Desire After Dark: A Gansett Island Novel (4 page)

Erin sat up, found her sweater inside out on the floor and put it back on. “What’s
wrong?”

“That was my buddy Luke. His wife is pregnant and having some issues. The clinic here recommended she get to the mainland, so he asked me to fly them over. It’s faster than the ferry.”

“Oh God, poor Sydney.”

He pulled on his sweater and ran his fingers through his hair to bring some order to it. “I know.”

“I hope she’s okay.”

“Sorry to leave like this.”

She stood and went to him. “Don’t apologize. Your friend needs you. You have to go.”

“You want to come?”

“Oh. Ah… No, thanks. I’ve got some stuff to do here. I’ll see you when you get back.”

He kissed her quickly. “Don’t wait for me to go to Jenny’s. I’ll catch up.”

“Okay,” she said, oddly disappointed by the interruption in their time together, even though she
wanted him to help Luke and Sydney.

He started toward the stairs but then turned back, wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her into another deep, sensual kiss that started her motor running all over again. “I don’t want to be anywhere but right here.” And then he was gone, his footsteps echoing off the metal treads of the spiral staircase as he ran for the door.

E
rin watched
his truck go up the lane that led to the main road, noting he was driving much faster than he normally did. She hoped that whatever was going on with Sydney was minor and that she and the baby she and Luke wanted so desperately would be all right.

Reaching under her sweater, Erin
refastened the clasp on her bra, gasping when the fabric rubbed against her sensitive nipples.

With his electric presence gone, the lighthouse was strangely silent, and Erin was slightly bereft in the wake of his hasty departure. She who had no problem staying busy on her own found herself at loose ends, unable to decide what to do with the rest of the afternoon she’d expected to spend
with him.

She was brewing another cup of tea when she heard a plane fly over the lighthouse. She went to the window to watch until it was out of sight. Though she knew he was an expert pilot with thousands of hours of experience, her heart still leapt into her throat at the thought of him in that tiny metal box hurtling through the sky.

The thought of flying made her feel physically
ill. It hadn’t always. She used to love to travel and had spent time in Europe and Asia during the summer between college and law school. At one time, going to Australia and New Zealand had topped her to-do list. But after seeing those planes fly into the buildings where her beloved brother had worked…

Those images had haunted her for years. To this day, she avoided TV and the Internet
in the weeks surrounding the anniversary out of fear of encountering them again. She’d gone so far as to delete her social media accounts because of the random way the photos and videos would show up out of nowhere, sending her spiraling for days. There was no way to prepare herself to experience the horror all over again, so she went out of her way to avoid it—and airplanes of any kind.

Which made for a cruel dilemma for her and the sexy pilot who had turned her comfortable existence on end since he came into her life, making her wish for things she’d given up hoping for a long time ago.

The phone rang, jarring her out of the pensive thoughts. Erin took the call from Jenny. “Hi there.”

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“You would’ve been about twenty
minutes ago.”

“
Really?
” Jenny asked in a high-pitched squeal. “Do tell.”

“There was some kissing. And stuff. Before he got called out on a job.” Though Jenny and Sydney were close friends, Erin didn’t mention Luke’s frantic call to Slim. Until they knew more, Erin didn’t want Jenny to worry.

“I love that kind of
stuff
,” she said with a sigh. “He’s
so
sexy.” A deep voice in
the background said something Erin couldn’t make out. “Oh be quiet! I’m married, not blind.”

Erin laughed at the banter between Jenny and her husband. “I can’t disagree about his sexiness. But he’s also very sweet and funny and…”

“You like him.”

“I like him. A lot.”

“He’s crazy about you. He was watching you the whole time we were talking in the shop. This is so exciting,
Er!”

“Don’t lose your mind just yet. It’s still very new.”

“But it has potential.”

“Maybe.” As they talked, she arranged and rearranged the magazines on the coffee table, aligning the edges and then redoing it when she wasn’t happy with how they looked.

“Why’re you doing that thing you do any time someone gets a little too close?”

“What thing? I said
maybe
. How’s
that a dirty word?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. This guy could be perfect for you, and you’re already battening down the hatches to keep him out.”

“I am not! That’s not true at all.” Her hatches had been anything but battened down when he’d been sucking on her nipples. The thought nearly made her laugh out loud.

“Then what is it?”

