Say You Love Me (Welcome To Redemption #9)
Page 12
“We won’t go too far, and I have a clear tarp I can roll down if it starts to rain.”
Mike was already in the boat, and started the engine as she approached. He met her by the step and took the bag from her before offering his other hand to help her in.
“Thanks.”
He took a quick peek inside before handing it back. Thank God the condoms weren’t right on top.
“A blanket?”
She shrugged and set the bag down on the floor of the boat. “Missy packed it for me. She told me about some nice little cove we could watch out for, maybe dock and take a look around, drop a line in.”
“Sounds nice. Should we grab some poles and tackle?”
She lifted a latch beneath the seat beside her and showed him the contents. “Two poles already set up with bobbers, a tackle box, stringer, and a bucket. Dale loves to fish, so he’s always prepared.”
And for once, so was she.
“I guess it’s time to take off. Which way are we headed?” He started the engine, then unwound the rope from the cleat and tossed it in the boat. He shifted into reverse and expertly backed out of the slip.
“East, about fifteen to twenty minutes.”
Bernie closed her eyes as he shifted into drive and picked up speed; the lake breeze and light spray of lake water felt like heaven on her face. She opened her eyes and watched the shore as Mike set a steady pace. She knew he wanted to resume their talk, but it would just have to wait since she had no interest in yelling over the loud hum of the motor.
It wasn’t long before the familiar fluorescent orange, sun-shaped sign came into view. She moved to sit next Mike, who’d been surprisingly quiet and focused as he drove. A small cove, just as Missy described appeared as they came around a bend.
“I think I see it,” she told him, raising her voice to be heard above the engine. “Turn into that small nook coming up.”
Mike gave her a nod and maneuvered the sleek, black speed boat into the small, private inlet. As he carefully pulled alongside an old, rickety dock that had seen much better days, she leaned in to catch the post. Mike killed the engine and stood to wrap the rope around the wood.
Bernie took in the beauty of the cove with the late summer purple phlox and deep green of the overgrown grass set back from the sand and pea gravel stretch of beach.
“Cozy,” Mike commented as he held out his hand to help her from the boat.
She looped the canvas bag over her shoulder and took his hand as she stepped onto the slightly shaky pier. “I think it’s pretty.”
“And secluded,” he pointed out with a wink.
She kept her expression blank as she walked ahead of him onto the sand. “That’s why Missy told me about it,” she admitted as she cast a quick glance over her shoulder, meeting his gaze for a brief moment before strolling off to search for the perfect spot to spread out the blanket.
He rushed over to help her, and she nearly laughed.
Once seated, Bernie kicked off her flips, reached for the bag again, and pulled out the container of mixed fruit—watermelon and honeydew cubes, strawberries, blueberries, and green grapes—and a couple bottles of water.
“You packed this?” he asked with a lilt of surprise as he plucked a grape from the container.
“Missy, actually. She thought maybe a little alone time would do us good.”
“Not that I disagree with her, but…why? I mean, we’ve never met until today, but I’m going to assume she knows who I am.”
“She does,” Bernie admitted, popping a small chunk of watermelon into her mouth.
When she didn’t reply, Mike let out a low chuckle. He ate another grape, then a chunk of honeydew before asking, “So if she knows…what happened, why would she go to the trouble of helping my cause?”
She gave a one shoulder shrug. “Maybe it wasn’t your cause she was helping.”
He scooted over and laid a hand on her knee. “That a fact?”
“It is.” She picked a marble-sized blueberry from the container and licked it suggestively before sucking it into her mouth.
With a low growl, Mike grasped her by the waist and hauled her across his lap. Bernie laughed softly, surprisingly happier than she’d been in a long time. She’d missed lying in this man’s arms, missed his touch, his scent…she missed him so much it ached. And for the first time since he’d moved back to Redemption, she wasn’t going to hide from her feelings.
