Fully Involved (Island Fire Book 3) Read online

  Andie kept working as she listened. How completely bizarre to sit here chatting with a bunch of women, about such domestic topics as babies and pregnancy — and to not be bored out of her skull. And tying ribbons on little tin buckets? If anyone who really knew her saw her now, they’d think she’d lost her sweet mind.

  Of course, there wasn’t a single person she could think of who really knew her.

  Her cell phone buzzed on the table in front of her, and, okay, her cousin Jonas knew her as well as any. Maybe her thoughts had conjured him up.

  “Hey, Jonas, what’s going on?” She set down the ribbon she’d been working with and stood.

  “Nothing good. He’s MIA, Andie. No one’s seen him for a week. I think he blew town.”

  Her heart stopped and she turned away from the table. Without a word, she walked to the stairs leading to the beach.

  “Andie?”

  “I’m here,” she rasped out. She walked along the sand, unseeing. Reeling.

  “You’re hundreds of miles away. He has no idea where.”

  “As far as you know.”

  “No one else knows your whereabouts, do they? He may have asked around, but there’s no one who could tell him. You need to be alert, but, Andie, I’m assuming he’s not supposed to leave the state.”

  “He wasn’t supposed to beat the crap out of the woman he claimed to love either,” she said as she slid her back down the sea wall and settled on the sand a couple hundred feet up the beach from the bar. “He doesn’t put too much stock in what he is or isn’t supposed to do.”

  “Like I said, be alert. I’ll keep my ears open.”

  “What if he finds me?” It was as if no time had passed and yet again she had to spend every waking moment figuring out how to navigate Trevor’s moods so she didn’t set him off. Her body was a ball of tension, her muscles already aching with it, cold with fear.

  “What’s he going to do, Andie? You can hold your own now, physically. Remember what I taught you. You’ve got distance. You won’t be sucked in again. Right?”

  Her most painful years were with Trevor. Growing up with an abusive father had nothing on falling in love with and trusting a man, as an adult, who should’ve been the best part of her life. She’d learned young that her father veered toward inhuman anytime he drank, which, after her mother died, was most of the time. She’d figured out to avoid him as much as possible. With Trevor, she’d chosen to trust him. She’d been old enough she should’ve seen a sign of the trauma that was to come.

  “Andie. Quit it, honey. He doesn’t have any power over you now.”

  She opened her eyes and focused on the incoming waves, a reminder she was far, far away, both geographically and mentally, from where she’d been when Trevor had hurt her. “This is what I’m afraid of, Jonas. Just the mention of him and I lose my damn mind, turn into this scared mouse. It makes me sick to my stomach.”

  “Well, get over it. There’s no way in hell he could ever do the same thing to you again. Would he track you down to hurt you?”

  She’d thought about this often, especially lately, ever since Trevor’s possible release from prison. “I don’t know. All-out force was never the way it started. But he has such a temper… I’m just not sure.” It could get ugly. He’d proven he had no qualms about hurting her.

  “The good news is you have a door. With a lock. You’re out of that goddamn tent.”

  “For now.” Thank God for her new dead bolts. Nothing would make her relax completely, but they would help.

  “Andie, I know it makes you crazy to stay put, but maybe that’s the best place for you. At least for a while.”

  “Maybe. Look, I gotta go, Jonas. Keep me posted.”

  “Yep.”

  He disconnected and Andie felt all alone on a beach full of people. She sat there for several minutes. When she finally stood, she was pissed. Bottle-crushing, plate-throwing pissed. Fortunately, there were no bottles or plates in sight, so she had nothing to shatter or draw attention to herself with. She kicked at the sand several times, jaw and fists clenched, swearing to herself. After a few minutes, she worked at calming herself down so she could head back to the patio to help Selena.

  As she approached, she was relieved to see that Selena looked better, not as pale, and engrossed in painting. Andie commented on the improvements when she sat back down in her chair.

  “Yeah, they’re gone for now,” Selena said. “What happened to you though? You look upset.”

