Jayne Addison - About That Kiss

It took Joy a second to respond. “When two people are in love they don’t need to do that much talking.”

“Joy, I really would like you to drop this.”

But she would not be deterred. “This is your quandary. You and Diana didn’t talk enough before. Now you have to talk.”

Nick unwound his arms and reached out to place a hand lightly on Joy’s mouth. But she turned her head just then and his fingers got caught in her hair.

Joy’s eyes flew to his face while he untangled his fingers. She gazed at him askance for a second, then went right on. “The way I see it…”

The rest of her speech was cut off as Nick captured her face between his hands and out of aggravation covered her mouth with his. He had no thought of doing what he did next, but he’d caught her with her lips parted, and his tongue went where it wanted to go. Spontaneously his hands left her face to bring her up flush against his chest, locking them together in a full-length embrace.

He felt Joy’s tongue arch in uncertainty. Then her arms found their way around his neck and she made the fit even better by rising up on her toes. The sandals dropped from her fingers, and she was kissing him back.

Nick fought a desire to touch more of her with his hands, but that didn’t stop his enjoyment of her mouth. He had no sense at all of wanting to stop, though he did try for a millisecond to clear his head.

A couple of teenage boys walking by whistled their approval. It was only then that Joy and Nick put an abrupt end to what they were doing.

Joy’s arms dropped flaggingly from his neck. Nick let her body slide back down until her heels met the sand before he let go of her. He stared at her.

Joy stared back. Oh, my! Oh, my! she thought.

“Whoo!” Nick breathed. “Where did that come from?”

Joy eyed him incredulously. Where did that come from?

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what got into me.”

“Well…ah.” Joy floundered inanely. “What I mean is…well…It’s the heat…the sun…The sun can make people do crazy things.”

“Right. The sun.” Nick stuck his hands in his pockets. “I thought it was a full moon that did that.”

“Right. That, too. And the sun.” Joy trained her eyes down at the sand. God! She’d been falling in love with Nick while he and Diana had been falling in love with each other. All it had taken was that kiss—that earth-shattering kiss—to make her face the truth.

Joy raised her eyes from the sand, but she didn’t meet his gaze head-on. She kept her focus on one neatly trimmed sideburn. “I should be going now. We’ve talked…and all.”

Was her face as red as she thought it was?

“We’ve talked,” Nicked agreed, suddenly subdued.

Joy started to leave. She got four large steps away, when Nick called her.

“Your sandals,” he said.

Joy came back. They both bent down at the same time to pick up her shoes. Their fingers accidentally touched and their eyes met briefly. With the speed of lightning Joy jerked her hand away. Nick gathered together her sandals and he extended them to her as they both straightened up.

Joy felt she should make one last comment on Diana’s behalf. “I know you’re letting your male ego get in your way. Will you stop being so obstinate and marry my sister!”

With that parting remark she walked away. When she looked back over her shoulder she saw Nick standing at the water’s edge, watching her retreat.

“Maxie, I am not playing with you in that pile of leaves,” Joy complained to the huge mutt. She’d been enjoying a lazy Sunday until the dog’s insistence made her go outside.

The mutt pulled at its leash, yanking Joy along.

“Maxie…it’s cold out. Let’s just get to the woods and do what you made me think you needed to do.” She was walking him—though running was probably more accurate—in the rear grounds of the large, rambling house in Greenport where she still lived with her mother and a series of guests during the summer season. Her mother had turned the house into a bed and breakfast after her father’s death three years ago.

Maxie headed straight for the largest pile of leaves on the back lawn and made every attempt to climb to the top of the heap. Joy made every attempt to stop him until she slid on a patch of leaves coated with ice and tumbled into the pile. It was the end of November and the winter-cold air froze any moisture on the ground.

“All right. You want leaves, Maxie,” Joy said, laughing as she lay on her back. She let go of the leash, picked up a handful of leaves and threw them up at the dog.

Maxie barked happily.

“Can I play, too?” a voice asked from behind her.

As Joy looked up, her heart lurched, then quickened to a mile a minute. Nick. In an ungainly fashion, discombobulated as she was by his appearance, Joy struggled to get to her feet. Nick came to the rescue and took hold of her wrists to pull her up. Maxie sprang at him, his front paws ploughing into Nick’s back.

“What the…” Nick uttered, just before he landed indelicately on top of Joy, his thighs straddling her hips.

Lifting himself enough to balance his weight on his elbows, Nick smiled down at her. “Hi, Joy.”

“Nick…” His face was no more than inches from hers. Her heart was beating wildly.

Nick’s smile became a grin. “This kind of feels like where we left off the last time we were together.”

Joy was breathless just looking up at him without that reminder. Not that she needed any prompting to be reminded. “I—I think we should get up.”

A smile still on his mouth, Nick bounced back on his heels. Getting the leverage he needed, he sprang to his feet. Joy grasped his offered hands and got to her feet, noticing that Nick held on to her a touch longer than was necessary.

“What are you doing here?” Joy asked. It was about four and a half months since she’d last seen him. He’d accepted an assignment abroad two days after their morning on the beach. He hadn’t been back since.

“Where else would I be with your sister marrying my brother? They haven’t changed their minds, have they?” He brushed leaves off her shoulders.

“No, they haven’t changed their minds. They’re getting married in three weeks. The reception is going to be here in the house.” Joy was shivering more from her pulse going wild than from the cold. She was bundled up well enough, in a very heavy sweater, the war-surplus pea coat she wore to knock around in and a knit hat pulled down low on her forehead and covering her ears.

“Diana and Kevin didn’t expect you to be able to get back for their wedding.” Joy thought in horror about what she must look like to him. The sweater and coat had to make it seem like she’d added fifty pounds to her frame. And that wasn’t the worst of it. The hat! The hat was the worst. “You’re supposed to be in Europe.”

“I was in Europe yesterday. Now I’m here. I did what I had to do to get back.”

He thought she looked adorable. Her face was all eyes. The hair at her neck was hidden under the collar of her coat. “I wasn’t going to miss my brother’s wedding.” His first inclination had been to show up after the fact, but only because he was concerned that Kevin would be uneasy. Though when Kevin had called to tell him he was marrying Nick’s ex-fiancée, his brother hadn’t sounded uneasy.

Joy gazed up at him suspiciously, her eyebrows getting lost under her hat.

“What’s that look for?” Nick grinned as he picked out a few leaves that had stuck to her hat. He knew what she was thinking. Only she couldn’t have been farther from the truth. He was not in love with Diana. He hadn’t thought about her at all during the past four and a half months. He had thought a lot about the woman standing in front of him right now.