Season for Love (32 page)

Carolina was so angry that it didn’t occur to her to ask how Seamus knew where she lived.
Whatever
, she thought, it saved her from having to speak to him as he drove his company truck along the island’s winding roads. When she thought of the way he’d totally manipulated the situation, she wanted to scream.
 

“What part of the words ‘one-night stand’ don’t you understand?” she asked after many minutes of tense silence.

“The one-night part.”

“Are you being intentionally obtuse?”

“I love when you get all stern with me. It makes me hot.”

Apparently, everything made him hot. “Answer the question!”

“I’ve forgotten what it was.”

Oh my God! He is impossible!
“I’d like to walk the rest of the way.”

“That’s not happening.”

“This island is perfectly safe. Now stop the truck, and let me out.”

“It is not perfectly safe for anyone, let alone a gorgeous woman, to walk on these dark roads—alone—at night.”

Oh, that voice… It ought to be licensed as a deadly weapon! All he had to do was talk, and she forgot about being mad with him.

“What I don’t understand is why a wise, mature, independent woman such as yourself would give a flying fig about what anyone else thinks of her.”

“No, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Make me understand, Carolina. Tell me why we can’t have something we both want.”

“I don’t want it! I told you that!”

“You do want it. You won’t allow yourself to have it. There’s a difference.”

“Now you’re splitting hairs.”

“There’s a difference,” he said again, more forcefully this time.
 

They rode in silence for ten more minutes before he pulled into the dirt lane that led to her home.

“How do you know where I live?”

“When something interests me, I pay attention.” Reaching for her hand, he brought it to his lips. “And you, lovely Carolina, interest me.”

She tugged her hand free and got out of the truck. “Thanks for the ride.”

When she heard his door slam, she spun around, intending to tell him not to even think about following her. She encountered the broad wall of his chest and uttered an unconvincing squeak of protest when he put his arms around her, cupped her ass and lifted her onto the hood of the truck.

Shocked and aroused, the heat of the engine was nothing compared to the heat that zipped through her veins as he leaned over her.

“Give yourself permission, Caro,” he whispered, his gentle tone in sharp contrast to the rough way he’d handled her. His use of her nickname twisted her insides into knots. “Take what you know you want.” He flexed his hips and pushed the hard column of his erection into the V of her legs. “Take it.”

“I can’t,” she said, thinking of Joe and the family Seamus would someday want. Burying her fingers in his thick auburn hair, she tugged him in for a searing kiss. “I want to,” she said many minutes later when she had no choice but to come up for air. “I won’t deny that.”

“Don’t deny
us
, Caro.” His fingers dug into her bottom as he throbbed against her. “We could be so great together.”

“Until you wake up one day and realize what you’ve sacrificed. I won’t take that away from you.”

“You’re not taking anything I’m not freely giving, love. I want you. I’ve wanted you from the first time I laid eyes on you. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”

Carolina couldn’t deny that she was seduced, as much by his heartfelt words as the rocking motion of his hips.
 

“What would your mother say?”

At that, he froze, looked down at her in the faint moonlight and let out a deep, ringing laugh. “What in the name of Jesus, Mary and Joseph does my dear sweet mum have to do with this?”

“
If
, and I use that word very,
very
rhetorically, this were to happen, someday, I might have to face her.”

“She’d think the world of you, love. She’d have all the respect in the world for a woman who was widowed far too young and raised a fine son all on her own while helping her parents run a successful business. What’s not to respect about that woman?”

“The part where she’s eighteen years older than the dear sweet mum’s precious son and having wild sex with him?”

His lascivious grin almost drew a smile from her. “It was rather wild, wasn’t it?”

With her hands on his face, she said, “Focus.”

“I’m very focused.” He turned his attention to her neck and made her whimper when he nibbled his way from her ear to her throat. “It’s really quite simple, love.” His breath on her sensitive skin touched off an outbreak of goose bumps. “I want to be with you. I want to sleep with you and eat with you and talk with you and wake up with you and fight over the TV with you and go to bed with you.” His teeth closed on her earlobe. “I want to make wild love with you every single day.”

Carolina blinked back tears. She was so far out of her league with this man and so powerfully charmed by him. “How can you possibly know that will make you happy?”

“I can’t possibly know for sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion it could make us both happy.” His lips found hers in the dark for one of those long, deep, wet kisses he specialized in. By the time he drew back from her, she was quivering and on the verge of an explosive release. “I know you’re worried about what Joe might say, and to tell you the God’s honest truth, so am I. I think the world of him and would never want to disappoint him.”
 

As he spoke, he smoothed the hair off her forehead. “But he’s found his love, and he’s as happy as any man could ever hope to be. I can’t imagine the man I know and respect would want anything less for the mother he loves so dearly.” He kissed her again, softly and sweetly this time, and then lifted himself off her. The cool night air was a shock after the heat of his body. With both hands, he helped her down from the truck.
 

Carolina was caught off guard by his unexpected retreat. Reeling, she stumbled, and he caught her.

“It’s okay, love.” He kissed her forehead. “Go on in now. You think about what I said, and when you’re ready, you come to me.”

She started to walk away but turned back to him. “It’s not about whether I want you, Seamus.”

“I know that.”

With a nod, she went inside and closed the door, leaning against it until she heard the truck start up and pull out of the driveway. Then she slid down to the floor and sat there for a long time, thinking about what he’d said and wishing things were different. Oh, how she wished things were different.

