Back To Us (Shore Secrets 3) (20 page)

“Shut up, Chuck.”

Whoa. What? Ward strained to see in the darkness who had spoken.

“Yeah, get over it already,” yelled somebody else.

You could’ve knocked Ward over with a feather. He grabbed the doorframe for support. Because he’d been braced and ready for insults. Practiced, even, in ignoring them. To hear the opposite caught him off guard.

“Cantrell sucks.” But this slam was much quieter. It only echoed through the room because it was so quiet Ward could hear the faint rustle of the girls’ poms even though they stood stock still.

Coach Fowler cleared his throat right into the microphone. “If I could ask the audience to be quiet, I’d like to continue with the program.”

“Ward’s a good guy.” Ed and Archie, the owners of the liquor store—and the softball team Ward helped out with—thumped their way down the bleachers to join Fowler at the podium. Archie yanked the mic up to his mouth.

“He’s done more for this town in the past three years than you ever have, Bruce. So lay off of him.”

“His vodka rocks!” This accolade came from the student side of the bleachers, along with nervous laughter.

Dani, the bartender at Mayhew Manor, and Rafael the bellboy came forward to the podium. “He tips well. He’s not just polite, but nice to us. That’s more than can be said about a lot of you up there.”

One by one, people left their seats to take their turn at the mic standing up for him or just standing in solidarity. Guys he’d gone to school with. Girls he’d dated. Parents of kids he coached. People he thought were just acquaintances. Sure, they’d never been jerks to him, but they’d never gone out of their way to say hello, either. Maybe some of that was his fault. Maybe that cold shoulder he kept braced against the world kept away the good people as well as the jerks.

More than half of the town side of the bleachers had clumped around the podium when Coach Fowler finally regained control.

“I’m tossing out the rest of my speech. All of you spoke from the heart to honor Mr. Cantrell, which is a much stronger reflection of what a role model he is for the boys on my team. So with no further ado, let’s have a round of applause and appreciation for Mr. Ward Cantrell, Seneca Lake High School’s greatest athlete!”

Piper leapfrogged onto his back to whisper in his ear. “I’m so proud of you.” She slid off just as quickly and pushed him forward. Applause surged. Kids stomped their feet and whistled. They were treating him like a hero. This town truly was behind him. So this was what it felt like to finally be accepted again. Ward lifted his chin and strode into the gym, swallowing hard against the way his heart was suddenly up in his throat.

He knew things could change. Hell, if he couldn’t figure out a way to deal with the wind farm mess with his sister, it was guarandamnteed all these people would turn their backs on him. Again. But for now, Ward would take this one night. He’d fucking wallow in their approval. One great night before it all went to shit. And he had an idea for how to crank it from a great night to a perfect one.

Chapter Sixteen

“Oh my goodness, Ward, that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Piper hopped out of his truck and did a little dance up the flagstone path to his front door. She had to burn off her excess energy somehow. And this was definitely the night for a celebratory shimmy. “The crowd put you up on their shoulders. They even took you on a victory lap. When you hung off the basket like you used to do at the end of home wins, I didn’t know whether to scream, clap or cry.”

“What did you do?”

“A little bit of all three. Although it’s hard to cheer when your throat’s clogged with tears. It comes out more of a snorting belch. Or so Casey informed me afterwards.” She lifted her arms in the air to do a picture-perfect pirouette. Then gasped when Ward swept her off her feet. “What are you doing?”

“We’re a team, babe. If I get carried, the least I can do is make it happen for you, too.” Somehow he finessed getting up the porch steps and unlocking the door without letting her dip even the slightest. There were times, like this, when his strength absolutely bowled her over. Still, Piper hung on to his neck. It was fun to snuggle close. As romantic as a fairy tale. The perfect end to an unbelievably great night.

He didn’t set her down in the foyer. Instead, Ward just stood there beneath the wrought-iron chandelier. Shoved his hands in his back pockets, then pulled one out to rub the back of his neck. Gave a glance toward the kitchen, then back to Piper. “You hungry?”

What was wrong with him? They just ate. He was acting...weird. “No. Even you and your bottomless pit of a stomach couldn’t possibly be hungry. Not after that enormous spaghetti dinner the booster club served.”

“I’d forgotten how great old Mrs. Rambini’s meatballs are. Can’t believe she still is up for churning out hundreds of those every Homecoming. What is she—a hundred and ten by now?”

Piper had wondered the same thing. Just not out loud. “Don’t be mean.”

“It’s a compliment. At least she’s not dead.”

“A backhanded one, at best.”

With a nod, as if he’d come to a decision about something, Ward headed straight up the wooden stairs that squeaked with every step.

“Where are we going?”

“You thirsty? Want some wine? I’ve got some of yours stashed in my wine rack.”

“Aww, and I didn’t even give you the friends and family discount.” She shook her head as they took a right at the top of the stairs. When they were kids, Ward’s bedroom had been up another flight, taking up half the attic. The only times she’d ever been on the second floor of his house were to tiptoe quickly past it to get to the next flight. It felt slightly illicit. “I don’t want anything right now, thanks.”

