A satisfied grin tugging at the corners of his lips, Doug blazed a trail of kisses down her ribs, around her stomach. Just as he grabbed hold of the edge of her slacks to tug them off, Emily captured his wrists in her hands. “You’re not playing fair.”
“Who said I was playing?”
With a swift tilt of her arm and nudge of her hip, Emily slid from under Doug, shimmied out of her pants and, pulling him into her embrace, rolled until she was hovering over him. “My turn.”
Lifting the edge of his T-shirt, she yanked it hard over his head and flung it aside. Nimble fingers undid his belt and zipper, shoving the denim down his legs, barely waiting for him to kick loose the jeans before splaying her hands across his bare chest.
Doug almost laughed out loud at how she’d turned the tables on him. But when she sat upright, his wrists manacled in her grip, and scooted her naked bottom along his stomach and south to all his glory, humor gave way to a flood of pleasure. Raising her hips just enough to let her patch of curls tease the tip of his erection, nerves sparked, need took on claws, and he all but vibrated with desire.
Never in his life had he believed he needed anyone. Could truly love anyone. But never had he been more wrong. Breaking free of her grasp, Doug flipped her over onto her back. Gripping her hands over her head, his lips hovering over hers, he whispered, “I love you,” before his mouth came crashing down on hers once again.
With every stroke, every touch, every caress, Emily could feel the truth of Doug’s words. Never had she been so well loved. Moist lips made their way down her side, lingered and then returned on a torturous path back to her aching breasts. Fingers gently teased and fondled. The agonizingly slow pace was driving her mad.
Clutching the sheets beneath her, Emily bit her lower lip as she forced herself to look at the man who was so skillfully playing her body as though she were a master’s violin. Eyes dark with desire stared back at her, fanning the flames already out of control inside her. Gazes locked, his fingers reached between her legs, and her body began to coil like an overwound spring.
Doug couldn’t hold back another moment. He had to be inside her. Now. Slowly at first he entered her. One thrust, then another, and her warm heat clamped around him. The rhythmic friction of two bodies climbing faster, harder, intensified until her hips began rocking wildly, losing their rhythm, and then her moist flesh convulsed haphazardly around him. Yes. Another slick stroke and he tumbled over the edge after her.
Pressing her against the bed, her arms gently looped around his neck, her sexy legs still wrapped around his waist, he took in the soft and relaxed feel of her. The scent of her. Perfectly perfect. Without a doubt, he could stay like this forever.
* * *
One side of Doug’s face was turning a lovely shade of purple. Emily crawled out from under his arm and scooted to the edge of the bed. Melted ice pack in hand, she made her way to the kitchen, dumped the water and filled the bag with fresh ice. His jaw was swelling up despite the ice packs, and his tanned complexion had taken on an unnaturally rosy tone.
Soon they’d be expected at her mother’s, and Emily didn’t know how to explain Doug’s jaw. Especially since the last person she wanted to learn about the pregnancy-test confusion was her mother.
Doug came up behind her, looped his arms around her waist and nuzzled his nose against her neck.
Covering his strong hands with hers, her mind vaguely registered that he held onto a piece of paper, but she couldn’t fully process anything except the warm sensations searing her skin. If she didn’t have to be at her mother’s in a short while, she’d have happily hauled him back to bed. It would be so easy to stay this way forever.
Pulling away to spin her around, he dragged his hands from around her, and the plain white envelope he’d been holding fell to the ground.
“What’s this?” Emily bent over and retrieved the envelope with Doug’s name in small block lettering.
“Tim gave me that earlier. Something about the other night.”
“What about the other night?”
“I don’t know.” He stepped back, taking the proffered envelope from her fingers. “We got interrupted with you slicing off your finger and the whole crazy pregnancy circus.”
For just a moment, as he stared at the envelope in his hands, she thought he was going to toss it in the trash unread. “There’s only one way to find out what it says.”
With a nod he ripped open the sealed flap and unfolded the page. Vacuous eyes roamed down the sheet of paper. Partway through he fell into the nearby kitchen chair and glanced out her window before his gaze returned to the page.
Emily settled in the seat beside him, biting her tongue, and waited for him to tell her what the writing contained.
“He overheard me telling you about Amy.”
“Oh.” Emily sat a little straighter.
“He took it upon himself to find her.”
“And…”
“She’s getting her master’s degree in business administration from the University of San Francisco.” He flashed a tense smile. “I would bet a year’s pay that Tim could probably uncover military secrets if he wanted to.”
Emily grinned and nodded. She wouldn’t be surprised if he already had.
“He found her phone number. When the Pratts took her away that day, they didn’t know she had a brother. No one told them. They hadn’t realized it was me she was calling for. By the time Amy was old enough to put all the pieces together, I was out of the system.” His voice dropped to a near whisper. “She’s been looking for me.”
* * *
The paper with Amy’s phone number came close to burning his fingers. For so many years he’d convinced himself that she was better off without him. Without the knowledge of where she had come from. And now, it seemed, she wanted him anyway. Maybe.
“My mom’s house can wait.” Emily reappeared in front of him, his phone in her hand. He’d been so focused on the phone number screaming silently at him that he hadn’t noticed her walk away. “Call her. You want to.”
