She looked tired and stressed, and Ford knew she had good reason. She’d been working at the inn and the diner, and working two jobs was stressful for anybody. And here he stood with Mia, the two of them clearly back from a sail, looking carefree, like they didn’t have a responsibility in the world.
For years, Ford had purposely cultivated that perception. After the way he’d grown up, he liked living low-key and easygoing. No stresses, no worries. He enjoyed not caring too much about anything. You could care about whatever you wanted: your family, your next meal, whatever, and it didn’t amount to squat if you didn’t have the means to obtain it.
He realized that having a daughter in his life should have been a threat to that lifestyle, or at the very least disturbed him. But it didn’t. And he also didn’t feel the same terror that he knew Tara felt about getting involved in Mia’s life. In fact, he relished it, because here was a kid who needed them. In return, he needed her, too.
They belonged to each other by blood. No one could take that away.
“Nice day for a sail,” Tara said.
Mia grinned as she hopped off the boat. “Yep. You two should go out.”
“Oh,” Tara said, backing up a step. “I can’t. We’re really busy, and-”
“Chloe and Maddie are at the inn, right?” Mia asked, giving Ford a sly look.
Oh shit, Ford thought, Look at her go.
“And I’m betting you already have dinner on,” Mia said to Tara. “Yeah?”
“Berry Sweet Turkey and Cranberry Quiche,” Tara admitted.
“See?” Mia nudged Tara toward the boat, giving Ford go-for-it eyes over Tara’s shoulder.
His daughter, the smart, beautiful master schemer.
“Everything’s handled,” she was saying to Tara, “so go, and I don’t want to see you back here for at least an hour, young lady. You hear me?”
Ford had to bite back his smile. Oh, yeah. They were being horribly manipulated by a girl half their age. “Come on,” he said to Tara, taking her hand. “Let’s do this. Let’s go for a quick sail.”
“But you just went.”
“I could go all day long. And besides, like Mia said, it’s perfect out there. An hour, Tara. Let’s take an hour.”
“I have things to do.”
“You always do.” He slowly but firmly reeled her in. “Chicken?” he asked softly, pressing his mouth to her ear.
“Of course not.”
“One hour,” he repeated, then propelled her on board with an arm around her waist.
Mia was beaming. “Gotta run,” she said and ran like hell up to the inn.
Tara craned her neck to watch her go. “That girl’s going to make a great lawyer.”
“No doubt.”
Tara turned back and met Ford’s gaze, hers troubled. “I’m worried that we’re leading her on, setting her up for disappointment.”
“You need to stop worrying about things you can’t control. In fact, stop thinking altogether. For the next hour, your only job is to live in the moment. In the moment of a gorgeous day and…” He smiled. “Not such bad company.”
She hesitated, and he gently tugged on a strand of her hair. “What’s the matter? Still don’t trust yourself with me?”
When she winced, telling him that was exactly what it was, he laughed. “An hour, Tara. That’s all. How much trouble can we get into in one hour?”
She gave him a look of blatant disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”
Ford smiled the most innocent smile in his repertoire. She didn’t buy it, but she nodded. “Okay,” she said, poking him in the chest. “But no monkey business.”
“Define monkey business.”
“No nakedness.”
“Well, damn,” he said. “There goes the strip tease I had planned.” He gestured for her to step ahead of him into the cockpit, but she hesitated and gave him a speculative once-over.
“Are you good at it?” she asked.
“Sailing?”
“No.” She laughed. A glorious sound. “Stripping.”
He felt his grin split his face. “Actually, I’m a master.”
She waggled a brow, and he laughed. “Tara Daniels, are you flirting with me?”
“No!” She turned and busied herself with the halyard. “Ignore me.”
“Now there’s one thing I’ve never mastered.”
Chapter 21
“You’ve grown up if you have learned to laugh-at yourself.”
TARA DANIELS
Ten minutes later, Ford had them flying across the swells. The sun was at their backs, the wind in their faces, and Tara couldn’t have held back her grin if she tried.
“Mmm,” Ford said. “Love that look on you.” He pulled her in between the steering wheel and his big body, easily holding her steady.
She cuddled up to him. “Okay, but remember, no monkey business,” she said. “Just sailing.”
“Just sailing.” His hands urged hers to the wheel, freeing his up to go to her hips as he rubbed his jaw to hers, then kissed her neck. “It’s good to see you smiling. And I’m seeing it more and more. I’m thinking Lucky Harbor agrees with you.”
Tara was afraid that was true.
“Admit it,” he said, running his hands up and down her body, just barely grazing the sides of her breasts.
She ached for more. “Admit what?” she asked faintly.
“That you’re right where you want to be.” He slowed them down and turned her to face him. “Here in Lucky Harbor.”
“I stayed because my sisters needed me,” she said. “The inn needed me.”
“Maybe, but we both know that neither of those things would have held you here in the past.”
Meaning, of course, that in the past, she’d considered only her own needs. Tara absorbed the truth of that for a moment and let out a breath. She could leave it or she could be honest. “I wanted to stay,” she admitted.
Ford pulled off her sunglasses. His eyes were intense, and she imagined hers were the same. “Why?” he asked.
Again she could leave it, or give him the truth. “Because my life had fallen apart, and I really had nothing to go back to.”
“And?”
“And…” Dammit. “Because I like being a part of a unit. I like being with my sisters, even when we fight.”
A very small smile played at the corners of his mouth. “And?”
She stared at him, feeling a little… exposed. “Isn’t this getting a little deep for you?”
“Deep?”
“Yes. Drawing me out, asking all of life’s burning questions. Not your usual M.O. when we’re alone like this.”
Ford looked into her face for what felt like a very long time, not saying anything. “I need you to do something for me,” he finally said.
She shook her head. “Oh, no. I already told you, no monkey business.”
She expected a smile at that, but instead there was a spark of very rare temper in his eyes. “Don’t paint all men with the same brush as your ex-husband or your father,” he said.
“They’re both good men,” she reminded him.
“Yes, but also by the very nature of their lives, selfish, even neglectful.”
“It was their jobs,” she said, defending them. “They both traveled and were gone all the time because of their jobs.”
“It’s about choices. I’m different, Tara. And you need to remember that. Maybe even take a chance on it sometime. A real chance.”
Her heart was suddenly in her throat. “We’ve tried that.”
“We should try again.”
Oh, God. She wanted to. “You wouldn’t know what hit you,” she whispered.
The corners of his mouth curved slightly. “I never do when it comes to you.”
“I need to be getting back.”
“It’s been fifteen minutes. You owe me forty-five more. I’d think after working as hard as you have, you’d enjoy this.”
She watched as he adjusted their direction slightly so they glided easily through the swells. “I’m used to hard work.”