“Given your obvious love of the water, San Francisco is a good fit for you, then, much more so than the cold northern winters back in New York.”
“I’ve been diving since I was in elementary school. It’s convenient having my boat here rather than losing time jetting to a vacation spot.” He rested his chin on top of her head. “The sunken ships are fun to explore, and the coral reefs are amazing here. I’d like to take you after the baby’s born.”
“Jason—” she pinched the inside of his thigh lightly “—you’re pushing again.”
And she was so warm and beautiful in his arms, he decided to nudge her a little further. “We can’t take this one day at a time forever. Eventually we have to make plans.”
She turned in his arms, her face luminous in the moonlight. “You know what? I have a plan, a really great plan for how we should spend this night together.”
Damn it all, he was serious here. He wanted her to see all the ways their lives fit together as perfectly as their bodies. The determined glint in her eye gave him only a second’s warning before she tackled him back against the deck.
Lauren tugged the blanket over them. “I think we should climb underneath this quilt and see who can make the other scream with pleasure first.”
Lauren planted her hands on the deck on either side of Jason’s face and kissed him, letting her body and her passion have free rein. The stunned expression on his face gave her the advantage she needed. But he didn’t lag behind for long. Growling low, he rolled her underneath him, the blanket tenting over them.All his talk of the future had increased the panicked need to flee until she decided to act. To shut him up the best way possible.
She didn’t want to talk. He should already know full well she had dreams, a business, a need to make her own way in the world. And yes, even a need to look out for her mother, who had no one else to care for her, nobody to make sure she didn’t slide completely over the edge. And, oh, God, it hurt to think about that. But those needs were all calling to her to return to New York.
Her time here with him was running out. She only had a week left to store up memories, and then she would have to set boundaries in place if they were to have any hope of peacefully bringing up their child.
Right now, she just wanted to feel, to savor the lean, long stretch of his body over hers, memorize the sound of his voice hoarse with desire for her.
The boat undulated gently beneath them, nature’s waves mimicking the motion of their bodies rocking against each other. She tore at his clothes with frantic hands until he brushed them aside and worked his jeans open and her pants down to her ankles. She wrapped her fingers around the throbbing length of him, his open zipper rasping against the back of her hand as she guided him.
And then, yes, thank heavens, yes, he was inside her, moving, loving, angling his weight off her. The spicy scent of him mingled with the salt air and her own floral perfume until her senses went on overload.
She gripped his butt through denim and urged him harder, faster, needing to be closer than her swelling stomach would allow. His hand slipped between them and he touched her. Tormented her. Eased her and drew her tighter both at once as he worked her with his fingers and his thrusting body.
Already they were developing an instinctive rhythm of their own, an understanding of each other’s needs that excited and scared her. How could something be so amazing and so discombobulating at the same time? He made her yearn to do scandalous things, like make love out in the open on the deck of a boat.
He nipped at her ear, his face in her hair as he continued to coax her, rubbing tight circles, his callused skin heightening the sensation. “So, Lauren, who’s gonna scream first?”
She pressed her knees against his hips, massaging him with gentle squeezes until he groaned in her ear. “I don’t know,” she gasped, “you tell me.”
He loomed over her, his face taut with restraint. “I think we’re gonna make this a simultaneous thing.”
His confident promise of synchronized satisfaction sent her closer to the edge.
He captured her shout with his mouth and she could have sworn she took in his hoarse growl of fulfillment, as well. Pleasure flowed through her veins like a molten rainbow palate, melting every muscle and bone and nerve until she sagged back on the deck.
Dragging in air, he slumped beside her, hauling her against his chest wordlessly. He tucked the blanket more securely around them both before hooking his arms around and under her breasts.
Lights winked on the San Francisco shore, a world away from New York. Yet with each slap of the waves against the hull, she couldn’t escape the fact that with every second that ticked away, she was growing weaker where Jason was concerned. He’d presented his campaign well in showing her how perfectly their lives could fit together.
