Sunset In Central Park (19 page)

“Why didn’t you tell her she’d misunderstood?”

“How could I? Ev is struggling right now. She misses her grandma terribly. She’s grieving.” She was silent. “Look, I know I’m a fake. I’m not brave at all. I’m a coward. I’m not here because I want to face my fears. If it were up to me I’d happily carry on hiding from them. I’m here because knowing I’m doing something hard apparently helps my best friend get out of bed in the morning. That’s all it is. It’s not a big deal.”

How could she think that? “I’d say doing the thing you find hardest because you think it will help your friend is a big deal.”

“I’m still not convinced I should show up to the actual event. I don’t want to ruin the wedding.”

“Why would you ruin the wedding?”

“I’m not good at weddings, Matt. I know most people think they’re happy events, but I don’t see it that way. You probably think I’m crazy.”

“I think you’re someone who has seen the fallout of a bad relationship more than you’ve seen the good. And you saw it at an age where it made a big impression. If you’d been older, you might have had more examples to balance it out.”

“I’ve stopped counting how many relationships my mother has had. Every time I see her break up with another man it reinforces my belief that relationships don’t stick.” She sighed. “Which brings us back to the wedding. What do I say to the bride and groom?”

“You just say that you hope they’ll be happy. I assume you do hope that?”

“Of course I hope they’ll be happy. It’s just that—”

“You don’t believe they will?”

She shrugged. “I’ve seen it go from dizzy delight to dreadful too many times to be able to have faith in it.” She glanced at him. “This is the part where you tell me your parents have been together for almost three decades, just to prove I’m wrong.”

“I’m not going to tell you something you already know. You’re a smart woman, Frankie. There are plenty of examples of love out there, but when you’ve seen something different I guess that’s what’s in your head. It’s hard to shake that off.”

And that, he knew, was the biggest obstacle in their relationship.

“That’s it exactly. That bride-to-be at the event a few weeks ago—she looked as if her life had crumbled around her. It reminded me of my mom after my dad walked out. Let’s change the subject.” She finished her champagne. “There’s something I want to ask you. It’s personal.”

“I think I’ve already proved I don’t have a problem with personal.”

“Yeah, well, this is uncomfortable personal, not intimate personal.” She hesitated. “You probably don’t want to talk about it.”

Tension rippled across his shoulders. “You want to ask me about Caroline.”

“You were engaged.”

“Yes. Until she had an affair with her college professor.” It wasn’t his favorite topic of conversation, but he didn’t want her to feel there was anything she couldn’t ask him. “It’s not a secret, Frankie.”

“Did you think about taking her back?”

It didn’t mean anything, Matt. I was stupid. I want you to forgive me.

“For about five seconds, which was how long it took for my brain to kick in.”

“Because of the affair?”

“Because she lied about it.” He thought about the lies, the evasion, the complicated games. “If a person is willing to lie to you once, how can you ever be sure they won’t lie to you again? The trust was gone. If there’s no trust between two people, what is there? No relationship is perfect. No matter how much love there is, there’s a strong chance you’re going to hit rocky times at some point. Life is unpredictable.
It can throw out the unexpected and the challenging. Coping with that requires trust and honesty.”

“So she broke your heart, crushed it under her shoe, but still that hasn’t put you off relationships.”

He understood what she was asking. “That one relationship didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean relationships never work out. One single experience isn’t representative of all of them.”

“I wish I could feel that way.”

“I was lucky enough to see plenty of examples of good, solid relationships growing up. My parents, my aunts and uncles—I didn’t have your experience.”

“Aren’t you worried you might get hurt again?”

“If I’m hurt, I’ll handle it.” His gaze held hers. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad you decided to come this weekend.”

“So am I.” Frankie rested her chin on her palm and stared out across the ocean. “Would you ever move back here?”

“No. I don’t want to live in a place where someone holding hands with someone else is a major news story. And anyway, I love the city. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love visiting this place.” He glanced out at the bay, at the boats and buoys bobbing. “It has a lot of good memories for me. A lot of firsts happened here. First time sailing, first time surfing, first time kissing a girl.” That brought a smile to her face.

