“Michael and I flew out this way when I took him up back in April.”
“And you’ve been here since then?”
He was smiling. “Yeah, I wanted to check the runway myself before I brought you here. Sometimes these private landing strips can be pretty beat up, but this one’s okay. I didn’t have any trouble.”
He circled Lake Langhorne and came in to land, crossing over the bluff and touching down onto the dirt runway. The plane came to a stop, and he jumped out and jogged over to open her door and help her out of the plane.
She took his hand. “It’s so weird. It was so long ago, but at the same time—”
“It feels like we were just here,” he said, finishing her thought.
“Yeah, it does.”
The landing strip was tucked into the highest point of Camp Clem close to the bluff. They walked down a dirt path, and two cabins came into view.
She squeezed Nick’s hand. “Those are our cabins. Becky and Sawyer.”
Plywood had been nailed to the windows, but a piece had broken off, and they were able to peek inside.
“My cot was over there,” she said pointing at the back corner near the window. She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I loved the little sunflowers you would tuck in the screen. It was the first thing I’d look for when I woke up.”
He dipped his head, but she stopped his kiss with a finger pressed to his lips. “Gleeful glimpses only, mister!”
“I’ll show you gleeful.” He nipped at her finger.
“Ouch,” she said, feigning outrage.
He pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Come on! There’s more.”
They followed the path that led to the lodge. It was boarded up just like the cabins. The sky blue paint had withered to maudlin gray, but the Camp Clem sign was there, sun-bleached and suspended from two rusted chains.
Nick reached up and tapped it. “I wanted to take this and give it to you. I tried to figure out who bought the place. I wanted to offer to pay for it. I even asked Michael to look into it. But even he wasn’t able to figure it out. One shell company after another.”
“That’s weird,” she answered, running her hand along the porch railing.
“Michael said it’s pretty common. Sometimes people don’t want to be identified as the buyer or want to try and skip out on paying the taxes. Some are even fronts for illegal businesses.”
“What kind of illegal business do you think they’re running out of Camp Clem?” Lindsey asked with a mischievous grin.
Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Mass production of bug juice?”
“Oh,” she said, pressing a hand to her abdomen. “Looks like little banana agrees with you.”
He rested his hand near hers. “Is she kicking?”
Lindsey nodded.
Nick sank to his knees and started singing to her belly, “I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.”
“I thought you hated that song.”
He looked up. “Not when you sing it.”
She ran her hand through his tousled blond hair and fingered an errant curl. “You look just like you did sixteen years ago.”
“So do you,” he said, standing up. He patted her belly. “Minus this. I would have noticed it.”
“Aren’t you in a good mood, today,” she said, eyeing him suspiciously. “What do you have up your sleeve? I can tell, something’s up. You’re as giddy as a school girl.”
“This way,” he said and led her toward the lake.
They followed the dirt path down the hill. The old field was overgrown with years of undergrowth packed under the new spring grasses, but a steady trail of what looked like tire tracks wound their way through the foliage.
“Looks like a car or maybe an ATV’s driven through here. Probably somebody out exploring,” Nick remarked as they veered off the path that led down toward the dining hall.
“Do you want to check it out?” she asked.
“No, we shouldn’t really be here either, but I figured I’d take a chance.”
He led her to the boathouse and pulled back a ratty tarp. It was just as she had remembered. The sun sparkled blue-green off the water’s glassy surface, and she drank in the space. Nick had recreated their night here. The sailboat and the hanging kayaks were gone, but a few faded orange life vests still hung on rusted nails.
She fingered the coils of long-forgotten frayed rope. “Nick, this is perfect.”
He’d even constructed a little bed out of sleeping bags with lanterns hanging just as they had that night.
She cupped his strong jaw and gazed into his eyes. “I never imagined a life this full could be possible. I never expected to feel desire or crave intimacy again. You’re the only man who could have brought me back to life.”
“Your spirit and your strength were always there, Linds.”
After she had told him about her time in Houston, he had wrapped her in his arms and held her. She cried all the tears she’d held back for so long. Tears of anger and disappointment and helplessness. It wasn’t easy on him. He was furious. The vein in his neck pulsed with fury. He had wanted to get into his plane, fly to Houston, and beat the ever-living shit out of Brett. But he didn’t because she had asked him not to.
That life was over.
She was safe.
Nick was the last person who needed to hear that story. The tale of her time in Texas ended with the last retelling of it to him.
He led her to the sleeping bags. “Let’s sit down. I have something we need to do.”
“Do you?” she asked, tucking her legs beneath her.
His expression turned serious, and he sank to his knees. “I had lunch with your godmother and Kathy Stein last week.”
“You did? Did you run into them somewhere?”
“No, I reached out to them.” He shifted and retrieved a small bag. “Kathy gave me this palo santo wood to burn. It’s a tree in South America.”
“We came here to burn a piece of wood?”
“Sort of.” A sheepish grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Kathy says that people burn palo santo wood because it’s believed to have healing powers.”
Lindsey cocked her head to the side.
“Stick with me, Linds,” he said, shaking his head. “I promised Kathy and Rosemary I would do this.”
