Love in Maine (3 page)

Maddie practically skipped home and smiled at how Janet’s house was already starting
to feel like home. She’d made it five days on her own. Six, counting Sunday when she’d
first arrived. But she didn’t really count Sunday because she didn’t make any money
that day. She’d done just fine. Her brother Jimmy could take his pontificating self-righteousness
and stick it. Maddie didn’t need to be coddled by her parents and her wealthy upbringing.

She got to Janet’s and let the screen door slam behind her. Somehow that seemed less
rude than screaming through the house, “Anybody home?”

It was only half past three and the house was quiet, so Maddie peeked into the kitchen
and was about to turn back into the living room when she realized Henry Gilbertson
was standing near the back door. He looked like he’d been about to dart out and been
caught. He stood so still that, in the shadows cast from the afternoon sun, Maddie
couldn’t quite convince herself that he was really standing there. In the flesh. There
was something invisible about him, about his stillness.

“Oh. Hi, Henry.” Maddie put one hand on her hip and leaned against the doorjamb. She
was flicking the envelope—
Hello! My first paycheck!
—back and forth like a swishing cattail. He didn’t say a word.

Maddie decided it might be fun to push his buttons a little. He was so gruff and manly,
he was really a caricature of himself. She walked into the kitchen and headed for
the refrigerator. She opened it and bent down to see what she could have to drink
to celebrate. Soda. Soda. Juice. Soda.

“You know what I’d really love right now?” she twisted her face around to peek at
Henry over the top edge of the old yellow refrigerator, but most of her was still
bent over and, apparently, distracting him. His eyes, which Maddie now noticed were
a stormy green, were definitely taking her in. Maybe he wasn’t such a stoic after
all.

He shook his head to silently acknowledge that he had no idea what Maddie would love
right now. Something hot and fast crackled between them when Henry moved his head,
but he kept his eyes fixed on Maddie. The bastard had hit Maddie’s flirting slow pitch
right out of the park.

Maddie tried to weigh her options. She supposed she could forego pesky considerations
like . . . sentences longer than two words . . . or common courtesy. For a taste of
those wide stern lips or a chance to get her arms around those enormous shoulders,
she thought she could make allowances. He was so . . . big. So unlike any of the cool,
polished guys she’d dated at Brown. He gave confidence a whole new meaning.

Summer fling
, Maddie thought,
here I come
.

She stood up slowly, and rested her elbows on the top of the fridge door.

“What I’d really love is . . . a friend.” Maddie surprised herself as much as she
seemed to surprise Henry with her choice of words. What she originally thought she
wanted was an ice-cold beer. Earlier in the week, Janet mentioned that she’d been
sober for years, and Maddie wasn’t about to stock the refrigerator with beer.

But a friend? What was she thinking? She already had tons of friends. Not that she
was the most popular girl in town or anything, but she had her share of really great
friends. But that’s what had come out of her mouth. A friend. Maybe on some level
she really did want him like that, platonically. Maybe zero communication with the
outside world was beginning to rattle her. Maybe she was a bit of a social media addict
after all. She certainly felt like she had tons of free time with no iPad, no iPod,
no iPhone . . . no i-anything. The silence lengthened between them.

The refrigerator moaned back into service from having the door left open too long.
Maddie smiled and tried to think of what she could do to get him to talk. Or at least
to kiss her, if the talking didn’t pan out.

Damn it. Did she have to be so breezy and confident? Madison Post made Henry feel
like he was being rude when he was trying to be polite, or at least appropriate. She
was overly familiar in that way that always put him off. She was too young. Too smart.
Too everything. He’d come over to grab a couple of sodas from his mother’s fridge
after a grueling day in the cold water. Was it too much to ask to be left in peace?

“What are you really doing here, Maddie?”

She shut the door to the refrigerator and stood about two feet in front of him. Her
black T-shirt was snug and almost military. She had on super-short khaki shorts above
long, tanned legs and a pair of sneakers. She had great ankles. On anyone else it
probably wouldn’t have looked like the sexiest outfit, but Maddie Post did it justice.
She was fanning her face with a plain white envelope that didn’t do anything to diminish
the light sheen of sweat across her cheeks.

