Ex on the Beach (25 page)
Mark saw red.
“Just because you can’t get over killing your girlfriend all those years ago—”
Mark’s fist jerked through the air to land on Rob’s jaw before Mark was even aware he was moving. Rob went down hard. His shocked eyes stared up at Mark as other noises began to penetrate. People were hurrying to where they stood — to where Mark stood and Rob lay — with Phillip Jordan leading the pack.
Mark jabbed a finger at Rob. “You keep that out of it,” he growled. “That has nothing to do with you being a bottom feeder.”
He quickly reeled in his line and grabbed his pole, determined to leave Rob on the ground for someone else to clean up, then turned in the opposite direction.
As if in slow motion, he saw Andie running toward him. Gray and Ginger and several of the others were crowding behind her, pushing and trying to see around her. Then Andie was lifting her hands up in the air as if to shield her face.
The hook from his line swung out, making a perfect arc toward the outer palm of one of her hands. Mark was powerless to stop it, though he did reach out, trying desperately to catch the glittering object before it hooked her.
He missed.
The next thing he knew, Andie stood before him, her mouth agape, with the tip of his hook stuck in the flesh of her hand. Ginger gawked at the hook, and Phillip Jordan harshly shouted something from the other side of Rob.
Mark looked back to where Rob still lay on the ground. The bag of hot air wouldn’t say anything else about Mark’s past, he was sure of that. To do so would invite Mark to share what he’d just learned.
With a slight nod to Rob, as if to signal that they understood each other, he shoved his rod in Ginger’s hand and took Andie by the wrist to lead her away, brushing Ginger off when she offered to take care of Andie.
“I’ve got it.” His tone left no room for argument.
Andie couldn’t stop gaping at her hand as Mark dragged her away, assuring Ginger as they went that
he
was taking care of her. The hook wasn’t in deep, and it didn’t even hurt too much. The worst were the words rolling over and over in Andie’s head.
“You can’t get over killing your girlfriend.”
“You can’t get over killing your girlfriend.”
What in the world did that mean?
And Rob was using the Jordans just like they were using him? Maybe more so?
Everything was crowding her brain so quickly that she almost missed the tortured look on Mark’s face every time he glanced at her hand.
“It’s not that bad—”
“I put a damn hook in your hand,” he snarled. “It’s bad.”
He pulled her around the corner and into the cabin, then shoved her into the small restroom, following her in and slamming the door behind them. He picked her up and set her on the tiny sink, then took her hand gently in his.
The world was suddenly shut out, and it was just the two of them in the cramped compartment, Mark looking as if he’d just driven a car over her — twice — and Andie realizing what one very important part of all the drama meant.
The wedding was not being called off.
She wasn’t going to lose Aunt Ginny’s house.
But what did the rest of it mean? She swallowed against the lump in her throat and peered up at Mark. He was carefully poking at the skin around the hook, cringing each time he did.
“Mark,” she breathed out his name, fear skating down her spine.
His stony face looked up at her in question.
“What did Rob mean?”
An eyebrow arched high. “That he’s an arrogant jerk who’s done nothing but use everyone he’s come into contact with his whole life?”
He grabbed the first-aid kit from the shelf above the small mirror and set it in Andie’s lap as he pawed through it.
“No, about…” She paused at the sight of Mark’s jaw growing even more tense. “Something about a girlfriend,” she finished softly.
“It was nothing.” He shook his head, then mumbled, “I was a teenager. I wasn’t even in the car with her.”
“So somebody did die?”
He ripped open an alcohol pad and some gauze, and as he did, he made the slightest motion with his head. It was a nod. Andie’s chest ached for him. What could have happened? And why had she never known about this? Seems she wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been good with sharing information in the past.
“You never told me,” she whispered.
He stared into her eyes, his face a mask, and she felt a quick tug against her palm. They both glanced down at the hook, now in his hand, and the small bubble of blood coming from her skin. He wiped the spot with the alcohol pad.
“Mark?” She was still whispering, suddenly aware that the space was small and they could easily be heard by someone outside the room.
“What?”
“You never told me,” she repeated.
“Nothing to tell.”
“We were
engaged
.”
Acceptance clouded his gaze when he finally looked back up at her. He knew he’d intentionally kept it from her. Just as she knew.
“Is that why you have issues with getting married?” she asked.
“What are you talking about? I don’t have issues.”
So many things were suddenly clear. She had no idea what had happened when he was a teen, but whatever it was had impacted his every move since. “You made up reasons to dump me. At the very last second.”
“You were using me.”
“I was not, and you know it. You knew it then, too. I loved you. I used your name because I was desperate in that moment, but I loved you, and there’s no way you didn’t believe that with every fiber of your being. You were looking for an excuse to walk away, had been for months. And sending Rob to the church kept you from seeing how your decision would hurt me. It allowed you to not risk changing your mind and going through with it.”
He didn’t deny it, but he looked almost as shocked as she was to hear it.
“What happened with Beth?” she asked. “Did you do something lame so she would dump you? So you wouldn’t have to do to her what you did to me?”
Mark’s mouth snapped closed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t even love her like I did —”
He bit off his words, seeming to realize what he’d just said. He hadn’t loved Beth like he’d loved her. Her throat threatened to close up.
“I know you’re afraid,” she whispered. “You’re so afraid, you were just trying to break up
someone else’s
wedding.”
“I was trying to help him,” he growled.
“Then planning to run back to Boston as fast as you could so you didn’t risk getting involved with me again.”
