Had To Be You (47 page)

“No, I’m really not,” she agreed, smiling straight ahead for the photos. “Not counting traffic, I could probably be there to here in just over an hour.”

He encircled her waist with both hands, holding her that much closer. “Just call first, in case I’m not around. I might be busy or whatever. I don’t really know what my schedule looks like at this point.”

Rory tilted her head up towards him just slightly, meeting his eyes with a wry grin.

Nuzzling her soft hair, he whispered a kiss against her temple before murmuring in her ear. “And by that, what I actually mean is…you’ll find me right here, waiting for you to come home.”

***

Rory ended the call, gazing at the cell phone in her hand a long moment as she let out a soft, shaky breath. Feeling the sting of tears in the corners of her eyes, she waited a moment for composure before standing from the bed to walk out to the kitchen.

Kevin was by the counter, the speckled granite littered with serving platters and half empty salad bowls, mixing up a batch of drinks. He smiled over at her in a way she knew was supposed to be comforting.

“Have you told him yet?” he asked quietly.

She only shook her head in response.

He handed her one of the frosted glasses. “If I could perhaps offer some assistance?”

She took if from him, murmuring wryly, “If that’s the case, you might as well just give me the whole pitcher.”

Glancing out over the beach, she followed him outside onto the deck. The sun dipped below the horizon, the sky illuminated by the radiant glow in blue, pink and gold. The whole scene looked like something out of an impressionist painting, only ten times more brilliant. It made her chest ache even more.

Matt was perched on one of the deck railings, his tanned face and bright eyes warmed by the fading light. He glanced over to hold her gaze a beat as she made her way back to her chair.

Maura and her boyfriend Kyle were in town for the day, gathered there with the rest of the brothers O’Shea. Jill was here, too, cuddled up in the cushioned wicker chaise with the infant carrier at her feet.

“Okay, Rory, we’re waiting on you—Ronald McDonald or the Burger King?” she called out to ask.

“You can have it your way,” Kevin offered.

Jill visibly shuddered, leaning down to check on her sleeping child. “There is nothing creepier than that Burger King guy. Nothing.”

“Yeah, nothing except Ronald McDonald,” Rory added with a grimace as she took her seat. “Is there a death option in this game?”

Matt offered a shrug of his shoulder. “Just take the clown.”

“Fine,” she muttered, lifting her drink to her lips. “But I won’t like it.”

“On the contrary,” he grinned and cocked his head. “From what I hear, you’ll be
lovin’ it
.”

“Okay…” Kevin laughed. “Superman or Aquaman?”

“There’s not even a question in that question,” Jill said. “Superman, of course.”

“He is the man of steel,” Matt interjected and then narrowed his eyes. “Although Aquaman probably has a better chance of getting you we—”

“Don’t!”

“What?” he replied. “He’s Aquaman! Need I say more?”

“I’m wishing you could say less,” Rory laughed and shook her head, her cheeks pink. This was an old game, and they had lots of practice at it. “So, who would you rather?”

“Me? I’d have to go with Superman,” he answered offhandedly, taking a swig of beer.

Jill tilted her head to regard him.

“I never figured you for a bottom for some reason, Matt.”

“How’s that?” he said with a frown.

“Superman is totally a top,” she explained as Kevin just shook his head next to her.

“Even I know that,” Danny agreed.

“That’s okay!” His sister Maura spoke up from the other side of the deck. “The key to any good relationship is compromise. You could make it work.”

“Although I’m thinking Aquaman can probably hold his breath a really long time. And he dives.” Jill lifted her eyebrows and paused to give this some more serious consideration. Then she shook her blonde curls. “But, you know, there really isn’t much Aquaman can do that Superman can’t. Except, I suppose, converse with fish—but, really, is that a transferable skill to the bedroom? And, no, Matt, don’t even go there.”

“I said nothing!”