  Andie forced a smile. “If it’s false labor, then I’m in trouble.”

  Unfortunately, she didn’t believe there was anything false about the possibility of Trevor trying to track her down. She could have weeks before he caught up to her … but maybe not. And the only thing she could do about it was keep an eye out for trouble.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Andie was going to be the death of him.

  After her breakthrough with Payton, Clay had forced himself to stay away. He’d successfully avoided her for days, with the exception of the wedding rehearsal and dinner last night.

  As they’d gone through the ceremony details, they’d been cordial but distant. It’d been as if they both sensed something had changed, though Clay didn’t know what or when. They’d made a point of not touching during the practice recessional as they walked out together. He’d steeled himself to be immune to her today.

  Lot of fucking good that had done.

  The women had gotten ready for the wedding at Derek and Macey’s place and had shown up at the Shell Shack — the ceremony was on the beach below the bar just as Payton’s birthday dinner had been — about half an hour ago. Clay wouldn’t forget anytime soon the moment he’d spotted Andie.

  The female half of the wedding party had emerged from the limo that Macey’s mom had insisted on hiring, and his eyes had popped out of his head. Andie — tomboy, biker chick, blue-jeans-wearing Andie — belonged on a New York runway. She, like the other women, wore a long, silky dress in a dramatic deep red, the color of a velvet-soft rose. The sleeveless gown emphasized Andie’s tall, slender body in all the right places. It was snug beneath her breasts, cinching in at her narrow waist, and flowed over her hips in a column to the ground. When she’d gotten out of the car, Clay had caught a glimpse of her black stiletto heels through the thigh-high slits in the dress, and oddly that had put him on edge. He’d never been a man who appreciated a woman’s shoes, but when one who normally cloaked herself in clunky boots showed up in those strappy, sexy things… Hell yeah.

  And that blood-red color… With her dark hair and smooth, tanned skin, Andie was stunning. In the past thirty minutes, he’d had no less than several dozen fantasies of sliding the silken material off her body—

  “Clay, get your ass over here, man.” Evan gestured impatiently, and Clay realized the rest of the wedding party was gathered for pictures before the ceremony began.

  The photographer lined them up — Derek and Macey in the middle, Evan and Selena on one side, and Clay and Andie on the other. Together, of course. Close. His hands on her waist, standing slightly behind her, with her back warm and soft against him. He couldn’t avoid her intoxicating scent and didn’t try to.

  “You two on the left, relax,” the peppy female photographer said to them. “This isn’t a firing squad, it’s a wedding! Fun! Happy! True love! Act like you’re enjoying yourselves.”

  “Macey, what the hell?” Clay said quietly through his forced smile.

  The bride laughed. “Shh. Do what she says, Clay.”

  The photographer clicked a couple photos and then looked up from her camera again. “Groomsman on the left, much better. Bridesmaid? Is it Andie? Hon, you have to relax.”

  Clay squeezed her side gently, trying to get her to lighten up. She was so stiff she flinched.

  He pointed his index finger in the air and smiled at the photographer. “Can you give us a minute? I’ll loosen her up.”

  “Please.”

  He turned Andie toward him, and s
he moved almost robotically. “Biker girl?”

  “What are you doing, Clay?” She looked at him with one hundred percent distrust, as she should at that moment.

  “This is for the greater good.”

  Before she could respond, he took her face in his hands and leaned down to kiss her with all the pent-up attraction he’d been trying to deny for days. It took a good three seconds for her to yield and open to him. As soon as she did, he deepened the kiss, but instead of controlling the moment as he’d intended, he nearly forgot where he was and who might be watching. The howls from the rest of the wedding party were a distant racket. He dropped one hand and pulled Andie’s slender waist into his rock-hard body, trying his best to devour her, losing his fucking mind.

  Andie broke the contact abruptly. “Clay.”

  He gathered his wits and flashed her what must have been a dopey grin. “That was just getting good.”

