The Sweetest Summer: A Bayberry Island Novel (27 page)

“No, Izzy. Maureen was back in the nineties. The most recent was Cloris Buchnell in 2010. Remember? Her best friend slept with Cloris’s fiancé, but Cloris was sure all three of them could live together in harmony.”

“No, Abigail. It was Maureen and it was 2006. People didn’t even put photos of their members online in the nineties. That started much later.”

“And you know this
how
?” Polly slapped her knee and snorted, and Mona’s living room erupted into a cacophony of disagreement and peals of laughter.

Mona decided to just get down to business. “I am making this request for Clancy.”

It went quiet.

“Yes, you heard right.”

“But . . .” Darinda paused, then pushed on. “I don’t mean to second-guess the president, but didn’t you say that you were done trying to orchestrate your children’s relationships?”

Damn Darinda and her attention to detail.

“This is a highly unusual situation, ’maids. Please hear me out.”

Everyone stilled.

“Clancy needs the mermaid’s assistance at this very moment. I can’t tell you the specifics of the situation because I gave him my word I wouldn’t.”

Mona took a deep breath. “Before I go further, I must remind everyone that we took a vow of secrecy. You need to know that in this case, keeping your word could very well be a matter of life and death.”

Everyone nodded solemnly—except for Polly. “Hold
up. Since when is Clancy’s love life a matter of national security?”

“’Maids, I tell you I am in a predicament. I swore I would not reveal the details, and yet he needs us to rally behind him.”

“Why the
emergency
emergency?”

Mona sighed and rubbed her forehead. “My son and his heart-mate are together right this moment. I believe that on some level, they know what they are to each other. However, there are grave issues that must be resolved before they can live in happiness.”

“She’s a married woman.”

Polly rolled her eyes at Abigail. “Good God. Do you really think Mona would want us to help Clancy in his quest to diddle a married woman?”

Layla gasped, tears in her eyes. “Is she suffering from a fatal disease? Oh, my God—how much time does she have?”

“Is she a daughter of the island?” Polly asked.

Mona shook her head. “I don’t mean to be coy, but it’s no to all those things.”

Izzy leaned forward, resting her elbows on her scales. “If these problems are so serious, how do you know they are each other’s beloved? What evidence do you have?”

“Excellent question.” Mona took a deep breath. “Without going into the specifics, this is a girl Clancy knew when he was a teenager. I remember seeing them together as kids. The vibrational frequency they created together was unusually high, but she was a tourist, and she never wrote or came back.”

“But she’s here now?”

“Yes, Izzy. She’s here. But I don’t know for how long—and that is why we need the intervention. She’s in trouble with the law, and Clancy is secretly helping her.”

The room erupted in chaos.

“Ladies!” It was the first time anyone had heard Darinda’s president-elect voice. “Calm down and let Mona finish.”

“My, my.” Izzy tossed her wig dramatically.

Layla gasped. “Clancy could end up in prison for the rest of his life!”

“I know my son, and I assure you he wouldn’t defy the law unless he believed he was serving a greater justice.”

“Or he’s doing all this thinkin’ with his . . .” Polly hesitated. “What did you call it, Iz?”

“Member.”

“Right. His
member
.”

“Oh, the attraction is there, most definitely,” Mona said. “The air around them crackles with it. But I am certain we must do everything in our power as members of the sisterhood to help them on their journey.”

Abigail looked puzzled. “Are you saying the mermaid has already had a hand in how it’s unfolded?”

“Absolutely,” Mona said. “I believe she long ago gave them her blessing, but some kind of external circumstance kept them apart.”

“Ha.” Abigail crossed her arms over her chest. “It was probably a non-believer, another case of stopping someone else’s happiness because you didn’t believe in the possibility of your own.”

“Truly, I don’t know.” Mona looked around the room at her friends. “All I know is this young woman completely captured Clancy’s heart when they were kids. It was no normal summer crush. And when nothing ever came of it, he was terribly hurt. I think on some level, Clancy’s always blamed the mermaid for losing her.”

“He’s never liked the goddess—that’s for sure.”

“True, Izzy. And while he was busy not liking her, the mermaid had a plan for Clancy. I believe my son has been waiting for the young woman to return, though he would never admit it. And I believe she was meant to return to him.”

“So what do we need to do?” Polly asked.

“They are alone together
right now
. We should take advantage of their merging energy to send them clarity,
wisdom, and courage. We must thank the Great Mermaid for watching over them through the years and bringing them together again. And we must ask her to protect them in this time of crisis.”

