by Nana Malone
“That can be accomplished,” he said. “Let’s go swimming. I know just the place.”
They headed to a freshwater swimming pool on the edge of the resort. Surrounded by lush trees and decorated with a waterfall, it looked like nature had put the pool there instead of the resort. The pool was nearly empty; only one other couple were there, and they were sunbathing on the sunny side of it.
“How did you know this was here?” Willa asked as she looked around in awe. The entire resort felt secluded, but this pool defined paradise. The clear rippling water almost looked too perfect to swim in, and he watched Willa stare at it as if she were mesmerized.
“I asked the front desk where I could find a pool with no kids. This one is supposed to be adults only.”
“Oh.” She looked away from the pool to him. “I should thank you.”
“For what?”
“Saving me from the serpentarium. You sacrificed your afternoon for me.”
“It’s nothing. I’ll go get some towels. Get in.”
She shook her head. “I’ll wait for you.”
Something had shifted between them in that moment. She had accepted his apology before, but right now he felt completely forgiven. “Okay. Pick some good chairs for us. I’ll be right back.”
He turned away to get them each a plush towel, but when he turned back he froze, too caught up in watching Willa strip off her dress to move. She wore white. A white one-piece suit with cutouts on each side, baring her small waist. It was held together by two intersecting gold rings at her hips.
His groin tightened painfully.
“You’re staring.” She looked up at him.
“Yeah. Sorry.” His mouth was too dry to speak any more. Willa looked good every time he saw her, but in his wildest dreams he never thought she could look so tempting wearing pure white.
She turned around, revealing her beautiful backside to him. “Is it too much?” She smoothed her hands over her bottom self-consciously. “I saw it online and thought what the hell, but now that I’m wearing it I feel silly.”
“Silly?”
She nodded. “Like a girl like me shouldn’t wear a suit like this.”
“What kind of bathing suit do you think you should wear? A scuba suit? Don’t be one of those women who can’t see how sexy she is.”
She blinked at him for a moment, her expression going thoughtful. “I wish I knew what to say to that.”
“Don’t say anything. Get in the pool.”
She did as he said, walking away from him again and slowly slipping into the pool. He was glad she walked away from him, not only because he got a glimpse of her outstanding behind, but because he desperately needed some space between them. Looking at her was sensory overload. It was all curves and skin. The contrast of her white bathing suit against all that pretty brown skin. Being near her without touching her was painful. It was taking everything in his power not to peel that little strip of fabric off of her and get to know her body all over again.
“It’s perfect.” She looked back at him, her hands on her hips as she stood knee-deep in the water. “Why are your pants still on? Take them off.”
He look at her for a long moment, not sure if she understood what effect her words had on him. His swim shorts were baggy, but he wasn’t sure they could cover his burgeoning arousal.
“I’ll be there in a minute.” He turned his back to her. Taking a few deep breaths, he slipped off his shorts and T-shirt.
She was fully submerged when he turned back, just her head sticking out of the water, but her eyes were on him, studying him, taking him in. He stepped into the pool, and she was right. The water was perfect, warm enough to feel comfortable, but cool enough to be refreshing.
“I really feel like I’m swimming in the middle of a rain forest,” she said to him as he made his way to her.
“That’s because you are, Willa.”
She smiled softly. “I guess I am. I meant that I don’t feel like I’m in the middle of a resort here. It just feels like it’s you and me and no one else around for miles.”
He knew what she meant. He glanced around him to see the plants and trees, the waterfall flowing behind her, the sounds of birds in the distance. It was just him and her in the water. He thought he had romance before with other women, candlelit dinners and time spent in hot tubs, but he had never felt like this with any of them.
“Does it make you nervous?”
“What?” Her eyes grew wide.
“Being alone with me when everybody else is zip-lining through the jungle as we speak.”
“No.” She shook her head, standing up so she could walk deeper into the water. “I am feeling a little disappointed, though.”
“Disappointed?” he asked, feeling a little blow to his ego.
“Yeah. I was really hoping you had on a Speedo under those shorts.” She stopped at the edge of the pool just before the waterfall. Only her head was sticking out of the water, but the water was so clear he could still see every inch of her body. She must have known he was staring, because she inched closer to him, grinning with a satisfied smile. “I’ve got a thing for thighs, and judging by how hard your chest is, I was imagining that your thighs were pretty spectacular.”
“You flirting with me, Dr. Arthur?”
“No.” She shook her head firmly. “I would never. I’m an honest person and I felt the need to tell you that I honestly think you have a superb-looking body.” She reached for him, sliding her fingers up his arms. “You also have a superb-feeling body.” She surprised him by wrapping her arms around him and resting her chin on his shoulder.
Her entire body was pressed against him, but it wasn’t enough. He skimmed his hands down the back of her thighs before he gripped them and slid them around his waist. “Damn it, Willa.” He grew rock hard then. With her wrapped around him all he could think of was how easy it would be to slip her bathing suit over and slide inside her.
