Treading Water (13 page)

He held her for a long time, breathing her
in and wanting her more than he’d wanted anything in longer than he
could remember. They held each other for several minutes before he
released her, reached for her bag, and walked with his arm around
her to the parking lot.

In the car, he turned to her. “I’m so glad
to see you.”

Her face flushed with a
slight blush that he found charming. “All the way here,” she said,
“I kept thinking, what am I
doing
? But I wanted to see you again.
So badly.”

“
I wanted to see you just
as badly.” He cupped her cheek and brought her close enough to
kiss. Skimming his tongue over her bottom lip, he fought the urge
to devour. “Mmm,” he whispered against her lips, “all I’ve thought
about since that amazing kiss in the office was doing it
again.”

Her fingers combed through his hair,
encouraging him to take more. “Me, too.”

He kissed her again, this time holding
nothing back. Her slick lips and teasing tongue made him want her
naked and horizontal under him with a fierce urgency he wouldn’t
have thought himself capable of anymore before he met her.

Breathing hard, he rested his forehead
against hers and gazed into her soft brown eyes. “I told myself I
wouldn’t do this.”

“
Kiss me?” she asked with
that teasing smile he so adored. “I would’ve been disappointed if
you hadn’t.”

“
Jump all over you like a
hormonal teenager the minute you got here.”

“
We jumped all over each
other.”

“
I can’t remember the last
time I made out in a parked car,” he said with a smile as he
reluctantly pulled himself away from her to drive them to Newport.
“I’d forgotten how fun it can be.”

The ride was punctuated by small talk and
comfortable stretches of silence. On the way, Jack struggled to
process the strong reaction he’d had to seeing her again as well as
the discovery that he’d fallen in love with her.

“
What’re you thinking about
over there?”

Startled out of his thoughts, Jack glanced
at her. “A lot of things.”

Reaching over, she linked her fingers with
his. “Care to share any of them?”

“
Maybe,” he said with a coy
smile. “Eventually.”

“
Are you feeling okay
about…well…everything?”

“
I’m conflicted. I won’t
lie to you about that.”

“
I wouldn’t want you
to.”

“
This feels like it has the
potential to be a very big deal. And it’d be one thing if we had
only ourselves to think about, but there’re so many other people to
consider.”

“
May I make a
suggestion?”

“
Of course.”

“
How about we take this
weekend just for us? No worries or talk about the future, the kids,
the logistics, or any of the other issues standing in the way. Just
us.”

Overwhelmed by the relief of having her and
her thoughtful sensibility with him for the next few days, he
brought their joined hands to his lips. “That could very well be
the best idea you’ve ever had.”

Laughing, she said, “Oh, I’ve got a few
others you’ll like just as much—if not more.”

Jack groaned and pressed harder on the
accelerator.

When they arrived at the marina, Jack was
relieved to find it oddly deserted. He wasn’t prepared to explain
Andi to people he and Clare had known for years, nor did he want
rumors reaching the girls before he was able to talk to them
himself. But remembering their vow to keep this weekend all about
them, he pushed those thoughts aside and took her bag down to the
cabin.

Turning to go back outside, he discovered
she’d followed him.

“
Hey,” he said, his heart
racing.

“
Hey, yourself.”

They stared at each other for an
emotion-packed moment before she was back in his arms, clinging to
him as he plundered. He pulled her in tight against his instant
erection.

A mewling sound erupted from her throat.

When he lifted her, she wrapped her arms and
legs around him without breaking the intense kiss. Pressing her
against the wall freed his hands to cup her breasts, and he ran his
thumbs over pebbled nipples.

Gasping, she tore her lips free. “Jack…”

“
What, honey?” He dropped
soft kisses on her neck. “Tell me.”

A tremble rippled through her. “I want
you.”

Her softly spoken words went right to his
heart—and a few other places. “Let’s get out of here and go
someplace where we can be alone.”

“
All right.” She slid down
the aroused front of him until her feet were back on the
floor.

A few minutes later, Jack cast off the last
of the lines and backed the boat out of its slip.

She watched him maneuver the big boat in the
small space. “You’re good at that.”

“
Lots of practice. It used
to scare the hell out of me,” he said with a grin as he guided the
boat into the channel that circled Newport Harbor. He steered the
boat into the bay so they could see the hotel site from the
water.

Zeroing in on the construction site, she
said, “It’s going to be spectacular.” The dreamy expression on her
face caught his attention.

“
Tell me what you
see.”

“
The rolling lawn is
sprinkled with umbrellas and Adirondack chairs filled with guests
enjoying the view of the bay. Sunday brunch is being served on the
veranda. Green-and-white-striped awnings and huge terra cotta pots
filled with lush flowers.”

“
Wow, I can picture it. How
do you do that?”

She grinned and shrugged.

“
I added a second veranda
to the plans on the south side, right about there.” He pointed. “I
can’t take too much credit for the initial design, but I’m very
pleased with what our gang came up with. I wouldn’t have done it
much differently myself.”

“
They’ve learned from the
best.”

“
So did I.” Jack steered
the boat toward Mackerel Cove to anchor for the night. “Working for
Neil was so important. It made everything else
possible.”

“
I’d love to meet
him.”

“
You’d be surprised at how
normal he is. He’s not at all affected by the attention he’s
received. It hasn’t spoiled him.”

“
Sounds like you learned
more than just architecture from him. You could be describing
yourself.”

“
Thank you for that, but my
career certainly doesn’t warrant the same attention his
did.”

“
You’ve gotten your share.
I knew about your firm for years before we hired you.”