“Just looking for something cool to drink,” she said slowly.

What the hell was she trying to pull? If Henry didn’t know better, he’d think she
was making a move on him.

“How old are you?”

She stopped fanning herself and leaned one shoulder against the refrigerator. “Why?
Afraid of robbing the cradle?”

Hank felt another pull of sexual tension that he hadn’t seen coming. And he always
saw it coming.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Sis.”

Her face clouded. “Don’t call me that, Gilbertson.”

“Okay, Post.” He smirked and she smirked back. At least the sexual tension was gone,
Hank thought with a grateful sigh. “Have a good weekend, then.” He turned and made
for the back door.

“Aw, come on,” she said, slapping the envelope against her thigh. “I just got my first
paycheck and I want to celebrate. I don’t know anybody here and your mom’s not around
to raise a glass of iced tea.”

Hank left one hand resting on the handle of the back door. “I’m not really the friend
type, Post.” He gestured with one palm out, almost guilty. “I’m what is commonly known
as a loner.”

Maddie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes slightly. “Couldn’t you make an exception,
this one time?”

Henry stared at this woman, basically offering herself to him. What was his problem?
She’d be gone in a few months. Maybe they could have a little . . . arrangement. He
let go of the door handle and felt like he was letting go of a whole lot more.

“How much have you got to blow on this celebration of yours?” His voice was low and
suggestive as he walked the few steps back into her personal space. He liked the sound
of her nervous inhale as she tried to conceal the thread of excitement that having
him so close caused. He could deny a lot, but he couldn’t deny the raw sexual energy
that snapped between them.

“I—I don’t know—” she stuttered.

Henry reached out to her and looked like he was reaching for her chest, but he whipped
the white envelope from her hand instead.

Maddie inhaled. “Hey—”

“Well, let’s see how much that cheapskate Phil paid you for your troubles—”

“Give me that—” Maddie cried. “That’s my paycheck.”

Henry held it out of her reach easily. He was a good five inches taller than she was
and it wasn’t much trouble to keep the envelope above his head while he looked up
and tore it open.

Maddie stopped reaching for the envelope when she realized she was backed up to the
refrigerator and rubbing herself up against Hank in her effort to grab the paper back
from him. His stomach was as rock hard as she’d imagined it would be, especially against
the bare skin of her belly . . . which had become exposed when she stretched up to
try to get her check back.

They were both staring at each other and breathing hard. Maddie pulled her T-shirt
back into place.

“Two hundred and thirty-seven dollars.” He whistled at the paltry amount.

“What?” Maddie yelled and forgot about her wayward T-shirt, giving one last jump and
snatching the check from his hand. She stared at the curly ballpoint pen of Phil’s
penmanship. “Two hundred and thirty-seven measly dollars?”

“And eighty-four cents,” Henry whispered as he crowded her closer to the refrigerator.

She looked up and her dark violet eyes flashed and registered that he was really close.

“And eighty-four cents,” she whispered and licked her dry lips. “I’m not sure how
much of a good time we can have with two hundred dollars . . .”

“I think we can have a little fun . . . don’t you?” Henry let his index finger trail
across the smooth skin of her stomach. It was only an inch or two, but she gasped
at the contact.

“Yeah . . . probably . . .” Maddie’s voice was scratchy as she reached up and touched
his rough cheek. He’d come straight from work and he hadn’t shaved for a couple of
days. “No money fun,” she added.

Henry smiled at that, and it sliced through her. It might be for the best after all,
Maddie thought, that Henry Gilbertson kept that smile to a minimum, because when he
let it loose, she pretty much lost her mind. She put the edge of her thumb at the
corner of his lips. “You have a great smile.”

He leaned in and put his lips across hers, tentatively. His grip on her hip firmed,
and his other hand reached up to the back of her neck and held her. But his lips stayed
light, in a maddening counterpoint to the hard, controlling pressure of his hands.

Maddie dropped the check and brought her hand up to hold onto his strong neck, before
her legs gave out.

Henry heard the screech of the front screen door open first. He pulled away quickly,
almost shoving Maddie. She jerked against the refrigerator and looked up at him in
startled silence. Her mouth was slightly open, her lips plump and wet, her eyes glassy.

