by Marie Force
And he paid attention. Katie wished she could fan her face. It was getting warm in here. “I like the way your whiskers feel against my cheek.”
He stared at her, effectively stealing the breath from her lungs. “Swimming,” he said after a long silence. “We were going swimming.”
“Right. I need to change.”
“So do I.”
They went up the stairs together. Halfway up, he surprised her by cupping her bottom and squeezing. “Making sure my imagination is still working properly.”
Katie laughed even as her entire body reacted to his brazen gesture. “You sure you want to go swimming?”
“Why? What else is there to do?”
“Nothing I can think of.”
“And you say I suffer from a lack of imagination…” He patted her bottom again as he left her at her door. “See you in a minute.”
Katie watched him walk away, paying particular attention to the flex of muscles in his legs and backside. As she went into her room to change, she tried to find the right word to describe the way she felt after being with Shane.
The symptoms were varied—racing heart, dry mouth, warm face, a dull ache between her legs and an increased awareness of her body as a whole. She stopped in the middle of tying her top behind her neck. It was lust. She was lusting after him.
Katie giggled at the realization that she was normal after all. She’d had reason to wonder, especially with her sister telling her all the time that living like a nun, when she wasn’t actually a nun, was ridiculous. Julia would barely recognize the new Katie.
The new Katie… She liked the sound of that as she embarked on a whole new life in a new place with a new job and a new man. Speaking of her new man…
She grabbed her beach bag, a towel, and slid her good foot into a flip-flop and the other foot into the ugly medical shoe David had given her, wincing when the cut rubbed against the shoe. Katie opened her door to find Shane about to knock. At the sight of his raised fist, she took an instinctive step back and then instantly regretted it.
“I was about to knock.”
“I know. Sorry. Natural reaction.”
He straightened his fingers and rested his palm against her face, moving slowly so as not to startle her further. “I will never, ever, ever hit you, Katie,” he said softly. “There’s nothing you could say or do that would lead to that. I swear to you.”
She swallowed hard, caught off guard by the emotional wallop that accompanied his sweet words. Did he know what it meant to her to hear him make such a promise? Yes, of course he did. He got it without her having to explain it to him, because he was close to Owen and had known her story before he ever met her.
“Do you believe me?”
Katie forced herself to hold his intense blue-eyed gaze. “I believe you.” And she did. He was one of the good guys, as Julia would say when she tried to convince Katie that not all men were monsters.
He kissed her forehead and took her bag. “Ready?”
“Ready.” She was ready for a lot of things, she thought, as she took the hand he offered and went with him to the beach.
He walked patiently at her slow pace, and as they reached the bottom of the last set of stairs that led to the beach, he presented her with his back. “Hop on.”
“I can walk.”
“This will keep the sand out of the cut, and it will give me a chance to get my hands on you.”
“I see how it is.”
“I’m using my imagination.” Over his shoulder, he grinned at her. “Let’s go.”
He was so cute and so sincere and always thinking of her comfort. A girl could get awfully attached to such a thoughtful guy, Katie thought as she took him up on his offer. He carried her effortlessly, the way he had several times before, putting her down when they reached the wet sand by the water.
“Hang on to my shoulder.”
Katie did as he instructed while he spread an old sheet on the sand and helped her to sit. All of this was done without any sand touching her injured foot. “I’m impressed.”
“That’s the goal.”
She liked that he still flirted with her even after they’d had sex. She took that as a good sign that he was interested in more than that. During her years of abstinence, she’d wondered how women could tell when a guy was genuinely interested in them or just wanted to have sex with them.
Now that she had one who seemed genuinely interested in her, she discovered it was quite easy to tell the difference.
Shane sat beside her on the sheet and went to work on her foot, encasing it in plastic and then securing it with a band of duct tape that he wrapped around her leg. “Is that too tight?”
“No, it feels fine.”
“It might not keep all the water out, but it should keep your foot fairly dry.”
“It’s very ingenious. I’m impressed again.”
“You’re easy to please.”
“Am I?”
“Very.” He put his arm around her and leaned in for a kiss.
Katie raised her hand to his face, needing to touch him, to get closer to him.
His tortured groan ended the all-too-brief kiss. “Damn, you are so sweet. I can’t get enough of you.” He looked down at her, seeming as stunned as she felt by the desire that one kiss roused in her. “Where did you come from, Katie Lawry?”
“Um, Texas?”
He smiled and kissed her nose and then her lips. “Let’s swim.”
At that, Katie’s good mood burst like a soap bubble hitting cactus.
Shane tuned right in to her hesitation. “We’ll stay close to the shore.”
She took his outstretched hand and let him help her up. When she was standing, he linked their fingers and squeezed, his reassurance and presence giving her the courage to limp toward the water even as everything in her protested.