“I want what’s best for her.” And perhaps easier for him. Letting her go all those years ago was the biggest pain he’d ever suffered. Worse than when his mom left, worse than when the cops hauled off his father’s ass to jail, worse than when Doug woke up blind in one eye after a fiery beam smacked him upside the head. If he didn’t turn out to be what Amy wanted, he didn’t think he could survive losing her again.
“Sometimes”—Emily brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead—“you have to do what you’re most afraid of before you’ll get what you really want.”
With shaky fingers, he punched in the numbers that would connect him to a past he’d thought to have left behind. First ring. Second ring. Third ring. Maybe it will go to voice mail. Fourth…
“Hello?” a sweet voice answered, and, even through the terror, he felt his lips lift up in a smile.
“Amy?”
“Yes. Who’s calling?”
At this moment he wasn’t sure if having his name blocked to callers was a blessing or a curse, because now he had to announce who he was. “It’s Doug.” Dead silence. “Your brother.”
More silence crawled by, and finally the sweet voice uttered a soft “Doggie?”
Doug chuckled. No one else in the world could get away with calling him that. “It’s me.”
“Oh. My. God” shrieked through the airwaves right before he heard a clattering sound, followed by more screeching and several voices. None of which he could make out clearly.
The word “What?” came through above the other mumbles just before he heard “Hello?”
“Amy?” The voice didn’t sound right.
“No. This is Linda, her roommate. How may I help you?”
“Nice to meet you. I’m her brother, Doug.”
“You’re sure? What’s the name of her favorite stuffed toy? The one she’s had since she was a baby.”
“That would be Pop. She couldn’t say puppy.”
The for
merly calm voice screamed, “It’s him,” and let the phone fall to the ground again. Doug was betting his sister had one hell of a protective cover on her cell. He just wished someone would put her back on the phone.
Nibbling on her lower lip, Emily stood at his side, her hand holding onto his fingers.
When had she done that? He clenched his fist, encasing her hand more tightly in his. How had he ever thought he could walk away from her?
“Excuse me.” A third voice came on the line. “I’m going to apologize for my roommates. This is a big shock. Amy will be right with you. When she gets overly excited, she gets the—”
“Hiccups. Still?”
The calm person chuckled. “She’s finishing a glass of water. Just give her another—”
“Give me that phone” sounded in the distance followed by an audible sigh. “Hello?”
“So you still get the hiccups?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I heard you’ve been looking for me.”
She sucked in another breath, and he could hear the tremble in her voice. “I didn’t think you’d ever find me.”
“I thought you’d be better off without me.”
“You what?” The tremble in her voice disappeared. “How could you think such a thing?”
“I—”
“You’re my brother! How could you think such a—”
“I’ve been known to have an occasional lapse in judgment.”
“I bet.” He heard another sigh, and the tremble in her voice returned. “How are you?”
“I’m good. And you?”
“Good. I want to see you.”
“Do you have any vacation time coming?”
“Some,” Amy answered, “but if you come here, I can show you around, and you can meet friends and see where I live and—”
“I thought I’d send you an airline ticket. I live in Hawaii.”
“Oh. My. God.” The phone dropped again, followed by the now expected squeals, and Doug was pretty sure having a sister again was going to be a whole new learning curve.
* * *
Emily poured another ginger ale and smiled up at the crowd.
“You’re looking awfully pleased with yourself.” Kara served herself a glass as well.
“Have lots to be thankful for.”
“I heard about the brouhaha at your place this morning.”
“As long as Mom doesn’t hear, all will be fine.” Emily smiled.
Kara took a bite from one of Maile’s famous salmon cakes. “I don’t know how your mother does it. Give her a couple of hours’ notice, and she can prepare a feast fit for royalty.”
“Very true. She wouldn’t hear of letting Billy take us all out. She insisted on making supper for us.”
“And the Alanis.”
“Yeah. I’m actually surprised half of Kona isn’t here for the announcement of the future arrival of the first Everrett grandchild.”
“Give her a couple hours. They’ll come.” The two women laughed and clinked glasses in a toast. “To happy mothers everywhere.”
Nick walked up beside his wife, and Doug looped an arm around Emily’s waist.
“If you’ll excuse us a moment.” Nick took a step aside. “Missy Alani wants to see if we’re having a girl or a boy.”
“Ah, the old swinging wedding ring trick?” Doug teased. He’d once dated a girl whose sister was pregnant. He didn’t remember much about the girl or the sister, but he remembered the silly ritual very clearly.
“Actually”—Emily faced him—“she just looks at you. Makes the pregnant woman turn around and then predicts girl or boy.”
“She’s does have a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right.”
“I’m not sure she’s ever gotten it wrong.”
“You’re kidding?” Doug shook his head. “She should play the lottery or bet the ponies.”
“No. She has a theory, and it seems to work. Something about a missing waistline, I think.”
“Saves on sonograms.”
Holding back a laugh, Emily slapped his arm. “Don’t say that too loud. It will come back and bite you.”
