141
" She was in the back of the pub, delivering another round to the guys playing pool at the table Hardy and Perry had left behind for a rousing game of darts, when a hush fell over the folks crowded around the bar and the front door to the place.
A man’s deep, accented voice boomed through the sudden hush. “I was told I might find her here, mate,” the man was saying to someone. “Kerry? Kerry McCrae. Her uncle owns the place, yeah?”
If Kerry’s heart had clutched in her chest before, it stopped functioning altogether the moment that voice reached her ears. This is why you don’t let yourself think about him, because then you won’t stop thinking about him. And now you’re hearing things. Even as she thought the words, knowing rationally that there was no way she’d heard his voice, not for real, some small part of her understood that the impossible had actually just happened.
She looked up, a fierce expression on her face, one meant to forestall even the remotest possibility that he was indeed right there. In the pub. Her pub. Looking for her. It didn’t work, of course. Because he was there. And she thought her heart might beat right through her chest wall. So much for being fearless.
Someone--she didn’t even notice who--took the badly wobbling tray of drinks from her hand as she went toward him, seemingly without even moving her feet. It was like a dream. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe this whole night had been a dream and she was in bed, right now, and would wake up any second and laugh at herself, then swear at herself, for letting him into her dreams. Again.
But it sure didn’t feel like she was dreaming. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
142
" You’ve made yourself quite at home, I see.”
“You’ve a nice one here, Kerry,” he said quite sincerely, his smile still sparkling with equal sincerity. “Good people, nice little town. I find I’m liking it a great deal. Your ocean is everything you described and more. I’d like to see more of it, through your eyes. When you have the time.”
She debated the wisdom of trying to put him off as long as possible, but hell, he’d talked to half the town already and even had Fergus playing wingman for him. “Apparently I have time today,” she said dryly. “I don’t know how long this meeting will go, and I have errands to run. I still have to buy tonight’s special--unless you’re about to tell me that’s already been handled, too.”
“Not that I’m aware of,” he replied easily. “But then, I just got into town late yesterday, so I’m not fully up to speed yet.”
Oh, he was speedy all right. “It scares me to think what you’ll know after a full twenty-four hours. If you want to go with me to Blue’s to look at the early morning catch, I can meet you down in Half Moon around two.”
He grinned. “We have a date, then.”
“We have a meeting. Blue’s is--”
“I’ll find it.”
“I’m sure you will.” She went to climb in the cab of her truck, then paused. “I don’t guess it will do me any good to ask you to stop talking to people about me, will it?”
“I don’t guess it would, no.”
His accent, the way it wrapped around the os, making them sound like two delicious syllables in one, shouldn’t affect her like it always had. Like it still did. To be fair, given her protracted stay Down Under, she’d grown accustomed to the accent in general. It was the deep, smooth timbre of his voice, speaking in that vowel-curling way of his, that rolled right through her like ocean waves relentlessly lapping at the shore. Lapping at her.
“Well, be warned,” she told him, trying to ignore the delicious little shiver that was snaking its way down her spine, and all she was doing was looking at him. “Folks here can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about me, my family, and the entire history of Blueberry Cove, but just know that they’ll also be telling everyone in the Cove every last detail they learn about you, too.”
“Not much different from life in the Downs, then. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
143
" Someone pointed and his gaze swiveled to her, pinpointing her on the spot as neatly and securely as if he’d lassoed and roped her to it. And he could have if he’d wanted to, of that she had no doubt. Some dizzying part of her rapidly spinning brain figured he probably couldn’t get his bullwhip through airport security. Another part acknowledged that the past year she’d spent convincing herself he was just a man, like any other man, not some larger-than-life action hero she’d foolishly romanticized into someone bigger, bolder, and even more brash than she’d recalled him to be, had been a complete waste of time. Because he was all of that, more than that.
And he was here. Right here. In Blueberry Cove, Maine. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
144
" I’m thinking that unless you’re about to tell me to bugger off back to Australia and never darken your door again, I’m about to be all those things I promised not to be and kiss you senseless right here on the dock, in front of God, the seagulls, and anyone else who happens to be watching, and damn the consequences.”
Maybe he’d said all of that in a bit more of a rush and with a bit more heat than he’d intended. Okay, a lot more heat. Probably so, given the goggle-eyed look she was giving him.
“I was trying to apologize,” she said, relief and humor easing into her eyes and curving her lips.
“You didn’t answer my question.” He thought he might snap off the end of the pier, he was gripping it so hard.
In response, she ducked her hand into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a folded and now somewhat crumpled piece of paper. “Here. Read for yourself.”
He took the paper, realizing he was acting like a complete yobbo, and knew then that perhaps he wasn’t nearly so cool and levelheaded about this whole endeavor as he’d led her to believe. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
146
" He took his hat off and put it on top of the truck cab, his eyes never leaving hers. “Can I satisfy my curiosity about one last thing?” he asked, his voice gruff in a way she’d never heard it before. Then she noticed his attention, his focus, was on her mouth now.