“Who was she?”

“
That
question I’m not answering.”

“You’re such a gentleman.”

“We’ll pretend that’s the reason, because then I won’t have to confess that it’s because I was embarrassingly clumsy and bad at it.”

“Can’t imagine that.”

“It was a while ago. I’ve learned a thing or two since then.” They’d spent time together before but now everything was infused with a new layer of awareness and meaning.

Frankie put her fork down. “Can we go?”

“Now? You don’t want dessert or coffee?”

“Yes, but I want other things more and it’s all about priorities.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth and Matt felt the intense heat of arousal rush through his body.

He stood up, reached for his wallet and dropped some bills on the table. “Let’s go.” He reached for her hand, clamped her by his side and walked through the restaurant as quickly as he could without knocking over tables.

At the bottom of the steps, he turned right instead of left.

“Where are we going?” Frankie kept pace with him. “The car is the other way.”

“We’re not going to the car. We’re going to the beach.”

“The beach?”

“You’ve never had sex in the cave. We’re going to fix that.”

“What? We can’t!” She gave a disbelieving laugh and dug her heels hard into the ground. “Matt, we’re not seventeen.”

“Be grateful for that. It took me five fumbly minutes to get a girl out of her bra when I was seventeen. My moves are much smoother now.” He pulled her in and lowered his mouth to hers. This time there was no resistance, no hesitation. She kissed him back until the blood was pumping in his brain. He felt her press against him and reluctantly he lifted his head. “Can you run in those shoes?”

“If I need to.”

“You need to. I don’t mind everyone in the Ocean Club guessing why we’re leaving our meal half-eaten, but I’d
rather they didn’t actually witness it.” Locking her hand in his, he led her down the path to the beach.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this. When did you last have sex on this beach?”

“Honestly? I’ve never had sex on this beach but I’ll try anything once.”

They reached the sand and she stopped. “Eva will kill me if I ruin these shoes.”

“Take them off.”

“No way! I’ll hit my foot on a rock and have to be flown back to the mainland for surgery. The whole island will know it was because I was on the beach having sex. I do not want to be anyone’s cheeky headline.”

“I’ll carry you.”

“If you do that you won’t be able to see where you’re going. Agh!” She squeaked in surprise as he lifted her and threw her over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” Laughing, she thumped his back with her fists. “Matt! You’re behaving like a caveman.”

“A man who is about to have sex in a cave is entitled to behave like a caveman.” He strode across the beach, the wash of light from the Ocean Club above them illuminating the sand. He crossed South Beach, scene of numerous lobster bakes and drunken teenage parties and headed to the adjacent cove.

The sounds of the Ocean Club were drowned out by the sound of sea on sand, and he paused by the entrance to the cave and pulled off Frankie’s shoes.

Only then did he lower her feet onto the sand.

Unbalanced, she grabbed the front of his shirt. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“No talking. Me Tarzan, you Jane. Get inside the cave.”

“Tarzan lived in a jungle. What if someone else is in here?” She peered into the darkness.

“There isn’t. They banned sex in here a few years ago after the lifeboat crew had to rescue a couple of naked teenagers who lost track of time and almost drowned. There was a town meeting where they tried to decide what to put on the sign. ‘No sex, high risk of drowning’ was voted out in favor of ‘No nighttime bathing.’”

“So we’re not supposed to be here?”

“We’re breaking every rule in the book. How does that feel?”

“Surprisingly good.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’ve spent my life trying to live down my family’s reputation but tonight I intend to live up to it.”

He smiled, loving this new side of her. “Who are you and what have you done with Frankie?”

“Are you complaining?”

“Hell, no.” He scooped her into his arms again and carried her deep into the cave, holding his phone out for light. “Which do you prefer? Grainy sand or sharp rocks?” His voice echoed and rocks glimmered and gleamed in the dim light.

“You make it sound so erotic.” But there was a tremor in her voice, and her breath was warm on his neck. “Matt—” she sounded breathless “—what if we lose track and drown?”

