CelebrationAfterDarkKobo (9 page)

“What did she want?”

“Travel and adventure and a life far away from a remote island off the coast of Rhode Island.”

“Were you sad when it ended?”

“For a while, but I’m over that now. How about you? Any serious boyfriends?”

“One in high school.”

“What happened to him?”

“He joined the Peace Corps, and I haven’t seen him in a couple of years.”

“Do you miss him?”

“I did.”

“Until when?”

“Until yesterday, when I met you, and now I can’t seem to remember his face or the sound of his voice. I see only you. I hear only you.”

A low groan escaped from Mac’s tightly clenched jaw. “Is this real? Are you real?”

“It’s real. It’s so real.”

“How am I going to take you home tomorrow when I want to keep you here with me forever?”

“Let’s talk about that tomorrow. We have a lot of time between now and then.”

“Not nearly enough.” Then he was kissing her as if his life depended on her, and maybe it did. Maybe any chance he’d ever have to be truly happy came down to this tiny woman with the big personality, bright smile and dazzling eyes. All he knew was, he’d never felt anything remotely like he did when he kissed her.

She drove him mad with the sweet, sexy way she kissed him, her tongue stroking his and making him see stars as he tried to hold back, to save something for next time.
 

“Mac,” she said breathlessly, “touch me. Don’t be afraid. I won’t break.”

“I might,” he said gruffly, making her laugh.
 

“No, you won’t.”

Keeping his gaze fixed on her face, he untied the top of her bikini and drew it down, revealing gorgeous breasts.
 

“Linda,” he said on a long exhale as he watched her nipples harden before his eyes. “Sexiest girl I ever met.”

She ran her fingers through his hair, drawing him down to her and then gasping when he drew the tight tip of her right breast into his mouth.
 

One taste of her and he was a goner, completely lost to her in every possible way.

The feel of her fingers sliding through his hair drew him out of the memory.

She sat on his lap, making him groan from the press of her bottom against his erection. “Whatever you’re thinking about, it must be something good.”

“I’m thinking about the red bikini.”

“
Ahhhh
.”

“Remember that first night we spent together?”

“Do I ever! We drove each other insane.”

“For months, we drove each other insane. I thought I was literally going to die from wanting you for all those months you made me wait.”

“I did
not
make you wait! You made
me
wait!”
 

“I was trying to be honorable.”

She snorted with laughter. “While we did almost everything
but
…”

“It was so hot. All of it.”

“Mmm, and the phone calls.” She fanned her face. “Speaking of hot.”

“So hot. Every time the ferries have been canceled since that first night, I think of you and the red bikini and the back room at the marina.”

“Don’t forget the spiders.”

“Just a few, but I got rid of them.”

“I’ll never forget the way I ached leaving you the next day,” she said. “In the course of two days, I lost interest in school and my life in Providence and fell completely in love with you and your island.”

“Took you long enough to say so.”

“You’re still holding a grudge about that?”

“I’ll always hold a grudge about how long you made me wait to hear that you’d fallen as hard for me as I had for you.”

“Three weeks, Mac. I waited
three weeks
to tell you that.”

“Torture.”

She laughed softly as he hugged her more tightly. “You were in the biggest rush.”

“I knew what I wanted, and I was determined to get it—and you. Sometimes I wonder if your parents didn’t resent me until the day they died for luring you out of school to my remote little island.”

“They loved you.”

“Not at first, they didn’t.”

“They always liked you. They just thought we were too young to make major life decisions.”

“We were
way
too young at nineteen and twenty. I would’ve flipped my lid if any of our kids had done what we did.”

“But there was no telling us that.”

“Nope, and I don’t regret anything we did. It was right for us.”

“Yes, it was. So, so right. I don’t know how we made it to December.”

“Six of the longest months of my entire life.”

“Mine, too. I remember the time, two weeks before the wedding, when I came off the ferry and you literally picked me up and carried me to the truck and didn’t say a single word to me until I was under you in that little bed at the marina. We almost gave in that day.”

He shuddered forty years later, thinking about the overpowering desire they’d felt for each other from the beginning. “
So
close. I was dying for you by then.”

“Remind me why we decided to wait?”

“Because it was going to be your first time. I wanted it to be special—and because you were afraid I would break you.”

 
Linda laughed at the memory. “I still worry about that sometimes.” She squirmed on his lap, intentionally this time. “You’re… formidable.”

“You were more than up for the job.”

“Very funny, but I was totally terrified that I wouldn’t be able to do it, and after all that build-up, it would be a total bust.”

