Page 36 of Delivery After Dark (Gansett Island #28)

S ierra had never been more moved by anything in her entire life than she was by his beautiful words.

As she tried not to cry, she rested her head on his chest and breathed him in.

Not only was he handsome as all hell, but he smelled delicious, too.

The scent was new to her, as was the sense of completion that came with him.

If this was what she’d spent all this time waiting for, he’d been worth the wait.

He broke the spell when he said, “Let’s get out of this cold.”

“Is it cold? I hadn’t noticed.”

Smiling, he held the door and kissed her before leaving her to get settled.

She couldn’t believe this was happening.

It was finally happening, and if the feeling of elation that came with him was anything like Duke had felt for McKenzie, Sierra could honestly say she got it now.

She got why he’d gone off the deep end over her and had changed his whole life to accommodate her and her son.

In fact, she owed him an apology for being such a skeptical bitch during the first weeks they were together, when she’d begun to feel like she’d lost him or something.

“Everything okay?” Morgan asked as he drove them the short distance to the Wayfarer. In the summer, they could’ve walked. In December, it was too damned cold to walk anywhere.

“Yes, of course.”

“Did I say too much just now?”

“Not at all. No one has ever said anything like that to me before.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Well, believe it.”

“That’s a crying shame, but I’m secretly glad I got to you before anyone else snapped you up and out of reach. That would’ve been the biggest shame of all, if you weren’t single when I first saw you.”

“You first saw me months ago.”

“Believe me. I know.”

“So what’re you saying?”

“I’m saying that the first time I ever saw you, I almost swallowed my tongue.”

She sputtered with laughter. “Is that even possible?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so until I laid eyes on you.”

His hand on her thigh set her on fire.

Holy. Shit.

And then he gave a little squeeze.

She moaned.

“Don’t make that sound unless you want to be naked in the cold.”

“Then don’t touch me like that.”

He squeezed again. “Like that?”

“Morgan…”

“Yes, Sierra?”

“You’re making me crazy.”

“I owe you months of payback for every time you came prancing into the gym looking like a fucking goddess and making me hard behind the counter.”

“I do not prance , and you were hard?”

He took her hand and brought it over to feel how hard their conversation had made him. “Like that. Every single time.”

Sierra squeezed and stroked until he was the one doing the moaning. “Stop.”

She didn’t stop.

He grabbed her hand. “I don’t feel like walking around with wet britches all night.”

“Don’t start trouble you can’t finish.”

“Oh, I’ll finish it. As soon as we eat something, it’s on.”

She shivered.

And not from the cold.

“Why didn’t you say something about your… um… interest… sooner?”

“Because I wasn’t ready for what this might turn out to be.

But I kept asking around about whether you were seeing anyone, and every time someone said not that they knew of, I was incredibly relieved.

One time, I said to Terry, who works at the gym, ‘What’s her story?

’ and he said, ‘Not really sure, but she’s hot as fuck, right?

’ I almost punched his teeth out for talking about you that way. ”

Sierra cracked the window because she needed a dose of cold air to cool her off before she combusted. Hearing that he’d been pursuing her before she was even aware of it made her whole system buzz with incendiary desire.

“What would you have done if you heard I was seeing someone?”

“I probably would’ve tried to mess it up.”

“You would not!”

“I might’ve…” He glanced over at her. “Tell me the truth. Am I coming on too strong or freaking you out?”

“Not at all. It’s kind of refreshing to hear how you really feel and not have to wade through a bunch of crap to get to the truth of the matter.”

“I think I suspected months ago that last night would go the way it did, and I needed to be ready, you know?”

She nodded. “You’ve had a lot to deal with.”

“Worst thing that’s ever happened to me, and that’s saying something when you consider the previous losses. This one really did me in. But even in the midst of it, I saw you. I wanted to know you. I couldn’t wait for you to stop by to check on me. And when you offered me a free massage…”

“What?” she asked breathlessly.

“I can’t say it. You’ll be horrified.”

“Now you have to tell me.”

“Let’s just say the thought of you massaging me gave me some rather vivid thoughts.”

“How vivid are we talking?”

“Positively filthy.”

Sierra snorted with laughter as he pulled into one of the last remaining parking spaces at the Wayfarer. Owen and Evan had drawn a crowd.

When he would’ve gotten out of the truck, Sierra stopped him. “I’m not sure if it matters, but if we walk in there together, we’ll be making a bit of a statement to half the town.”

“Does that matter to you?”

“Not at all, but you might not be ready to deal with that.”

“If I wasn’t ready, we wouldn’t be here, but I appreciate you thinking of me that way.”

“Okay, then.”

He stole a kiss. “Let’s go.”

When she met him in front of the truck, he wrapped an arm around her to hustle them toward the entrance as the wind whipped off the water in South Harbor.

The fishing boats that lined the pier during the summer and fall had been put away for the winter, leaving nothing to break the icy blast of wind.

He opened the door and ushered her inside, following her with a muttered curse about how freaking cold it was.

“It gets worse in January,” she said over her shoulder, smiling at his grimace.

She stopped at the hostess stand, and he wrapped an arm around her from behind as he whispered in her ear. “Will you keep me warm in January?”

