Finding Haven (22 page)

The shutters rattled against the windows, letting in cracks of gray light. The wind
hadn’t stopped howling, and from the sounds echoing outside, he gathered the rain
was pooling on the deck.

He could have caught one of the late night ferries, but who was he kidding? This was
where he wanted to end up all along. The minute he heard her voice on the other end
of the phone, he knew it was all over. He was crazy about her. After last night, he
would be crazy not to be.

They had turned a corner—gone past innocent make out sessions and flirty banter. It
felt connected. As if she was his. He liked it—how she felt under him, in his hands,
how she tasted—and it was fucking amazing. The look in her eyes when she came was
enough to bring any man to his knees.

He knew he had a reputation as the sexy Texas cowboy that women couldn’t wait to get
their hands on. He wasn’t going to lie—a lot of women did. But it didn’t feel like
that with her. She wanted
him
. She didn’t care about some concocted brand, and she wasn’t looking for bragging
rights that she woke up in his bed.

Haven sighed and her hand slid across his stomach, stirring a recognizable feeling
in his chest. He was afraid he might lose his mind if he didn’t wake her up right
now, but he remembered the muscles in his back and pain in his knees and knew he couldn’t
take another session on the kitchen floor. They had done things to each other last
night that— Damn. He closed his eyes. Just thinking about it made him want her even
more. That was it.

He propped himself up on his elbows, careful not to let her head fall to the floor.
She wiggled in closer, cuddling up under his chin. He sighed. She wasn’t making it
any easier. His hand slid over her backside, rubbing in a line along her back, down
to her legs. He kissed the top of her head and waited for her to wake as he deepened
the touching, coaxing her to respond.

Her eyes fluttered open along his chest, and she turned to him with bright eyes and
a smile.

“Good morning.” He winked at her.

She turned from him. “Good morning.”

He eased out from under her, and she rolled to the side. From the corner of his eye,
he could see the bed—the place they should have been sleeping all night with a mattress,
and pillows, and a soft comforter. He looked at it now as if it was the promised land.
Determined she would know his intention, he reached for the back of her head and tangled
his fist through her silky hair. She moaned quietly as he brought his mouth down hard
on hers, and kissed her while rolling the tips of her breast through his fingers.
He smiled, feeling her react under his touch. He broke free and stood.

Her eyes were wide, and for a split second, he considered taking her again on the
kitchen floor, but there was a perfectly soft bed twenty feet away.

Without a single word, he motioned to her with his finger. She stood and followed
him to the bed. There was one thing he wanted to try last night that hadn’t happened
yet.

The sheets were cool. He rolled on his back and raked his eyes over her as she walked
toward him. Every part of her was beautiful, from the way her hips fit in his palms,
to the tan lines running across the lowest part of her stomach. He could spend hours
kissing her right there.

She stopped at the end of the bed, and for a second, he thought she was going to stand
and watch him, but she brought one knee down, then the other, and crawled over him.
Her hair sweeping his skin as she preyed on him with kisses.

He fought the urge to be inside her right then, pick her up, and show her how hard
she made him. There was a hurricane brewing outside, and they had nothing else to
do but take their time with each other. He could practice some restraint. The growling
though—that was an involuntary response as she brought her legs to either side of
his waist. Seeing her straddle him like this was fucking incredible. She rocked back
and forth, her hips rhythmically moving over him, but keeping him from where he wanted
to be. She wasn’t making this easy.

“Does that feel good?” she teased, using his words from last night against him.

He laughed, catching her face between his hands and staring straight into those blue
eyes. “Yes.”

“Then I’ll just have to keep doing it.” She bit his bottom lip, and he questioned
how long he could hold off. She knew exactly what to do to drive him crazy.

The heat built, and he reached for her hips. It might have been a growl or a groan
coming from his throat. He wasn’t in control anymore of what she was doing to him.
As soon as she arched away from him and came shattering down around him, he gripped
the soft skin on her back and squeezed her to his chest, but she wouldn’t let him
hold her. All he wanted was to press her against his body so he could feel every tremble
and quiver surging through her, but she was strong and playful. A wicked smile spread
across her lips as she pushed off his chest and sank deeper on top of him, tightening
around him.

He called out her name as she rose up and down, her breasts moving with the rhythm—it
was sexy and hot. He reached out to touch the softness of that sensitive skin; he
wanted them in his hands. “Don’t stop, baby. Don’t fucking stop.”

She leaned across his chest, and her teeth nipped at his neck. He couldn’t hold back
any longer. She was taking him under. He grabbed her waist and pulled her against
him as he drove hard into her, filling her with everything he had. He liked being
in control in bed, he was used to it, but he didn’t know which way was up as she slid
along him, making everything hot and tight. He was so lost in her that he didn’t care
about the storm, or that she had taken the reins.

Kissing her deeply, he released himself to her. All the air left his lungs, and he
pulled her to his chest. His eyes closed and he drifted back to sleep while the storm
moved closer to shore. He slept soundly; his body relaxed, knowing he found exactly
what he was looking for.

“J
AY.
J
AY,
wake up.” He heard words, but they didn’t make sense.

