A Misty Harbor Wedding (24 page)

Matt's mouth replaced his fingers. “You still seem to be wet there.”

Her eyes crossed and her knees buckled as his towel stroked higher. “Okay, enough of the foreplay, Matt.” She fell back onto the bed. She was about to climax, and they hadn't even gotten to the good part yet.

Matt chuckled as he stood up and slowly unwrapped the towel around his waist. “Lord, you are beautiful.”

Her gaze skimmed his chest and rested on his penis. His desire for her was obvious. It was at full attention and quivering with need. “You're, ummm . . .”
handsome
wasn't the word she was looking for.

“I'm what?” Matt looked down and rolled his eyes. “Desperate? Horny?”

She shook her head. “Those aren't the adjectives going through my mind.”

“Aroused? Easy?”

Sierra scooted back farther onto the bed, kicking the comforter and her tote bag onto the floor. “I was thinking more along the lines of, big.”

Matt burst out laughing as he joined her on the bed. “Is it any wonder that I'm falling in love with you?”

She gazed into his eyes. Matt was serious. No candlelight dinners, no champagne, and no red roses. Straight-up and honest, he meant every word he was saying. She reached up and cupped his jaw. “Oh, Matt.” There was so much she needed to tell him, but this wasn't the time or the place. She needed answers first.

“You don't have to say anything, Sierra.” Matt turned his head and placed a kiss in the center of her palm. “This is enough”—his lips slid to her wrist—“for now.”

“You're special, Matt.” She pulled her hand away from his mouth and placed it around his neck. “What we have here, right now, right here, is very special. I don't want to lose that, Matt.”

“We won't.” Matt's thumb grazed her lower lip.

“It's complicated, Matt. Oh, so very complicated. There are things you don't know about.” She didn't want to lie, but if she spoke the truth they wouldn't have these few days together.

Matt's gaze burned into hers. “Is there someone else?”

“No.” She gave him a slow smile. “Unless you mean Austin.”

Matt shook his head and relaxed. “Then we have time to work it out, Sierra.” He leaned down and kissed her.

The heat of his mouth burned away the concerns plaguing her mind. There was only here and now. There was only Matt.

Sierra woke to the sensation of Matt's mouth trailing its way down her spine. The man was insatiable. She smiled into the pillow.

“I know you're awake.” Matt blew on a spot his tongue had just caressed.

She shivered. “How do you know?” she muttered into the cotton pillowcase. As far as she knew she hadn't moved a muscle or made a sound. She wasn't too sure her body could move after last night. Matt Porter was a thorough lover. He had not only found her G-spot, but her H-spot, I-spot, J-spot, and every other letter of the alphabet.

“You groaned when I did this.” Matt's fingers traced the tan line her very tiny bathing suit bottom had left behind.

She felt her groan vibrate in her throat and tried to suppress it. She wiggled her bottom in an attempt to get his hands off it. “Stop that.” She didn't have the energy to swat him. Matt had awakened her in the middle of the night for round two.

Or maybe it had been she who had awakened him. Either way, instead of falling asleep after spending nearly an hour making slow, sweet love, Matt had been energized and hungry. For the first time in her life she'd had milk and cookies in bed. There were now chocolate chip cookie crumbs everywhere.

Matt's hands held her hips still. “Wiggling that sweet ass of yours is not the way to get me to stop.” Matt chuckled as his tongue swept up a crumb from the back of her thigh. “How many calories are there in a serving of Sierra?” Matt playfully teased the sensitive area on the back of her knee with his mouth.

“Are you always this cheerful in the morning?” Without raising her head, she grabbed the pillow he had used last night and threw it at him.

He chuckled as he dodged the pillow. “I was going to wake you up to go see the sunrise out at the lighthouse with me, but you looked like an angel sleeping in my bed.” One of Matt's hands was spread across the small of her back, holding her in place while his warm, searching lips traveled up the back of her thigh.

“Matt, what are you doing?” Her eyes crossed when his tongue outlined the curve of her bottom.

“Searching for more crumbs.” Matt took a teasing nip of flesh.

“Matt!” She tried to roll over, but Matt's hand kept her in place. At five feet ten inches, she wasn't a little woman to hold down so easily.

Matt laughed. “If I have to tell you what I'm doing, Sierra, I'm doing it all wrong.” He removed his hand from the small of her back.

Sierra rolled onto her back and smiled at him. Matt's hair was all rumpled from sleep, but there was nothing sleepy about his light blue eyes. They burned with a fire all their own. The light sprinkling of hair scattered across his chest made her want to sink her fingers into it once again. She ran the sole of her foot up the back of his thigh. With Matt's height, he was almost halfway off the bed. “You weren't doing it wrong. You're just too far away.”

