Can't Get Over You (Fortune's Island, Book 2) (27 page)
Read Can't Get Over You (Fortune's Island, Book 2) Online
Authors: Shirley Jump
Zach drew his father into a hug. It took a second, the two of them so used to being adversaries that neither of them quite knew how to relax into the embrace, but then Carl raised his arms and tightened his grip on Zach. One hug didn’t solve everything, but that was okay. They were moving forward, and sometimes, that was all you needed. A little forward momentum.
“We’re, uh, going to run downtown for a little while,” his dad said as he drew back, his voice thick. “You know your mom, she wants to shop. But if it’s okay, we’ll come back here tonight and catch the show.”
“That would be great,” Zach said to his parents. Maybe he’d get the band to switch up the set list a little, play some of his parents’ favorite songs. Mom and Dad would like that. “Absolutely great.”
His parents said goodbye and headed outside, but Keith lingered. He toed a circle into the floor. Zach had never seen his big, tough brother so unsure. “I…I wanted to talk to Jillian, if it’s okay,” Keith said.
It was time, Zach realized. Past time. They all needed some closure, some apologies.
“Sure, sure.” Zach stepped aside and headed to the bar to pour himself a glass of water. Keith crossed to Jillian and stood there a moment before saying anything. She looked at him, a little unsure, a little worried. Zach wanted to rush over there and make it all easier on her, but he knew that this was something that was just between Jillian and Keith. Something both of them needed to get through on their own. He couldn’t make it right back then, and he couldn’t do it now, either. Only Keith could do that.
“I’m sorry for what I did that night,” Keith said, his voice a little rocky. “I was young and stupid and drinking a lot and angry at the world. I had no idea it was you, I swear. And I wish…” He let out a sigh. “I wish you had turned me in. Maybe then I would have gotten my act together sooner.”
Jillian stood there, absorbing it all without a trace of anger on her face. Zach’s admiration of her went up a thousand notches. She could have screamed at Keith, told him off for everything that had happened. Instead, she just accepted his apology. “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re on the right track now.”
Then she surprised them both by giving Keith a hug. His brother talked to her for a moment longer, then turned away. Zach swore he saw tears in Keith’s eyes. “Don’t be an idiot and let her get away again,” Keith said, then he headed out the door.
It was just Zach and Jillian now, inside The Love Shack. He half expected her to leave, too. But instead, she came over to him, wearing a smile. That was all he needed to see, he thought, today and every day forward.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You believed in me when I needed it most. You put what I wanted and needed at the head of your list. You put
me
at the head of your list.”
“It’s the same thing you’ve been doing for me for eight years. I was just too caught up in my own stuff to notice. But I’m noticing now, Jillian, I really am.” He drew in a deep breath, then decided he had come this far, taken this many risks, so he might as well take one more. “Can you sit, right here?” He tugged a chair out from one of the tables and spun it into place directly in front of the stage. “I have something new that I want to run by you.”
She sighed and shook her head. “Back to the music, Zach? We can’t have five minutes to talk about us?”
“All I want is a minute, Jillian, then we can talk for five years if you want.”
She gave him a dubious look, but sank into the chair. He climbed onto the stage and grabbed his acoustic guitar. Then he settled onto the stool and started to sing. No amps, no mic, just him and Jillian.
“You are the everything,” he sang, “and I never realized how true that was. I made mistakes, I let you go, but if you’ll say yes this time, I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life proving you are the everything, Jillian. You are…the everything. And I…I love you.”
Then he lowered the guitar into the stand, slipped off the stool and got down on one knee. He fished in his pocket and pulled out the ring she’d left on his amp all those months ago. The
diamond sparkled in the overhead lights, almost like it was winking at him. “Will you marry me, Jillian? Even though I might be a struggling musician for a while and might not always make the right decisions? This being a grown-up thing is hard work, but I promise, I’ll never let us go back to the way things were.”
She was crying. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or bad. He froze in position, his heart in his throat. Then, she rose and took three steps forward. She stopped before him, and nodded. “Yes, Zach, yes, I’ll marry you.”
