Sound of the Tide (15 page)

“What’s wrong? Where are we going?”

“I might be off duty, but there’s one more blazing fire I need to extinguish.”

He lifted me up into the pickup, and his hands on my waist made me shiver. His demanding, passionate kiss took my breath away, and I pushed my hands against his chest and grabbed his suspenders.

“Drive as fast as you can, it’s an emergency,” I panted as he cupped my breasts.

There was an amused twinkle in his gray eyes, and instead of closing the door and walking around the car to climb into the driver’s seat, he pulled the lever to tilt back mine. My backrest came whooshing down, and I found myself on my back, with him on top of me, pushing my T-shirt up over my bra.

“Daniel!” I giggled in mock outrage, as he trapped my body underneath his. “What about the children!”

“Hmm, don’t worry, they only have eyes for Kev—just like their moms. He was completely surrounded by them when I left.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, and pushed Daniel over and into his own seat.

“Well, anyway, I don’t want them catching a glimpse of your little naked butt right through the windshield,” I declared, pulling my T-shirt back down. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Good point. But in return you have to show me your little naked butt when we get home.”

When the engine revved up and we were pulling out of the fire station’s courtyard, I noticed Kevin talking to two attractive women while more hovered nearby. He was laughing and didn’t seem to mind that he had mud drying on his skin. He waved as we rolled past.

“Aren’t those ladies married?”

“Some of them are. Others have a divorce or two behind them, like so many people do.”

Daniel smiled at me tenderly.

“Which is why I don’t ever want to get married, because that’s no guarantee for lifelong happiness. It’s not something you can put down in a contract but something you’ll have to want and work on every single day.”

He put his hand on my thigh, and his eyes were full of love.

“And you, babe, are the one I want every single day.”

He turned into a dirt road, and the pickup rattled along without slowing down.

“Where are we going?”

The road led us alongside the edge of the woods, over to the eastern border of Blue Hill Country Club, where the stables were located and big bales of hay had been stacked. Daniel drove past it and we reached the cape, whose rocky tip was the highest point here on the coast. In front of us, out at sea, the white lighthouse loomed high into the sky, and the thundering waters were surging around the rocks at its base in giant, powerful waves, making it seem as if they were trying to swallow the structure whole. The white-crested waves looked as if they had managed to capture sunlight—they were gleaming and sparkling like diamonds. A few clouds above us lazily drifted by, and every way we looked there was only deep, dark sea.

The gravel under our tires crunched as Daniel stopped the car and turned in his seat to face me.

“With you, I would drive to the ends of the earth,” he whispered, leaning in. His kiss was soft, like a gentle request, as quiet as the start to my favorite song.

“I want you every single day, babe. I have ever since I saw you with Kevin for the first time,” he confessed, looking me deep in the eye. “I want to kiss you, hold you, and wake up next to you every single morning of my life. I want to dry your tears when you’re crying, I want to be the reason you laugh, and I want to keep you warm when you’re cold.”

He brushed a stray curl from my face, and I could see the uncertainty in his eyes.

“I didn’t like how you were looking at Kevin back there,” he said quietly. “I really didn’t like it at all, babe.”

His kiss was gentle yet determined. He pulled me in by the back of my neck and held on to me.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” I asked incredulously.

“Of course I’m jealous! There will come a day when you realize that Kevin is, in fact, a far better man than me.”

I wanted to object, but he didn’t give me the chance. Instead, he folded back his armrest and pulled me against him.

“But until that time
. . .
” He lifted me onto his lap, which made me hit my knee on the shift lever, but he drowned my curse with a kiss. And when I tried to take my shirt off, I accidentally hit the horn. Daniel laughed.

“You know, we could have stayed at the station if you wanted an audience.”

With one well-practiced move he pulled my top over my head and simultaneously opened my bra.

“That thing’s been bothering me all day!”

His hands closed around my breasts, and I bent down to him, opening his suspenders and kissing his neck, while enjoying his teasing fingers on my skin. He pulled me higher, closer to him, letting his fingers wander over my backside and caress my breasts. His hot breath grazed my hypersensitive nipples, which were reaching out, begging for his tongue.

“And these,” he murmured as he unbuttoned my jeans.

I was helplessly trapped between lust and impatience. I wanted to undress him, too, but I didn’t want him to stop his caresses. I moaned when his teeth teased my super-sensitive flesh, sending shivers of desire from my breasts down between my legs.

I raised my pelvis so he could push my pants down, and accidentally turned on the radio. Daniel’s favorite rock band started blaring a song, and we couldn’t help but laugh.

“The Ranger’s too small,” I giggled, but Daniel resolutely shook his head.

“The Ranger’s the best truck ever! You’re just being impatient!”

With that, he pulled me in close for another kiss, and slid his hand inside my panties.

I gasped for air, but he drank my groans with his kiss, and his husky laugh made me break down.

“Daniel!” I panted. I wanted him. Wanted him to make love to me. Right then!

He could feel my urgency and increased the pressure in his fingers.

“You’re always too impatient!” he laughed. “Let me take some of the pressure off, babe,” he suggested.

Jesus, I felt shameless, sitting here half-naked inside a car and heading for my climax. What if someone saw us? My breathing came harder and faster, as if the fear of getting caught only enhanced my pleasure, and I started to move in sync with his fingers.

