The Marine's Holiday Harbor

by Kirsten Lynn

  Before Brian can answer, I grip her shoulders and turn her to look at me. “This isn’t all about the children, thought I made that clear.”

  “Caleb, there has always been something between us, we both know that, but can you honestly say you’d be here offering marriage if not for the kids?”

  Without hesitation I give the truth. “I’d be here.”

  “And we’d be in bed—”

  “Halt!” Brian interrupts. “I’ll act like this isn’t a surprise and remind the families it’s been you two forever, even before it was Mark and Liz. Just stop talking.”

  A flash of pain cuts through her gaze, and I step back. It was us before them. It was supposed to be us married before them.

  Brynn turns to Brian. “I’m tired of talking. What brought you here in the first place?”

  “I salvaged Caleb’s ruck from the boat. It’s by the door. I need to check the light, too, make sure there’s no damage to the windows.”

  “You want some coffee first?”

  “After.”

  “Okay.”

  It’s Brian’s turn to cross his arms over his chest. “Because we’ve been friends so long and I love my sister—” He turns his gaze to the ceiling as if trying not to throw up. “I’m off after I check the light. You want me to take the kids for a couple hours?”

  I want to rush with a not only yes, but hell yes. Instead I defer to Brynn, not knowing any schedule she might have with the children. But deferring doesn’t mean I’m not praying like a drowning man for land, for her to take the beast’s offer.

  Brynn smiles at her twin brother. “You sure? You’ve had tough duty with the storm.”

  “Don’t make me say it again, Brynn. And I’ll be taking you up on that cup of coffee after before I leave.”

  “Then yes.”

  Holding out my hand, I shake Brian’s. “Thanks for the ruck and for the—”

  “Don’t even say it, Quinlin, or I’ll kill you.”

  “Fair enough. Thanks.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Brynn

  As I’m zipping up Ella’s coat, I try to avoid her accusing look. “I want to stay with Uncle Caleb.”

  “You don’t want to hang with me, Ella?”

  Her tiny brow furrows more, and she pins Brian with a glare like he’s missing the obvious. “Yes, but you could stay here with us.”

  I tie her scarf around her neck. “You’ll get to spend a lot of time with Uncle Caleb.”

  She lifts hound dog eyes to Caleb, and I’m sure he’s going to relent. “No go, Little Bit, you and Michael will have fun.”

  I nod and brush a kiss to her cheek. Cupping the back of his head, I press a kiss to Michael’s forehead. “You have fun.”

  He shrugs, looking as disappointed as Ella, but too well-behaved to say anything. Sometimes I wish he’d pitch a fit instead of being so good and grown up all the time.

  Cupping his face, I meet those blue orbs that reminds me of his father’s and Caleb’s. “When you get back we’ll play a game of chess, okay?”

  “Okay, Aunt Brynn. Don’t worry, we’ll behave.”

  “I never worry about you behaving, Michael. Have fun,” I stress again. When he only nods, I sigh and turn to Brian, who looks as concerned as I feel, and glance at Caleb, who’s forehead is folded in a deep frown.

  Brian gives Michael a playful shove. “Of course we’ll have fun. It’s Uncle Brian time. Come on, let’s roll.”

  “Keep them tucked out of the wind on the boat.”

  “I will.”

  “And no scary movies, Brian.” They were still getting over the fear fest with him on Halloween.

  “I know, Brynn.” His words are ground out through clenched teeth.

  He picks up Ella and takes Michael’s hand, grumbling as they leave. When the door closes behind them, Caleb’s frown deepens. “Michael thinks he’s the man of the house?”

  “Has since day one. He’s so good all the time, like if he says or does the wrong thing I’d let him go. I’d never let him go.”

  He cups my face. “I know, Angel. Maybe he’ll let go a bit once he realizes I’m staying and he can be a kid.”

  I frown, still not one hundred percent convinced this is going to work, but praying it does. “I hope so.”

  “If not, we’ll find a way to get him through.”

