And Then Forever by Shirley Jump Read Free Book Online Page A

a woman who turned him upside-down. He had enough on his plate. Besides, it was clear Darcy hadn’t been pining away for him all these years. A sane man would forget her and move on. Would forget about those letters carved into the table and the silly promises made by a nineteen-year-old kid.
    “A burger, medium, with American cheese and all the toppings,” he said. “Side of fries, and a Coors Light. And a smile.”
    She scowled. “That’s not on the menu.”
    “You give one to all your other customers.” He shrugged, tossed her a grin. “I’m a paying customer, too. One smile, Darce. It won’t hurt. I promise.”
    Darcy flashed a smile at him, so fast, he would have missed it if he’d blinked. But then she scoffed and a second smile lingered on her lips. That one warmed him, made him wonder if he was as over her as he thought. And if maybe there were still lingering feelings on her part, too. “Are you satisfied now?” she said.
    “No. But I’ll take what I can get.” The word satisfied made him think of long hot nights on the beach, Darcy and him having sex that was so wild and unpredictable, it could have been Olympic wrestling. Him on top, her on top, the two of them breathing hard, then crying out in the dark and collapsing against each other. Then starting again a few minutes later, an insatiable hunger that burned like an overstoked furnace.
    “You’re impossible.” Darcy rolled her eyes and started to turn away, but Kincaid reached out and grabbed her wrist. Electricity rolled through his veins.
    His mind flashed back to a night under the pier. They’d had a fight, the same fight they always had, about their two worlds, and how impossible it seemed to be able to find a middle ground. He had told her he couldn’t see how he could stay on Fortune’s Island, how he could buck the family tradition of going into law. That he was afraid if he did that, he’d lose any chance he could possibly have at a relationship with his distant father.
    She’d been upset, telling him that he was letting his family dictate his future, and she’d turned to walk away. He’d grabbed her wrist, and she’d spun back into him. They’d held each other’s gazes for one long, hot second, and then the fight evaporated.
    Kincaid had pressed Darcy against the pilings. Seconds later, their shorts and underwear were off, kicked into the wet sand. She had wrapped one leg around his hips, and he had plunged into her, thinking that if heaven existed on earth, it was here, with Darcy.
    Given the look she was giving him now, though, it was clear Darcy didn’t remember things the same way. “Why are you so angry with me?” he said.
    “I’m not angry at you.” Her gaze cut away when she said it.
    So there was something there. Something from the past, he’d bet. Unfinished feelings? Buried regrets? He wanted to know what it was, and why it still mattered to him all these years later. “Then why don’t you sit down, and spend a few minutes catching up?”
    “Because it’s busier than hell in here. Besides, there’s nothing to catch up on.”
    “Seven years apart, and we have nothing to catch up on?” He gestured toward the opposite side of the booth. “Come on, Darce. Five minutes. I’m sure you have a break coming up.”
    He hadn’t let go of her wrist yet. She hadn’t pulled away, either. He took that as a good sign.
    “Five minutes,” he said again. Gave her his best grin. She ignored it.
    “I’ll be back with your beer.” Then she tugged her hand out of his and spun away.
    True to her word, Darcy returned a few minutes later with his drink. She didn’t bother with a glass, just left the opened bottle on his table and disappeared again into the crowd.
    He settled against the back of the booth, one finger absently tracing the outline of those letters. KF + DW. The sentiment had been true the day he’d carved it. That day, he remembered thinking he never wanted to spend a single second apart from Darcy.