Mike kissed her, the sweet juice of the honeydew on his lips as he moved them softly across hers. Bernie leaned back and opened her mouth a bit, inviting him to explore. He surprised her by pulling back with soft curse, breaking contact.
“I think we need to finish our conversation from earlier before we go any further.”
Exasperated, she sat up and slid from his lap with as much dignity as possible. That he wanted her was evident in the thick erection she’d felt nestled between them. “I don’t understand. You’ve been pursuing me since you moved back to Redemption, and when I finally let you know I’m…interested, you back off? I thought you wanted me.” She hoped the catch in her words went unnoticed.
“I do want you. Christ, woman, I’ve done everything short of putting up a billboard—Mike Loves Bernadette—on Salvation Avenue. And you’ve fought me at every turn, insisting there was nothing left between us, and there never would be.”
“So, you’re pissy because I changed my mind? Last I heard, it was a woman’s prerogative.”
His smile bordered on exasperation. “I don’t get ‘pissy,’ dammit. I just…I want to make sure we are, in fact, on the same page. I want to make sure we’ve buried the past, so we can move on to a future. Together. As it was always meant to be.”
“I want you. You want me. Can’t that be enough for now?” Damn him for making her beg. And why couldn’t he simply seize the moment and let everything else work itself out in time?
“Bernie, we need to talk. We need to get it all out there in the open so we can work through our feelings, and the obvious—and warranted—resentment you still hold toward me.”
She huffed out a sigh, leaned her hands back onto the blanket-covered sand, and pulled her knees up. “Well, when the hell did you turn into Oprah?”
He gave his head a shake. “I just don’t want there to be any obstacles between us when we sleep together.”
She cleared her throat, frustration eating at her. She’d finally gotten to a place where she could admit she wanted the man, and now he wanted her to spill her feelings? “What, exactly, do you want from me?”
“I want—no, I need you to forgive me. Even if I can’t forgive myself.”
Her brow pulled together. “I…do forgive you. I’m over it. We were kids, like you said. We’re adults now.” She reached out with her red-painted toes and gave him a playful tap on the thigh.
Mike caught her foot and started a slow massage. A groan of approval escaped her.
“I need to know what you’re thinking. It took you almost two years before you’d even look at me, and now you’re ready to jump back into bed with me?”
“No, I’m ready for a little fun on the beach.” She caught her bottom lip and gave her brow a suggestive wiggle, wanting to get lost in the moment, lost in this man’s touch, and nothing more. At least, not today.
But he was as tenacious as ever and had no intention of moving forward until they’d laid the past to rest.
Only, how could she do that when she still held such a huge secret from him?
“Mike, please…”
He lowered his voice. “Honey, I love you, and I’m pretty sure you want more from me than just sex. Can we please just talk about this?”
“Fine,” she snapped, tugging her foot from his grasp. She sat up and crossed her arms. “You want to know what I’m feeling? You claim you love me so much, that I’m the only woman you’ve ever loved, but that’s just crap. You got married and had a child with someone else. You didn’t want our child, but you wanted hers!”
 
; As soon as the words left her mouth, tears stung her eyes, and she angrily swiped them away. There, she’d said it, put it out there in the ether, and now…now she felt like a first-class bitch. Maddie was a beautiful, amazing little girl, and now he was going to think she resented his daughter.
“Why couldn’t you just leave well enough alone? Now I feel like the world’s worst person,” she grumbled.
He stared at her for what seemed like forever before grasping her hand and gently tugging her forward. She reluctantly let him hold her in his arms, to shelter her in his warm and comforting embrace.
“I’m so sorry, I…I never thought of it from that perspective, how you must have felt when you heard I’d married and had a kid. But the truth is…I didn’t love her. Gina, Maddie’s mother. We met at a bar. It was…a drunken, one-night stand. Or, it was supposed to be. When she called me a month later and told me she was pregnant, I didn’t know what the hell to do. All I knew was I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. So…I offered to marry her.”
