Jill Shalvis - The Sweetest Thing

Tara laughed and covered her mouth in utter surprise. The man was clearly drunk and uncharacteristically out of control, and yet he could still make her laugh. And if the truth was known, in the bedroom Ford had never failed to command anything less than her full attention. Which meant he had it backward. She was a slave to him. To his hands, his mouth…

“What I’m trying to say is that I’ll always be there for you, Tara. You need someone to help you, I’m your guy. You need a couple or three orgasms? I’m your personal toy. You need to let off some steam, someone to yell at, I’ll be your doormat. Wait. Skip that. I’m not a good doormat-Hey,” he said to someone else. “Back the fuck off-”

Click.

Tara was looking at her phone when the last message came on. “Goddammit. Logan’s still here, and he stole my phone. Fucker. He had his shot with you and blew it.” His voice lowered again. “He doesn’t see you like I do, Tara. All in charge and bossy and sexy as hell with it. He wants you barefoot and pregnant. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re more. So much more…”

Tara felt her throat tighten as the message ended. He did see her. The real her. She took a minute to gather her thoughts, then decided she couldn’t possibly not call him.

He picked up just before it would have gone to voice mail. “Hey,” he said, sounding rougher than he had in his messages. “It’s late. You okay?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing, Sailor.”

“I’m good,” he said. “But I could be better.”

“Need a ride?” she asked.

There was a beat of surprise. “You’d do that?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitating.

“Would you do it for Logan?”

She closed her eyes and decided to give him the truth. “Not without killing him first.”

“But you wouldn’t kill me?”

“Maybe just maim or dismember.”

“Bloodthirsty,” Ford said, sounding cheered by the thought.

“Yeah.” She hesitated. “Ford, about Logan.”

“Is this the part where you tell me you and I have been nothing but a mistake?”

“No. It’s the part where I tell you that Logan’s not a factor between us.”

Another beat of surprise. “Okay, keep talking.”

She let out a huff of laughter. “He never was, you know.”

“But you still care about him.”

“Very much,” she agreed. “But I’m not in the same place I was when I was with him. So what’s with the superhero thing? Because you should know, no one’s ever been my superhero, Ford. I’ve never wanted one.”

“Okay, now would be a really great time for a but. Like, ‘I’ve never wanted anyone to be my hero, Ford, but now that I’m back in Lucky Harbor you can be my hero, anytime.’ ”

Tara laughed and lay back in her bed, wondering at the need to have him here with her right now, chasing away the shadows. “I scare most guys, you know.”

“Not me.” Ford’s voice softened. “I like how tough you are. Tough on the outside, and soft and creamy on the inside.”

Again she laughed. “That sounds vaguely obscene.”

“Really? Cuz I was going for overtly obscene.”

“Do you need a ride or not?”

“Nah. Sawyer’s got me.”

“Oh, God. He arrested you?”

“Hey, I’m not that drunk.”

“Yes, he is,” came Sawyer’s voice.

She smiled. “This is unlike you.”

“I know. Logan drank me under the table. Fucker.”

“Logan’s with you too?”

“Was.”

There was something in his voice now, something he was holding back. Probably Logan had found female companionship in the bar and Ford was trying to protect Tara’s feelings, which wasn’t necessary.

She knew Logan. She knew that although he thought he loved her, at least the woman she’d once been, above all else Logan loved his career and the lifestyle that went with it. Pretty women were drawn to him. She’d be shocked if he’d managed to sit in the bar tonight without garnering female attention. He hadn’t cheated during their marriage, but it’d definitely been rough on her ego knowing how easy it would have been for him to cheat if he’d wanted to. She’d traveled with him for a while because of it, but the grueling schedule, plus being in the way and feeling so damn alone even while surrounded by his entourage had nearly done her in. Plus, what did it say about her marriage that she’d felt as if she needed to babysit him?

“So,” Ford said. “About that sex slave thing-”

She rolled her eyes. “Say good-night, Ford.”

“ ’Night, Ford.”

She closed her phone, not knowing whether to laugh again or simply be touched.

Both, she decided, and shook her head, a smile breaking through. He made her laugh, always. Just as he made her feel.

Always.

Her heart knew that but her brain resisted. Her brain was capable of accessing memories and calculating odds and wasn’t ready to believe that this could work. But this time at least she fell right to sleep and slept the rest of the night.

