He lifted his mouth from her taut nipple, his eyes full of sensual promise. “Come with me.”
“Yes.”
He was all payback when they got inside the cabin, pausing only to click on the tiny fan on the mast support. They tumbled and squirmed into the close quarters of the v-berth, and he quickly had her stripped and writhing in pleasure. With much laughter, giggling and a few mirthful curses, they played and teased, scrambling to situate their bodies on the triangular bed, bumping elbows, knees, and heads into the walls and low ceiling.
One last wiggle on Kay’s part and Nate pinned her belly down with a victorious laugh. “Now, I’ve got you where I want you!”
His teasing laughter was catching, and her laughter joined his. Anticipation sang through her. She arched, raising her bottom. “There’s nowhere else I could go, but you’re not where I want you, yet.” Her body was wound up, wet and vibrating with need for him.
“Yet.” Nibbling kisses over her shoulders, punctuated with licks and nips at her ears, Nate lazily spread her legs with his knees, his erection nudging and gliding eagerly against her, very recovered from his earlier pleasure. “Soon, very soon.”
Nate lifted away for a moment. The breeze of the fan cooled her where his skin had heated. Plastic wrapping crinkled in the darkness. Then he was back. He kissed her shoulder, stroked his hands over her bottom to grip her hips, and slowly filled her, thick and hard, gliding and stretching her so perfectly. Her body wildly yearning for him under the intense, sweet pressure, she arched her back, urging him to hurry. But no hurrying Nate, as slowly as he’d entered, he withdrew, again and again, and all the while stroking her with gentle hands until she was quivering with need.
“Nate, please.” She dug one hand into the mattress and braced the other against the sloping wall. She looked back over her shoulder.
A driven grin lit his face, his smile bright in the dark of the cabin. His hands tightened, and again came the slow, beautiful torment, until he filled her full and tight. He paused, buried so deep.
Her body shivered, clenching around him. The peace of the dark wrapped around them, only their urgent breathing and the rushing fan disturbed the pregnant quiet.
He shifted his weight back, sliding, smoothing and tracing his hands up and down her spine until they clamped hard on her hips, controlling, his fingers biting, readying.
“Nate! Please…” Wasn’t it crazy how much she adored him taking charge in bed, his strength holding and controlling her, when she protected her independence everywhere else?
“I love you, Kay.” The power of his emotion filled the darkness.
The urge to tell him what he wanted to hear welled hard and huge in her chest, overwhelming, rolling toward her throat. “Yes. Yes—” Her breathy reply choked off on his abrupt withdrawal.
“Now.” His word growled out. He surged back, filling her hard and full, driving a cry from her. His strokes in earnest now, deeper. So deep. That delicious wild mix of pleasure-pain. The slap of their bodies striving together. Her gasps and fingers biting hard. His sawing breath, pleasured grunts and encouraging demands.
He shifted his weight, turning them to semi-face one another. The tension in this position was incredible and she cried out, pent on the sharp waves of pleasure taking her over.
“Look at me.” His voice rasped out.
She fought to focus against the overwhelming sensation and onto his eyes.
“Look at me. I love you, Kay.”
His eyes dark, steady and serious held her gaze. His next thrust splintered her mind with pleasure, and all she could do was cry his name as she came.
“I. Love. You.” He drove her on and on, not letting the dizzying climax relent, as if he meant to imprint his words and himself on her permanently.
She couldn’t take this. She wanted more. “Nate, please. Nate.”
With a shout of her name and a groan, he came, driving one more cascade of ecstasy through Kay’s mind. Such strain gripping his body would have looked like pain, but for the blissful expression fast following. He pulsed deep within her as her body rippled and quaked.
They collapsed together and lay limp in the tangled nest of his sheets, too drained to do more than breathe and touch. The fan blew a welcome chill across their sweaty skin.