  When he lowers his head, I step out of his touch. “Don’t you think we should talk some more?”

  He walks toward me with purpose. “Negative. I think a lot can be said with our bodies. Like your kiss earlier told me you’ve been wanting me as much as I want you.”

  I flatten my hands on his chest. “I’ve never not wanted you, Caleb.” Lifting my head, I hold eye contact and lay out the truth. “But I don’t want to feel used when the sex is over.”

  “Have you ever felt used after we fuck?”

  “No, but you’ve never dumped me before and then returned in a whirlwind only for me to give in and have sex with you two days later.”

  “All right, then let’s do this. We have two hours with no kids—what do you want to do?”

  “I want to have sex.”

  “Then there it is, your choice of mid-morning activity. No guilt. All pleasure. A nice round of fucking we can both give thanks for tomorrow.”

  I chuckle and wrap my arms around his neck, bringing us closer. “I missed you, Caleb.”

  “God, I’ve missed you, Brynn.”

  He captures my mouth with his and the kiss turns white-hot in a blink. I tighten my hug around his neck, bringing his angles snug into my curves like a piece of the puzzle. He grips my ass and tugs me even closer, digging his fingers into the soft flesh. He tastes so good, like all the magic of the holidays wrapped in one treat and I’m the only one who gets to savor it. For a couple hours, I’m willing to let myself believe he’s back—the boy I loved, who became the man I adored, who swore he would never let me go. I’m going to surrender to that man. I’m going to take the advice I gave Michael and toss consequences out the window and have fun.

  I stroke my tongue along his and with a guttural moan he takes the kiss to a whole new level of heat. I rock my hips against him, in an unsubtle hint at where I want this to lead. “What—” My voice cracks when he breaks the kiss and tips his ear toward the door. “Are they back?”

  “If they’re going to come back it’ll be now, so I wanted to make sure.”

  “Don’t do that.” I mold my mouth back to his, only breaking the kiss long enough for him to strip off my sweatshirt and bra. He molds my breasts like he did earlier that morning and strokes my hardened nipples until the ache building in my sex is unbearable and my neck arches back. With his lips and tongue, he trails hot kisses down my neck, nipping and sucking his brand on me as he goes. He slides one hand over my torso and inside my jeans.

  “Oh god.” My body jerks as he strokes my clit and then slides two fingers inside me. I grab hunks of his T-shirt and whimper. “Caleb, please, I need—”

  His mouth curves in a wicked smile as he pumps his fingers in and out of my sex. “You need what, Angel? Say it.”

  “You. Always, you.”

  I let out a choked scream as he takes his fingers from me and unbuttons my jeans, tugging them and my panties down with them. I step out, and he stays kneeling before me. “Open.”

  I move my legs apart, and a primal sound erupts from me when his tongue and mouth connects to my sex. He doesn’t leave a part of my sex untouched and I want it to last forever even as my body demands release. Scoring his neck and shoulders with my fingernails, I’m lost in feelings and memories only he can induce. The moment his two fingers slide back inside me, my body trembles and I come in a storm of calling his name.

  Before I can recover, his mouth is back on mine and I gasp at my taste on his lips. He grips my thighs with his powerful hands and I hop, wrapping my legs around his waist. He holds me tight and carries me up the stairs. After laying me on the bed, he follows me down, settling between my l
egs. I rake my fingernails over his back, trying to find the hem of his T-shirt. With a grunt, he pushes away from me and strips before taking his place between my legs again.

  With his hand on my ankle, he pushes one of my legs up until it’s high on his back and, holding my gaze, guides his thick, heavy cock deep inside me. I arch my neck and back to take him deeper, even as my inner muscles work him, and my body fights to accommodate his thick length.

  “Oh fuck, Brynn, that is fucking heaven.”

  “Mmmm…yes,” is all I can manage as he begins slowly, methodically, easing out and then back inside.

  “That feels good doesn’t it, Angel?”

  “Yes. Please. More.”

