Caught in the Current (Pacific Shores Book 2) (16 page)

Without thinking, Marie reached across the table and clasped his hand. “Your dad is a wonderful man. He has always made me feel special.”

Reece’s thumb stroked over her knuckles. “That’s because we Cahill men know a good woman when we see one.” He winked.

Marie laughed and was thankful for the arrival of the waiter with their food, which allowed her to extract her hand without awkwardness. Every moment with this man pushed her concerns for his reputation further from her mind. The level of her feelings for him scared her a little. She needed to keep things slow. Keep a level head on her shoulders.

The food was amazing. And after they’d finished their chocolate raspberry mousse and coffee, and Reece had paid, he stood and slanted her a question. “Want to take a walk on the beach?” He stretched a hand toward her, brows raised in question.

The sun had dipped below the horizon during the meal, and everything lay in the dusky gloam of the half-light between day and night.

“I would love to.” She gave in to the temptation and took his hand, savoring the roughness of his palm against hers and the thickness of his fingers laced between her own. At the top of the stairs down to the beach, she pulled him to a stop to slip her high heels off.

“Reece Cahill?”

Marie felt a nervous quiver at the tone with which the feminine voice had said Reece’s name. She glanced up. Capri and Paris Blackburn stood at the bottom of the steps in skimpy evening dresses. Their ever-in-the-sun tans glowed even in the twilight gloom.

“Ladies.” Reece tipped his hat, but kept his hold on her hand. “How are you two this evening?”

The twins exchanged a glance. One of them shook out her long blonde hair and dropped her focus to their intertwined fingers as she replied, “Good. Not doing much. Just hanging out.”

Marie had never been able to tell the twenty-year-old twins from the church apart. But she could certainly feel the malevolence being leveled her way from two very annoyed females.

“Well, we won’t keep you. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” Reece nudged Marie past them, and they strolled through the soft, loose sand to the firmer-packed damp area nearer the water. A few yards down the beach, Reece sat on a driftwood log and pulled off his dress shoes and socks and rolled his slacks up a couple turns. His hairy ankles stood at odds with the linen of his suit.

Marie chuckled and couldn’t resist teasing him. “Such a fashion statement, Mr. Cahill. I think it will be all the rage in the very near future.”

He grinned and focused on her own bare feet peeking out from beneath the hem of her long sheath dress. “I guess we’ll be starting this fashion together, then.”

“Maybe.” She was suddenly so full of emotion for this man it made her mouth dry, and she could literally feel her heart pounding against her sternum.

He swept off his hat and plopped it on her head, then tugged on the brim to pull her closer. While a twinkle still lingered in his gaze, the huskiness of his next words revealed a far more serious bent. “I’ve always wanted to start something with you, but it wasn’t a fashion.”

Desire to set aside her reservations whispered through her. Instead she forced herself to keep it light. “A business, maybe? Decorating! You build, I’ll decorate.”

The only reply he offered was a low rumble of acknowledgment in his chest as he stepped even closer and slipped one hand behind her back. He perused her face like the answers to all life’s questions might be found there. His free hand tucked an errant curl behind her ear and fell to rest on her shoulder. His thumb stroked along the line of her jaw.

Marie felt a tremor rush through her. She needed to keep talking. This had become far too intimate far too quickly.

Her eyes darted to the fire pit just to their right. It was getting a bit chilly. Maybe she could distract him. “A fire, maybe?”

Humor returned to crinkle his crow’s feet. “Oh yeah, starting a fire sounds good.” But he didn’t turn toward the fire pit.

The bottom dropped out of her stomach even as anticipation zipped up her spine. She licked her lips and then pressed them together. The strength of her desire for him terrified her. She’d given in to men she didn’t feel a fraction of this emotion for, so what could these desires she was feeling entice her into doing?

He leaned closer, a request for permission lingering in his expression.

“Reece.” She stopped him with a finger to his lips, which hovered just a breath from hers.

His nose brushed hers, and he pressed their foreheads together. “What?” No impatience touched his tone. Only a desire to hear her out.

