Heart Like Mine (30 page)

He pulled her closer, and she closed her eyes tightly, savoring every inch she could feel of his body.

Finally, he pulled his lips from hers, and she could feel his racing pulse against her fingertips.

“We should—probably get back in the boat before we get run over by a rogue water-skier.”

She planted a soft kiss on his lips, desperate not to lose contact with him. “I don't see any boats.”

He chuckled. “Then we should probably get back in the boat before I lose my head and strip you right here in the water.”

“Oh.” She smiled against his lips. “I'm glad one of us is thinking straight.”

“Mm.” He kissed her again. “Have you ever played Kiss the Mermaid in the water after dark?”

“God, no.”

He rocked her gently against him, and she gasped as her entire body responded.

“Want to try it later?”

“God, yes.”

 

Chapter 26

“Does Mama B know about this place?” Delaney looked around three hours later as the maître d' of Luciano's seated them at a private corner table. Even though she would have been perfectly happy to stay put at the cabin and cook mac and cheese for dinner, Joshua had insisted on taking her out—
to prove I sometimes eat somewhere besides Bellinis
.

“Mama B sics the health inspectors on this place at least twice a year, yes.”

Delaney laughed, picking up the leather-bound menu. “It smells just like Bellinis.”

“Believe it or not, the chef is Mama B's cousin Luciano. They grew up together.”

“Seriously? Do they share any family recipes from the old country?”

“No sharing.” Joshua shook his head. “I think they wrote some agreement on a napkin long ago that said they'd never open up within ten miles of each other, and he wasn't allowed to make chicken and mostaccioli if she agreed not to make his lobster ravioli.”

She flipped open the menu. “They have lobster ravioli here? Be still my Italian heart.”

“Just promise me you won't tell Mama B or Molly that we came here.”

“What would happen if they found out?”

Joshua grimaced. “Have you ever tasted Mama's hot sauce?”

“No.”

“Well, you don't want to. If she found out we'd been here, our next spaghetti dinner would light the table on fire.”

Delaney laughed. “My lips are sealed.”

After they ordered, Joshua pushed the basket of rolls toward her. “These are to die for, but Mama B claims it's only because Luciano stole her secret recipe.”

She plucked one from the basket. “Well, if they're anything like Mama's, I might ask if we can order a basket to go. I've already fallen so far off the wagon with the donuts today that I'm a lost cause.”

“It's vacation, remember? Carbs don't count.” He put a roll on his own plate and slathered butter on it.

“Speaking of which”—she pointed vaguely toward his chest—“how are you doing without your beeper lifeline?”

He raised his eyebrows mischievously. “Just fine, thanks.”

“You're not even twitching. How can you stand it?”

“Apparently I'm distracted enough that I haven't even noticed.” His foot found hers under the table, and she felt herself blush.

“That's very flattering. Thank you.” She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, though. Is it driving you just a little bit crazy to not check in?”

Joshua looked around the room for a long moment, then met her eyes. “Honestly? I expected it to … but it isn't. I haven't had this much fun disconnecting in a long, long time.”

“Well.” She swallowed, feeling heat build between them. “That's good, then.”

“How about you? You do just as much dawn-to-dusk stuff as I do, at least since I've known you. How does it feel for
you
to get free of the office?”

“When I'm not getting dunked, it feels great. I could totally live in the cabin for a week, I'm afraid.”

“You wouldn't miss work?”

Delaney felt her nose wrinkle as she shook her head. “It's funny, and please don't be a big dork and say
I told you so
or something—but after spending the past two weeks on pediatrics, I miss
that
more right now than my own job.”

“Well, I imagine the change of pace has been nice, if nothing else.”

“Sure”—she set down her roll—“but it's a lot more than that. Even though I feel like a poser, there's a weird sense of—I don't know—connecting. I don't get that upstairs. I feel almost—useful.” She shook her head. “Never mind. That sounds silly.”

“No, it doesn't.”