As much as she embraced cool logic and calm in her world, with her heart pounding out of her chest right now, she just kept thinking about how he’d never once mentioned the possibility of love. And she couldn’t escape the churning sense that she was falling irrevocably in love with Jason.
Eleven
J ason loped belowdecks after double-checking that the boat was secure for the night. Having Lauren all to himself in a bed until morning was a pleasure he intended to make the most of.
If he could keep up with her. The woman was damned near insatiable.He smiled.
Pushing open the door to the main sleeping quarters, he stopped short. The sheets were rumpled, but the bed was empty. Where the hell had she gone? It wasn’t as if there were many options.
He pivoted back toward the galley kitchen and flicked on the light this time. Sure enough, Lauren sat curled in a corner of the sofa, her eyes red from unshed tears. Wearing one of his T-shirts and not much else, she hugged her knees to her chest.
“Lauren?” he asked warily. “Everything okay?”
She straightened quickly, her smile overbright. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” She smoothed the U.S. Navy shirt over her legs, the cotton faded and soft from years of washing. “I’ve just had amazing sex under the stars and I suspect I’m going to get more great sex before the night’s played out.”
That was a bet she would damn well win. Soon. But not yet. Especially not until he figured out what had upset her.
Jason sat beside her, not too close, though. Something about her tense shoulders shouted she would crumble if touched her. “You seem distracted. And call me a selfish bastard, but when I have a woman in my bed—when I have you in my bed—I want your complete and undivided attention.”
“It’s nothing.” She tugged at the hem of the shirt with nervous fingers, so unlike his normally confident wife. “Really.”
“You’re obviously upset.” He rested his hand on hers, stilling her nervous fidgeting. “Why can’t you just tell me?”
She reached under her leg and pulled out her cell phone. “My mother called again.”
Rolling her eyes with a dismissive bravado that didn’t quite play out, she pitched the phone to the end of the sofa. A light dip of the boat sent the cell tumbling to the floor.
Her mother? Good God, it was after midnight here, which meant it was later than three in the morning in New York. What was her mother doing calling Lauren so late? Inconsiderate to her pregnant daughter, who could have already been asleep.
Then it hit him. Jacqueline must have been in one of her manic moods. He didn’t know much about bipolar disease—something he intended to rectify ASAP—but he figured tonight’s call couldn’t have been pleasant.
He couldn’t change the past, but maybe he could lighten her present. “Well, hell, Lauren, you should have thumped from below and I would have come to your rescue.”
A wobbly smile eased over her face. “Thanks, truly, but you can’t yank the phone away from me forever.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing all that horrible, really. Her timing just sucks, is all.” She leaned a little closer. A promising move. “She’s wigging out over the baby news. The wedding was okay in her eyes—not the baby. Or rather not the whole having-to-get married thing.”
He tugged a lock of her hair gently. “I thought you said you found that kind of view archaic.”
Her mouth went tight. “She told me to make sure I get a good divorce settlement, and after she hung up, she texted me the number of her attorney.”
He stayed silent for three caws of night birds outside to keep from saying exactly what he thought of Jacqueline’s interference. It was all he could do not to pick up the cell phone and toss it into the Bay. “Not exactly a supportive call from Mama, huh?”
Her hands clenched into fists. “I know it sounds silly. It’s not like we’re planning to stay married or anything. I just resented the way she expected me to take you to the cleaners. She made me think of that half-million dollars and it felt so damn wrong.” She thumped the cushions with a fist. “I should have stood strong, let the company go under if that’s the way things had to be. I screwed up.”
“Whoa, whoa, slow down a second.” He cupped her shoulders and turned her to face him fully. He might have some issues of his own he would like to press with her, but no way in hell was he going to let Lauren doubt herself this way. Damn Jacqueline for cutting such a wide swath through this amazing woman’s confidence. “Let’s unpack these thoughts one at a time. First, the creep stole from you. That happens to the most competent, smart people in the business world all the time. Hell, even entire cities get ripped off. Second, we are attached through this baby, which means we have to work together and help each other. If my ass lands in the fire, I damn well expect you to come help me. Got it?” He tapped her chin. “Do you hear me?”