Exclusive / a Touch of Heaven

by Samantha Chase

  “What about dinner?” she whispered breathlessly.

  “It can wait,” he growled as he kicked off his jeans and dove under the sheets with her.

  * * *

  Taylor was positively boneless by the time Mike left to go up on deck, yet she felt energized. Her life was spinning out of control in the most amazing way and oddly enough, she felt motivated to get some writing done for the article. She climbed from the bed and walked to the room she originally thought she’d be staying in and grabbed her laptop. Did she go back to the room she and Mike had shared or stay here in the one with her stuff?

  Thinking of how she’d spent the last several hours, she opted to go back to Mike’s room.

  Sitting down on the bed, she began typing notes on the weekend thus far: her anticipation about meeting Jonathan Wade, his farm, the house, and now the boat. Could she even call it a boat? She wrote about the two different towns he resided in—one was coastal and touristy while the other was small, quiet, and isolated. Even with all of this information, it wasn’t possible to form an opinion or a vision of the man himself.

  The wait was killing her, even though being with Mike was an extremely pleasant distraction. The thought of the way they had spent the last several hours made her sigh. How could she have been so blindly in love with Eddie when Mike had been right there?

  It was too late to think about all that could have been. She needed to focus on the here and now. Looking at her watch, she realized a little more than an hour had passed since Mike had gone up on deck. While he had said he’d come back and get her, Taylor missed being in his company. Putting her laptop and notes away, she freshened her hair and makeup and ran up on deck to look for him. She spotted him at the bow, talking to the captain. The two men appeared familiar with one another and seemed to be sharing a joke.

  Mike looked extremely handsome, especially when he smiled. He always seemed to be relaxed, but his smile could thaw an iceberg, Taylor thought. He was dressed in black jeans, as she was, but had changed out of the thermal and flannel from earlier into a deep maroon sweater and his standard work boots. Very rugged. Very masculine. As she was standing there admiring his form, he looked down and saw her. Taylor gave a slight wave and he immediately started for her.

  “I didn’t want to disturb you,” he said as he climbed down the small flight of stairs. “Did you get some rest?”

  “No. I did some work.” At his frustrated expression, she began to laugh. “I told you! I need to work. I don’t do vacations. Like, ever.” She could tell he wasn’t amused. “I’m a single woman who lives in one of the most expensive cities in the world with no means of income other than my writing. If I don’t work, I don’t eat.” She shrugged and tried to make light of it, but his frown didn’t ease. “So…what’s for dinner?” Maybe a change of subject would work.

  As if on cue, one of the crewmen came out to announce that everything was set up for dinner. Mike thanked him and then without a word took Taylor by the hand and led her inside to a table with an open view of the entire back of the boat, where he held out a seat for her before taking his own. There was a traditional clambake waiting for them, complete with lobster, mussels, crabs, steamers, corn on the cob, and potatoes. Taylor was overwhelmed. On her salary, she didn’t eat this much seafood in a year, let alone in one sitting!

  “I could get used to this,” she joked midway through the meal. “So, did your boss ask you to dazzle me with all of my favorite foods so I wouldn’t whine so much about having to wait to meet him?”

  Mike chuckled. “No. He’s not that devious. The food was my idea. I thought it would be nice to have a traditional coastal dinner while out on the boat.”

  “Well, you thought correctly,” she said with a smile, happy to see him relaxing again.

  “And for the record,” he said with a grin, “I don’t think I should have to dazzle you with food to keep you from whining.”

  She blushed. “Do you have any idea how frustrating this assignment is?” She was hoping that yet another change of topic would distract him. The last thing she wanted was to crawl across the table and throw herself at him, which was a very real possibility if he kept looking at her like he was now.

  “You’re not very patient, are you?”

  “Nope,” she replied with an impish grin. “I’m used to knowing what I have to do and getting it done.” They continued to eat for several minutes and as dinner wound down, she began to ask him questions that she actually could use for the interview—what it was like working on the farm and his apparent managing of all things Wade. His answers were always short and to the point and he didn’t elaborate much on anything.

  Time for a different approach.

  “What initially brought you up here, Mike?” Taylor realized he had never told her how his life up here had begun and what it was that made him leave New York.

  “It’s a long story, Taylor, and not one I’m prepared to talk about with you.” He wasn’t being nasty, but his tone left no room for argument. Taylor clammed up immediately and ate the remainder of her meal in silence. It wasn’t that hard to do, because the view off the back of the boat was enough to keep her captivated. Other boats out on the water were getting closer to land, so there was enough to keep her attention diverted from Mike.

  When the crewmen appeared to clear the table and offer dessert, she declined. Mike waved them off, but made no attempt at conversation after shutting her out of her last question. With nothing left to do, Taylor rose and walked toward the back deck. The breeze off the water was cold now that the sun was down and she shivered.

  Silently, Mike came up beside her and looked out at the water with her. “I’m sorry,” he said as he continued to stare forward and not at her. “I didn’t mean to sound so rude earlier. I’m just not comfortable talking about my past with anyone. Can you understand that?”

