Does he have a medical condition?
She started to ask him if he’d seen a doctor recently when the radio on the table squawked to life. “Garden Key, Garden Key, this is Captain Andrew Webber with the United States Coast Guard transmitting on—”
Alex stopped listening to the rest of the transmission. She was too busy trying to turn her eyeballs into laser beams so she could fry the radio.
Could the timing be any worse?
Mason marched over and grabbed the handset. “We copy you, Captain Webber,” he said. “This is Senior Chief…uh…” He stopped and shook his head. “I mean this is Mason McCarthy of Wayfarer Island and Deep Six Salvage Company. We’re happy as hell to hear your voice. You’re earlier than we expected. Over?”
“Rrrrroger that, Senior Chief McCarthy,” the captain responded, doing Mason the service of addressing him by his Naval rank. One thing Alex had learned in the short time she’d been on Wayfarer Island was that military men, regardless of which branch of the armed services they worked for, always treated each other with due respect. “Headquarters usually errs on the side of caution. When I got the call you all needed some help, I figured I better blow the cobwebs out of the engines. Over?”
“Copy that,” Mason said. “We appreciate the effort.”
“Rrrrroger that, Senior Chief. We’re ten minutes out and closing fast. Over and out.”
Mason placed the handset back on the cradle and turned to her. “What?”
“I hope you don’t think this means you don’t have to answer my question.”
Mason pointed to the surrounding sea like the Coast Guard was pulling up beside them right now. “The authorities are almost here.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What came out of your mouth wasThe authorities are almost here.But I’m pretty sure that’sSaved by the bellI see written all over your face.”
* * *
10:21 p.m.…
“I come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass,” Bran said. Maddy waited on the closing line and quietly mouthed it along with him. “And I’m all outta bubble gum.”
“They Live,” she said, pumping a fist when Bran chuckled and told her, “Damn, you’re good.”
They’d spread the sleeping bag out on the rough wood floor, undressed, and now lay side by side. Temporarily sated after the initial sexual frenzy, they’d started playing one of their old games, quoting the most badass movie lines they could think of and making the other person try to guess the title of the film. Only they’d added a new dimension to their play. For every title they guessed correctly, the other person had to kiss whichever body part the winner wanted.
It went without saying that any satiation they may have enjoyed was quickly disappearing. Touch by touch, kiss by kiss, deep wet suck by deep wet suck, they were rebuilding their aching desire to new heights.
Maddy’s thighs quivered, her skin was slick with sweat, and the tips of her breasts were so hard she didn’t know how much more she could stand. She just knew she wanted, wanted,wanted.Wanted sex. Wanted him. Wanted…everything.
Everything he could give her and all the things he’d sworn to withhold.
Told you this was dangerous, her conscience whispered.You’ll never be satisfied with only this.
And for the first time since she’d taken the leap, she didn’t ignore her inner voice. It was right. Shewasn’tgoing to be satisfied with only this. This one night. But she’d made her bed, and now she was forced to lie in it.
“I really thought I had you that time,” he said, nuzzling her neck and absently caressing her breast. His callused fingers created a wonderful friction every time they feathered over the aching point. “So where next?” he asked, his breath hot against her skin. “We’ve already seen to your neck and your belly and your breasts…”
He pinched her nipple for emphasis. The pleasure was so sharp, so keen, her heels dug into the cotton lining of the sleeping bag.
“Ssss,” she hissed.Too fast. Too fast. Draw it out. Savor it.But she couldn’t stop the force of the sensations thundering through her. They were too big. Too intense. Tooinsistent. “I guess there’s only one place left then.”
“Your elbows?” he whispered teasingly.
“Bran,” she said, drawing out his name just the way he liked.
He opened his mouth over her pulse point and sucked. “Say it again.”
“Bran,” she whispered over and over as he made his way down her body. Kissing her collarbone, her breasts, her belly, her hip bones. His mouth was hot and sweet; his lips were firm and determined. Her blood bubbled close to the surface of her skin everywhere they touched.
And then her lungs seized up. Because he wasthere. Hovering right above her throbbing sex. She buried her fingers in his hair when he grabbed her ankles and bent her legs until her feet were where he wanted them, on either side of her ass. The position opened her to him completely. And she shivered when the warm air of the room rushed over her most private parts.
