"Good girl," Ben crooned as he started to thrust harder, causing even more sparks to fly through her body. She saw that he was just as affected in the wonder that suffused his face, and gloried in the thought that they would soon be reaching the pinnacle together. She reached out her hand, and Quinn knew. He grasped her hand in both of his, and she sighed in relief, needing the connection with both of her men, desperate to know that even in this marvelous moment with Ben, Quinn was joined with them. Then she felt Ben shudder as she began to shake and a great wave washed over both of them as they shouted their release. Quinn brought her hand to his mouth, gently kissing her palm with reverence as the ecstasy blended into the blessing, causing her to cry with joy.
Chapter 5
Present day – Fate Harbor
Kara Johansen woke up the day after her date with Jim Peterson in a less-than-stellar mood. She'd had mixed up dreams where she kept playing with her dogs and having fun, and then Jim would keep interrupting, wanting to give her boring kisses. She finally gave up trying to sleep before dawn and went out the back door to her glass-blowing studio that was set up in an old detached garage in the back of her house. As she made her way out to the studio she gave dirty looks to her dogs, Butch and Sundance.
"You two need to learn to like Jim. You're going to be seeing a lot of him."
Butch yipped at her as if he understood.
"Hey, I'm probably going to marry him, even if he isn't that great of a kisser," she warned the black-and-gray dog.
Sundance whined. Oh my God, it's like they actually understand what I'm saying.
"There will be no more treats for either of you if you don't learn to deal!" she shouted as she yanked open the door to her studio.
She swore they were just like their sire, Redford. The damn dogs could actually understand what was being said, and then there was the added fact that they always reminded her of Quinn, since he had given them to her when they were just puppies.
She soon had the kiln and furnace going, and had her mask on so that she could work with the new silica sand she had obtained. It took her a while to put aside the weird dreams of the night and get into her artist space. When she really started looking at the new product she realized just how excited she was about it. Dmitri had imported it from Poland. Once the glass was poured, she discovered some truly fascinating qualities to the quartz. She had her molds ready. She hoped the samples he had provided were from this same sand. If this was the same sand, it would meld perfectly with the chemicals she had prepared to tint the glass blue, which would then work with the seashell shapes she was planning.
After she mixed up the new batch of glass and put it into the kiln to heat, she checked the vases she had placed in the furnace to temper. She always took the time to reheat her pieces a second time, careful to give them the full and precise exposure and temperature to treat it after its first cooling so that the glass was strengthened. She hated to sell weak glass products to people. She knew that other artists thought it was fashionable to make their glass delicate and breakable, but she thought it was just lazy not to take the time to finish the process and temper the glass after it had properly cooled.
Kara checked the timer on the furnace and realized she could take out the blown glassware. The furnace had been off for over twelve hours, so the temperature had gone from 750 degrees Fahrenheit to room temperature. Finally, she could see and touch her final product.
First, she took out the three bud vases that she had done in a deep ruby red, with swirls that went up and down the vase. The swirls cut through the solid red surface, bringing through more of the clarity of the glass so that it was a mixture of clear and ruby red, making it a combination of clear, yellow, and orange. She loved all three.
Then she took out two tall vases and gave a happy sigh. They were lavender, and they were meant to contain irises. They were perfect. No fancy mixing of different chemicals, just the one beautiful shade of lavender, but the twisting of the glass as she had blown the tall vases was just as she had envisioned, suggestive of climbing vines. They weren't exactly alike, each a little different because they had been done by hand, but each beautiful. These two would be last-minute entries into her show next Saturday.
She shoved off her mask and gloves and picked up her phone to text Trixie, her agent. Kara knew she wouldn't be up this early. She took a picture of the pieces and suggested that these be displayed with fresh irises in them.
Setting down her phone, Kara went over to the kiln to see how the glass was coming. It was still going to take some time before it became hot enough to pour into the molds she had carved. She was really excited about this next series. She thought it had a lot of promise. The idea had been rolling around in her head ever since the first time she had visited Sitka, Alaska five years ago. The sea life that she had seen in the tidewaters had been amazing, and she'd been refining her sketches for years, until she'd finally hit upon the right abstract viewpoint to capture the purity of the sea creatures. Combining that with the quartz in the glass should take the series to the next level.
Her stomach began to growl, and, checking the time on her phone, she realized she didn't have much time left if she still wanted to catch breakfast at Hart's Diner. She hated it when she missed breakfast and had to settle for lunch. A burger was fine, if that's what you were in the mood for, but it sucked when you really had your heart set on breakfast. She made sure that everything was at safe levels, and locked up the studio behind her. Butch and Sundance were immediately waiting for her.
Butch yipped at her in apology for his earlier behavior, telling her he would do better with Jim. People would laugh that she knew what her dogs were telling her, but she did. Anyway, she accepted his apology and caved.
"I'll bring you back a treat and take you for a ride when I get home, I promise," she said as she raced them from the studio toward the house. They beat her to the back porch. She briefly considered looking into a mirror to see if she was presentable, but after checking the clock above the stove, she grabbed the keys to her Bronco instead.
She gave each of her babies a kiss, and they returned the favor before she jumped into her vintage car. At least, she considered it vintage and not "falling apart" like her brothers called it. She hoped that the doggie kisses might have licked some of the sand and soot from her face. Tilting the rearview mirror back, she saw that she now had sand, soot, and dog drool on her face. Nice, Johansen. She reached into the glove box for a napkin to clean up as she started down the driveway toward main road.
Within fourteen minutes, she had pulled into the almost full parking lot of Hart's Diner and rushed through the front door. The clock was just turning to 11:28 a.m. as she saw Jace Hart behind the open window of the kitchen.
"You missed the time for breakfast. We're now serving lunch, Kara," he hollered across the restaurant.
"Not according to the clock above your head," Kara said, pointing. "I have two more minutes."
"You have to have your order in by 11:30, and you haven't even been seated," he pointed out, still shouting above the din of the other customers.
"I'll have the lumberjack special and two of Josie's cinnamon rolls," she yelled back at him.
"We're out of cinnamon rolls," he shouted back.
"Fine, I'll have the lumberjack, French toast, and I'll go see if Josie still has some cinnamon rolls. I'll be right back." Kara turned to the waitress who had been watching the back-and-forth with a smile.
"Hi, Kara! Do you want coffee with that order?" Karen smiled at her. Kara noticed her friend standing there for the first time, and gave the petite blonde a hug.
"I'm sorry, I really wanted to make sure I got breakfast, and your husband loves to cut me off," Kara grumbled. Karen laughed.
"Jace would have cooked you breakfast even if you came in at noon, and you know it. He just enjoys giving you a hard time. It's Dale who would stand by the letter of the law," Karen said, referring to the other Hart brother.
"That's true." Kara smiled. "How in the hell do you ever stay married to them both? I would have killed one of them by now."
"Oh, they have their uses." Karen's smile was positively wicked. "Now, what do you want? Coffee? OJ? Milk? All three?" When Kara just looked at her sheepishly, Karen said, "All three, coming right up. Let me guess. You've been up since before dawn, and you haven't eaten? It's a wonder that you ever did gain weight!"
"Do you want me to smuggle in a couple of extra cinnamon rolls for you from Sweet Dreams when I come back?" Kara asked Karen, talking about the bakery that was a block and a half away, which supplied Hart's with all of its baked goods.