“Will you be here in January?”

Before he could answer, the hostess came to show them to a table by a roaring fireplace that cast some much-needed heat on the big, crowded room.

Sierra felt every eye in the place on her and Morgan as they took their seats and accepted menus from the hostess.

“Is everyone looking at us, or does it just seem like it?” Morgan asked as he kept his gaze fixed on the menu.

“Oh, they’re all looking. Nothing fuels the gossip machine around here like a potential new romance.”

“I see how it is.”

“You don’t. Not yet. But you will.”

“What does that mean?”

She gave him a sly grin. “You’ll find out.”

Morgan was completely captivated by her, but then again, like he’d told her, he’d known he would be.

That was why he hadn’t dared get too close before he’d taken care of some of the more onerous tasks that followed the death of a loved one.

It wouldn’t have been fair to her to start something when he was an emotional disaster area.

Not that he was “healed” from the tremendous loss, or anything close to it, but the sharp, ragged edges of early grief had subsided somewhat, leaving him with a dull ache that would probably be with him for the rest of his days.

He’d learned to live with that ache after losing his parents and sister, so it wasn’t new to him.

What was different was that he no longer had Billy to commiserate with.

No one else in his life could understand the magnitude the way he did, and now that he was gone, too, Morgan was very much alone with the tragedy of it all.

That’d been the hardest part, losing the one person who understood what he’d been through. Part of him would never forgive Billy for getting himself killed in a storm, leaving him all alone to face the rest of his life.

But he didn’t want to think about that shit when he had the glorious Sierra Mancini sitting across from him, looking more beautiful than ever in the glow of the fire, which brought out red highlights in her hair that he hadn’t noticed before.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked from behind her menu.

He ducked his head so he could see around the menu. “How can you see what I’m doing?”

“Don’t answer a question with a question.”

“If you were me, you’d be staring at you, too.”

“You can’t see me through the menu.”

“I don’t want to miss anything when you put the menu down.”

The menu landed on the table. “Are you for real with these lines?”

“They’re not lines. They’re truths. You make me want to stare. Among other things.”

“What other things?”

“We should talk about them when we’re not in a room full of nosy islanders.”

Their waitress came to take their order, which was clam chowder for both of them to start with, as well as wine for her and a beer for him.

Duke and McKenzie came over to say hello.

“We thought that was you,” McKenzie said.

“Oh please, don’t be ridiculous. You want the scoop.”

“That, too,” McKenzie said with a laugh.

“How’d the tat come out?” Sierra asked her.

“It’s half done. We’ll finish it tomorrow. But who cares about that? Tell us everything about you two.”

“Well…” Sierra leaned toward them like she was going to say something top secret. “We’re both having clam chowder.”

Duke cracked up. “That’s what you get for being a busybody, MK.”

“That wasn’t nice, Sierra. You wouldn’t want to hold out on your bookkeeper, now would you?”

“We’ll talk,” Sierra said. “But not now.”

“Fair enough.” To Morgan, McKenzie said, “I don’t know you very well, but everyone says you’re a good guy.”

“I try to be.”

“Be nice to our girl, or else I’ll send Duke to talk to you.”

“He’s already talked to me.”

“What? ” Sierra and McKenzie said, zeroing in on Duke.

Duke’s face flushed as he laughed nervously. “It was a friendly conversation between men. Nothing to see here.”

“He wanted to make sure I have good intentions toward you,” Morgan said to Sierra.

“I’m going to gut you like a fish,” Sierra said to Duke.

“I’ll help you,” McKenzie said.

Duke held up his hands. “I was just looking out for my friend the way she did for me when you came along, MK. That’s all it was.”

Everyone looked to Morgan to confirm it. Part of him wanted to make Duke squirm some more, but more than that, he wanted Sierra’s friends to like him. “I told him he has nothing to worry about.”

“Which made me feel better,” Duke said.

McKenzie took him by the hand. “Let me get you out of here before she makes good on the gutting she promised you.” MK patted the six-pack that’d come from hours at the gym. “I like your gut just the way it is.”

“Have a nice evening, and MYOB, Duke,” Sierra said.

“What fun would that be?” Duke asked as McKenzie dragged him away.

“You two are cute,” Morgan said.

“He’s the brother I’ve never had, but tell me the truth… Was that all he said to you?”

“That was it. Just a guy looking out for his friend.”

“He never had a family of his own. We’re it, so he can be a bit protective. That’s never bothered me before.”

“I hope it doesn’t now either. I got where he was coming from. He was mostly concerned about me starting something with you and checking out of here.”

“Funny, I have the same concern.”

Morgan took a sip from the beer the waitress had delivered. “It’s weird… If you’d have told me before Billy went missing that I’d ever want to call this place home again, I would’ve laughed my ass off. But now…”

“What?” she asked, sounding a bit breathless.

“Now everything looks different to me, especially since yesterday.”

“It’s been one day, Morgan.”

“And yet… Everything looks different.”

He hoped he wasn’t getting ahead of himself with her, but with a decision to be made—and soon—he needed to know he wasn’t the only one falling fast and furious into whatever this was that was happening with her.