“In fact, if you think about it?” she continued. “Superman’s collective powers really render most of the other members of the Justice League obsolete. It must be a lonely kind of burden to bear, to know you’re so much better and more important than all your other Super Friends. I know I carry my own heavy load.”

“Yeah, that’s a load all right,” Matt snorted in amusement. “I know I’ve personally always coveted your special superpower to spread a story faster than a speeding bulletin.”

“Hey, not in front of the
b-a-b-y
!” she protested, mostly feigning indignation. “You make it sound like I’m a gossip! That’s Lindsay, not me!”

“Yeah,” Kevin jumped in to defend, his smile twitching. “Jill just has a great sense of rumor.”

Trevor stepped out onto the deck at that moment, a fully packed diaper bag slung over his shoulder.

“I guess that’s my cue,” she said.

She stood to lift the baby carrier, Trevor easing the weight from her hands as the others all admired the baby girl one last time. They said their goodbyes and trudged down the deck steps to leave.

“That is one adorable baby.” Maura took a sip of her beer and then let out a soft, delicate burp.

“Now that was lovely,” Matt said sarcastically.

“Quite the woman you’ve got there in our sister, Kyle.” Danny raised his own beer bottle in a salute.

“Oh, please!” Maura scoffed lightly. “As if I wasn’t a victim of the by-products of all your various bodily functions for most of my life. Besides,” she added. “What do I care? Everyone here is family.”

Rory smiled sadly before lifting her eyes to where Matt was sitting, her breath almost stolen away by his steady gaze. Instead of flailing about, gasping for air per usual, for a moment she dove right in to immerse herself in the deep blue.

***

With the murmur of a satisfied sigh, she dropped back into the soft tangle of sheets, her head sinking into the pillow. He rolled with her, easing onto his side. When her hand drifted down his body in a lazy caress, she could still feel the rapid drumming beat of his heart under the rise and fall of his chest.

“See—we were quiet, right?” he whispered, still slightly out of breath.

Rory only smiled and adjusted her position to face him. There was a sliver of moon visible in the nighttime sky outside her bedroom window, and the summer breeze drifted in through the screen.

His eyes shone lightly in the dark, his gaze following the deliberate path of his hand as he slowly grazed his fingertips along the curve of her collarbone, over her shoulder and down her arm.

“Your mom is going to be mad,” he drew in a little breath, “if she finds out you got this sunburn from being out on the boat.”

“Really?” she murmured softy, with more than a touch of sarcasm. “You think that’s what my mother would be mad to find out—that you didn’t provide me with the appropriate sun protection factor when we were out on the island today? Meanwhile, sneaking into my room, what you just did to me, her sweet and innocent daughter, under her roof, with her sleeping right down the hall…that’s perfectly okay?”

Matt buried a sleepy chuckle of amusement.

“Well, it could be, you know.”

“How so?”

“Easy,” he grinned. “All you’d have to do is explain to her that you’re marrying me. You know—someday. So, we’re like practically almost kind of engaged.”

“You keep saying that, but I don’t ever recall being involved in this discussion.”

“You’re the one who said it first, not me.”

She scowled faintly in sleepy confusion. “When?”

“We were five.”

“I hated you when we were five.” Rory yawned, and then pretended to contemplate this as she tucked her hand under her pillow. “Besides, there’s a lot to consider here. Married life is not always what it’s cracked up to be, you know. All those little annoying habits that can escalate to epic proportions once you’re living with someone day in and day out.”

“Like what?”

“Like what about the fact you claim I snore?”

“True,” he agreed with a tilt of his head, and got more comfortable in the narrow bed with her. “Only that’s not so much a claim as it is fact. But, you’re probably right. If we do get married, you’d be after me all the time for things like leaving my dirty plates on the sink counter or wet towels on the bathroom floor.”

“There are hooks right there, you know,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “But, then again, you always seem bothered when I wash my lingerie and leave it in there to dry.”

