Lakeshore Candy: The McAdams Sisters (By The Lake Book 4) Read online

  “You do.”

  Riley rose at her straightforward answer and his feet began to pace across the wood floor. “How do you know?” he questioned. “You don’t know who I am? Willow Valley isn’t who I am. Oakston is who I am.” He was snapping even though that hadn’t been his intention. Maybe deep down he felt if he snapped enough or shouted at her she would retract her forgiveness and he could go back to hating himself.

  “A place doesn’t define a person.” Nope she was going to stand be her decision.

  “No, but history does.”

  Mrs. C stood, blocking his pacing and forcing him to stop and look at her. “Yes, Riley, that’s who you were and sure some of that man is in you and you wouldn’t be who you are today if there wasn’t a trace of your past in you. But there’s a lot more to you now and you have to stop putting yourself through the dryer. I’m not a foolish old lady you can pull the wool over. Abby deserves the truth after what you two did last night.”

  Did she have to be so forthright?

  “That’s right. Rushing in here still dressed in yesterday’s clothes and asking for the morning off...I’m no fool.”

  I guess when she said it that way it was a little obvious.

  “Mind you, it was fast, but if you consider the last two years I guess it’s not really.”

  No, it was fast.

  “So let’s cut all the, you are the person from Oakston and focus on what your plans were this morning before Oakston. What were your plans with Abby this morning when you woke up?”

  “We were going to explore things.”

  “I see you certainly did that...”

  “Mrs. C!”

  She laughed. “Oh, no point in getting shy now.”

  Riley took a deep breath. “Honestly, Mrs. C I have no idea what exploring things with her even means. My feelings for her run so deep it scares the hell out of me. It makes me want to run away so I don’t have to deal with them or so I don’t hurt her while we are exploring them.”

  Her serious, protective face appeared. “If you are considering running away from Abigail McAdams, you do it right now Riley Boyd. Don’t you dare drag her through the wringer with no intentions of sticking around.”

  That was harsh, but those words were exactly what he needed to hear to make him realize what he really wanted. Abby. He was terrified she wouldn’t want him after the truth came out, but there was only one way to find out.

  His partial smile took some of the worry off his tense shoulders. “I don’t plan on running.”

  She smiled back. “Good. Tell Abby your past. Have faith in the strong-willed girl she is and that she will stand by your side. You two have formed a solid, strong bond, most people don’t find their entire lives and it’s now obviously developed into more. Go into the conversation knowing that.”

  He supposed that was the only option he had to take.

  “When you go to Oakston take the time out to talk to her too.” Mrs. C was not referring to Abby. “Make your peace with her. That’s the only way you can move on.” She lowered her voice. “And I’m not talking about Dani.”

  Riley didn’t know what to say. “I’m...” He took a deep breath. “...Terrified.” It didn’t feel any better to say it out loud. “What if I go back and find out I’m that same guy? What if I walk through the doors of the place I miss every day and I turn back into him?”

  “Was he so bad?”

  Yes. No. He didn’t know.

  “I wouldn’t have let myself care about a person the way I care about Abby, if I was still that guy. I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to hear.”

  “Don’t apologize for your heart falling in love.”

  In love? What was this old woman talking about? Had she picked up a case of Alzheimer’s?

  “Why do you look so appalled like you stepped in a pile of dog doo doo?”

  Love? Love! With Abby? Is that what these feelings are? No.Were they? And dog doo doo Mrs. C...really?

  Riley might be blind to what falling in love felt like, but he knew what loving someone was and he loved Mrs. C.

  Riley wrapped his arms around her small frame and she laughed in surprise as her arms went around his middle.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “You’re welcome. You are a good man, a solid man on the way to a better life. Thank you for letting me into your life and filling a void of my own. I will always be here for you. I will always be your family.”

  The words were remarkable and caused that same teary-eyed emotion he’d felt at the cemetery.

  She clapped his back. “When do the two of you leave?” she asked and he let her go, even though he didn’t want to.

  “Tomorrow morning.”

  Mrs. C nodded then sent him a questioning look. “Why is Abby going to Oakston?”

  There was a story they were going to need a coffee over.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I LOVE IT when you come back from vacation!” Abby pulled the designer flat leather sandals, resembling boots but with openings along the sides, to her feet. Perfect fit, perfect style, perfect color...Izzy knew her to perfection.

  Abby stood up in her new sandals, smoothing her black skinnies and fluffing the leopard print scarf hanging over her white t-shirt and leather jacket.

  Walking across the kitchen like a runway model, one leg dramatically stretched in front of the other, she turned at the end, her hand landing on her raised, sharp hip with fake attitude and sent Izzy a grateful beam. Izzy held her hands out, as if to say, I know and shrugged in her brand new grey, long sleeve, tunic mini-dress accented with crochet insets.

  “These are awesome!” Abby hugged her best friend, who she had missed terribly while she was away on vacation.

  “I know.”

  “And I’m leaving tomorrow for a week.” Abby was excited to find this Elaine and speak to her, but sad Riley wasn’t coming with her. Deep down she wanted to stay and explore things with him, but talking to Elaine was something she had to do.

