Page 68 of Distant Shores (Stapled Magnolias #2)

IRELAND

“ I ndigo ,” Adair rasped before licking up my center. “So good.”

My alarm buzzed just as my back arched, sending my phone dancing across the bedside table. His groan was hot against my slick skin, and I reached over and muted the alarm without looking.

The room was still dark, which meant it was early.

Despite working myself to the bone setting up for the gala yesterday and not getting home from seeing the fireworks until midnight, I’d hardly slept.

Even after Adair worked me over beautifully and then tucked me into bed, where he tried his best to soothe me to sleep with gentle caresses and sweet words, I’d only dozed.

I’d finally given up on falling back asleep a few minutes ago and run my hand down his thigh in the merest suggestion, gasping in surprise when he’d flipped me onto my back and kissed me soundly in the next breath.

I wasn’t even sure he’d been fully awake. He was just that attuned .

He’d kissed down my neck to my bare chest, suckling my nipples before traveling further down.

I’d known he was awake when he nuzzled into my thigh and sighed my name.

And here we were, in bed together before sunrise, me on my back and Adair pushing my legs open as he entered me with his tongue.

I grabbed the back of his head and buried my face in my pillow, combing my fingers through his hair and losing myself in him.

I would never get enough. It would never be enough.

When I pulled his hair in soft command, he retreated from inside me, sucking in a deep breath before wrapping his lips around my clit.

“ Adair ,” I gasped as quietly as I could. “Need you.”

He was there in an instant, his pine scent and warmth washing over me.

He didn’t ask for specifics as he towered over me.

He knew .

Despite the dark room, Adair found my lips easily, still tasting like me as he kissed me hungrily.

He pushed a pillow under my hips as he deepened the kiss, then stroked up the sides of my body all the way to my shoulders and back down my arms. Breaking the kiss, he interlaced our fingers and raised our joined hands above my head.

This was becoming my favorite position, and he knew that.

Knew me better than anyone.

We shared breaths as he thrust forward, murmuring praises as he slid through my wetness until we were both panting.

Then he entered me in one swift movement.

We inhaled together, savoring our joined bodies for several seconds before he pulled out and pushed in again, languid and precise.

Our hands stayed laced together above me as we fell into each other. No music, no evidence that there was a world outside of us. Only the sounds of our bodies and our breaths.

His pelvis pushed against me in that perfect way with each thrust, making my mind numb and body tingle, and it wasn’t long before we tumbled over the edge together.

Adair groaned some combination of my name and his name for me into my neck, sounding like “ Indiland,” and my moan turned into a ragged laugh.

A few moments later, I flexed my hands, and he got the message, releasing them. But before he could push off me, I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him to me.

He sighed contentedly as he gave me just enough of his weight to blanket me, and my heart calmed under the feeling.

This man.

I didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to face leaving this room even though I’d worked so hard for what would happen today.

“Today’s the day, Indigo. It’s going to be perfect,” he whispered against my lips, still nestled inside me as he read me perfectly.

“What if no one shows? If it’s not enough?”

What if I failed Ari?

He kissed the doubt from my lips, then trailed sweet caresses down my throat, making me squirm.

“You—” His warm mouth surrounded my breast, kissing it sweetly.

“—are always—” He kissed the other the same way.

“—enough.” He pulled away just enough so he could grasp my face between his hands.

“And it’s not all on you. Not anymore. ”

I burrowed my face into his warm palms, thinking about that. About everyone coming together to decorate yesterday. The donations and volunteers. The easy smiles of new friendships with Ari’s family and the workers and residents of Live Oak.

He was right.

“Go shower and get ready,” he said after a couple of minutes. “I’ll go get Cole and Delly up. Then breakfast. Then our guys. We have plenty of time, okay?”

I ran my hands down his bare back, taking a last dose of comfort from his solidness. From who he was. “Okay.”

The room lightened around us with the beginnings of dawn, and Adair pulled back, his hair hanging over his brow and a radiant smile on his face. “You’ve got this, Indigo.”

I brushed my curled hair off my face and bent over the table to write my name in cursive on a stick-on nametag.

Ireland.

“Indigo.”

My body warmed, still feeling the ghost of Adair’s body inside mine as he groaned his nickname for me hours later.

Though, I wasn’t sure how that was only this morning. It had been a long-ass day, and it wasn’t even 5:00 p.m. yet.

