Page 32 of Whispers at Seaside
“No reason.” Hagen grabbed his teddy bear from the side of the bed and hugged it.
“Hagen, honey, is someone at camp teasing you?” Mira asked.
“No,” he said on the tail of a yawn.
“Doyouthink you’re a nerd?” Matt asked.
Hagen shrugged and turned on his side, obviously done with this conversation. Matt leaned down and whispered something in Hagen’s ear, and Hagen hugged him again.
Matt squeezed her hand on the way out of the bedroom. Mira said good night to Hagen, hoping and praying he wasn’t being teased again and wondering what Matt had said to earn that extra hug.
“I love you, sweet boy.” She pulled the door partially closed on her way out of his bedroom and struggled to retract her mommy claws.
MATT PACED THE deck thinking about Hagen and rubbing the tension from the back of his neck. Mira joined him a few minutes later with worry swimming in her eyes. He gathered her in his arms and swallowed his frustration, knowing it would only further upset her.
“Are you okay?” He brushed her hair from her shoulder and kissed her softly.
“I wish I could say yes, but he’s been teased before, and I thought we’d moved past it. I’ll talk to the camp counselor tomorrow and see if she’s noticed anything.”
“I’ll go with you.”
She drew back, surprise replacing her worry. “You don’t have to do that, Matt. It’s kid stuff.”
“It’sHagenstuff, and I don’t mind. I want to be there.”
He lowered himself down to the lounge chair, stretching out his long legs, and pulled her down beside him. She snuggled in, her fingers playing lightly over his chest. They lay like that for a long while, listening to the waves lapping at the shore and feeling the breeze wash over their skin.
Sometime later, after the initial shock of worry over Hagen’s question subsided and Matt felt Mira’s body relax against him, he gently rolled her onto her back and gazed down at her beautiful, troubled face.
“Am I coming on too strong?”
“I don’t know. I’m used to taking care of Hagen myself, and suddenly you’re ready to step up and protect him.”
“And you,” slipped out before he could school his thoughts, but now that it was out there, he wasn’t about to deny it. “I care about you both, Mira. All these months I’ve liked you from afar. You’re the only woman I’ve thought about since last summer. The only woman I’ve wanted, and now I can finally show you and Hagen how much I care.”
The truth only made her expression more troubled.
“Talk to me, sunshine. What’s wrong?”
“You talk like you’re here forever, and we both know you’re not. You’re only here for a few months, and every day that time gets shorter. I have to protect Hagen’s feelings. He’s already getting all wrapped up in you. I can’t prepare him for how he’ll feel when you leave. He’ll be devastated.”
The truth was a bitter pill to swallow. “And you? How will you feel if I go back?”
“I’m an adult. I don’t matter,” she said without an ounce of regret, and that made him ache, because she mattered a heck of a lot.
“Your feelings do matter, just like mine do, and Hagen’s. We’re all important, even though Hagen takes precedence, as he should. I don’t know what will happen in three months. It’s only been a few days, but I’m learning as much about myself as I am about what it’s like to live outside of the academic world. I’d forgotten so many simple things, like how great it is to spend time with you and Hagen without worrying about leaving in the morning and not seeing you for weeks on end. And how it feels to take the time to not just eat a real breakfast, but to sit down at a table with my brother and my niece and our friends and visit. Things I let go for too long.”
“And…?”
“And I don’t know,” he said honestly. It was all happening so fast. “I can’t make any promises, but I have wanted to spend time with you and Hagen—real time, not just an hour here or there—for almost a year, and we finally have a chance to do it. I don’t want to blow off what we feel when we’re together. It’s too good. It feels too right. I want to explore it, to see what happens and how it naturally progresses.”
He forced himself to say what he knew he had to, even though he didn’t want to risk hearing an answer he wasn’t ready to accept. “If that’s too big of a risk for you, or for Hagen, I’ll understand, but it won’t stop me from trying. I’m done pretending I’m not dying to spend hours, days, weeks with you and to hold you naked in my arms.” He brushed his lips over hers and she arched beneath him with a look of longing and a hint of worry. “You tell me, sunshine. What do you want?”
Her hand circled his neck and her head rose off the chair. “You, Matt. I want you.”
Mira’s admission unearthed an avalanche of emotions, made worse by the eagerness of her kisses. Her soft, warm hands moved beneath his shirt, up and over his back. He struggled to keep himself in check as he delved into the recesses of her mouth, telling himself that kisses were all he could take tonight. With Hagen sleeping just inside the house, he didn’t want to test their control, because he knew it was a losing battle. But she was moving against him, making sweet, wanton noises, and before he knew what was happening, she slashed through his control. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth and gave it a gentle tug, earning a moan so inviting he moved his hands south, holding her hips. Her head tipped back, eyes closed. She was a vision of beauty, flushed with need.
He lowered his mouth to her neck as they fell into sync, creating a scintillating rhythm with their hips. Her legs wrapped around his waist, making him ache for more.