“You know.” Jenny was
one of the few people in Erin’s life, including her parents, who knew about her unwillingness to fly since the attacks. “Think about what he does for a living. He’s already asked me to go to Florida with him and to Evan and Grace’s wedding in Anguilla. How do I do that stuff?”

After a long pause, Jenny said, “Maybe it’s time to put that fear aside and get back to traveling again. You used
to love it, and Toby would hate that you lost that part of yourself because of him.”

“It wasn’t because of him,” she said more sharply than she’d intended.

“I know, honey,” Jenny said gently, “but you get what I mean. Slim is an excellent pilot. Everyone says so. If there’s anyone who can get you past this, it’s him. All you’d have to do is ask him to help you try.”

She began
to rearrange the magazines once again. “I have no desire to put myself through that.”

“I understand better than most people would. It took me a long time to get back on an airplane. You know that.”

“Yeah. I remember the first trip you took and how hard it was.”

“It will be for you, too, and then it’ll get a little easier every time.”

“I just don’t know if I can.”

“You’re interested in a wonderful man who happens to be a pilot, and you have a very real and very understandable fear of flying that’s going to cause a problem in your new relationship if you don’t try to address it somehow.”

“Jeez, when you put it that way, I sound like I need to be committed.”

“Shut up,” Jenny said, sputtering with laughter. “You do not!”

“What if…”

“What? Just say it.”

“What if I can’t get past it? What if I decide it’s better for me to never fly again? How do I manage whatever this is with Slim when flying is his life?”

“First of all, flying is his
livelihood
, not his life. And you’ll find a way to work around it if you and he are meant to be. If he cares about you as much as I suspect he already does, he’d probably
tell you that he’d never want you to be afraid or uncomfortable, even if it means making some changes in his own life.”

“You’re awfully certain of that.”

“I have a good feeling about you two, and so do Alex and Paul. They both said so this morning after you were here.”

“You guys are talking about me behind my back?” she asked, amused by the island gossip machine.

“Nah,
nothing like that. We’re happy for you.”

“I know.”

“Still coming tonight?”

“I told you I wouldn’t miss it.”

“You’re allowed to miss it if you get a better offer for more of the
stuff
that got interrupted earlier.”

“I think I can control myself long enough to attend your party.”

Laughing, Jenny said, “See you soon. And think about trying the flying thing
once to get that first time out of the way. You know Slim would be great about it.”

As she ended the call with Jenny, Erin wondered how she would think about anything other than the dilemma that threatened to derail the promising relationship with Slim before it even got started.

O
wen Lawry pulled
the crumpled letter out of his back pocket and looked at it again. Although
one sentence could hardly be called a “letter.” It was blackmail. Emotional blackmail. The page he’d wanted to rip to shreds the minute he opened it said only,
Take my call and I’ll give your mother a divorce
.

In the two days since the “letter” had arrived at the Sand & Surf Hotel that Owen owned with his wife, Laura, he’d ignored two collect calls from the Virginia prison where his father
now resided after pleading guilty to abusing Owen’s mother. Owen hadn’t even known that collect calls could be made to cell phones, and how had his father gotten his number? No one in his family would ever give it to him, so it must’ve been one of the lawyers who didn’t know the full history between father and son.

They couldn’t know that the last person on God’s green earth that Owen wanted
to talk to was Mark Lawry, which of course his father knew. Thus the emotional blackmail. He hadn’t felt this wound up since the weeks before the trial, when he’d had to prepare himself to see the son of a bitch who’d raised him. He’d thought it was over now that the trial was done, but with his father, it was never over.

Of course, Laura had tuned in to the fact that something was up with
him, but he hadn’t told her about the letter or the blackmail. She had enough to contend with carrying their twins, taking care of Holden and helping to run the hotel, which was booked with holiday-week reservations. Their life, as always, was busy and fun, except for when his father dropped in to remind him that Owen could run but he couldn’t hide from his past.

His coffee had gone cold
while he stared out the window at the ocean. He loved the view from the hotel his grandparents had owned for fifty years until they gave it to him and Laura as a wedding gift. He loved the life that he and Laura had here with Holden and was eagerly anticipating the twins, who’d arrive in March. Everything was going so well, which made this latest volley from his father so poorly timed.