  “Clay and Andie,” Evan drawled. “Who saw that coming?”

  “About time,” Macey said.

  “Little eyes all around, including your daughter,” Andie whispered. She looked like she was having as much trouble breathing as he was.

  He glanced around and spotted Payton on the bar’s patio above them. Her attention was on Evan’s sister, Melanie, who would be taking care of her during the ceremony. “She missed it. And you’re more relaxed.”

  “This isn’t relaxed.” The heat in her eyes spoke of the same burning tension that threatened to lay him out flat. “Sorry, everyone. Nothing to see here. The guy temporarily lost his marbles.” She turned back to her position for the photos.

  “You’re right. Maybe not relaxed,” he said in her ear.

  Derek’s mom rushed out from behind the photographer. “Wait! Lipstick emergency.”

  She handed a napkin to Clay and indicated a spot of Andie’s color at the edge of his mouth, then carefully applied a new coat to Andie’s lips while he wiped his face. She scurried off just as quickly, and the three couples settled back into their spots, the others cracking jokes here and there that Clay didn’t really hear. He was too wrapped up in wanting Andie.

  oOo

  By midway through the reception, Andie was a mess. A hot and bothered mess, all thanks to Clay. He wore a tux like no one she’d ever seen before, with those broad shoulders, the handsome, tanned face, the muscular thighs.

  She stood against the concrete wall of the patio, her back to the crashing waves. She was doing her best to concentrate on the stories Derek’s parents and Macey’s mom were regaling her with, detailing the longstanding friendship of the bride and groom. Most days, Andie would love to hear about such a normal childhood, love stories or not, but her attention was stuck on Clay, across the patio in a huddle of burly, dripping-with-testosterone firefighters. The group as a whole was a big pile of muscles and masculinity, but all Andie could see was the one man.

  “We’re needed in the restroom,” Selena said to Andie as she walked by.

  Kathy Severson giggled like a woman who’d had one too many cocktails. “Pee time for the bride, I suspect.”

  Andie raised her brows in disbelief as she set off.

  “Wedding dress maneuvering is a three-woman job, minimum,” Macey’s mom called out to her, as tipsy as her friend. Andie heard Derek’s dad excuse himself as the two women began retelling memories of their own wedding days.

  Clay met her gaze as she went past his group, and a jolt of heat flashed through her, her female parts responding with a dull, hollow ache.

  As soon as she entered the restroom, she heard the laughter mixed with swear words coming from the handicapped stall.

  “Uh, need help?” Andie asked, afraid of Macey and Selena’s answer, unable to concoct a visual of what she was about to walk in on.

  “A crane would do the trick,” Macey said.

  “Maybe you should’ve just succumbed to an adult diaper for the evening,” Selena suggested.

  “Whoever invented wedding dresses never thought about how a girl might be able to relieve herself.”

  “Obviously invented by a man.”

  The stall door was open and Andie made her way to it, full of trepidation. When she peeked in, she couldn’t help laughing at the sight of them digging their way through layers of white satin and slip.

  “I need a camera,” she said, stepping into the fray. “Too bad I can’t carry my phone in this dress.”

  “You’d be a dead woman.”

  Macey’s veil was long gone, and tendrils of hair curled around her temples. She still looked gorgeous, and the juxtaposition of the beautiful bride in her satin next to the cold, hard toilet made Andie laugh so hard tears fell.

  Macey soon joined her, and then Selena.

  It took a good ten minutes for them to compose themselves enough to figure out the logistics of peeing in a wedding gown, by which time Macey swore it was about to run down her leg. Mission accomplished at long last. And then they had to put the bride back together.

  “You lucked out,” Macey said to Selena as they straightened her full slip. “You missed this experience with your short and sweet wedding. You, on the other hand” — she pointed to Andie — “you’re going to pay one of these days.”

  “Good luck with that, Mace. I won’t be donning the white in this lifetime.” Andie said it with certainty and maybe a little smugness.

  Selena snorted in response.

