“I dare you,” Sam said.
“Those are fighting words. I can’t refuse a dare.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
Maddie looked up at him, her eyes challenging. “You’re on, Eastland.” Before he could say anything, she ducked out from under his arm, stepped out of her skirt, and plunged into the water. Moonlight illuminated her white T-shirt as she sliced silently through the black calm water. It was unusually warm and eerily still. And riding along its surface, Maddie could feel her heart pumping beneath the wall of her chest.
Sam stepped out of his pants in an instant, stripped off his shirt, and plunged into the water after her, his eyes never leaving the spot of white that moved along the surface, parallel to the shore. A few strong strokes brought him up beside her.
She was on a sandbar, crouching slightly to keep everything but her head beneath the warm water. “You didn’t tell me you were an Olympic swimmer,” she said breathlessly.
“You should check those things out first.”
“I’ll remember that next time.” She ran her hands over the surface of the water. “Is there anything else I should know?”
His eyes traveled over the thin T-shirt that clung to her body like a second skin, outlining her breasts and the dark circle of her nipples. His breath caught in his throat. “Yeah—one more thing—” he said raggedly.
“What’s that, Sam?”
“Water … it does strange things to me.” Sam pinched the material of her shirt between two fingers and pulled it slowly from her skin. It made a sucking sound, then formed back against her breasts. Her nipples were brown and firm, teased by the cold wet fabric.
“Jeez, Maddie,” he said. It was a gasping sound, a sound of awe, of desire.
Her chest began a visible rise and fall beneath the heat of his stare. The night was flowing over her in a barrage of contrasts: hot and cold, soft and hard, wet and dry.
Sam’s broad hands cupped her narrow shoulders and he pulled her to him, into his arms.
“Oh, Sam,” was all she said.
She was weightless in the water as he fitted her to his hips, his hands slipping beneath her buttocks, pressing her to him until her legs clamped tightly around him. He covered her face with hungry, skimming kisses, drinking the water from her flesh, seeking her lips.
Maddie kissed him back, nipping his cheek, his chin, his lips. He tasted incredibly sweet to her. “Who won?”
“A dead heat.”
“Dead heat? Dead, I don’t know. Now, heat, that I know.”
Sam laughed huskily. “I’d say you do—”
“Do you suppose the sea lions can see us?”
“Yep. And I bet they’re flapping those flippers like crazy.”
Maddie felt her insides melt into warm honey. Her body moved deliriously against his slippery body, wet skin against wet skin. The waves, picking up momentum now, lapped playfully at their bodies. She nuzzled her head in the crook of his neck. “The transportation is to be highly recommended.”
Sam smiled. He could feel every tiny movement she made, his body alert, tense, and filled with pent-up longing for her. They moved through the shallow water and up onto the shore as one.
He didn’t let her down, not all the way up the stone pathway to the house. She thanked him with tiny kisses, on his shoulder, his ear. “It’s a magic night, Sam,” she whispered.
He carried her through the French doors and into the living room, leaving small pools of water everywhere he stepped. Finally, at the foot of the curved staircase, he let her down. He looked down into her clear green eyes. Her face was calm, beautiful. “Maddie,” he said. “Maddie, are you sure about this?”
“Parts of it. I’m sure about my feelings, I’m sure about wanting you.”
“But the other part?”
“That’s my own problem,” she said simply. “I understand what you’re about. And I still—” Her voice fell off. She was torn between desire and logic and her head was spinning from it. But she knew she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She knew what her heart was telling her. She looked him directly in the eyes and smiled. “I want to make love to you. Tonight. I want that very much.”
Sam released a lungful of trapped air. He touched her ear, her cheek, and began to drown in her large, luminous eyes. He had never felt this way before, not so consumed, so helpless and powerful all at once. “I’d never hurt you. Not in a million years. I’d die before that.”
She nodded.
“And there’s something else you need to know. The feelings I have … my feelings toward you.” He paused, then said with great tenderness, “They’re not frivolous feelings, Maddie.”
