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“Who’s catching men around here? I thought it was the fish that were biting.” Reid appeared with two glasses of wine and a Bud Light.
“Cuz, it appears we’ve been set up,” Justyn mocked, taking the offered beer and nodding toward the island’s self-proclaimed matchmaker.
“Is that so?” Reid asked. He handed a wine glass to Blair, and then presented the other to Maggie, draping an arm around her shoulder.
“Not so much a setup as just a little nudge in the right direction,” Shirley said, looking satisfied with herself. “I always trust my instincts about these things. I had a feeling about you four.”
“Come on, Shirls. We’ve kept these kids long enough.” Henry guided his wife toward the bar. “Don’t you need a refill? Y’all have fun tonight,” he called over his shoulder.
Maggie sipped her wine, watching the ever-amusing Guthries depart. She looked at Justyn and Reid.
“What was all that about earlier?” Justyn asked his cousin. “I thought we’d lost you to Wes at the bar.”
“The usual.” Reid shrugged.
The opening notes of a soothing Temptations classic drifted through the island night.
“Finally, a slow song.” Blair grabbed Justyn’s hand and pulled him to the center of the dance floor.
Reid looked into Maggie’s eyes. “One slower song, tiger,” he said in her ear. “Then we’re outta here. I’d prefer to dance with you at home. Alone. No clothes.”
Startled out of a content sleep, Maggie hoisted herself to a sitting position and watched as Reid walked to the sliding glass door on the left wall of her room. Reid opened the door and left the screen door closed. Maggie’s nostrils were immediately hit with a mix of salt and rain. She could hear the wind and pounding waves of the normally docile sound. Sometime during the last couple of hours since they’d left the party, it had begun to rain. She remembered seeing the lightning flashes in the distance as Reid careened the Jeep down the winding roads back to the Buttons place. She admittedly wasn’t paying as much attention to the weather as she was the electric jolts between her and Reid. Ever since he pulled her close on the dance floor at the party, he had been in an incredible rush to get her home, where they could be alone. They hadn’t had the chance to talk yet.
“It sounds like the ocean out there,” she said, wrapping the sheet tightly around her chest.
“Exactly,” he said. “My favorite soundtrack.”
In one fluid motion—that only a born sailor who’d hopped on and off boats so lithely all his life could manage—Reid jumped on the bed and landed beside Maggie.
He cupped her hip with one hand and guided her mouth to his with the other hand.
For the second time tonight, Maggie lost herself to Reid.
Maggie lay tucked beside Reid with her head resting contentedly on his chest. He had one arm around her, and he was using the other to trace circles on her shoulder with his fingertips. Each light touch sparked a tiny flip-flop in Maggie’s belly. She shuddered and nuzzled her face deeper in his chest.
“Maggie? Is that your real name?” Reid asked, still tracing the circles on her shoulder.
She raised her head and flashed him a quizzical look. He’s figured out my last name.
“I mean, is it a nickname for something?” he said.
“Oh yeah. It’s short for Margaret,” she said, relaxing again and running her hands over his chest.
“You don’t seem like a Margaret,” he observed.
“My parents named me after Margaret Thatcher,” she said. “You know, the prime minister of England. One of the modern world’s first female leaders. Big shoes to fill.”
“So your parents are into politics?” he said.
“I guess,” Maggie said. “My mom’s a lawyer, who’s always promoting some feminist cause or fighting for the rights of the underprivileged.”
“That sounds important,” Reid said. “All my family ever did was build boats and fish.”
Maggie extricated herself from Reid’s chest and pulled herself to a sitting position, draping a sheet over her body to ward off the chill from the open doors. She sat cross-legged on the bed and twisted a curl around her finger. Surely, this was the time to admit who her dad was, but she remembered how angry Reid had been that day on the pier. She didn’t want to break tonight’s mood.
“Maybe it was important, but I don’t really know,” she said, deliberately focusing on her mother. “I never really saw her that much. They were both busy people. When I was younger, I had a couple of sweet nannies. It must have been nice to grow up here with all your extended family doors away.”
“The island is a good place for a kid,” he agreed. “Always an adventure around the corner. My cousins and I sure got ourselves into a lot of trouble. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
