“A walk sounds good,” she said.
At the edge of the yard they slipped off their shoes, then crossed the dunes to reach the water’s edge. The last of the day’s sunlight slanted across the beach. Much of the wide stretch of sand had been cast in shadow, making the sand cool against their bare feet. For as far as Kevin could see, he and Lacey were alone in the early-evening shadows.
“Isn’t this perfect, when it’s like this?” Lacey asked with a sigh. “No one around. It’s almost possible to believe that we’re the only ones who know about this stretch of beach.”
“Remind me to bring you back in mid-July,” Kevin said, thinking of the crowds that descended with the first full days of summer and remained until Labor Day at least.
“And spoil the illusion? No way.”
They walked as far as they could before the tide caught up with them and forced them to turn back. For the first time in months the silence that fell between them was comfortable, rather than strained. Neither of them seemed to feel the need to cover the quiet time with awkward conversation.
Kevin glanced over and caught the slow curving of Lacey’s lips. “A penny for your thoughts,” he said.
“At today’s rate of inflation? You’ve got to be kidding,” she said, repeating a joke that they’d shared over the years whenever one of them tried to pry into the other’s secret thoughts.
“How much are your thoughts going for these days?”
She seemed to consider the question carefully. “A hundred dollars easy.”
He reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He found the hundred-dollar bill he’d tucked there and offered it to her. “These thoughts of yours better be good.”
“In whose opinion?” she countered, nabbing the money and tucking it into her pocket.
“Mine. Pay up.”
She grinned at him with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Chicken,” she said succinctly.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I was thinking about chicken. Do you realize that there are at least a hundred different ways to fix chicken? And that’s before you get into the ethnic variations.”
Kevin regarded her intently. “I just paid one hundred dollars for a dissertation on chicken recipes?” He held out his hand. “I don’t think so. I expected something terribly revealing about your romantic soul. Give the money back. You took it under false pretenses.”
“Try to get it,” she challenged and took off running.
Her pace was lightning quick at first as he stood flat-footed and stared after her in delighted astonishment. Then he took off after her. He was aware of the precise moment when she slowed down just enough to be caught. He fell on top of her as they tumbled onto the sand.
“You let me catch you,” he accused, all too aware of the press of her breasts against his chest and the familiar fit of their lower bodies. He captured her hands and pinned them over her head. Her eyes were filled with laughter and her breath was coming in soft, ragged puffs that fanned his face.
“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t,” she taunted.
“Lacey Grainger Halloran, you are a tease.”
She wriggled beneath him, just enough to confirm the accusation. There was an unmistakable flare of excitement in her eyes, though she did her damnedest to look innocent.
“Me?” she murmured.
“Yes, you,” he said softly, and then he lowered his mouth to cover hers. Her lips were soft and moist enough to have him forgetting to be sensible and slow and careful. Her mouth tempted, like the lure of a flame, and the heat it sent spiraling through him was devastating.
Their bodies strained together, hers arching into his in a way that had him aching with an arousal so hard, so demanding that he thought it very likely he might embarrass himself as he hadn’t since the first time he’d experimented with sex.
Kevin fought for calm by rolling over on his back, taking Lacey with him so that he could see her face and the gathering stars in the evening sky at the same time.
“Good Lord, woman, what you do to me,” he murmured, his hands lightly brushing the sand from her face, then lingering to caress.
“I know,” she said, her expression dreamy and open for once. “It’s the same for me with you. Sometimes you touch me and I think I’ll fly apart. It’s always been that way.”
“Always?” he teased. “In the fifth grade you had the hots for me?”
She laughed at that. “Of course, only then I thought it was an allergy. I had a hunch a doctor could cure it, but I never quite got around to checking.”
“Thank God,” he said fervently.
“What about you?” she questioned, smoothing her fingers along the curve of his jaw. “Did I make you come unglued in the fifth grade?”
“Only when you hit that home run during the spring baseball tournament. I was ready to marry you after that.”
“Fortunately there are laws about that sort of thing.”
“I’m glad we waited as long as we did,” he said, his hands stroking over the backs of her thighs and up over her still-perfect bottom. Even through a layer of denim, she tempted. “I wouldn’t have missed the sweet anticipation of those years for anything.”
“Me, neither,” she whispered, twining her arms around his neck and fitting her head into the curve of his shoulder. “Me, neither.”
They stayed right where they were, snuggled comfortably together, for what seemed an eternity. Neither of them was willing to move and risk losing the rare and special mood. Despite thick sweaters and jeans, they were both cold and damp through to their bones by the time they finally made the effort to stand up and go inside.
“How about soup?” Lacey suggested as they stood in front of the fire to warm up.
“Chicken noodle, no doubt,” he said.
She scowled at him, but her eyes were bright with laughter. “I was
