Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 1-16

by Force, Marie

  She shook her head. “Not so much.”

  He captured her mouth in a sweet, sexy kiss that had her clinging to him, trying to get as close as she could to the amazing way he made her feel. As he kissed her, he walked them backward toward the stairs where they’d left their shoes, only breaking the kiss when they ran out of sand.

  Keeping a firm grip on her hand, he scooped up their shoes with his free hand and headed for their hotel.

  This is going to happen, Hope thought. It’s going to happen right now, and I want it. I want him. If only I weren’t so nervous. I hope he can’t tell I’m having a meltdown on the inside.

  They rinsed the sand off their feet at an outdoor shower and were back in their room a few minutes later. He immediately reached for her to continue what they’d started on the beach.

  “Paul,” she said as he kissed her neck. His erection was hard and thick between them, and it was all she could do not to rub shamelessly against him.

  “Hmm?”

  “I-I haven’t done this in a long time. And I’ve only ever done it with him. I have no idea if I’m any good at it.”

  “Sweetheart, you’re beautiful and sweet and kind and so sexy. And the best part is you have no idea how sexy you are. Whatever we do is going to be amazing. I know it.”

  No one had ever said such things to her, and for the first time in her life, she felt sexy because of him. She caressed the handsome face that had overtaken her thoughts and many of her dreams, too.

  “We don’t have to do anything that you’re not ready to do,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Once again he’d said exactly what she needed to hear. “Maybe we could just see what happens?”

  “We can do whatever you want.”

  She went up on tiptoes to kiss him, running her tongue over his full bottom lip.

  His arm encircled her waist, bringing her in close to the evidence of how badly he wanted her.

  Hope tugged on his T-shirt and helped him out of it, her eyes boggling once again at how ripped he was. He had muscles on top of muscles from years of hard physical work, and just the right amount of dark chest hair. She ran her hands over each hill and valley, dragging her fingertips over the bumps of his six-pack. Or was that a twelve-pack?

  Releasing a low growl, he swept his hands under the hem of her shirt, laying them flat against her back. “Could we take yours off, too?”

  She nodded, and he eased the shirt up and over her head, leaving her in only the lacy bra she’d worn with this moment in mind.

  His jaw pulsed with tension, and his eyes flared with desire as he took a good long look at her. “So, so beautiful, Hope.” He lowered her to the bed and came down on top of her. For a long moment, he gazed into her eyes, seeming to gauge if she wanted this as much as he did.

  He’d shown her that there were still good men in this world, and all she had to do was have some faith. He made her want to put her faith in him.

  She reached for him, loving the way he looked at her before his lips met hers. This kiss was unlike all the others that came before. There was a hint of desperation to it that drove all her worries and fears right out of the room. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she had no responsibilities, and she was free to fully enjoy this escape from reality with a hot, sexy man who treated her like a queen.

  He broke the kiss to turn his attention to her neck, making her shiver from the sensations that zinged through her body. Her nipples tightened and chafed against the confines of her bra, and the throb between her legs intensified with every brush of his lips over her sensitive skin. He set her on fire for him.

  The rough scrape of his late-day whiskers over the tops of her breasts made her moan.

  “Tell me to stop if it’s too much,” he said.

  “Don’t stop.” For a second, she feared that she sounded too desperate, but her words encouraged him to move things along. Her bra fell away, baring her breasts to his ravenous gaze.

  “Goddamn, you’re gorgeous,” he whispered as he took her nipple into his mouth, sucking and licking and tugging on it until she was nearly delirious from wanting more of him.

  She wanted to tell him to hurry, but he wouldn’t be rushed.

  He moved with deliberate slowness, or so it seemed to her. If his goal was to bring her to the verge of begging, he was about to succeed. Everything he did, every touch, every kiss, every breath on her fevered skin ramped up the desire for more.

  After kissing his way from her breasts to her belly, he tugged on the button to her shorts and watched her closely as he removed them, perhaps looking for signs of reluctance that didn’t exist. She helped him along by removing her panties and flinging them to the floor.

  Paul’s eyes went wide with surprise when she did that, nearly making her laugh. He hadn’t seen that coming.

  Hope sat up and unbuttoned his shorts, pushing them down over his hips, revealing the boxer briefs he wore under them. His long, thick erection reached nearly to his belly button and was peeking out over the waistband. She ran her finger over the tip, making him gasp and then hiss.

  Tucking her hands into the back of his briefs, she pushed them down as she cupped his tight, muscular ass. The second his cock sprang free, she drew him into her mouth, sucking and licking and teasing him the way he’d done to her breasts. Judging by his sharp inhale, he hadn’t seen that coming either.

  His hands fisted her hair, and his hips began to move to her rhythm. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Stop. Hope… Stop.”

  She released him from her mouth and looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Absolutely nothing, but you’re going to finish me off if you keep that up.”

  “Are you only good for once?” she asked and then wondered where this sexy, vixen side of her was coming from. She’d never been like this with Carl.