  “I suppose,” she sighed. “It’s just…I’m here waiting to interview someone who doesn’t seem overly anxious to talk with me, and then I’m sitting here having dinner with someone who doesn’t want to talk either. In my position, where talking and interviewing are my life, it’s extremely frustrating.”

  He couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess I didn’t look at it like that.” He moved closer and put his arm around her to keep her warm, and then took her by the hand and led her around to the front of the boat.

  “What are we doing?”

  “There’s a blanket on the bench up here, and I think you’ll enjoy the view as we pull into the marina.” They reached the bench, tucked away under the upper deck where the captain and the crew members now were. They were out of sight and, as they settled in with the blanket wrapped around them, Taylor felt like they had gotten something back that they almost lost earlier.

  “This is nice,” she said quietly, resting her head on his shoulder. The truth was that it was beyond nice. Even if she didn’t factor in how romantic it was to be here like this with Mike, the entire experience was something she’d never forget. Her legs were curled up at her side and she slipped her shoes off for more comfort. Mike’s arms were around her and the movement of the boat on the water was almost lulling. She shifted slightly to get more comfortable and was content to watch the shoreline coming into view.

  “When I turned nineteen,” Mike began slowly, seemingly out of nowhere, “I saw how my life was going nowhere.” Taylor desperately wanted to raise her head and look at him, but she knew he was answering the question he had refused earlier. “I had been in trouble for so many years, and I knew I had to change or my life would be ruined forever.”

  She hadn’t known him at nineteen. It wasn’t until several years later that they had met.

  “Because of my own rebellious attitude, I’d done a lot of stupid things. I was several years older than most of the people I hung out with, mainly because I had been left back in school so many times.” He paused for a moment. “Di
d you realize that I’m four years older than you?” Taylor shook her head. She had known he was a little older, but she never would have guessed how much.

  “Anyway, it took a while for me to actually get my shit together and to realize I was going to have to break some patterns of behavior and step away from the people I had been associating with.” He didn’t have to name names; Taylor knew who he was referring to. “I took a job in the mailroom of a publishing house in Manhattan about five years ago, and that’s where I came to know Wade.” When he didn’t continue, Taylor began to put it all together. He and Wade had somehow become friends and when Wade moved to Maine, he offered Mike a job with him, managing his properties because he saw potential in Mike that no one else had bothered to see.

  She wrapped her arm across his chest and hugged him tightly before placing a soft kiss on his chest. He stiffened for a moment before relaxing again. “Was it Jonathan Wade who brought you up here to Maine?” she asked softly.

  “Yes.” No more was said on the subject and they leaned into one another for several minutes. Taylor loved the feel of being wrapped in Mike’s arms, and between his warmth and the sounds of the water, she felt more at ease than she ever had before in her life.

  Wordlessly, she turned and straddled his lap before taking his face in her hands and kissing him. It was an impulsive move, yet she couldn’t have waited another moment to kiss him if her life depended on it. His hands grabbed her hips and pulled her snugly against his already-growing hardness, and Taylor couldn’t help but sigh at the feel of it.

  With the blanket and overhang for cover, she felt bold. She felt naughty. No one could see them. As if sensing her thoughts, one of Mike’s hands came up and cupped the back of her head as he deepened the kiss. His tongue stroked hers and he moaned with pleasure as she began to rock against him. Taylor had never been sexually aggressive, and yet something about Mike brought out that side of her.

  Slowly, rhythmically, Mike rocked up into her. Tearing his mouth from hers, he whispered her name and nipped at the column of her throat. “In a perfect world, I’d be inside of you right now, under the stars, in the moonlight.” He licked a trail up to her earlobe. “I want to strip you bare and make love to you.”

  Now it was her turn to moan. The thought of doing exactly what he said was more tempting than she’d ever thought possible, and when she reached between them and grasped at the button-fly of his jeans, one strong hand clamped over hers to stop her. She raised her head, her breathing ragged, and looked at him with confusion.

  “We’re not alone,” he said, his voice gruff, his frustration evident. “There’s no way I’m going to compromise you and risk having anyone see what we’re doing.” He rested his forehead against hers for a moment. “Wrap your legs around me, sweetheart.” She obeyed and as soon as her ankles locked behind his back, he stood. One hand cupped her bottom and secured her to him while the other held the blanket in place.

  “What are we doing?” she asked, dazed and more than a little turned on.

  “We’re spending the night on the boat and I plan for our night to begin right now.”

  As he carried her, Taylor looked up to where the crew was standing on the top deck. “What about them? Won’t they need to talk to you once we dock?”

  He shook his head. “Once we dock and the boat is secured, they are off the clock. They’ll leave, and then we’ll have the whole place to ourselves.” Images of the two of them naked up on deck ran through Taylor’s mind and some of those thoughts must have been transparent enough for Mike to know what she was thinking. “Still too risky,” he said as he maneuvered them through the open doors at the back of the boat, through the dining area, and down the stairs to the stateroom.