“I’m a great swimmer.” He lowered her until her feet touched the sand. Then he drew her top over her head and pushed it into his pocket.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t want to risk the tide washing it away and having to explain to the locals why Frankie Cole is walking along Main Street topless.”

“If I’m taking my shirt off, so are you.” She tugged roughly and buttons flew. “Oops.”

“You’re an animal.” Laughing, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. He felt her fingers fumbling with his zip and moaned as she dropped to her knees in front of him. “Frankie—”

“I’ve never done this before so if I do it wrong, you’ll have to tell me.”

He braced his hand on the rock in front of him, his breath leaving his body in a hiss as she drew him into the soft warmth of her mouth. “Holy shit—”

“Am I hurting you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Because I heard you moan.”

He dropped his head onto his arm. “It was a good moan.”

“Oh—” She sounded smug. “In that case there are a few other things I’d like to try—”

He was about to ask what other things but then she did something with her tongue that wiped coherent thought from his brain.

He tightened his fingers on the rock, the sharp edges digging into his palm. Sensation rushed toward him like a wave and he swore under his breath and eased away from her.

“What’s wrong?” She sounded breathless and he had to force the words from his mouth.

“Nothing’s wrong.” It was a struggle to speak. “Just give me a minute.”

She rose to her feet and he wrapped his arm around her waist and hauled her close, burying his other hand in her hair. He’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted her.

Sealing his mouth over hers, he dragged her jeans down over her legs and helped her wriggle out of them. Then he
closed his hands over her bottom, feeling warm bare skin under his palms. All that was left between him and her was skimpy, silky underwear that proved no barrier at all.

She gasped against his lips. “Eva bought me that underwear you just ripped.”

“Great choice. I approve.”

She laughed, breathless. “You didn’t even see it.”

“No, but it came off easily and that’s the main thing.”

Her laugh turned to a whimper as he slid his hand between her legs.

“Matt—”

He trailed the tips of his fingers over the silken seam of her flesh and then slid deep. Her fingers dug hard into his hair and her breathing fractured.

“Oh, God—now—please—I don’t want to wait—”

Still kissing her, he fumbled in his pocket for his wallet and she gave a murmur of protest that he smothered with his mouth.

“I’m trying to protect you.”

“Oh—”

He could tell from her tone that she’d forgotten about that. He could easily have forgotten, too, if it hadn’t been for the fact that protecting Frankie was big on his agenda. He never, ever wanted to hurt her.

He paused long enough to deal with the condom and then lifted her so that she straddled him.

She licked at his lips and trailed her tongue over his jaw. “If you drop me, I’ll kill you.”

“I lift concrete slabs on a daily basis. I think I can manage to hold one fragile female without having an accident.”

“Fragile? You think I’m fragile?”

“I think parts of you are fragile.” He smothered her words
with his mouth, shifted the angle of her body and entered her in a long, smooth thrust. Engulfed by the silky smooth heat of her, he closed his eyes. “Am I hurting you?”

“No! God, no—” She tried to move but he was the one in control, and he kept his mouth on hers and his hands locked on her hips as he drove into her.

This time there was no slow, drawn-out seduction, just a fast, frantic slaking of need.

He felt the first ripples of her orgasm tighten on his shaft and thrust deeper, hearing her cry out as they both reached that peak at the same time.

Slightly dazed, he lowered her carefully to the sand.

She rested her head against her chest. “We just had cave sex.”

“I know.”

“Standing up.”

“I know.” He stroked his hand through her hair. “And if you don’t stop talking about it, it’s going to happen again.”

She lifted her head. “I want it to happen again, but not here.”

“Where? In the back of the car? Up a tree? Name it. Happy to help.”

“You’ve had sex up a tree?”

“No, but for you I’d manage it. Tarzan, remember?”

She was laughing. Breathless. “Let’s go back to the cabin.”

He didn’t argue.

F
rankie slept deeply and woke late. If she’d been in her apartment back home in New York, she would have woken to the honking of horns and the wail of police sirens, but here on the island all she could hear was the sound of the waves breaking onto the rocks. She lay there in the delicious fog between wake and sleep, savoring the peace.