  His mouth fell open and then snapped closed. “Hardly, but the first time, I want to be with you.” Cupping her breasts in big callused hands, he ran his thumbs over her nipples, making her tremble.

  “Paul…”

  “What, sweetheart? Tell me what you want.”

  “I want you. Now.”

  “Do we need protection?”

  She shook her head. “I’m on the pill, and I’m clean. I was tested after…” In his dark gaze, she saw that he understood what after meant.

  “I’m clean, too, and I haven’t done this in a while, but I don’t mind using a condom.”

  “No,” she said, sinking her fingers into the dense muscles of his back to pull him closer. “Just you.”

  He tested her readiness with his fingers, sliding them through the dampness between her legs and sending her to the point of madness before driving them into her.

  Hope cried out and arched into him. God, it felt so good to be touched this way, to feel like a woman again, to know he wanted her as much as she wanted him. It had been such a long, lonely time since the last time she’d felt desired. Tears filled her eyes, and she closed them tight against the burn. This was no time to get emotional. He removed his fingers and replaced them with his cock, pushing gently against her before retreating, over and over again, gaining greater depth each time.

  She was swept away by him, so much so that even the slight bite of pain she experienced as he entered her barely registered.

  “Look at me, Hope,” he whispered as he kissed her. “Look at me.”

  She opened her eyes, blinked away the tears that had gathered and met his intense gaze.

  “There you are,” he said with a small, sexy smile that she returned. “Are you okay?”

  “Mmm, so okay.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “A little. Been a while.”

  “We’ll go slow.” He bent to nuzzle her neck. “You’re so hot and so tight. I’ve never felt anything better than this.”

  His words were as much of a turn-on as the insistent press of his cock into her. He was much bigger than Carl had been, and the extra-tight fit trigge
red sensations she’d never experienced before. And then he hit a spot deep inside, prompting an orgasm that seemed to come from her very soul. That had certainly never happened before.

  “Paul,” she said, gasping and clinging to him as he picked up the pace, hammering into her and riding the waves of her release until he found his own.

  “God,” he muttered when he came down on top of her, breathing hard and sweating from exertion.

  She loved that she’d made him sweat. She loved the way he smelled and how his whiskers felt against her skin. And she suspected she was well on her way to loving all of him. So much for proceeding with caution, she thought. A deep breath shuddered through her at the possible implications that came with giving her heart to another man.

  “Am I too heavy?”

  “No.” She tightened her arms around him, wanting to keep him there for a while longer, to enjoy this never-to-be-repeated moment of sheer perfection. Perfection had been hard to come by for her—and for him, too, she suspected. And they would never again experience this first time together.

  Chapter 17

  Paul’s world had been tipped upside down in the course of a couple of hours. From the instant his mother’s hand had connected with Hope’s face and he’d known a second of pure, unmitigated rage that anyone, even his own mother, would dare to strike the woman he thought of as his, to their talk on the beach to making love to her, his life had been altered. It now included her—and Ethan—and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

  “I’d like to say for the record that I told you it would be amazing.”

  “Yes, you did,” she said with a low chuckle that made him smile.

  He raised his head so he could see her gorgeous face. “Was it amazing for you, too?”

  “You have to ask?”

  “Just making sure.”

  “It was beyond amazing. It’s never been like that for me.”

  He planted his elbows on either side of her head and used his thumbs to brush the hair off her face, mindful of the bruised area on her cheek that served as a painful reminder of what’d happened earlier. “How was it different?”

  “You want, like, specifics?”

  “Specifics would be good.” The heated blush that infused her face made him laugh. “Oh, this is going to be really good.”

  “I can’t say it.”

  “We’re naked in bed together. I’m still inside you. What can’t you say?”

  Her face got even redder, and she looked away.

  Her shyness turned him on, and he felt himself hardening inside her. “Come on,” he said, kissing her lightly. “Tell me.”

  “You…you’re… You’re bigger.”

  “Mmm, was that so hard?” he asked, pressing against her and making her gasp when she realized he was hard again. “What else?”

  “You hit something inside me. I’ve never felt that before.”

  He began to move, pressing deep into her, hoping to find that elusive spot again. “Your G-spot. It’s the magic.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes liquid with emotion and desire. “You’re the magic.”

  Could she be any sweeter? He was falling so hard and so fast for her. He’d never felt anything as good as this. Not even close. Wrapping his arms around her, he turned them so she was on top of him, the move surprising her. She faltered for a second before she recovered and found her groove.

  Ahh, fuck, her groove is incredible, he thought as she moved on top of him. “That’s it, sweetheart. Take all of me.”

  She moaned from the effort to accommodate him, her body shuddering and her breasts jiggling.

  Paul reached up to cup them and pinched her nipples.

  Her head fell back, and her lips parted.

  He slid his right hand down to where they were joined to caress her clit as he pushed hard into her.

  Her fingernails dug into his arm as she came with a loud shout that echoed through the room.

  “Yes,” he whispered roughly. “Come for me, baby. I want to feel your tight heat all around me.” She was gorgeous as she let loose, and he vowed in that moment to do whatever it took to keep her right here with him, where she belonged, forever.