Matt scooted up onto the bed, directly on top of her. His elbows took most of his weight. “Better?” Matt's mouth skimmed her chin and teased her lower lip.

She wiggled her hips as Matt nestled deeper between her thighs. She could feel the head of his erection against her opening. “Tell me you have a condom on.”

Matt's lips nibbled their way down her throat and across her collarbone. “It's been on for the last ten minutes.” With one hand he cupped a breast and gently sucked her hardened nipple into his mouth.

Sierra wrapped her legs around his thighs and urged him deeper.

Matt's tongue bathed her nipple as he slowly entered her about an inch.

She arched her hips and tried to take more of him. Matt wasn't cooperating. “More, Matt.” She was so close to the edge. Her hands stroked down his back until they cupped his hard, tight ass. She tugged him closer as her stomach clenched and her breath hitched in anticipation. The edge was falling away.

Matt gently bit her nipple.

She screamed as Matt plunged and the orgasm that had been building erupted.

Matt shouted something against her breast as he joined her in a release that had him shaking.

 

 

Sierra stood in the late afternoon sun and tuned the real estate agent's voice out. Mr. Biggs was full not only of himself, but hot air too. She had christened him Mr. Bigshot two properties ago. As any good Realtor would do, he had saved the best for last.

Over one hundred acres of prime real estate right on the coast of Maine. The view was fantastic, even though it wasn't of the Atlantic Ocean. It was Frenchman's Bay, and way off in the distance, on the other side of the bay, was the town of Bar Harbor. The property was situated along Route 186 between West Gouldsboro and South Gouldsboro.

“As you can see, there's easy access to the bay,” Mr. Bigshot went on. And on. And on about the stupid, plain-as-the-nose-on-his-face characteristics of the land.

Yes, she'd figured they were mature pine trees by their sheer size. Oh, there were fish and other wildlife in the bay—amazing. Seals too—imagine that. If Mr. Bigshot pointed at the setting sun and told her that way was west, she was giving him a mighty shove and watching him roll down the hill into the bay.

He probably would tell her it was wet.

“If you continue down Route 186, there is the town of Winter Harbor. It has a Navy base, but I understand that it will be closing soon.”

Cliffside Manor, the restaurant Matt had taken her to, had been right outside of Winter Harbor. “Where are the nearest golf courses?” Her father and Jake both loved golf. With this amount of land, they could build an eighteen-hole course right on the coast of Maine. Talk about a perk.

“Oh, you play? There's one in Winter Harbor, but it's only a nine-hole course.”

“Occasionally.” She'd learned and perfected her game at an early age because she'd figured out if she wanted to spend time with Daddy, she had to do it on his schedule. She had eaten more meals at clubhouses than at home. “Any others?”

“There's a couple of really fancy ones on Mount Desert Island. There's Kebo Valley Golf Club, right outside of Bar Harbor. I think there's also one in Northeast Harbor and another in Southwest Harbor.”

“That's nice.” It was always nice to size up possible competition. She had her homework cut out for her if she was going to impress her father and Jake. She looked out over the bay and saw a couple boats. Not much water traffic at all. “What about boats?”

“What about them?”

“Would I be allowed to put in a dock?”

“I don't see why not. What size boat do you own?”

“I don't own one yet.”

Mr. Biggs gave her a long look as if he wasn't sure whether to believe her or not. He looked as though he was calculating how much time he had just wasted this afternoon by showing her four properties. “Are you planning on buying one, Ms. Morley?”

“I will if I'm living on the coast of Maine.” Of course she wasn't thinking about a boat that would require a dock or even an engine. She was thinking more along the lines of getting Austin a little rowboat for Sunset Cove.

Mr. Biggs had no idea who she was or who she represented. As far as the agent knew she was a single mom looking for a place to build, who might or might not have money. She was playing her cards close to her chest for a couple reasons. Matt was the main one. She didn't want it getting back to him who she really was until she'd had the opportunity to tell him first.

She carefully walked downhill to the edge of the bay as the agent's phone rang. After Matt had dropped her off at her place this morning, she had taken a shower and worked the phone. By ten o'clock she had a meeting set up with a real estate agent in Trenton and an appointment with Mr. Biggs for two in Ashville. The first appointment had been a bust, but she had hit pay dirt with Mr. Bigshot. He just didn't know it yet.

Something special had happened between her and Matt last night. Special enough that she wasn't willing to walk away from it. It hadn't just been the sex. She had had sex before. She wasn't a virgin, for goodness' sake. What they had shared went deeper than sex. It had gone straight to her heart.

She was in love with Matt Porter.

Mr. Biggs was out of breath by the time he reached the edge of the bay. “So what do you think about this piece of property, Ms. Morley?”

