Page 12 of Delivery After Dark (Gansett Island #28)

“ W hat do you feel like doing?” Linc asked Monique as they left the Beachcomber, zipping their coats against the cold December breeze off the water. His only goal was to spend as much time with her as he could.

“What’s there to do?”

“Um, well, not much of anything.”

“Okay, then.”

“We could go for a ride, listen to some music…”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

“What kind of music do you like?”

“Anything I can dance to.”

He handed her his phone, which was paired with the Bluetooth in his Coast Guard SUV. “Lady’s choice.”

Monique scrolled through the music app until she found what she wanted and put on a song he’d never heard before, but the beat had him tapping his fingers on the wheel as he drove toward the bluffs.

“What is this?”

“‘I Don’t Wanna Wait’ by OneRepublic and David Guetta. One of my favorites.”

“I like it.”

“I love to dance. It’s my favorite thing.”

“How do you feel about dancing with someone who’s been told he has two left feet?”

She laughed. “I can work with that. I used to teach dance when I was younger. That was my favorite job ever.”

“Why’d you stop teaching?”

“I needed to pay my bills and get health insurance and other adult things.”

“I hate when that happens.”

“Me, too!”

“It’s never too late to go back to doing what you love, you know.”

“Oh, I don’t know. In my case, it might be. Owning a dance studio won’t set me up for a plush retirement.”

“And you need your retirement to be plush?”

“I don’t want to be working when I’m seventy-five.”

“You should think about it anyway. There used to be a dance studio here when I first arrived. Tiffany Taylor ran it. She closed it down when she opened her Naughty & Nice store, but I think the space is still set up like a studio.”

“And just that quickly, I’m intrigued.”

“Have you met Tiffany?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I could introduce you, if you’d like. You could take a look and see what you think.”

“You’re the devil.”

“Haha. But if you wanted to meet her, I could make that happen. She had her third child today, so it might be a week or two before she’s up for it, but the studio is right at her house.”

“So tempting, but I’m afraid if I even look, I’ll be hooked, and then what do I do?”

“Move to Gansett Island and start a business doing what you love?”

“What about my plush retirement?”

“Eh, you’ll figure it out.”

“Said the guy with the built-in government pension.”

“Life is too short to be working in a job that doesn’t make you happy.”

“That’s very true.”

Her entire disposition had gone sober, which had him wondering what had caused that. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course. Do you know what brought Ollie and Dara to the island?”

“Yes, I heard about what happened to their son. It’s so tragic.”

“When I tell you it was the worst thing I’ve ever been through… That doesn’t do it justice. That little guy was the light of all our lives. For a time, I didn’t think they’d survive it, and I wasn’t sure I would either. At the same time, my marriage was beginning to fall apart.”

“That’s rough. I’m sorry you went through such a hard time.”

“Losing Lewis was horrible. By the time I split with my husband, it was a huge relief, although I was surprised by feelings of failure and other fun things I never saw coming until I found out he was cheating on me with a twenty-three-year-old he worked with. Anyway… That was a long time ago now, but I agree that life is short, and we need to be happy for the time we have here.”

“Dancing makes you happy, Monique.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that, Linc.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Devil.”

He laughed, which was something he did a lot when she was around. Out at the bluffs, he pulled into a parking space and cut the engine, leaving the music playing in the background.

“Is this where the teenagers go to fool around?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t know. I was never a teenager out here.”

“Where’d you grow up again? I know you told me once.”

“In Connecticut. Westport area. Went to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, and here we are, fifteen years later.”

“So that makes you…”

“Thirty-seven.”

She winced. “Ouch.”

“What?”

“I’m almost thirty-eight.”

“That’s not exactly cougar territory.”

“Maybe not, but getting closer all the time.”

“Far be it from me to correct you, but I would’ve guessed you were thirty or thirty-one at the most.”

“You’re too kind.”

“It’s true.”

“Thirty-eight kinda snuck up on me. I’ll be freaking forty in two years . Like, WTF is that about?”

Chuckling, he said, “You’re rocking thirty-eight.”

“Time’s getting away from me, though.”

“What do you want to do that you haven’t done yet?”

