“Ryan, you’re going to have to trust me on this.”
“I do trust you. I don’t trust Kavanaugh. Can’t you see the end result isn’t going to be good?” he demanded. “There’s too much garbage in your pasts, Mari. You deserve something better than that.”
“I want to do this. I need to do this.”
Ryan straightened abruptly from where he’d been leaning on the counter. “His father murdered Mom and Dad. How can you even consider a future with Marc Kavanaugh?”
“It wasn’t murder,” Mari countered, just as heatedly. “It was an accident!”
“It was reckless homicide,” Ryan boomed.
For a few seconds, Mari just stood there as her brother’s retort echoed in her ears.
“How long?” she asked eventually. When Ryan just pinned her with a furious stare, Mari persisted in a low, trembling voice. “How long are you going to hold on to your anger, Ryan? Mom and Dad are gone. Your anger isn’t going to bring them back.”
“At least I’m respecting their memory,” Ryan said stiffly before he tossed the dish towel on the counter, “which is a damn sight more than you’re doing by climbing into bed with Marc Kavanaugh.”
Mari didn’t get much rest that night. She’d only been asleep for a few hours when she was awakened by the sound of her bedroom window scraping open. A scream building in her throat, she sat up in bed.
“Shhh, it’s me.”
“Marc Kavanaugh,” she scolded in a low, vibrating voice, “I’m going to chop down that elm tree. You scared the daylights out of me. What do you think you’re doing?”
“It’s Friday morning,” he said in a hushed tone. In the darkness, she saw the shadow of his tall body squeezing agilely through the window.
“It’s not even dawn yet,” she hissed.
“It’s going to be soon. We have to hurry. Come on, get up.”
Mari barely suppressed a squawk when he came over to the bed and pulled the sheet off her.
“Have you packed already?”
“Yes, but—”
“Great. I’ll take your stuff out to the car while you shower.”
Mari blinked when he turned on the bedside lamp. Her mouth was open to protest. But when she saw him— wearing a pair of jeans and a light gray collarless shirt, his hair adorably mussed on his forehead from his tree climbing—he looked so excited and so damn appealing, her irritation faded into mist.
She got out of bed, scowling. She didn’t want him to know how attractive she found him at that moment. He already had more power over her than she preferred. “Okay, but this better be worth it. I just got to sleep a couple of hours ago.”
“I’ll make it up to you. I promise,” he said. Pointedly urging her toward the shower, he nodded at the door.
She thought for sure Marc was going to spirit her away to Chicago the second they were both in his car. He surprised her by heading first to The Tap and Grill and returning with a coffee for each of them before turning toward Main Street Harbor.
“Where are we going?” she whispered when Marc told her to leave her purse in the car. Dawn hadn’t broken yet. The quiet night and her unexpected awakening had created a hushed, tense feeling of expectation inside her.
“Colleen’s boat,” he said as they hurried down a long dock, Mari’s hand in his. “It used to be Darin’s.”
“What…? We’re going to cross Lake Michigan to get to Chicago?”
Marc’s derisive snort was her only answer. Once they reached a moored speedboat, Mari didn’t argue when Marc told her to sit down and relax. It would be another hot summer day once the sun rose, but the pre-dawn air was mild and pleasant. A light breeze tickled her cheek as she listened to Marc untie the craft and start the boat.
Within a matter of a few minutes, they’d passed the buoys designating the harbor, and Marc released the throttle. Her curiosity would have to wait. He’d never hear her questions over the roar of the engine. Mari watched the lights of Harbor Town slowly slide to the right of her vision as the boat cut through the water.
Mari studied Marc’s silhouette in the darkness when the boat slowed. He was sitting on the back of the seat instead of in it. She realized he was searching for some landmark on the shore.
He abruptly cut the motor, and only the sound of gentle waves slapping against the side of the boat entered her ears.