Her hand was now patched up, and she could see Mark growing more irritated by the second. He snapped the first-aid kit closed and shoved it back on the shelf above her, then leaned in so close that his face was directly in front of hers, mere inches separating them. His hot breath bathed her skin. “I’m not the one running from it. I offered to stay.”
“For a few days.”
“Did you want me to stay longer? Hell, did you want to go back with me?”
The words froze both of them. How had they gotten to arguing over his leaving? Which he wouldn’t be doing now since the wedding wasn’t canceled. Unless he decided to skip out on the wedding altogether. He
had
just punched Rob in the face.
But what she wanted to know was when she’d begun thinking that Mark was leaving her instead of risking getting involved with her again.
Getting involved with him wasn’t what she wanted.
She had a business to run. On the island.
She didn’t want to go to Boston.
“Andie,” he said, the anger in his voice diminished. “Did you want more?”
She shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “We can’t be more. We’re just …” She brought one hand up but had nowhere to put it. She rested it on his chest, lowering her gaze to watch as she touched him. He was so big and strong. “It was just the one time.”
“Except now I’m not leaving yet.”
Her gaze slowly lifted to his. He wasn’t leaving. Her throat went dry. “What does that—”
A knock sounded on the door, startling both of them, and Mark pulled slightly away.
“What?” he asked, his voice falsely calm.
“I just wanted to check on Andie.” It was Ginger. Her voice came out both hesitantly questioning and determined to make sure her friend was okay.
Mark reached behind him and flipped the lock, the
click
clear from both sides of the door. “Andie is fine. Give us a minute.”
Uh-oh.
Andie swallowed, trying to bring saliva back into her mouth. The look on Mark’s face was no longer anger.
Heat focused on her. “I’m not leaving yet,” he repeated, his intent clear.
“We can’t, Mark.” She shook her head as she whispered the words but couldn’t help the grin that suddenly covered her face. She wiggled slightly on the edge of the sink, her skin bursting with expectation. He wasn’t leaving today. They had at least until the wedding.
He gripped the backs of her knees and tugged her a slow inch closer. “We could …” he suggested.
She bit her lip and looked around the compact space, her entire body blazing at the idea of the two of them being in there together.
Not
seeing to her injured hand.
“We
shouldn’t
,” she stressed. “Anybody could hear us — Rob, Mr. Jordan, Ginger.”
Her voice had grown quieter the more she talked. Was she really thinking about
doing it
on the boat with everyone there?
Mark didn’t seem to see it as a question. His mouth quirked up on one side, then he put his lips to her ear and whispered, “Then we’ll have to be very, very quiet.”
A
ndie gasped at the tickle of Mark’s mouth moving against her ear. The heat of his body engulfed hers, making her suddenly certain she was wearing too many clothes in a too tiny room.
She shoved against his chest, thinking she really should discourage what was about to happen, but when he pulled back, his gaze hot and intoxicating, her insides melted and she admitted that she didn’t care where they were. She wanted him. And she wanted
this
.
Wrapping her hands around the back of his head, she pulled his mouth down to hers. Heat blasted between her legs as his tongue pushed past her lips.
An almost imperceptible groan sounded deep in Mark’s throat, and she scooted closer, spreading her legs around his hips. With just a little tilt backward, she could…she sucked in a deep breath and shifted, angling her hips forward until his thick ridge pressed hard against her…and then she smiled against his mouth. Her “special place” was now perfectly aligned with his “
very
special place.”
“I’m going to make you come, Andie.” Mark’s soft whisper turned her nipples to beads.
“We’ll get caught.”
“Not if you don’t make too much noise.”
He was going to give her an orgasm, and she was supposed to not make noise?
Sure
. And why not just toss her into the ocean and expect her to swim the twenty-five miles back to land?
“I’m not sure I can—” She caught her breath when he slipped one hand expertly down the front of her capris, his long fingers gliding beneath the top edge of her panties.
“Shhhh,” he whispered against her lips. “You can,” he encouraged her.
His finger touched her where she was most sensitive, and her hips gave a reflexive jerk, lifting slightly up off the counter. Then his finger slid down through her folds and slipped inside her, and she groaned into his mouth. Chances were good she might just come on the spot.
She pushed against the counter surrounding the sink for more leverage as she pressed herself against his probing hand. Simultaneously, she arched her head back, exposing her neck to him. His lips touched a strained tendon running along the side of her neck, and her breasts ached, begging for attention.
“Mark.” She barely heard the word herself, but he whispered in return, “What?”
“There are people out there. They’ll be wondering what’s going on in here.”
He pulled his hand out of her pants and quickly parted the fabric, the zipper sounding overloud in the cramped space. “Then we should go fast,” he said.
He was insane.
This
was insane. Everyone was going to know what was going on in there.
But she wasn’t sure she cared.
She was so turned on that it would likely only take Mark pushing into her and she’d plunge over the edge. Wanting just that, she reached for the front of his pants, but he caught her hands in his.
“What?” Her breaths came out in shorts pants. She looked up at him. “Are we stopping?”
A devilish gleam shone back at her as he shook his head from side to side. “Definitely
not
stopping, but I had something else in mind.”
He gripped the back of her capris and tugged downward. “Lift your hips,” he instructed.
She did as she was told.
Two seconds later her naked rear was seated on the stainless steel of the sink, and her pants and purple lace underwear were on the floor at Mark’s feet.
