With the heartfelt speech concluding to a roar of approval from the crowd, and a supporting ovation from the Governor, Briana nodded politely and hastened down the steps. As if her departure was a silent cue for an intermission, the mass began to disassemble and the mayor was maneuvered into a small clique of zealots.
Regal in the skirt that contoured her body and the dissolved knot of hair torn loose to waft a halo about her shoulders, Briana approached him with an explicit quirk of the lips. He returned that smirk and thought that Keo would roar with laughter at the completely smitten expression that had to be stamped on his face.
There were associates politely trying to draw Briana’s attention, developers interested in a piece of the project she painted such vivid depictions of for the big island. But they all could wait.
Breathless, she approached him and whispered, “Hi.”
Nick cocked an eyebrow. “Nice speech.”
“My knees are still shaking.”
“You weren’t nervous.” He shook his head. “You were speaking from the gut, Briana. You knew what the hell you were talking about. That’s more than a lot of people here could claim.”
***
Pleased with the compliment, but even more enchanted with the way his eyes stroked her, Briana wavered when that gaze clouded over and his jaw tensed.
He is looking past me.
Briana automatically turned to follow his glance, only to discover the woman in the silver sunhat draw near. Her face was concealed beneath the drooping brim, and only red polished lips were visible. Berating her envy of the stylish dress and elegant grace with which the woman carried herself, Briana felt her stomach clench when the head tipped up and she recognized the olive skin and hypnotic eyes.
“Meleana.” Nick confirmed stiffly.
“Nicolas, what a pleasant surprise.” Bourbon eyes skimmed over Briana and then landed with a purr on Nick. “You’re looking good, but you always did.”
***
If you dig broken men with barely a breath left in them, Nick thought. “And time has not changed you much either.”
A flicker of uncertainty passed beneath the brim of Meleana’s hat as she debated whether that was an insult. “It’s only been a little over a year. My God, Nicolas, I couldn’t age that quickly.”
“The Governor, Meleana?” His head nodded towards the stage. “You’ve certainly set your goals haven’t you?”
Meleana delivered a complacent smile. “Tom was not a goal, Nick. It just happened.”
My ass. “Well, things just happen I suppose. Meleana, have you met Briana Holt?”
Forced to acknowledge Brianna, Meleana pursed her lips in a caricature of a smile.
“Ah yes, Walter Davis’s little helper. Great party you put together here—although it could use, I don’t know, maybe a band, a string quartet—some music definitely.”
Nick could see the blood flush Briana’s cheeks, but her voice remained composed.
“As this was more of an event to demonstrate the natural assets of this development, I didn’t feel music was appropriate. But when all the lots are completed there probably will be another celebration, and surely then we’ll want entertainment. I’d appreciate any recommendations you may have, Miss—?”
“Kane,” Meleana replied subdued.
Nick grinned and gained newfound respect for Briana. Meleana was basically being a bitch, and Briana did not succumb. His arm wound around her shoulder and he dipped to lance a kiss at the base of her ear. Briana jolted, but quickly settled back against him.
“I see you’ve wasted no time after our little breakup, hmmm Nicolas?”
***
Briana wondered if everything was little to Meleana. Little helper. Little breakup. Unconsciously, Briana’s glance scaled down Nick’s body, lingering on some of her favorite parts. Everything was definitely not little where he was concerned.
Nick caught that intimate inspection and whispered against the spot he had just kissed. “Don’t look at me like that. Do you want me to make a spectacle of myself and take you right here?”
Before she could close her dropped jaw, Nick cleared his throat and straightened to address his ex.
“If I had met Briana sooner I wouldn’t have wasted as much time as I did. Funny enough, I don’t stand to gain any social status from being with her—any professional influence—” His fingers clenched on Briana’s arm just beneath the healing scratch. He sought her gaze and uttered huskily, “I’m with Briana because I’m in love with her.”
Heedless of the crowd around her, or the reproachful gaze of the tall brunette—aware only of the soft din of the trade winds and Nick, Briana felt numb. An awed smile lingered just below the surface as she whispered, “You are?”
“Come on.” His hand slid down her arm until his fingers entwined with hers. “I think we better go have that talk. “
Reluctantly he lifted his head to acknowledge Meleana, and added, “—in private.”
“So that was Meleana? Beautiful woman.”
“Do I sense a flash of jealousy in those gorgeous eyes, Bree?”
“More than a flash,” she replied, thinking of the stunning female who oozed elegance that she would never possess.
They crossed the verdant commons, ignorant of the fact that their feet were soaked from grass generously dosed by the sprinklers this morning. Nick stopped her with his hand. “You’re not serious I hope.”