“Not bad.” She continued to look out into the bay. “What's the asking price?” She had given Mr. Bigshot a short list of needs, such as acreage and waterfront. When he had questioned her about price, she had told him they would discuss it later. She hadn't even bothered asking the price on the other three pieces of property; they hadn't met her requirements.

Mr. Biggs quoted a price that made her flinch. “I'm taking it that there will be room for negotiating that amount?” She knew what Millicent Wyndham was thinking about asking for her twenty acres, including the lighthouse. The only thing built on this piece of property were a couple of birds' nests, and the asking amount was way more than five times Millicent's price.

Mr. Biggs looked startled for a moment. His greedy little eyes narrowed in thought. “I'm sure Mr. Jefferies might come down a little. Not a whole lot, mind you, just a digit or two.”

Sierra turned and started to climb back up the hill. It wasn't easy in dress sandals, but Mr. Biggs was having a harder time. “How long has it been on the market?” She had seen the faded and weathered
FOR SALE
sign by the main road. It took months out in the elements for that kind of damage.

Mr. Biggs was sucking in oxygen. “Not long at all. It's a prime piece of real estate, so it won't last long. They aren't making any more oceanfront properties.” He wheezed and laughed at his own joke.

She reached the top of the incline and waited for him. “I could ask around.” She didn't have time for dillydallying. Her father and Jake knew she was up to something. Both were eager for a report. “Besides, the property is not oceanfront, but it is right on the bay.”

“About nine months.” Mr. Biggs didn't look happy with that admission.

She figured that probably meant closer to a year. “Any particular reason it hasn't sold yet, besides the sticker shock?” The price was indeed too high, but she'd let her father and Jake worry about that detail.

“Truth?”

“Yes, please.” What did he expect her to say, no, I prefer lies and bullcrap?

“Jefferies is a stubborn old coot who refuses to budge one dollar on that amount.” Mr. Bigshot looked as if he'd just lost a new Cadillac in commission.

She smiled. Her father and Jake were going to love tangling with Jefferies. “Just as long as there is nothing wrong with the property.”

 

 

Juliet walked along the sidewalk in Bar Harbor holding Steve's hand and peering into display windows. “People actually buy this stuff and lug it back home with them?” The table lamp on the other side of the glass was made of used lobster buoys and old fishing net.

Steve chuckled at a five-foot stuffed moose and a clock made out of starfish. “I guess so. Why else would they keep selling it year after year?” Steve gave her hand a tug. “Come on. Let's go in.”

She shook her head but followed him inside the gift shop anyway. Bar Harbor wasn't quite what she had expected. She'd thought the coastal town would be along the same lines as Misty Harbor, only bigger. It was bigger all right, and crowded with tourists of all shapes and sizes. Baby strollers and cranky toddlers jammed the sidewalks, along with pushy adults and obnoxious teens. Oh, there were plenty of great tourists, but it was always the bad ones who stood out and demanded attention.

She missed the slow, leisurely walks down the streets of Misty Harbor. There she could walk along the dockside, eating a double scoop of French vanilla ice cream, and not worry about someone running into her. Tuesday night Steve had taken her out for ice cream and a walk. He had also managed to steal a few innocent kisses in the shadows.

The streets of Bar Harbor didn't have shadows. Everything was lit up like the Fourth of July. But they did have wonderful restaurants overflowing with some of the best seafood she had ever tasted. Steve had even gotten her to try one of the local beers to help wash down her lobster. Dinner had been great, overlooking the water and watching the parade of boats coming in for the night.

It had been romantic.

Steve held up a twelve-inch red plastic lobster with black wire antennae, a sneer, and claws the size of frying pans. “Are you sure you can't use one of these back home?” he teased.

“No.” She nodded to the back of the store, where a selection of children's books was displayed. “But that looks interesting.”

Steve tugged her over to the books and grinned as he opened up a pop-up book and a seal sprang up. “Now this is cool.” The next page was a huge humpback whale. Steve was like a little kid discovering Christmas morning.

“I was thinking more along this line.” Juliet reached out and picked up a storybook on catching lobsters, and another on harbor seals. “My kids will love these.”

Her classroom always had more books than the other classes because she couldn't resist supplementing what little the school district supplied. Other teachers had families to support, while she had only herself, and no one had ever accused her of being high maintenance. School budgets were notoriously stingy.

“You buy books for your classroom?” Steve picked up another pop-up book. This one had birds springing out every time he flipped a page.

“Of course. Most teachers do. We never seem to have enough to satisfy the kids' appetite for learning.” She squatted down, making sure her skirt wasn't dragging on the floor. “You're the marine biologist; come help me pick out a couple more books on marine life. Kids are fascinated by all kinds of animals.”