Owen and Evan tuned their guitars in a ritual as old as their friendship. They’d been playing together since they first met when they were in high school. That was why it had pained Owen to say no to Evan’s business proposal. At one time, he might’ve been intrigued by it. But now he was intrigued by the idea of living and working with Laura. Funny how things changed.

With a fire burning in the hearth and most of his favorite people gathered around him, Owen should’ve been more at peace than he’d ever been in his life. But Justin’s demand weighed heavily on Owen as he let Evan lead the way through the first set.

Evan, who’d been plagued by worse than usual allergies this fall, signaled for Owen to continue without him when a relentless bout of sneezing sent him from the room.
 

As Owen strummed his guitar, he sought out Laura, almost willing her to look at him. When her gaze met his, he felt the impact from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. What a lucky, lucky bastard he was to have found her. Now that he had her, there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to keep her close. He wondered if Justin had any idea how determined they were to be together. Well, he’d soon find out if he chose to make an issue of their relationship.

He smiled at Laura and played the opening chords to George Harrison’s song “Something.” Playing for her and only her, he put everything he felt for her into the song, letting her know something about her made her different from every other woman in the world.
 

At first, only Laura realized he was sending her a love letter in the form of a song, but by the time he hit the second chorus, everyone else had tuned in to the moment unfolding between them.
I guess we’ve gone public
, he thought, satisfied that their friends were in on the secret they’d been keeping.

Laura sent him an intimate, loving smile that warmed him all the way through. He couldn’t wait to go home with her, to debrief the party, to sleep wrapped up in her. He couldn’t wait for everything with her.

The door swung open to admit Slim Jackson, Luke’s good friend and the island’s number-one charter pilot. He was tall and muscular with dark hair and eyes and an easy, relaxed manner. His grandfather had tagged him with the nickname when he was a gangly kid, and it had stuck, becoming funny when Slim grew into a well-built man.

“Hey, you made it,” Luke said to Slim as Owen finished the song to enthusiastic applause.

Slim said something to Luke that had him turning to signal Owen.

He put down his guitar and went over to see what was going on. Shaking hands with Slim, he noticed the other man seemed uncharacteristically rattled. “What’s up?” Owen asked.

“I just flew your mom over from the mainland.”

Owen hadn’t spoken to his mother in a couple of weeks, and she’d never mentioned a trip to the island. “Really? What’s she doing here?”

“She didn’t say, but she’s in rough shape. Her face was all red like she’d been crying, and it seemed like she was in pain or something. When we landed, she cried out from the impact. I tried to talk her into letting me take her to the clinic, but she insisted I drop her at the hotel.”

A red haze of rage blinded Owen as Slim’s words registered. He knew what must’ve happened, because it’d happened before.
 

Laura came up to him and rested her hand on his back. “Is everything okay?”

“We need to go.” Owen’s calm tone belied the uproar going on inside him. “My mom is here.”

“Did you know she was coming?”

He shook his head, not trusting himself to say anything more. Crossing the room, he put his guitar in the case and closed the latches with fumbling fingers. He was aware of Laura saying good-bye to the others, but he focused on breathing through the rage. He could only imagine what must’ve happened this time. Had she finally left him? Owen refused to entertain a hope that had been dashed so often in the past.

“Yo, O, are you okay?” Evan asked quietly. He crouched next to Owen and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Did you hear what Slim said?”
 

“Yeah.” Evan was the only person on the island who knew the truth about Owen’s upbringing with the rigid army general who’d beaten the crap out of his wife and children every chance he’d gotten. “What can I do for you?”

Owen didn’t know what he wanted. He was tempted to run and hide the way he’d done as a young child when his father’s rages would overtake him. Owen had run away and hidden until he was old enough to get between his father and the victim of choice. Running and hiding wasn’t an option with his mother possibly hurt and waiting for him in town.

Evan seemed to sense Owen’s indecision. “I’ll give you and Laura a ride home, and we’ll see what’s up, okay?”

“Thanks, Ev.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

Evan smoothed the way with the others for a quick escape.

Owen settled Laura in the front seat of her car, stashed his guitar in the trunk and took the backseat, thankful for Evan’s offer to drive. Owen had no idea what to expect when they got to the hotel, and the sick feeling in his stomach brought back memories he’d run from his entire adult life. Images ran through his mind like a horror movie, snippets from the past he’d tried so hard to forget. Sometimes he suspected the reason he’d kept moving from one place to another was because he was afraid of what would happen if he ever stood still for too long.
 

Laura turned in her seat and extended a hand to him.

He closed his cold hand around her much warmer one and held on. “There are things I should tell you… Things you should know…” He wondered if she’d be angry that he hadn’t told her before now.

Evan glanced at the rearview mirror and met Owen’s gaze.

“The most important thing right now is whatever your mom needs,” Laura said. “Don’t worry about me, okay?”

He gave a small nod, loving her for understanding.
 

“Whatever it is, I’ll be right there with you,” she added.

“Me, too,” Evan said.

Owen’s throat tightened. How could he tell his two closest friends that he didn’t want them there? He didn’t want them to see what his father had done to his mother. He didn’t want them to know. But he could hardly send them away when neither of them would think of leaving him.
 

They weren’t like the transient people he’d encountered growing up in the military who were quick to turn the other way at any sign of trouble, especially in the family of a high-ranking officer. These people truly cared about him, and they wouldn’t let him go through this alone.