Heat flared through her so fast she couldn’t control it. Like a wildfire fueled by a raging wind, it consumed her, ravaging any hope she had of containing it. “What would that be?” she said on a choked whisper, though she had absolutely no doubt she knew the answer. She blamed a year of not having to manage her defenses around him for not being able to rally them now. Truth was, though, she wasn’t sure she would have, even if she could.
“This.” He closed the whisper of a distance between his mouth and hers, only he didn’t go for the alpha-male, take-all, conquering kiss. That might have swept her off her feet, quite literally, for at least the time it took for it to begin and end. No, what he did decimated any chance she had of being simply swept away, able to write off the moment later as nothing more than a mindless, primal response.
No, what he did was make love to her mouth. She hadn’t even known it was possible to do such a thing. His kiss wasn’t demanding, it wasn’t desperate, or, worse, a sad good-bye. It was a slow, deliberate, and confident wooing. That last part being the most heady, and the most dangerous. It was a kiss that didn’t ask for her complete and utter participation; it simply, by its most intimate nature, demanded it.
He didn’t lay claim. He made love to her mouth with his, like he’d known this, all along, and just hadn’t had the chance to show her yet.
He drew her in, sharing with her the experience of utter communion that was the two of them, together. He kissed her slowly, intently, and so utterly sensuously, that she was kissing him back, fully partnering him in this communion of so much more than mere lips, tongues, and breaths, without it even being a conscious decision on her part. His tongue slid in along hers as if it had found its mate and was simply happy to be home, curled up again, sated and content. But that beautiful sweetness was all mixed up with the pulse of something darkly sensual, making her crave the discovery of what every part of him communing in this way with every part of her would be like. So deeply satisfying and urgently primal.
She was in trouble here. Real trouble. Because somewhere along the way she’d forgotten he wasn’t a man who called anything quits, and he surely hadn’t come all this way to turn around and head home without making damn sure she knew exactly what she was turning away from. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
148
" Thank you for captaining your own lunch date,” he told her with a smile.
“My pleasure,” she said, smiling back. If she’d thought it would be at all awkward or tense, returning to reality, it wasn’t. But they were still out on the docks, still in their own bubble. She was quite certain it would burst soon enough, so she took their last few moments and enjoyed them while she could.
“Oh, no,” he said, his smile spreading to a grin as he winked. “The pleasure was all mine. Well, maybe not all mine.”
She might have blushed a little. “True enough,” she said, nudging at his shoulder as delight spread across his face when he realized her cheeks were a bit pink.
“You’re a wonder, Kerry McCrae,” he said, dipping his head, kissing each warm cheek, her nose, then her mouth. The first kisses were sweet, the last one utterly carnal. He did that to her. Made her feel cherished one moment and utterly desirable the next.
She might have been breathing just a bit unevenly when he lifted his head, a gleam of an entirely different sort in his eyes now. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
149
" I hope I’m not intruding on his work. I’m happy to pitch in if I can.”
“No worries,” Hannah said, then smiled at her inadvertent use of his Australian colloquialism. “And you’re on vacation so we aren’t going to make you pitch hay.”
Calder smiled. “Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind a bit of hard labor. Feels odd not to be putting in the hours.”
“Your body is probably thanking you.”
Cooper looked down at his booted toes at that, not wanting Kerry’s sister to spy even a hint of just how spent his body had felt when he’d woken up that morning, much less why. “Big Jack--my dad--would tell you that taking so much as a day off makes a man soft.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized the double entendre, then realized she wouldn’t get that it was a double entendre and decided maybe he’d just stare at his booted feet all day long. Then he thought he caught just a hint of a knowing smile on Hannah’s lovely face before she too decided to check out her footwear for an extended moment. Cheeky, like her sister, he thought. And sharp, like a defense attorney. The afternoon had barely gotten underway, too. Sweet Mary.
Another few minutes of this and he wouldn’t be surprised to see Logan pulling up with the paddy wagon, ready to haul him off for putting his hands--and a whole lot more--on his baby sister. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
150
" Are you sure you want to sign on for this cattle drive, jillaroo?” he asked her.
“Oh, indeed I do.” She slipped her arms around his waist. “You just try to stop me.”
He grinned. “Well, I tried that once and we see how well that worked out.”
She tipped up on her toes and kissed him. “And aren’t you glad I didn’t listen to you?”
“More than I can say, Starfish.” He pulled her up off her feet and kissed her, and it didn’t take any time for it to shift to something needier and far hungrier than a simple kiss on a side porch would fulfill.
“Do you think they’d miss us in there?” Kerry murmured against his mouth. “If we, uh, went out and inspected the grounds? Or…something?”
