Sea of Love(52)

Her eyes filled with tears. “You named a star after me?”

“The Lacy Star.”

“This is the most romantic, thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. Oh, Dane, I love it.” Lacy leaned over too quickly to kiss him again and winced.

Dane took her face in his hands and met her lips with his in a soft, tender kiss. “You need a warm bath and someone to love you until you feel better. I’ll run the tub; you relax for a minute.”

She watched him walk into the bathroom. Into my bathroom. She’d dreamed of him being in her apartment for so many months, and now that he was there, she realized she never could have dreamed how right it felt.





LACY RESTED HER head against Dane’s chest. Bubbles surrounded them like clouds that had fallen to the bathtub from heaven. Dane closed his eyes, relishing in the weight of her against him, the feel of the silky skin of her legs against his.

“I could lie here all night,” Lacy whispered.

“Mmm.” Dane nuzzled against her neck. “I don’t care where we lie as long as we’re together.”

“Thank you for coming here,” Lacy said.

Dane lifted his head, gathered her hair, and laid it on her other shoulder. He kissed her glistening skin. “Lace, I tried to do the right thing. I wanted to protect you, but I never wanted to be without you. This whole being-in-love thing is new to me, and I’ll probably make mistakes, but there are two I’ll never make. I’ll never be unfaithful, and I’ll never ask you to leave again.” He cupped water in his hands and released it on her shoulders, watching it ride the curve of her breasts, then disappear into the bubbles.

“I know.” She traced circles on his thigh. “I’m learning, too, about you and me and about us. I knew how close we had become after Nassau, but it was all one-step removed—always through electronics. This.” She wrapped her arms around his thighs. “Being here with you, spending those days together on the Cape, it’s like you crept into my chest and sank into my heart. And when we were apart, I felt like you’d left this big, painful hole inside me. I can’t imagine life without you.”

Dane wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her shoulder blade. “You’ll never have to.” He was careful not to hold her too tightly or move too suddenly. He worried about her pain from the accident, but every ounce of him wanted to love her. His hands moved up her belly until they skimmed the underside of her breasts. She rested her head against him and closed her eyes. Dane cupped her breasts gently, finding her taut peaks with the pads of his thumbs. Lacy sucked in a breath, and that little sound, that acceptance of his touch, brought a rise between his legs. He ran one hand down her belly to the crease between her thigh and followed it to her center. Lacy arched into his hand, and Dane stroked her, finding the swollen, sensitive area that he knew would send her over the edge and lovingly touched her, softly at first. She moaned and turned her head to the side, leaving the milky skin of her neck exposed, perfectly poised for Dane to lower his mouth and kiss, then lick. Lacy grabbed his hand beneath the water, nudging his fingers inside her, and at the same time, Dane opened his mouth and took her neck in a passionate hold between his teeth. He ran his tongue along her skin, nipping as he went. Her body trembled against him.

“Dane,” she whispered. Her legs tightened, her hand grasped his wrist, and when she tried to say his name again, it came out as a demand. “Dane!”

He drew her face toward him and took her in a deep, insatiable kiss. He breathed air into her lungs as an orgasm seized her, swallowing her moans, feeling the needy thrust of her hips against his hand and feeling the thump, thump, thump of her heart against his chest. He stoked her until the tightening in her thighs eased and she released a gratified breath. He moved his hand from her breast. A little cry filled with disappointment escaped her lips, and when he pulled his fingers from her, she sucked in another breath. His own need for her heightened by the second, but he held back.

“I’m trying to be gentle. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She kissed the inside of his biceps. “You don’t have to be.”

“You are so beautiful, Lace,” he whispered. “Everything about the way you love is graceful.”

