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

  He closed his eyes, regretting getting out of bed when he heard her howling in her sleep. She did it a lot. Why the hell hadn’t he just left her alone and then he’d still be sleeping...alone.

  Chapter Four

  ABBY BROKE THROUGH the surface of the cold water and sucked in a deep lungful of early morning crisp fresh air. She was freezing and goose bumps plagued her skin. She dunked her hair backwards, blinking away the water from her eyes before focusing on Riley’s back. Bare back.

  Maybe skinny dipping with him hadn’t been the wisest decision when she was already finding herself battling some strange, newly acquired feelings for him. Now, not only had she ran her fingers across his torso, she knew he was buck naked from the waist down and at an arm’s length away. How endowed was he from the waist down?

  You don’t want to know. I really do. Arghhh!

  Riley turned those mysterious, secretive eyes on her that said nothing but said volumes all at the same time. How could he look at her and there was nothing in there she could register about his past but at the same time she saw so much of his present that she felt she knew everything about him?

  Abby could swim the short distance between them and wrap her legs around him connecting them below the waist while finding his lips and...Holy mackerel Abby get it together!

  Was his body reacting to this early swim the same as hers? The area between her treading legs was throbbing for him. This was why skinny dipping was a bad idea.

  Riley wasn’t that guy, the one she wrapped her legs around for a quick one night rumble. Oh-my-gosh he so wasn’t that guy. The feelings she was experiencing weren’t ones she felt ever with that guy. She must be over tired because nothing in her head was making any sense.

  She needed a distraction.

  “The second time I got arrested it was because I was walking home from a party, drunk with a bottle of whiskey in my hand.”

  Why are you telling him about getting arrested? Abby shut up!

  Like it was a big secret anyway. All he had to do was ask around and basically everyone in town knew. But Riley would never do that.

  “Aren’t you Willow Valley’s little bad ass.”

  She laughed, loving his assessment, especially loving the fact he’d voiced it. They would get along even better if he’d talk to her more instead of repressing thoughts she knew were on the tip of his tongue.

  “Don’t you know it.” She wished he would tell her something...anything about himself.

  Why? What does it matter? Because all I know about him is the boring basics, he likes his coffee black, does not miss a meal and might sleep in his boxers depending on whether he threw them on just to wake her up and actually slept in the nude. The nude. Like he was now. Nude.

  Abby bit her bottom lip and tore her eyes away from him. What was wrong with her? Did she need to get laid? That was such a guy thing to think, but seriously, she hadn’t been with a guy in over a year and maybe it was catching up to her. Surprisingly, the idea of finding a quick lay was absolutely not appealing. Riley on the other hand, was appealing but not a quick lay. The idea of a quick lay with him didn’t sit right with her. What was she thinking...long term? What was that all about? What were any of these thoughts about? She felt like she could scream from confusion.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Her head snapped up. “Huh?”

  “What’s wrong with you?” He was so straightforward, his question and the tone. “You just zoned out.”

  Oh nothing. I was just envisioning you naked and thinking I need to get laid and how perfect the two things combined would be, but in the same thought considering what a long time relationship would be with you and I’m not talking about friends.

  Telling him those words would cause his thick arms to swim right out of the water. However, he probably needed to get laid too. Unless he got action when she wasn’t around...but when wasn’t she around? Who did he know around here anyway? Why did that thought bring an unusual rippling through her body that felt a lot like jealousy? Jealousy?

  “I...um...”

  Was that a smirk across his face! Oh my gosh he was smirking at her.

  It seemed like the tables had turned as Abby glared at Riley whose smirk only lifted, lighting a softness in his eyes. Lighting his eyes! What was happening? Did she just swim into the twilight zone?

  “Speechless and angry.” Was all he said.

  He wouldn’t be smirking if she told him exactly what was rendering her speechless.

  Riley’s face dropped back to serious, like the explanation had actually come out of her mouth. But it was lit with concern. Alright, they had swum into the twilight zone: smirking...light...concern. Maybe she should howl him awake more often because as strange as it was to see all these normal qualities on him, she liked them.

