CelebrationAfterDarkKobo (8 page)

“That’s it until I’m ready to open in the spring.” He glanced over at her, watching her lips move as she took a sip of her beer. God, she was gorgeous. “Will you come visit me from time to time?”

“Maybe,” she said with a coy smile.

His heart sank at the thought of all the college boys she’d be with every day. He couldn’t possibly compete with them. In addition to being two hours by car and ferry from her, he couldn’t really afford to go home very often. The thoughts, one on top of the other, depressed him profoundly.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Just thinking about obstacles.”

“What obstacles?”

“The ones standing between you and me. College boys, for one thing.”

She rolled her eyes. “No worries there. I haven’t met one yet who did a thing for me.”

“You haven’t? Really?”

Shaking her head, she said, “What else?”

“Distance. That’s a lot of water standing between where you’re going to be and where I’m going to be.”

“You’re going to get a phone, right?”

“The minute I possibly can.”

“And you’ll use it to call me?”

“Every single day. Maybe twice a day.”

“You can’t afford that.”

“I have my captain’s license. I’m hoping to get some work taking charters, fishing trips. That kind of thing. I’ll find a way to afford the phone, the calls, trips to see you whenever I can.”

“When will you sleep?”

“I can sleep when I’m dead,” he said with a teasing grin.

“Don’t say things like that. I’m already having nightmares about you falling off that sagging roof and no one knowing it for days.”

There was nothing she could’ve said that would’ve touched him more deeply at that particular moment. To know she cared enough to worry about him… “Nothing’s going to happen to me. I don’t want you to worry.”

“I will worry.”

He reached for her hand and loved the way she linked her fingers with his. “Don’t go out with any of those college boys who’ll be asking, you hear me?”

“I won’t.”

“You promise?”

“Yes, Mac, I promise.”

Closing his eyes, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“It means you’re my girl, and I’m your…whatever you want me to be—boyfriend, fiancé, husband, you name it. I’m all yours.”

She fanned her face dramatically. “It’s getting warm in here.”

Because he had to do something to stop himself from grabbing her and kissing her and trying to cajole her to do much more than kiss him, he leapt to his feet. “Let’s go swimming. You brought a bathing suit, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“Great! Let’s get changed and go to the beach.”

“Mac—”

“You’ll love it. I promise.” Desperate times called for cold water, and he’d been told the Salt Pond was always cold, even in the summer. He directed her to the tiny bathroom across the hall from the bedroom, and after the door clicked shut behind her, he took a deep breath. “Slow down,” he whispered. “Don’t scare her off by acting crazy.”

Mac was on fire for her, which she’d surely notice if he didn’t get himself under control—quickly. He pulled off his shorts and boxers and put on his bathing suit, tucking his rampant erection into the netting. “Stop, stop,
stop
.” Trying not to be hard for her was like trying not to breathe.
 

He’d nearly won the battle of wills with his libido when she stepped out of the dark hallway, wearing a red bikini. Dear God. And just that fast, his cock stood at full attention again.

She didn’t help the situation one bit when she took a long, greedy look at his bare chest, seeming to like what she saw. Suddenly, his great idea to go swimming became the worst idea he’d ever had. Removing clothing with her around wasn’t going to make anything better. It would only make everything worse.

Then she crossed the room to him, never taking her eyes off him as she moved.

“You have a lot of muscles,” she said.

Mac groaned. “I’m trying to be a gentleman, but you’re not making it easy.”

She shocked the shit out of him when she laid her hand flat against his chest. “You’re very handsome.”

“Linda…”

Her hand dropped to her side, and he wanted to weep from the loss of her touch.

“Sorry. I’m not usually so forward.”

“Please be forward. Touch me anytime you want to. I loved it.” Blowing out another breath and seeking the equilibrium that had deserted him the second she touched him, he found two towels in one of the boxes and took hold of her hand. “Let’s swim.”

They walked around to the back of the marina, past the building he hoped to someday turn into a hotel, to a strip of sandy beach, where they left the towels and their sandals. Wading into the cool, refreshing water, she continued to hold his hand. He hoped she never let go.

When they were waist-deep, he looked over to see her gazing at the last remnants of the sun, a fireball of light heading for the horizon. “What’re you thinking?”

“This place is beautiful.”

“I couldn’t agree more. I’m glad you think so, too.”

“I can see why you fell in love with it.”

“I can’t wait to look at this view every day for the rest of my life.” He dropped down into the water, bringing her with him to float on the surface. Over the last hour, the wind had dropped off considerably, and the gentle sway of the water soothed him.
 

A sense of rightness came over him. This was where he belonged. It was where she belonged, too. Maybe she didn’t know it yet, but he hoped she would before too long.
 

“I have a confession to make,” she said, breaking the comfortable silence.

“Do tell.”

“I’m glad the ferries were canceled.”