“Breathe, Katie. I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you.” His softly spoken words were all she could hear as a wave broke close to the shore, sending cool water flooding around their feet. “Feels good, right?”
She bit her bottom lip and nodded, focusing on his voice and the tight press of his hand around hers.
“The water is nice and calm tonight,” he continued. “Nothing to worry about.”
They waded in to their knees, the sand soft beneath their feet, the water cool and refreshing. In a blaze of red and orange, the sun headed for the horizon, casting a warm glow upon the water and the island.
“Pretty this time of day,” Katie said.
“Sure is.”
“The sun is already setting earlier, though. I remember being here as a kid and feeling sad when the days started to get shorter. It meant it was almost time to go home.”
“You know what I remember from late-summer visits to my cousins?”
“What?”
“How rude the restaurant workers were by this point in the season after months of dealing with tourists. It always cracked us up.”
Katie laughed in agreement. “My grandmother used to remind the hotel staff that the late-season visitors paid the same price and deserved the same service. She used to stress out when the college kids would leave in mid-August for school. She’d put us to work cleaning rooms and doing laundry.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“It was,” Katie said wistfully. “We’d do anything she asked of us. She was—and is—our hero. She got us out of hell for two months every year. She could’ve asked us to walk barefoot over fire, and we would’ve done it for her.”
“Why didn’t any of you ever tell her what was going on at home?” Shane asked.
“Because he told us to keep our mouths shut or else. ‘What goes on in our home is our business and no one else’s,’ he would say.” Katie shrugged. “We were terrified of him.”
“I hate that you had to live like that for so long. No one should have to grow up that way.”
“I hate it, too, but it wasn’t all bad. He deployed a lot, so we got breaks
from the insanity. And we had each other, so no one felt completely alone with it. Except for maybe Owen. Thank God for him. He ran interference for all of us at great personal expense.” She looked up at him. “Did you know he received an appointment to West Point?”
“No,” Shane said, seeming astounded to hear that. “I can’t picture him in the military, though.”
“Well, my dad could. He pushed him so hard.”
“So why didn’t he go?”
“He refused to leave the rest of us, which led to a huge fight between them. For once, Owen prevailed and knocked the general out cold.”
“Wow.”
She could almost see Shane wondering what it would be like to punch his father unconscious.
“That must’ve been vindicating.”
“It was until my father had him charged with assault.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. He pressed charges and saw to it that Owen spent a few nights in jail to ‘teach him a lesson about respecting his elders.’ At first they charged him with felony assault, but that didn’t stick. He ended up with a misdemeanor on his record, but the incident was enough to make West Point change its mind. That only further infuriated my father, and of course it was all Owen’s fault.” Katie shook her head, sickened by the memories of those dark days.
“Owen is such an amazing guy,” Shane said. “To have been through all that and still be so kind and loving toward Laura and Holden.”
“It took a really long time for him to get to a place where the relationship he has with Laura was possible. But no one, except for maybe my mom, deserves to be happy more than he does. We’re all so thankful he has Laura and that she makes him so happy.”
“You deserve to be happy, too, you know.”
“Not like he does.”
“Sure you do. You lived through hell and survived just like he did. Maybe he fought more of the battles, but judging from how often he speaks of you and Julia, in particular, you propped him up through it all.”
“He talks about us?”
“All the time—all of you, but you two in particular.”
“That’s nice to hear. We love him unreasonably.”
“I’d venture to guess he loves you just as much.”
“Sometimes it feels like our childhood was so long ago it didn’t really happen, like it was a bad movie we saw once or something. And other times it feels like it happened five minutes ago, and any second he’s going to reappear out of the woodwork like the bogeyman.”
“That’s not going to happen. You know that, don’t you?”
“I’m working on convincing myself.” She realized all at once that while they talked they’d walked out to waist-deep water. “Well, aren’t you the clever one, getting me to talk about my painful past as you lured me into the deep.”
“You make me sound so devious.”
“Are you?”
“Not usually.” Without releasing her hand, he dropped into the water, letting it wash over his head. He stayed under long enough that Katie worried about him.
She tugged on his hand, and he squeezed hers. Then she felt him between her legs and let out a squeak of surprise when he lifted her onto his shoulders. Katie fisted handfuls of his hair as she tried to keep from falling off. “That was devious!”
He spun her around, making her laugh hysterically.
“Stop! I’m going to puke.”
“We can’t have that.” He dropped suddenly again, taking her down with him this time.
She resurfaced, sputtering from the mouthful of water she’d swallowed. Before she could express her displeasure, he’d lifted her again, this time into his arms as he remained largely under the water. “That was mean.”
“You have brothers. How does that count as mean?”
“You make a good point. I’ve been the victim of dirtier tricks.”
“And you’re not stressing out about being in the water.”