  “You were calling for her again.”

  Until that.

  You’re crossing a line Riley and you know it.

  Cold shivers went through her body. Again? How often did she do it? She didn’t want to ask because she wasn’t about to talk about it. He would understand...he didn’t talk about anything.

  She stared at him, hard, and still speechless.

  Embarrassment was the reason behind ignoring her dreams and trying to keep them hidden from everyone. An adult having nightmares because she wanted her grandma back was pathetic. She didn’t want her family or Riley to look at her as pathetic. There were a lot of things she didn’t mind them seeing her as: annoying, obnoxious, sexy, cute, a klutz, the list could go on...but not pathetic.

  Pathetic was the way the town had looked at the McAdams siblings their entire childhood: the pathetic drunk’s kids. It took Abby a lot of years to make them look at her any other way except that. Besides, Riley had to be three, maybe five years, older than her and what would he think if she came right out and told him the truth: I dream about Gran and I want her back. Kooky and pathetic.

  “How old are you?” She was genuinely curious plus she was using it as a distraction not to talk about Gran.

  Worry crossed his face. Worry for her? Why was he worrying about her and why was he showing it? This early hour run and swim was turning into the worst and best idea combo she’d ever had.

  “Abby...”

  “What?” she snapped sounding much angrier than she expected, but damn it, she was angry. “You don’t want to talk about anything in your life and, most of the time, I respect that. I mean, sure I inquire and hope you might tell me something, anything, small or big, and even bug a bit, but when you shut it down, I let it go. The one thing I don’t want to talk about you ‘Abby’...” She mocked his deep tone as she repeated her name. “...me and think I should just open up and blab everything out.”

  The straight-faced, thinned look returned to his face, erasing all his new facial expressions and she was glad she got her point across, crystal clear.

  “This is the one thing I don’t want to talk about. Okay?”

  He was quiet and she wouldn’t have found it unusual if he wasn’t looking like he was thinking. Then he broke the silence and proved she was right on target. “Your sisters would listen if you need to talk about it.”

  Her sisters! Ha!

  Abby refused to discuss this topic with her sisters. When they’d all stopped their busy lives in the city to come home for Gran’s funeral, for the first time in six years, and they’d decided to free the guilt of their own guilty conscious by spending their days chasing Abby around town when all she had needed was a moment alone in silence to mourn Gran. Riley had understood. Her sister’s had not. When she’d ignored their phone calls and texts they’d orchestrated an intervention the morning of the funeral to play a game called “I’m pissed,” which they completely made up spur of the moment. After Abby broke down...a little...due to lack of sleep and feeling a tad bit bullied her by sisters, who had their lives completely altogether, she was left with a round of pathetic gazes for the little sister. Telling them she wasn’t alright now, would start a re-
run of taking turns dropping by her house, phoning at night, texting all day and simply suffocating her, not to mention the looks. Abby was content on them simply thinking she was fine. They were all fine...why wasn’t she?

  “Are you ready to go back to your apartment?” she asked instead, knowing his feet couldn’t tread fast enough to the shore. He didn’t want to be here floating with her naked in the first place. She couldn’t figure out which was more disconcerting: talking about Gran or knowing he was naked under the water. She wanted to cling to him like an octopus and he didn’t...they needed to go back.

  “Yes.”

  Abby forced a smile at him hoping the movement of her lips would settle the anxiety in her stomach. Gran had always told her, when you’re down just smile and your mood will lift. She wasn’t sure if it was true or not but she always smiled when her mood shifted and she was usually happier than sad, so she figured it worked for her. Maybe Riley should try the logic. He needed to crack a smile.

  “Who’s going out first? I mean if I go out first you’re bound to stare at my amazing hot body.” She liked that his shoulders stiffened at the mention of the body she caught him checking out here or there. She’d really pegged him for a go getter, a seriously rough take-what-you-want kind of guy. At first she couldn’t get the fantasy of him taking her to his bed out of her mind, then their friendship grew, now darn it if that take me to your bed desire wasn’t back.