“I expected to be a mother a long time ago, but that didn’t happen.”

“It still could.”

She gave him a comically withering look. “I’m getting old for that.”

“Nah. You’re a spring chicken. Anything is still possible if you have the will and the desire to make it happen.”

“My sister is having another baby. That might have to suffice for me.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

“Are you offering stud services?”

He sputtered as he laughed, which cracked her up, too. Then he took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I’d be happy to be your stud if I could help to make your dreams come true.”

She tugged her hand free, seeming annoyed all of a sudden.

“What?”

“Don’t say things like that. It’s too painful to even think about it.”

“I mean it. I’ve always wanted kids, too, and I’m not getting any younger either. Maybe you and I can make a go of it and have a couple of kids together.”

She stared at him as if he were certifiable.

Maybe he was.

“We just agreed to spend some time together while we’re both off, and you’ve got us making a go of it and having a couple of kids together?”

He shrugged. “Why not? What’ve we got to lose?”

“Um, well, our sanity, for one thing. You can’t just go having kids with someone you barely know.”

“I know you. We’ve been talking for months.”

“How do you know there isn’t stuff about me you don’t know and wouldn’t like?”

“I don’t know that, but I look forward to finding out everything there is to know.”

“You’re being serious about this?”

Linc released his seat belt and turned to face her.

“Listen, I’ve dated a lot of women. Been on more first dates than any guy I know.

I’ve had one real girlfriend, back at the academy, but we got stationed in different places, and that fell apart.

Otherwise, nothing has ever stuck, and believe it or not, I thought I’d be married with a few kids by now, too.

But that hasn’t happened. You know what has happened? ”

“What?” she asked, seeming a little wide-eyed and breathless.

“I’ve finally found someone who interests me so much, I can never get enough of her company. I can’t wait to talk to her again, to see her again, to be with her. I think about her all the time. That’s never happened.”

“Whoever she is, you ought to do something about that.”

“I’m trying to, and she’s being obtuse.”

Monique smiled then, taking his breath away. She did that a lot. “I think about you a lot, too.”

“Is that so?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Like, how much is ‘a lot’?”

She rolled her eyes. “All the time, especially when I should be doing other things, such as working.”

“Same. I ran over a lobster trap in the work boat the other day because I was thinking about how gorgeous you looked when we were on FaceTime the other night.”

“You did? Really?”

“Yep, and do you know how embarrassing it is for the commander to have to call back to the station and ask someone to send a diver to get a lobster trap off my propeller?”

“How embarrassing is it?”

“Extremely, and that’s all your fault.”

“Hey! Don’t blame me.”

“I am blaming you.” He moved closer, hoping she’d meet him halfway. “That was one hundred percent your fault.”

She seemed to move toward him without realizing she was doing it, hopefully as drawn to him as he was to her. The last time they’d been together, he’d wanted to kiss her—and everything else with her—but it hadn’t happened.

“You know what I thought about every day since I saw you last?”

“What’s that?”

“How incredibly stupid I was not to kiss you that night.”

“It was kinda stupid.”

“I’d like to rectify that if you’re on board.”

“I’m on board.”

He raised his hand to her face, caressed her cheek and gazed into her eyes in the second before he moved in to close the distance remaining between them.

When her lips met his, the expression “pour gas on a fire” passed through his mind before the kiss went from easy to hot in one second flat.

Holy. Shit . He’d had a feeling it might be like that with her.

Before he knew what had hit him, they were straining to get closer, hands pressed to faces, hers tugging at his hair.

“I knew it was a mistake not to do that last time.” With his forehead pressed against hers, he tried to catch his breath while she did the same.

“Big mistake. Huge.”

“ Pretty Woman , right?”

“All this and you know my favorite movie, too? A girl could get carried away in this situation.”

“That’d be fine with me.” He twirled a length of her curly hair around his finger. “You want to go to my place?”

“Not if we’re going to make a baby.”

“We can save that for tomorrow.”

She laughed, as he’d hoped she would. “You’re out of your mind.”

“So it seems, and that, too, is your fault.”

“I see how this is gonna go.”

“Do you? Tell me all about it.”

“I’d rather show than tell.”