A gurgle from Holden’s room let Owen know the little guy was awake. He poured the remains of his coffee down the sink and went to fetch him. This was Owen’s favorite time of day with the baby he was raising as his own, even though his biological father was Laura’s first husband, Justin. He came to the island once a month to see his son and contributed child support, but Owen got the rest of the time
with Holden, including moments like this when the baby’s cute face lit up with delight at the sight of him.

Owen scooped him up and held him close, breathing in the sweet baby scent that he’d become addicted to since Holden was born. “Hey, buddy. You sleep good?”

“Dadadadada.”

His heart melted any time Holden called him that, and for the millionth time, he wondered how anyone
could expend their rage on a helpless child who was completely dependent upon them for everything. He discarded Holden’s heavy overnight diaper and changed him out of his pajamas into tiny jeans and a red sweater. He was so damned cute with his dark hair and eyes, the picture of his biological father, not that Owen and Laura cared who he looked like.

Owen was blessed to have Laura and Holden
in his life, and he gave thanks for them every day. At times like this, when his emotions were stirred by memories he’d sooner forget than relive, he was extra thankful for Laura and the baby, who reminded him of how far he’d come from where he’d started out in life.

He brought Holden into the kitchen and put him into his high chair with some dry cereal. They had the same routine every
morning, and Owen loved it. He took the morning shift with the baby so Laura could sleep in. As her pregnancy progressed, she couldn’t seem to get enough sleep.

A soft knock on the door preceded his mother ducking her head into the apartment.

“Come in,” Owen said, smiling as she came in the door with her fiancé, Charlie, trailing behind her. They were nearly inseparable these days,
and Owen couldn’t be happier for them.

“Morning.” Sarah went past her son to kiss her grandson’s forehead.

Holden squealed with happiness at the sight of two of his favorite people.

“I see where I rate around here,” Owen said, amused by his mother’s focus on the baby.

“Grandchildren always bump children.” Sarah leaned in to kiss Owen’s cheek. “You should know that by
now.”

“Wait till the twins come,” Charlie said. “You’ll be lucky if she says hello to you.”

Owen laughed, because he knew that was true. His mother was almost as excited about the new babies as he and Laura were. She was excited about everything now that his father’s trial was behind them, and he was finally exactly where he belonged. Which was why Owen was so tormented over his
father’s latest cruel volley. His mother and Charlie wanted to be married but were content to live together forever if his father refused to let her go.

After everything they’d both been through before they found each other, they should have everything they wanted, and Owen hated being the one thing standing between them and a happy future. Intellectually, he knew it was his father standing
between them, not him, but he could fix that. If only he could bring himself to accept a call from the person he least wished to speak to.

“We’re on our way to Uncle Shane and Aunt Katie’s for breakfast,” Sarah said to Holden. “You want to come with us?”

At the words
Uncle Shane
, Holden began kicking his feet and trying to break out of the high chair.

“I’ll take that as a
yes,” Sarah said, laughing. “Is it okay with you?”

“Sure,” Owen said. “He loves his time with Shane.” Laura’s brother was happily engaged to Owen’s sister, Katie, and living a few doors down the street from them. Having his sister nearby and seeing her settled with Shane was another thing to love about his life on Gansett Island.

Sarah expertly removed Holden from the high chair,
got him cleaned up and into his hat and coat. “We’ll be back in a little while.”

“Take your time. We’re not doing anything today.”

“Maybe we’ll come back at naptime, then,” Sarah said with a smile that lit up her eyes.

“Just let me know,” Owen said.

“We will.”

“Give Dada a kiss,” Sarah said.

Holden came stumbling across the room on legs that wobbled under
him. He and Laura called him the “drunken sailor” since he’d begun walking a week ago—at only ten months old. Owen bent to receive a wet, sloppy kiss from the little guy. “Be good for Gram and Gramps.”

“Dadadadada.”

“Let’s go see Uncle Shane and Auntie Katie,” Sarah said as she picked up Holden.

Owen saw them out and then went to look in on Laura, who was still sound asleep.
He stretched out on the bed next to her, staring up at the ceiling and filled with anxiety as he waited for the phone to ring again. He’d been there about thirty minutes when Laura turned over, cuddling up to him as best she could with the huge baby bump between them. March couldn’t come soon enough for either of them. Her hand landed on his chest, which helped to calm and settle him.

The calming effect she had on him was one of the things he loved best about being married to her.