  “And if you go out...well I can’t make any promises I won’t look.” She would look. Darn right she would look.

  “You can check my bare ass out all you like.” He dunked under the water and swam toward the shore leaving her so shocked by his direct words she forgot to swim close enough to see his bare ass.

  Son of a seashell.

  She laughed before swimming to shore.

  Riley didn’t wait for her as he pulled his jeans on and started walking back down the beach shrugging on his shirt with each step.

  Abby quickly slipped into her shorts and top that clung to her wet breasts. Carrying her bra and underwear in her hand, she jogged to catch up with him.

  “Same time tomorrow?” she asked.

  He slanted a not a chance look at her. “If your sleepovers continue at this rate I’m locking my front door at night,” he said, but she caught the tease in his voice. No one else would have ever picked it up, but she learned how to pick through his crankiness.

  Add tease to the list of wonderful emotions you shared tonight Riley. How mortified he’d be if she listed them for him.

  Abby would have looped her arm through his and leaned against him for the walk home like she’d done many times before, but she wasn’t sure her lips would cooperate and not attempt to kiss him after the closeness and growing desire. So she walked solo and ordered her body to calm down.

  Chapter Five

  THE STRONG SMELL of lavender, bergamot, and lemon all blended in a breathtaking aroma that had once motivated Abby to experiment with out of the ordinary and unthought-of formulas for her soap creations. Today it soured her mood instead, reminding her of the deadline her sisters set which had squelched her inspiration.

  Abby walked through the front door of The Old Town Soap Co. at seven-thirty, right on time to the very second, surprising her oldest sister

  Kate who was busy working in her office. She glanced up from the computer screen as

  Abby grabbed an apple from the lunchroom.

  “Where is everyone?” Abby asked, sitting across from Kate, and resting her ankle on the opposite knee.

  The front door had been locked and Abby had peeked into the manufacturing area behind the swinging door on the way to the lunchroom not seeing their other sister, Kate’s twin, Peyton or their middle-aged sister Sydney.

  Abby bit the delicious crisp skin of the red apple wishing it was covered in candy coating. Sugar made her nasty moods better like an anti-depressant, her anxious moods calmer and her sad moods brighter. All the bad moods she kept hidden.

  Kate glanced at the apple in her hand and smiled approvingly. “Good choice Abby.”

  To an outsider Kate played the part of a Caliendo well, which she now officially was after marrying Marc Caliendo, co-owner of Caliendo Resorts that owned other resorts across the country. They’d married in a private ceremony at the Caliendo Resort, with only close family, following their reconnection after Gran’s death. Kate’s everyday professional attire consisted of outfits similar to the black blazer she was wearing today pulled over the turquoise silk blouse. Personally, Abby wouldn’t be caught dead in outfits where jackets tugged at the shoulders and pants grabbed around the waist like a Victorian corset, constricting and uncomfortable. Kate however, pulled it off and looked stunning, professional and gorgeous every day.

  Abby remembered the days Kate had raised her and her siblings, when she would come home after helping their dad with a shift at the Caliendo Resort, where he worked maintenance, and she’d be coated in oil, grease and dirt from head to toe. Her long brunette locks pulled in a slick ponytail with streaks of oil across her face. Kate had always looked tired, but that same approving smile that she showed over the apple today, would shine through her fatigue and be followed by a compliment about anything, even small things that Abby or her siblings had done or accomplished. It could be regarding school, or cleaning their bedroom. Even the day Abby had attempted to do the laundry on her own for the first time and adding too many articles which consequently broke the washer. After Kate pulled it apart, fixed it and gave Abby a nice long lesson about washing clothes, Kate beamed that proud, comforting smile and said, “Don’t ever be afraid to try new things.” Then she had grinned and added with a tease, “But you owe me half a year’s worth of washing my laundry.”