And when Jillian slipped his ring back into its place on her finger, Zach finally knew the meaning of the song he had written years ago. He had everything he ever needed right here. He’d almost lost it all, but he was damned grateful to have it back. That, Zach realized, was the only song he wanted to sing going forward.
Thank you for visiting the world of Fortune’s Island! If you loved
Can’t Get Over You
, keep reading for an excerpt from the first book in the series –
And Then Forever
.
Other Books by Shirley Jump
T
HE
F
ORTUNE
’
S
I
SLAND
S
ERIES
:
C
OLLABORATIVE
T
ITLES
:
Ask Me Why
(with Marie Force, Virginia Kantra, and Jodi Thomas)
T
HE
S
WEETHEART
S
ISTERS
S
ERIES
:
The Sweetheart Bargain
The Sweetheart Rules
The Sweetheart Secret
T
HE
S
WEET AND
S
AVORY
R
OMANCES
:
Excerpt from And Then Forever
by Shirley Jump
D
ARCY CALLED
N
ONA AND
asked the older woman if she could stay the night with Emma. Not that Darcy had any plans with Kincaid beyond the one drink, but she thought it best to let Nona stay in the guest room just in case Darcy lingered too long. Yeah, that was her reason for it. Not because something had shifted inside her when he’d approached her on the deck. It was only because she was feeling a little vulnerable. Late night, pretty sky, good music.
Uh-huh. Exactly. Not the way he whispered in her ear and sent desire roaring through her body.
When the night was over and the customers were gone, Darcy did the cleanup, letting Jillian go home early this time. Her friend looked drained, and ready to cry. Darcy’s heart broke for her. It sucked to be on the outside of a couple breaking up, and unable to do anything but just be a listening ear.
“Do you want to talk?” Darcy asked.
“No. I just want to be alone. Drink too much wine and watch too much junk TV.” Jillian grinned, but the smile wavered. “Maybe even buy stuff I don’t need off of QVC.”
Darcy gathered Jillian into a hug. “Okay, but promise to call if you need me to come over. I’ll bring chocolate.”
“Now that’s a promise I’ll take you up on.” Jillian yawned. And though she looked tired, she looked a little better. Resigned to her decision. “Later. It’s been a long day and I just want some time to…decompress.”
“Okay. Call me in the morning.”
“I will.” Jillian returned the hug, then gestured toward the outside deck. “Seems someone is waiting for you.”
The thought of Kincaid waiting for her—anticipating her arrival—made her heart leap. She tried to tamp it down, but the excitement simmered in her all the same.
“I agreed to have one drink with him. Just one.” She reiterated the words for Jillian, and herself. It didn’t mean anything.
Jillian laughed. “We all know where one drink can lead. Have fun.”
“I’m not planning on having fun with him. Just…talking.”
“Uh-huh.” Jillian dug in her purse and came up with a foil lined package. She pressed it into Darcy’s palm. “For when you stop talking and start acting.”
“I’m not going to need this. In fact, I’m going to put it in my pocket and give it back to you tomorrow.” Darcy tucked the condom in her back pocket. But her mind thought about making love to Kincaid, how damned good that had always been, and how much she wanted him now.
“If you give that back to me tomorrow, I’m going to be mighty disappointed.” Jillian held up a finger before Darcy could protest. “It’s been a while since you’ve been on a date, and even longer since you’ve had sex that didn’t require batteries. You have a hot guy out there who has
been looking at you like you’re the most delicious thing on the menu and he hasn’t eaten in a month.”
Darcy glanced at Kincaid. “I think he just wants to catch up. We broke up years ago—”
Jillian gave her a little nudge. “And if you delay any longer, the poor man is going to fall asleep. So go on out there.” Jillian reached over the bar, grabbed two shot glasses and the bottle of Jose Cuervo. “But don’t forget this.”
Darcy was still laughing as she left the main restaurant and headed out to the deck with the drinks. Inside, she saw Whit and Grace wave to her as they left for the night, their arms around their daughter, which Jillian gratefully accepted with a teary nod. That left Darcy alone with Kincaid.
