63
" Do you have your keys?” Kerry abruptly asked.
Hannah looked surprised, then alarmed. “Kerry, don’t go and do--”
“I just need to take a drive. Clear my head. Think. Cooper is in his element here and likely will be for a good long while. If he asks--”
“If?” Hannah said, lawyering up again, clearly not on board with Kerry’s sudden wild hare.
“If he asks,” Kerry repeated evenly, “tell him I’ve gone for a drive and will be back for dinner.” She looked Hannah square in the eyes. “I promise. I just need some space. I have a lot to think about.”
“It doesn’t all need thinking out today,” Hannah reminded her.
“If I don’t get a handle on it now, it’s only going to pile on and be that much more complicated and confusing. I don’t want to get pushed or overwhelmed and do something I’ll regret.” She took the keys Hannah begrudgingly handed her. “Thank you. I won’t put a scratch on her, I swear.”
“It’s not her getting banged up I’m worried about,” Hannah said.
Kerry impulsively pulled her sister in for a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For loving me despite what a confusing pain in the ass I can be.”
Hannah hugged her back, then let her go. “I do love you,” she said to Kerry’s retreating back. “But if you’re not here by dinner, I’m going to tell Cooper to run, run fast.”
Kerry tossed a smile over her shoulder. “Good luck with that. I already tried. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
65
" 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. The truth of it being, he only really wanted her to figure out what would make her happy if what made her happy was him.
Under her amused stare, he unfolded the paper and read:
Dear Hook,
I’m trying to be a good and supportive sister and help get Fiona and her ridiculously long veil down the aisle before I strangle her into submission with every hand-beaded, pearl-seeded foot of it. At the moment, sitting here knee-deep in crinolines and enough netting to outfit every member of Downton Abbey, I can’t safely predict a win in that ongoing effort.
That said, I’d much rather be spending the time with you, sailing the high seas on our pirate ship. Especially that part where we stayed anchored in one spot for an afternoon and all the plundering was going on aboard our own boat. I’ve been thinking a lot about everything everyone has said and have come to the conclusion that the only thing I’m sure of is that I’m thinking too much.
I’ve decided it was better when I was just feeling things and not thinking endlessly about them. I especially liked the things I was feeling on our picnic for two. So this is all to say I’d like to go, um, sailing again. Even if there’s no boat involved this time. I hope you won’t think less of me for the request, but please take seeing a whole lot more of me as a consolation prize if you do. Also? Save me. Or send bail money. Sincerely, Starfish, Queen of the High Seas, Plunderer of Pirates, especially those with a really clever right Hook.
He was smiling and shaking his head as he folded the note closed and tucked it in his shirt pocket.
“Well?” she said at length.
“Apology accepted” was all he said.
“And?”
He slid a look her way. “And…what?” She’d made him wait three days, and punitive or not, he wasn’t in any hurry to put her out of her misery. Plus, when he did, it was likely to be that much more fun.
“You’re going to make me spell it out, aren’t you? Don’t you realize it was hard enough just putting it in writing?”
“I accept your lovely invitation,” he said, then added, “I only have one caveat.”
Her relief turned to wary suspicion as she eyed him. “Oh? And that would be?”
“Will you wear the crinolines? "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
66
" I accept your lovely invitation,” he said, then added, “I only have one caveat.”
Her relief turned to wary suspicion as she eyed him. “Oh? And that would be?”
“Will you wear the crinolines?”
She bumped his shoulder with hers, hard enough to make him put his hand out to brace himself so he didn’t topple off the pier.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, chuckling and putting his hands up as she turned toward him.
“You know, never mind,” she said. “I don’t know what possessed me to--”
“Proposition a pirate?” he finished for her, his smile spreading to a grin. “What did you expect, Starfish? Tea and roses?”
“And you wonder why I don’t try to communicate more. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
67
" I accept your lovely invitation,” he said, then added, “I only have one caveat.”
Her relief turned to wary suspicion as she eyed him. “Oh? And that would be?”