Nate stirred with a cheerful groan and slipped free from her body. He brushed a lingering kiss over her cheek and pushed himself to sitting. “Be right back.” He made his way over to the tiny sink. Kay smiled, and let her eyes droop as water ran.
Then he was back in bed, snuggling them together face-to-face. He loosed a heavy, contented sigh, tightened his hug, and stroked his hand along her spine down to caress and cup her bottom, and lock them close.
The Whisper gently rocked, lulling them toward sleep.
“Love you.” Nate kissed her cheek, his eyes shut, and relaxed heavily. His grip gradually loosened and with the next sway of the boat, he rolled to his back with a quiet snore.
Kay lay awake, staring out the open port window at the night. She felt incredible, drowsy and exhausted from their lovemaking, true, but light as if she had dropped a heavy load far behind her. Maybe saying
I love you
, maybe saying
yes
wouldn’t be so terribly hard after all.
She leaned up on one arm. Nate even looked happy asleep. His face was relaxed, his lips soft, light snores coming with every easy breath.
She touched her lips softly to his and whispered those dangerous words, “I love you.”
She smiled. She just needed practice.
Chapter Nine
The light feeling remained with Kay when she woke at dawn, even though Nate had wrapped himself around her like a heavy, sweaty blanket.
Memories of their first morning together filtered through her along with the emotions: a sweet mix of tenderness, embarrassment, and honest, mind-blowing lust. They’d looked at each other blushing, and both had broken into laughter. Nate’s face had been all chagrin and naked want, and they’d lounged and done the talking they hadn’t done the night before. He’d made sugary Greek coffee on the tiny cabin stove and they’d nibbled on apples, granola bars, and each other for breakfast, and the pattern of their summer days together had slipped into comfortable being. His crazy globetrotting and her schedule had made the boundaries of their lives simple to establish, neither of them were looking for permanent, and from that morning on, their friendship had bloomed.
And six years had flown in a blink and now Nate wanted forever, changing everything.
But…would waking like this be so bad for the rest of their lives?
Nate stirred and stretched beside her and brushed a drowsy kiss to her shoulder. “Morning. Wash your back, if you wash mine.”
They untangled from each other and the bedding and slipped naked from the Whisper into the cool water for a swim and leisurely bath. The lake stretched out like glass in the soft morning, reflecting the blush of sunrise. Washing encouraged kisses, which distracted into more lovemaking, followed by more swimming and, finally, desperate for coffee and a rest, they hauled themselves out of the water. Lazy cuddling, kisses, and coffee seemed breakfast enough, until Nate’s stomach rumbled its protest and they gave in and headed off to Spider Camp.
The day quickly grew too hot, even in the early hours of breakfast. Dave stood brooding over the stoves, flipping pancakes. JoAnn was grumpy from a restless night of Munchkin doing swimming practice, as she called it. R.J. and Olivia were shooting pointed stares at each other in a silent argument. Better than their bickering of the other day, but in a way worse, like the air pressure drop before a storm. Even sweet-tempered Margie had woken up on the wrong side of the cot today and sat quiet and pinched, looking at breakfast with a doubtful gaze, and Christopher wasn’t talking to anyone. Chuck wanted to fish, Pippa wanted to sunbathe, Scott wanted to hike in Black Canyon, and Patti wanted to ski. A wiser, but still red Mark huddled in a long-sleeved T-shirt, hat and sunglasses under the shade of the tarp. April kept a nonstop dialogue going on with anyone who dared jump into the word stream, and her navel jewelry was now lavender to match her swimsuit.
Strangely, all the tension didn’t send Kay’s stomach into the usual knots.
Could this warm happiness and odd peace be her in love with him? Had simply accepting Nate’s love for her done that? Maybe. It seemed too easy.
Stop thinking and enjoy. Believe. Stop second-guessing yourself. Say yes.
After breakfast, she leaned back in her chair, determined to relax and ignore the need she had to paint, watching Nate fooling around with his camera.
