Cape Cod Kisses (16 page)

Her eyes were hazy with desire and more than a little unfocused as she looked up at him.

“It’s really nice to see you again,” she whispered. “I hope I’m dressed okay for our boat ride.”

“You look beautiful.”
The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

He loved how her cheeks pinked up at the way he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so strong that it magnified the moments when she let her defenses down, and though Quinn knew how incredible they would be together if they chucked in their sailing plans tonight and tangled up her sheets instead, he wanted to get to know her better first. To find out about all the things that had led her to be so spontaneous and strong, while also being warm and forgiving.

“Ready to go?”

“I just need to blow this out first,” she replied as she went to the window. “The candle you gave me is one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. Well, other than the Motrin,” she added with a smile. “When I was little I spent a week at the Cape with my aunt each summer, and she used to buy sparkling cider in wine bottles. I’d pretend I was drinking wine while we sat out on her front porch overlooking the bay at night. Each time we finished a bottle, she’d plant a candle in it, just like you did. Thank you for reminding me of such happiness.”

But, yet again, he knew he should be thanking her. Because for the first time in a very long time, he felt happy, too.

Happier than he could ever remember being before.

LIGHTS OF THE island shone in the distance, and moonlight reflected off of the inky water as they shared the steak dinner Quinn had made, complete with salad, baked potatoes, and a side of vegetables.

“I can’t believe you went to all this trouble.” Shelley had never had a man cook dinner for her before. Knowing how busy Quinn was, that he’d taken the time to prepare such a wonderful meal made it even more special.

“I loved cooking for you. And I love that you actually enjoyed it, too.”

“I really did. It was absolutely delicious.” They put the dishes in the cooler he’d brought and sat together, sharing a glass of wine. “It’s so thrilling being out on the water at night. If I close my eyes, we could be anywhere. In the middle of the Black Sea or off the Florida coast.”

Quinn put an arm around her and pulled her closer. So close that she could feel the heat of his body—and his wonderfully hard muscles—all along her side. “That’s one of the things that drew me to boats in the first place.” He stroked over her shoulder with the pad of his thumb, awakening every cell in her body with need as he said, “Whenever the island felt confining, the open water felt like it had endless possibilities.”

“You’ve talked about feeling confined before.” She knew he must be able to hear the way desire drenched every one of her words, from nothing more than the way his thumb was moving across her skin. The thought of his hands on more of her tonight was so good that she nearly forgot what she'd been about to ask him. “Do you really not like the size of the island?”

“Honestly?” By now, he'd moved his hand up to stroke over the sensitive skin of her neck. Did he have any idea at all how crazy he was making her feel as he said, “I used to feel that way. But since we’ve been spending time together, you’ve shaken some of my good memories loose, and now I’m wondering if I’ve been too critical. I’d forgotten how much I loved boating. I’d forgotten the smell of the bay at low tide. I’d even forgotten about the view from the road where I used to ride my bike. I guess I took for granted the things the island did have to offer, because I was so dead set on striking out on my own.”

Now, he brushed his hand over her hair, sending the most delicious shivers of need running through her as he tucked a strand behind her ear.

“What about you? You obviously love the island, but don’t you think you’ll eventually miss the pace of being back home and running your business?”

His mouth. She couldn't stop staring at his lips...and wishing they were on hers. But, knowing that the biggest and best pleasure would come from a combination of innate heat
and
truly getting to know each other, she forced herself to answer his question first. “I love my customers, of course, but it’s not like I wake up and feel like the town of Severn is all there is in life for me. I always knew that one day I’d find a place where I truly wanted to put down roots, and the more time I spend here, the more it feels like this might be it.”

“You said you spent time with your aunt at the Cape. Do you think part of feeling so comfortable on the island is because she’s nearby?”

“I wish she were still here,” she answered softly, feeling the ache of missing her aunt. “She passed away a few years ago.”