Tara woke up at the crack of dawn, disconcerted to find Chloe still wasn’t back. She got up and showered then came face-to-face with her baby sister tiptoeing into the cottage, covered in red, blue, and yellow paint. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Barely.”

Tara looked Chloe over, marveling at the mess. “You look like a cross between a rainbow and a combat survivor. What-”

“Don’t ask.” Chloe dropped her clothes on the spot and padded naked to the shower. “There’s a delivery for you on the porch.”

Tara opened the front door. Sitting on the top step was a vase of beautiful wildflowers, obviously picked, not purchased, with a piece of paper that simply read Tara.

They were beautiful. The question was, who were they from? Neither Logan nor Ford were exactly the go-out-and-pick-wildflowers type. Tara carried the flowers across the yard to the inn’s kitchen, set them on the counter, and mixed up a batch of muffins. She was back to staring at the flowers when Maddie came in the back door with an armload of fresh flowers of her own and stared at Tara’s.

“Hey,” she complained, pointing to Tara’s surprise gift. “I thought I told you I’d get the flowers.”

“I didn’t buy these.”

Maddie eyed the pretty wildflowers. “Logan? Ford?”

Tara shrugged.

“We should all have two men after us,” Maddie said on a dreamy sigh.

“I’m not with two men.”

“I would be,” Chloe said, coming into the kitchen. She was back to her own color. Mostly. “Except probably after having both men naked and at my mercy, the ensuing asthma attack would kill me.”

There was a momentary silence as the three of them contemplated both Ford and Logan naked at the same time.

“Is it hot in here?” Maddie asked after a minute, fanning her face. “It feels hot in here.”

Chloe pulled out her inhaler and took a hit. “So who are they from? Logan?”

Tara touched the flowers. “Logan would’ve sent red roses from some fancy floral shop.”

“Maybe they’re from Ford,” Mia said as she arrived for the day. She tucked her keys and purse into the broom closet. She was in capris and a spaghetti-strapped tank top, looking cool and collected. Tara gazed at her and felt a stab of envy. She used to be cool and collected.

Until she’d come here. “Flowers aren’t really Ford’s style,” she said.

“Yes, but you said you two weren’t together,” Mia said.

“That’s true.”

“So then how do you know what his style is?” Mia asked.

Chloe smiled. “I like you, niece. I like you a lot.”

Mia grinned at her, and Tara sighed. “Don’t encourage her,” she told Chloe, arranging a pile of muffins into a basket. On second thought, she grabbed a thermos and poured it full of milk as well.

“Where are you going?” Maddie asked.

“To find my Secret Santa.” Tara grabbed the basket and flowers. “Hold down the fort; I’ll be back in a minute to make breakfast.”

“If you’re back in a minute, then you’re not doing it right,” Chloe called after her.

Tara heard Chloe yelp, probably from Maddie smacking her upside the head.

Ford hadn’t gotten to bed until three a.m. Sawyer had dumped him at the marina instead of driving him all the way up the hill to his house, then pocketed Ford’s keys to both the boat and his car.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Sawyer had said, then paused, clearly considering confiscating Ford’s cell phone as well.

Luckily Ford had seen that coming and wisely shoved it down the front of his jeans.

With a sound of disgust, Sawyer had left.

Don’t do anything stupid. Ford had repeated that carefully to himself several times. Did that include walking up to the cottage and sneaking into Tara’s bedroom to make her pant and moan his name as he buried himself deep inside her?

Cuz he’d totally do it.

If he wasn’t half certain he’d drown himself getting off the boat. It took all of five seconds to drift off to sleep, only to wake some time later with his head pounding like a jackhammer. Dawn was streaking across the sky, and he was sprawled across the mattress.

With someone sitting at the foot of his bed.

Ford kept very still, eyes closed. “Make it count,” he warned whoever it was.

“I can do that.”

Craning his neck in surprise, he risked eyeballs popping out of his head to open his eyes.

His daughter was sitting there holding a steaming mug of coffee, which she offered to him.

“Bless you,” he whispered in gratitude. With a groan, he rolled over, then managed to sit up to take it.

Mia waited until he sipped. “Alcohol is bad for you, you know,” she said. “Kills brain cells. And sperm cells.”