“Okay, go on.”
“Kathy says burning palo santo is a way to welcome love and good fortune into your life.”
Lindsey pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I think that’s beautiful.”
“She also said something about it connecting us to the planet and fostering the inner self, but I kind of lost her at that point.”
Lindsey chuckled. “She didn’t make you take a Buddha, did she?”
“No,” he said, but his tone had turned serious. “I met with Rosemary and Kathy because I love you, and I know they both love and care deeply about you. I told them I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and I wanted their blessing.”
“Oh, Nick,” she gasped.
He struck a match and held it to the wood. Hints of pine, mint, and lemon mingled with the musty scent of the boathouse. He let the wood burn a black ribbon of smoke then blew out the flame. The smoke turned as white as fresh snow. It moved with the breeze, a white stream of air twisting in a slow, hypnotic spiral.
He met her gaze. “Kathy says the white smoke is purifying, and that it signifies new life and new beginnings.” He set the small piece of wood into a dish and took her hands into his. “I used to think that the best feeling was the moment right before the plane left the ground, but I don’t feel that way anymore because it pales in comparison to what it’s like being with you. I’ve loved you since I was sixteen years old, and I promise that I will love you and protect you and cherish you.” He rested his hand on her abdomen. “And I will love and protect our daughter. She’ll only know happiness, Lindsey. Love and security and happiness.”
It was twilight now, and the lake ha
d come alive with a night’s prelude of sounds and scents. The hum of insects threaded into the chorus of bullfrog calls. The water kissed the weathered wood of the boathouse in a lazy, back and forth lapping rhythm.
Lindsey closed her eyes and let it all come back. “This is where our new story begins,” she whispered. The intention of her words carried into the smoke and trailed out of the boathouse, becoming one with the wind and the sky and the clouds.
Nick took her left hand and kissed her palm.
She opened her eyes and met his blue gaze.
“Lindsey Anne Hanlon, will you marry me?”
She saw the boy and the man sitting in front of her, and those blue eyes, so sharp, so intense, and so full of love. He had battled the voices inside his head. The whispers that told him he would end up like his father, and he had chosen love over fear.
Her throat grew tight with emotion. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The words encircled them. They filled the room and coalesced with the healing ribbon of smoke, tapering off into one last breath of white like gentle wisps of clouds.
He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a square of worn fabric adorned with a delicately embroidered sunflower. He peeled back the thin cotton.
“Is that part of the Langley Park flag?” Lindsey asked.
“It is. I went to the Community Center to ask if I could borrow it and ran into Mrs. Quigley.”
“The Kids’ Camp director?”
“Yeah, she still lives in Langley Park. After I told her what I wanted to do with it, she insisted on cutting off a small square and giving it to me.”
Lindsey gasped when she saw the ring. A large blue sapphire nestled between pear and oval shaped diamonds winked at her in the lantern light.
“It reminds me of the sky and…” Her hand flew to her chest.
“Clouds,” Nick said, finishing her thought as he slid the ring onto her finger. “When I saw this ring, I just knew, Linds. I just knew it was meant for me to give to you.”
She met his gaze and rose to her feet. One button at a time, she undid her dress and let it fall into a pool of linen at her feet. Just like their night here sixteen years ago, he followed, and they stripped in front of each other. She stood in this very spot the first time she had seen him, or any other man, completely naked. Her eyes saw him differently now. He was still a gorgeous specimen of a man. Broad shoulders. Perfectly defined abdominal muscles. And that V that narrowed down and led her eye to his beautiful cock, standing at attention.
Back when they had been camp counselors, she saw the boy with hopes and dreams shining in his blue eyes. Today, she saw the man she was going to raise a child with. The man who had made good on a long-ago whispered promise to love her forever.
“I like you in nothing but that ring,” he said in a low growl.
His cock twitched. Nicholas Kincade was done being sentimental. The man had burned sacred wood in a cleansing ritual. He had opened himself up. He’d handed her his heart on a plate. But now his gaze darkened, and Lindsey shivered with anticipation. This man wanted to fuck her and, Christ, she wanted to be fucked.
She pressed her back against the boathouse wall and raised her hands above her head. Nick’s gaze traveled up her body. His lips twisted into a sexy smirk as she wrapped her wrists into the coil of rope hanging off an old peg.
She clenched her fingers around the tangled coil. “Did you plan this, too?”
He licked his lips, and Lindsey’s core tightened. “No, that’s just my good luck.”
He pressed a kiss to her lips, and his fingertips traced a line from her bound wrists down to her breasts. He left a hot trail of kisses as he worked his way down, past her collarbone, and kissed the space between her breasts. He took her nipple into his mouth and ran the pad of his tongue over the tip.
Lindsey whimpered. All her senses peaked and her body begged for more. He ran his hands down the sides of her body and cupped her ass as he came to his knees.
They’d had to get creative with her changing body. Nick hooked her leg over his shoulder and nipped at the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. She circled her hips and bucked forward. Her body wanted his mouth and craved his tongue. But he took his time working his way toward her center.
