“I liked those,” he quipped. Graham swallowed hard but made no move to take off his jeans.
Fear and doubt coursed through her. “Do you not want me?”
“I do. I’m pinching myself to make sure this is all real.”
“It’s very real, Graham.”
With much haste, he freed himself from the rest of his clothes and moved lightning fast toward Rennie. She squealed when he picked her up. His lips were upon hers again, but this time there was an urgency, a need. Graham set her down on the bed. He followed and blazed a trail of kisses down her throat and neck and to her chest.
His hands explored the soft lines of her back, her waist, and her hips while his mouth moved over her heated flesh. It had been years since she’d been aroused this way, needy of a man’s attention. One simple touch, and she was ready for him. Her body responded to Graham. It was like her body hadn’t forgotten what they used to share and rejoiced when their flesh met.
She matched his necessity with her own lusty, unsated needs. Her hands roamed over the planes of his stomach, his back, and to his rear, where she gripped him hard, pushing him to where she desired him the most.
Graham lowered his body over hers and peered into her eyes. He didn’t need words to tell her what he thought. She already knew, and she wanted the same from him.
Forever.
She welcomed him into her body, arching off the bed and into his embrace. They made love, different from what they had done in the past, and it meant something to them, a turning point in their lives. There was no turning back now. She could feel it. They were different.
They were a tangled mess when the sun rose, both lying on their sides, looking at each other. Her body happily ached, and her lips were raw from being kissed all night. They barely spoke throughout the night, and when they did, it was words of pleasure, voiced needs, and wants. Rennie’s fingers brushed through Graham’s hair while his inched along her side, tickling her skin. They had made love a couple of times and only left his bedroom to get sustenance, neither willing to be away from the other for very long.
Now, the sun had risen, and the water was a bit choppier than it had been. The ferry was active, transporting people from the island to the mainland for their last day of freedom before returning to the workforce. She would have to go back to Seattle—Graham, back to the bar. Their days of being hidden had come to an end.
TWENTY-SIX
Graham returned from vacation with more pep in his step and a plastered smile on his face, and he walked along to whatever song he played in his head. He didn’t even care that he had a list of things to contend with from Krista and that it would take him days to go over the inventory and get everything restocked, because he was happy.
When they returned from Friday Harbor in the afternoon of New Year’s Day, Graham expected everything to go back to the way things were or revert to their long-ago status of friends with benefits. Much to his surprise, when Graham went to kiss Rennie, she kissed him back, and they made love again in his room before both fell under a heavy sleep.
When they woke, Rennie took Graham up on his offer and borrowed his phone. She went out to the patio to call Brooklyn, and when they were done talking, Rennie came in and told Graham that Bowie needed to speak with him.
Graham and Bowie laughed at how ridiculous the women were being. Secretly, Graham loved it. He was the reason for the smile on Rennie’s face. After he hung up with Bowie, he called his parents. His mother was getting ready to meet her friends for a game of bridge, and his father was down at the Loyal Order of the Sasquatch with his friends. Graham hesitated for a moment before asking about Grady.
“How’s Grady, Mom?”
“Oh, I think he’s doing wonderfully well. He calls when he’s allowed, and the other night we spoke while I watched one of my game shows. Grady even participated,” she told him. Relief washed over Graham.
After they had both made their calls, they snuggled on Graham’s small couch, watched television, and made love in the shower. A place Graham thought would never be possible, and he found it to be the most intense moment of his life. They spent the entire day wrapped up in each other. When the sun rose, reminding them of the outside world, he drove her over to Brooklyn’s to get her car. It was there they said their goodbyes. She went inside, and he went off to work.
He thumbed through the notes Krista had left him. One employee didn’t show up to work, a couple people came in looking for Grady, there was a list of liquors they were out of or low on and kegs to order, and Don and Mark had left a list of foods needed for the kitchen.
Graham held on to his notes and went into the bar. He turned on all the lights, flipped the open sign to on, and unlocked the door. It was early, and the likelihood that anyone would actually come in was slim. He got to work, first by placing the orders he needed. He would do inventory later and place another order if needed. It would be a matter of weeks before business started picking up again to the point where they were slammed at night and had a nice rush during lunch. Once the gloom of winter passed, the tourists would be out in full force.
The door opened as Graham walked back into the bar with a fresh stack of cleaning cloths. The old-timers were coming in, gabbing about who knew what. Graham stepped behind the bar and retrieved three pint glasses. He pulled the tap for Rainer. It was their favorite, and they were the only reason Graham kept it on tap. It used to be brewed in Seattle until the company sold and ended up in the hands of Pabst Brewing. Graham was surprised they kept the beer in manufacturing. He actually appreciated it because it kept the old men in town very happy.
“Morning, guys.”
They gruffly said hello and thanked him for their beer. He thought he was in the clear until R. J. Keel spoke up. R. J. was born and bred in Cape Harbor, a fifth-generation fisherman whose son and grandson now ran the Keel Fishing Company. “Heard you took the Holmes’s boat for a joyride.”
“Wasn’t actually joyriding. It’s a bit chilly out there.”
Ned Keane added his opinion. “Heard he had a lady friend with him.”
The three men laughed. “Hopefully, he brought her back,” R. J. snickered.
“Lady in the water,” Isaac Davis pretended to yell.
“Ha ha, very funny. A friend and I went to San Juan for a couple of days, and yes, I brought her back.”
“Ah, we’re just giving you shit, Graham.” Ned batted his hand through the air. “How’s your brother?”
Graham paused. His usual response would be something sarcastic, but since Grady had been in rehab, things had a positive outlook. “He’s thriving,” he told the men. Word spread fast about Grady going into rehab. Most people mumbled it was about time, which they weren’t wrong to say. Graham was thankful his brother was safe, and therapy seemed to work for Grady.
Graham’s pile of notes started to dwindle as the day went on. Each time the phone rang, he tried to pick it up by the second ring, hoping each caller would be Rennie with a new cell phone number or notification that she had a new phone. He was hoping for the former, even though it would be a pain for her to change her number—he didn’t want Theo to contact her. One could call it jealousy or a streak of possessiveness, but Graham never wanted to hear the name Theo again, especially where Rennie was concerned.