She leaned back a little, looking into his eyes. She studied him again for a moment before she cupped his cheek in her hand. “What would your girlfriend say if she saw us like this right now?”
“What girlfriend?” He frowned at her. “I haven’t been with anybody for the last nine months.”
“Why not?”
“I was engaged.”
“What happened?”
“She was smart and beautiful and ruthless.”
“She was a lawyer?”
“Yes.” He laughed. “She was the perfect wife for a Washington insider. She just wasn’t the perfect wife for me.”
“You broke it off?”
“No. She did. I thank God for that. I probably would have gone through with it. When I gave her that ring I made a promise to her. I had told myself I would never break another promise to a woman again.”
“You broke a lot of promises to women before?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Just to you. I promised you I would always be there for you, and when it counted the most, I failed you.”
She looked at him with slight surprise. “You really are sorry, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t have apologized if I wasn’t.”
She kissed his cheek, letting her lips linger there for a long moment. He closed his eyes, content to have this warm girl wrapped around him in this warm pool in the middle of paradise.
He stroked his fingers over the cutouts in her suit, the feel of her smooth, wet skin more erotic to him than anything else. “What would you have said if I told you I did have a girlfriend?”
“I wouldn’t have said anything to you. But I would have had to explain to the police why I tried to drown you.”
He laughed, his whole body shaking, causing it to rub against hers. He could feel her nipples scraping his chest through her suit.
; She hugged him tightly, rubbing her lips along his jaw before kissing him there. Her kisses were sweet, almost innocent. He felt like he did when they were together, when he was seventeen and unsure if anybody had really loved him except for her.
“You want me, Marc?”
“What kind of question is that?” He cupped her bottom, moving her against him. “We both feel that.”
A splash on the other side of the pool alerted him to the fact that they weren’t alone, that they weren’t miles away from the world, that they weren’t in a little magical bubble where coherent thoughts ceased to exist.
They both turned their heads to see the source of the splash and saw a woman emerge from the water.
“Oh my God!” Willa whispered. “Is she naked?”
“Yeah, and it would appear that her man is, too.” Willa’s head swiveled to see a man with white hair and a bit of a belly kick his swim trunks to the side and step into the pool.
She turned back to him. “Did you know this pool was clothing optional?”
“No. I didn’t think adult-only meant clothing optional.”
She turned away from him again. “Those things look like giant navel oranges. They’re too round. They have to be fake, right?”
“I’m not looking at her.”
“Why not? You have to see those things.”
“I’m looking at you, and you look a hell of a lot better than a woman who can be compared to produce.”
“My goodness, Marc.” She rested her forehead against his. “I’ve spent so long being mad at you that I forgot why I fell in love with you in the first place.”
Her words caused his body to go on full alert. Was it possible for them to fall in love again? He knew it was for him, because a big part of him had never stopped loving her.
“Tag! You’re it!” The naked couple on the other side of the pool were chasing each other, not really bothering them, but breaking the bubble around them once again.
“You remember how to play air hockey?” she asked him.
“Yes. I remember that you made it your life’s work to never let me win a game.”
“You let me win. You think I didn’t know that?”
“Sometimes,” he admitted. “I liked to see you happy.”
“Well, you can see me happy again.” She swam away from him. “There’s a rec room in the main lodge. I challenge you. Best out of five. Winner buys the drinks tonight.”
He swam after her, catching up to her as she stepped out of the pool, her beautiful behind wiggling in his face.
“Are you hungry?” he asked her. He knew he was, and it wasn’t for food. “There’s a little café here if you want to grab a quick bite. Dinner is not until eight tonight.”
“Sounds good,” she said, toweling herself off. “Do you think they have cake here?” she asked him as she dragged the towel across her hips. “I could really go for something sweet.”
“Yeah,” he said distractedly. “I could, too. There’s just one thing I have to do first.”
“What?”
He grabbed the edges of her towel and tugged on them until her body was pressed against his again. She looked up at him, curiosity in her eyes, but that changed when he inched his mouth closer to hers. He didn’t want to steal a kiss, he didn’t want to take her by surprise, he wanted her to know it was coming. He wanted her to be an active participant instead of a bystander.
She leaned in, meeting his lips with her own. She was the first one to kiss—a soft, sweet full-lipped peck, like the ones she use to give him when they were teenagers. But they weren’t teenagers anymore, and she looked him in the eyes and slid her hands up his neck, stroking her thumbs over his cords.
“Kiss me again, Marc.” He obeyed her order, taking her mouth immediately. She opened for him, setting the pace, returning his kiss slowly and deeply. Her mouth was familiar, her lips were warm and soft, and if he had to pick a place to spend the rest of his life he would spend it right there with her, kissing him like this.
He broke that kiss, but he didn’t have his fill of her lips yet. He liked those soft, sweet pecks she gave him best of all, and so he kissed her mouth half a dozen times until she was sighing and giggling like the girl he had once known.