The members rose to their fins, formed a perfect circle, and held hands.

“There’s one more thing. Clancy came to me yesterday, needing a mermaid costume for this woman, and I gave him my . . .”

“No, you didn’t!”

“Yes, I did, Polly. She’s been wearing my ceremonial skirt, and it fits her essence perfectly—though it fell a bit low on her hips. She needs the skirt’s powers of protection right now.”

“But do you know her well enough? The ceremonial skirt shouldn’t be worn by a woman whose heart isn’t true.”

“I trust my son to choose a worthy heart-mate.” Mona felt herself smile. “Besides, I got to spend some time with this young woman today, and I sensed a deep goodness in her. She is strong, with sadness threaded through her spirit. But, as it sometimes does, loss has left her open to the mystery.”

“You’re sure the situation warrants a concurrent intervention?”

“I am. Evelyn is Clancy’s heart-mate. I saw it when they were kids, and I see it now, no matter how complicated the situation may be.”

“Then let’s rock ’n’ roll,” Polly said.

T
hirty seconds, max. That’s how much time it took to close the front door and end up naked in Clancy’s bed. Clothes and shells and fins and shoes were thrown everywhere, and now Evelyn had exactly what she’d been craving—the slip of skin on skin, the heat of his body on hers, no distance, rules, or circumstance separating them.

“My God, you are so beautiful.”

“I’ve wanted you so much.”

“You feel perfect to me, Evie.”

“Kiss me. Please keep kissing me.”

He did, and Evelyn felt her edges dissolve in the heat they created. There was nothing about herself or her life that she felt she needed to protect. Nothing to hide. She just
was
—she was the love and lust she’d locked away for so long. It hadn’t been reachable before. She hadn’t been able to access these feelings—hadn’t even wanted to. Could it be she had been waiting?
For him?

All she knew was she felt freer in the first few minutes with Clancy than she had in the last ten years of her life.

They were about to become lovers. Their lips searched, and their tongues licked. These were wet, hungry kisses intended to consume one another. Clancy put her
bottom lip between his teeth and bit down until it stung just a little.

Yes
.

Her hands couldn’t hold enough of his muscle and flesh. Evelyn wanted all of him, inside her, on her, surrounding her. They rolled. Top, bottom, top . . . legs tangled, arms clutching, hands fisted in hair and wrists pinned to the mattress.

I’m yours. I’m yours. I’ve always been yours.

Suddenly, Clancy stopped. He supported himself over her, his weight on her wrists.

Evelyn waited.

“I’m not sure where this is coming from.” Clancy tried to catch his breath. “I swear . . . I wanted to seduce you slowly . . . and, you know, play with you until you were weak and desperate.”

“I kind of pictured it that way, too.” Evelyn felt a bead of sweat form on her upper lip. “I fantasized about slowly pulling my clothes off for you, teasing you, making you feel like you’d go crazy if you couldn’t have me.”

He laughed. “Well, no wonder we attacked each other. I’ve been feeling like that for days now.”

“And I’ve been weak and desperate since I saw you at the dock.”

Clancy dipped his face to hers, licking the sweat off her lip. Their eyes locked for an instant, his dark blue gaze intense, ravenous. Evelyn lay still. She had never felt so naked in a man’s presence—flesh and heart. She was on the verge of surrender and happy about it. No danger. No fear. She had already put her life in his hands. At this moment, she was pinned to the sheets under Clancy’s weight and the force of his desire. And there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

Evelyn gazed up at him, in awe of how quickly this man’s face had become precious to her. She studied his features carefully in the afternoon light, deciding it was the qualities as a whole that tugged her closer. That was
the only word she had for it—tug. It was like she was being pulled toward him in a rip current of attraction.

His was a complex face, rugged but approachable. The light in his eyes was often kind but was just as often no-nonsense. The angles and planes of his forehead, cheekbones, and chin were masculine, but when he smiled, everything was transformed to the wild-child boy she’d known. That wide and straight smile cut directly through to Evelyn’s heart. She would go anywhere for that smile.

But right at that moment, his lips were made for kissing and being kissed.

He was studying her, too. He dropped his attention to her mouth, neck, and exposed breasts. Clancy swallowed hard, as the muscles in his shoulders and arms strained.

“Are you holding back?” she asked.

He seemed surprised. “I just . . . I might take off like a runaway speedboat—all power and speed and no control.”

“What if I don’t want you to control yourself?”