Exactly what you should have offered me.
She sighed, deeply. “Which is what you should have done. I’m sorry, I must sound so petty.”
He cupped her face and coaxed her to look him in the eye. “Not even a little bit. What I said to you was inexcusable, no matter the reason. I was an immature little idiot, and I panicked. You lost the baby because of what I said and…You can’t even begin to imagine the depth of my regret. Your hatred of me all these years is completely justified.”
Oh, God. All these years he’s believed his thoughtless demand caused me to miscarry.
Bernie couldn’t even begin to imagine what guilt like that had done to him emotionally. She grasped his hands and gazed meaningfully into his eyes. “Mike, I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you. I was hurt and…but that’s in the past. There’s nothing we can do to change it. The only thing we can do is move on and try again.”
He pulled her back into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Are you sure? I mean, I want so much more than a roll in the sand, sweetheart. I want you in my life, from this moment on, for the rest of our lives. I love you, Bernie. I need you, so much.” His words grew soft as his voice thickened with emotion.
And she wanted him, too, wanted him desperately. Wanted more than anything for them to become the family they were always meant to be. But how could they build a fresh relationship when she still held such a huge secret from him? This time it wasn’t his words and actions standing in their way, it was hers.
Worry about that later, she told herself. Lying in his arms had never felt more right, and all she wanted to do was bury herself in his warmth, draw from him everything she had so desperately missed all these years.
She pulled his head down for a kiss, and that was all it took. Mike groaned and flipped her onto the blanket, covering her with his hard body as his mouth devoured hers. Tears stung her eyes again, but this time they were tears of joy.
Chapter 15
Mike’s pulse raced as the reality of the situation finally hit him. Bernadette wanted him, she forgave him, and nothing else mattered at that moment. She was his, and there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d ever let her go again.
She twined her arms around his neck and leaned back, pulling him atop of her, then used her calves to pull him deeper into the cradle of her thighs. A soft moan told him she was more than ready to take things to the next level.
He slid one hand up the smooth skin of her leg, up over the terrycloth shorts she’d put on over her suit, to cup one of her soft, full breasts. The woman had the most perfect figure he’d ever seen; he’d dreamt about making love to her so many times over the years. He kissed her with all the pent up passion he had, tasting the sweet nectar of the fruit on her luscious lips, letting her know how much he wanted and needed her, teasing as he ran his tongue across them before slipping inside.
She tilted, slanting her mouth to give him better access, and Mike didn’t waste a second, claiming what she so generously offered. One of her hands worked its way up his back, while the other reached for…the bag?
He pulled back and gazed down at her. “What…?”
“There’s condoms in the bag,” she breathlessly explained, her cheeks slightly flushed as she met his gaze.
“Missy thought of everything, didn’t she?”
Without waiting for a response, he reached in and felt around until he found a small, twist-tied baggie. He pulled it out, and sure enough, two condoms. He’d have to remember to thank her step-sister later.
Setting them aside, he sat up, bringing her with him. Bernie tried to recapture his mouth, but Mike wanted her fully naked as his control was iffy at best. No time for much foreplay; his need for her was too far gone for that.
She sat astride his lap, his legs tucked beneath him. As he watched, Bernie reached back and unclipped the neckline of her sexy swimsuit, then slowly peeled it down, baring those lush, milky globes for his perusal. She rose long enough to pull it down, removing her suit and shorts both at once until she knelt before him completely naked.
“You’re even more beautiful than I remembered,” he murmured as his balls tightened with painful impatience. He reached out to reverently cup both breasts, gently stroking the creamy skin before leaning in to lave one nipple.
She gasped, her head rolling back as she leaned in, offering herself with such breathtaking abandon. Mike had never been more honored, or blessed in his life.
With the exception of the very first time they’d made love all those years ago. The memory was something he’d held onto for so long. He remembered almost every detail with aching clarity.
