He doesn’t finish because he sees I’ve covered my mouth and my eyes are leaking.
“Laney. What is it? Why are you crying?” I hear him setting down plates and coming close to me.
I can barely get out the words. “I can’t believe you remembered.”
“Of course I remembered. I haven’t forgotten a single thing about you. Do you see these flowers?” He points to a tiny bud vase with a red flower in it right next to his bed, which sits across from the stove. “I keep this on my table, always, because it reminds me of the dress you wore that night.”
I cover my eyes. It’s too much. “No, you do not.”
“How are you surprised by this? I thought about you every single day I was in prison. I thought I made that clear.”
I shake my head but he keeps going.
I have to shut him up. Finally. I grab him and hush him with my mouth. Throwing my arms around his neck, I kiss him so hard that I push this tall fellow backward until the chair keels over behind him and we’re on the bed, kissing, with me on top of him.
His salty lips are still at first, as are his hands, like he’s not sure this is actually happening. I pry open his mouth with my tongue and thrust it in to taste him, needing his lips, his tongue, his mouth.
He needs to know how much he’s undone me. He needs to know all the things I’ve been thinking about even though I’ve been totally heartbroken, and now it’s coming back together.
Chapter 17
Laney
I wake up to a warm sensation all over my body. It’s warm in this hut, probably because I slept late and forgot to close the balcony and now the sun is streaming in, blazing up the entire room with its heat.
But after another minute, I realize that no, it’s my body producing that heat. And I’m not in my hut, I’m on Hugo’s boat. I look down and see the source of my heat.
Hugo’s mouth is full of me. Claiming me, owning me. Kissing and licking ever so slowly that it lights up every last nerve ending in my body and my blood feels like I might have a fever.
“Hugo,” I whisper.
He pauses his open-mouth kisses against my sensitive skin just long enough to whisper something in French. “Mon coeur."
His words transport me back to our first night together.
I give in to the happy memory and imprint it with what’s happening to me, to us, right now.
“My god, what a gift you are to me,” he whispers against my sensitive skin.
His soft, sensuous suction resumes. The feeling could be compared to a swarm of butterflies teasing me all over my skin.
Every time he speaks, I hear the realness in his voice. I’m overcome with emotion.
I’m so turned on at the moment, I have to bite down on my lip because all the windows are open and if I let loose, everyone on the dock will know what’s happening in here.
Maybe that’s fine, says my hazy brain.
When Hugo sinks his tongue deep into my pussy and finds that deadly spot, I instantly explode.
“Yes! Holy fucking shit! Yes!”
Hugo’s chest rises and falls rapidly and his eyes gleam in the dim morning light as he watches me come. He cups my face and kisses me gently on the lips, and my insides melt into soft warm caramel.
“I love you, my precious Laney.”
I have to bite my lip.
“No one has ever called me that before,” I say.
“Good,” he replies. “Then I’m the first and the last. You’re mine and I’m never leaving you again. I promise I’ll—”
I don’t let him finish, but instead press our lips together in a deep, life-affirming kiss.
Hugo takes me out on the charter boat he sometimes captains to earn a living. He says he wants me to see a special spot he thinks I will like. He drives the boat around the east side of the island, away from the resort, to a hidden cove surrounded by forested mountains. When he drops anchor, he says. “Let’s go for a swim.”
I look around.
“How do you know it’s safe to swim here? How do you know there aren’t any sharks?”
“Because I know this whole area like the back of my hand. It’s my business to know it, literally. Do you trust me?”
Instead of telling him I trust him, I stand on the front of the boat and jump into the water.
I feel as though nothing can touch me, until it does. Something smooth bumps and slides next to me. I try not to panic, but I do let out a yelp. I turn and see that it’s a dolphin—several dolphins—swimming circles around me, wanting to play.
“Oh my god!” I am speaking in a shaky voice that’s somewhere between a laugh and a cry.
“Did you know about this?”
He says nothing at first; just watches.
I’m overjoyed to be swimming with these magnificent creatures for the first time in my life. It’s a dream come true. Hugo watches me for a moment, looking very proud of himself for making me so happy.
And he should. He should be proud of himself.
As I tread water and stare at his golden visage in the boat, I tell him there’s only one thing missing.
“Come on in, the water’s fine.”
He strips down to his swim shorts and follows suit, swimming up to kiss me in the water. Our salty kisses are interrupted by nudges from our new friends, who clearly want to play.
We both laugh and turn our attention to the dolphins.
“That was a rude interruption,” he jokes.
“Get used to it if you ever want kids,” I say before thinking. I check his response, worried for a moment that I’ve been too forward.
He swims
