“Little bugger?”I can’t help myself—I howl with laughter, and Finn joins in, picking me up off the ground and spinning me around cradled in his arms.
“You got a better name?”
“Anything’s better than that.”
Finn slows his spin, and I touch my lips to his.It’s a soft and tender kiss, slow.It’s a kiss between lovers who are not in any hurry.Nowhere to be.No one to take care of.Nothing to do.
Except enjoy one another.
I rake my fingers through Finn’s hair and leave kisses all over his scratchy jawline, his throat, his cheeks and eyelids.I’m telling him that I love him without saying the words.I’m telling him that he’s everything to me.That I am allowing myself to believe that this is real, and that this thing blossoming between us has a chance of working.
I wonder how long I can keep my mouth shut, because all I want to do is shout out to the whole world that I love him.
“I want to make you happy, Finn,” I whisper.
“You already do, baby.”
“Always tell me what you need.I can’t give it to you unless I know what it is.”
He leans his head back enough to look me square in the eye.I see a question in his expression.“The same goes for you, my beautiful Emma.Never, ever hide from me.”
I stroke the side of his face and press my lips to his again.I will never get tired of this man, the way he kisses, how he smells and feels, how I melt into his touch.
He’s carrying me to the bed.
He’s carrying me to the bed!
“Yessss!”I hang onto his neck with one arm and let the other dangle free, my head flung back and my hair swinging.“Take me to your bed, Finlay MacLaine!”
He chuckles.“You’ll be hollerin’ a lot this weekend, if all goes according to plan.”
“You’re not going toshushme?”
“No need.”He lays me on the dreamy bed, then hovers over me, his fists pressing into the mattress.“The ocean drowns out damn near everything.”
Oh, that smile.That devilish, sexy grin zaps the air right out of my lungs.
Finn leaves me breathless.
I bring my arms around his neck and pull him into me.
If there’s nowhere to be except where you are, time doesn’t matter all that much.
That’s how I feel right now, walking hand in hand with Finn on the beach beyond the cottage.The stars are even more spectacular here than at the ranch, and it’s pure magic to watch moonlight be reflected in the black mirror of the ocean.
I’ve finally convinced Finn I’m not joking, that I’ve never seen a body of water bigger than Lake Tahoe and I’ve never walked on beach sand before—not counting the little slice of beach by his pool.This opens up a whole conversation about the places I dream of seeing, locations on my bucket list.
He’s surprised that it’s such a long list, which is understandable.He knows I just have my GED.But I explain how I read everything I could get my hands on in the public library as a kid, and was a big fan of travel stories and world history.
“But there’s only one place at the top,” I tell him.
“Paris.”
I stop in my tracks to stare up at him.His smile is bright white in the moonlight.“How did you know?”
“I’ve been eating your French cooking for a while now, and I know all about your online boyfriend.”
“My online—?”