“You don’t?”

“What if I’ve had enough of living a controlled life? What if this is my last free day on earth and here I am, a thirty-two-year-old woman who’s never been ravaged, never completely surrendered to passion?”

His eyes widened.

“How sad would that be?”

“Prett-tee damn sad.”

“So go ahead. Ravage me. Do it, Clancy Flynn. We aren’t fourteen anymore. I promise I won’t break. And then later, we can play with each other nice and slow.”

“Ah, Evie. God, what you do to me.”

Clancy pulled her arms up over her head as he used his knees to push open her thighs. He nipped at her breasts, his mouth leaving sucking kisses all around, then on, her nipples, driving her out of her head.

Oh, she wanted to sing and dance and send a thank-you note to fate, because this—
this
—was exactly what
she had been missing. The man who fit her. The man who loved her. Not just any man.

This
man.

Clancy dropped his lips to hers again, demanding, taking, his tongue claiming her mouth. They crushed themselves together in need. And though the ceiling fan spun and the doors were open to the ocean, it was warm and humid in his bedroom, and their bodies dripped and slipped across each other. She felt the perfection of nature, how the two of them were designed to meld into one. Clancy had become hard and thick, and she was now fully open and swollen, begging for completion. It would only take the smallest flex of his hips and he’d be inside her.

Clancy pulled back, ripped his lips from her nipples and freed her wrists. Oh, God. His mouth dragged down her sternum and ribs, slick with sweat. His tongue flicked and licked, and his teeth scraped, down . . . down. . . .

“Look at you. God, Evie. Thank you. Thank you for coming back to me.”

He placed his mouth on the puffy outer lips of her sex. It was magical what he did, nibbling and sucking and caressing the most delicate and sensitive part of her body. Every move he made was for her pleasure. Just for her. His fingers slipped inside of her while his mouth stayed in place, sucking, teasing, nibbling.

The last ten years . . . so much wasted time . . . she had never been anywhere close to this outrageous pleasure. Clancy’s mouth pulled her, cut her loose, dragged her under.

She released a cry of bliss that drowned out the roar of the sea. Clancy quickened his fingers and the suction of his mouth, and she felt lost, lost, gone. Every bit of her being continued to crash, on and on, her body rippling as she rode it out.

“Hell, yes,” he said. He kissed her everywhere—her sticky inner thighs, knees, arms, throat. In her daze, Evelyn saw Clancy reach across the bed toward his
nightstand. Even from her la-la land, the depths of ecstasy, she saw all of him.

He was beautiful, built for speed and pleasure. She wanted to learn him, every inch of him. She lay back in awe of how he moved, contraction and ripple of muscle, strength of bone, length of torso, all that golden skin.

And. Oh. That man’s ass. Flawless. He had the body of an athlete and the ass of a distance runner, designed for locomotion, the driving force of a runner’s stride. He had big, solid thighs and sculpted calves.

She reached out and touched his forearm. Clancy had a condom wrapper in his hand and a smile on his face.

Evelyn had to laugh. She was the one in a trance of happiness, but he looked like he’d gone there with her. She glanced down at his cock— Oh, holy crap.

“You look really happy,” she whispered.

“When you’re happy, I’m happy.”

“I’m real happy.”

“I know. And you’re about to get happier.”

Clancy rolled with her again, pulling her on top of him. He played with her hard nipples and wet sex for a bit longer. “You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.”

She let her head loll back as she opened her legs wider.

“Look what you’ve done to me.”

Oh, she saw. Between her spread thighs was an engorged cock. She touched him for the first time. She had made him wait. And talk about male perfection—the brush of silk on her fingertips and unyielding rock in her grip. She gave him a little smile and slid lower on his legs, arching her back like a cat as she let him slip into her mouth. She was intent on bringing him the kind of pleasure she’d just received.

She looked up at him to gauge his reaction, mixing slow and loving caresses with friction and intensity, then back to slow and soft. It was satisfying to hear him moan and cry out, then stare at her like he couldn’t quite believe
she was real. But eventually, Clancy placed his hand gently on her cheek. She sat up.

Clearly, it was time to be ravished. She was suddenly on her back, Clancy’s body wedged between her thighs. She heard the sound of ripping foil and opened her eyes to see him looming over her.

“Give yourself to me, Evie.”

She nodded, wordlessly.