She took a breath. “It terrifies me a little how much I feel for you. I’m afraid—I don’t want—” She gave up and dropped her gaze to the gold eagle tie tack in the middle of his chest.

“Marie.” He touched her chin and waited for her to meet his eyes. His words were barely a breath. “This feeling terrifies me a little too. But the very fact that you are questioning before you proceed is a sign your heart is changed. Feelings like this are a blessing from God. We just have to keep them in check until the right time.” His thumb caressed the dip just below her lip. “This is different, isn’t it? You feel something different—stronger than you’ve ever felt before?”

She swallowed. Oh yeah. He could say that again. She nodded, her eyes going a bit wide.

His fingers still lingered at her chin. “You don’t have to kiss me if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.” The whispered words popped out before she could think better of them.

Pleasure tipped up the edges of his lips just before they claimed hers, soft and slow and sure. Gentle. Controlled. And so tender a sigh of total contentment escaped her. She allowed her hands to slide up his tie and around his neck, her fingers forking into the curls at the back of his head. His hat tumbled off behind her and landed with a squishy thud near their feet, but neither of them broke free.

Reece’s fingers curled into her hair as his lips continued to claim hers. But he kept the kiss under rein.

A tremor of sheer desire coursed through her, and she wanted to step closer to him. To press herself into him so far he never got away from her. But that wasn’t the kind of woman she wanted to be anymore. Not the kind of woman God wanted her to be. Not the kind of woman she needed to be anymore. God was her supply now. And He’d blessed her with this man who she felt so much for.

To keep herself from taking the step, she pulled her hands from behind him and gripped his wrists instead.

Reece pulled back a fraction, stroked one thumb over her mouth, and then leaned in again for one final kiss. After that he tucked her head to his chest. She felt a shuddery breath shake him. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to be able to do that.”

Reveling in the sanctuary of his arms, and having no words to express her current feelings, Marie only rose on tiptoe and placed a quick kiss against his neck.

For a long moment they both stood watching the dark gray of the water lapping at the shore until a wave with more energy and reach than the others washed in and sloshed over their feet.

“Oh.” Marie gasped at the unexpected chill and darted a few steps further from the water. The way she was feeling, it was probably good to put a little space between them, anyhow.

Reece bent to pick something out of the waves. “Now you’ve done it!” he teased, and turned to face her. “You dropped my hat in the water!”

She shrugged unrepentantly and gave him an innocent bat of her lashes. “I believe you knocked it off my head. So it’s your own fault.”

His eyebrows pumped. “Definitely. And I’d do it all again too.”

At the hopeful note he’d purposely injected into the words, desire to be back in his arms lured her. But recognizing the danger of letting themselves get too caught up in this moment, she let a trickle of laughter loose instead, and took a purposeful step back. “In the olden days, cowboys used to let their horses drink out of their hats, so I think yours is going to be just fine. At least it doesn’t have horse slobber on it.” She grinned cheekily. “But maybe the slobber sort of worked in and acted as a softening agent.” She scanned both directions of the beach. “I don’t see a horse, but we might be able to find a sea lion.”

He shook water from the hat and grinned at her with a retaliatory gleam in his gaze. “I’m lamenting the demise of my Stetson, and you are making fun of me? I do believe some retaliation is in order, ma’am.” He drawled the words out long and slow.

She couldn’t suppress a giggle of anticipation. Flirting unabashedly, she batted her eyelashes innocently. “Me? Make fun of you? Would I do something like that?”

Laughing, he strode toward her with a glint of promise in his eyes.

Marie snatched up her pumps from where she’d dropped them earlier, lifted the skirt of her dress, and turned and ran.

His bark of laughter preceded the crunch of his feet in the sand behind her.

Even though she exercised for a living and a glance tossed over her shoulder revealed Reece had paused to grab his boots and socks, it only took him fifty yards to catch her. Laughing, he swung her in a wide circle and then settled her into the crook of one arm. His breaths puffed hard as he grinned down into her face. “You are fast.”

She was struggling for air in her own right, and not all of it was due to exertion. She poked him in the chest and puffed, “I let you catch me.”