“Will you wear the crinolines?”
She bumped his shoulder with hers, hard enough to make him put his hand out to brace himself so he didn’t topple off the pier.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, chuckling and putting his hands up as she turned toward him.
“You know, never mind,” she said. “I don’t know what possessed me to--”
“Proposition a pirate?” he finished for her, his smile spreading to a grin. “What did you expect, Starfish? Tea and roses?”
“And you wonder why I don’t try to communicate more.”
She went to boost herself up, but he reached out and took hold of her arms before she could so much as get her butt off the planks. Then he pushed her straight back down on the pier and, following her down, leaned over her so her side pressed against his chest. “You have one way of communicating that’s exceedingly effective.”
“I believe that’s what I was trying to convey,” she said, but any haughtiness she might have been trying to inject in her tone was utterly erased by the hunger that had her eyes dark and glittering for him.
“Maybe you should show,” he said, lowering his head, “not tell.”
“You really think putting your mouth near my teeth is a good idea right now?”
He kissed her nose, then the soft spot of her temple, then worked his way down the side of her cheek to her jaw. “If you still want to use those teeth by the time I get to your mouth, go right ahead,” he murmured. “I’ll deserve it. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
68
" It wasn’t until he started to speak that he realized he was shaking, too. He reached up, touched her cheek. “You are real,” he said, then grinned when she rolled her eyes. “I--just checking.” Then he framed her face with his hands, struggling to keep the touch gentle when what he wanted to do was pull her all the way inside him and keep her there forever and ever. “Because I don’t think I could stand losing you a third time, Starfish. I’m barely functional as it is.”
“So I’ve heard,” she said, then half laughed, half caught her breath on an emotion-filled gasp of air.
“Have you, now?” he said, his own voice choking up. “I’ll have a talk with that one after.”
“After?”
“After this.” Then he pulled her tightly into his arms and lowered his mouth to hers, the joy filling him so swiftly and so fully, he truly feared he might burst with the intensity of it. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
70
" I’ve missed you,” he said hoarsely when they broke apart, gasping for breath. “More than I thought possible.
“Me too.” She held on to him just as tightly. “I really do love you, Cooper. And I want to be here. In fact, I can honestly say, standing here right now, I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.”
He brushed the damp from her cheeks. “That’s good. Because I don’t know that I could let you go.” He pulled her back into his arms. “But yes to the rest.”
“What rest?”
He looked down at her. “If--when--you need to go off, fill your soul, feel different earth under your feet, I’ll do my best to handle missing you. As long as you promise to always come back.”
She nodded, sniffling. “Like a boomerang; you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
He chuckled, still getting past being stunned, then kissed her again, and this time the relief, the joy, started to shift to that all-consuming hunger that was always there for them and, he suspected, always would be.
With that in mind, he went to scoop her up, thinking his family and hers would have to understand if they needed a little time alone, when she pressed her palms against his chest.
“Wait. I have one more thing I have to ask.”
“Anything.”
She smiled. “Is that marriage proposal still on the table?”
He grinned. Just when he thought his heart couldn’t get any fuller. “Why, Starfish, I thought you’d never ask. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
71
" Do you--should you radio…anyone?” he said, gasping slightly when she nipped at one nipple through his shirt.
“Mm--hmm,” she murmured, leaving a trail along the side of his chin with her tongue.
He turned her around inside the blanket so her back was to him, then tugged her up against him, sliding his arms around her waist and keeping the blanket around them, the opening now in front of her. He leaned down and gently bit the side of her neck, then whispered, “Well, you might want to take care of that right swift, luv, because you’re about to be ravaged.”
She moaned when he nipped her, wriggling a little, giving a delightful giggle at the last part, which made him grin. Kerry wasn’t typically a giggler. He now had a vested interest in seeing her become one. She’d clearly let go of all the worry, the tension, the fears about what might happen, and was doing exactly what he was doing: grabbing on to what they had right now and leaving the future to settle itself.