“I was right,” he said when he finally pulled away.
“About what?”
“You. You’re one hell of a kisser.”
Chapter 5
A little van had picked them up to take them to dinner that night. It was a surprise to them all, because Virginia and Carlos had been so secretive about the events they had planned for the week. But Willa had been delighted when the van pulled right onto the sand and she saw that a three-piece band was playing and that colorful lanterns lit up the beach.
Delighted was the only way she could describe the way she was feeling. She’d had a good day, the best day she’d had in years. They didn’t do any of the exciting things everybody else did. There was no adrenaline rush that came with soaring over the forest, no thrill of seeing snakes in the wild. They went swimming, and played air hockey and Ping-Pong. They ate thick sandwiches and drank juice made with fresh fruit. They had kissed sweetly by the pool with a waterfall serving as a backdrop. They had laughed. They were comfortable. They had a good day.
She was feeling relaxed and kind of giddy as she stepped out of the van and onto the cool, wet sand. As she slipped off her sandals she heard Marc’s deep voice behind her, animatedly talking about something with Asa. She forced herself not to look behind her at him, even though she was very tempted to see again how good he looked tonight in his light-colored suit with no tie. But she didn’t. She felt like she was a girl again, like it was after the first time he had kissed her and she was trying to hide how much she was falling for him.
Things were different now, of course. She was a grown woman with open eyes who knew that it was just the beautiful setting and the nostalgia of being around somebody that she once loved. She knew this feeling would fade when she returned to New York, returned to normal life. But for now she was going to enjoy herself.
“Willa, my love!” Virginia’s mother greeted her. She must have arrived with the bride and groom and his parents, because she hadn’t been with them in the van. “It’s so good to see you.” She hugged her. “How have you’ve been?”
“I have been wonderful. How about yourself?”
“I have to admit I was terrified of the kind of wedding this was going to be, but now that I’m here, I see it’s going to be beautiful. I should just trust that my daughter has impeccable taste.”
“She does, and with men, too. Carlos seems very sweet.”
“He is.” She nodded. “He’s had a bit of a reputation as a lady-killer, but he is clearly in love with her and that’s all I could ask for.” She looked over to her daughter, who was deep in conversation with her future husband and smiling as if no one else were around.
“I’m happy for her,” Willa said truthfully.
“Me, too. And I must say you look amazing. I know your parents weren’t thrilled when you quit your job, but I was glad when you did. I’m so glad you followed your dreams.”
“Thank you. I’m glad I did, too.”
“Hey, Mama Bear.” Asa strolled over with Marc at his side. “Did you settle in okay?” He wrapped his arm around his mother and kissed her forehead.
“We did. Thank you. Your sister reserved a deluxe bungalow for us. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Hello, Dr. Andersen.” Marc reached out to hug the woman. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“Thank you, sir. I heard from your uncle that they moved you up to vice president of your firm. That man is so proud of you I think he could bust. Your aunt and uncle couldn’t have any children, but I don’t think you realized how much of a blessing you were when y
ou came into their life. They love you as much as they would have loved their own child.”
“Thank you, Dr. Andersen. I appreciate that.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s the truth.”
A waiter carrying glasses of champagne approached them. Asa grabbed a glass for his mother and Marc grabbed a glass for Willa and then wrapped his arm around her, smoothing his hand down her arm. Asa and his mother looked at them, but Marc didn’t seem to notice.
“Are you cold?” he asked her, rubbing his hand down her again. “I’ll give up my jacket.”
“You don’t have to. I’m fine now.” She had been a little chilled with the ocean breeze blowing, but she was too busy enjoying the scenery around her to mind. Now she was enjoying his hand stroking down her arm.
“You’ve got goose bumps.”
“You have that effect on me.”
He grinned at her, shaking his head in disbelief. “I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
“What is this?” Asa asked, pointing at them. “What’s going on between you two?”
“Why are you asking?” Willa stepped a little closer to Marc, wrapping her arm around Marc. “Because he was gentleman enough to see that I was cold and offer me his coat. You could have done the same and I would be cuddled with you instead of him.”
“Really?”
“I’ve got a free side. Why don’t you come over here and find out for yourself?”
“My favorite people!” Virginia walked over. “How are you feeling, Marc? We missed you guys this afternoon.” She looked at them the same way her brother had, and Willa was tempted to move away from Marc, but she didn’t want to.
“I’m feeling much better. How was zip-lining?”
“Exhilarating.”
“And the snakes?”
“Amazing. I held a boa constrictor.” Virginia smirked at them. “I’m more interested in how you guys spent your afternoon.”
“Yeah, Gin,” Asa said. “I was just going to ask the same thing.”
“We checked out the pool and played air hockey,” Willa informed them. “Then we had lunch and took a nap in our separate rooms.” And that was the truth. They didn’t need to know about the heart-melting kisses that had stayed with her all day.