Chapter 5 #3
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.