‘Are you okay?’ Juliet walked into the room. She was wearing his white T-shirt and nothing else. Just the sight of her was enough to stir him, filling his mind with the promise of her body. ‘I woke up and you were gone. I didn’t know where you were.’
He pushed the screen of the MacBook back down. ‘I couldn’t sleep, I came down to grab a glass of water.’ He pointed at the half-empty tumbler on the table in front of him.
She leaned on the back of the sofa. ‘What were you looking at on your laptop?’
She felt too far away. He needed her closer. Ryan reached for her, grabbing her hands and guiding her around the arm of the sofa, then pulled her onto his lap. She was facing him, her bare legs on either side of his. He felt the softness of her skin, the warmth of her inner thighs, and the need stirred inside him again.
‘I looked up the wharf listing.’ He ran his hands down her gorgeous hair, his eyes roaming her body as if it were a feast. ‘They’re offering it for redevelopment.’
‘What kind of redevelopment?’
‘The expensive kind, I guess. It’s prime real estate, close to the big cities, close to the interstate. The perfect place to build hotels or condos, for rich people looking to spend the weekend here. Add in the views and the river access, and it’s ripe for the picking.’
She frowned. ‘Why are they selling it? Hasn’t it been in your family for years?’
‘Generations.’ He nodded. ‘Pretty much as long as there’s been a Shaw in Shaw Haven, we’ve owned the wharf and the area around it. That’s how the Shaws built up their wealth, controlling what came in and out of the area. We all grew up with half a foot in the Chesapeake. That river is part of us.’
She ran her hands over his chest, tracing circles with her fingers. Just the sensation of her touch was enough to calm him.
‘Could you afford to buy it?’ she asked. ‘That way you could prevent it from being redeveloped.’
‘Not the amount of money they’re asking for it. I’d need to raise the capital, and I could only do that if I had a business plan. Which would mean redeveloping it, or thinking of something else we can do.’ He looked up at her. ‘Plus I’ll be leaving in a few months, I don’t need any more ties here.’
She licked her lips, trying to compose her features. ‘So why are they selling it now? Is the company in trouble?’
‘No, the last set of accounts I saw were healthy as hell. Plus I know they can raise money if they want to. They offered me enough to walk away from the company.’
‘They tried to buy you out?’ Her eyes widened with shock. ‘Why?’
‘Because they think I’m a liability. My father hates the fact that I’m a shareholder. There’s no love lost between us – there hasn’t been for years – and he just wants me gone.’ He pressed his face into her neck. She smelled of fresh apples. He was distracted by the sweetness of her skin.
She trailed her finger up his torso, her eyes following their progress. He could see her trying to work through his words, make sense of what he was saying. ‘But why wouldn’t you just take the money and go? You’ve already said you don’t want to stay here, that you’ll be leaving soon. So why have the hassle of being dragged into this when you don’t need it? You could sell up, let them do what they want with the wharf and never look back.’
He wrapped his hands around her lower back, pulling her closer until their chests were pressed together. He could feel her breasts beneath the fabric of his T-shirt, and the warmth of her against his skin.
‘I made a promise to make sure the wharf stayed in the family,’ he said. ‘And it’s not just about me, it’s about Charlie, too. He’s a Shaw and a Sutherland and I owe it to him to protect his heritage.’
Her lips brushed against his neck, her hair trailing over his shoulder. ‘That makes sense,’ she said. ‘It’s amazing the things we’ll do for our kids.’
‘Like stay in a town where we don’t feel as though we belong.’
He could feel her smile against his skin. ‘And the way we’ll put up with shit from other people just to protect them,’ she agreed.
She caught his earlobe between her teeth, gently flicking it with her tongue. The sensation made him gasp, tipping his head back, as he inclined his hips to press his hardness against her. She was driving him crazy, with soft touches and warm lips, and he was loving every minute of it.
‘Maybe that’s why this thing between us is so important,’ she whispered, her fingers trailing down his arms. ‘Having a little haven for the both of us. Somewhere we can escape from the assholes and the family and everything that brings us down.’
Is that what this was? An escape from reality? He closed his eyes as she moved her lips to his jaw, kissing and licking at his skin until he ached to kiss her back. She was soothing and arousing and finding every emotion in between.
Her legs were warm and soft as she straddled him, lifting herself up, and using her hand to guide him until he was exactly where he wanted to be. Pressing against her, feeling her desire, her need, countering it with his own.
He’d be her haven if she’d be his. He couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather escape to.
They were sitting on the porch swing at the rear of his house, hidden from the road and the neighbours. Juliet was on Ryan’s lap, a blanket wrapped around them both, his arms encircling her beneath the wool. She curled into him as he used his feet to rock them back and forth, his movements slow and gentle, as though he was as exhausted as she was. She closed her eyes, breathing him in as she pressed her cheek to his sweater-covered chest, not wanting the moment to end.
‘What time is Thomas bringing Poppy back?’ Ryan asked. His voice held a tone that felt as wistful as her heart. It felt as though summer was coming to an end even though they were reaching the end of November. It was that aching last-day-of-holiday feeling, and it made her want to stamp her feet and cry.
‘In about an hour. The same time you h