She kissed the underside of his chin, then shifted her body, exposing his eager erection. She wrapped her slender fingers around him, and Dane groaned. Her hand felt so good. She held him tight and stroked him as she kissed his neck, trailing kisses down his chest to his nipple. The sensation of her teeth grazing that sensitive skin and the strength of her hand inflamed Dane’s already ravenous desire. His hands found her waist, and he lifted her onto him in one quick, gentle movement. She grabbed his shoulders as he slid between her swollen folds and fed his need. Lacy’s blue eyes were dark and covetous as she rode him with the help of his strong hands on her thighs, matching his rhythm. She lowered her mouth to his, and Dane moved his tongue along the furrows of her sweet mouth, his release building more with each flick of her delicious tongue against his. He pulled back from the kiss only out of need to look into her bewitching eyes as he came. A smile crept across her lips. Her eyes bloomed wide, then narrowed as she reached behind her and cupped his balls. Dane threw his head back with gritted teeth and groaned as the orgasm clutched him. Lacy kept up their sensual pace.

“My God, Lace. You feel so good.”

She took his cheeks in her hands and lowered her mouth to his, forcing all that clenched energy down below in one frenetic thrust after another, as she ravished his mouth with hers, then drew away slowly with one last lick of his lower lip.

“You don’t feel so bad yourself,” she said, then kissed him again.

Dane wrapped his arms around her and gently pressed her to him. “I love you, Lacy Snow, and I will never let you go again.”





Chapter Thirty-Seven


Four weeks later…

DANE LAY BACK with his iPhone in his hand. The bed rocked with the gentle caress of the Atlantic Ocean. The sun-kissed skin between the open buttons of his dress shirt gleamed in the flickering light of the candle on the bedside table. He read the message on his screen. Lacy wants to FaceTime. The excitement of seeing Lacy hadn’t dimmed one iota. If anything, the desire to see her grew with every call, every wink. He accepted the request and was met with her lust-filled blue eyes, her wayward curls framing her face. She’d never looked so pretty.

“There’s my beautiful friend-with-benefits.”

“Just one push of a button away,” she teased. “I miss you.”

“How much?” he asked.

Lacy looked behind her, then back into the phone. “I can’t show you how much right now, but I think you can conjure up an image in your mind.”

“Mmm. Yes, I think I can, of your naked body beneath—”

“Hush,” she said, shooting a look behind her again. She sighed. “When are you coming?”

“You’re not here. How can I?”

“You’re such a pig,” she teased. “Seriously, I’ve been waiting for you forever. Don’t make me wait too much longer.” She blew him a kiss, and Dane saw a male hand cover the spaghetti strap that rode her bare shoulder. “I gotta go.” The screen went blank.

An ache of longing ran through his chest. Every minute away from Lacy felt like an eternity. He rose and looked at the framed certificate beside the bed from the International Star Registry. The Lacy Star. Dane hadn’t even realized a person could name a star, but leave it to Treat, master of romance, to clue him in. God, I love her, and I’m so lucky that she loves me. Dane pushed the jealousy aside and went to the closet. Before reaching for his jacket, he ran his fingers over Lacy’s clothes. They’d had to make a few changes to the closet setup to fit her clothing, and now Dane couldn’t remember what the closet had looked like before she’d moved in. It was like she’d always been there, or maybe he’d just always been waiting for her to come into his life. He laid his jacket on the bed and went to brush his teeth. Seeing her toothbrush next to his still gave him a warm feeling.

He passed through the galley and reached out to touch the metal fish on the wall, remembering Lacy’s sweet face when she’d said she could almost feel them breathing. The way that night had ended was something that at one time Dane had wished he could forget. He’d slowly come to realize that they’d made it through. We made it through. They’d gone back to Wellfleet and purchased the sculpture and all those tiny fleeing fish as a way to remember that no matter what they encountered, their love would pull them through.

Up on the deck, he spotted her with Rob and Sheila, each holding a glass of ice water. Dane was pleased that Rob had pulled himself together and fully recovered from his accident. He would be attending AA meetings for a long time to come, and Dane was proud of him. Lacy stood with a drink in one hand and tossed her head back. Her feminine laughter filled the night air. His father approached her from behind and laid his arm across her shoulder, as if she’d always been part of the family. Savannah and Hugh sidled up to him.

“I don’t know how you convinced her to leave her job and move onto a boat,” Savannah said.