Matt’s arms were locked around her and her legs were trapped between his.

Moving would have meant waking him, so she stayed still and that suited her just fine.

It should have felt strange, waking up next to a man, but it didn’t.

She examined that thought for a few minutes and came to the conclusion that the reason it didn’t feel strange was because it was Matt.
Yesterday when she’d arrived she’d felt nothing but stress and tension. Somehow it had all seeped away.

She’d had sex. Amazing, mind-blowing sex. And she’d done it again and again, not just in the bed but on a beach.

In a moment he’d wake, and she had every intention of repeating the experience. She studied his face in minute detail, pondering on what the dark stubble on his jaw would do to her sensitive skin.

She couldn’t wait to find out.

Her phone lit up on the nightstand and she gingerly reached for it, trying not to wake him.

There was a text from Eva. A single word.

Well?

Knowing exactly what she was asking, Frankie grinned and texted back.

Well what?

Are you on your own in bed?

Frankie hesitated. This part she could share, couldn’t she?

No.

A few seconds later her screen lit up again.

OMG!!! Random stranger or Matt?

“I hope you’re not spilling our secrets to my sister.” Matt’s voice was sleepy and sexy and she turned her head, guilty.

“It’s Eva. She wanted to know if we shared a room. I hate lying. Do you mind?”

“The fact that you hate lying is one of the things I like about you, remember? And they’ll drag the information from you at some point so it might as well be now.”

She put the phone back on the nightstand and snuggled closer. “What else do you like about me?”

“You want a list?

“Maybe. A short one.”

He shifted so that he was on top of her. “I love your hair.”

“Oh, please—you start with my hair?”

“I love it.” He slid his fingers through her curls. “I love your freckles—”

“You’re picking all the things I’m supersensitive about!”

“We’re not talking about the things you like, we’re talking about the things I like.” He lowered his head and kissed her. “I love that you’re so honest.”

“Blunt.”

“Honest. I like it.” His expression grew serious. “I love that you’d come here, to a place that scares you, just because you wanted to support your friend. I love that you offer to stay in the apartment with her, even though you like your own space—”

“She told you about that?”

“Paige did. I love how smart you are, I love your sense of humor—”

“Do you love the fact that I’m a sex addict?”

“That’s the best part.” He kissed her and she laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You’re entirely responsible for that flaw.”

“If it’s a flaw, I’m happy to take the blame for that one.” He kissed her and she felt her body melt.
“How do you do it?”

With a groan he lifted his mouth from hers. “How do I do what?”

“Make me want you like this? I’m desperate. Again.”

“I think you have a lot of sexual energy to use up. I’m happy to help you out.”

“Your generosity is one of your best qualities.” She gasped as he slid his hand under her bottom. “Do we have to go to this wedding?”

He stilled. “You don’t want to?”

“I’m scared. I admit it. So far we’ve bumped into a few people and they’ve all been welcoming, but half the island is going to show up to this wedding. What if someone says something to me?”

“I hope plenty of people will say things to you. Things like ‘great to see you back on the island, Frankie’ and ‘good to meet you.’” He lowered his forehead to hers. “Nothing bad is going to happen, sweetheart.”

The endearment made her heart turn over. “You don’t know that.”

“I do. I’m going to be there with you the whole time. If anyone so much as looks at you the wrong way, I’ll drop them headfirst in the ocean.” His blue eyes gleamed. “You know I can be a bit overprotective. It’s one of my flaws. I’m working on it.”

“A
bit
overprotecive? Matt, I’ve watched you with Paige. You could get a part-time job as a bodyguard.” She teased him, but deep down she loved that side of him. As someone whose parents had never given much thought to protecting her from anything, it felt surprisingly good to be with someone who cared how she was feeling.

“It’s different with Paige. She’s my sister. It was my job to
keep her out of trouble, whereas with you—” he shifted position so that he was cradled between her thighs “—with you my purpose is to get you into as much trouble as possible.”

