Page 31 of Rex's Honor
“Good,” he whispered, sliding his finger back up, doing a little circle on the top of her shoulder. “Too bad the kid can’t hear what I’m about to whisper in your ear.” He leaned in, feeling the warmth of her skin against his lips. “You’re more beautiful than the sun’s rays dancing over the water.”
“Good line,” she said.
He kissed her cheek. “You’re making my heart melt.”
“Oh, look, he just did what you did and… oh, wow, she’s aggressive.”
“What’s she doing?”
“This.” Tilly wrapped her arms around him, smacking her mouth against his while her tongue swirled around, making him dizzy with desire.
“My job here is done.” He leaned back on his hands, stretching his legs. The young couple across from them continued to kiss for a little while longer, then giggled and laughed and kissed some more.
“I would have never thought to do that,” she said.
“What? Kiss me?”
She tilted her head. “You know what I meant.”
He nodded. “But you’re thinking about kissing me now.”
“That one beer must have gone straight to your head.”
He lay on his back, staring up at her. “Maybe, but I’m hoping after our date tonight, I’ll get to feel you up like I did the night of the end of the summer fireworks.”
She slapped his arm. “You’re impossible.”
“I know.” He closed his eyes, letting the rocking of the boat gently lull him. If this boat had a bed, he’d be leading her to the cuddy and using his best moves to get her to sleep with him again.
His heart wasn’t melting anymore.
No. His heart burned with the need to be with her again.
To love her.
It was crazy. He didn’t know if it was being back and the nostalgia of it all.
Or if it was real.
But he wanted to find out.
“You’re a good man,” she whispered.
He blinked open an eye as she spread out her blanket.
She lay on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, staring off into the bay. There were many days and nights he’d thought about her and what she might be doing. Or what it might be like to be with her again.
But they were fleeting thoughts. Memories of a time he couldn’t allow himself to fully enjoy because he was too much of an asshole.
“If that were true, I would have come home a long time ago.”
She brushed her warm lips over his shoulder. “Don’t let guilt start filling up your heart. Let’s get through this these next few weeks of making your mom happy and healing all these wounds. After that, we can all walk away knowing we did right by her and maybe we can be friends.”
Friends.
He wasn’t sure that was going to be enough.
8