  He starts pumping harder and deeper. He pins my hands over my head and his strokes slow again as he slides up and down my body, so sensitized I feel every coarse hair on his chest as it rakes my breasts and as his legs brush mine. His cock stretches me wide and feels like hot steel branding me. Through it all, his gaze turns to winter fire and he never looks away, demanding I keep contact on all levels so he can watch every emotion I feel while he experiences my body’s reactions to his touch and claim.

  “Caleb.” I rock my hips. “Caleb, it’s too much.”

  “Never enough, Brynn. Never. Fuck me a bit.”

  He stops moving, and I rock my pelvis and work his cock with my inner muscles until I feel sweat trickle down the side of my face along with tears of frustration as my body screams for orgasm. Grunting over me, he pumps so hard and deep the bed squeaks with the pounding.

  The room is a sauna, and his flesh against mine is like flint against steel until I’m ready to combust. His voice reaches me. I can’t compute the words, but the meaning is as clear as if he shouted orders. The lust, love, and everything we’ve ever meant to each other blends into every sound and every push of his body into mine. My only answer is to chant his name. He leans back and presses my leg wider. I hold the position he molds me into as he strokes my clit, and with a string of curses and praises I come so hard I break from reality and feel suspended.

  He pushes balls-deep and comes hard inside me. I gasp and watch the shock in his eyes mirror my own, but he doesn’t stop, he continues to pump into me, his orgasm too hard to do anything else. When his climax subsides, he crashes on me and releases my hands. We’re so close, a snowflake would have to melt to get between us, and I wrap my arms and legs around him, holding him tight while I can.

  “Holy—just fuck, Brynn, how have I lived without that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He lifts his head and searches my face. There’s no ice in his eyes now, only a clear, warm blue. “You okay?”

  “I think you stole about five of my lives.”

  He chuckles. “I hear that.” He traces my face with a fingertip. “But you know what I mean?”

  “It just shocked me. It’s only happened once before.”

  “Is there a chance we’ll be adding a third kid in a few months?”

  “There’s always a chance, but ours is ninety-nine percent no. I have an IUD now.”

  “You mind then, or you want me to suit up?”

  “I don’t mind.” I kiss his chin. “Would you have minded a third kid in a few months?”

  “Not with you. Though, at only a few days in, I’m still trying to process what to do with the two we have.”

  “Don’t process too much—about the time you figure it out, it all changes.”

  “Sounds like the Marine Corps.”

  I trail open-mouthed kisses on his neck. “You’re the one who said we shouldn’t talk. So, what position is next?”

  “Don’t care as long as it’s me inside you. It’s been a long two years.”

  “Didn’t have to be; you were home a year ago.”

  He jerks from me and stands in all his naked glory. “Is this about the funeral again? My brother had just fucking died.”

  I lift to my knees and jab a finger at him. “So had my sister, and we might have been able to comfort each other, but all I got was a grunted hello and sorry for your loss like we were all but strangers. If you didn’t want to be my lover, fine, but you were my best friend and you should have acted like it. Shit, you could have at least acted like we’d served together.”

  “It should have been me, Brynn. I was the one on deployment after deployment without a family. I should be in the ground, not Mark. The second I looked at that casket, I knew who should have been in it.”

  I drop my hand and inhale a gasp. “Never. Why would you say that?”

  “It’s the truth. He had it all, and on his way to more. So, yeah, to be fair you’re not far off when you say I’m here for the children. I’m trying to do right by my brother. He counted on me and I wasn’t there to protect him.”

  “You’ve always done right by everyone. Even when you sent me away, you thought you were doing right by me, asshole move that it was. But, you can be in the children’s lives without marrying me and living in Camden. Don’t continue this if it’s not right for you.”

  His forehead creases like he doesn’t even understand what I’m talking about, and my heart aches that he doesn’t. I move a little closer. “If this isn’t what you want, it won’t work even if you’re doing it for all the right reasons.”

  “This is what I want…Well, not this. I hoped we’d be doing something else while naked. But this…” He waves his hand to encompass the house and the bed. “And you…especially you, Brynn. If you knew how much I want you, you’d run.”