Up on her knees before him, she held his head in her hands as if guiding him, from one breast to the other. Her fingers curled into his hair as her breathing grew labored, and Mike knew if he waited much longer, he’d never make it inside her.
She fell back on her haunches and watched as he stripped off first his T-shirt, then his swim trunks, leaving him as naked as she. Bernie untwisted the tie from the baggie and pulled out both condoms, tossing one aside and tearing the other open without hesitation. Mike realized he was witnessing a newfound confidence, and he liked it very much.
He reached for the condom, but she shook her head and pushed him back, letting him know in no uncertain terms that she was now in charge. He leaned back with a grunt of anticipation, heart pounding, cock throbbing painfully as he waited for her to make the next move.
The sexy enchantress straddled his legs and sat on his knees. She set the condom on his stomach, then wrapped one very warm hand around the base of his erection. When she leaned forward to, he assumed, take him in her mouth, he bucked in protest. Her gaze flew to his in question, something primal simmering in the warm, cinnamon depths of those heavy-lidded eyes.
“Sweetheart,” he managed to mutter, “unless you want to deal with an eruption worthy of Mount Vesuvius, you’ll need to save that”—he swallowed, hard—“and anything else for round two. I want you so bad I’m not sure I’ll make it through putting on the condom.”
She laughed, obviously delighted by his lack of control where she was concerned. She picked the condom back up and placed it over his swollen head. He gritted his teeth as she rolled it down over his engorged shaft with infinite care. Her smile faded as need darkened her eyes. She pressed one hand to his chest and used the other to hold him steady as she lowered herself to his sheathed length. She took him in slowly, torturously slow, as if she was afraid he might explode before she even had him fully inside her.
His heart hammered as reality washed over him. He and Bernie were making love on a secluded beach. He’d imagined this moment for so long, he was almost afraid to blink and discover it was all just another dream.
Grasping her hips, he lifted his own up to meet hers, gently moving things along. Bernie licked her lips and closed her eyes, her back arching once she had him fully engulfed. He reclaimed her breasts, kneading the soft mounds, then rolling his thumbs across
her tight pink buds.
She lifted a few inches then sank back down, her rhythm picking up cadence as she gained more confidence. She covered his hands with her own, showing him what she wanted while slowly riding him toward heaven. Her pace quickened, and Mike knew he didn’t have much time. He released one breast and pressed his thumb against her swollen nubbin hidden beneath soft, auburn curls. He stroked quick, tiny circles, wanting her to reach release with him.
With a small cry, she picked up speed, undulating her hips, so beautiful in her pleasure.
Mike brought his knees up and ground his heels into the blanketed, soft earth as he met her thrusts with equal fervor. He gripped her hips and plunged into her, his primal groans of satisfaction blending with hers, reverberating all the way to his soul.
She collapsed on top of him with a sexy, drawn out moan.
He wrapped his arms around her and rolled so they were lying on their sides, squeezing his eyes shut to stave off the storm of emotion swelling his chest.
“Wow,” she murmured once their breathing slowed, snuggling against his side. A soft sigh escaped her.
“I know what you mean.”
With a hearty sigh of satisfaction, he removed the used condom and dropped it in the baggie. Satiated for the moment, he closed his eyes and breathed deep, her sexy scent engulfing him, mingling with the floral notes of the wildflowers wafting through on a light breeze coming off the lake.
He held her in silence for a good five minutes before finally pulling back to peer at her. “You all right? You didn’t fall asleep on me, did you?”
She chuckled. “No, just enjoying the moment.”
He stroked her head, her back, cupped her backside and gave a gentle squeeze.
Bernie’s skin heated under those big, sensual, loving hands. Reconnecting with Mike after all these years was even better than she’d imagined. She loved him and couldn’t wait to feel him inside her again.
Turning in his arms, she pressed her lips to his hard chest. Only then did it dawn on her the sky had grown overcast since they’d stepped onto shore. “Looks like Dale might have been right about the rain.”