One Week in Maine (13 page)

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“Dean? Mikey? You guys bothering her?” Will demanded.

“No, Will, we were just being friendly, that’s all. Uppity city bitch went and got all spooked over nothing.”

Will looked to me for further explanation, and I saw the anger burning in his eyes over the comment about me being an ‘uppity city bitch’.

“They wanted to take me out back, and
Mikey put his hand on my leg,” I explained quietly.

It happened in an instant, and I never saw it coming.
Mikey certainly didn’t. One minute he was sitting on the stool, smiling at Will like everything was right with the world, and the next Will grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the stool, right before he punched him in the face. There was a loud thud as he released him and Mikey collapsed on the floor, cupping his nose as blood rushed out from between his fingers.

Will crouched down next to him. “If you ever,
ever
, lay one uninvited finger on
any
woman again, I’ll get Mitch down here and have you thrown in the slammer on a list of charges so long your head will spin. Got it?”

Mikey
nodded mutely as his eyes watered from the pain from the punch, but Will wasn’t done yet.

“And if I ever,
ever
, hear of you bothering Calista here again, I will personally make sure that you wish you hadn’t. Got that?” Mikey nodded again and refused to look at me standing there behind Will. Seems like he didn’t want to be so friendly with me anymore.

Well, this was a new side of Will I hadn’t seen before. I was grateful for his interference, but even more than that, I was a bit turned on by his aggressive side. I hadn’t known he could be like this, and for one split second I felt the tiniest bit sorry for
Mikey and Dean. Just for a second. They hadn’t planned on risking Will’s wrath, but now they were getting what they deserved. I tried not to smile smugly as I watched the scene further unfold.

“Sorry, Will. We didn’t know she was yours.” I think Dean meant it as a sincere apology, but Will sure didn’t take it that way.

He stood up from his crouch next to Mikey and got in Dean’s face, eye to eye. “It doesn’t matter if she’s mine or someone else’s or no one’s at all…you leave her be.”

“Yeah, no problem, you got it.” Dean tried to sound all casual about it, but I caught the quiver in his voice.
The whole café probably did. All was silent as every single person in there as watching what was happening at the counter. No one moved to help Mikey, who was still lying on the floor, cupping his bloody nose.

“C’mon.” Will turned back to me, “let’s go home. Ginger, I’ll get her bill tomorrow morning, if that works for you?”

“No charge, Will. Go, just go now!” Ginger shooed us away, eager to be rid of us, but I didn’t get the impression that she was angry, just anxious to avoid any more trouble.

Will held the door open for me and put one hand on the small of my back as he guided me out.
A familiar yearning spread through me at his light touch.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” And I was, now that he was by my side.

Will held the cruiser’s door open for me and I settled into my seat, suddenly nervous about being alone with him.

“Thanks, Will,” I told him when he climbed into the driver’s seat.

“It was nothing. Those two idiots, well, I don’t know how they’re not in prison already. I’m really sorry that you had to go through that! There’s no excuse for it.” After a pause, he added, “I hope you understand that most of the guys in town aren’t like that at all.”

“Most guys everywhere aren’t like that,” I pointed out. I had dealt with pushy suitors before, but none that had taken it
that
far.

“That’s true, thankfully.”

“How’s your hand? That looked like a helluva punch.”

“A bit sore,”
Will admitted with a grin, “but not as sore as his face’ll be in an hour or two. Well worth it, I’d say.”

“You’re not worried that he’ll go to the police?” In reality, what Will did to stand up for me was considered assault, and the last time I checked, the law frowned on t
hat. If he got into legal trouble because of me, I’d never be able to live with myself.

“
Naw, he won’t. If he wanted to press charges against me then he’d have to explain why I punched him in the first place. I doubt that he wants a sexual assault charge on his record.”

“It’d serve him right, though, wouldn’t it?” I mumbled.

“Do you want to press charges against him? We can head over to the police station right know if you do.”

“Not really,” I sighed. “I’d prefer to put the whole thing behind me, honestly.”

When we arrived at the Inn, I insisted on inspecting Will’s hand. I played it off like I wanted to make sure that he hadn’t broken anything, but that wasn’t exactly it. It was just an excuse to touch him again.

His hand was puffy and red, but he could move his fingers with only minimal pain.

“Nothing’s broken, it’s just a little bit sore,” he assured me. “Well worth it, as far as I’m concerned.”

His eyes caught mine and I smiled at him as my heart fluttered
, but I quickly toned it down a notch. I was supposed to be keeping him at bay, not encouraging him. But whatever had begun between us was still there, simmering under the surface.

“I’m going to run Dottie
to her friend’s house. I’ll be back in about 20 minutes or so. Do you want to come along, or are you comfortable staying here by yourself? I can lock everything up before I go, if it makes you feel safer.”

“I’ll stay, as long as this place is locked up. I don’t imagine I’ll be hearing from
Mikey or Dean again, but I would feel better if this place was secure.” As far as I could tell, they never locked the Inn, but given what had happened at the café tonight, I would feel better with some locked doors between me and the rest of the world.

“Okay, if you’re sure. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

No sooner had Dottie and Will left than I wish I had gone with them. The big, old Inn was a little bit spooky when I was there by myself, even with all of the doors locked. I was glad to hear his keys in the door a little while later.

He found me in the kitchen, drinking a beer and reading my novel, right where he’d left me. I kept reading as I heard him rustling around in the fridge, looking for a beer of his own.
He must have been successful in finding one, because a moment later he came and sat across the table from me.