His hands lifted her bottom from the bed, and he held her there, fingers pressed into her flesh as he guided himself to the entrance of her body. Evelyn gasped. She was tempted to allow her head to fall back and eyes to close, but she wanted to
be
there with him. She wanted to see it happen.

She was so slick and aroused that the first bit of his cock slipped in her without effort, as if she had pulled him in.

“Ah, God.”

Evelyn heard herself whimper. This felt incredible. And it had only just begun.

He pushed. She opened for him. Clancy moved in her, and she moved with him. All the while their eyes were locked on each other’s, and they went together into the swirl and rush of energy, desire, and emotion.

She’d asked for ravishment, and she got it. Evelyn had no idea how much time had elapsed, the number of orgasms that had shaken her, or how many ways her body and spirit had been conquered by Clancy’s desire. She only knew they clung to each other, urged each other on, and created something that hadn’t been there before.

They were lovers.

When he came, she came with him. She might even have blacked out for a few seconds, because she was surprised to find herself lying on her side on the rug, gripped in Clancy’s arms, staring directly into four large dog nostrils. She and Clancy had rolled off the bed and were now just inches from the back door screen.

She laughed. Clancy opened one eye.

“Something amusing?”

She nodded. “We have an audience.”

He turned his head over his shoulder. “Oh, for crap’s sake.” Clancy pulled slowly from Evelyn’s body and jumped to a stand. “Stay right there, my queen.”

Clancy returned a moment later with two towels and a cool washcloth. He spread one towel across the bed, then reached down to pull Evelyn from the floor. He patted the bed, and she stretched out. Clancy swept the cool cloth over every inch of her sweaty body, taking his time, then patted her dry with the second towel.

“God
damm
. You wiped me the hell
out
, Miss McGuinness.”

Clancy’s cell phone rang, and he staggered like an old man as he tried to locate his shorts. He dug the phone out of a pocket and answered. It was a short conversation. Clancy crawled back into bed

“You have to go into work?”

“Nope. It was Rowan.”

Evelyn sat up. “Uh-oh.”

“It’s all good.” Clancy touched her arm. “She said not to bother coming back until the clambake. Turns out Jellybean is the belle of the ball over there. She wants to take a nap on the porch hammock, and Annie wants to adopt her.”

Evelyn sighed with relief. She’d assumed the call meant their moment of romance had been just that—a moment. She lay back down, relaxed into his body, and enjoyed the feel of the fan cooling them.

“Your family is going to figure it out, Clancy.”

“Probably. But she’s completely safe with them.”

Evelyn surrendered to the need to close her eyes. Her mind wandered back to that faraway summer. “The sweetest summer of my life.”

“Mine, too.”

That’s when Evelyn realized she had said that out loud. She blinked her eyes at Clancy. She had to know. “Do you remember what we said to each other?”

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Today or when we were fourteen?”

“Back then.”

“Sure. I said I loved you.”

“And I said I loved you, too. Do you think it was really possible?”

They were still, the sound of the ocean rushing beyond the deck, seabirds crying, their hearts beating—and the dogs breathing.

“Kind of ruins the moment.”

Evelyn laughed. “I don’t mind. This is life. Life is pretty strange sometimes.”

“You got that right.” Clancy kissed her cheek stroked the side of her face. “I do think we could have been right all those years ago.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because it’s still the same, Evie. For both of us.”

*   *   *

The warm night was made tolerable by a steady and gentle breeze along Haven Beach. Evie wore the mermaid getup again and complained that she was hot, but she really had no choice. Clancy looked forward to the day when she could simply be herself, and the world could know they were together.

Christina had been pleased to see Evie when they returned to the Safe Haven in time for the clambake, but there was no indication she’d felt deserted by her. Jellybean chattered on about what she had done that day and how much she loved the mermaid’s castle. “She said I can come every day and every night if I want!”

The dinner was fabulous, the way it always was at the clambake. The three of them ate at a small round table on the beach, and Christina snarfed down a mound of shrimp and two large ears of corn. Where she put it, he had no idea. Clancy’s family was especially sweet to Evie and were obviously smitten with her niece, but there was an underlying awkwardness in the evening. Especially with Mona.

He suspected Evie had been right, and they had figured out what was going on. And though he had no doubt he could trust them, he anticipated a few questions as soon as they could get him alone.

Clancy made sure that never happened. Evie stayed at his side all night, and both of them always had an eye on Jellybean. As they danced under the fairy lights, they talked about what a strange concept time was. Both of them agreed that it seemed time had folded in on itself, and the years in between their last clambake and this one had never even existed.