“I had no idea you had such a bad side, Matt Walker.”

“I keep it hidden.” He eased into her and she moaned as she felt the thickened thrust against sensitive flesh.

“How long am I going to feel this way? When am I going to get bored?”

He lowered his mouth to hers and she felt him smile against her lips. “Never,” he murmured, “as long as I have anything to do with it.”

Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind a tiny part of her knew this was too good to be true; but what he was doing to her, what he was making her feel, drowned out the voice of anxiety. Swamped by sensation, she closed her eyes and went with the fairy tale.

Matt stood under the hard jet of the shower and closed his eyes. He would have dragged Frankie into the shower with him had it not been for the fact that he needed a few moments to pull himself together. He’d wanted her to open up to him, and she had. And the fact that she’d trusted him enough to do so had somehow deepened the intimacy. He’d been stunned by her response, but what had shocked him more was the strength of his own. He didn’t think his feelings for her could go any deeper, but it seemed he’d been wrong about that.

What would happen when they were back in New York? Back to their regular lives?

He wanted to freeze time and keep her here, insulated from the outside world. He was almost tempted to skip the wedding. He would happily have spent the rest of his life
holed up in this cabin with Frankie. The rest of the world could go to hell as far as he was concerned.

“Matt—” Frankie stood in front of him, his phone in her hand “—it’s Ryan.”

Feeling guilty at being caught in the middle of contemplating ways of getting out of attending his friend’s wedding, Matt reached for a towel and took the phone from her.

Distracted by the tiny dip at the base of Frankie’s throat, he listened as his friend outlined the problem. “I’m sorry. That’s bad news.” Struggling to focus, he averted his eyes. “So you’re going to fly to the mainland? How long will that take? No, that’s no problem, we’ll wait here until you text us.” He ended the call and Frankie looked at him expectantly.

“What’s happened?”

He reached out and pulled her against him, kissing the smooth, pearl-like skin at the base of her throat. “We have another couple of hours in bed.”

“That sounds good.” She slid her arms around his neck. “Any particular reason?”

“Ryan and Emily have a mini wedding crisis.” He moved her hair to one side and kissed her neck, breathing in the scent of her. “The florist has appendicitis and was flown to the mainland in the night. Unfortunately, she took the key to the store with her so there is no way of getting the flowers. They’re delaying the wedding a couple of hours to give Zach time to fly across to the mainland and get the key.”

“It’s going to take hours to fly there, and what if she’s in surgery and they have to hang around?”

“I guess that’s a chance they’re going to have to take. They don’t have a lot of options.”

There was a protracted silence and then she eased away
from him reluctantly and took a deep breath. “I’ll do the flowers.”

Knowing how much she hated weddings, it hadn’t even occurred to him to ask her. “You?”

“It’s their wedding day! They want it to be perfect. I’ll do it. Call Ryan back.” She stepped away, as if she didn’t trust herself not to change her mind. “If I can’t get access to the store, then I’m going to need to raid someone’s garden.”

“Frankie—” He knew that this was a big deal for her. Part of him wanted to explore the change in greater depth but they didn’t have the luxury of time. “Are you serious?”

“I never joke about weddings, Matt.” Her wry humor made him smile.

“In that case I’ll call Ryan back.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her hungrily. “I hope he appreciates the sacrifice I’m making.”

“Stop distracting me!” She pushed at his chest. “Call him. And some clues as to what the bride is wearing would be good.”

Matt made the call, half his attention on his friend and half on Frankie. She ignored the green silk jumpsuit she’d already laid out on the bed and instead pulled on a pair of yoga pants that fitted her like a second skin.

Her hair was still damp from the shower she’d had before him, and she pulled it into a ponytail and grabbed her purse. “Well?”

“Ryan doesn’t know what she’s wearing. Apparently, it’s a closely guarded secret, but he thinks Brittany will know. And in the meantime Kirsti is sending out a text to all the islanders asking for access to their gardens. They have a system that they use in an emergency where they can text everyone. Islanders with flowers in their gardens are all responding
to Ryan, and he’s emailing me a list so that you can take your pick.”