“You know, there’s a separate entrance to my quarters around the back. But it’s thumping rain out there, luv.”
She nodded toward the window. “It’s stopped. Look. You can see the moon.”
He looked out to discover she was right indeed. He pulled her over to the window, then looked down to find her eyes sparkling a particularly mischievous shade of emerald in the wash of the golden glow. “A starfish moon,” he said, thinking form now on the two would always go hand in hand. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
151
" I’ve had one rather insistent fantasy over the course of this beautiful Maine afternoon,” he said, hearing the rough edge come back into his voice, his hunger for her making his mouth go as dry as Cameroo in April.
Her lips curved upward, and that gleaming light flickered to life in her eyes. “Does it involve pillaging?”
“Aye,” he said, a bit of the pirate back in his voice. Het let the blanket slide from his fingers, then put his palms on her hips, wrapping his fingers around her so the tips pressed gently into the firm curve at the top end of her bum. His thumbs rubbed over her hip bones, pressing against the tight wrap of her dress.
He felt a little shudder go through her and had to dig deep for what little restraint he had left. He kept his gaze tipped up and on hers. “I stood by the rail as you steered this big beast through that maze of bobbing boats in the harbor and imagined what it would be like if I walked over to stand behind you, to wrap my hands around your hips.” He did sink his fingertips into her softness a bit then, and was rewarded with a little gasp from her. Her parted lips called to him like a siren, but he remained where he was.
“I wanted to slide them up, cup your breasts, find out if they’d fit as perfectly in my hands as I’ve imagined.” His actions mirrored his words, and he felt her intake of breath as he slid his palms up, over her rib cage. She didn’t stop him, and his gaze shifted to his hands as he slowly circled her breasts, all pushed up and bound tightly within her dress…and, indeed, perfectly shaped for his hands.
Her body twitched under his hands as he rain his palms up and over her nipples, and she let out a little moan. He could feel them grow harder, pushing at the silky, gathered fabric, pushing against his hands. “I wanted to slide my fingertips under the top edge, here,” he said, curling his fingers until they slid under the inside edge of her bodice, “and tug it down, slowly, so the soft, silky fabric would rub over your nipples, making them stand up, full and pink and hard, just for me.”
She took a swift intake of breath as he began to do what he’d described. He kept his attention focused solely on what he was doing, wondering why in the hell he thought torturing himself further was a good idea. By the time he got rid of her clothes, he might not be able to get his own off, or ever father children, but then he glanced up, saw her eyes were lit like the fire of glittering emeralds, but decided he’d gnaw his clothes off if necessary. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
153
" You’re a wonder, Kerry McCrae,” he said, dipping his head, kissing each warm cheek, her nose, then her mouth. The first kisses were sweet, the last one utterly carnal. He did that to her. Made her feel cherished one moment and utterly desirable the next.
She might have been breathing just a bit unevenly when he lifted his head, a gleam of an entirely different sort in his eyes now.
“I’d ask when I could see you again, but I suppose I need to let Fergus have at least a bit of your time. And I don’t want to press.”
She barked out a short laugh at that. “You? Press? No,” she said in mock surprise.
He chuckled, too, his grin not remotely sheepish, then leaned down to scoop up hamper and cooler, leaving the lighter laundry bundle for her to grab.
They stopped at his car first, stowing his load in the trunk. “I’m happy to take the laundry,” he said. “I’m sure I can find somewhere to--”
“No, I’ll take care of it,” she said, maybe too quickly, just imagining Delia and Grace’s faces when he asked them where he could find a good Laundromat. The gossip mill would get all this juicy new grist soon enough but no need to willingly feed it.
“Well, I’ll be happy to return them to Thomas, spare you the trip.”
“The walk of shame, you mean?” she said, then laughed as they paused by the passenger’s side of her truck so she could stow the laundry bundle on the front seat. “Actually, I plan to get them washed and back on the boat before he comes to move it tomorrow.”
Cooper considered that, then nodded. “Sound plan.” He smiled. “Need a ride? Maybe a sunrise breakfast?”
Smiling, she nudged him as they walked around to the driver’s side. “Look at you, making it a whole five minutes before pressing.” She wiped a pretend tear from the corner of her eye. “I’m so proud.”
Chuckling, he snatched her up close to him and kissed her senseless before she knew what was happening, turning her squeal of surprise into a soft moan of need in a matter of seconds. “You forget,” he said moments later, his voice a bit gruff, too, “I know how to handle that saucy lip of yours now.”
“I should be so affronted by your smug machismo,” she scolded, then let him pull her in for a nice, tight hug as she rested her cheek on his shoulder. “And yet…” She sighed, smiled, and slid her arms around his waist.
“And yet indeed,” he said quietly, rubbing her back. “We’re a pair, we are, Starfish. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
154
" But in this moment, I’m asking, would you come?”
