Forget Me Not (Love in the Fleet) (23 page)

Sky lay down beside her, stroking her breasts as his mouth found hers. Daisy slid her hands over his chest. God, she’d wanted to do this ever since that first time here on their island. His muscles were hard beneath smooth skin. Molding his pecs in her hands, Daisy flicked her thumbs over his nipples, eliciting a groan from him. “Ah,” she said. “What’s good for the goose is apparently good for the gander.” She caught a hint of a smile before his mouth found hers. How good it felt to feel a man’s body again. And be held in a man’s arms again. And feel his mouth on her.

To feel Sky’s body. To be held in Sky’s arms. With Sky’s mouth on her.

Daisy slid her hand down his taut abdomen and found the button on his cargo shorts. Flicking it open with one hand, she moved down to find another button. Feeling her way down his fly, she found, among other things, more buttons?

“Sorry.” Sky rolled back to his knees and proceeded to unbutton all six buttons on the shorts.

Daisy smiled at him. “Doesn’t the ‘Lover Boy Manual’
say never to wear button fly pants when you’re planning on gettin’—?”

“I wasn’t planning on it. Honestly, Daisy. It just came to me.” He pointed back to the kayak and the water. “We were paddling and I saw the island and then the synapses all connected and I was ready.”

Daisy’s brows shot up. “You always carry two condoms in your wallet?”

His eyes darted around as if it might be a trick question. “Um, yeah? Doesn’t everybody?”

But Daisy was too intrigued by what she’d seen once he removed his cargo shorts. Sky carried quite a package in those briefs—not that she wasn’t already aware of the fact, having felt it in the small of her back when they slept spoon style. But right here and now? She wanted to cut the chatter and get down to business.

She reached out arms to him.
“Make love to me, Sky.”

They picked up where they’d left off with the six-button shorts. Sky captured her mouth in a deep kiss, their tongues tangling as Daisy reached down and cupped him. She swallowed his groan. Doing some thumb flicking of her own before she brought her hand back up to stroke Sky’s jaw, she smiled to herself thinking how easy it was to render a strong man powerless.

But he must have been thinking about tit for tat because as soon as she removed her hand, his hand slid back down inside her panties and she experienced the same powerlessness. Now it was her turn to moan into his mouth. She opened her eyes to find him smiling down at her. “And what’s good for the gander...”

He slid fingers inside her, his magical thumb stroking her. Daisy arched up off the blanket, then felt herself pinned back down by his mouth on her breast once again.

This felt way too good and it had been way too long. Daisy was so close to exploding, she wrapped one leg around Sky’s and flipped him on his back, which conveniently removed his hand before it could finish its magic.

“No.” She now lay on top of him, surprise on his face. “I want us to come together this first time. Please.” Daisy slid her hand into his briefs, cupping him in earnest now. Her smile was slow and naughty, and he was unable to do a single thing besides nod his head affirmatively. Daisy pulled his briefs down, then sticking a single toe into the waistband, slid them the rest of the way off.

She reached over his head and grabbed one of the condoms, tore the package with her teeth, and rolled it onto him with one hand. Sky lay there dumbstruck, speechless. She had no doubt there was a party going on in his head, but she liked that. For once in his life, he was quiet.

“Now, Romeo,” she said as she hooked her foot around his leg again and rolled to her back taking him with her, “Show me your stuff.”

And, always the officer and gentleman, Sky followed her command to the letter.

What could he have been thinking to ever, even in jest, wonder if Daisy Schneider might be an ice queen in bed? If how she performed in the sand dunes was any indication, he had the feeling he could get used to being flipped a time or three over the next fifty plus years. A groan slipped out of him as he slid into her. She was hot and primed and ready.

And apparently, she talked in bed—or at least amongst the sea oats. “Oh, Romeo.” She adjusted herself to him. “I
do
like your stuff.”

He found her mouth and kissed her. He had to shut her up. If he wasn’t going to be allowed to talk, then she wasn’t either. Because if she kept talking like that, he was going to lose it in about five more seconds.

Daisy arched up to meet him and he matched her stroke for stroke, willing himself to think about the radar screen in Little Girl, the gas turbine engine temperature gauge, Daisy Mae’s litter box for God’s sake. Anything but what they were doing. Because it felt like her hot, wet body was trying to suck his soul right out of him.

And he was more than willing to give it to her.

But
“Ladies Come First” was rule number one in the—what did Daisy call it? The “Lover Boy’s Guide to Getting Laid?”

Sky had to go back to mentally scooping the cat box.
At least she’d stopped talking. That helped. But apparently, she wasn’t done. Daisy pulled her mouth away from his, caught her breath, and said, “Something’s missing.”

Sky jerked to his elbows, although still entwined with her. “Am I doing something wrong, baby?”

She reached up and touched his face, looking tenderly into his panicked eyes, continuing to rock gently against him. “I’m willing to bet anything you talk while making love. I have a feeling you’re being quiet on my account, but it doesn’t seem right. It’s not you. And I want you. The real you. All of you, Sky.”

