His thought swel ed and supported hers.
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He shuddered, a deep, hard spasm like orgasm, his grasp on her hand almost painful. The reverberations shivered from his body to hers, every tremble and quake echoed deep inside her, the aftershock of power like the release after sex.
Lara sagged.
Iestyn wrapped his arms around her, almost as if he were protecting her from something. For long moments, neither of them spoke. The ship engines rumbled. A seabird cried and plummeted into the water.
“That did it,” Iestyn said final y, his voice muffled. His warm breath seared her breasts.
She eased away from him, far enough to see his face.
“Do you feel any better?”
He laughed.
She caught herself grinning foolishly back at him. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m good.” He pul ed down the col ar of his shirt to show her the burn. Stil red, but the frightening blisters had subsided.
His gaze was steady on hers. “We’re good. We’re more together than we are apart.”
Her heart thrummed. “It’s magic.”
“It’s more than magic.”
He cupped the back of her head and drew her down for his kiss. She trembled as their lips met, as his mouth nudged and searched and caressed hers. He kissed her as if he were inside her, as if he knew her, soul kisses, sweet, wet, consuming.
She pul ed back, dazed.
He smiled into her eyes. “We’re good together.”
“For how much longer?” The words escaped before she could snatch them back.
So much for her determination to live in the here-andnow.
Annoyed with him, with herself, she said, “Forget it.
I shouldn’t have asked.”
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He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she heard boots climbing the metal stairs. She sprang back. The cable repairman emerged from the lower deck, approaching them with a curious look and a bottle of water.
“Thank you so much,” Lara said.
Iestyn dug for his wal et to repay him.
The cable guy tucked the money into his front shirt pocket.
“Ferry’s pul ing in,” he observed with a nod toward the approaching dock. Green metal towers and concrete pilings overshadowed a strip of parking lot. “You need any help? Like on the stairs?”
“I’m fine. This helps.” Iestyn raised the water bottle.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” The repairman picked up his bucket and, after another busy glance between the two of them, clomped down the stairs.
Vibrations rose from the deck through the soles of Lara’s feet as the ferry chugged and churned into the harbor. A broken line of weathered gray buildings climbed the hil overlooking the water. A big white house stood on the crest of a cliff. There were gul s everywhere.
Lara shivered, reminded of the crows.
Iestyn offered her the bottle.
She shook her head.
He drank. “You have every reason to ask,” he said, capping the bottle.
“But no right.”
He rubbed his jaw, looking out at the water, where strings of buoys bobbed against the blue. “You ditched your people, you left your home and your job, to get me out of there. To bring me here. That gives you the right to ask me any damn thing you want.”
“I guess I wondered where you see this going.”
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“That depends on what we find here.”
“That’s a nice, noncommittal answer.”
