by Jackie Lau
“I know a few words. Not much. When we were kids, Dad had to translate when Ngin Ngin talked to us because she barely spoke English then, but now her English is pretty good. We can actually hold conversations, which wasn’t possible before. She lived and worked in Chinatown, and I think my grandfather discouraged her from having an outside life and taking English classes. Perhaps he didn’t want her to be independent. I’m not sure. We don’t talk about that.”
He laced his fingers with hers, and she didn’t pull away.
“Maybe if we’d been on good terms with my father’s family when I was little, I would have been interested in learning Toisanese, but the rare times we went to Toronto to see them, I hated it. It was stiff and uncomfortable, and we had to spend a long time in the car.” She tucked a strand of hair, which had escaped her ponytail, behind her ear. “I wonder if Dad will leave Mosquito Bay now, maybe go to Toronto so he’ll be near Ngin Ngin and Rebecca. And his brother, but they’re not close.” She shook her head. “Maybe Mom will leave, too, if this Bernard guy lives in Toronto. I saw one of his oil paintings at my parents’ house.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He’s a pretty good artist. It’s a wedding present for Rebecca, and Mom was going to lie about where it was from, but I guess that’s not necessary now.” She cracked a wry smile.
He squeezed her shoulder.
“There are some things you don’t think will ever change, you know? I thought my parents would always stay together and live in that house, and I’d always be able to go back to my childhood home. Now I feel kind of...” She turned her head toward the lake. “Unanchored, I guess. But I’ll be fine. Eventually. Dad believes I can cope with anything.”
Connor believed that, too, but he didn’t want her to have to do it alone.
“What’ll we do for the rest of the day?” she asked, her voice a little more upbeat now.
“I made reservations for dinner at six thirty, at a restaurant just out of town.”
“Cardinal’s?”
He nodded. “I thought we could walk there. A long, leisurely walk along the water, followed by a nice dinner.”
She punched him lightly. “That sounds kind of romantic, Connor.”
Yeah, it did.
He liked the idea of a romantic evening with Natalie.
* * *
“My first boyfriend took me here for our two-week anniversary,” Natalie said after the waitress had taken their orders.
Connor experienced a twinge of jealousy for this man who had been with Natalie two decades ago. She’d mentioned her high-school boyfriend before, but they’d broken up before university, before Connor had met her.
“Two-week anniversary?” Connor repeated, reaching for his glass of wine.
She made a face. “Yeah. Gavin was very sweet. It was a big deal to go here for a date back when we were in high school because it’s the most expensive restaurant in Mosquito Bay. Which really isn’t saying much, but when we were seventeen, if a guy took you here, it meant he really liked you. And Gavin did really like me. He even wrote me poetry.”
“Was it any good?”
“Of course not. He was a seventeen-year-old kid in love for the first time. It was awful, though I was touched by the gesture. What about your first girlfriend?”
“Amanda Cooke. We were together for six weeks and two days back in grade ten, and I never wrote her any poetry. We had a lot of frantic, clumsy make-out sessions, until the day I caught her making out with Mikey Galloway behind the portables.”
“I hope you punched him.”
“I didn’t want to get in trouble, so I just slunk away.” He gave Natalie his best puppy-dog face.
She reached over and touched his cheek. “How awful.”
“I was in a foul mood for weeks. I even swore off girls.”
“How long did that last?”
He shrugged. “About a month. Then Mikey Galloway stole that girl away from me, too.”
“Who was this boy? The coolest guy in school?”
“Something like that. He was a real jerk. I think he’s in jail now, and I’m sitting in a lovely restaurant on the water, enjoying wine with a beautiful woman.”
She managed to blush and roll her eyes at the same time. “Oh, Connor, come on.”
“I mean it.”
She regarded him for a moment. “I know.”
She put her hand on his knee and was just starting to trail her fingers upward when their food arrived. She immediately sat back, ramrod straight, as the waitress placed her eggplant parmesan in front of her.
Connor had ordered the perch, fresh from Lake Huron. It was excellent, though maybe that had more to do with the company than anything else.
They tried each other’s food, which made it feel more like a date. He and Natalie wouldn’t normally do that when they went out to dinner together. In Ottawa, they’d usually just go to the bar and maybe order a sandwich and fries along with their beer—nothing fancy.
He wouldn’t put his hand on top of hers, like he was doing now.
And his gaze wouldn’t be drawn to her cleavage.
And they wouldn’t share strawberry panna cotta with Florentine cookies for dessert.
He tried to feed her a bite off his spoon, and she gave him a look.
“Really?” she said. “You want to be that couple?”
“I didn’t think you’d go for it.” But he was pleased she’d referred to them as a couple, though she didn’t seem to be aware of what she’d said. He had a feeling that if she were, she’d cover her mouth and say she didn’t mean it.
“Oh my God. Natalie.” The high-pitched female voice burst through the moment, and a woman in a bright sundress hurried over to their table. She looked about their age.
“Alicia,” Natalie said, her reaction far more restrained.