“Huh?” He rubbed his eyes and recognized Haven standing next to the bed. She was wearing
his shirt and no pants. He propped himself up, wondering if there was really nothing
else under the shirt.

“I made breakfast. It’s almost noon. I thought maybe you’d like to eat something.”

“Yeah. Sounds good.” He leaned against the headboard and rubbed his neck. “What’s
going on with the storm?”

“Harper?”

He grimaced at the name. Reminders of Emmy weren’t welcome right now. “Still on course?”

“Good news, she’s downgraded to a category one, and we’re only supposed to get the
outer bands. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll still be out of power and I’m sure there will
be water in the yard, but I think we dodged anything major.”

“That is good news.” He peeled the sheet back, anxious to make a stop in the restroom
and splash some water on his face, maybe even take a shower.

Haven’s eyes raked over him and she flashed him a smile.

“Um, I’ll see you in a minute.” She spun on her heels, the turn catching the edge
of the T-shirt. He saw the lacy edge of her panties, cutting a sharp V along her hip.
Damn, girl. He sucked in a gulp of air and hopped off the bed. He smiled. He had a
feeling he knew how the rest of this day was going to go.

T
WO DAYS.
Two long, blissful, ravishing, surrendering, intimate days alone and uninterrupted.
This hurricane went down as the best-timed storm in her life. The water had halfway
receded in the yard, and she and Jay both knew he could drive his Jeep right out in
the conditions, but he said he couldn’t leave her there with no way to escape if she
needed to.

She wanted to think it had nothing to do with transportation and everything to do
with how he felt tangled up with her in her bed.

The day after a storm passes through is always the most gorgeous. The beach was littered
with whole conch shells, and other treasures washed ashore from the turbulent tides.

Haven held up a piece of beach blue against the sun. The hue was almost the same color
as the sky. “Hey, check this one out.” He probably wouldn’t know how rare it was to
find a piece this big, smooth, and blue.

Jay jogged over to where her feet were planted in the wet sand. “That one’s cool.
But look at this.” He grinned before revealing a long strand of conch eggs encased
in a spiral coating.

“Oh yeah, that’s a mermaid’s necklace.” She took the spiral and held it against her
neck. “We always called them that when I was little. Really, it’s full of baby conchs.”

“Hmm, I thought I made a big discovery.”

She giggled at the disappointed look on his face. It was fun exploring the beach with
him. It was the first time she remembered seeing it from an outsider’s perspective.
Growing up on Perry Island, it seemed like the same old stuff everyday, but Jay had
a way of turning that around on her.

They were lucky. Hurricane Harper had made a drastic shift to the east before reaching
the island’s latitude. The inland areas around the cove saw the most water, but other
than a few broken windows, there weren’t any reports of major damage. Only washed
out roads, and given another day or two, the water would recede and life would return
to normal. The tourists would be back and the store would reopen.

Jay’s hand rested against her waist as she leaned into his chest. For now, she wanted
the water to stay in her yard, keep her stranded, and keep Jay in her arms. Nothing
could convince her to leave this place of contentment.

“You know my neighbor, Charlotte, should see all these.” Jay stooped to pick up an
olive shell.

“Isn’t she the crazy one?” Haven couldn’t believe there were sand dollars dotting
the sand. You could only find these on low tide days near the sandbar, and even that
was a rarity.

“Crazy as hell, but she loves collecting shells. Her yard is full of them—rows and
rows.” He scooped up one of the sand dollars. “I think I’ll save a few of these for
her.” He walked over to the bucket they had brought to the beach and placed the sea
discoveries inside.

“Better get them now because between the beach combers and the tide, they will all
be gone tomorrow. It will be like none of this ever happened.”

The words hung in the air and her stomach twisted. She meant the shells and the beach
treasures, but she realized that maybe she had accidentally created a double meaning
in the words. How do you pull words back in that you don’t want to be spoken?

As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, he reached for her chin and held it firmly
between his thumb and forefinger. The look he shot her stole her breath. “I’m going
to throw this out there. Ok?”

She nodded, locked on his gaze, dying to know what he was about to say.

“This did happen.” His voice was deep and low. “And it
is
happening.” He pressed his lips against her mouth. Whatever sandy treasure was in
her hand, she dropped as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She had to stand on
her tiptoes to reach him. His lips tasted salty and she nipped at his neck, lowering
her heels to the ground.

He grasped her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. “This has been my all-time
favorite Sunday.”

She smiled. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who loved Sundays on the island. Her hand
slipped into his, and she kicked a wave that washed toward her. There were other words
she wanted to say. She wanted to talk about what was happening and what it meant.
Were they a couple? Were they dating now? But they had never been on an actual date.
Did that mean something? She tried to quiet the questions storming her mind. She knew
they would shatter the moment, and this Sunday was absolutely perfectly shatterproof.

He squeezed her hand. “What are you thinking over there?”

She squinted in the sun. “I think I know what song I want to write next. The whole
song just hit me.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Want to hear it?” She couldn’t wait to get to the porch and play out the words.

“Lead the way.” The smile that melted all the stress and anxiety away engulfed her
like the sun’s warmth.