Which had been his goal, she realized as she returned his smile. “Also true. Thank you for that.”
He tightened his hold on her. “Very much my pleasure. Speaking of my pleasure, you could kiss me if you wanted to.”
Katie wanted to. She really, really wanted to. So she linked her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. At first, she wondered if he was going to respond, but then she got that he was waiting to see what she would do. So she started by stroking his bottom lip with her tongue before withdrawing it and then doing it again.
Only the tight squeeze of his hands on her arm and leg indicated that her efforts were yielding results, so she did it again and again, until his mouth opened and he groaned in response.
Feeling victorious, Katie smiled against his lips.
“You’re quite pleased with yourself, aren’t you?”
“Not bad, since I hadn’t kissed anyone until recently.”
“Not bad at all. How about you do it again? They say practice makes perfect.”
“I need lots and lots of practice.”
“I’m more than happy to help you catch up.”
Katie laughed as she kissed him—until he shifted her so she straddled his lap. Her laughter turned into a moan as he pressed his erection between her legs and cupped her breasts under the water. Remembering where they were and that anyone could see them, she turned away from the kiss.
“What’s wrong?”
“Not out here.”
“We’re just kissing.”
“Someone might see.”
“So?”
“I’m not ready for that yet.”
“Yet. Does that imply that someday you might be?”
She gauged the teasing glint in his eye. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
“Is underwater touching allowed?”
“I suppose that’s okay.”
“Mmm,” he said as he nuzzled her neck and cupped her breasts, running his thumbs over her tight nipples.
“Hey! You untied my top!”
“You said touching was allowed.”
“I didn’t say naked touching was allowed.”
“An important distinction. It’s not my fault I wasn’t given all the information.”
“You really are a scoundrel, aren’t you?”
“No one has ever called me that before,” he said with a chuckle. He put his arms around her, bringing her breasts in tight against his chest.
As they floated in the water, waves rolled gently toward the shore and the sun dipped closer to the horizon. Far off in the distance, she noticed what looked like lights strung across the water. “What is that?”
Shane turned to see what she meant. “The Newport Bridge.”
“Oh, I couldn’t tell.”
“Have you been there? To Newport?”
“Nope.”
“All the times you came here, you never went there?”
“My grandparents had seven kids underfoot. It was a big deal to go out for ice cream. They bought a ten-passenger van just so they could drive us around when we were here. We didn’t make it to Newport.”
“I’ll take you if you want to go.”
“I’d love to go.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Don’t you have to work?”
“I can take a day off.”
“You really want to go to Newport tomorrow?”
“What I really want is to spend a full day with you, so yes, I really want to go to Newport tomorrow.”
She smiled at his sweetness. “Okay. That sounds like fun.”
“It’s a lot of walking, though. Do you feel up for that with your foot?”
“It’s a lot better than it was. I’ll be okay. But the more pressing question is will I be back for girls’ night out?”
“I can make that happen. But now we have to go clean up for dinner with your mom and Charlie.”
Katie tightened her legs around his hips. “I’m sort of wishing now that we hadn’t made those plans.”
“Why’s that?”
&nbs
p; She rubbed against him suggestively. “No reason.”
Laughing, he moved his hands down to cup her bottom. “You know what the best news of all is?”
“What?”
He pressed his erection against her. “He comes back any time I need him. So while we might have to let him go to waste this time, after dinner… Watch out.”
Katie shuddered from the promise of pleasure she heard in his voice. Now that she knew what to expect, how was she supposed to get through dinner without every thought focused on what would happen when they got home?
Chapter 23
Shane retied Katie’s top, his hands brushing against her back as he worked. “There. All decent again.”
“There’s a lot to be said for indecency.”
“Yes, there is. We’ll discuss that topic further later.”
“Is it later yet?”
Laughing, he said, “I wish.”
They walked out of the water holding hands. When they reached the sheet he’d spread over the sand, he grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For?”
“For taking me swimming and making it so fun that I forgot to be scared.”
“You’re welcome. Nothing to be scared of. Think about how many times you swam here without incident. What happened the other day was scary for both of us, but we can’t let it ruin something we love to do.”
“You’re right, but thank you just the same.”
“It was fun for me, too.”
He piggybacked her to the stairs, where he put her down and then let her go ahead of him. “What a view,” he whispered from behind her.
“Stop.”
“You stop.”
“What am I doing?” Katie asked, genuinely baffled.
“You’re being hot and sexy when we have somewhere to be.”
“How am I being hot and sexy, as you put it?”
“Um, you’re breathing?”
Katie was still laughing at his ridiculous statement when she reached the porch, where Laura was nursing a glass of ice water while Adele enjoyed a glass of wine at a table overlooking the beach. Katie wondered how much they’d seen and was doubly glad now that she’d put an end to the naked touching.