“So sweet,” he breathed, rubbing his tongue against her sensitive bud.
Lindsey gripped the rope and rolled her head to the side as Nick went to work, setting her on fire. She thrust her hips, meeting his tongue, while he palmed her ass and steadied her. Her breath came in tight gasps as he sucked and licked a rhythm that had her calling out his name in breathy exhales.
Her eyes fluttered shut. Her limbs tensed. It was like running full speed off a cliff and jumping off into the sky, euphoric and free, knowing that at the bottom, Nick would be there. He tightened his grip on her ass, heightening her pleasure and sending her over the edge again.
When she’d finally caught her breath, she met his gaze, and Nick smiled up at her. He ran his hands up her body and stood.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I could do this all day.”
He reached up with one hand and held onto the tangled rope, lacing his fingers with hers. With the other hand, he positioned himself and surged inside of her. The sound of twisting rope and his heated breath releasing in sharp exhales combined with the slap of their skin as he worked her body. He lifted her with one steady hand, and she wrapped her legs around him.
His mouth crashed into hers in a frenzy of nips and kisses. He kissed the sensitive skin beneath her earlobe. His breaths were coming faster. He grunted with each thrust.
Nick squeezed their tangled hands together. “You are going to be my wife,” he said in a low, primal whisper.
Lindsey flexed her core muscles, and it was just what he needed to push him over the edge. Nick called out her name as she joined him, flying through the air, endorphins surging, riding out each wave of pleasure.
She opened her eyes and met his gaze. “You’re going to be my husband.”
A warm sated smile pulled at the corner of his lips. He untangled their hands and cupped her face. “This is just the beginning, Linds. It only gets better from here.”
“Just the beginning,” she whispered.
21
Nick eyed the shutters in the Foursquare’s kitchen window.“What do you think?”
When Lindsey had settled on window coverings, he was confident he would have no trouble installing them. But three broken tilt rods, five broken louvers—which he didn’t even know were called louvers until he tried to install the damn things—and three misplaced tension screws later, he had relented and let Lindsey call in Terry for some handyman backup.
Terry ran a dry handkerchief along the top and bottom rails then stepped back. “They look good,” he said, stuffing the cloth into his coveralls.
Nick had spent the last couple of evenings with Terry installing the shutters, and he could tell why Lindsey had hired him. He didn’t fill their time together with idle chat. He was methodical and focused. They worked in companionable silence, drilling holes and assembling the frames.
“Do you want to try to get the last one installed tonight?” Terry asked.
Nick glanced at his watch. It was late. “No, let’s call it a day.”
“I can come back tomorrow,” Terry offered.
Nick shook his head. “I’ve got a full day of meetings, and then we’ve got the Rose Brooks fundraiser in the evening. I think we’ll have to put off the last window for a few days.”
Lindsey padded into the kitchen wearing his old red flannel shirt and a pair of yoga pants. She had the sleeves rolled up, and the rounded curve of her growing belly fit perfectly under his worn shirt.
“It looks beautiful,” she said, coming to stand by his side and smiling warmly at Terry.
The handyman blushed. “Nick did most of the work. I was just here to—”
“To make sure he didn’t break any more slats,” Lindsey said with a chuckle.
<
br /> “They’re called louvers, and don’t forget the tilt rods and those damn screws,” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist.
Not quite a week had passed since he had asked her to marry him, but life seemed to be moving at top speed. Lindsey’s body was changing. A week ago, a loose blouse or high-waisted dress could camouflage the pregnancy. But not anymore. She was almost twenty-five weeks along, and little banana was growing.
“I was craving a cheese quesadilla with sauerkraut. Would you like anything to drink or a little snack, Terry?”
Terry’s eyes went wide.
Nick bit back a laugh. Lindsey’s crazy food cravings had aligned with Em’s.
“That’s nice of you, but I better get going,” Terry said.
“How many windows do you guys have left to do?” Lindsey asked, frowning as she peered into the refrigerator.
“Just one,” Nick answered.
“So close,” Lindsey said, grabbing items and setting them on the counter.
Terry closed his toolbox. “I could stop by tomorrow and install the last window. It wouldn’t be any trouble.”
“It might be nice,” Lindsey said. “Especially if we’re going to be having everyone over after the fundraiser.”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t inconvenience you?” Nick asked.
“No, not at all. It won’t take me long.”
“I’m working from home tomorrow,” Lindsey said. “You could stop by anytime.”
Terry nodded.
“I’ll walk you out,” Nick said, gesturing toward the door.
“Nick,” Lindsey called from the kitchen just as they were stepping out onto the porch. “I think we’re all out of sauerkraut.”
“I’ll walk up to Pete’s Organics and pick some up,” he called back and closed the door.
“Maybe grab some rocky road ice cream, too?”
He chuckled. “Sure thing, Linds.”
He jogged down the porch steps and found Michael chatting with Terry.
“Grocery run?” Nick asked, clapping Michael on the back.
“Canned peaches and saltine crackers,” Michael answered. “You?”
“Sauerkraut and rocky road ice cream.”
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 71