  They collapsed into a sweaty pile on the bed, and the next thing Paul knew, he was awaking in a dark room to his ringing cell phone. What the hell time was it and how long had they been asleep? Disentangling himself from Hope, he reached for the phone on the bedside table.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s me,” Alex said.

  Paul ran a hand over his face and held back a yawn. “What’s up? Everything okay there?”

  “Yeah, we’re all good. Ethan just finished his homework and went to the cabin to take a shower. Jenny is over there supervising.”

  “Is he doing all right?”

  “He’s been fine. He had a fun time with his friend Jonah this afternoon, and we made burgers for dinner, so he’s happy.”

  “Thanks again for that, Al. Hope is enjoying the break.” As he said the words, she turned over and reached for him in her sleep. He put his arm around her and settled her into the crook of his neck.

  “I have a little news that I didn’t want you to hear through the grapevine.”

  “What’s that?” Paul asked, wondering what could’ve happened that counted as news in the one day he’d been away.

  “Jenny and I got married this afternoon.”

  “You-you what?”

  “Remember the other day when I asked you if she seemed off?”

  “Yeah. What about it?”

  “I figured out why. She and Toby were right about where we are now when he was killed. She’s been stressing out about something happening to me before our wedding, so I got the big idea this morning to surprise her by moving up the date. I’m so sorry it happened when you and Mom weren’t here, but the minute I had the idea, I knew I needed to do this for her right away. I hoped you’d understand.”

  “I do. Of course I do. I can’t believe you’re actually married.”

  “I know,” he said with a laugh. “It’s awesome.”

  “What about the wedding?”

  “It’s going on as planned. Today was a formality to ease her mind.”

  “You did a really nice thing for her. She must’ve loved it.”

  “Cried her eyes out. It was quite a day.”

  “And you’ve got a seven-year-old underfoot on your wedding night.”

  “He’s no trouble, and he goes to bed early. We’ll have plenty of time to celebrate later.”

  “I’m so sorry I’m not home for that,” Paul said dryly.

  Alex laughed. “We’ll miss you.”

  “Don’t do anything to traumatize the kid for life, you hear?”

  “We’ll see if we can control ourselves. Have you heard anything from the hospital about Mom?”

  “Not yet.”

  “How’d the drop-off go?”

  “Not so great.” He told him about Marion slapping Hope.

  “Jesus, Paul. She actually hit her?”

  “Yep. And she hit her hard. Hope’s face is bruised, but she says she’s fine and it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  “But still…”

  “Yeah, I was a fucking wreck over it earlier, not to mention fucking furious.”

  “I can imagine. I never told you why Jenny and I split for that short time when we were first together, did I?”

  “No, you didn’t want to talk about it. What happened?”

  “Mom basically implied—in front of Jenny’s parents the first time I met them—that Jenny was a whore for seducing me.”

  “Oh my God. She did not.”

  “Yes, she did, and that broke me, man. That she would say such a thing about the woman I love… I know it’s the disease, but you couldn’t tell me that then. I decided it would be easier to push Jenny away than it would be to subject her to that kind of shit.”

  “And we all know how that went.”

  Alex’s bark of laughter made Paul lau
gh, too. His brother had been a miserable son of a bitch until he reconciled with Jenny a couple of weeks later. “I’m only saying that I know how it feels to have Mom strike out at the woman I care about.”

  “It was awful, Al. For the first time ever, I sort of hated her. And then I immediately felt like shit for thinking that, because God knows she can’t help it.”

  “I get it. Believe me, I do. Are you guys having fun?”

  Paul slid his hand from Hope’s shoulder down her arm. “Yeah, we are.”

  “What’re you doing?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Must be something good, then. Oh, here comes Ethan barreling through the door. Does Hope want to say good night to him?”

  “I’m sure she does. Let me get her. Hang on.” Paul put the phone down and kissed her awake. “Hey, sweetheart, Ethan is on the phone to say good night to you.” He could tell by her dazed expression as she came awake that she too had lost all track of time.

  Pushing the hair back from her face, she took the phone from him. “Hi, honey.”

  Paul could hear Ethan’s excited voice coming through the phone as he relayed every detail of his day to his mother, who couldn’t get a word in. “And Alex took me to see the pumpkins, and he said just another couple of days until we start to harvest.”

  It had been good of Alex to keep that promise to Ethan in light of what else had happened that day, Paul thought.

  “Make sure you brush your teeth before bed,” Hope said.

  “Duh, Mom. I already did. Jenny reminded me.”

  “That’s good. You sleep tight, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Love you,” she said, but he was gone, handing the phone back to Alex with a clatter that Paul could hear, too. “I think he missed the part where I told him I love him.”

  Alex relayed the message to Ethan. “He loves you, too.”

  “Thanks again for watching him, Alex.”

  “It’s been fun. He cracks us up.”

  “That’s good to hear. I’ll give you back to Paul.” She handed him the phone.

  “I’ll call the hospital,” Alex said, “and shoot you a text with any updates.”