“I'm plenty useful upstairs. I'm
very
useful. But it's a different feeling. I like it.”

“More than you thought you would?”

She nodded. “Oh, definitely.”

“Ever think maybe you'd like to change gears and do something besides finance? Someday, maybe?”

“Yes? No?” She took a deep breath. “I've always felt like finance was—I don't know—kind of my cop-out. I know objectively, I'm providing a valuable service, but at the end of the day, I don't really go home and say ‘Hey, I actually touched somebody's life today,' you know?”

He paused. “What if you get the CFO position when Gregory retires?”

She looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“I don't know.” He shrugged carefully. “I've seen a lot of people come through my floor since I started. Some of them were born to love pediatrics, and a lot of them weren't. I have to say, I'd put you pretty firmly in the first group.”

“Well, I have a lot of reasons to love it, obviously.”

“Maybe, but losing a little brother a long time ago doesn't necessarily set somebody up to be a natural at it. You are definitely a natural.”

She shook her head. “I don't know about that.”

“I do. Delaney, how many times did you laugh this week?”

“I don't know.” She smiled. “A lot.”

“And how many times do you laugh—generally—up in the executive suite?”

“I don't. But why would I, really?”

He reached out and squeezed her hand, but didn't let go. “Which job is more fun?”

“That's obvious, but you can't really choose a job for the fun factor, Joshua.”

“Why not?”

She tipped her head. “Be serious. I have goals, a mission—bills to pay. Important work to do.”

“But maybe you, too, have a balance issue?”

Just then the waiter arrived with their dinners, saving her from answering for a few minutes. Once they'd both had a few bites, Joshua looked at her while he wound fettuccine around his fork. The table candle made his eyes sparkle, and her own eyes caught on his lips—lips she hoped would be keeping her awake later.

She got a nervous tingle as she thought about actually spending the night together, but the more time she spent with him, the more she couldn't wait to be done with dinner so they could make their way back to the cabin—to the gorgeous brass bed with the pieced quilt laid on top.

*   *   *

Later, as the sun set over the water, Josh lit the citronella candles placed along the cabin's dock, then sat back down in an Adirondack chair next to Delaney. He caught her profile in the golden sunlight and had to pinch himself. He'd spent the entire day in a state of heightened awareness of—everything. The sun was hotter, the water was cooler, the sky was bluer, and even the sound of the crickets warming up in the meadow behind the cabin was—sweeter.

He'd never heard a sound he liked better than Delaney's laughter, and the day had been full of it. Whether he'd been dunking her in the water, or tickling her on the dock, or getting lost twice on dirt roads before they'd found Luciano's, he'd loved every second of being with her.

And now, here she was, eyes closed, head back against the chair, sunlight kissing the tips of her eyelashes as her breaths made her chest rise and fall in a slow, contented rhythm.

He could hardly believe she was here with him. Could hardly believe
he
was here at all. Sure, he'd done a B and B weekend here and there over the years, and they were always romantic and fun. But to willingly unplug from the universe and spend almost twenty-four hours with a woman, making himself unavailable to anything else? He'd
never
done that before, even with Nicole.

He swallowed, letting his eyes trace downward over Delaney's slim body.

Why
had he never done it before? Was it just that he'd never been in the right place in his life to make it work? Or was it that he'd never found a woman who made him want to?

Delaney stirred, and he swept his eyes back to her face before she could catch him ogling her body. She tapped her fingers nervously on her chair, then spoke.

“So I hate that I want to ask this, because it doesn't matter. Or—well—it shouldn't matter. But it does. I guess. I think.”

Josh shook his head, mystified. “Was I supposed to follow that?”

“No.” She laughed. “I'm just sitting here, feeling more relaxed than I've been in years, but also unbelievably—tense—in all the best ways, and I find myself naively hoping maybe you don't—do this—often.” She grimaced. “Never mind. Please forget I just said that.”

“I don't.”

“You—don't?”

