"And you think this is it? Working for KHB?"
"I'm not sure," she said honestly. "It's too early to tell, but parts of it, maybe. What about you?"
"This is a step in a ladder for me. I'm thirty-one years old."
"Me too," she said.
"Really? And you haven't outgrown your cookie habit?"
She wrinkled her nose at him. "I'll never outgrow that."
"Good. Some things should always be part of who you are. For me, it's family. I know what I want to end up with. A wife who understands marriage won't always be easy, because the last thing I need is a diva who has no idea what being a family really means, more reasonable hours, and-like everyone else-something of my own."
"Laura said the last two senior designers left for bigger, better opportunities. Is this a stopover for everyone? Is that why it feels like something's missing?" She didn't even realize she'd nailed down her feelings to something being missing until just then. She'd never felt like something was missing at the resort. Her need to move on was driven by her job, the one she'd been hired to do, being completed. She'd readied the resort for someone else to walk in and run the areas she'd set up and managed. But had she felt complete for so long there because of Drake? Because of her friends?
"Until you own your own business, I think everything is a stepping-stone."
"I guess that's true." Wasn't everything in life a stepping-stone to something? Like school was to a career and dating was to marriage?
"My guess is the reason it feels like something's missing is because you're looking for small-town friendships, loyalty, and comforts in the big city. Like I said, that might change. I've seen good people like you become hardened, disloyal, and impersonal in a matter of months."
"How did you escape it? You seem pretty down-to-earth."
"I keep my eyes on the prize. I may not know what that prize is right now, but I have faith in myself. I know one day my future will become clear. My small-town roots have kept me grounded. I might want more professionally, but the day I walk out the doors of KHB for the last time, it's not going to be as a lesser man."
DRAKE PACED AT the end of the resort driveway waiting for Serena to arrive home Friday night. She'd texted when she'd reached the roundabout in Orleans, which was only a few minutes away, and he'd been edgy ever since. The drive had taken her an extra hour and a half. He expected her to be tired and irritated, and he told himself to chill out and try not to devour her the second he saw her.
Headlights appeared at the end of the road, and he jogged into the street, every nerve aflame, his fingers curling in anticipation of holding her again.
Her window was down as she rolled to a stop beside him. "Hey, big boy-"
Her words were smothered with a ravenous kiss. So much for holding back. He couldn't resist leaning through the open window and taking the kiss deeper. She clutched at his hair, holding tight the way she must have learned turned him on. Sinful sounds slipped from her lungs, and the car began rolling.
"Brakes," he ground out between urgent kisses.
She slammed on the brakes, pulling him by his hair into another kiss. The sting shot darts of pleasure straight through him. His Supergirl was back, and he needed her in his arms. The car rolled forward again, and she grasped the wheel with one hand, still tugging his hair with the other, and slammed on the brake.
"Park," he ground out. "Fast."
He gave her a chaste kiss and sprinted down the driveway beside her car. The second she parked in front of the office, he pulled the door open and she jumped into his arms. Her mouth crashed against his, knocking their teeth together. They both groaned, but neither broke their connection as he carried her into the office and strode up the stairs to his apartment.
Halfway up she pulled back and pressed her hands to his cheeks, her eyes dazzling with heat as she said, "I swore I wouldn't do this."
He grinned. "You and me both. Everyone's at the Beachcomber tonight, if you want to-"
"No! I need to be with you. It's been a long week."
"Thank goodness," he ground out.
He reclaimed her mouth as he opened the door to his apartment and pushed it closed with his hip. She wriggled from his arms, and they tore at each other's clothes, stumbling toward the bedroom. They tumbled to the bed in a tangle of hungry kisses.
He buried his face in her neck, breathing her in. "How is it possible that I've missed you so much?"
"I don't know. I look for you at every turn. When I'm in my office, I wish you'd come in after your morning run, shirtless and sweaty, with that look in your eyes that always made my heart go crazy."
He kissed her cheek, then brushed his lips over hers and said, "You mean the darn-I-want-you look that was immediately followed by an I-need-a-cold-shower grimace?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
He lifted one of her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to each of her fingers. Then he settled her hand beneath his on the mattress and did the same with her other hand. "This is the first time you've been in my bed, and I want to remember everything about it. Your hair spilling over the pillows, the feel of you beneath me, the look in your eyes."
"It's not the first time," she whispered. "When we finished decorating your apartment, I lay right across the bed, staring up at the ceiling while you were talking with Rick, remember?"
"I do, actually. I remember wondering if he'd think I was a jerk if I asked him to leave so I could try to seduce you."
"Liar." She grinned.
"You're right. I wondered if he'd think I was a jerk if I told him to leave and flat-out took advantage of you."
Passion simmered in her eyes. "Gosh, how I wish you had."
She leaned up as he lowered his lips to hers, meeting him in a slow, sensual kiss. This, her, their coming together, was truly and utterly perfect. Her eyes opened, and she held his gaze, sending his heart into a spiral of emotions. His girl knew just what he wanted-what he needed-to see and feel all of her.
"I adore you," he said passionately as his mouth covered hers in a greedy kiss, and then he spent a good, long time loving the rest of her.
They lay together afterward, Serena's fingers trailing lightly over his skin as she nuzzled closer and whispered, "I have to pee."
He chuckled. "You're so romantic." He kissed her forehead, then patted her butt and said, "Go."
He laced his fingers behind his head, watching her full hips sway as she padded across the floor. She'd never seemed the least bit self-conscious about her body. Most women tried to cover up their bodies, but Serena was comfortable in her own skin. He loved that about her. A whisper of a voice in his head wondered if she'd been like that with all the guys she'd been with. He glanced at the card she'd given him on his nightstand, and he knew the answer didn't matter. Her heart had always belonged to him, just like his had to her.
She came out of the bathroom with a playful expression on her face and grabbed one of his T-shirts from the stack of clean laundry on the chair in the corner. "Mine."
He laughed as he stepped from the bed. "I sure am."
He helped her put on his shirt, which covered far too much of her. Then he gathered her in his arms and kissed the tip of her nose. "I'm glad you're here, Supergirl. Not just for the incredible sex, but I think now I know why I've never brought a woman here."
"You never … ? Not once?"
"Not once."
She pressed her lips to his chest. "Because you knew it would break my heart to see them leave in the morning?"
"I never got that far in my thinking. You and I picked out this bed, and you know I always hoped that one day we'd finally get our timing right. It would have felt wrong to bring you into my bed after someone else had been there."
The appreciation in her eyes made the pit of his stomach go all squirrely.
"You just earned major bonus points."
"Good, because I definitely want to collect on them later. I'll be right back." He went to use the bathroom and was pleased to discover the scent of her perfume lingering in the air. He loved that.
After washing up, he returned to an empty bedroom and spotted Serena standing out on the balcony. She was leaning on the railing, arms folded in front of her as she gazed out at the bay. The breeze lifted her hair from her shoulder, pressing the soft cotton of his shirt to her curves. Her left knee was bent, her toes perched just behind her right foot. She looked sexy and innocent, and she was finally his. Drake couldn't resist snagging his phone from his shorts pocket and snapping a picture. My girl.
He grabbed a pair of boxer briefs from the pile on the chair and stepped into them. Then he went to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.