“Hope that’s not true.” He kicked open a door with his foot and carried her into a flat-out amazing bedroom.

It had a rustic ski-lodge vibe, with exposed wooden beams and the original dark planked floor. But half of one wall was the same stone as the outside of the farmhouse, and in its middle was a huge fireplace. A thick brown area rug she immediately wanted to scrunch her toes into ran beneath the bed and a comfy-looking overstuffed armchair. The thick duvet on the bed was brown satin, topped with a mound of pillows. Comfortable luxury, that was what she’d call it. It was a man’s retreat. That much was obvious from the enormous plasma television mounted on the wall opposite the bed. Piper had no trouble picturing Ward retreating and relaxing up here after a hard day.

The meaning of his tossed-off statement, coupled with their location, finally clicked as he set her down on the edge of the bed. This was going to be the big night. The newly anointed high school hero was going to get the girl, just like in the movies. It was exciting...and stressful. Because she wasn’t wearing any perfume. Her hair was in a far-from-sexy ponytail. Her everyday underwear was about as boring as it could be. The only thing Piper had going for her was that she’d shaved her legs.

“I’m not ready,” she blurted out.

Ward turned from tossing logs into the fireplace and raised one wickedly pissed brow at her. “Duh. Not to mention insulting. I’m not a kid anymore, Piper. I know all about foreplay. I wasn’t going to just plow into you. Is this because I put you on the bed?” He picked her up and set her in the chair instead. “There. You’re no longer on the main field of play. Calm down.”

Well. Way to start off on the wrong foot. Said foot being firmly implanted in her mouth. Ward was a sex
god
, and Piper couldn’t bear to have him think she thought otherwise. “No. Nooooo. I mean, of course I’ll be ready once we start. You get me halfway to orgasm with just a kiss.”

This time the look he tossed over his shoulder was all kinds of bad-boy sexy. “Sounds like something I ought to put on my business card.”

Piper bit her lip. No giggling, no matter how much his dry wit always zinged straight to her funny bone. This was serious. “I’m not ready for you to make your big move.”

“And I told you that you don’t get a vote.” He placed one more log, dusted off his hands and came to crouch in front of her. Rested his warm palms on her bare knees. “What’s wrong, babe?”

Now she felt stupid. Stupid for worrying about all those little things that probably only mattered to her own stupid self-esteem. And much, much stupider for making Ward feel, even if only for a second, that she didn’t want to be with him. He didn’t deserve that. Piper lifted her hands, then dropped them back into her lap. “Nothing’s wrong with you. It’s all me.”

His face shuttered into the familiar mask he’d used in dealing with her for the past three years. “Seriously? You’re going to toss the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line at me? Isn’t that how people break up? Because according to my calendar, you still owe me ten days of giving this relationship your all.”

God. Piper covered her face with her hands. But she couldn’t take more than a moment to wallow in her thoughtlessness, because that would leave Ward with the wrong impression. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured. Then, before he got the wrong idea again, she jerked her head up. The words gushed out. “I’m not breaking up with you. Not at all. That’s the last thing I want. I’m just the worst girlfriend in the world who has apparently lost the ability to string together coherent thoughts. I didn’t mean to make you think I don’t want you.”

“Do you? Want me?”

Piper transferred her hands to the soft stubble on his cheeks. “Sooooooo much. So very, very much. I want you from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep. Sometimes I even want you in my dreams.”

The hardness slipped off of his expression. Ward gave a short, sharp nod. “Good. Then we’re in the same boat.”

“I wanted sex with you to be a big deal.”

Now a cocky grin quirked up the corners of his mouth. “It will be. A
very
big deal.”

Piper dropped her hands and laughed. Tonight’s whole town standing ovation had probably given Ward’s already healthy ego an extra boost. “Well, aren’t you the ultimate hype machine?”

“Nope. Just stating the facts.”

Oh, how she hoped it was true. Because she’d been anticipating this night for more than a decade. Piper stood. Looking at Ward while she admitted her idiocy was too difficult. Instead, she crossed to the fireplace and trailed her fingers along the stone mantel. It was bare except for a single frame at the end with a photo of the four of them on prom night. Ward looking all suave in his tux and clean-shaven with his arm around Piper. Casey and Ella tucked in at the sides and all of them grinning like they’d just won the lottery. Funny. She kept the same one in her bathroom.

Piper sucked in a long breath. Honesty. That’s what they were doing this time around. Concentrating on being an open book to each other, no matter how difficult. Because if they were really in this with forever in mind? Ward had to be the one person on the planet she could say absolutely anything to.
Without
being scared of his reaction. With the utter certainty that he’d still look at her the same way regardless of her turmoil or shallow or ridiculous inner musings.

“The point is, I planned to, you know, primp for you. Do my hair and makeup. Squirt perfume in unexpected places. Buy a new outfit designed to drive you wild, layer by layer. I...I wanted to give you my best self.”

“You do that every day,” he said in a low rumble.

Wow. Ward kept doing that. Saying just a few words that turned her heart in somersaults. It wasn’t even that he got overly flowery about it. No, it was the simple, genuine words that stole her breath.

