Jill Shalvis - The Sweetest Thing

“I love you guys,” Maddie whispered.

Tara sighed. “I love you too.”

Chloe merely endured the hug and the sentiment.

Maddie pulled back and, still holding their hands, sniffed. “I’m sorry about this. When I didn’t get my period on time, I panicked. It’s silly. I love Jax so much. And we’ve talked about getting married, about doing the whole wedding and dress and cake-”

“And dancing,” Chloe added. “If you’re going to make a production out of it, let’s have dancing.”

Maddie laughed. “Yeah. And dancing.”

“So… panic over?” Tara asked her.

“Yeah.” Maddie rubbed her chest. “I mean none of us exactly had the typical childhood. And Jax didn’t either. I couldn’t picture-I just couldn’t imagine being a parent, I don’t know how. We don’t know how.”

“You’re the warmest, sweetest, kindest person I know,” Tara said. “And Jax is smart and sharp as hell. What you don’t know, you’ll figure out. You’ll make great parents.”

“Oh,” Maddie said, “that’s so sweet.” And she sniffed again. “But I really just want to be alone with him for a while first. Is that selfish?”

“Hell, no,” Chloe said. “If I was going out with Jax, I’d want to be alone with him all the time. Day and night. Naked-”

Tara slid an arm around Chloe and covered her mouth. Chloe freed herself with a laugh. “So if you’re done panicking now,” she said to Maddie, “maybe you can explain how it is you might have gotten pregnant. Thought you were on the pill.”

Maddie winced. “Yes, but apparently they’re not effective when you’re on antibiotics. Remember last month when I got bronchitis?”

“You were having sex with bronchitis?” Chloe asked. “You weren’t supposed to tax yourself.”

Maddie bit her lower lip and blushed. “I didn’t tax myself. Jax did all the work.”

Chloe sighed in jealousy. “Bitch.”

“So,” Tara said, squeezing Maddie’s hand. “Let’s recap. Panic is over, and we’ve established you’re madly in love.” Which would mean she could go talk to Ford now…

“I’ll be better when I get my period,” Maddie said. “I’ve been so distracted. I mean, I ordered full sheets instead of queen-sized for the guests’ rooms. I tried to put diesel in my car instead of regular gas. And let’s not forget not checking the bilge pump on the houseboat and nearly killing Logan.”

“Eh,” Chloe said with a playful shrug. “He’s an ex. Not such a loss.”

“Chloe!” Tara exclaimed.

Maddie laughed, then clapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. But admit it; that was a little funny. And we need to get breakfast going.”

“Yes,” Tara agreed. “But first I have to go face a man about a pregnancy scare, thank you very much.” She sent Chloe a long look.

“My fault,” Chloe said, raising her hand. “I’ll make breakfast.”

“No,” Maddie and Tara said at the same time.

“Hey, I can totally do this. I want to do this.”

Tara stared at her, then nodded. “Okay, but I’ll be back if you need me.” With that, she went searching for Ford, but though his car was out front, he wasn’t anywhere in the inn.

Or the marina building.

And then she discovered that his Finn was gone. He’d headed out on the water. She boarded his Beneteau and sat on the hull, stretching her long legs out in front of her to catch the rays of the early sun, hoping it would warm her while she waited. Dropping her head back, she closed her eyes and tried to relax. Between the near sinking of the houseboat, the emotional talk with Mia the night before, getting even more emotional-and naked-with Ford, then Maddie’s pregnancy scare, she was plum done in, all before eight in the morning.

She must have drifted off because the next thing she knew, the boat was shifting as someone stepped onboard. She didn’t look. She didn’t need to. She recognized the buzz along her nerves.

Ford didn’t speak, and neither did she. Not when he motored them out of the marina, and not when he took them out of the bay as well, to a secluded area offshore. He dropped anchor and sat beside her, mirroring her pose so that he was sprawled out, face tipped up, the sun gilding his features.

Because she needed to see him for this, she sat up, reached over and pulled off his sunglasses.

He lifted his head and looked at her.

“The pregnancy test really wasn’t mine,” she said. “I’d have come to you.”

His eyes met hers. “Or Logan.”

“You really think I’d sleep with both of you?”

He hesitated. “If it were any other guy, I’d say hell no. But there’s this little voice inside my head that keeps reminding me that you have strong ties to him. And you were married. I really hate that little fucking voice.”

“Logan and I have been apart nearly two years now.”

“And we’ve been apart seventeen.”

“I’m thinking the amount of time isn’t what matters,” she said.