“You’re telling me the islanders are giving me permission to trespass on their property and pick their flowers?”

“That’s right.”

“Has he told them it’s me? Frankie Cole?”

“They know and I’m sure they’re just hoping you can fix this problem for Emily and Ryan. What do you need apart from flowers?”

“I don’t know—I—something to tie the flowers together. And I need to pack this wedding outfit because if I’m wearing yoga pants in the photos Eva and Paige will kill me.”

“I’ll put it in the car and we can change once we’ve done the flowers.” He checked his email. “Take a look—some of them have already replied and listed the flowers they have.”

She scanned the contents of the emails while she slid her feet into her shoes. “Brittany and Zach—is that the same Zach who flew us in?—they seem to have a well-stocked garden. Wait a minute—is that Brittany Forrest? Kathleen’s granddaughter?”

“Yes. We can be at Castaway Cottage in ten minutes.”

Matt hung their clothes in the back of the car, drove along the track that led out of the camp and took the road that led to the north of the island.

“I haven’t had time to tame my hair. I’m going to look as if I’ve been in an explosion. Eva and Paige are definitely going to kill me. I was supposed to look groomed and elegant.”

“You look sexy and gorgeous. The sort of woman a man might be tempted to drag into a cave for hot sex.”

“Yeah?” She shot him a lingering look. “That’s a look I’m not familiar with.”

And he wasn’t familiar with the slow, sexy smile she gave him. “That smile suits you. Want to pull over and try forest sex?”

“Focus! We only have a couple of hours and if you start talking about sex I won’t be able to concentrate. You know weddings don’t bring out the best in me. How many bridesmaids? Flower girls?”

“How would I know? I’m a guy.”

“If I’m making hand-tied bouquets, I need to know the number.” She pulled a notepad out of her bag and made a few sketches.

He realized that she was focusing on the flowers instead of feeling nervous about the wedding and being back on the island.

Castaway Cottage was a pretty clapboard beach house, and the front door was already open as Matt pulled up.

The ugliest dog he’d ever seen ran out to greet him.

“Jaws! Get back in here now!” A female voice bellowed through the doorway and Matt walked forward with a grin.

“Hi, Brittany.”

“Matt!” She gave him a warm hug, followed by an anxious look. “Can you fix this? This is Em’s big day and we wanted everything perfect. We need a miracle.”

“I’ve brought you a miracle, and her name is Frankie.” He turned to find Frankie on her knees making a fuss of the dog, who rolled at her feet in ecstasy.

Brittany raised her eyebrows. “Well, that’s an unusual reaction. Most people take a while to warm up to our dog. Of course that’s partly our fault for calling him Jaws, which isn’t exactly a name guaranteed to endear him to people. I love him, but I’m the first to admit he’s not the most visually appealing animal on the planet.”

“I think he’s gorgeous.” Giving Jaws a final pat, Frankie rose to her feet. “Do you know any of the details about this wedding?”

“What details do you need?” Brittany filled her in. “Take anything you want from the garden. I want Emily’s day to be perfect and we’re all grateful to you for stepping in. Is there anything else you need?”

“Wire to tie the bouquets. And ribbon? Hair ribbon would do.”

Brittany pulled a face. “Wire is easy. Ribbon, not so much. I’m not a hair ribbon person, but I know someone who is. I’ll text Ryan and ask him to bring over everything Lizzy owns. In the meantime I’ll fetch wire.”

“That’s fine. We can add ribbons later. What color is the bride wearing?”

“The bride is very pregnant.” Brittany’s eyes glittered with humor. “So she’s wearing a cute cream dress. Our friend Skylar designed it.”

“So we need to try and detract from the bump?”

Brittany laughed. “I’m sure you’re great at what you do, but I can tell you that nothing on the planet is going to disguise that bump.”

“Not disguise, but I don’t want to make the bump seem bigger by making the bouquet too puffy.”

Brittany led them around the side of the cottage and they followed her through a gate and into the coastal garden that hugged the back of the house.