The light touch of his fingers broke Briana’s stride. Am I serious? Too often in life she had chosen anxiety over assertion, but today, standing in the emerald epicenter of her goals, there was a bubbling sense of confidence that was uniquely gratifying. Jealous? Perhaps. Insecure? Definitely not.
Briana wanted Manale Palms to be a success, and glancing at the faces in the crowd today she realized that she had made it happen. Reaching for Nick’s hand she folded his fingers inside her own, and recognized that she wanted Nick McCord even more.
Confidence and love deepened her voice as she murmured, “I have to show you something in the model.”
A knowing quirk of his lip made her chuckle.
“What are you looking so smug for, McCord?”
“I’m going to make love to you in your beautiful model, Holt.”
With forced affront she put her hands on her hips. “You most certainly are not. We’re just going to have a talk.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I mean it, Nick. I’ve got to get back out there and solicit some new projects—”
Nick cupped Briana’s arm and guided her down the elbow-shaped sidewalk. “I’m afraid my stamina today isn’t up to par, I’ll only keep you for an hour.”
Conjuring an image of being in bed with Nick for an hour had Briana fanning her flushed face with a brochure. She ignored his goading grin and paused with her hand on the doorknob. The reason for his lack of stamina hit her as if one of the nearby concrete trucks had dumped its contents on her.
“What’s going to happen to them, Nick?”
***
Nick leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb and touched the spot on his abdomen where a piece of debris had pierced the skin. The corner of his mouth hefted as he recalled Briana arguing with the paramedics, that they weren’t working on him fast enough. All he could remember was her soft fingers replacing their clinical touch to sooth and heal better than any ointment.
“Most of them aren’t even citizens, they’ll be deported.”
“Chavez?”
“He will eventually be extradited, but not until he’s answered to several governments.” Nick met her eyes. “He murdered that boy in Acapulco—the relative of the Francisco crewmember.”
“Oh God,” Briana hugged her stomach and stumbled into the foyer.
When the door closed behind them, Briana keyed in the alarm and reached down to peel off her pumps. With a sigh, she slouched back against the wall and stared down at her bare toes.
“Nick, I’ve been going through the motions today�
��because if I stop, if I hesitate for even a second I’ll remember what happened last night.” She rubbed her forehead. “As long as I keep moving, I can dupe myself into thinking of it as a nightmare, and that it never really happened.”
Briana stepped forward and touched Nick’s shirt to inspect the wound. Tremulous fingers brushed the clean white fabric and felt the strength concealed behind it. Today the shirt was white, yesterday she saw blood. She closed her eyes to the disturbing image and dropped her hand to her side.
“You’re safe, Briana. I’m safe. Our friends weren’t hurt.” Nick moved in close to grip her shoulders. “It was a terrible tragedy, but you have survived greater horrors than that.”
“But Joy—” she started bleakly.
“Joy was troubled. She shouldn’t have died. I tried, baby, I tried.”
“Nick, my God I’m not saying that you didn’t.”
“I know.” Nick reached and cradled her chin in his palm. “All that mattered to me—” his voice turned husky. “If I had lost you, Briana—”
She silenced his anguish with a light touch of her fingers and rendered a heartfelt smile.
***
Nick searched the soft curve of lips, the sweep of high cheekbones, and the almond-shaped eyes that shifted colors with the tide. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he commanded softly.
In an earnest whisper she responded, “I’m thinking how much I love you.”
Until this moment, he didn’t realize how badly he wanted to hear Briana say those words. It had been there, in her eyes and the tender way she looked at him, making him feel cherished. But this—Briana—was something missing from his life. And now he would hold fast to it.
“Say that again.”
“I love you.” Her smile was serene.
His hands slid from her cheeks to immerse in her hair, as he tipped her head to kiss her. Tenderly, his lips grazed hers, an airy brush that made them both yearn for more.
“Again,” he uttered huskily.
“I love you, Nicolas McC—” Her declaration was severed when his mouth seared hers. He hauled her body up against him, nearly lifting her off the ground. Sleek and supple conformed to hard and determined. Briana’s lips parted wider to welcome him in.
In this fevered exchange, there were no boundaries—no inhibitions.
Nick felt the brush of her fingers as they slipped into his collar, spreading it wide enough for the soft tip of her tongue to graze his skin. God, it was such blissful torture. In a battle of control that he was slowly losing, he reached to the back of her skirt and hauled the silky blouse from the waistband. His palm rhythmically circling the base of her spine, goading her forward, closer into his body until she was arched in such a manner that clothes were no longer a barrier.
“You were going to give me a tour of your model,” he murmured against her mouth. “How about showing me the bedroom.”
Briana had already released three buttons on his shirt and was feasting with her hands, caressing the muscles, flexing her fingers in the dusting of curls. “That’s so far away—I—I don’t think I can make it.”
“You’ll make it.”