I was at the edge of reason, the peak of lust right before me, and I closed my eyes to lose myself deep within it when Daniel cussed.

“Sorry, babe, I can’t hold it any longer,” he confessed and lifted me up so that he could push his pants down, too.

Weak and powerless, I clung on to him, wishing for just one more tiny touch, and almost died because of the sudden interruption.

When he pulled me against him again, all my nerves were on edge, an
d . . .

“Piper?” My mother’s voice yanked me from my slumber. Jesus! That dream had been so real I felt as if I had just relived that wonderful day all over again.

“I didn’t want to wake you, but there’s a man at the door asking for you. What do you want me to tell him?”

Horrified, I realized that Amber wasn’t in my arms, but Mom put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“I took her off you an hour ago. You dozed off.”

My heart was thumping in my chest from the sudden shock and, relieved, I smoothed back my hair. I started blushing when I realized what I’d been dreaming about.

“Thanks, Mom, for everything. I’ll be right down,” I said and waited for the sound of her steps to disappear down the stairs before I moaned and slumped back into the armchair.

My first sex dream since Daniel’s death! What a nightmare! I had enough problems as it was, without needing to be made aware of my nonexistent sex life!

A short while later I went downstairs to the living room, hoping my unfulfilled passion wasn’t written all over my face, but my worry was unfounded. Mom was discussing with Ewan how perfect her granddaughter was.

“Well, you certainly are right about that, Mrs. Colby. This little girl is truly as beautiful as her grandmother.” He was just sucking up to Mom, but she giggled like a schoolgirl at such a predictable compliment.

“Oh, please, call me Veronica! Since you live right next door you’re practically family!” she chirped.

I gritted my teeth. From my hideout up on the staircase I could tell right away that she was hatching a plan to set the two of us up. I mean, this whole time she’d been saying that it would be good for me to allow a man back into my life. Considering the dream I’d just had, I had to agree with her, like it or not. Except my handsome neighbor and well-known womanizer Ewan was not the kind of man I would have picked for the job.

Quickly, I walked over and took Amber into my arms. She made an excellent protective shield, I thought, because she would fend off any and all advances. Not that Ewan was particularly pushy (only persistent).

“Hi, Ewan, how nice of you to stop by.”

As I expected, it took her less than a second to come up with a ruse. She raised her hand to her face in a completely phony way.

“Oh, dearie me!” she said. “I just remembered, I still need sweet potatoes for dinner!”

I raised my eyebrows. Her acting talents really left a lot to be desired. She might as well have said that she was leaving us alone so we could make out undisturbed.

I rolled my eyes, and Ewan smiled a knowing smile.

“Your father and I have some errands to run down in Blue Hill, but I do hope, Dr. Palmer, that we’ll see more of you?”

I should have asked what kinds of errands—perhaps setting up a wedding registry?—because her eyes gleamed as if she had just caught the perfect son-in-law in her net. But I didn’t feel like being her bait today.

Minutes later she had shooed my father out of the house and given a very long-winded good-bye to Ewan.

When the door closed behind her, I sure was glad she didn’t have the brilliant idea of inviting him to dinner.

“I’m sorry—” I began, when the door opened once more and Mom stuck her head in.

“Oh, Dr. Palmer, why don’t you stay for dinner?”

Lovely! I shouldn’t have celebrated just yet.

“Mom!” I called, a little irked, but Ewan gave a mischievous grin.

“Well, I couldn’t say no to that! Thank you, I would love to.”

Happy, Mom pulled the door closed behind her, leaving me alone with a very contented-looking Ewan.

“It’s not funny!” I said while his grin widened.

“Hey, I think it is! Apparently someone else wants the two of us to go on a date.”

“
Someone
who has
zero
say in this!” I set him straight, trying not to get too wrapped up in his bright-blue eyes. He was such a ladies’ man—and obviously on the prowl!

“May I sit down anyway?” he asked unnecessarily, because he was already pulling a chair close.

“If I throw you out before Mom gets back, I’ll never hear the end of it. So, you are very welcome to spend this evening—which is going to be horrible, I guarantee it—with me and my parents.”

“Why would it be a horrible evening?”

“Because my dad will be able to tell right away that you’re trying to—”

“Seduce you?” he interrupted with brutal honesty and a mischievous smile that made the blood rush to my cheeks.

“
Uhhh,
well, I wouldn’t put it like that, but
. . .
” I shook my head. “
That’s
your intention? Seriously?”

He chuckled, sounding amused, and tilted his head to the side.

“What do
you
think?”

Shit, I needed to keep my wits about me and try harder to seem more chill than I actually was.

“I thin
k . . .
Didn’t you have a girl over a few nights ago? Am I wrong?”

He shrugged his shoulders, and his grin widened even more.

“Are you spying on me?”

Say what? Jesus, how full of himself can a guy be? “Of course not! But you live next door and, you know, I happen to notice things!”

“It might have been my sister,” he suggested, and I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. His sister! Of course! Now he probably took me for a jealous, psychopathic stalker!

“So? Was it your sister?” I pressed him, feeling pretty damn stupid.

“No—but it could have been!”