He reached for her hand, squeezing it as he leaned to kiss her. “No. I don't. I haven't even played Kiss the Mermaid in, like,
days
.”

She whacked him playfully, then leaned back in her chair again, closing her eyes. “I think if I was Millie, I'd never want to leave. It's so perfect here.”

“It is right now.” He nodded, letting his thumb trace circles in her palm. Then he pointed toward the north sky. “Almost time to make a wish on the first star.”

She laughed. “I haven't wished on a star in a very long time.”

“Oh. Hey.” He reached behind him for an old CD player and speakers that Millie kept in the kitchen. “It occurs to me that I still owe you a dance.”

“A dance? From what?”

“From the charity fund-raiser thing. You promised me a dance.”

“Right.” She nodded. “But you had to leave.”

She tipped her head like she was calculating. “I'm pretty sure if you ditch a girl before a promised dance, you owe her
two
songs.”

“I see. Even if it was an emergency?”

“Depends. Was it a beeper-style emergency? Because beeper emergencies go triple. Sorry. Doctor-dating rule number thirty-four.”

He laughed. “Triple it is, then.”

He stood up, looking down at her, loving the sundress that showed off her slightly sunburned shoulders and tiny waist. He reached out his hand, taking hers.

“Will you dance with me, Delaney?”

She smiled. “I will.”

*   *   *

“You just played ‘Stairway to Heaven' three straight times.” Delaney pulled back so she could see into Joshua's eyes a half hour later.

He shrugged, a smile playing at his lips. “It's the longest slow song I know. I figured if I owed you three songs, then they'd better be as long and sappy as possible.”

“Good thinking.”

“I can put the song on continuous loop if you want to keep dancing.” He leaned down to kiss her softly. “Or we could go for a swim.”

Delaney shivered as she looked at the dark water.

“I'm not sure I'm a big fan of swimming in water where I can't see the fish. The big ones come out after dark, right?”

“Well, in this lake, the biggest ones wouldn't feed you for more than one meal, so I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about losing an arm or anything.”

“I don't know.” She shook her head. “I think my adventurous spirit stops at the end of this dock, once the moon's out.”

“Okay. No swimming. How about we just dance in the moonlight, then?”

Delaney laughed softly. “You are quite the romantic, you know.”

“Am I?”

“Don't worry. I won't tell a soul.”

He rolled his eyes. “Definitely the kind of thing a guy doesn't want getting around. Luckily, your rep is shredded as well.”

“Well, don't tell anybody I'm actually human. It would totally mess with the next audit.”

“My lips are sealed.”

The song started again, and Delaney sighed as he pulled her arms gently up to rest on his shoulders, then gathered her close to his body, his chin resting on her head as they swayed.

“Delaney?”

“Mm?”

“Have you ever made love in a big brass bed … in a log cabin … in the moonlight?”

She took a shaky breath. “No.”

He pulled back to look into her eyes, tipping up her chin as he placed a feather-soft kiss on her lips.

“Would you like to?”

 

Chapter 27

“I don't want to go home.” Delaney pouted as she folded herself into the porch swing overlooking the lake on Sunday morning.

Josh chuckled as he handed her a mug of coffee and sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders like they'd been sitting out here together on Sunday mornings for months.

“I don't, either.”

“Does real life
have
to take back over already? Can't we just keep our phones turned off and stay here for the week?”

“That sounds idyllic.” He squeezed her shoulder, surprised at how perfect that actually sounded. Delaney in his space, in his arms, in his bed—for days on end.

She leaned on him, and he smiled as she pulled up her legs and snuggled closer, sipping her coffee. Her skin was soft against his fingers, and part of him wanted to take her hand and pull her back into the bedroom one last time before they had to leave.

He had no idea how things would play out once they left the cabin, but memories of the night they'd just spent together promised to torture him for a long, long time to come. He'd called Delaney an enigma before, and now that he knew her in bed, knew her at the breaking point, knew her in the afterglow … the word hardly did her justice.