by Force, Marie
“What’ll you do all winter here by yourself?”
“Work and sleep.”
“And what else?”
“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.”
“What did she want?”
“Travel and adventure and a life far away from a remote island off the coast of Rhode Island.”
“Were you sad when it ended?”
“For a while, but I’m over that now. How about you? Any serious boyfriends?”
“One in high school.”
“What happened to him?”
“He joined the Peace Corps, and I haven’t seen him in a couple of years.”
“Do you miss him?”
“I did.”
“Until when?”
“Until yesterday, when I met you, and now I can’t seem to remember his face or the sound of his voice. I see only you. I hear only you.”
A low groan escaped from Mac’s tightly clenched jaw. “Is this real? Are you real?”
“It’s real. It’s so real.”
“How am I going to take you home tomorrow when I want to keep you here with me forever?”
“Let’s talk about that tomorrow. We have a lot of time between now and then.”
“Not nearly enough.” Then he was kissing her as if his life depended on her, and maybe it did. Maybe any chance he’d ever have to be truly happy came down to this tiny woman with the big personality, bright smile and dazzling eyes. All he knew was, he’d never felt anything remotely like he did when he kissed her.
She drove him mad with the sweet, sexy way she kissed him, her tongue stroking his and making him see stars as he tried to hold back, to save something for next time.
“Mac,” she said breathlessly, “touch me. Don’t be afraid. I won’t break.”
“I might,” he said gruffly, making her laugh.
“No, you won’t.”
Keeping his gaze fixed on her face, he untied the top of her bikini and drew it down, revealing gorgeous breasts.
“Linda,” he said on a long exhale as he watched her nipples harden before his eyes. “Sexiest girl I ever met.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, drawing him down to her and then gasping when he drew the tight tip of her right breast into his mouth.
One taste of her and he was a goner, completely lost to her in every possible way.
The feel of her fingers sliding through his hair drew him out of the memory.
She sat on his lap, making him groan from the press of her bottom against his erection. “Whatever you’re thinking about, it must be something good.”
“I’m thinking about the red bikini.”
“Ahhhh.”
“Remember that first night we spent together?”
“Do I ever! We drove each other insane.”
“For months, we drove each other insane. I thought I was literally going to die from wanting you for all those months you made me wait.”
“I did not make you wait! You made me wait!”
“I was trying to be honorable.”
She snorted with laughter. “While we did almost everything but…”
“It was so hot. All of it.”
“Mmm, and the phone calls.” She fanned her face. “Speaking of hot.”
“So hot. Every time the ferries have been canceled since that first night, I think of you and the red bikini and the back room at the marina.”
“Don’t forget the spiders.”
“Just a few, but I got rid of them.”
“I’ll never forget the way I ached leaving you the next day,” she said. “In the course of two days, I lost interest in school and my life in Providence and fell completely in love with you and your island.”
“Took you long enough to say so.”
“You’re still holding a grudge about that?”
“I�
�ll always hold a grudge about how long you made me wait to hear that you’d fallen as hard for me as I had for you.”
“Three weeks, Mac. I waited three weeks to tell you that.”
“Torture.”
She laughed softly as he hugged her more tightly. “You were in the biggest rush.”
“I knew what I wanted, and I was determined to get it—and you. Sometimes I wonder if your parents didn’t resent me until the day they died for luring you out of school to my remote little island.”
“They loved you.”
“Not at first, they didn’t.”
“They always liked you. They just thought we were too young to make major life decisions.”
“We were way too young at nineteen and twenty. I would’ve flipped my lid if any of our kids had done what we did.”
“But there was no telling us that.”
“Nope, and I don’t regret anything we did. It was right for us.”
“Yes, it was. So, so right. I don’t know how we made it to December.”
“Six of the longest months of my entire life.”
“Mine, too. I remember the time, two weeks before the wedding, when I came off the ferry and you literally picked me up and carried me to the truck and didn’t say a single word to me until I was under you in that little bed at the marina. We almost gave in that day.”
He shuddered forty years later, thinking about the overpowering desire they’d felt for each other from the beginning. “So close. I was dying for you by then.”
“Remind me why we decided to wait?”
“Because it was going to be your first time. I wanted it to be special—and because you were afraid I would break you.”
Linda laughed at the memory. “I still worry about that sometimes.” She squirmed on his lap, intentionally this time. “You’re… formidable.”
“You were more than up for the job.”
“Very funny, but I was totally terrified that I wouldn’t be able to do it, and after all that build-up, it would be a total bust.”
“But it wasn’t, was it?”
“Good God, no. It was spectacular.”
“Mmm,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “Refresh my memory. Tell me about that day.”