“I’m so sorry, Shelley.” He gently stroked the back of his hand against her cheek, obviously sensing how much she missed her aunt. “Did you ever consider moving to the area where she lived?”

“In Eastham?” She shook her head. “I loved it there, but I know I could never re-create what we had. That was a moment in time, you know? Whereas this island feels like the perfect combination of what my aunt and I shared and something that’s all my own. I feel like I fit in here. And I want to make new memories.”

When she turned her face to his, his thumb lightly stroking along her jawline now, she saw that the wind had tousled Quinn’s hair, making him impossibly sexier, like he’d just rolled out of bed. “What about you? What does your home in Maryland feel like?”

“Nothing like this,” was the answer he gave her. An answer that she was barely able to process when he was moving his thumb across her lower lip at the same time. “Nowhere near as good as being with you.”

He moved closer and with their lips only a breath apart, heat rushed through her. He looked at her for a long and heady moment, letting her see how much he desired her—and she was positive that he had to be able to read in her eyes that she was just as wild for him.

Shelley was already moving to kiss him when he sealed his lips over hers. Greedily, she took her fill, fisting her hands in his hair, giving in to the fierce
wanting
that had been pulsing between them for days. Desire overrode her every other sense—desire for more of his taste, his scent. The feel of his hard muscles thrilled her as he licked over her bottom lip, and she had to sink her teeth lightly into his in response.

He let out a groan that echoed off into the night sky, his body crashing down upon hers on the padded bench, and she’d never loved anything as much as she loved his heat coursing down the entire length of her. She felt white-hot on the inside, like all of her could just melt around all of him and that every moment in Quinn’s arms would be perfect. Beyond perfect. As perfect as the feel of his tongue slicking over hers, consuming her, claiming her as his own.

His hands tangled in her hair as his lips ran a devastating path across her cheeks, then back to her mouth, then down over her chin and the soft underside so that she was arching her neck back even as she began to beg. A breathless
please
, which he immediately answered with a light flick of his tongue against her sensitive skin and then the slight edge of his teeth over her collarbone.

One powerful arm swept behind her, holding her close as his other slipped beneath her sweater to stroke the bare skin beneath it at her waist. With his mouth, he captured her gasp of pleasure at the way his touch turned her inside out, and when she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, he groaned again with appreciation. The guttural sound brought her hands beneath his shirt and over his gloriously hard muscles.

“Shell,” he said in a heated whisper before taking her in another mind-blowing kiss. He’d never before called her
Shell
, but it felt right. Made her feel even more special.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, questions about whether or not she could actually handle a fling remained. But when Quinn nuzzled in against her hair to take her earlobe between his teeth and shivers of desire racked her head to toe, all of her worries and fears blew away on the night breeze.

Raining kisses over her cheeks and lips, he found her other earlobe, and though she should have been prepared this time, she felt as if fireworks were lighting off inside of her. One gorgeous explosion of color and light after another.

Nothing in her life had prepared her for kisses like these, for wild and sweet, for rough and soft, for bliss that rode through every inch of her, head to toe, all from the touch of his lips against her skin.

Then again, how could she have ever been prepared for Quinn? For her solo honeymoon tumbling upside down until she was here on a boat in the moonlight wrapped all around a gorgeous island man whose smile made her heart swell with happiness, whose hand over hers filled her with such warmth, and whose kisses were pure electricity.

More. She wanted
more!

But instead of moving faster, instead of reaching for her clothes to strip them away, instead of dragging her hips even closer to his the way she wanted them, he drew back to look into her eyes again. In his gaze she could read his questions—he was afraid of pushing her too fast, too hard. Her heart clenched at the realization that he truly didn’t want to hurt her again. Not in any way. Which meant that despite the desire she could feel vibrating through every inch of him, he was waiting for her to give him a signal that she was one hundred percent okay with what they were doing.

She did it first with a kiss and then by saying, “Touch me, Quinn. Taste me.” And then she held his gaze and let him see everything she was feeling as she whispered, “
Take me
.”

