Page 115 of Fire Island
“Okay . . .”
I wrap her into my hold. “You want to go aboard?”
“Can I?”
“Should be safe. Just take it easy.” I steady the ladder as she climbs aboard. The old boat moves a little with her weight but stays put. When she’s safely aboard, I climb up. Evie pads around the deck slowly, running her hands over every surface she goes past, bending her neck to look up the half a mast that’s left.
“How long will it take?” she asks, spinning back to me.
“Maybe eighteen months. Longer, if we get busy.”
“What are you busy with?” She narrows her gaze.
I can’t help the smile stretching my face. “You, baby girl.”
“How will I keep you busy, mo ghràdh?”
I close the distance between us.Mo ghràdh.That’s the first time she’s used the phrase. I love the way it rolls off her tongue. How I would love to take this woman around the world. Experience everything life has to offer, just her and me. I cup her face in my hands, tilting her mouth up.
“With your insatiable need, your research... That will take up days.”
“My research does take hours, and I can only get the best results with you.”
Her fine fingers travel my chest as I fist her hair, nipping her neck. Wanting her fucking bare already.
Wanting to be balls-deep inside this little woman, giving her my soul. Making sure she’s so satisfied, so thoroughly fucked, you’d never be able to wipe the sweet little smile she gives me in the afterglow every time from her face.
Harried hands pull at the hem of my polo shirt.
This old tub is filthy. But the night sky overhead is magnificent. The moon is hidden behind the northern trees, giving us the most incredible blanket of stars.
“Wait, I’ll be right back.” I break away, dotting a kiss to her nose before making my way down the ladder to the nearest, newest boat up on stilts I can find. Stealing two of its covers, I bundle them up and scale Pearl’s ladder again.
Laying the covers out, I leave one folded at the side. Just in case.
The old rust-spotted rail trimming the deck sends up a speckled glint. The night breeze whips Evie’s hair around. It’s now I realize her breaths are choppy, her eyes desperate. I cross the deck that spans between us and palm her face, sinking my mouth to hers.
A pretty little whimper rises, and I take it.
Breathless, I break away, double-checking the yard is empty as I rest my forehead to hers.
“Fuck me, mo ghràdh. My heart is yours, Evie.”
“Mine to protect.”
I groan through a huffy sound. “If anything happened to you?—”
“I will not leave you. I promise you that.”
I want to tell her I would die for her. I would use my last breath to keep her safe from those fucking low-life pieces of shit. But I’m not ruining this moment. Instead, I channel the desperate need for her safety into affection. “That’s the only promise I will ever hold you to, Evie.”
“Good,” she breathes. “Now, fuck me like it’s the last time you’ll ever touch me.”
Christ almighty.
I grind my molars. Just the thought alone is enough to take this man down. It takes everything I have to not crumble and begher to make sure that never ever happens. I won’t. I won’t yield to my insecurities. Not this time. Never again.
That’s the difference twenty years makes. The difference between a boy and a man.