“
It still amuses me to hear
that. We had no intention of working at the level we are now. We
just wanted to keep it simple. That’s why we left Neil’s company,
but it hasn’t worked out quite the way we planned.”

“
You know what John Lennon
said about life? It’s what happens when you’re busy making other
plans.”

“
Ain’t that the truth? If
my father had his way, I would’ve been a banker.”

Andi grimaced. “I can’t picture that.”

“
Neither could I. My
grandfather started the bank, and my father took it over when his
father retired. It was assumed I’d follow in their
footsteps.”

“
What bank?”

“
Bank Atlantic.”

“
I had an account there
when I was in college!”

Jack grinned. “Thank you for your business.
Anyway, after I told him I was forgoing business school at Yale—his
alma mater—to go to architecture school at Berkeley, he flipped his
lid and didn’t speak to me for years.” He’d carried the pain of his
father’s unreasonable anger with him for years. “I’ve never
regretted my choice, but I always wished that I could’ve had the
career I wanted and made him proud of me, too.” Shrugging it off,
he added, “But that’s neither here nor there now.”

“
It must still hurt a
little.”

“
I never think about it
anymore.”

“
He has to be proud of you,
Jack. How could he not be? Look at all you’ve
accomplished.”

“
I hope he is, but I really
don’t know. It stopped mattering to me years ago. For a long time,
I wondered if anything could ever bridge the awful gap between us.
Then I brought Clare home to Greenwich to meet them. Since he can
be a world-class snob, I figured he’d disapprove of me marrying a
schoolteacher from working-class Hartford, but he loved her from
the minute he met her. She helped to smooth out a lot of the rough
edges. After Jill was born, we let go of the anger and got over
it.”

“
Kids have a way of putting
things into perspective.”

“
True, but we’ve never
talked about what happened.”

“
At least you talk. That’s
something.”

He smiled at her, marveling at how easy it
was to tell her things he never spoke of to anyone else. “Also
true.”

Once they’d anchored in the quiet cove, he
opened a bottle of wine and turned on the CD player. Sinatra roared
to life on the boat’s sound system. Jack turned it down and went up
on deck to join her. They sat together on the wide bench seat as
the sunset over Jamestown faded into darkness.

He drew her closer so her head rested on his
chest.

She wrapped her arm around him.

“
Are you hungry?” he asked,
rubbing his cheek against her soft curls.

“
Not really.”

He tipped her chin and studied her face for
a long, intense moment, as if there was still a decision to be
made. Who was he kidding? Taking her wineglass, he put it on the
table next to his.

“
Every time I kiss you,” he
said, gliding his lips over hers, “all I can think is how long I
have to wait until I can do it again.”

“
I seem to have the same
problem.” She sighed. Her arms tightened around him as she met the
ardent thrusts of his tongue with her own.

He slipped his hand under her T-shirt and
pushed up her bra to free her breasts. Groaning against her lips,
he teased her with his fingers until her nipples were hard and
tight. Suddenly in a rush, he tore his lips free, pulled the
T-shirt over her head, and kissed his way to her breasts. He
reached behind her to unhook her bra. Tugging on one nipple with
his lips, he gave the other the same treatment with his
fingers.

Andi took a deep breath of the salty sea air
as the water lapped against the hull and his hot, hungry mouth fed
on her breasts. She opened her eyes to a sky sprinkled with stars
and a moon that might’ve been hung just for them. Arching her hips,
she found him hard and ready for her. She reached for his shirt and
tugged it off to discover his chest was muscular but not bulky. The
light dusting of dark hair was soft under her hands, his nipples
firm against her palms.

He unbuttoned her shorts and skimmed them
down her legs until only a thin strip of lace covered her. Taking a
long, leisurely look at what he’d uncovered, he got rid of his own
shorts and lay on his side next to her on the narrow bench
seat.

Breast to chest, hip to hip, hard pressed to
soft, he kissed her gently, patiently, with easy thrusts of his
tongue. He slid a hand into her panties and groaned when he found
her damp with desire.

She gasped as his fingers parted her and
delved deeper.

“
Andi, honey, I want you so
much,” he whispered against her lips.

She replied with the lift of her hips
against his fingers and cried out when he eased them into her,
reducing her world to the throbbing need between her legs.

Suddenly impatient, he got rid of the
panties and hooked her leg over his hips. Kissing her with deep
thrusts of his tongue, he moved his fingers over her and into her,
in a steady, relentless rhythm that quickly sent her flying.

“
Jack!
Oh!
”

He kept it up until she came a second time,
trembling and gasping. Nothing had ever been quite like this.

“
You’re so beautiful,” he
whispered, shifting so he was between her legs. “I love you, Andi.
I can’t offer you anything else, but I do love you—”

She stopped him with a finger to his lips.
“That’s all I need.”

Resting on top of her, he leaned down to
kiss her. “Do we need protection?”

She shook her head. “I’m on the pill.”

He made her crazy with hot kisses to her
neck and breasts, but he surprised her when he suddenly stopped and
rested his forehead on her chest.

“
Jack? What is
it?”

Breathing heavily, he said, “I just…I need a
minute, honey.”

Putting her arms around him, she brought him
up with her.

“
I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t be.” She caressed
his back with gentle strokes.

“
I was so sure I could do
this.”

The pain she heard in his voice made her
ache for him. “You’re just not ready. I understand.”

“
Maybe I could’ve figured
that out before we were naked and desperate.”

She smiled and brushed her lips over his
hair. “It’s all right.”

He brought her closer to him, and they were
quiet for a long time. “Do you think maybe we could try again?”

“
We don’t have to. I’m
happy just to be here with you.”