“Mmm, yes, please.” Somehow, he managed to disentangle from her and get his head together enough to drive them the short distance to the station, where he had the commander’s apartment.

Bringing a woman there wasn’t ideal, but he had a separate entrance from the rest of the station, and no one was around at this hour anyway.

The night shift had settled in to watch TV after dinner, and unless they were called out overnight, they wouldn’t emerge until the morning.

He was on vacation and free to do what he wanted, and what he wanted most was to spend as much time with the gorgeous, sparkling, sexy, funny, smart and thoughtful Monique as he possibly could.

That was certainly a first for him. Often, he found himself looking for ways to disengage as yet another woman failed to stir anything in him but apathy.

Not this time.

Everything about her was different, and for the first time, he was thankful to all those unremarkable first dates for helping him to realize when someone special came along.

He’d thrown her for a loop with the baby talk, but he was about seventy-five percent serious.

If they both wanted kids and they both wanted each other, why not go for it? What did they have to lose?

It was madness. He knew it and didn’t care.

When they got to his place, he walked her in with an arm around her shoulders. His phone connected with his Bluetooth speaker and launched into “Shut Up and Dance.”

Monique turned to him as she tossed her coat onto a chair and started to groove to the song.

The lyrics about this woman being his destiny caught Linc’s attention and put a huge lump in his throat as he watched her move.

He liked everything about her, including her sharp intelligence, biting wit and easygoing personality.

Now he could add the sexy way she moved to the list. The woman could dance .

She reached out her hands to include him, and he went to her, fearing he’d turn her off by being a total clod.

But when he followed her lead, he found his own groove, which was a first.

He looped an arm around her waist without missing a beat and earned an impressed look from her.

“Two left feet, my ass,” she said, grinning.

“I guess it was all about finding the right partner.”

She curled her arms around his neck and ended up pressed against him. “That does tend to make all the difference.”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had the right partner.”

“Me either.”

“This is feeling pretty right at the moment.”

“Sure is. How about you show me some of your other moves?”

“Oh, um, well, this is about the extent of it.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

He wasn’t sure what came over him that had him leaning into a dip that he pulled off rather smoothly, if he said so himself.

“Not bad, Commander. Not bad at all.”

“We’ll see if I can still walk tomorrow.”

When she tossed her head back and laughed, he was completely captivated and couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss her neck.

“Mmm.” She moved against him, firing him up like he’d never been before as he walked her backward toward his bedroom while continuing to kiss the sexy column of her neck and breathe in the bewitching scent of her skin.

“Where’re we going?” she asked, sounding a bit breathless.

“Somewhere more comfortable.” He lowered her onto his bed and came down on top of her, propping himself up on his arms. “Are you comfortable?”

She shook her head and smiled.

“What can I do about that?”

“I’ve got some aches you could see to.”

“Is that right? Well, I’d need to do a full exam to make sure I tend to them all.”

Linc loved her laughter and the abandon with which she threw her arms over her head, giving him access to every sexy inch of her. He took his time, uncovering her slowly and learning what made her gasp and what had her lifting her hips to drive him wild.

In a final moment of sanity, he said, “Tell me to stop.”

“Not doing that.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Are you?”

“Hell yes.”

She whipped the shirt over his head so fast, he never saw it coming. Then she went for his belt while he dealt with her top. Clothes went flying until they were skin to skin, which was the best thing he’d ever felt.

“Hi there.”

She smiled up at him. “How’s it going?”

“Better than it has in longer than I can remember.”

“Same.”

“Nice how that worked out, huh?”

“Very nice.”

He kissed her lips and then her face and then everywhere else until she was writhing beneath him, begging for more. Before he lost control completely, he grabbed a condom and rolled it on.

She welcomed him back into her arms, running her fingers through his hair and driving him wild with her nails down his back as he joined their bodies for the first time.

He wanted to remember everything about this, so he took his time, savoring the moment in which he confirmed what he’d known for a while now—that after years of looking and hoping and more disappointment than he cared to recall, he’d found the one for him.

This… This was the thing that people wrote songs and poems about… This feeling…

It was everything he’d ever wanted, and so much more than he’d dared to hope for. He wanted it to last forever.