“Figured it was only fair.”
He laughed softly as he climbed back down the ladder. And then he suddenly turned, putting them toe to toe, thigh to thigh. Chest to chest . . .
His hands came up and cupped her face as he slowly drew her mouth to his, giving her plenty of time to back away if she wanted.
She didn’t. In fact she leaned in breathlessly as he kissed her, softly at first, teasing her a little before gently taking her bottom lip between his teeth. She moaned and clutched for purchase in a spinning world, twining her arms around his neck as he fisted his hands in her hair, kissing her hungrily now. When they finally broke apart for air, she stared at him. “Why does that just get better and better?”
He gave her a crooked smile. “One of life’s little mysteries, I guess.”
She stared at him, knowing she needed to walk away now or she wasn’t going to walk away at all. “I should probably go get some work done.”
Nodding, he took her hand and walked with her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Walking you to your room.”
“This isn’t a date.”
He smiled again. “Feels like one whenever I’m with you.”
She stared into his eyes and then lowered her gaze to his mouth.
He groaned softly. “Hannah. I want to kiss you when you look at me like that.”
“Good, because I want you to kiss me.”
With a rough laugh, he pulled her to him and did just that until they’d both lost themselves. “Tell me this doesn’t feel like a date to you too,” he murmured.
They didn’t see eye to eye on . . . well, almost anything, but there was an undeniable heart and soul connection with him unlike anything else she’d ever experienced. “Maybe,” she admitted. “But I’m out of dating practice, so . . .”
“Don’t overthink it.”
“Hi, have you met me?”
He smiled, then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, making her realize they were in front of their rooms. “Good night,” he murmured.
She absolutely wanted one. A good night, that was. His door was closest, so she caught his hand and tugged him inside to ensure one.
Chapter Eight
JAMES FOUND himself up against his bedroom door, an incredibly sexy and determined woman holding him there, her lips making their way down his jaw toward his mouth. The rest of his body went on high, hopeful alert. “Hannah.”
“Hmm?” she murmured, mouth busy.
“I don’t usually put out on the first date.”
She gave a throaty laugh, as if amused by his thick voice and the way he could barely speak with her mouth on him. “Feels like we’ve been dating forever.”
“It started in the seventh grade,” he said. “You showed up with that new cute haircut.”
“I thought maybe it was eighth grade, when I showed up with boobs.”
He smiled, holding her tight against him. “Yeah. Maybe. Eighth-grade boys are assholes.”
She took her mouth off him and met his gaze. “Why did we never admit we crushed on each other?”
He stared at her. “Wait, you’re serious? You crushed on me?”
“Hard,” she admitted. “Come on. I followed you around and pretended to want to do stupid boy stuff just to get your attention.”
He shook his head, his brain not in gear. “Stupid boy stuff?”
“Yeah, like when you all caught fish and you were gutting them to cook for dinner, remember that?”
“Of course. You were great at it.”
She shook her head. “When we were done, I staggered to the back of the boat where no one could see me and threw up.”
“Hannah . . .” He laughed softly, full of sympathy. “How long until you got used to prepping the fish?”
“How many times did we have to gut them?” she asked.
“We must have done that, like, what? Ten years in a row.”
“Then ten.” She looked at him. “You really didn’t know how I felt about you?”
He gave a small, disgusted-with-himself shake of his head. All of this was news to him. What an idiot he’d been. “Never. I always thought it was about Jason for you.”
“No,” she whispered, giving him a delicious shiver. Or maybe that was her mouth, making its wicked way up to his ear now, which she nipped, pulling a rough groan from him. “It was always you, James. Always.” She pulled back and looked into his eyes. “I’ve had a crush on you since that first Christmas, but it didn’t really take hold until I was fourteen and my dad taught us to drive the boat, wanting us to know how to handle ourselves in an emergency. I was terrified I’d kill us all, but he just kept saying that there was no crying on the boat. You came over and held my hand.”
He remembered. She’d been so frightened, and he’d been pissed at Harry, who’d been clueless, treating her like any other crew member. Hannah had been shaking too hard to get a good grip on the helm, so he’d helped her.
“You made me feel . . . protected,” she said. “Safe. Like you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Like you thought I was special.”
“You are,” he said, intensely enough to have her looking surprised. He was starting to realize just how scarred she’d been by two well-meaning but clueless parents, people who were supposed to love her and put her first, but who instead somehow always made her feel like an afterthought.
He’d been no better, expecting her to dump everything she knew and loved to travel the world with him—no plan, no safety net.
He’d been a selfish asshole.
“You actually fell into the water that day on purpose,” Hannah said. “To show me it wasn’t scary. Then you climbed back on board and held my hand.”
He nodded and slid his hand into her hair to tip her face up to his. “Yeah, but that’s not all I was thinking about back then.”
“No? What else were you thinking about?”
He smiled and lifted her up against him, groaning when she climbed him like a tree. “The same thing I’m thinking about now.”
“Which is?” she asked breathlessly.
“Some things are better suited for show, not tell.”
When she smiled at him, he felt like he’d just won a pot of gold.
HANNAH was feeling a little bit like how she’d felt earlier when jumping off the bluffs with James. Adventurous. Exhilarated. But there was more too. A lot more.
James let her body slide down his with a delicious, electric friction before pinning her to the door in much the same way she’d done to him only moments ago.
“Showing is good,” she whispered.
Their gazes met and held until James lowered his head and kissed her with a hunger that matched her own, until they were practically having sex while still fully dressed, up against the wall.
“James,” she finally gasped, “I can’t stand up anymore.”
He lifted her off her feet and she wrapped her legs around him as he headed toward the bed.
“I’ve missed this with you,” she confessed, mouth on his sexy throat.
“Yeah?”
“When you boarded the other day and looked at me, my heart stopped. I couldn’t imagine you ever wanting me again.”