Page 38 of Awake in Cheshire Bay
I shook my head, as a dull ache settled over my chest. “I’m sorry, I never got that message.”
“That why I come to see you, Ember.” He reached for my hand. “I could not leave you without answers. You here.” His free hand pointed to his heart. “I need you.” With a gentle pull up with the pad of his finger, he once again slowly pressed his lips to mine, this time with power, with desire, and with a feeling it was real. “I want you.”
I gazed into his eyes reflecting the bright sphere of the full moon, a smile thinning my lips. “I want you too.”
Threading my fingers through his soft hair, I pulled him close, breathing him in. From the tips of my fingers to the depth of my soul, I needed the connection with Antonio, and he did not disappoint. As he brushed his lips over mine, a longing and desire surfaced in me, and I allowed myself to fall.
It was the greatest feeling in the world, as the waves lapped against the shore and the moon illuminated the pair of us as we kissed on the beach. Dreams couldn’t hold a candle to the reality.
I leaned my head against him as he wrapped his arms around and held me close. My senses told me we were being watched so I scanned the shadows until I saw them, over by Lily’s deck. Eric, Lily, Jesse, Mitch, and Cedar all stood on the stairs.
A gentle heat crawled over my chest and face. “Well, Antonio. Now that we’ve cleared the air, there are a few people you need to properly meet.”
“Ah, yes, your family.”
We rose, walking away from the log and rolling surf. He stopped me mid-step and planted another, knee-weakening kiss upon my lips.
As much as I wanted to continue to melt into his arms, I sensed Cedar was ready to jump off the deck. It was time to join the group and introduce the man of my dreams.
Hand in hand, I walked him over to meet my buddies and to give me even more reason to be thankful.
Epilogue
Fourteen months later
I wiggled beneath the satiny sheets in his luxurious bedroom, in the bow of his yacht, a far cry from the standard rooms I’d travelled in the before times – the times before meeting and falling in love with Antonio. Brushing the flattened curls off my heated face, I rolled over to gaze into his handsome face.
“That’s a helluva way to wake up.” It was hard to wipe the perma-grin away.
“Ja, indeed.” He kissed the tip of my nose.
We were south of Cheshire Bay, somewhere near the Oregon coast, enjoying a romantic week-long vacation, the third one in the past year. Outside on the expansive dock, the sun was nice, but the air was a bit cooler, and we preferred our private time in the bow, even though the three-man crew were like ghosts – I rarely saw them.
Having grown up on the poorer side of life, the wealth and expense of the places Antonio flew me to always took me by surprise. I felt like royalty, and at every destination, I’ve been treated that way too. It’s surreal, but the break was nice, even if I missed my seaside village with all its small-town charm.
My phone pinged on the nightstand, and I stretched over my loving man to reach it, the weight of the new rock on my finger dropping my hand quickly to the table. Scanning the messages, I quickly typed back a response and set the phone back down.
“Everything all good?”
“Yeah.” I curled into him and placed my head on his shoulder while staring at the sparkling ring. “It was Eric confirming numbers for his wedding. And giving me a heads up that Mona is coming too.”
In two weeks, on Christmas Day, Eric was marrying the woman of his dreams, and I was supplying the alcohol for the event. However, it was the sister’s impending arrival that rattled my nerves, more than the final head count.
“Mona?”
I sighed. “Mona is Lily’s older sister. If Lily was considered a bad ass, Mona was on the opposite end of the spectrum, a goody-two-shoes to the core. She never coloured outside the lines, and apparently grew up to have the perfect life; a doting husband, a high-ranking job, everything she ever dreamed she’d get.”
He rolled me over him, so he could gaze up into my eyes. “Why you sad?”
Yeah, why was I suddenly feeling like a deflated balloon?
I straddled my naked fiancé and placed my hands on his firm, rippled chest, grinding my hips. “As one who had her ear to the ground in terms of where the parties were going on, Mona enlisted in my help to find her sister and drag her back home.”
“You her tour guide?” He chuckled.
“Yes and no. With Mona it’s complicated. She’s from a time in my life that I’d rather not focus on as she was so perfect, so put together. So motherly.”
The giant diamond on my left hand sparkled under the beam of sunlight peeking in through the heavy drapes. I moved my hand and let the mini rainbows dance around the king-sized bed.