“It’s so good to see you! It’s been years. You’re in town for your sister’s wedding, I assume? I heard about what happened. Your parents are getting divorced...” Alicia clucked her tongue. “Your mother was always so nice to me. And who’s this? Is he your husband? No, he can’t be—I would have heard if you were married, even though you don’t keep your Facebook profile up to date. Somebody would have told me.”
“This is Connor,” Natalie said, gesturing toward him. “He’s...” Her voice trailed off, and she merely smiled at him.
She didn’t insist he was just a friend, but she didn’t say anything else, either.
“You guys are so cute!” Alicia gushed. “I’ve been married...oh, it’ll be seven years next week, but knowing Marv, he’ll forget our anniversary. We have twins—they’re five years old now. They drive me crazy, so I’m having a girls’ night out with my sisters.” She tilted her head to the other side of the restaurant, toward two women in their thirties. “But I already miss the little dears, even though I desperately need some time away. Do you have children?”
Natalie shook her head. She looked a little stiff.
“We’re getting old, aren’t we? Not much time left. I think I’m good with the twins, but maybe you want more than two. You were always so good with your sister. Anyway, you should come sit with us after you’re done your dessert, and we can catch up some more!”
“Um. It’s been good to see you again, Alicia, but we’ve got plans.”
“Of course you do. You and your handsome man. I’ll leave you to it!” Alicia bent down and gave Natalie a quick hug, which seemed to catch her off guard, before hurrying off.
“Former classmate?” Connor asked, once she was gone.
Natalie nodded. “I run into her every few years, and she always acts like we used to be the closest of friends, but we never were. She’s exhausting. I can take her in five-minute intervals, but if we spend any longer together, I want to hit her over the head with a frying pan.”
“You have quite the violent streak.”
“I know. I’m charming that way.”
“You’re certainly charming, especially when you have panna c
otta on your lip.” He leaned forward. “Want me to lick it off?”
“I’ll do the panna cotta-licking honors myself, thank you.” Her tongue darted out and licked her top lip. That simple action was so erotic, and his spoon froze on the way to his mouth.
The thought of her tongue on his body...
God, he wanted her.
* * *
“So, what are we going to do now?” Natalie asked once they’d left the restaurant. The days were getting longer, and it still wasn’t dark.
“We could drive up and down Main Street a couple dozen times?” Connor suggested.
“Um...”
“Or we could find some more alcohol and get plastered?”
“I can see the appeal, but...”
“We could make some herbal tea back at the bed and breakfast and drink it on the rooftop patio as we compose bad poetry for each other. Would you prefer a sonnet or a limerick?”
She burst into laughter.
He kissed her, the taste of that amazing dessert mingling with the taste of her, Natalie, the woman he wanted so desperately, even though he’d thought of her as just a friend for years. After he’d forced himself to get over his crush back in university, she’d remained firmly in the friend zone, but now, things were changing.
He wrapped his arms around her and murmured, “Or you could spend the night in my bed.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
* * *
When they entered the Ontario room, Connor swung Natalie up into his arms. She shrieked in surprise, and he couldn’t help but smile.
“Careful,” he said. “Seth and Simon might have heard that.”
“Oh my God.” She covered her mouth with her hand as he carried her to the bed. “I can’t believe they heard us last night. Tonight, I’ll be quiet.”
“Is that a challenge?” he asked, depositing her on the mattress.
She laughed. “Dammit, Connor.”
He lay down on top of her and covered her mouth with his, his hands coming up to her cheeks. She tasted so good.
Unlike yesterday, they weren’t in formal clothes. No suit that might get wrinkled, no sexy bridesmaid dress, no curls tumbling down Natalie’s shoulders—rather, her hair was tied up in a simple ponytail.
He slid his hands under her shirt and lifted it over her head. Next, he removed her bra, and then his hands were on her breasts, his thumb flicking over her brownish-pink nipple as she squirmed against him.
“Touch me now,” she said.
He grinned. “I’m already touching you.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Now I’ll just make you wait longer.”
She rolled her eyes, then closed them when he unbuttoned her jeans and slid his hand inside her panties. He ran his finger along her slit, and her body jumped under his. She struggled with the fastening on his pants before slipping her hand inside and wrapping it around his erection.
After stroking him for a minute, she removed his clothing and straddled his waist, rubbing herself against him before taking his cock in her mouth. There was no preamble, no teasing the tip, no sliding her hand up and down first. She simply took him between her lips, as much as she could manage.
He wouldn’t last long with her mouth on him, so he took off the rest of her clothes in a hurry and licked between her legs. She closed a hand over her mouth, struggling to be silent as he ran his tongue around her entrance, then around her clit.
How had they gone so many years without doing this? If he’d known what it would be like with Natalie...
He couldn’t wait any longer to be inside her.
“Connor.” She shoved at his shoulder.
“Yes, darling.” He reached for a condom. “I’m ready.”
She patted the pillow. “Lie down.”
He did as requested and rolled on the condom. She raised herself above him then slowly eased herself down on his cock, until he was fully seated inside her and surrounded by her heat.