He was toast. Words, emotions, and declarations of love poured from his mouth as he consumed her. And apparently it did the trick because within thirty seconds of invoking the names of both Daisy and the Almighty, and every derivation thereof, Daisy cried out, “Now. Now. Oh, God,
now
!” And he was finally, after all those nights of waiting, free to pour his heart and soul into her.

Brian “The Skylark” Crawford may have thought he’d made love before, but apparently he’d only been having sex all those years. Forget that anyway.
This
was what it was like to share his body and soul with someone when he really and truly cared about her.

Wasn’t the world a beautiful place?

Daisy smiled the long, languid smile of the satisfied as she reached up and stroked his cheek, but Sky knew his face was more serious than it had ever been in his life. The jumbled thoughts in his head tripped over each other trying to make sense of the situation, vying for his attention. And since she’d encouraged him to talk and he’d pulled the plug from his brain, there was no going back, and the following words spilled from his mouth: “Marry me.”

Chapter 22

“What?” Daisy asked.

Sky blinked. “Did I say that out loud?” He knew he’d taken Daisy by surprise—hell, he’d taken himself by surprise. Had he just proposed to her?
Naked?

He switched to high alert when he saw humor light her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” she asked. “We made love. It was wonderful. But we hardly know each other. What would possess you to, you know, say that…?” She waved her hand indicating their naked, still-joined bodies. “Like this?”

“Because I made a decision.” He rolled away and started to clean up, on the defensive now.

“What kind of decision?”

And looking at her point blank as he handed Daisy her T-shirt and reached for his shorts, he told her: “I don’t want to be Mick Jagger.”

Daisy laughed in earnest. “Sky…” She slipped on her panties and T-shirt, then reached for him. “Come here, honey.”

Honey?
It was a start.

He handed Daisy her shorts, then sat and looked at her. As she slid into them, it became obvious her bra was somewhere else besides on her body. Dammit. Didn’t she know he wouldn’t be able to focus on what she was saying if she sat there
jiggling?

“Sky, I’m sorry I laughed. I just...sometimes things come out of your mouth and I wonder if you think them through first.”

“Welcome to my world, sunshine. Look, I’m pretty impulsive and yeah, sometimes I say things without thinking, but dammit, Daisy, that’s who I am. I’m not really that complicated. I say what I think and feel and...” Sky found it necessary to check his fingernails, then look up—anywhere but at Daisy. “Let’s head back.”

He slipped on his boat shoes and handed Daisy her sandals. And
there
was her bra. Maybe she better put it on if she wanted him to actually listen to what she had to say. Never mind. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. He’d done it again. Shot off his mouth without loading his brain first.

“Now I’ve upset you. Sky, please don’t. Not today, when we just... That was beautiful. Making love with you was incredible. Don’t spoil it.”

“Oh, now I’m spoiling things by saying ‘I love you?’ Like I told you Daisy, I’ve never said that to a woman before.”

“Did I miss something? I thought you said, ‘Marry me.’ I wasn’t aware that you said, ‘I love you.’”

“Isn’t it the same thing?”

“Nope. Sorry. I’m a woman. You have to use the right words to say the right thing. Maybe a guy thinks ‘Marry me’ and ‘I love you’ are the same thing, but there’s a fine line in the female dictionary.”

“Geez, no wonder there are so many bachelors out there,” he muttered, again not realizing he’d said it out loud. He handed over her bra. “Here, you better put this on if you want me to concentrate on what you’re saying.”

She gave him a sexy half-smile, then lifted the tail of her T-shirt. “That would mean I’d have to remove my shirt first. That going to be a problem for you?”

Sky snatched the sports bra from her hands and stuffed it in a pocket of his cargo shorts. “Here’s the thing, Daisy…now, I want this to be perfectly clear, okay?”

“Okay. I’m listening.”

“I love you.”

Daisy leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. “Thank you for clarifying that, Sky.”

“That’s your response? ‘Thank you for clarifying that?’ Daisy, we just made love. I told you I loved you. Aren’t you supposed to say, ‘I love you too, Sky?’”

“I wasn’t aware there was a script.”

Sky jerked his head away and glanced out over the water. Like he was searching for something. A smart comeback? Answers? A rescue boat?

Daisy put her hand on his arm, but he shook her off.

“Look, I don’t want you to go away angry. I don’t want you to go away at all.”

“But you don’t love me and you don’t want to marry me.”

“I didn’t exactly say that. But, no, I don’t want to marry you. I don’t want to marry
anybody
. I’m not sure I can risk my heart that way again. And besides. You deserve better. A woman who’s fresh, where you’re her first love.”

He turned to her. “I don’t care about that, Daisy. I want you. But if you don’t want to commit, then what? You want to have a fling
?
Well, I got news for you. For the first time in my life, I don’t want a fling. I may have been a player, but I was always honest. I never led anyone on. I knew I was only looking for a good time, and I never lied about it. So I’m being completely honest right now. I want it all with you. I want you. I want the sex. I want the kids. I want Little League and a house and matching dishes.”