“We’ve waited so long to make this leap. I don’t want you to be disappointed. You deserve some extra effort.”

“You can’t disappoint me. The reality of you being here, in my bedroom, knocks my wildest dreams out of the park. And I don’t want effort.” He held up one hand as he flicked the switch to set the fire roaring. “Not to say I wouldn’t appreciate you in a garter belt and lace. But it’s better this way for our first time.”

Coming from the man who’d spouted a quote just a few hours ago about not recapturing the past, his comment made no sense. “Me in my cheerleading uniform and you in your letterman jacket? Are you trying to recreate the night we never had in high school?”

Ward shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over the back of the chair. “Not by a long shot. Forget high school. Forget whatever plans you’d made. I don’t want expensive wine clouding your judgment. No romantic accessories like roses clouding your heart. No fancy clothes hiding who we truly are. Tonight’s the most naked we’ll ever be with each other. You. Me. Stripped down, inside and out.”

“Okay.” That was that. No more overthinking. No more trying to set the perfect scene. Because he was right. The two of them, right here, right now, was all they needed to make it the perfect night. She toed off her shoes. “How come you never said things like that to me the first time around?”

“Hell, Piper, I was just a boy.”

“And now you are definitely all man.” The muscles, the beard, the self-confidence and determination. Ward Cantrell was, without a doubt, the manliest man she’d ever dated. Piper couldn’t wait. From all their encounters so far, she wouldn’t have to wait long. They both had short, need-soaked fuses. She wanted her hands on him. She wanted him on top of her. She wanted...oh, so much. Piper grabbed the hem of her uniform sweater and stripped it over her head in one swift movement.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Ward used those long legs to cross to her in a single step, grabbing her wrists before she could unbutton her skirt.

“Getting naked. The same thing you should be doing.”

“What’s the rush?”

“You. Me. Sex in the offing.
That’s
my rush.”

Ward picked her up by the waist and set her back on her feet at the side of the bed. Then he kept his hands in place. Stroked his big, rough thumbs over the sensitive skin of her belly. That’s all it took to break out goose bumps on every inch of her skin. “We’re not rushing this. We’re taking the time to do it right.”

“Can we do that the second time?” They’d talked enough. Piper was ready for some hot and heavy action. “I’m fine with the fast and furious approach right now.”

Ward pushed against her hips, tipping her onto the bed with a promise sparking deep in his blue eyes. “We’re gonna do better than ‘fine.’ A hell of a lot better.” Off came his shoes. One hand at the back of his collar and off came the
SLHS Alumni
shirt over his head. “There. Now we’re on even ground, clothing-wise.”

She drank in the sight of his broad chest, covered in dark hair that tapered to a single line bisecting his belly. “Not quite.” One shrug and the bra strap slipped off her left shoulder. “You’re all naked from the waist up.” Pressing her arms together in a way Piper knew increased her cleavage better than a push-up bra, she said, “I’m not.”

“And I told you not to rush me.” Ward knelt between her legs. Kissed the top of her knee, and kept going in a winding pattern down the side of her calf. The hand holding her leg squeezed and massaged in tandem with the direction of his lips. Piper wasn’t sure which felt better. His lips nibbled a semicircle around the top of her ankle while he tugged off her sock. Then his thumbs dug with just the right amount of pressure into her arch.

“That might be better than sex,” she gasped.

“Spoken like a woman who’s never had sex with me.”

Cocky smartass. Piper loved that about him. Most of the time. “Don’t hold back.”

“I won’t. Not anything.”

He mirrored his movements on the other foot and leg. “If this whole distillery thing doesn’t work out—”

Ward froze. “Why wouldn’t it work out?”

He sounded a million times too serious. Did he actually think she was picking now to have a business discussion? Guess
brush up on sexy pillow talk
needed to go on her to-do list. “I’m joking. You’re already a success. And I can say, without any bitterness, that after that article in
WWLL
comes out, you’ll be twice as successful. I was just going to joke that if you give up on the distillery you could have a second career at Ella’s spa as a masseuse.”

He extended her leg above his head to do something teasing and sensuous to the back of her knee. “Nobody could afford my rates. It took ten years and a solid twenty days of dating to get to this point. I don’t see many women making that commitment for an hour massage.”

“Their loss.” When he stood, Piper tried to make a grab for him but missed. “Where are you going? We don’t need anything else, remember?”

“And that includes light.” Hitting the switch by the door, he plunged the room into semi-darkness. The fire heightened the shadows. Gave the walls a romantic red cast. Ward opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a condom. He shut the drawer halfway, paused, then yanked it open again. Put the entire box of condoms on top of the nightstand.

“Optimistic?”

“Realistic.” Ward gently lifted her legs onto the bed and then straddled them. “I already know I can’t get enough of you, babe.”

Piper laced her fingers through the longish hair that curled the slightest bit at his neck. Tugged. “Might as well try. Come kiss me.”

“Not yet.” He plucked at the strap on her biceps. Then snapped it, just hard enough to make her yelp. “This move of yours? Letting the strap fall off? You might as well have waved a red cap in front of an entire herd of bulls.”