  Izzy pouted. “What? No! I just got home.”

  Abby laughed.

  They grabbed their bags and headed out the front door and into the evening.

  The concert had already begun and with Abby’s house located not even a block from the strip, the music echoed around them and they bounced a beat down the stairs and through the dark shadowed backyard.

  “Apparently Gran has a twin sister in Oakston.”

  Izzy gasped. “What?”

  “Yeah I know.”

  “Did you tell the sisters?”

  “Today. They were just as shocked. Then I really shocked them by taking the week off. Avery and I are going to Oakston tomorrow morning.” Promising of course to finish the soap line the week she returned. By this morning’s conversation with Riley and yet to see him all day, it was clear he wasn’t coming. “I’m going to find Gran’s twin sister and tell her about Gran’s passing.”

  Izzy frowned. “That’s sad.”

  “Hey, I have an idea. Come with us.” Izzy had fewer priorities than Abby leaving her calendar pretty three-hundred and fifty-six days of the year. Unlike the rest of her siblings who worked at the resort, Izzy did not. Unlike Abby, Izzy also had a trust fund so she didn’t have to work, none of her siblings did.

  Izzy’s squished up and horrified face made Abby chuckle. “That sounds depressing.”

  They walked through the alley and Abby’s eyes were watching the side door of the bakery for Riley.

  She nudged Izzy’s side and she laughed. “You don’t have to come with me that day. I rented a small cabin outside of Oakston and we can hang out in town all week.” Oakston was well known for their shopping paradise from upscale Audrey Avenue to bargain-friendly old downtown.

  Izzy was beginning to budge on the idea. “I like the sound of this...”

  Abby had enough of this back and forth. “You’re coming,” she stated.

  “I’m thinking about it.”

  “No, it’s decided. You’re coming.
”

  Abby stopped at the side bakery door that went straight up to Riley’s apartment.

  Izzy grinned. “Still trying to tap that are we?”

  Abby hoped she did not flush. She must have.

  Izzy gasped covering her mouth. “Oh-my-gosh! You did tap that!” She laughed, throwing her head back and her natural blonde hair spilled down her back.

  “Shut up!” Abby yanked her friend to the front of the building and Izzy laughed uncontrollably.

  “Tell me what it was like. Is he rough? He looks rough. Does he make love like Tarzan?” Izzy made a dramatic face with each description like she was auditioning for a part in a movie.

  Like a Neanderthal. That was exactly what Abby had thought his love making would be like, but once they past that initial lust it had turned into so much more, gentle, tender, loving...until this morning.

  Abby concealed the urge to flush as she remembered his hand landing on her rear more than once and leveled a serious look at her friend. “Wow,” was all she could say to Izzy’s reaction.

  “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me!” Izzy stretched the last plea out until she was breathless.

  Abby couldn’t help but grin at her friend’s excitement, but feeling selfish and not wanting to share her intimate time with Riley, not even with her best friend. Their intimate attic time was something between her and Riley and after his quick departure this morning she wasn’t sure exactly what was going on between them anyway.

  “Detail. Details. Details!” Izzy pleaded. “You kept him off limits. I deserve details.”

  It started out rough and hot, scorching desire and ended in soft sensual lovemaking. How did one explain that?

  “Let’s just say the Tarzan didn’t disappoint.”

  Izzy loved that answer. “I knew it! A rough lover!” Her excitement was to the stars and back again.

  Abby laughed. “You’re such a dork.” Then Abby lowered her voice into a serious tone. “Can you keep this on the down low please? Only you and Avery know and I’ve already threatened him.” He owed her huge after his big mouth episode the night before.

  “Avery’s back?”

  Abby nodded.

  “I go away for two weeks and Avery’s home and you’re tapping the Tarzan, but it’s on the downlow. Anything else?”

  “Vacation tomorrow morning. Leaving at nine and you’re coming.”

  Izzy put her hand in the air. “I will think about it. Is Tarzan going?”

  “He was thinking about it.”

  Izzy jumped like a frantic cat at the sound of Riley’s voice behind her.

  Abby smiled, trying to refrain from jumping him like a horny cat. She’d been thinking about him all day.

  Izzy spun and faced him. “Jezus Riley. You scared the death out of me.” Izzy covered her chest, rattling the three-strand coin necklace she was wearing.

  “The nickname has already been demoted?” Riley asked, referring to Tarzan.

  Izzy pointed at him with a huge smile. “Ah, getting laid gave you a sense of humor. I like it.”

  Riley’s smile to Abby curled her toes. He looked better than this morning when he took off like his feet were on fire and he had beeline it to the lake.

  “I will leave you with Jane while I go find Avery.” Izzy winked at Abby. “Haven’t seen him in a dog’s age.”

  A dog’s age? Izzy was hanging out with too old many old people.

  Izzy took off and Abby knew what she was thinking: they were only tapping. If only she knew there was something more between them, Izzy would never understand.

  Riley leaned the side of his strong body on the edge of the brick building. Abby wanted to reach out and touch him, hug him, kiss him...everything.

  Her feet didn’t move.

  Had he figured out whatever was bothering him this morning? Had he figured out if he wanted a quickie or more? Did he still want to take her on a date?

