by Marie Force
“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 p
arents 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.”
“You haven’t forgotten one minute of it.”
“Tell me anyway.”
Sighing with pleasure at the memory of their wedding day, she said, “It was snowing, like today, and my parents were worried that people wouldn’t be able to get there. I didn’t care if anyone was there, as long as you were.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. One of the roughest rides I’ve ever had on a ferry was the day before our wedding.”
“Yes! You were still gray around the edges when you got to my house.”
“Closest I ever came to getting sick. I thought we were going to roll over for sure. They warned us it was going to be a rough one, but no way was I missing that boat. Not after losing my mind over you for six long months.”
“I was so happy to see you. I felt like we’d survived some sort of epic challenge by then.”
“We had.”
“We were awfully silly and dramatic, when you think about it now.”
“We were crazy in love. Nothing silly or dramatic about that.”
“Anyway, we had the rehearsal dinner that night at your parents’ house and then the wedding the next morning. I was so nervous and excited and…”
“And what?”
“Overjoyed. I’d never wanted anything in my short life more than I wanted to be married to you.”
“Forty years later, and I still love to hear you say that.”
“It’s still as true today as it was the day we said ‘I do.’”
“For me, too.” He kissed her softly and gazed into those spectacular eyes that had captivated him the first day he saw her and every day since.
“The wedding is a blur to me,” she said. “I remember bits and pieces of it, walking into the church on the arm of my dad and seeing you standing there with Frankie and Kev, waiting for me. You were so handsome. My friends were all jealous that I’d landed such a stud.”
“A stud,” he said with a bark of laughter. “Right.”
“You were—and are—a stud, compared to their husbands.”
“Why, thank you, honey. And you are as sexy and gorgeous as you were the day I married you.”
“Sure I am,” she said, patting his head indulgently. “Five children later, my red bikini days are far behind me.”
“You could rock that bikini today the same way you did then.”
“No, I couldn’t,” she said, laughing. “And before you ask, I’m not putting it on for you.”
He bit down on her earlobe. “I could get you to do it.”
“Yes, you probably could, but it would be terribly disappointing compared to the first time I wore it for you.”
“Never. Now tell me the rest of our wedding story. You’re just getting to the good part.”
“The ‘I dos’ weren’t the good part?”
“Nope. That was the legal part. The good part came later.”
“It certainly did.”
After a lovely reception in a ballroom at the Biltmore Hotel, Mac’s parents had surprised them with a room in the hotel for their wedding night.
“We actually get to stay here?” Linda had whispered to him after his parents gave him their generous gift.
“You bet we do.” He pushed the button for the sixth floor and then held out his arms to her. “Most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m the only bride you’ve ever seen.”
“That’s not true. I’ve been to a few weddings in my time, and none of the brides were anywhere near as sexy as mine is. In fact, a few of them were downright horse-faced.”
“Stop it,” she said, laughing. “They were not.”
“Compared to you, everyone is.”
“You’ve already got a ring on my finger. You can probably dial the charm down a notch now.”
“I’ve got to make sure you don’t leave me when you get a better offer. I’ll never dial it down.”
“And I’ll never get a better offer.” She laid her hands flat on his chest, like she had that first day on the island, and looked up at him. “Did I mention how hot you look in a tux? My bridesmaids were drooling over you and Frank today.”
“Let them drool.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I got the girl. My girl. The only one I’ll ever want.”
“Ever is a really long time.”
“Counting on it, babe.” The elevator deposited them on the sixth floor, and Mac used the key his mother had given him to open the door. “Wait,” he said when she would’ve proceeded into the room. “Traditions must be followed tonight, Mrs. McCarthy.”
“Mrs. McCarthy,” she said with a sigh. “I have to be dreaming.”
“You’re wide awake, and I plan to keep you that way all night long.”
“All night?”
“After waiting six months, all night.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her across the threshold into a modest but lovely hotel room, the focal point of which was a massive king-size bed. The hotel door clicked shut behind them, echoing loudly in the room.
They were finally alone. They were finally married. They finally had forever to spend together, and Linda was breathless with anticipation for every minute she would get to spend with him. It had been just over six months since the first time she’d laid eyes on him, but it seemed like they’d been waiting forever for this moment.
He started at her with those sexy blue eyes that made her melt from the inside. “Mac?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you feel like our parents are going to show up any second and tell us we’re not really allowed to be in this room by ourselves?”
“Yeah, kinda,” he said with a smile that did even crazier things to her insides than his eyes did. He was so gorgeous and all hers. “But they’re not gonna show up, and we’re most definitely and legally allowed to be here alone.” Raising her left hand to his lips, he kissed the simple gold band he’d put on her finger earlier in the day. “Someday I’ll give you a proper engagement ring, too.”
“I don’t need that.”
“You’re getting it anyway.”
“If you say so.”
“I
do, and I’m the husband, so I’m in charge.”
She raised an eyebrow to challenge that outrageous statement. “Is that how you think it’s going to be?”
“Nah, I already know who the boss of this family will be.”
“You’re damned right about that, and don’t you forget it.”
“Order me to make love to my wife, will you please?”
“Mac, make love to your wife right now.”
“There’s nothing I’d rather do. Not one thing in this entire world.”
“Me either.”
“How do I get you out of this lovely dress?”
“There’s a zipper under all those buttons on the back.”
“Oh, thank God. I thought I’d have to undo them. I’ve been worried about that since our first dance when I felt how many there were.”
“Would I do that to you?”
“I really hope you’ll never be that cruel to me.” After releasing the hook at her neckline, he drew the zipper down slowly, seeming to draw out the moment.
She trembled with anticipation and desire and a tiny bit of fear. He was so much bigger than her.
“Why did you just get tense?”
“Did I?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m… I’m nervous.”
He turned her to face him. “Why?”
“What if I’m no good at this?”
“Linda,” he said, smiling. “You’ll be perfect because you’re perfect for me. I can’t begin to tell you how much I love you. No matter what happens, it’ll be special because it’s you and me.”
“I’m glad that at least one of us has done this before.”
“And I wish I’d waited for you, but I don’t believe in having regrets. Our life together officially began today, and it’s going to be great. How can it not be when I’ve gone freaking crazy wanting you for months now?”
“I want to be what you need.”
“You already are. You’re everything I need and so much more than I ever expected to find.” As he spoke, he moved his hands across her shoulders to remove her dress, which fell into a cloud of silk at her feet. He held her hand while she stepped out of it, and then he bent to retrieve the dress, laying it over a chair.
He did a double take when he saw the sexy corset she’d worn under her wedding dress. It did spectacular things for her breasts and cinched in her waist, accentuating the flare of her hips. His gaze traveled down to the garter belt and silk stockings.
