She chewed on the lips he wanted to kiss, her face competing with her coat for redness.
He held out his hand. He’d already laid down his heart. What more did he have to lose?
In a flash, she took his hand, hopped into the sailboat like an old sea salt, and threw her arms around his middle, her face burrowed into his shoulder.
Jim wrapped his arms around her as warm contentment wrapped around him.
“Oh, Jim, I love you so much. I have for so long, but I didn’t think—I never thought—”
“Shh.” He kissed her forehead. He didn’t need to hear one more word from her.
“I never thought you were interested. You didn’t act ... didn’t act...”
“Foolish.”
She nodded against his shoulder. “So when Quintessa came—”
“You don’t have to say anything more. We figured it out. You sacrificed for Quintessa’s sake, for my sake—or what you thought I wanted anyway. I wish someone had asked my opinion.”
Mary clutched at the back of his coat. “How can you ever forgive me?”
He brushed his lips down her forehead, nudging her face up. “What’s to forgive? I’m at fault too. I never told you how I felt. But now you’ve told me you love me. That’s the only thing I want to hear. That and the answer to my question.”
She eased back and looked him in the eye. “Your question?”
Jim cocked his head toward the pier. “The one I asked earlier. Will you sail with me?”
Her eyes cleared, and her lips curved in a smile. “Aye aye, sir. Chart your course, and I’ll be there.”
Holding her in his arms wasn’t enough. He leaned closer and tilted his head.
Her pupils widened, and her lips parted.
He knew the taste of her lips, and he longed for them, but first he had to attend to business. “For the record, I am about to kiss you, and it will not be just a friendly kiss. No, ma’am. In case there’s any confusion, I intend to kiss you passionately because I love you and I—”
His words caught. How could he tell her he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her? Not yet. He swallowed hard. “And I—I never want you to doubt my love again. Are we clear?”
“Aye aye.” Her voice was so breathy, so irresistibly close. “But that’s an awful lot of talking for a man in the throes of passion.”
His smile edged up, but he wouldn’t take back one word. All year he’d failed to communicate, and so had she, and he didn’t want to leave any room for doubt. “Too much talking, eh?”
“Uh-huh.” She curled her hands up around his shoulder blades and drew him closer.
Jim brushed the backs of his fingers across her damp cheek, ran his hand into her night-dark hair, tipped up her face, and gazed into the silvery blue depths of her eyes. “Now I suppose you’ll say I’m doing too much adoring and not enough kissing.”
“You ... are.”
Well, if she insisted. Jim closed the gap and kissed her. He might have kissed her before, but not like this, open and honest, bold and gentle. Her body melted into his, and he gathered her even closer, savoring the vanilla sweetness of her lips, their warmth, their softness, and the message they spoke louder and clearer than any words. She did love him, and he did love her, and nothing could keep them apart.
She pulled back, her eyelids low, her lips full and smiling. “We sail well together.”
He chuckled and kissed her red nose. “We do. I even promise to let you take the helm sometimes, as long as you wear that spotted blue swimsuit.”
“Spotted?” She giggled. “They’re called polka dots.”
“I don’t care what you call them as long as you wear them.”
Mary dipped her head, then swept her dark eyelashes, beckoning him. “Once again, too much talking.” She kissed him, long and fervent.
