently lowered her to her feet. He took particular care not to have her body slide down the length of his. “Are you going to come back tomorrow?”

“Are you asking?”

“Begging would be unmanly, wouldn't it?” Ned gave a low chuckle aimed at himself.

“The kids weren't that bad.” She walked around the car door and dug the keys out of her purse. Her heart was still pumping a thousand liters of blood per second, and her voice still sounded low and husky. Ned Porter was the one who was trouble. A delicious, melt your socks kind of trouble. Where had the man learned to kiss like that?

“I'm not asking because of the kids.” Ned held the door while she climbed inside.

“Who are you asking for?” She wanted to hear him say it. Say that she wasn't the only one feeling these feelings and missing that kiss. Suddenly, she was uncertain. Afraid that she had misread the entire situation and Ned. Could a man kiss a woman like that and have it not mean a thing to him?

Ned squatted down next to her and gently cupped her cheek. “Me, Norah.” Ned's voice was a husky growl. “I want you to come for me.”

She tried not to release the breath she had been holding in one big burst. A smile of wonderment pulled at her mouth. She hadn't misread the situation or Ned. “Would it be okay if I bring donuts for the kids?”

“They would love it.” Ned trailed his thumb over her lower lip. “I wish I could drive you home, so I'd know you got there safely.”

“I'm a big girl, Ned. I know how to drive at night.” She wasn't insulted, even though she ought to be. In a way, it was kind of cute that Ned was worried about her. True gentlemen were getting few and far between in this everyone-was-an-equal world.

Ned's amused gaze roamed the length of her body, but he didn't comment on her size. “Promise to drive safely.”