“Do something with your face!” Hank muttered harshly, turning toward the back door,
but he didn’t make it in time.

“Oh! Hi, Hank!” his mother called from the door as she came in from the living room.
“I didn’t expect to see you here! Will you stay for dinner?”

“I don’t know, Mom—”

“Maddie! What are you doing down there?” Janet looked at Maddie crouched under the
kitchen table.

“I dropped my paycheck.” Maddie peeked out from under the table. She caught a glimpse
of Henry’s relieved face when he saw she was looking relatively normal and not all
just-kissed. In fact, she looked downright pleased. She stood up and waved the paycheck
for Janet to see. “Isn’t it exciting? My first paycheck!”

Janet put down the grocery bags she’d been carrying. “Oh! How exciting! Let’s go celebrate!
Why don’t the three of us go to the movies?”

Maddie raised her eyebrows and turned to Henry. “Yes! Why don’t we?” Apparently she
enjoyed tormenting him. She tugged her T-shirt down at least, so he didn’t have to
fight the urge to let his eyes wander to that damnable strip of tanned, smooth flesh
that he’d only gotten the briefest hint of against his rough palm.

“Hank?” his mother prompted.

“Huh?” He swung his gaze from Maddie.

“Do you want to come to the movies with us?”

Jesus. Was he living in some sort of teenage hell? Going to the movies with his mother?
“I don’t know, Mom. Why don’t you two have a girls’ night out?”

Janet finished putting away a few cans of soup and folded the bags neatly and slipped
them between the refrigerator and the wall. She faced Henry full-on. “Because we don’t
want a girls’ night out. Right, Maddie? We want to go out with a big, handsome man.”
Janet winked at Maddie, trying to get them all to get along. Maddie nearly died of
embarrassment.

“Right, Janet.” Maddie forced her smile to be tight, because what she really wanted
to do was make that big, handsome man across the room blush with embarrassment. He
was such an easy mark. “But I really have to shower and change.”

“Me too,” Henry agreed, reaching for the handle on the back door, as if escape was
within reach at last.

“Okay,” Janet said, “this is great. Let’s all meet up at six, and we’ll go see that
movie where they blow up the moon and everyone has to live in those weird pod-things.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “That sounds realistic.”

“It’s a movie, silly. It’s not supposed to be realistic!”

Maddie smiled and looked at the floor. If she looked at Henry she wasn’t sure what
she would do.

“Okay, Mom. I’ll see you two back here at six,” he said.

He couldn’t look at Maddie but at least he could say “you two” so she wasn’t completely
invisible.

“Off you go, then,” Janet said to Maddie as the back door slapped shut. “You look
a fright after all that dishwashing. Go jump in the shower first, and I’ll use my
bathroom in a half hour or so, so we’re not battling for the hot water.”

“Oh.” Maddie looked up. “Okay. Thanks. I am pretty wiped. I’ll see you at six.” Maddie
smiled at Janet and turned back through the living room and then walked steadily up
the stairs. It took everything she had to keep her pace even, when all she really
wanted to do was scream with delight at having just had the most ravishing kiss in
the history of ravishing kisses. She made it to her room and turned on the shower
to conceal the uncontrollable peal of delight. Maddie pressed her face into the pillow
and screamed. Big, bad Henry Gilbertson had just kissed her. Hard.

She caught her breath finally and rolled onto her back. She stared at the white ceiling
and breathed deeply, kicking off her sneakers and feeling the memory of his lips on
hers, the memory of his hands pushed against the column of her neck. The power of
him. Maddie felt her body responding just to the idea of him; she could only begin
to anticipate what the reality of Henry was going to be like. She shook herself, like
she did after a hard rowing race, when her muscles would be quivering with exertion
and she was physically unsure of herself. She peeled off her filthy black T-shirt
and sweaty shorts and underwear, and stepped into the old-fashioned white tub and
let the spray of the shower momentarily erase the physical memory of Henry from her
body.

Two hours later, Maddie was in a pair of linen pants and a T-shirt, sitting quietly
in the living room reading one of the novels from Janet’s excellent library.