Too Grand for Words (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (30 page)

Moira sat at her console, assisting the pilot on the deep sea vessel as he approached the anchorage when Lindy, the administrative assistant, burst through the door.

“Moira, there’s something here for you.”

“Sure, drop it on the console,” she said, giving another range and bearing to the pilot on board the ship.

“Come on in,” Lindy said. “Put them where you can find a place.”

She turned in her chair and then swiveled sharply. Five men walked in, their arms overflowing with roses and wildflowers. Every flower she had ever seen in her life filled every empty space at her console.

Everyone in the center turned to look. Mandy ran over from her position.

“Holy God, look at this.” She grabbed the note pinched in a plastic holder. “Can I?” Mandy asked.

Moira nodded and thanked the men. She couldn’t even see over the console anymore with the jungle of greenery.

“Heading’s good, two cables to go,” she said into her headset.

Mandy grabbed the chair and moved it closer to her.

“What does it say?” she asked.

“It’s a poem,” Mandy said. “It says, ‘though hours of road we are apart, the sea beckons to my heart. Somewhere out there her voice rings true, I hear it in the wind, across a thousand miles of blue.’” Mandy’s eyes smiled at her. “He’s sending you poetry, for God’s sake, Moira. Why don’t you call him? Tell him what you feel. He obviously loves you. If it had been a ruse to get the rights to your books you never would have heard from him again. You know that.”

“Mandy, we are different.” She swiveled in her chair. “We live separate lives, completely different circles.”

“Who made those rules up? You’re just people, Moira, two people who love each other. I mean, look at this.” She raised her hands to the flowers. “How many women do you know get this? He didn’t use you, Moira. He fell in love with you at first sight, and he’s trying to tell you that he still does.”

“You didn’t see his last girlfriend and I did,” she said angrily, pulling another note from the closest bunch of flowers. She opened it, and her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Your heart is the most beautiful thing I have ever known, your face the sweetest I have ever seen. I love you more now, than I did then. Remember me.” She stood up shaking her head at the garden that had suddenly grown in the operations room. The guys were chuckling, and she gave them a caustic look which toned them down.

“They forgot one bunch,” Lindy said, sticking her head through the door.

“Good grief, I could start my own garden shop.”

“You could—but I think we should just take them home.”

A low, sensual voice she knew well spoke from behind her. She swung around slowly, her heart hammering in her chest.

Mandy whistled under her breath. “Man, this is just too good to be true,” she whispered.

Moira looked into the rugged face and ice blue eyes she believed she would never see again. Steven filled the room with his masculinity, his power—and as always, his gaze trapped hers.

He looked deep into her eyes. “I’m half expecting that you’re going to throw me out of here, but I had to take the chance.”

She took a tentative step toward him, and he met her halfway, sweeping her into his arms. “I love you so much,” he whispered to her, leaning his forehead against hers. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you from the start, but I thought you would never let me know you if I did. I promise you can trust me. I promise I will love you forever,” he said, folding her into the protection of his arms.

“You have the rights, you don’t have to be here unless…”

“Unless—I’ve been telling the truth.” He grinned at her. “That’s right, sweetheart, and I always have been.”

“I was wrong?”

His eyes filled with humor. “Yeah,” he rumbled in a low, teasing tone. “And I also believe you owe me a trip to Fiji.” He chuckled at the look on her face.

“Shit.”

“Uh-huh.” He scanned the room. “So this is where you work your magic.”

She watched as he took in everything around him from the radar monitors with little white contacts scattered across them to the radios that squawked, all making noise at the same time. Computers, touch screens, cameras zoomed in on different berths, buttons and switches lay everywhere. His reaction was the same as most who saw it for the first time—confused.

“It all looks pretty technical,” he said in amazement. “You know how to work all this?”

Her shoulders lifted with a short laugh. “Guess I’ll give you the twenty-five-cent tour later on.”

Moira’s boss came through the door and stood behind them. “So I suppose I’m going to be getting a resignation letter shortly,” he stated.

Steven turned to look at her. “Only once she marries me, and if she wants to leave.”

An audible gasp came from Mandy as she clapped her hands over her face. “Get real.”

“Was that a proposal?” Moira asked weakly. Her legs felt wobbly all of a sudden.

“Well I did plan it a little differently, but he offered a good segue so I took it.”

“I like a man who thinks on his feet.”

“Is that a yes, Ms. Viterra?”

His eyes glinted not only with love, but a deep desire. A desire she had tried so hard to suppress in her own heart.

“I know you, Moira, and I think you know me, the real me.”

She twisted in his arms. Her eyes glanced around the operations room, at her staff, at her life, and then back at him.

“Moira, you’ve worked your entire life. You’ve given your employer years of service. It’s time for a holiday—a long one. This place will always be here for you, but I want you to spend the rest of your life with me, beside me.”

“I think—” She paused. “I need a holiday.” She was taking a leap of faith, a big one.

A voice from the traffic channel came out of a speaker close-by. “Yeah, Traffic—I lost my anchorage assistance,” the marine coast pilot said, sounding more than a little annoyed.

