And Then Forever by Shirley Jump Read Free Book Online

napkins, Kincaid was sure there were still four letters circled by a lopsided heart.
    KF + DW.
    He shifted the napkin box and his throat tightened. Still there, all these years later. Kincaid ran his finger over the letters. Seven years ago, almost to the day, he had sat here across from the wildest, most uninhibited, most enticing girl he had ever met, and thought there was no way he could ever go back to the stuffy, controlling world he lived in. He’d wanted to stay right here with Darcy, on the southern part of the island where the rules were as loose and elusive as the tail of a kite.
    He slid the napkin holder over the letters. That was a different time, a different Kincaid and, given the way she’d reacted to him yesterday, a different Darcy. He had other priorities now, other reasons for being here, that had nothing to do with reliving the past.
    Kincaid felt his phone buzzing. He pulled it out of his pocket and muted the incoming call, sending it to voicemail. A moment later, the phone started again. This time, Kincaid shut it off, which made the phone untraceable, should his father get the idea to do that. Kincaid hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe if his father reached voicemail a few dozen times, he’d stop calling.
    Fat chance. If there was one thing Edgar Foster was, it was determined. He was like a bulldog in a tug of war game. He’d get what he wanted or die trying.
    The college students finished their song, and broke apart as a slow song came on the jukebox. Someone groaned, another guy called out that they all needed something that didn’t sound like caterwauling, and one lone couple got up to dance.
    Kincaid set the menu to the side. Like the restaurant itself, the menu was as familiar as his own name. That was the good thing about The Love Shack. He could come back in fifty years and it would be just the same as it was today. With the dollar bills stapled to the wall, and the heart-attack inspiring burgers, and—
    Darcy.
    She stepped through the swinging door of the kitchen, a tray balanced on one shoulder, her hip cocked to the side as a counterweight. She had on cutoff denim shorts, those same sexy scuffed cowboy boots, and a white tank top that made her seem even tanner than usual. Her bicep curled under the weight of the food, and something dark stirred in Kincaid’s gut.
    Damn it. The woman still drove him crazy.
    She turned to the right, pausing by a table across the room to drop off their meals. She made eye contact with every one of the four men sitting there. They were young men, maybe late twenties, but they all had their eye on the peek of flat belly exposed between the short tank and the low-waisted shorts. Not enough to tell Kincaid if she still had that belly piercing, but enough to make him want to know the answer to that question. Darcy smiled and chatted with all four customers, just a hint of flirt in her face and movements.
    A flare of jealousy went through Kincaid. Insane. He had no ties to Darcy, no claim on her. They had been over for a long time. She could flirt with the entire Boston College marching band and he had no right to care.
    But damn it, he did anyway.
    She turned, the now empty tray tucked under one arm, and then stopped mid-spin when she saw him. Darcy glanced over at Whit, then back again at Kincaid. Apparently he wasn’t the only one surprised by Whit’s seating choices.
    Darcy wove through the tables and filled chairs with ease, her expression hardening as she neared him. She dropped the tray on a stand to her right, then tugged her order pad out of her apron and readied a pen. When she stopped before him, there was no smile of recognition, not so much as a how-you-doin’ nod. “What can I get you?”
    “So that’s how it’s going to be?”
    She arched a brow, but didn’t answer his question. “What can I get you?”
    He could see she had no intentions of budging. He should be glad. The last thing he needed was another complicated relationship with