“Un-huh,” he chuckled. “Sure.”

Despite the fact that she had been joking, the truth of what she’d just said washed over Marie. She had let him catch her. From the moment she’d seen him in the grocery store and felt once more the powerful attraction they’d shared, she’d been caught in the current, and she hadn’t even attempted to flee. She’d just floated along with it and it had brought her here, into the arms of the only man she’d ever really cared about.

She could hardly believe how blessed she felt right in that moment.

Reece’s expression turned serious, and his gaze dipped to her mouth, but instead of leaning in for another kiss like she’d hoped he would, he let her go and stepped back. He slapped his hat against his thigh. “We should probably get going before…” He let the thought trail.

Warmth trickled through her. He was right. And she loved him all the more for it. Not many men in her life had cared for her enough to pull away and keep things slow. She nodded and tilted her head. “Thank you.”

He took another step back. “Have mercy on a guy and don’t look at him like that in the moonlight when he’s trying to do the right thing, would you?”

A bubble of laughter escaped, but she obediently tilted her head forward and looked at the sand. “How’s this?”

He chuckled. “Only a little better.”

She grinned.

“Come on. How about we catch a movie?”

She nodded. “First let me make a stop in Fisherman’s Wharf.”

He nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

As they made their way toward the restaurant, Reece slipped his fingers down her forearm and wove them between hers.

Marie sighed in contentment. She hadn’t felt this wonderful for years. She certainly hadn’t felt this much for a man, ever. She tightened her hand in his and tipped her head back. Above them the night sky looked like white glitter scattered over black velvet. Thank You, Lord. The short little prayer was thanks for so much. For the weather and the beauty. For the ability to breathe in the salty air. For the feel of still-warm sand between her toes. The feel of strong fingers cradling her own. The contentment in knowing she was loved and cared for. For the feeling that everything was going to be alright. For life, love, and happiness.

Reece released her hand as they separated in front of the bathroom doors, and Marie could have sworn she was walking on a cloud as she entered the ladies’ room. The door slipped shut on silent hinges.

She just needed to do a little freshening up. Dust the sand off her feet. Slip her shoes back on.

She smiled softly at the ethereal glow in her eyes as she met her gaze in the mirror, hardly able to believe how far she’d tumbled in such a short amount of time.

“What do you think he sees in her?”

Marie froze. The words had emerged from one of the stalls.

A second voice tittered. “Someone easy.”

A stone of dread dropped into the pit of Marie’s stomach. It was the twins; she’d recognize those sultry voices anywhere. A tremble started right under her heart.

The first one snorted. “She might be like that, but I don’t think he is, is he?”

“What man isn’t?”

“True.”

“Besides, what else would he see in her? She’s got a kid, for heaven’s sake. And it’s not like she’s super pretty, or anything.”

“I think she is. And it wasn’t like she looked all Christian in that curve hugging dress she had on. Still, I’d think a guy like Reece would want someone with a little less…history than her.”

Marie’s eyes dropped closed. If there’d been any doubt who they were talking about, it was gone now. Her fists clenched and the tremble nearly took the strength from her legs.

The second twin hummed her agreement. “Yeah. I can hardly believe it. Maybe he doesn’t know about her past?”

“Oh, he knows. He was there on Sunday when she was talking all about it. Standing out in the hallway like he didn’t want her to see him, or something. Do you think she really meant all the stuff she said on Sunday?”

“He was? I didn’t see him. I don’t know. Can someone so far gone really change?”

Marie willed away the tears and quietly worked at slipping her shoes on. She needed to get out of here before they discovered she’d been listening to them. And Reece had been there? Marie pulled in a breath. He was so thoughtful. He’d probably known his presence there would make her doubly self-conscious.

“I don’t know. But even if she has changed a little, you’d think a guy like him would want better for himself.”

“Hah. You just wish he’d pick you!”

The first voice chuckled. “You got that right. He’s so hot!”

One of them flushed, and Marie beat a hasty retreat. She nearly crashed into Reece as she rushed out the door.

“Whoa.” He grabbed her shoulders. “Everything okay?”