  He is chipping away fast at any resistance I have. Yes, he broke my heart, but it’s my heart reminding me of the twenty-seven years when he was the harbor I sought in any storm. Those ice-blue eyes hold such longing, like I’m the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor at the end of the Crucible of Boot Camp.

  With a sigh, I move forward, hoping I don’t end up on a landmine. “I come with an old house constantly in need of repairs.”

  I watch his shoulders relax. “I’m handy with repairs, and expert level at cannibalizing.”

  “And a lighthouse the Coast Guard—read, my brother—is constantly visiting to care for the lens and operations.”

  “I like your brother when he’s not barging in on us and being an asshole.”

  I smile and tip my head to the side. “And I kind of have two small children who are always under foot and are going to interrupt us every time we kiss and possibly during sex.”

  “I’ve had cold showers before and I’ll get used to being cockblocked.”

  I crawl forward and kneel before him skating my palms up his torso from the ridges of his abs to his broad chest, feeling the burn of his hair over the sensitive skin. Lifting my chin so I meet his gaze, I raise an eyebrow. “It shouldn’t have been you, Caleb, anymore than it should have been me.” I know the source of those thoughts and I wish I could cut him out of Caleb’s mind like I cut the shrapnel from his body removing the poison. I return my focus to the man in front of me. “If I haven’t said so, I’m glad you’re here. I hope it will be home for you.”

  “But you don’t completely believe me.” He doesn’t sound angry and he combs my hair back from my face with his fingers.

  “I believe you. I believe you want me. I believe you love me and of course you love Michael and Ella. But, you’re a man who has put others before yourself since we were children, as misled as some of those times have been, and after years of being that man for everyone, including the whole fucking nation, I’m not completely sold you even know how to do the right thing for yourself.”

  “So?”

  The question comes with a little more bite than his last. “So—” I rise a bit and wrap my arms around his neck. “—you’ll stay here, and we’ll stay engaged, and we’ll do all the crazy holiday hoopla with family, and we’ll do some wicked wonderful things to each other naked that will put us at the top of Santa’s naughty list with stars, and hopefully by New Year’s we’ll both know for sure this is right for everyone.”

  He grabs my
thighs and flips me on my back as my startled laughter echoes through the room. Settling between my legs, he tugs me closer and locks his gaze with mine. “Let’s continue the wild naked stuff. I think that’s where we need to spend the most time if we’re going to earn those stars.”

  Laughing, I lift up and brush my lips over his, willing to retreat back to enjoying the morning instead of hashing out the past and future in the hour we have left. I press my lips to his again. “I might start saying, I love you, again soon. Don’t stomp on it with your big combat boot this time.”

  His smile remains in place, but his voice is deeper and huskier than normal. “I’ll probably start saying, I love you, too. And I’ll never take it for granted again.”

  I pinch his side to bring back some of the lightheartedness. “You better not.”

  He wags his eyebrows. “And if you’re lucky I might say it first a couple times.”

  “Wow, it must be Christmas.”

  My laugh turns hysterical when he starts tickling my sides, but soon it dies when he stops and stares at me before sealing his lips to mine in a kiss that becomes a vow.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Caleb

  I tug my sweatshirt over my head and watch Brynn secure her hair back into a ponytail. The long dark brown strands of silk are restrained from the wild mass of minutes ago as she rode me to a blinding orgasm. She sits on the bed and pulls on her sweater, then glances up at me. The wild lover is gone and the put-together mother is back. I’m in love with both.

  “What should we do about Michael?”

  I sink next to her on the bed, turning my thoughts to Michael and Ella. “Any ideas?”

  “I’ve tried all I know. I almost force him to play. He never complains, never asks for anything. Caleb, when I asked him what he wanted from Santa, he said he didn’t need anything for Christmas except maybe some socks. Socks!”

  “Ouch. Do you think he’d talk to me?”

  “I don’t know. He won’t talk to Brian or Dad.”

  “And you’ve told them this?”