“Ravaged, am I?” she said, tipping her head back against his shoulder to look up at him. “Are we playing pirate on the high seas, then?”
“Aye, my saucy seafaring wench, ’tis true. I’ve boarded yer lovely vessel to see what treasures you have worth pillaging.” He leaned down, nipped her earlobe, then tugged the blanket so it snugged tightly over her breasts as he tucked her backside against his hips. “It appears I’ll need to board yer personal vessel to discover all your riches.”
She laughed at that outright, then wiggled against him quite deliberately, making him grit his teeth. “Careful now, wench, or you’ll be spilling my doubloons all over the deck.”
She let out a choked laugh at that, then bumped him back with her hips, and it was his turn to groan as her firm derrière came into contact with an even firmer part of him. “Why don’t you and your doubloons go on belowdeck so I can catch my breath long enough to send out an all’s-okay to Thomas without him thinking I’m doing what I’m about to be doing? It was mortifying enough to have to brazen it out in front of him when I showed up in this--what was it you called it? A glorified napkin? I’ve always thought of him as kind of a secondary grandfather. I’m not sure which of us was more in danger of that heart attack.” She glanced over her shoulder with a dry smile. “I think my femme fatale days are over.”
“Oh,” he said, tossing the blanket toward a side bin so he could run his flat palms down the center of her back, then frame the swell of her hips, which were tightly wrapped in that glorified napkin. “I don’t know about that,” he said in all sincerity. “At least the fatale part. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
72
" You have one way of communicating that’s exceedingly effective.”
“I believe that’s what I was trying to convey,” she said, but any haughtiness she might have been trying to inject in her tone was utterly erased by the hunger that had her eyes dark and glittering for him.
“Maybe you should show,” he said, lowering his head, “not tell.”
“You really think putting your mouth near my teeth is a good idea right now?”
He kissed her nose, then the soft spot of her temple, then worked his way down the side of her cheek to her jaw. “If you still want to use those teeth by the time I get to your mouth, go right ahead,” he murmured. “I’ll deserve it.”
Her response was a short gasp when he nipped her earlobe, then kissed the side of her neck, making it arch slightly off the pier. “Cooper--”
“I’ve missed you,” he said as he worked his way to her mouth. “And not just this part.” He claimed her mouth and she took him right in, kissed him right back. He drew away moments later before he was pulled under and smiled down at her. “Although I’m prtty fond of those parts, too.”
“I know a guy who has a boat,” she said, a little breathless, a smart smile on her lips now and hunger in her eyes.
“I know a guy who has a bed,” he said. “A nice big one. About a hundred yards north of this very spot.”
“A bed that requires a long walk through a crowded lobby,” she reminded him.
“Do you think everyone thought we were playing tiddledywinks out there on that boat all day long?”
“Tiddledywinks? Really? You’re adorable.”
He winked at her. “I try. But okay, if my room is out, and I’m guessing yours as well, then--”
She let out a short laugh.
“What?”
“I can’t believe I’m thirty-one-years-old, lying on my back on a pier in broad daylight--in my own hometown, I might add--trying to figure out a place to go make out.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days? "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
74
" Three McCrae weddings in less than a year,” he commented, as if casually discussing the weather. Then he grinned. “Is it catching?”
He could be so damn cute. And sexy as hell. His charisma and charm had been hard enough to resist before. Now that he’d unleashed it in full force, with every bit of his desire for her out there in the open for the world to see--and for her to feel--it was like being caught up in a kind of constant foreplay. It was one thing when she could just observe him in all his alpha-male glory, her thoughts about his sexy self and her desire to get all naked and personal with him safely hidden away inside her head for her own private enjoyment.
But now he’d kissed her. And she’d kissed him back. And it had been so incredibly intimate, so ridiculously hot, so every other thing that usually requires full frontal nudity to experience, that she couldn’t even look at him without getting squirmy and tingly and far too turned on for her own--“I hate to disappoint you,” she blurted out, needing to get out of there, away from him. “But I really need to--” She lowered her hand and motioned to her truck and its trajectory as she backed out, right into where he was parked.