I stuck the nametag to my borrowed satin dress, hoping it wouldn’t mess up the material, and took a deep, calming breath, pushing away the horny thoughts.

Miss Lenny had whisked me and Delly down to the salon to get ready after we completed the final touches on the rec room, and a cappuccino with a note had been waiting for me on the vanity alongside a potted purple plant.

Salt water is the cure for anything that ails you—be it the sea, your sweat, or your tears.

Wild indigo for my Indigo Girl.

P.S. Pops says we can grow more in the greenhouse.

P. P. S. I hope my cappuccino ban has finally been lifted? By my count, I owe you dozens

P. P. P. S. Save a dance for me?

-Adair

The cappuccino had been more than welcome and was helping me push through, as was the energy that was already mounting in this room.

Zinnia House had never been so vibrant, so full of life, as people milled around the rec room in their gowns, suits, or Sunday best. Soft piano covers of jazz standards filled the large room as I smoothed my dusky blue gown again, doing another sweep of the room for Adair.

I hadn’t seen Dad or Pops yet, either, and I suspected that was where he was, doing whatever he could to get them here.

I hadn’t said it, but I’d bet the world that he knew how much it would mean to me for them to walk through those doors.

The official dancing would start in just a few minutes, and the rented dance floor was assembled and ready.

Director Links had worked with us on the gala timeline, and after looking at med schedules, taking input from nurses, and considering travel time for out-of-towners, she determined that having the gala right before dinner would work.

I knew better than to question her wisdom.

Miss Lenny was holding court with most of the ballroom class near the dance floor, the excitement and nerves palpable as they cast furtive glances at it. I walked over to them, my heels nearly silent on the floor, and they all straightened when I joined their circle, conversation falling quiet.

“Perfect choice in that dress,” Miss Lenny said proudly. “One of my favorites from days gone by.”

The rest of the group murmured their agreement, and I gave them a small smile, which turned bigger when I caught sight of Miss Lenny’s nametag, which read:

Lenora C. Apworth

I swept my gaze over everyone, meeting each of their eyes.

Miss Trish was sitting on the edge of the group, but I didn’t skip her even though she’d been boycotting my classes.

Unless she moved away or…. yeah, moved , we would be co-existing for the foreseeable future.

I didn’t want to encourage some unspoken feud, no matter her feelings about me.

“You’ve put in the work, which means you are all ready for this,” I told them. “You will dance beautifully. Each and every one of you. You should be proud. I know I am.”

There was a collective sigh, and I calmed right alongside them. This was a role I was comfortable in. They weren’t quite little dancers backstage in their first tutus before their first big recital, but nerves were nerves.

“Remember what I said at the end of our last class? ”

“Swaying is still dancing,” they repeated in disjointed unison.

I nodded. “Swaying is still dancing. How it fills you inside is what matters.”

Miss Lenny fluffed her hair and then her skirts. “I am rightly inspired, and someone needs to warm up that dance floor,” she said matter-of-factly. “I suppose it falls to me, as most things do.”

Miss Lenny’s many sequins glimmered as she snatched Nurse Kelly from a nearby table and all but shoved him onto the dance floor.

Well, then.

Nurse Emily pushed a resident in a wheelchair up beside me, looking gorgeous in a pink satin gown, her tablet tucked under her arm and no fruit in sight.

Everyone’s dance cards were loaded onto those tablets, so volunteers like Emily could help residents find their dance partners.

With Liem’s help, I’d printed and bound memento dance card booklets, designed in a vintage style, with everyone’s glamor shots tucked into a protective sleeve on the front.

Ari had done her own project with the photos Cole had taken, replacing most of the stock wall art that hung in the cafeteria with the professionally printed shots.

“Hey.”

I turned toward the voice, jolting when Cole took a photo, anticipating a flash. I frowned when there wasn’t one, and he took another.

“Perfect,” he said, lowering his camera. “Authentic.”

“No flash?”

He shook his head. “It’ll lower the quality some, but the loss will be worth not, umm…. irritating anyone.”

I smirked. “Uh-huh.”

His gray eyes narrowed at me in challenge. Did he know what I knew? Did he even know what he should know? Cole’s mind was a mystery. But his heart was less of one, and I warmed to him another inch at his thoughtfulness, even if he wouldn’t admit the reason for it. Or, again, even knew it.