She touched his cheek. “I know that too. So let’s go up these steps, shall we?”
Sam lifted her up again and pressed her to him. She looped her arms around his neck and smiled against his chest as they slowly ascended the stairway. “One small step for Maddie,” he whispered lightly.
“Not so small, Sam, not so small.”
TEN
The master bedroom, smelling of fresh paint and oiled wood, was bathed in moonlight. In the center, facing the bank of open windows, was a wide, simple bed. It was built of sweet-smelling cherry, its mattress high and firm and covered with white sheets and a weightless down comforter.
Sam set Maddie down on the comforter and she knew she was on a soft cloud very close to heaven. She placed her palms on his damp chest and felt the pulse of his heart pounding into her fingers. “I guess this is a bed warming,” she said with a small, breathless laugh.
His answering smile pierced through the damp cold of the ocean water and touched her center.
“Let’s get you out of this,” he said, peeling the wet T-shirt over her head. Her breasts fell free, beautiful and pale in the moonlight.
Sam swallowed around the lump in his throat and slipped his fingers beneath the waistband of her panties, rolling them down her legs. And then he stood in silence. Moonlight poured through the windows and lit her body like an artist’s brush. Her breasts were firm and full and heated with a flush that spread to the hollow of her throat. And her skin glowed from the dampness, an angel’s skin.
“Not fair,” she said in the same breathless voice as before, her finger looping beneath the elastic of his shorts and tugging them down.
Maddie stared at the magnificent lines of his naked body, his lean hips and broad, muscled torso. He was so beautiful she could barely breathe. She wanted to paint him inside her mind, to carry that image of him with her forever. She wanted to touch him, to feel each part of him. She shivered, unable to still herself. “I think I need you down here,” she said in a choked voice.
With a soft, exultant laugh Sam slid down beside her on the bed. He propped himself up on one elbow. His eyes, dark and dusky, ran over her body slowly.
Maddie rested her slim hand on his stomach for a minute, then slowly slid it across the cool, firm plane of his belly. “I need to touch you, Sam,” she said softly. “I want to know every inch of you.”
Sam moaned. “Careful. You’ve magic in those fingers, m’love.” And then he touched her in return, his hands wandering over her with equal care, lovingly, stroking her thighs and drawing sensuous patterns of delight across her stomach. Her ripe breasts, rose-tipped and tantalizing, trembled beneath his touch.
“I want this night to last forever,” he said, drinking in the sight of her. He lowered his head to meet her parted lips, his mouth coming down on hers in fierce, eager, demanding kisses that took her breath away and left her wanting more.
“I’m … not … sure … forever is long enough.”
“Then let’s not waste any of it.” He gathered her to him, tangling his hands in her thick dark hair, holding her close as if never to let go.
Maddie’s body pressed against his in a great primal wave of emotion. Desire ebbed and flowed inside her, like the ocean below moving up against the shore in great powerful movements. His hands slid down her back, across
her buttocks, pulling her closer until she could feel everything about him, the beating of his heart and the power of his arousal.
Maddie’s own pulse was going crazy, the high, rapid flutter of a bird, circling higher and higher. She sought his mouth again, kissing him deeply, frantically, her tongue sliding like velvet across his lips and back into the sweet shadows of his mouth.
Sam’s head fell back against the pillow as Maddie kissed his face, his forehead, and then drew her mouth down his neck, over his chest, her lips parted to taste his flesh and the salty drops of seawater still clinging there. She rubbed her cheek against the rough thatch of hair across his chest, then rested it for a second on the smooth band of his stomach, hard and flat, the muscles tight beneath her lips.
She lifted her head, saw the joy that washed across Sam’s face, and continued exploring his beautiful body. With slow easy movements, she stroked his hips with her hands, then circled in across his thighs, and with a touch as light as the tip of a bird’s wing, she trailed her fingers upward, feeling Sam’s muscles tense beneath her touch.