Smiling, he said, “Me, too.” He drew her into his arms, gazing down at her, memorizing every detail of her gorgeous face.
 

She floated into his embrace, seemingly without reservation, linking her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, looking up at him expectantly.
 

“Linda, I, um…”

With her hand on the back of his neck, she drew him into a kiss. The instant his lips connected with hers, all the restraint he’d been relying on during their day together shattered, and fierce need took over. He wasn’t gentle or careful with her, the way a man should be with the woman he wanted to spend forever with.
 

She met every stroke of his tongue and every move of his body. Despite the chill of the water, the heat of her body scorched him as she rocked against him. He broke the kiss only to breathe.
 

“Holy shit,” he whispered against her ear, making her shiver.

Her soft giggle flamed the fire burning hot and bright inside him.
 

“I, you…we…”

His stammering only made her laugh harder, so he kissed her again and again and again, until his lips were numb and his cock was so hard, he could barely stand the friction of her rocking against him. “Babe,” he said, cupping her sweet ass, “we have to stop or we’ll…”

“What will we do?” she asked in a husky, sexy whisper that traveled through him like a live wire.

“You know what we’ll do, and I promised I’d behave if you came here with me.”

“Promises are made to be broken,” she said, her teeth clamping down on his earlobe.
 

Even during the worst of his hot and horny high school years, Mac had never lost control the way he was about to right now. Reluctantly, he moved them toward the shore, needing to put the brakes on this situation before they did something that couldn’t be undone.

 
He guided her onto the beach and put a towel around her shoulders.

Maybe if he couldn’t see her full breasts, he would refrain from touching them to determine whether they were as perfect as they looked in the bikini. Running the towel over his face, he took more deep breaths, trying to slow the pounding cadence of his heart. If he kept it up with the deep breathing, he’d probably hyperventilate.

“Mac?”

He lowered the towel to find her watching him warily.
 

“Are you mad or something?”

“
Mad?
No,” he said with a short laugh. “I’m not mad. I’m
going
mad trying to behave myself with you.”

“Oh.”

“You really thought I was mad with you?”

“I didn’t know.”

“Sweetheart, I’m the opposite of mad. I’m crazy about you. I never want to stop kissing you and holding you and doing everything else with you. But I’m afraid you’ll wise up and realize you could do so much better than the owner of a broken-down marina—”

“Stop.” Her fingers on his lips electrified him. Would it always be this way when she touched him? “There’s no one better than you.”

When he started to shake his head, she took him by the face, looked him in the eyes and kissed him. “No one,” she said again, more emphatically this time.
 

Sliding his arms around her, he fell into the kiss, falling deeper into infatuation and arousal and madness with every second she spent in his arms. Then the buzz of a motorbike on the nearby road reminded him of where they were. “Not here,” he said gruffly, breaking the kiss to grab her hand and bring her with him to the marina, where he could kiss her in private.
 

Chapter 6

Linda scurried along with him, each of them carrying a towel back to the marina. Mac dropped his right inside the door and then took hers and dropped it on the floor.
 

“They’ll never dry in a pile on the floor.”

“I’ll worry about that later. Hang on for one minute.” Not sure what was about to happen, Mac went to the bedroom, where the scent of bug spray lingered, but not as strongly as before. He brought the mattress into the room and quickly made the bed with the sheets and comforter his mother had helped him buy last week.

Then, with his heart pounding and his mouth gone dry with nerves and desire, he went for Linda, took her by the hand and brought her into the room. “No more spiders,” he said, hoping against hope that was true.

“It looks nice in here.” She dropped his hand and went to sit on the bed. “Comfortable.”

“It will be. Eventually.”

“It is now.” She lay back on the bed, putting her arms above her head in a leisurely stretch that put her breasts on full display and reignited the fire in his blood.

Mac swallowed hard, his hands rolling into fists at his sides.

“Are you going to join me?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Yes, Mac,” she said, laughing, “I want you to.”

His heart beat so hard and so fast that he began to worry he might pass out or something equally embarrassing as he lowered himself to the bed and reached for her. She came into his embrace like she’d been doing it forever. His leg slid between hers, and her hand landed on his chest.
 

“Hi there,” she said, her smile lighting up her eyes.

He wanted to make her smile every day so he could watch her eyes light up like that. “Hey.”

“How you doing?”

“Never been better. You?”

“Same here.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Mac, really. Do you think you’re the only one who’s bowled over here?”

“I was sort of hoping it wasn’t just me.”

“It’s not.” She took his hand and placed it on her chest. “Feel that?”

Her heart beat wildly under his palm. “Yeah.”

“That’s because of you.”

“I seem to be suffering from the same condition.” He put her hand on his chest.

“Oh, so you are.”

“My heart has never pounded like that for anyone else.”

“No?”

He shook his head.

“Have there been many others?”

“A few here and there, one that might’ve been serious, but we wanted different things from life.”