"Jesus. Jesus, Lexy."
"Now. Giff, I'll kill you if you stop. I swear I'll kill you."
"You won't have to," he managed. "I'll already be dead. Get these goddamn clothes off." He tugged at her skirt with one hand, his jeans with the other. "For God's sake, Lexy, help me."
"I'm trying." she was laughing now, trapped in a dripping skirt, still flying on the fast, hard orgasm, her blood singing so high she could barely hear the sea. "I feel drunk. I feel wonderful. Oh, hurry."
"Hell with it." He tossed his jeans aside, dragged off his shirt and pulled her into the water, skirt and all.
"What are you doing? This is brand-new."
"I'll buy you a new one. I'll buy you a dozen. Only for God's sake, let me have you." He dragged the skirt down by the elastic waist and was inside her almost before she could kick her way clear.
she cried out in shock, in delight. she wrapped her legs around him, dug her fingers into his shoulders and watched his face. Dark eyes, never leaving hers, seeing only her.
When the wave swamped her, outside and in, she burrowed against him, and knew he would always bring her back.
"I love you." He murmured it to her as his body raced toward the edge. "I love you, Lexy."
He let himself go, shuddering with her until they both went limp. Then he gathered her close and let the waves rock them. It had been perfect, he thought, free and simple and right. just as he'd always known it would be.
"Hey, out there."
He glanced over lazily, spotted the figure on the shore waving both arms. Then he snorted, pressed his lips to Lexy's hair. "Hey, Ginny."
"I see some clothes thrown around here look familiar. Y'all naked out there?"
"Appear to be." He grinned as he felt Lexy chuckle against him.
"Ginny, he drowned my skirt."
"About time, too." she blew them elaborate kisses. "I'm walking a while. Gotta clear my head some. Lexy, Miz Kate got your daddy to drop in down at the bonfire. I'd make sure I had something covering my butt before I went back."
Weaving more than a little, and chuckling herself, Ginny headed down the beach. It made her heart happy to see the two of them together like that. Why, poor old Giff had been pining away for her for years, and Lexy, well, she'd just been chasing her own tail waiting for Gaff to catch hold of her.
she had to stop a moment, waiting for her spinning head to settle back on her shoulders. Shoulda skipped the tequila shooters, she told herself. But then, life was too short to go skipping things.
One day she was going to find the right man to catch hold of her too. And until then, she was going to have a high old time looking for him.
As if she'd conjured him, a man walked across the sand toward her. Ginny cocked a hip, aimed a grin. "Well, hey there, handsome. Whatcha doing out here by yourself?"
"Looking for you, beautiful."
she shook her hair back. "Ain't that a coincidence?"
"Not really. I prefer to think of it as fate." He held out a hand and, thinking it was her lucky night, she took it.
just drunk enough to make it easy, he thought as he led her farther into the dark. And sober enough to make it ... fun.
for the first time in weeks, Jo woke rested and with an appetite. she felt settled, she realized, ""and very nearly happy. Kate had been right, Jo decided as she gave her hair a quick finger-comb.
she'd needed the evening out, the companionship, the music, the night. And a few hours in the company of a man who apparently found her attractive hadn't hurt a thing. In fact, Jo was beginning to think it wouldn't hurt a thing to spend a bit more time in Nathan's company.
she passed her darkroom on the way downstairs and for once didn't think of the envelope filled with pictures that she'd hidden deep in a file drawer. For once, she didn't think of Annabelle.
Instead she thought of wandering down to the river again and the possibility of bumping into Nathan. Accidentally. Casually. she was getting as bad as Ginny, she decided with a laugh. Plotting ways to make a man notice her. But if it worked for Ginny, maybe it would work for her. What was wrong with a little flirtation with a man who interested her? Excited her.
There now. she paused on the stairs, curious enough to take stock. It wasn't so hard to admit that he excited her-the attention paid, the breezy way he would take her hand, the deliberate way his eyes would meet and hold hers. The coot and confident way he'd kissed her. just moved in, she recalled, sampled, approved, and backed off. As if he'd known there would be ample opportunity for more at a time and place of his choosing.
It should have infuriated her, she mused. The cocky and blatantly male arrogance of it. And yet she found it appealed to her on the most primitive of levels. she wondered how she would play the game, and if she would show any skill at it.