Sam dug his fingers into her hair and pulled her up the length of his body, kissing her nose, her lips, the lovely long line of her neck. “You’re making me crazy, Maddie Ames.”
“You’re not so bad when you’re crazy.”
He gathered her to him then, pressing her breasts against his chest, wanting beyond reason to keep her there, always, pressed to him, one with him. “Oh, Maddie, I want you so much.” He pulled slightly away, looked down into her wide, unflinching eyes. They were bright with desire, as green as the sea.
She smiled into the blaze of his desire, matched it bit for bit. Her breath, when she finally allowed it to come, was staggered, uneven. “I can’t quite believe this, Sam. I can’t believe this is happening. This kind of joy …”
“Believe it, love.” He looked into her eyes as his hands traveled down her body, caressing her inch by inch. Finally he reached the soft thatch of hair below and cupped it gently.
Maddie twisted, her back arched, and she gasped. The weight of her desire was suffocating. She was burning up inside. Everything in her screamed for Sam. Without him she would surely die. “My darling, Sam,” she breathed. “I want you, Sam, I need to be a part of you. Please—”
Slowly, and with infinite care, Sam covered her with his body, and then slid inside, forcing himself with incredible strength of mind and will to be slow and gentle. At that moment he wanted more than life itself to please her, to bring her to an incredible, unimaginable joy. “Oh, my love,” he whispered. “My beautiful, lovely Maddie …” His voice trailed off as the strength of his passion grew and his body throbbed with the pleasure of her. “You’re a part of me now.”
“There’s nowhere else for me to be, Sam,” she answered, her voice thick with pleasure. She was surprised that such a normal, earthly voice could come out of a body that was soaring so far above worldly things. She was in another universe, an exquisite joyous place, created for her and Sam alone. Only them, soaring, swirling in a joy that had her heart pounding madly against her chest. She arched beneath him, clasping his back with her fingers until her knuckles were as white as the moon. “Oh, Sam, my darling,” she cried out, “don’t let me go.”
And Sam didn’t. He held her, loved her, and took her with him, until they were both spinning wildly together in an exquisite vortex of unimaginable joy.
Later, as the sky beyond the windows began to lighten, Sam lay beside Maddie, propped up on one elbow, and watched her sleep. It could easily become a lifelong occupation, he thought. It brought him a peace and sense of well-being that had been long absent in his life.
Her expression still held the bliss of their love-making, and he wondered if it were continuing in her dreams. He felt a twinge of jealousy. How could he squeeze in there with her, become a part of it all?
He rolled his fingers into a fist to keep from touching her and waking her up. But he wanted to. He wanted to hold her tight and love her, make her a part of him again.
Something had happened to him in these weeks with Maddie. A shift had occurred, a subtle opening of a part of him that he had successfully kept closed for a long time. She’d not only entered his life, but also slipped right on inside of him, taken a hold there, and he knew that somehow, he, Sam Eastland, was a better person because of it.
He didn’t dare put a name to what he was feeling, the emotion that held Maddie to him, but it was as real as his breathing, as clear to him as his own sense of self. And for once in his life his logical powers were failing him completely. He hadn’t a clue what to do about it.
Maddie shifted slightly in her sleep and Sam moved to accommodate her position. And then her bare arm rested on his abdomen, moving slightly.
Just enough to cause every sleeping nerve ending in Sam’s body to rear its head.
“Mmm, Sam,” her sleep-drenched voice murmured, “it’s you. Good.”
“You were expecting the movers, maybe? Disappointed?” He pushed her hair back from her face, then ran his knuckles lightly down her cheeks and across her lips.
“No, you’re much cuter.” Only then did Maddie open her eyes. She snuggled up against him, looping her arm across his chest and pulling herself close. She moved her legs lightly, brushing against, then overlapping him. “We’re tangled,” she said, smiling lazily.
“That’s us. Tangled vines,” Sam said. “Just like Greta.”
“Except Greta doesn’t have a he-Greta. Maybe we should get her one.” Maddie’s hand crept down his abdomen. “She’s missing out on a lot.”