Matt smiled slowly, the timbre of his voice changing. “Well, let’s define ‘bothered’. Because my problem is—seeing it off you? Only makes me think of it on you.” He continued to trace the tips of his fingers along her skin as his hushed voice lowered even more. “Which can be very distracting when I’m trying to get anything else in life accomplished. And, speaking of that, I know you’d always be on me for watching too much TV when I should be doing something else more productive.”

He leaned in, slowly and deliberately moving over her, never taking his eyes off her, until their soft breaths intermingled. His recovery time was always quicker than hers, though she enjoyed all the ways in which he helped her catch up.

She gazed up at him in this close proximity from under the fan of dark eyelashes.

“And you would always be telling me to just relax.”

Matt grasped her wrists to lift both arms above her head, his fingers intertwining with hers as he held her down.

“I’d wait to pay the bills the day they were due, while you would always want to pay them the day they arrived.”

He moved in to kiss and nuzzle her neck. Rory’s eyes fluttered closed as she bit down on her bottom lip, writhing just a little where he now had her gently pinned down to the bed.

“I’m a morning person and you’re a night person.”

“Okay, now that depends entirely on what we’re talking about.” His deep murmur rumbled against her pulse points, reverberating through her whole body. “Because, in certain circumstances, I consider myself to be an ‘any-time-of-day’ person and I’d like for that to be noted for the record, please.”

She tilted her head, allowing him better access as his mouth moved down to the hollow of her throat.

“You hate it when I buy orange juice with the pulp.”

“You hate it when I put the carton back in the refrigerator with only a drop left.”

“You’d never remember to shut off the porch light at night.” Her breathy sigh turned into a seductive purr that surprised even her.

Matt broke away, adjusting their fit as he gazed down to meet her eyes, the delicious weight of his body coming back to rest on top of her.

“And you would always wait until now to remind me, just as I was getting into bed with you, like I didn’t have better things to do.”

Her eyes drifted slowly over his face, the undeniable evidence of his future intentions pressed hard and thick against the soft swell of her belly. Renewed desire trembled through her voice. “So, basically we’re looking at a lifetime of total misery.”

“Yeah, but why does that suddenly sound so appealing?” His murmur danced across her lips as he silenced her moan inside a deep kiss.

***

“Do you remember that, Matt?”

The sound of his sister Maura’s voice seemed to break some spell. Rory’s thoughts abruptly returned to the present, coming up to break through the surface with a great, gasping breath.

She tore her eyes away from the blue of his gaze and Matt, in turn, refocused his attention on his sister’s question.

“What was that?” he asked.

It was one of his sister’s stories of their childhood. Rory only half-listened. These were mostly for Kyle’s benefit, as she knew each one by heart.

She and Matt grew up so close in so many ways. Maybe it would have been easier somehow if they developed some kind of brotherly-sister bond, as she did with Kevin. But they were never that lucky. It was always something more than friendship, something more than she could even define.

“Wow, it’s getting late.” Maura stood. “We should really hit the road, Kyle.”

“You know you two are welcome to just stay here tonight,” Danny offered. “Both couches in there open up to sofa beds.”

“Well, I can take a couch,” Rory quickly offered. “You take the bedroom.”

“I know, and thanks.” She smiled and stretched her arm out to give Rory’s a squeeze while covering a small yawn. “But I don’t really feel like dealing with the traffic back to Boston tomorrow morning.” She paused, gazing out wistfully over the darkened beach as her voice changed. “Fourth of July next weekend, and it seems like the rest of the summer just flies by after that. It’ll be over before we know it.”

Rory felt the familiar warm breeze against her face, that hint of ocean salt flavoring the sweet, sultry summer air along with the trace, lingering evidence of their earlier barbeque on the grill. Growing quiet, somewhat melancholy, she couldn’t help but wonder exactly how many summers like this she’d spent with Matt.

There was the very real possibility this could be their last one.

Once they were gone, Kevin collected the empty beer bottles and glassware from the deck, and then headed towards the house, glancing back when he reached the door.

“I think I might check out the Red Sox.”