I felt his eye boring into me,
but I did my best to pretend that I wasn’t aware that he was staring at me.

Finally, he spok
e. “So how are you doing?”

“I told you, I’m fine, really.
How about you?”

He gently pushed down the book I was trying to read so that he had my full attention. “I want you. I want you so badly that it’s like a physical pain, seeing you but not being able to have you.” His voice was husky and strained with need.

“We can’t,” I said simply. But even I could hear the doubt in my own voice.

“We most certainly can, and you know it.” His eyes were smoldering with barely contained lust, and as much as I knew that I should look away, I couldn’t. I was transfixed.

“I don’t want to,” I whispered.

“I don’t believe you.” He leaned across the table and laid his palm against my cheek, and I closed my eyes to savor the feel of his touch
. I should have pushed him away and reminded him that we were no more. But I couldn’t, because he was right–it was nothing but a lie. This thing between us wasn’t done, not nearly. It was growing hour by hour, minute by minute, and no matter how hard either of us tried to ignore, it refused to remain unanswered.

“I don’t want to hurt you. You’ve already been through so much!” I cried, still struggling to do what I knew I should.

His hand moved away, and I could barely hold back the cry of longing that rose to my lips when his touch faded away. His hurriedly pushed his chair back and came to me. I rose to meet him, knowing that I shouldn’t but unable to stop myself.

“Calista.”
One word, that was all it took, and I was back in his arms again. He held me, and stroked my hair while I clung to him. All my hurt and confusion fell away there in his arms as I laid my head against his chest.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I had been wrong. This was right, as it was meant to be. There was nothing more perfect than the two of us together, and to deny it was impossible.

His fingers found my chin, and lifted my face to meet his gaze. His lips grazed mine, lightly, and I came undone. I pulled him back to me, straining to recapture what I had so foolishly denied myself, and he readily met me.

He broke our steamy kiss just long enough to whisper, “I missed you already,” and my heart plummeted at the thought of what this meant for both of us, when our lives went back to normal. I selfishly pushed the thought away as I reveled in what I wanted most–Will.

As our embrace became more heated, he started moving us towards the stairs, but we didn’t make it that far. Impatiently, he pushed me down on the dining room table and anxiously pulled at my fly with his uninjured hand while I fumbled his work pants. Once I undid the buckle and fly, the pants slid right down his hips with no assistance.

“Now,” he commanded urgently, unable to wait another minute. He pulled me to the edge of the table and slid down his boxers while his eyes eagerly drank in the sight of my most private
place. He leaned over me, nipping at my breasts through my shirt, and I felt the bulk of him nudging my inner thigh, seeking what he most desired. I rotated beneath him, eager to give him what we both so yearned for, and with a low, throaty growl, he dove inside of me.

He was right.
There was no denying this. As our bodies became one once more, a sense of peacefulness washed over me. This was where I was meant to be, with this man, right here and right now. It was futile to try to deny it anymore.

It was over all too quickly, and as he leaned down to kiss me,
a sheen of sweat across his brow, I realized that it was out of our hands at this point. Either one of us could pretend like we could just call it quits and stop this passion between us, but we’d only be lying to ourselves. What had started as an innocent romp had turned into something far more.

“Sorry,” he grinned sheepishly, “Guess I couldn’t wait long enough to make it upstairs.”

“I don’t mind. But…” Oh, God. I just realized what was missing. “We didn’t use protection!” My mind reeled as I searched through the recesses of my brain to pull out last month’s critical dates. “Wait…we should be okay. My period’s due next Monday.”

“So we’re in the clear?”

“Well, you can never say for certain but…it should be close enough that my fertile time this month has already passed.” At least I hoped so.

The last thing I needed was an unwanted pregnancy. How could we have been so stupid? We let our passions overcome us, and it couldn’t happen again. It
was probably nothing, but I knew I’d spend the next week obsessing over the ‘what if’.

“So it’s probably fine.” He didn’t seem the least bit concerned about it. “And if it’s not, well, then, we’ll deal.”

I could only guess what he meant by that. Did he assume that I’d have an abortion? Did he assume that I would have his baby if I found myself pregnant? I didn't know and didn’t want to ask, either. No sense in making an argument where there didn’t need to be one–at least for now. Besides, I had no idea what I would do if I ended up pregnant from my time in Maine. I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
If
I came to it at all.

“That can’t happen again, Will.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry, guess I wasn’t thinking.”

Now
that
was the understatement of the year. But it was hard to be angry at him when I was equally responsible for our lack of protection.

He must have sensed my panic, because he added, “It won’t happen again, okay? So try not to worry too much. You said yourself that it’s unlikely that anything will come of it.”

“Probably not,” I sighed.

He
straightened out and pulled up his pants before checking his watch. “I’ve got another hour before I’m supposed to pick up Dottie. What do you say we take a shower, then I can grab us a pizza when I go to get her?”

“Sounds good to me.”

This time we made it upstairs in one
piece, and Will and I undressed each other as we waited for the water to heat up.

“I see that look in your eyes!” I teased him.
“No way. We’ve got to get cleaned up so you can go get Dottie, and dinner.”

“You’re no fun,” he grumbled playfully. He paused to push a few errant strands of my hair off my face as he became serious. “I’m glad you’re okay, after what happened down at Ginger’s tonight. When I walked in there, and saw those two guys bothering you…well, let’s just say I’m surprised that I stopped when I did, especially when you told me that
Mikey put his hands on you.”