“I--don’t know.” There was the slightest hint of a tremble in the words. And that wall she’d so hastily put back up wavered just a tic.
He traced a finger along the side of her cheek, then over her bottom lip, and felt her body shudder against his. “Would you come back to Cameroo and give this a chance?”
He held her gaze for the longest time and thought he’d never tire of the scenery.
“I’d consider it,” she finally said, searching his gaze as well. She sighed, then melted against him when he dipped his head, kissed her quietly. “Yes,” she whispered against his lips before he lifted them away. “I would.”
“Good,” he said, lips spreading, grin deepening.
A car rumbled down the alley, startling them both, and their intimate bubble burst as the outside world intruded once again.
Kerry pulled back and then moved fully out of his arms. She made no show of smoothing her shirt or tidying her hair, which made his grin deepen. She might be tangled up when it came to family and future and her real needs and wants, but she was, at core, still the same guileless woman he’d fallen in love with a world away from here. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
155
" Cooper,” she said. “Cooper Jax.” As if saying his name would someone break the spell, vanquish the mirage she was still faintly hoping she was seeing. It didn’t. Instead it brought the mirage a few strides farther into the pub as folks moved to clear a path. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she moved forward until the two were standing no more than five yards apart, encircled by the completely hushed crowd. She wished she sounded strong, strident even. They were on her turf now, in her world. He was the interloper, the traveler. But her voice was hoarse even to her own ears, a mere rasp; her throat was too tight, too dry, too…everything, to manage anything more than that.
His smile was brief, a slash of white teeth framed by a hard jaw, but his gaze never wavered. “It’s been a year, Kerry. More than. And I’ve come to realize there’s a question I didn’t ask you before you left. One I should have. And I can’t seem to get on with life until I know the answer. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
157
" It’s my turn. The only one I’m likely to get. I’ve got a month, Starfish.”
Her eyebrows narrowed a bit at his use of her nickname, and he relaxed further as they eased into a far more familiar back and forth. Lord, but he’d missed her.
“Like I said, let’s take the time we have now and find out what we find out. Then, when it’s your turn, we’ll already be that much closer to knowing what we know.”
Her eyes remained narrowed, his feisty Kerry fully back at the fore. “Why is it that I feel like I just got played?”
His grin got bigger. “Oh, we haven’t begun to play, love. There was nothing playful about that kiss. But next time?” He let that statement linger with no immediate follow-up. Instead, he dug the keys to his rental from the pocket of his Daks and unlocked the door to the sleek black roadster. At least he’d walked to the correct side this time. Took some getting used to, the whole wrong side of the road thing. Still, the little two-door BMW was a beauty. And about as far away from anything he’d ever driven on the station as it was possible to get. Which was exactly why he’d rented it.
He looked back over to where she stood, arms folded now, defenses fully back up and battle ready. Good, he thought. Do what you need to do. Be sure of yourself, of me. Of us. Just remember, I know how to get you to lower those defenses. And he was looking forward to finding out how she’d come apart for him when he melted them completely.
“Thirty days,” he said, opening the door. He tugged at the sunglasses that had been hanging down his back on a pair of Croakies and slid them around, putting them on before popping his hat back on his head. He rested folded forearms on the top of the open door, his grin still in place. “And I don’t know about you, but I’m really liking how Day One has worked out.” He tucked his long, rangy frame into the low-slung car and lowered the window as the sport engine purred to life. “Can’t wait to see what Day Two holds in store. G’day, Starfish. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
158
" Not at all perturbed by the surprise arrival and very official-looking demeanor, and yet respectful of it all the same--he’d have done as much or more if some bloke was sniffing after his sister--he doffed his hat and stuck out his hand. “You must be Logan. Or should I call you Chief McCrae?”
Logan McCrae hesitated a short moment, then took Cooper’s hand in a quick, firm shake. Cooper was also glad to see McCrae didn’t feel the need to resort to some kind of macho game of whose handshake is the firmest to prove who would control their little meeting. But then, he did have a gun strapped to his hip, Cooper noted, so possibly that was simply unnecessary.
“Cooper Jax,” McCrae said, sidestepping his name query for now anyway. “I thought maybe we could take a quick walk if you have a few moments?”
“Off a short pier?” Cooper replied, smile unwavering as he gestured for McCrae to lead the way through the courtyard.
The bigger man’s dark gaze remained zeroed in, but the tight line of his square jaw relaxed, as did his shoulders. “That depends. We do have one or two.”
Cooper knew a lot more about the oldest McCrae sib than he assumed McCrae knew about him, but from all that Kerry had said about her only brother, Cooper was predisposed to like the bloke. The hint of humor underlying McCrae’s words told him to trust that instinct. “I’ll do my best to keep both feet on the ground then.”
“Good start,” McCrae replied, then headed through the courtyard. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