My God. She was exquisite.
She moved up and down on him, and he met her stroke for stroke, his hands cupping her ass. When she lowered her chest to his, he pulled her dark hair out of its elastic and released it so it surrounded his face as she kissed him. Her tongue swept inside his mouth.
It was all too much, and yet it was not enough, and yet it was perfect.
She sped up and buried her face in his shoulder as her orgasm rushed over her. Her cries were muffled, but one day, he wanted to do this in his house, where she could be as loud as she wanted.
He rolled them over so she was underneath him, her hair fanned out on the pillow. He took her with slow, deep strokes, and her shaky breathing gratified him.
When he came inside her, he felt completely undone.
Chapter 13
“Let’s go down to the beach,” Natalie said.
Connor pressed a kiss to her temple. “It’s ten o’clock at night.”
Yeah, it was, and they’d just had sex. Natalie didn’t understand why she felt the urge to go to the beach, but she felt oddly spontaneous and happy, and she didn’t want this feeling to end.
She stood up. “Come on. I used to do this when I was a teenager and there was nothing else to do in Mosquito Bay. I think the bed and breakfast provides beach towels.” She went to the closet and pulled two colorful towels down from the top shelf.
“You’re not planning on going swimming, are you?”
She gave him a look. “Of course not. It’s May. The water is frigid.”
They walked down to the beach, and when Connor took her hand, she didn’t pull away. It felt nice. He squeezed, and she squeezed back.
They laid out their beach towels on the sand, several meters from the water, and sat down. It was chillier now that the sun had set. She should have brought a sweater.
But then Connor wrapped his arm around her, and that was enough.
She leaned against him and took a few deep breaths of the clean, crisp air. It was quiet out here, with only the sound of water lapping the shore.
All of the crap that had happened this weekend felt far away. She was with Connor, and everything was okay. He made her feel like it would all turn out in the end.
He’d always done that, she realized, but especially this weekend.
“I miss seeing all the stars when we’re in Ottawa,” she said. “There are never this many in the city, and it’s never this quiet.”
“Do you miss living here?”
“Not really. I never could have stayed. There are moments like this, though, when it’s nice to be in Mosquito Bay. Nice to be away from my regular life.”
Nice to be here with you.
Her thoughts were rather mushy right now, and normally, she’d think they were silly and push them aside, but today, she didn’t bother.
Connor cupped her cheeks in his hands, as though she was precious and delicate, and kissed her mouth softly, tenderly. Again and again, always coming back for more, and she returned the kiss before resting her head on his shoulder.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, and then she jumped up. “Let’s dance again.”
She didn’t know what had come over her, but she’d just go with it.
He smiled at her crookedly in the darkness of the night. He stood, taking one of her hands in his and putting his other hand on her waist.
“Don’t you dare touch my nipple this time,” she said.
“Oh, you mean like this?” He flicked her nipple and grinned at her.
“Connor.”
“Natalie.”
They moved back and forth together. Then he let go of her waist and spun her in a circle with his other hand, and she laughed in a way she almost never laughed. Like there was nothing holding her back.
When he turned her in a circle for the second time, she tripped in the sand, but he caught her before she could fall and brought her up for another kiss.
“I guess you can’t handle my fancy moves,” he said as they returned to
stepping back and forth.
“It was hardly a fancy move.” She let go of his shoulder and swatted his chest. “The sand is uneven, that’s all, and now I have sand in my shoes.”
She was just wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and running shoes. But he looked at her like he had last night. Like she was everything.
How...? Why...?
She wouldn’t dwell on it, not now. She would just enjoy it.
They continued to slow dance by the lake. There were countless stars above, countless tiny grains of sand beneath their feet, and the light breeze carried the faint scent of lilacs. And there was the large man holding her hand and smiling fondly down at her.
She had the strangest feeling that this might be the most romantic moment of her life, and she was woefully unprepared for that.
The wind picked up and lifted up the edge of one of the towels, and Natalie jumped away from Connor and threw herself down on the towel so it wouldn’t blow away. Connor threw himself onto the other towel.
She laughed again. She felt practically giddy right now.
He drew her toward him and pressed the length of his body against hers as they kissed once more. It was like she was a teenager again, making out on the beach, without a mortgage and a career and insufferable relatives to worry about.
Okay, scratch that. The relatives hadn’t changed.
But this...it felt good.
She wrapped her arms more tightly around him; she could feel him getting hard.
“You know what would be really sweet of you,” she said.
“I’m listening.”
“If you swept me up in your arms and carried me all the way back to the bed and breakfast.”
“Is that so?”
He stood up and swept her up in his arms, and she shrieked in delight.
“The towels,” she said.
He bent down, allowing her to grab the towels, then started walking across the beach, back toward town.
She couldn’t believe it. She was actually being carried like she was some damsel in distress. She’d been joking when she’d said he should carry her back.
Just as she had that thought, he huffed and set her down on her feet.
“You’re too heavy,” he said.