  Inside, he set her down on the bed before pulling the blanket away. With her hair fanned out around her and her arms thrown back in surrender, she watched him and waited. His expression was dark, possessive, and it thrilled her. She wished he would move—join her on the bed and finish what they started.

  “Mike?” she whispered hesitantly.

  “Someday, Taylor…” he began in a low voice. “Someday we will do that. We’ll go out on the water alone, the two of us, and then I’ll spend hours loving you under the sun, the moon, and the stars. I promise.”

  She wasn’t going to question how he was going to get the boat out again. It wasn’t important. The imagery, the intent, and the emotion in his voice was quickly sending her up in flames. “I don’t need the sun or the moon or the stars right now,” she said, her eyes never leaving his.

  “What do you need?”

  “You,” she whispered. “Just you.”

  Control be damned.

  Chapter 7

  Morning came way too soon as far as Taylor was concerned. She had spent the night in Mike’s arms and it was a glorious feeling. They had made love more times than she could have imagined. And now that it was Monday, she felt a sense of disappointment she hadn’t felt in a long time. She wasn’t ready for the weekend to be over—or for reality to set in. For almost twenty-four hours she and Mike had existed in a world of their own, and no matter how much she wanted to do this interview with his boss, she was slowly coming to realize that she wanted the time with Mike more.

  Turning her head slightly, she looked at him as he slept. Who would have thought that the boy she once knew would turn into this incredibly sexy man who seemed to find great joy in entertaining and pleasing her? He seemed to know more about her than he had ever let on. Was she that transparent? Taylor hadn’t spent a whole lot of time alone with him all those years ago, and even Eddie wasn’t aware of who she was back then.

  No, back then she was a girl of eighteen. Her head was full of dreams that she didn’t share with anyone because she didn’t have the confidence to do so. Eddie only knew the side of her that had wanted to be a wife and mother. He never knew her dreams of being a journalist, or of leaving New York altogether. All of their plans back then had been focused on his future. Looking back, she realized how sad it would have made her. Maybe now she could finally let go of the feeling of betrayal and focus on the man lying beside her who seemed genuinely interested in knowing who she was and giving her what she wanted.

  She jumped when the alarm went off at eight o’clock. Mike stirred beside her and reached out to shut it off. Without missing a beat, he rolled over and tucked Taylor beneath him, kissing her until they both were breathless. “Good morning.”

  Unable to help herself, she smiled against his lips. “Good morning. I didn’t realize you had set the alarm.”

  “I wanted us to have time to get up and have some breakfast before heading over to pick up the bikes. We can do the tour at our own pace, but I reserved the bikes for eleven o’clock. Will that be enough time, do you think?” Taylor thought about it for a moment and then her expression changed, fell. “What?” he asked as he sat up, alarmed by the look on her face. “What’s the matter?”

  “I had no idea you had planned something like this, and I didn’t pack for a bike ride.” She was sure her disappointment was palpable, and she hated that she was going to miss out on something as wonderful as this over a change of clothes.

  “Is that all?” he asked.

  “I don’t think you understand. I can’t go for a bike ride in boots with heels, trust me.”

  Mike rolled his eyes. “Seems to me if your love of biking is all you say it is, something like boots wouldn’t stop you.” He was challenging her and he loved the immediate spark his words put in her eyes.

  “It’s not that,” she said and swatted playfully at him. “I prefer to be comfortable when I’m biking.”

  “So, we’ll go shopping. There. Problem solved.”

  How could she possibly even begin to tell him that her life wasn’t as simple as that? How she couldn’t go into a store and buy herself new pants, shirt, and sneakers on her small salary? She budgeted every penny a
nd while there were some things she could do, an entire outfit wasn’t one of them right now. “Mike,” she began and was surprised when he placed a finger over her lips.

  “Shh… We’ll eat some breakfast and then drive into town to shop.” When she began to protest again, he pressed his finger a little more firmly against her lips. “Consider it a gift. I should have told you what I had planned so you could be better prepared.”

  “I can’t—”

  “A gift. You’re supposed to say thank you,” he teased and placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose.

  It was pointless to keep arguing with him, she realized, and instead raked her fingers into his hair and pulled his lips down to hers for a more thorough kiss. When they finally resurfaced, they were both breathing hard. “Thank you,” she whispered and gave him a sexy smile, hoping to entice him into staying in bed a little longer. For a minute, she thought she had as his body seemed to relax against hers, but at the last moment, he pulled back.

  “As much as I want to spend the day in here with you like this, I think it would be wiser to get up and go on that bike tour.” His tone lacked any real enthusiasm. “I do have some things that need to be handled back at the farm early tomorrow morning, so we’ll have to head back tonight.”

  Taylor wanted to be disappointed, but Mike had already given her so much that she couldn’t. The reality of it all was that she was here to do a job, an interview. This new development should be a perk, but the more time she and Mike spent together, the less interested she became in the interview with Jonathan Wade. Knowing her boss would kill her if she didn’t follow through and finish what she came her for, Taylor would do the interview—it was just that her enthusiasm was no longer directed at Wade and was instead fully directed at the sexy man getting up from the bed.