Nate had two photography modes: Mode One was the fanatically painstaking, all high art, don’t-even-dare-breathe professional he hid behind an amiable smile, and Mode Two was all play and experimentation. This morning was all play, and when he wasn’t shooting and driving her nuts with his macro lenses, he was in a cuddly mood—and the day was too damn hot to cuddle outside of the water, no matter how happy she felt this morning.
She was happy. Really happy.
She put her foot down after skiing and with a kiss, shooed Nate off to go photograph JoAnn, fish, or wax the boat, something, and headed back to her own camp. She needed to paint, had to, but the heat sapped all enthusiasm for working on the hill. Honestly, the Coyote Point piece was just too depressing for her mood today. She rarely gave up on a painting challenge, but today she craved something cheerful, something lively.
A pair of mourning doves fluttered down to the camp and strutted around. A big black stinkbug doggedly marched its way across the pebbly sand. Good subjects, lively, but…not quite right.
No neutral tones. No rocks. She needed color.
She circled about, surveying her camp, her smile and good mood growing as she took in the scene.
Nate had taken over her tidy camp the same way he was infiltrating her life. The weathered earth tones of her camping equipment and the surrounding landscape now bloomed bright with the colorful splashes of Nate’s belongings like the desert blooming after rain.
His clutter just looked…right. Not messy, but lived in, welcoming. His haphazard rainbow of laundry swayed on the line. The shiny cadmium yellow of his sleeping bag peeped from the open tent like sunshine. Other belongings lay scattered about: the glossy black whips of fishing rods, a pair of green flip-flops, his purple beach chair, an electric blue duffle bag, his orange coffee mug holding his toothbrush and toothpaste, his paperbacks and the small, ever-accumulating collection of pebbles found on his walks.
In that moment, she knew what she wanted to paint.
She paced along the wash of water, following the edge of the beach, studying her camp, and found the angle she wanted. She set up the canopy, her camp chair, and little folding table in the water.
The preliminary sketches flowed. The final sketch on the block was effortless. This time her washes were perfect. She smiled, body humming with satisfaction and happiness. The cool lake lapped at her ankles, her painting was cooperating, the sun was shining, and she was pretty sure, almost sure, she was in love. And if what she had called friendship all these years was love, she had fallen for Nate that first summer.
Her own self. In love. And it felt good. Confusing, but really good.
She finished the painting around mid-afternoon. She stood, stretching the kinks from her spine and shoulders, and surveyed her work.
Perfect. Perhaps one of her best pieces in ages. Ever.
Feeling happier than she had all week, okay, all year, she cleaned her brushes and stowed her equipment. She hit the water for a lazy swim, looking forward to seeing Nate and showing him the painting.
Heck, just seeing him. Touching him.
I love you
, she practiced saying in her mind.
I’m pretty sure I love you. I have this really strange feeling for you and I think it might be love.
Lame. She chuckled weakly. She needed way more practice. It wasn’t as if she’d ever said the words to any other lover. Her heart felt full. Her throat felt tight.
I love you, Nate
.
“Hey, Kay?”
Kay looked up to see Olivia picking her way down the trail.
Olivia waved. “Hi. Oh, good, I’m not interrupting your work.”
“Nope, all finished for now.” Kay swam in and stood. The hot air rushed cool over her wet skin, and her mind filled with swimming with Nate and his hands on her. She shivered at the sensuous memories.
Olivia fanned her flushed face. “I cannot believe how hot it is today. JoAnn’s feeling better. She took a nap.” She frowned at the cigarette in her fingers, as if she’d forgotten she held it. She rolled her eyes, muttering silently to herself, and crushed the butt out on a stone, then looked around helplessly for a place to dispose of the remains.
“Pop it in the empty beer can there on the table. There’s some water in it to drown matches.” She squeezed the water out of her hair. Olivia was so tense Kay wanted to tell her to go ahead and light up another if it would only help her to relax.
“Thanks.”