  He raised his eye brows comically. “Tarzan?”

  “I didn’t blab us out to her,” she quickly clarified not wanting to scare him away when he was finally here. “She’s my bestie and saw right through a comment she made about us finally tapping when I stopped outside your door.” Abby shrugged. “I guess she read my face. And then of course she wanted to know what you are like in bed...”

  He sent her a questioning look with an arch of his brows.

  “I didn’t tell her.”

  She didn’t want to tell anyone what this man did to her insides and how he made her feel special, precious, sexy but in an entirely different way than any other man, like her personality was sexy. She wasn’t going to tell Riley that either.

  “Anyway she needed something so I just agreed with her new nickname for you.”

  “Interesting...”

  She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Mad? Angry? Did he like it? Where were those emotions he’d been letting free lately?

  God, she was nervous and found herself rambling. “If I were to give you a nickname I would go more along the lines of...” She paused and looked up in the sky thinking about a nickname.

  Sex storm thunder.

  “Hot lips,” she decided on.

  “Hot lips?” She loved the grin he sent her.

  Abby took a step toward him, dying to know where they stood. Were they going to spend the night together or was it a one-time thing? She ran her thumb across his bottom lip. “You have amazing, hot lips.” She wanted to reach up and kiss those hot lips, but she didn’t. “Plus, it’s my favorite candy.”

  “I’m named after your favorite candy?”

  She nodded.

  “That’s pretty high standards on the Abby scale.”

  “Huge.”

  His face grew serious, returning the firm lines she was used to seeing. “Can we talk?”

  Yes! She needed to know what he was thinking.

  Abby took the hand he offered. Walking away from the bandstand, the music trailed behind their boots rapping against the boardwalk, under the star-filled sky. They passed tourists heading to the concert, but mostly the main strip was surprisingly empty.

  “I’m sorry I freaked out this morning,” he started and his apology instantly eased her worry. “When I woke up beside you I was ready to explore us. I wanted to eat breakfast with you, have a meaningful...” He sent her a look, an exact replica of the sizzling, wickedly, sinful one he’d sent her when she’d been straddling him on the kitchen chair that morning. She felt his craving. “...quickie.”

  How did he do that to her? In a matter of seconds he could take her from ready to have a serious conversation to ready to rip off all his clothes and find a beach hut.

  “I took the day off to spend with you.”

  What a good day they would have had...naked together.

  “When you brought up Oakston...it was like I was punched in the stomach.”

  Oakston! She was rushing him with the subtle invitation to go on vacation. Of course, that was what had been bothering him.

  Abby leaned against the side of his arm. “Riley, you don’t have to come with me to Oakston. I’m not a roller coaster needing to go over every hill with you immediately. If you don’t want to come with me, if it’s too fast, that’s alright. Just tell me instead of running away.”

  Riley stopped on the sidewalk in front of Sand Castle’s beach clothes and accessories, taking both her hands in his. His fingers were warm against her cool skin and she laced them tightly around his. The neon lights of the advertising sign in the window flashed across his haunted eyes as he spoke. “Oakston is where I lived before Willow Valley.”

  The truth knocked the words right out of her head. “Oh,” was all she could manage.

  “Oakston is where my house is.”

  “You have a house?”

  He nodded.

  “In Oakston?”

  He nodded again.

  “I didn’t know.” A house in Oakston was not a short drive. Fear that he might be planning to move back started digging into her distant though
ts as she worked on focusing on the now.

  “How would you? I’ve never told you.”

  That was true. He had only ever shared his past the night before when he’d told her about his family. Did his sister live in Oakston? Did he want to move back to Oakston?

  Now you’re rushing it Abby, calm down!

  “Abby, before we move forward...”

  Oh my gosh, my chest is going to explode from anticipation. He wants to still move forward!

  “...and explore us...”

  Concentrate on what he is currently saying.

  Did he always talk so patiently? Each word spoken so slowly like he was thinking of each perfect word. Or was her mind just flying into overdrive?

  “I want you to know my life, my background, the reason I’m in Willow Valley. I don’t feel rushed to tell you because we slept together. I want to tell you so there are no secrets between us, things unspoken. You have bared your soul to me. I know everything about you...” He chuckled. “...even things I really don’t want to...”

  Abby flushed. Maybe she was too quick with the tongue and gave away more than she should. There was no maybe about it.

  “I’ve had a lot of sexual partners with no attachment.”

  Ouch. Not what she’d wanted to hear...again.

  Riley must have caught the sting that sent her, because after the word flashed through her head his hand cupped the side of her face and he met her eyes with his Riley seriousness that nearly kicked her feet from under her.

  “But now, I see the rest of my life spent with only you. I know it’s soon to say that, but I mean it. I have never felt anything more truly or been surer of anything in my entire life.” For a man who’d spent so long trying not to say anything, his remarkable words curled around her heart like a purring kitten, calming every nerve. He bent down and softly grazed her lips, licking her bottom lips before pulling away and leaning his forehead on hers. “I’ve never been more scared to do anything in my life then I am to tell you my background.” The truth of his confession scared her a bit, but she could take it. She was strong. What were his secrets?