“You’re a vixen, Maddie.”
“I think it was the Chinese food,” she said softly as her fingers danced along his naked, heated flesh. “You’re so full after eating it, then an hour later there’s this sudden hunger for more. That’s me, Sam. I have this hunger. I can’t seem to get enough of you.”
“Is that so? S’pose there’s anything we can do about it?”
“I feel like I’ve been on an island for a long time without food or water or sunshine, and suddenly they all came to me at once. And maybe I’ll drown in them.”
“But not alone, m’love.” He pressed his face into her hair, then dropped small kisses down her cheeks, her lips. The growth of his beard rubbed against her cheek.
“That tickles,” she said. She rubbed her palm over his hip.
“It’s grown.”
“That’s not all that’s grown.”
“Maddie, you’re incorrigible.”
“No, insatiable, I think. I love loving you, Sam. I do—”
“Insatiable, hmmm. There’s only one cure for that.” He traced an imaginary line around the rise of one plump breast.
“You think … there’s a cure?” Her breath came in starts and stops.
“Don’t know, my love. But there’s only one way to be sure.” His fingers explored her naked body with tender caresses until Maddie pleaded with him, and Sam, eager to please, did his best to find the cure.
When Maddie awoke the second time, the room was flooded in bright sunshine. She lifted herself up on one elbow and looked around. She was all alone in the wide bed.
“Sam?” she called.
The only answer was the light flapping of the blinds as the wind drifted through the open windows and waves crashed against the shore in the distance. Magical sounds, she thought. Nature’s music, matching the rhythm within her.
She lay back into the fat pillows, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. Dopey, she thought, it’s what they call a dopey smile. If anyone could see her, they’d know in an instant what had been going on here amid the tangled sheets. Pure unadulterated lovemaking, that’s what. She closed her eyes and was swept through with a wave of joy. Sam brought her joy … and happiness. Lord, what happiness. Had she felt this before … ever?
When she had been with Philip, there had been excitement, but not this kind of wholeness that she felt. Not then. Only now, with Sam. And that thought made her insides t
remble. She had awakened once in the middle of the night and sat up in the bed, with Sam beside her and the moon just outside the window. And at some moment, as she sat there listening to his slow even breathing, she had said it out loud. “I love you, Sam,” she had said, and then, as if the moonlight had slipped right inside of her, she felt a life-giving warmth that began in her heart and spread all the way to her toes. “Amazing,” she whispered to the moon.
She slipped out of bed now, carefully cradling the feeling, the delicious, wonderful feeling of loving, and walked into the spacious, nearly empty closet on the far side of the room.
The mirrors on the back wall, reflecting her body, startled her. And then she peered closer at her body, still flushed with lovemaking. Did she look different? All the parts were still there, the small dimple in her cheek, the freckles scattered across her chest. But something was different. She brushed her hair back with her fingers and wound it into a loose braid as she scanned the figure in the mirror. Yes, she thought. Something was different. She grinned, and grabbed a T-shirt and pair of drawstring shorts from a brass hook.
She slipped them on, pulling the string tightly around her waist. Suddenly, with an abruptness that startled her, she needed to see Sam.
She found him in the kitchen, struggling to release two dark brown pancakes from a shiny new skillet. Coffee perked nearby. Maddie stood silent for a minute, taking it all in. Sam’s hair, still damp from a shower, was brushed back from his forehead and curled up slightly at his neck. He wore a pair of jeans, nothing else. Tiny beads of water clung to his skin and caught the sunlight as the muscles in his shoulders moved smoothly beneath the movement.
“I’ve never seen you in jeans before,” she said, coming up behind him. “Sexy, Sam. Very sexy.” She wrapped her arms around his waist.
Sam let the spatula fall into the sink and turned slowly in the circle of her arms. He wrapped his arms around her, drew her to his bare chest, and kissed the top of her head. “I think I’m in heaven.”
Moonlight on Monterey Bay Page 13