Ford was quiet a moment. “You know, back inside, for just a minute when I saw that stick, a bunch of things hit me.”

“Yes. Abject terror.”

“And confusion,” he said. “And maybe… excitement.” His eyes met hers. “I never regretted Mia. Not for a minute. I only regretted what happened to us.”

Her chest squeezed. “I hate that I hurt you.”

Again he was quiet. “I feel something for you, Tara,” he finally said. “You feel it, too. I see it in your eyes when you look at me. I feel it in your touch when you let me in close.”

She let out a breath and watched the water. “Yes.”

He tugged her onto his lap and stroked a thumb along her jaw, waiting until she opened her eyes.

“I feel it,” she said, giving him the words. “And I feel it for only you. Whatever ‘it’ is. But-”

“No buts,” he said. “That sentence was perfect without any buts.” He slid his hands beneath her skirt and cupped the cheeks of her bottom in his big hands, yanking her in even closer, letting her feel what this position was doing for him. Kissing his way along her jaw to her ear, he made her shiver in anticipation.

“Here,” he said. “Now. With me.”

The words weren’t spoken with a question mark at the end, but he was asking.

“Here,” she agreed, cupping his face. “Now. With you. Only you…”

With an agreeing growl rumbling in his throat, he pushed up her sweater and down the cups of her bra, baring her breasts to him. “You drive me crazy,” he said against her skin. “Crazy.”

“Ditto,” she gasped, then again when he slid his hand between her thighs. She fisted her hands in his hair and cried out, rubbing against him, needing the friction, needing him inside her with a wild abandon and desperation she couldn’t control.

“I think about you day and night.” His voice was raw. “And Jesus, the image of you in my T-shirt and those heels, that’s going to be fueling my fantasies for a good long time.”

“How about doing it on your boat while anchored just off shore in the light of day?” she asked breathlessly. “Is that fantasy worthy?”

His eyes darkened. “Oh Christ, yeah.” He pulled off her sweater and yanked her body flush to his, raining open-mouthed kisses down her throat to her breasts. He flicked a nipple with his tongue, causing them both to groan when it pebbled in his mouth. He was pushing up her skirt when she freed him from his jeans. “Please tell me you have a condom,” she murmured when he slipped beneath her panties and unerringly touched her so that she writhed for more.

He pulled out a little packet that nearly made her weep for joy. “Now,” she said. “You promised now.”

Good as his word, he guided her down onto him, inch by glorious inch. “God, Tara. When I’m inside you, I feel like I’m home.”

Before she could recover from the beautiful but shocking words, he roughly covered her mouth with his, and gripping her hips hard, gave a slow grind that had her gasping for more. Then he rolled them, reversing their positions. With the warm sun overhead and the pull and thrust of the ocean tide rocking them, Ford moved inside her, taking her to a place no one else ever had. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced, and afterward, they lay side by side, hands entwined, staring up at the clear blue sky as they struggled to catch their breath.

Eventually, Tara rose to dress, and Ford did the same. In comfortable silence, they sailed back to the marina. After Ford had tied up at the dock, he turned to her.

She looked at him, his last few words still in her head. I feel like I’m home. “Ford?”

“Yeah?”

“Me too.”

Tara walked into the kitchen and found Chloe sitting on the countertop, mixing up something that smelled delicious.

“A new exfoliating face scrub,” she explained. “Melon-flavored. The bonus is that it tastes delicious.”

Tara tried not to panic. “I thought you were making breakfast.”

“We are.” Mia came into the kitchen from the dining room carrying a huge casserole dish. “I made Good Morning Sunshine Casserole,” she said, looking adorable in fresh-and tiny-denim shorts and a stretchy tee. “Not strawberry pie, though I was tempted. It’s a casserole with some leftover ham, Tater Tots, and cheese, all mixed together.” She looked very proud of herself. “It’s already been served and cleaned up.”

Tara stared at this creature who was her own flesh and blood and felt her own pride bubble over. “Wow.”

“I know. Cute and talented,” Mia said.

Carlos came into the room from the back door. Mia turned a smile on him. The poor guy took one look at her mile-long legs in her short shorts, and walked smack into the island.

Chloe shot Tara a smirk.

Tara ignored her in favor of taking a good look at the teens, and didn’t like what she saw, because she was seeing a whole hell of a lot of heat. “Busy day,” she said to Carlos as he attempted to recover. “We need to hose down the front porch, water the flowers, and fix the flickering lights on the dock in case guests want to walk along there at night.”