Very, very alone. At one in the morning. With nothing but the dark night around them.
This was crazy. She should lock up and go home, skip the drinks and especially skip spending time with Kincaid. But then she caught his eye, and something went warm and needy in her gut, and she crossed over to his table, to the seat beside him, and laid the drinks on the table. She could have one drink with him and not end up in bed with him. “One,” she said. “No more.”
He took the bottle, poured the shots, then nudged one close to her. “One.”
She shook her head, a smile playing on her lips. “I’m going to regret this.”
He lifted his glass. She lifted hers, and he tapped the shot glasses together. “To old memories and new beginnings.”
She watched him as they each raised the shots to their lips, and then tipped them back at the same time. The tequila burned like fire going down her throat, lighting a warm path all the way to her belly. “Damn.”
Kincaid slammed the shot glass onto the circular wooden table. “Exactly what I was thinking.”
She settled on the chair beside him, and propped her chin on her hand. The ocean kept up its steady predictable whispering song, and the stars twinkled like smiley faces in the night sky. The tequila had already left her feeling a little warm. Maybe she should have eaten more tonight.
“I love it out here after everyone is gone.” She looked out at the dark night, at the hints of the sea she could glimpse in the moonlight. “This is my favorite time of day. When everything is asleep, and it’s just…peaceful.”
“It’s why I came back here,” Kincaid said. “I don’t get much of this in New York. There’s never a time when that city stops humming.”
“I’ve lived here for so long, I can’t even imagine a place like that anymore.” Darcy leaned back and stretched. Long hours on her feet, carrying heavy trays of drinks and food, had left her achy and tired. She rubbed at a knot in her left shoulder, but the pain stayed, stubborn, insistent.
“Let me,” Kincaid said. Before she could stop him, he had slid in behind her and was working magic with his hands on her shoulders, rubbing both at once, his thumbs impressing tiny, wonderful circles into all the tight and painful places.
“Oh my God. That is better than sex right now.” She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, nearly moaning with his every movement.
Kincaid chuckled. “Better than sex? I don’t think
anything
is better than sex.”
“This is, trust me.” She shifted to the right, then the left, as he adjusted his touch to hit the rest of her shoulders, her neck, the top of her spine. It was just a back massage, she told herself. Not sex with Kincaid. Maybe letting him touch her was the wrong thing to do, or maybe…
oh God, yes, right there
…it was a very, very good idea. “I swear, you must have gone to school for this. You are way too good at massage.”
“I’m good at a lot of things,” he whispered in her ear, his voice low and dark and making her crave things she shouldn’t.
“What are we doing?” she asked. “This was just supposed to be one drink.”
“And it is. With the bonus of a shoulder rub.” He kept on rubbing, and she became putty in his hands. Every touch sent a delicious warmth through her. “Okay, since this is supposed to be our time to catch up…tell me about the last seven years.”
“There’s not much to tell. I’m still living here, though now I own a cottage on the beach, instead of renting a room from Whit and Grace. My house isn’t much, but it’s big enough for me. Kind of ironic that I became a homeowner and a regular resident. I always told my mother I was never going to do any of that.”
Kincaid chuckled. “We all grow up eventually.”
“I like to think I didn’t grow up. Just…got smarter.” She grinned. “Anyway, I love it here, and love my life.”
“Maybe living simpler is the answer,” Kincaid said. “I have this ridiculously huge apartment in New York, and I use maybe a tenth of it. But the house here, the one Whit is renting me, is just right. I doubt it’s more than a thousand square feet, but it’s a perfect size.”
“Then maybe you should downgrade the New York apartment to a cramped walkup studio on the tenth floor.”
He laughed. “I don’t know if I want to go that small. But yeah, I’d love to live in something less…pretentious.”
“Then why do you live there?” She leaned a little to the right and Kincaid’s thumb hit a knot. God, she wanted to keep his hands on her forever. He was an expert at massages. “Oh…yes.”