“But it wasn’t, was it?”

“Good God, no. It was spectacular.”

“Mmm,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “Refresh my memory. Tell me about that day.”

“You haven’t forgotten one minute of it.”

“Tell me anyway.”

Sighing with pleasure at the memory of their wedding day, she said, “It was snowing, like today, and my parents were worried that people wouldn’t be able to get there. I didn’t care if anyone was there, as long as you were.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. One of the roughest rides I’ve ever had on a ferry was the day before our wedding.”

“Yes! You were still gray around the edges when you got to my house.”

“Closest I ever came to getting sick. I thought we were going to roll over for sure. They warned us it was going to be a rough one, but no way was I missing that boat. Not after losing my mind over you for six long months.”

“I was so happy to see you. I felt like we’d survived some sort of epic challenge by then.”

“We had.”

“We were awfully silly and dramatic, when you think about it now.”

“We were crazy in love. Nothing silly or dramatic about that.”

“Anyway, we had the rehearsal dinner that night at your parents’ house and then the wedding the next morning. I was so nervous and excited and…”

“And what?”

“Overjoyed. I’d never wanted anything in my short life more than I wanted to be married to you.”

“Forty years later, and I still love to hear you say that.”

“It’s still as true today as it was the day we said ‘I do.’”

“For me, too.” He kissed her softly and gazed into those spectacular eyes that had captivated him the first day he saw her and every day since.

“The wedding is a blur to me,” she said. “I remember bits and pieces of it, walking into the church on the arm of my dad and seeing you standing there with Frankie and Kev, waiting for me. You were so handsome. My friends were all jealous that I’d landed such a stud.”

“A stud,” he said with a bark of laughter. “Right.”

“You were—and
are
—a stud, compared to their husbands.”

“Why, thank you, honey. And you are as sexy and gorgeous as you were the day I married you.”

“Sure I am,” she said, patting his head indulgently. “Five children later, my red bikini days are far behind me.”

“You could rock that bikini today the same way you did then.”

“No, I couldn’t,” she said, laughing. “And before you ask, I’m not putting it on for you.”

He bit down on her earlobe. “I could get you to do it.”

“Yes, you probably could, but it would be terribly disappointing compared to the first time I wore it for you.”

“Never. Now tell me the rest of our wedding story. You’re just getting to the good part.”

“The ‘I dos’ weren’t the good part?”

“Nope. That was the
legal
part. The
good
part came later.”

“It certainly did.”

After a lovely reception in a ballroom at the Biltmore Hotel, Mac’s parents had surprised them with a room in the hotel for their wedding night.
 

“We actually get to
stay
here?” Linda had whispered to him after his parents gave him their generous gift.

“You bet we do.” He pushed the button for the sixth floor and then held out his arms to her. “Most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m the only bride you’ve ever seen.”

“That’s not true. I’ve been to a few weddings in my time, and none of the brides were anywhere near as sexy as mine is. In fact, a few of them were downright horse-faced.”

“Stop it,” she said, laughing. “They were not.”

“Compared to you, everyone is.”

“You’ve already got a ring on my finger. You can probably dial the charm down a notch now.”

“I’ve got to make sure you don’t leave me when you get a better offer. I’ll never dial it down.”

“And I’ll never get a better offer.” She laid her hands flat on his chest, like she had that first day on the island, and looked up at him. “Did I mention how hot you look in a tux? My bridesmaids were drooling over you and Frank today.”

“Let them drool.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I got the girl. My girl. The only one I’ll ever want.”

“
Ever
is a really long time.”

“Counting on it, babe.” The elevator deposited them on the sixth floor, and Mac used the key his mother had given him to open the door. “Wait,” he said when she would’ve proceeded into the room. “Traditions must be followed tonight, Mrs. McCarthy.”

“Mrs. McCarthy,” she said with a sigh. “I have to be dreaming.”

“You’re wide awake, and I plan to keep you that way all night long.”

“All night?”

“After waiting six months,
all night
.”

“Thanks for the warning.”
 

He lifted her into his arms and carried her across the threshold into a modest but lovely hotel room, the focal point of which was a massive king-size bed. The hotel door clicked shut behind them, echoing loudly in the room.

They were
finally
alone. They were
finally
married. They
finally
had forever to spend together, and Linda was breathless with anticipation for every minute she would get to spend with him. It had been just over six months since the first time she’d laid eyes on him, but it seemed like they’d been waiting forever for this moment.