With little effort, he dipped and hauled her up into his arms and smiled down at her. “You’re going to be late for your meeting, Ms. Holt.”
Clutching his neck, Briana managed a demure expression. “You mean you think you can last longer than an hour?”
“What do you think?”
She trembled in his grasp. “I think I’m going to be late for my meeting.”
They reached the top of the stairs, with Nick remarking about the décor in between kisses. “Lovely,”
“Hmmm,”
“The use of colors in here is lovely.”
Of course, with his face tucked into the warm nook of her shoulder and throat, he couldn’t give a damn about the colors or décor. And when her head tipped back to offer him better access, he had to stop on the landing and feast on that gift. With three abrupt strides he was in the bedroom. He didn’t notice the soft champagne carpet and white wicker furniture, or the sliding glass doors that offered a view of the ocean beyond feathered coconut palms.
Instead, he focused on Briana as he gently lowered her to the mattress and immediately reached for the silken blouse, drawing it over her head. He sank to the edge of the bed, and for a moment just indulged in the view. With a catch in his breath, he met Briana’s gaze.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“Hey, yourself.”
“What are we going to do about this?”
Did she feel the same? Did she feel that this was forever?
Cautious, she replied, “I don’t know.”
Drawing in a deep breath, he took the plunge.
“Would you consider marrying me some day?”
Briana’s heart thumped so erratically she was certain that Nick could see it on her naked chest.
“I might,” she whispered.
Each sat in a silent face-off, their eyes locked, their breathing suspended. His were dark and solemn. In a hoarse voice, he declared, “I love you.”
Briana felt something break inside her. A tiny dam secreted away. Now breathing seemed to come much easier. So did the tears. “Nick, yes.”
“Yes you love me—or yes you’ll marry me?”
“Everything.” She drew him down, and rode the wave that would carry them home.
EPILOGUE
“I’ve got a half hour right?”
“You know I hate it when you go down there, don’t you?”
“You could come join me.” Nick grinned, hanging off the stern of his 31’ Bertram. It was a sleek white craft, previously neglected, but now flourishing under their newfound hobby.
Tempted by his smug expression, Briana deliberated. “I’m still testing the waters, so to speak. Besides, you need my guidance from above.”
She turned to confirm this by studying the radar panel and caught a glint of sun flashing off the gold band on her left hand. She extended her fingers and smiled down at the ring, jolting when Nick goaded from behind.
“Stop daydreaming about our wedding and tell me if I should dive down here.”
“Well, it looks promising—more so than where we put in yesterday.”
“We?”
“You, okay, you. If you keep antagonizing me like that I’m just going to have to show you how it’s done myself.”
“Anytime, honey.”
A breeze caught her hair and lashed it across her face, concealing her grin. Nick’s teasing was just that. She knew that he was proud of her, and that after everything she had been through, she trusted him enough to come out on the water.
Someday, under his protective eye he would entice her into the ocean, but only when she was ready. Until then, just the fact that they were together was all that mattered.
That they were together and working on a mutual project was all the more stimulating.
Briana tried to lure him back aboard with the promise of a kiss, but Nick fought the temptation with conversation.
“What are your two lovebirds up to today?” he asked, seemingly reluctant to dive and leave her just yet.
“We’re looking for treasure, remember?”
“Not us,” he snorted.
“I think Kathy dragged Naoki to the North Shore. She wants to teach him to surf.”
“Damn, he must be in love.”
“Must be.”
Briana studied Nick. The damp dark waves on his forehead. His tan chest and muscular stomach tucked into white trunks that had her tongue breezing across her upper lip.
“Change your mind,” he must have read her thoughts. “Want to come in?”
“No.” There was that goading smile again. Briana had to look away before she yielded to the bait and nothing was accomplished here today.
“Briana?”
“What?”
“Come here a sec.”
With an exaggerated sigh, she turned back and leaned against the balustrade. N
ick used the strength in his arms to haul him up even with her, and then he gave her a kiss.
Only when his shoulder muscles began to quake did he draw back. After all this time, his kiss could still produce goosebumps on her arms. She didn’t think that would ever change.
“Okay,” Nick let loose a husky chuckle. “Let me go find your galleon.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maureen's illustrious writing career began in the fourth grade with the blockbuster hit, Super Watermelon Man. Many years later, she evolved into a full-fledged Romantic Suspense author with her first novel, WIDOW'S TALE, which was nominated for a Golden Heart by the Romance Writers of America. A fan of the old Gothic romances, Maureen enjoys the formula of danger, romance, dark cliffs, and sinister houses. All these elements can be found in her romantic thriller, ENDLESS NIGHT. Maureen has now branched out into the Young Adult genre with her Science Fiction Romance, BEYOND.
You can find out more about Maureen at www.MaureenAMiller.com
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