Patti winked when Moira jumped, remembering that she’d abandoned the pilot. “Roger, that’s because the hottest, richest man on earth just asked her to marry him. You’re over the center, thanks very much,” Patti confirmed.

There was silence for a second, and then the Pacific Coast Pilot said, “Well, tell the guy if Moira says yes, he’s one lucky bastard.”

“Roger, I think he knows that, Traffic out.”

 
Steven shook his head. “You’re famous in your own right,” He paused. “I am one lucky bastard. Sorry, boss, but she’s gonna be my boss from now on.” He looked over at her O.I.C.

Moira’s Officer in Charge grinned, unfolding his arms. “You’re gonna be sorry you said that, pal.”

Moira narrowed her eyes at her boss.

“Kidding, just kidding,” he said, backing away.

“How long before you’re off duty?”

“Not for two hours,” she stammered, reading his thoughts.

“Fuck that,” he growled, lifting her into his arms.

“Steven, I just can’t leave.” He swung her around. Mandy already had the door open.

“Thanks, Mandy,” he said, carrying Moira away from the only life she knew. “The rest of your days are beside me, and I don’t even feel a little bit guilty about taking you away from them.”

“Remember, roll with it, old girl.” Mandy gave her a small wave as Steven carried her away. “God, I wished someone would go caveman on me,” she murmured.

“You’ll need to call in someone for overtime,” Moira called out, but the door had already slammed shut.

* * * *

He only got halfway down the hall before he let her feet hit the ground, and she was up against the wall. His tongue burned hers as it dove into her waiting mouth, his need for her pushing at her stomach.

 
“Okay,” she sighed as his mouth found the beating pulse in her neck. “But it’s a half-hour drive to my house.”

“If you think I’m waiting a half hour to make love to you, you’re crazy. Do you know how many times I’ve imagined your sweet body against mine, and how many cold showers I’ve taken in two months?” Heat ripped through him with the anticipation of feeling her silk around his shaft. “Christ, I could eat you right here.” She broke into a laugh, the siren calling out to him.

“Probably about as many times that I’ve dreamt of you plunging slowly inside of me until we’re both crying out.”

“God damn it, woman,” he growled, grabbing her hand, nearly dragging her to the elevator. His legs turned to rubber and his shaft had grown to the size of a missile in his pants.

* * * *

She worked right downtown. Upper-class hotels surrounded them. It only took five minutes to get them to the Wall Centre, another two minutes to get to the penthouse suite he had booked, and three seconds for him to tear every piece of clothing from her body and his in a blazing storm of desire.

“I love you so much,” he moaned, feeling her warm skin mold to his. Her soft lips had already begun to explore him. His shaft felt like it would rupture if she touched it. He buried his hands in her hair. “Sweetheart, please.” She pulled him to the bed and knelt on it, taking him into her sweet mouth. Her tongue toyed with his head as her hand sheathed him. Her moist lips devoured him slowly, taunting him. He was going to lose it fast.

With more willpower than he had ever known, he pulled from her wanting lips, and laid her down on the white sheets, covering her body with his. He looked into her beautiful eyes. “We have the rest of our lives, but baby—right now I need to fuck your brains out.”

Moira spanked his ass and pulled him closer, her breath coming in short pants. “Mr. Porter, you have a worse mouth on you than I do, now that’s an achievement.” She lifted her hips off the sheets, teasing his head at the entrance to her wet and waiting recess.

When he filled her, a groan of pleasure escaped both their lips. He captured her mouth, playing with her tongue. His shaft grew harder inside her channel as her flesh clutched at him.

He loved her so completely, and her passion overwhelmed him. Plunging deep inside her, he lost more of himself with every erotic stroke. Her hips met his, sending tremors through him each time. Like mini orgasms, they shook him. A rhythm that kept him shivering with every long, sensual slide had him gasping with pleasure. The seizing ecstasy took him higher than he’d ever been. He lifted himself off the bed, holding himself with his powerful arms, and watched his glistening erection bury itself in her channel. Her hand slid between their thrusting hips, massaging her hardened bud, making her muscles go crazy on his shaft. Her touch drove him wild, her body pulled him over the edge toward release. Faster, deeper, to the hilt he loved her.

“Oh God, Moira, I need to come deep inside you,” he breathed, drowning in his own senses. His words took them the rest of the way, as the boiling heat of their bodies overflowed, making them orgasm in that instant. A wave of white bliss shook him to the core. He ground his hips against hers, hopelessly wanting to be one with her.

When the world stopped spinning around him, he rolled over and held her protectively in his arms. He looked into Moira’s flushed cheeks, her siren eyes staring back at him. “Will you marry me, Moira Viterra?”

She turned in his arms to rest her chin on his chest. “We’ve only spent five days together. How do you know you won’t hate me in two weeks?” she asked.

The woman was too rational for her own good. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I knew you were going to be my wife five minutes after you sat down across from me.” The smile that he loved so much, the one that reached her eyes, crossed her lips. He’d always known she was his from the second he saw her. Gently he raised her left hand and slid the exquisite blue diamond engagement ring onto her finger that he’d left on the nightstand.