Page 21 of Cocktail
“Me too,” he said. “But it’s worth the risk. I feel deep inside that you are the answer to every question I’ll ever ask. I never thought I could fall in love again this hard and fast, but I don’t regret a second of it.”
Aubree couldn’t stop the tears that followed as she clung to Matthew. “How is it possible to feel like I’ve loved you and missed you my whole life, even though we’ve only just met?”
Matthew cupped her face in his hands. “Aristotle once said love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. I believe we’ve finally connected our two missing pieces.”
A hot ache burned her throat as she pulled him down to kiss her. Explosive currents danced between them when their lips met. Snow stung her cheeks in wintry kisses. Aubree didn’t want to be anywhere else in that moment. The magic she’d forgotten to believe in long ago pulsed, and soft, seductive intimacy formed between them as their mouths met over and over in slow kisses.
“You are the beginning, the end, my everything,” Matthew murmured between fervent kisses.
“And you are mine.” She meant it to the depths of her soul.
Love is friendship that has caught fire.
Epilogue
Six months later…
Warm white sand burned Aubree’s feet as she stepped out of the shallows of the pure blue waters of the Bahamas and headed toward the white canopy bed tucked beneath a thick shelter of palm trees. Matthew stood by the bed, wearing a pair of pale blue board shorts that made him far too sexy for a public beach. Aubree was glad they’d splurged on a private bungalow overlooking the water at their honeymoon resort. She was still getting used to the elegant diamond ring and the wedding band on her finger, but she loved being married to Matthew.
“You cool off?” he asked as he wrapped her up in a red and white striped beach towel. He draped it around her like a cloak and pulled her to him for a kiss using the towel to keep her body pressed flush to him. She giggled against his mouth.
“Yes. But you’re making me hot again.”
“Good,” he chuckled, that rich sound melting her into a puddle in his arms, then he ravaged her mouth. His hands released the towel and he palmed her bottom, squeezing lightly in a way that made her moan with delight.
“Matthew,” she said when he finally let her breathe.
“Hmm?” He brushed his nose against hers. His arms banded around her as though he wished to never let her go.
“What is a Vesper?” she whispered as she kissed his neck and bit his earlobe. His skin was slightly salty from the sea and his dark gold hair was still wet, leaving the strands to curl a bit at the ends.
“A vesper?” he asked with his eyes still closed.
“Yes, what is it?”
“It’s a cocktail.”
“Of course, it is,” she laughed again.
Matthew looked down at her, mischief and love in his expression. “James Bond invented the Vesper cocktail in the first Bond bookCasino Royale. He named it after the first woman he ever loved: the beautiful and doomed Vesper Lynd.”
“Vesper1,” she repeated. “One for his first love?”
“First and only,” Matthew smiled.
“Could you make me one of those?”
“Certainly, but I have another drink in mind just now.” He scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the canopy bed.
The white curtains billowed out around them and the island breeze tickled her skin. He settled on the bed beside her and she couldn’t resist touching him. She trailed a hand down his chest to his stomach, feeling his abdomen muscles clench beneath her exploring hands. He caught her hand and raised it to his lips for a kiss before reaching over to the bedside table where a brightly-colored orange and pink cocktail with a sassy looking little umbrella propped in it sat.
“Up for a new hanky-panky challenge, wife?”
“Always…” She laughed and sipped the drink. “What is it?”
“Sex on the beach.” He was flashing her that naughty smirk that made her legs tremble in excitement and her womb quiver in anticipation.
“The challenge or the drink?” she asked.
“Both, my love.Both.”