  “What?” Andie asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “Oh, girl.” Macey wasn’t drunk, but sober wasn’t the word Andie would use to describe her either. “I’d bet money that you’re going down next.”

  “Instead of if, we should start a pool for when it’s going to happen,” Selena added.

  “Can it, girls” Andie said as she straightened the back of Macey’s gown.

  “If there was any more electricity between you and Clay tonight, the whole island would surge and blow up,” Macey said.

  Andie glanced at Selena, who nodded emphatically. “It’s beyond Chemistry 101. More like graduate level.”

  “Because we kissed? During pictures?” Andie did her best to look confused, knowing full well there was no way they could’ve hidden the strength of their attraction.

  Macey sighed dreamily. “The way you kissed, the way you danced. The way you’ve spent most of the night with one eye on him even when he’s a hundred feet away.”

  “And he’s done the same,” Selena said. “So what’s the lowdown? And why are we having to beg you for it?” She moved to the counter and reapplied her lip gloss.

  Andie stepped away from the mirror and the bright lights, feeling exposed enough without them adding to it. She picked at some imaginary lint on the front of her gown. “There’s nothing going on.”

  “If that’s the truth, there’s an emphatic yet at the end of it,” Macey said, her cheeks red and her eyes bright.

  Andie shook her head. “Not going to happen, girls.” Even as she said it, she felt the heat radiating off her.

  “That’s like saying the waves of the gulf are going to stop,” Macey told her. “Strictly from an outsider’s perspective, it looks like it’d take an act of God to keep you two apart.”

  “An act of God or a four-year-old.” Andie shook her head when Selena offered to let her borrow her makeup.

  “Isn’t it convenient that said four-year-old is already tucked away in a hotel room with Melanie and Brad?” Selena raised her chin knowingly and Andie desperately wanted to be mad at her but she couldn’t. She couldn’t hold in a smile, in fact. Then she halfheartedly shook her head.

  “Mace?” Derek’s voice came in through the screen door of the restroom. “Got a problem.”

  Macey frowned and headed outside. Andie and Selena followed.

  “What’s going on?” Macey asked.

  “Ice machine is on the fritz. We’re down to several scoops. It’s not even ten o’clock.”

  Her eyes widened. “Fritz? Is this a joke?”

  He kissed her. “I wouldn’t do
that to you. At least not tonight. It’s really broken and I can’t fix it.”

  “We have to go buy ice, then. Mass quantities,” Macey said. “Do you have your phone?”

  He fished it out of his tux and handed it to her. Clay wandered over to Derek and asked what was up, catching Andie’s eye momentarily. He’d taken his jacket off long ago and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. His tie was missing, and the top half of his shirt was unbuttoned. Derek explained the situation to him.

  “You can’t leave your own wedding. I’ll go get it.”

  “You sober?” Derek asked.

  “Not entirely, but I know someone who is.” He smiled at Andie, and her heart stopped. “You game?”

  She was game for just about anything when he zeroed that beautiful smile in on her.

  “You’re going to let me drive your truck?” she asked, trying to play it cool.

  Macey hung up and rattled off a distributor just over the bridge on the mainland that would sell her a truckload of ice for next to nothing. “A little out of the way but they have plenty and they’ll bill the bar.”

  Clay dug his keys from his pocket and held them out to Andie. When he surrendered them, he held her hand for an extra second. Or three. The electricity Macey had mentioned pulsed through the air between them.

  Without glancing at anyone around them — knowing the looks the girls would give her — Andie headed inside the Shell Shack to get the tiny evening purse Macey had loaned her, all too aware of Clay’s presence half a step behind her on the way.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Neither of them spoke a word on the drive. The tension in the air was so thick it would strangle a lesser man than Clay. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had affected him like this.

  He stared openly at Andie as she pulled into the parking lot of the distributor. Somehow he managed to follow her into the place and help the guy load bag after bag of ice into the bed of the truck. They threw pads on top for insulation, thanked the man, and signed the invoice.