“Reconsidering the having-my-baby thing?” Doug’s tone was playful, but his gaze was locked on hers and deadly serious.
“I’m a bit old-fashioned. I think it might be nice to get married first.”
“So wedding ring, then baby?”
“Yes, but no.”
Doug’s brows arched high on his forehead.
“Yes, wedding first, baby second. But, no, as in not right away. I’d like to have a couple of years with my husband all to myself. Maybe more.”
The look in his eyes shifted from hard to hot. “And what would you do with that husband in those couple of years?”
Emily blinked. What kind of game was this? “After I’ve finished having my way with him”—she let the tip of her tongue slip out and then slowly slid it across her upper, then her lower lip and took her time sliding it back into her mouth—“and then…”
Doug’s gaze rose from her mouth to her eyes.
Any second now she expected the fire alarms to sound off at the heat simmering between them.
“And then?”
“And then,” she repeated, having completely forgotten what they were supposed to be talking about.
“And then,” he said in a voice so low and husky all she could remember was how it felt to be wrapped around him.
His head lowered, and his lips descended on hers, slow, soft, sweet and oh-so-delicious.
A short groan rumbled between them. He pulled her closer, pressed harder and took her more eagerly. When he pulled away, she almost whimpered with wanting. His forehead against hers, eyes closed, he took in several ragged breaths. She could feel his heart beating the same rapid tattoo as hers.
Lifting his head, he held eye contact with an intensity that made her skin tingle. “Emily?”
“Mmm?”
“Marry me?”
She hadn’t expected that. Hadn’t hoped for that. But she wanted that. “Are you teasing me?”
He didn’t smile, but she could hear the amusement in his voice when he said, “I’ve never been more serious in my life. I may not fit in your world right now, but I want to try.”
Throwing her arms around his neck, she yanked him down so her lips hovered against his. “Honey, you already made my world a better place.”
That tempting mouth curved into a suggestive smile. “Is that a yes?”
“That’s a hooyah, hell yes.”
“That’s my girl!”
“For always and forever.”
Epilogue
This was a big day for the Everrett family. Billy, the eldest son, had married the perfect woman for him. Kathleen had actually talked her miserly boss into giving her time off to attend the wedding. And Emily, the youngest of the Everrett clan, had just gotten herself engaged to one of the nicest men Ava had met in a very long time.
“Have you ever seen two happier people?” Smiling, Maile Everrett kept her eyes on the dais.
“Which one?” From the moment Ava Everrett had landed in Kona three days ago for the final prewedding festivities, she’d seen nothing but smiling, happy, giddy and downright sappy people. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she’d fallen into one of those weird movies where every day was truly paradise. Until some stinker broke open the lie and let reality in. Gotta love the world’s assholes.
“Why your brother and sister, of course.”
“Then you mean four happier people.” She’d already had the pleasure of watching her brother, Billy, and his now wife, Angela, together on Ava’s last trip home. And she couldn’t agree with her mother more. They were certainly meant to be together. And now it looked like her sister Emily, the baby of the Everrett siblings, was on the same path.
Only having met Doug a few days ago, Ava had already heard plenty of good things about him. Besides having risked his life to save her brother, according to Billy, Doug and the rest of the
team walked on water.
“Oh, look. They’re getting ready to cut the cake,” her mother said excitedly.
“You run along, Mom. I can see from here.”
With a curt nod Maile trotted off. Not that Ava begrudged her brother a happy cake-cutting day, but she wasn’t in a much of a “happily ever after” mood.
“So who’s Mom trying to set you up with this time?” Emily sidled up by her sister.
“No one yet.”
“She doesn’t know you dumped the creep?”
“He wasn’t a creep.” Well, maybe he was. She had just taken too long to notice. “And, no, I haven’t had the chance to mention it.”
“Does she know you’re thinking of moving home?”
Ava shook her head. She still hadn’t completely made up her mind between Kona and San Francisco where her sister Kathleen lived. “Thought I’d wait a bit more to share that happy news.”
“What happy news?” Grinning like a Super Bowl champion, Doug looped an arm around her sister’s middle.
The electricity between then was palpable. And if Ava was honest with herself, she was just a teensy bit jealous. But she’d learned the hard way that too many men wanted someone to cook and clean and coddle them. Not a busy career woman. “Have you picked a wedding date yet?”
“Sort of,” Emily answered. “Next summer. We want time for a long honeymoon.”
“Very long,” Doug corrected.
Just then the crowd cheered.
Ava looked over in time to see Angela wiping smeared cake from Billy’s face and best man, Nick Harper, laughing like a loon beside him. Nick’s wife was a lawyer, Angela a realtor, and Emily a schoolteacher with a master’s degree.
Maybe the mistake Ava had made all these years was not paying more attention to those handsome navy buddies who’d always come home for a little R & R with her brother. Watching everyone else so happy with their newfound mates, Ava had to wonder if maybe Billy didn’t have a few more friends left.
From the Author
I hope you enjoyed Dive Into You. From the moment Doug ran his fingers across the new boat, Island Girl, I knew he had a story to tell. I discovered a few surprises along the way but the skydiving side of this swashbuckler was the most fun to explore.
Dive Into You Page 19