“Lunch, then? Fergus said you’re off this shift.”
“Oh, he did, did he?” No wonder she hadn’t heard him rummaging about in the apartment. He must have woken early and gone downstairs to his office. To hide. Old meddler. She’d have a little chat with him after the bridezilla brunch.
“He also said he’s taken care of the orders, so no need to hurry back.”
Kerry dipped her chin for a brief moment, then busied herself with wrangling the driver door open and all but shoving her basket in and across the bench seat of the ancient rig. She closed the door halfway, her sandaled foot still propped on the running board, and looked back at Cooper. “You’ve made yourself quite at home, I see. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
75
" Footsteps vibrated the dock lightly, mercifully pulling him from the endless merry-go-round of his thoughts. He looked up, half-expecting to see Grace coming out to check on her guest, or possibly Logan, breaking it to him that Kerry wanted him gone and couldn’t find the heart to tell him in person.
So it was a surprise, when he looked up, to find it was Kerry. The instant whoosh of relief he felt was immediately tempered by the smooth expression on her face. Maybe she’d found the heart to do it herself after all.
He didn’t realize how tightly he’d gripped the edge of the pier until he pried one of his hands loose to reach up and offer her assistance. She sank effortlessly to the dock next to him, no assistance needed, and slid her feet over the edge of the pier so they dangled next to his.
“You look like someone stole your pirate ship,” she said, squinting into the sun as she briefly looked at him, then back to the water.
“No, it’s moored just down the harbor. I seem to have misplaced my pirate queen, though.” He bumped the side of his foot into the side of hers but otherwise kept his hands to himself.
“Oh, she’s been navigating the choppy waters of Bridal Bay, trying not to drown in the froth of lace whitecaps or get dragged under by the pearl-seeded kelp beds.”
He smiled at that. “I’ve heard that particular channel can be a tricky one to navigate. Lots of something olds looming out there in the deep, blocking the easier paths to the something news. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
77
" Running halfway around the world apparently hadn’t been far enough to leave him and all of what had transpired between her and the entire Jax family behind. So why did she think she could escape it along the span of one low-tide beach?
She stopped so abruptly that he banged into the back of her, then immediately grabbed both of her arms when she pitched forward and lost her balance on the slippery rocks. He pulled her back against him, and the shock of the feel of that hard body lined up so perfectly with hers, so much better than she’d ever imagined it would feel--and oh, she’d imagined it--was far greater than almost pitching face-first against the rocks.
The instant she had her balance she said, “I’m good” and moved out of his grasp. She wasn’t sure what it said that she was disappointed he didn’t take advantage of the moment to press his cause…or anything else he might be interested in pressing against her. But he let her go, and even stepped back for good measure.
“Sorry,” she said, turning to face him. “I just--this isn’t solving anything.”
“What is it that needs solving? To your way of thinking,” he added.
She gaped at him, then shook her head and laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. Your coming thousands of miles to declare yourself to me, a year after I left and, as far as you knew, never looked back?”
“You’ve already solved that one, haven’t you?” he said. “Back there in the pub. I believe you shut me down pretty effectively and quite definitively.”
“So why are you here?” She gestured to their immediate surroundings, perhaps a bit more wildly than was technically necessary. “Why aren’t you trotting back to the airport and back home again? I’m sure your family can’t be thrilled with you up and taking off like that. It’s the middle of dry season.”
“It’s always the middle of something,” he said. “And if you want to know the truth, it was Big Jack who presented me with the plane ticket. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
78
" I can’t believe I’m thirty-one-years-old, lying on my back on a pier in broad daylight--in my own hometown, I might add--trying to figure out a place to go make out.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” When she stuck her tongue out at him, he took full advantage until both of them were a little breathless. He really needed to employ that method more often. It was surprisingly effective. Not to mention fun. “I also have a car, which can drive us in any direction you’d like to go. Another town, a private inlet, surely you’ve got the inside line on that.”
