When she comes back up with glasses of lemonade, I smile. "See, we're good. We're not even drinking."
"I thought it might be too early to drink alcohol,” she says, "and considering you're driving a boat and all."
I chuckle. "Weren't you drinking champagne at breakfast?"
She laughs. "Oh, fair point. I could find some vodka and spike this lemonade if you'd like."
I shake my head no. "I think we had enough to drink yesterday. At least you did."
She scoffs playfully. "Are you teasing me for getting drunk at the wedding?"
"Maybe. You like to be teased?"
She licks her lips, her pink tongue darting out. Damn, it looks good. "I kind of like you teasing me," she says, "if I'm being completely honest."
"Oh, I want you to be completely honest with me," I tell her, taking a drink of the lemonade before setting it down.
"Well, if I'm being completely transparent,” she says, "I remember parts of last night. They're coming back to me."
"Oh yeah? What parts?"
She presses a hand over her forehead, blocking the sun, and I can see her eyes clearly. "I feel like maybe I was a little aggressive in my dreams," she says, her voice hitching.
"Aggressive?" I ask. "How so?"
"I remember dreaming of you, of being with you, and I remember touching myself. Oh my God. I cannot believe I'm telling you this."
"No, go on, baby."
Her eyebrows raise. "Baby, now, is it?"
"What do you want me to call you, Marley?"
She swallows hard. "You can call me anything you like, actually," she says, "but baby sounds a little soft."
"You want me to call you something dirty?"
She nods. "Maybe. Is that bad?"
"There's no right or wrong when it comes to this," I tell her.
I lower the boat speed and I turn to her, cupping her cheek with my hand. "I see you're a torn girl, aren't you?" I run my thumb over her lips. "One part of you is so sweet, you're like honey. The other part is longing to be dirty."
She licks her lips. "Filthy even."
"Is that so?" I ask. She nods.
"I want to be undone," she tells me. "And I want you to be the one who undoes me."
"You won't be able to take this back," I tell her. "You give yourself to me and it's over."
"What do you mean over?" she asks.
"Once I have you, once you have me, you won't ever be able to forget it."
"Is that what all the girls say?" she asks, the heat between us so much hotter than the sun.
"I don't care about other girls. I just care about you, how you feel, how I make you feel."
She closes her eyes and lets out a whimper as I press my mouth to hers, kissing her softly, then hard. Her teeth bite my lower lip and I growl, hungry for more. She doesn't kiss me like a princess. She kisses me like she wants to be ravished. She said so last night and she's saying it again now with her mouth instead of her voice. She wants me and, fuck, I want her.
"Do you think you can kill the engine?" she asks, pulling away.
"And why would I do that?" I ask her.
"Because I feel like what we're starting here needs to be finished."
"And you think we can do that in the space of an afternoon?" I ask.
"Do you not?" she asks.
"Oh, dirty girl, what I want to do to you is going to take all damn night."
Marley
That first kiss gave me those butterfly feelings all over again. The same feelings I had the first time I saw him. The first time he spoke to me. The first time our hands touched, fingers brushed. And now his lips are on mine, and it's melting me and waking me up at the exact same time.
He pulls back. We're still driving a boat in the middle of the ocean, the open sea. And I know it's important that we look where we're going, pay attention. Anything can happen out on the great sea of Alaska. And I don't want to accidentally run into a barge because we're too busy making out.
He pulls back and looks at me. I smile and so does he. A kind of smile I wasn't expecting in a man like him; light and full, as if he saw possibilities he hadn't seen before. Possibilities with me.
"You need to focus on driving this boat to safety." And then I bite back my smile, dropping my eyes. He doesn't miss a beat.
"And then what, Marley?"
"And then we can drop anchor." I tell him. "Then we can see where the night takes us."
"The night?" he echoes.
I nod. "You're probably right. We need more than a day together. Why don't we drop anchor somewhere and give ourselves a chance to find out what we could be?"
"Will your brothers be worried?"
I shake my head. "For once, I'm just choosing what I want. No one else. Can you give me that? An opportunity to just have my own kind of fun?"
Maker growls. "Oh, Marley. I can certainly do that."
A rush of heat rolls over me, and I have to look away because the sensation within me is so intense, I'm not prepared to deal with it. Emotions are rising up that I've never experienced before — longing, lust, want, desire. So much desire. All twisted up inside of me, ready to pour out. I've waited 24 years to have a night like this. And now I'm having it with a man like him. Maker: dangerous, dark, and delicious.
God, that kiss was good.
His hands are back on the wheel and he's focused on driving the boat somewhere safe, a harbor. And I sit beside him, watching his strong arms, the line of his cheekbones, his thick beard, his dark hair, the tattoos on his biceps.
I remember him this morning without a shirt, jumping out of my bed, looking at me nearly naked. I