“Matching dishes?”

“Yeah, and furniture too. And pictures on the walls. And a white picket fence.”

Daisy couldn’t help but smile. “A white picket fence?”

He looked at her incredulously. “
Duh.
How else are we going to keep the dogs in the yard?”

Oh, my God, how was she supposed to protect her heart from the likes of that?

“You’re a vet. There’s always going to be dogs. However, if you can’t love my rescue cat, then all bets are off.”

Daisy wasn’t sure if it was what he actually said or the little boy sincerity with which he said it that endeared him to her.

“And I want to hear you say, ‘I love you, Captain Crawford.’ That’s what I really and truly want. That’s the bottom line.”

“Well, I might actually be fairly close to saying that, ‘Cap’n Crawford.’ Give me a little more time? Okay?”

“No, I mean for real.”

“Trust me. I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t for real.”

“No, I mean in, like, twelve years when I really
am
Captain Crawford. I want you to still be in my life when I make captain in the Navy. And I want to hear you say it. And mean it.”

“Sky, I’m touched. I’m flattered. No, I’m honored. But I’m afraid.”

“Afraid of me?”

“Afraid of losing you. I’ve already lost one man I love. I won’t lose another.”

“Aha, in girl-speak, you just said you love me.”

“No. I’m afraid to
let
myself love you, Sky. What if you went on deployment, or a mission, and you didn’t come back? I couldn’t go through it again. It would kill me.” She could feel the tears forming behind her eyes and knew better than to let them fall. She had to stand her ground.

“Daisy, I promise I’ll always come back. I couldn’t say that before, but now I think I can. I’ve learned a few things about myself—about life—in the past month or so. And I promise I’ll always come back.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“I’ve changed, Daisy. I swear.
Remember when I was in Norfolk? I made some decisions about my life. And I grew up.”

“In a week?”

“Nope, in a day. An hour. When I saw what Philip and Hallie shared? All of a sudden I wanted it too. And I want it with you. Daisy. I want to take care of you. Not because I have to—you can take perfectly good care of yourself—but because I want to. I want to protect you. And always coming back is part of taking care of you. You gotta trust me.”

“I don’t need protecting, Sky.”

“Then maybe you could pretend you need me to protect you. What would be so wrong with that? Maybe we could, like, rescue each other.”

“I don’t need rescuing.” Daisy said quietly.

“Okay, but maybe I do.”

Daisy lay back on the quilt and shielded her eyes from the sun, while Sky propped himself on an elbow so they could gaze at each other. He stroked her face with his finger, pausing at her lips. She smiled, kissed his finger, and shut her eyes. Not a word was said. It was another thing he loved about her. That they didn’t always have to fill the silence with talk, which was a big deal for Sky. To be able to relax and enjoy silence for a change.

He continued to stroke her face and neck, pausing now and then to let his lips do the work. He was absolutely, undeniably, unequivocally in love with her. There was no question about it. He’d just proposed, hadn’t he? If he’d thought he was in love with her before they made love, now he was a goner. Hook, line, and sinker. He’d heard about love
before. And he’d seen people who were really and truly in love with each other. Look at Philip and Hallie. And he’d had plenty of affection for certain women before. Lots of them. But he’d never dreamed it could be this good.
And because of the advice Philip had given him—the
permission
Philip had given him—he felt like he deserved to be happy now. For the first time in a long time.

And he felt like he deserved it with Daisy Schneider. Like together they could do positive things in the world to show their gratitude for surviving. Instead of focusing on what they couldn’t do, focus on what they could do to make the world a better place. Even if it was just popping out a couple of responsible citizens.

It had only been thirty minutes since they’d made love, but Sky felt himself hardening at the thought of making little responsible citizens with Daisy. The idea turned him on so much he almost wanted to start this very minute.

Just throw away the other condom and start playing house.

He reached for her and kissed her neck. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry if I jumped the gun. I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do. The shoe’s on the other foot now. I’m ready whenever you are. I’ll do whatever you want, but any time you want to take this relationship to the next level, you just say the word.”

“Mmmmm.” Daisy dropped her head back and let him kiss his way down her T-shirt to her breasts. Then he held them, weighing each in his hands. “You certainly are persuasive,” she added.

He bit her nipples gently through the fabric, then scooted up to whisper in her ear, “Yessiree. You say the word and I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll even be your own personal sex slave.” Sky’s fingers and thumbs took over nipple duty, and then tiring of the T-shirt between them, he snaked his hands up underneath for a better grasp on things.

Daisy hadn’t zipped up her shorts from the first round, and Sky was already sliding them down her legs. And then her T-shirt was gone, along with his shorts and skivvies. His mouth curved into a wicked smile. “Mark my words. Someday you’re going to love making babies with me.”

Daisy’s lips twitched as she reached for the condom. “How ’bout we don’t start today.”

“Okay.” He gave her a disarming grin
.
“But we could practice.”