  Abby smiled at her sister now, and held the apple up to her as if to say, cheers. “I aim to please.”

  “You really don’t,” Kate said. “Unless I guess it’s yourself, you’re pleasing.”

  As Kate ran her hands across her shoulders, pausing to rub sore areas. Abby could see stress seeded in her dark eyes, stress she’d once carried far worse and yet Abby had been too young to notice.

  Abby stuck her tongue out at Kate and then repeated, “Where is everyone?”

  Kate had taken over a lot of Peyton’s duties in the shop after the accident this past March involving Peyton and Sydney. The two sisters were forced off the road and into a ditch by a local woman Peyton and Colt had a run-in with at a local dance earlier that month. Colt Patterson, Peyton’s husband, had become overly protective insisted she reduce some of her work load to ensure the safety of her and their twins. This included setting up meetings between the sisters, scheduling work hours, plus Kate was in the middle of hiring staff and working with Sydney who was in charge of setting up at the tradeshow. Kate was also working on a deal with Marc related to leasing a piece of land his family owned. They would need that land to build a soap factory when their wholesale demand became bigger than the manufacturing area in the back of the shop could handle. That seemed like forever away to Abby, but as her sisters expectations grew more and more after every meeting, she understood the need to start building the company ASAP.

  “The meeting doesn’t start until eight.”

  “Why did Peyton text me seven-thirty?”

  Did I read it wrong?

  Abby pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her black skinnies to find her sister’s text.

  A half hour early...ugh.

  She could have stayed...well she wasn’t in bed but she could have continued sipping her strong coffee on the rocking chair in Gran’s sun porch.

  Gran’s sun porch.

  Abby wondered if she would be a little old lady sitting in that rocker still thinking of it as Gran’s sun room. She hoped she looked like Gran at that age: still gorgeous with young skin and nice grey hair. She missed Gran.

  Gran had left her house, which was more like a cozy little cottage with two bedrooms, to Abby after her passing and the commercial building w
here they’d opened the soap store had been left to all of the siblings. Since Gran had always lived in the little house where she’d raised Abby’s mother, it had always been Gran’s house. Even after Abby had been living there for the past eight months.

  She scrolled Peyton’s text and found the time. Seven-thirty. No, she had read Peyton’s text correct.

  When Abby looked up at her sister, Kate was smirking at her like she knew something Abby didn’t.

  “What?”

  “Peyton told you seven-thirty so you would be on time.” Kate laughed.

  Abby slumped in the chair. She had a few choice words for her sisters. Jerks. That was one of the nicer words. She quickly texted Peyton her other choice words and hit send.

  Kate threw her hands up in the air in a questioning motion. “I didn’t do it.”

  “I bet you encouraged it.”

  Kate waved her hand at Abby, dismissing the idea, and her wide brown eyes fell back to whatever she was working on. “Peyton doesn’t need much encouragement.”

  That was true. Peyton was quick to stir up some trouble...a lot like Abby. They sparked each other on.

  “Abby did you get the ingredients of your soap finalized yet?” Kate asked, diving straight into work.

  Abby thought about her answer to Kate, which was a big no. She needed to explain they were rushing her. She didn’t work well on deadlines; it wasn’t that easy for her. Creating soap scents was her passion. Adding just the right essential oils that benefited specific parts of your body and your mind combined with the proper scent was crucial. When a scent finally came together it wasn’t because she’d been working on it steadily until it was finished. No, it was that amazing moment when the ingredients just came together in a wonderful fragrance. Her sisters didn’t understand that and wanted her to whip off another line of soaps for their trade show like it was as easy as painting your fingernails.

  That’s the answer her mind should have been focused on, instead she was thinking about her three o’clock smack in the face with Riley. He needed to lighten up. Had there ever been a morning when he woke up with a smile on his face instead of a look like he was dreading the day? For a man who rose before the sun, showered, dressed and started work in the bakery with the ever cheerful Mrs. Calvert, he was awfully miserable.