“I don’t know what kind of teenager you thought I was, but you forget, I left here at eighteen, before I ever had reason to find anyone’s inside line, much less where best to go play with it.”
Now he made a face, and they both laughed. He rolled up to a seated position and pulled her up along with him. They both looked out at the water, then back to each other. “Boat it is,” they said at the same time. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
79
" What about after? Getting back through the lobby, I mean. Assuming you’ll need to leave at some point. For the bachelorette party, if nothing else.”
“That’s not until the weekend.”
He grinned. “Your point being?”
“You know,” she said, tipping up on her toes and kissing his cheek, “I like it when you do the thinking.”
“Well, I was going to mention that, but--”
She pinched his butt, making him laugh.
“Careful or I’ll swing you up and carry you up to my room over my shoulder.”
Kerry spluttered a laugh, then said, “You know, it’s almost worth doing, just to blow everyone’s minds.”
He pulled her closer. “Don’t tempt me.”
She batted her lashes again. “But I thought you liked it when I tempted you.”
Now he slid his hand behind her and gave her a little pinch, making her skip a little step but laugh at the same time. “I guess I had that coming.”
“There’s a lot I’d like to do that has coming in the description.”
“Okay, okay, so assuming I will have to leave your pirate’s lair at some point, then yes, how to do that without being the front-page story of the gossip gazette.” She looked up at him, her expression serious. “I could always come down the ramp carrying a box of tiddledywinks. Then no one would suspect for sure.”
“A real funny one, you are,” he said dryly. “I was revisiting the whole black spandex cat burglar idea. Maybe you could sneak out under cover of darkness, shimmy down a rope from my window.”
“Okay, you’ve given that particular scenario way too much thought.” They were still laughing when they reached the end of the pier. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
80
" I believe his exact words were, ‘Go sort this out, and don’t come back until you’re certain you can keep your mind on what matters.’” He smiled at Kerry, then. That big, broad grin that crinkled the deeply tanned skin at the corners of his eyes, the one that made all that bright blue twinkle and added a shadow to that hint of a cleft in his chin.
“That sounds more like Big Jack,” she said. He’d just been making it clear he wanted Cooper’s head back in the game. She wondered if Big Jack was shocked when his oldest son had taken him up on the offer. Probably, she thought, a smile hovering again as she imagined the look on his broad, still handsome, craggy face.
“He also said, ‘And, if what matters happens to be about yay high”--Cooper lifted the palm of his hand level with the top of Kerry’s head--“‘with firecracker hair and a temperament to match, well, you’d best be bringing her back along with you.’”
“He did not say that,” Kerry declared, even as she knew damn well he probably had. She could hear him, see his own crinkled-at-the-corners, twinkle-eyed gaze.
Now it was Cooper’s turn to shrug. “He’ll be deeply disappointed when I come back empty-handed.” He lifted his palms. “But what’s a bloke to do?”
She swatted his shoulder, only it might have been a little more like a punch. “Don’t you dare try to emotionally blackmail me or make me feel bad about this. I didn’t ask you to fly halfway around the globe and could have saved you the trouble if you’d given me so much as a hint what you were thinking. Besides, you don’t want me--or anyone else--on the station who doesn’t want to be there. Who doesn’t feel the same as you.”
His smile stayed, but the look in his eyes was nothing short of the fierce gaze of a man who pushed himself to the limits of his ability every single day and wasn’t the least bit afraid of a challenge. “My mistake, then.”
Kerry tried to hold his gaze but ended up ducking her chin. “You never so much as hinted--”
“Starfish--”
Her head shot up, but the automatic rejection of the nickname died on her lips at the look on his face, in his eyes. “Nothing ever happened.” Only because you didn’t let it happen, her little voice supplied. She tried desperately to ignore that part.
“As you said, you weren’t staying. We all knew that. "
― Donna Kauffman , Starfish Moon (Brides of Blueberry Cove, #3)