QUINN WAS LOST in sensations. The feel of Shelley’s soft, supple body beneath him. The hungry way she devoured his kisses and kissed him right back. The sound of her voice—God, he loved her sexy, heady whispers.

He wanted Shelley so badly that he could hardly remember how to breathe, could barely think straight when he was with her. All he could do was
want
and then want more, and more again. With every kiss he gave her. With every sweet little sound she made as their tongues slicked against each other. With the way his heart swelled when their hands slid together, their fingers linking as they held each other tight.

He couldn’t get enough of her, but instead of stripping away her clothes the way he was dying to, he forced himself to draw back and search her eyes one more time to make absolutely sure she wanted this as much as he did.

“Quinn.”
He loved the way she said his name, in a voice that was heavy with need even as her lips curved up at the corners. There was so much warmth in her eyes as she looked at him, more than just passion—a deeper emotion stirring in their green depths—as she pushed at his shirt. “I want to feel you against me, skin to skin.”

It was the warmth, the emotion, and her smile that told him it was okay to move forward into even deeper pleasure. “I want it, too, Shell. More than I’ve ever wanted anything else.”

He reached behind him and pulled his shirt over his head in one swift move, and when he looked back, her eyes were wide.

“You’re—” She swallowed hard as she reached out and pressed her hands to his chest. “You’re amazing.”

He could feel his heart beating hard and fast for her, harder and faster with every rapt stroke of her hands over his chest. It was heaven—and hell, too, on his self-control—watching her eyes, her face, as she touched him, driving him crazier, making him hungrier for her by the second.

When he couldn’t take it anymore, he took her hands in his and lifted them to his lips, pressing kisses to every fingertip and then to the soft skin of her palms. “Now you, Shell. I need to see you, need to touch every inch of you, need to kiss you all over.”

“Yes,” she gasped out.
“Yes.”

Together they stripped her bare, both of them teasing and tempting as each new soft patch of skin was revealed despite their frantic need. He had to touch, had to taste every bit of her as she was revealed.

As they drew fabric away, both of their hands shaking now as cotton was thrown across the deck and silk and lace fell to the deck, he ran kisses over her shoulders, her arms, her hands, then back up to her breasts. His tongue left a wet swirl of heat over her nipples, then down to her rib cage and the sweet indent of her belly button.

That first night he’d seen her naked, but though she’d stunned him with her beauty and had been so soft and sweet in his arms, tonight was truly their first time together. Tonight was the first time he was stripping her bare with his own hands while knowing that they both needed each other with a passion that was fierce and unstoppable and beautiful.

So damn beautiful that when she was finally fully naked beneath him, he needed to take a minute to reach deep for his control. But he knew he was just fooling himself to think he could ever be in control with her when she made him want, crave,
need
absolutely everything—body, heart, and soul.

Touching his forehead to hers, he whispered,
“Shelley.”
He was so awestruck by her beauty, by her scent, by her bravery—by every single thing about her—that he almost couldn’t remember how to form words, could only remember how to say her name.

She whispered his name back, and when she pressed her body to his mouth and hands and hips, he couldn’t stop himself from lavishing her skin with feverish kisses and caresses.

“You’re stunning, Shelley. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Beyond
beautiful.”

She pressed her lips to his chest, kissing a path along his pecs, and when she swept her tongue over his chest, the animal in him took over. Took them
both
over, as their mouths crashed together, tongues slicking, hands groping. He stroked her where she was slick and hot, and her head tilted back with a sexy little noise that short-circuited whatever synapses he had that were still firing.

Desperation rode him, the desperation to take her right then, right there beneath the stars. But even more than that, he wanted to pleasure her. Needed to see her come apart for him. Needed to feel her quiver, hear her gasp, taste her pleasure on his tongue. He wanted her to remember his caresses, his kisses, when she woke up in the morning.