“No way… you should keep the soft bed.”

“I’d rather sleep next to you if it’s all the same,” she says in a miffed voice, which makes me smile.

Grabbing her by the back of her hair, I tug gently so her head arches back. When I can see her eyes, I ask, “Done being pissed at me?”

“Oh, yeah,” she says with a satisfied smile. “Totally over it.”

“That’s a shame,” I tell her softly as I bend in to nuzzle at her neck. “I wasn’t quite done with you yet.”

She giggles, and the sound is like lovely music swimming through my veins. “Oh, well… in that case, I’m sure I might still be just a little angry with you.”

“That’s my girl,” I murmur before taking her mouth with mine.

Chapter 24

Moira

“Okay, this is the first time I’ve had you alone since you got here… you need to spill everything right now,” Lisa says, and I tear my gaze away from Zach as he swims in the Atlantic Ocean.

Turning to my sister, who sits beside me on the beach in a lounge chair with a big floppy hat on her head, I smile at her briefly before turning back to look at Zach. “Not much to tell.”

God, he’s so freaking gorgeous. He’s wearing a pair of navy-blue board shorts that hang low on his hips, and I can’t help but stare at the “V” cut muscles at the bottom of his abdomen, which are only second in beauty to the washboard abs he sports. He’s utterly perfect… lightly muscled but not too bulky with an absolutely smooth, hairless chest. His legs are powerful, just the perfect size for his towering height.

“Geez, Moira… your tongue is practically hanging out of your mouth while you stare at him,” Lisa says with a snort and slaps my arm. “So dish. Give it to me.”

I peel my eyes off Zach, giving a brief glance at Adam as he plays with Colleen and Samuel in the shallower water, and then turn to look at Lisa. She’s lying on her side in the lounge chair, staring intently at me.

“It’s so crazy,” I tell her, because that’s the best way to describe Zach and me. “I mean… at first, when I was bringing him back to the States, he couldn’t stand me. He refused to engage with me and was fighting against me at every turn.”

“Like how?” she asks curiously.

“Like refusing to eat with utensils and refusing to wear clothes.”

Lisa’s jaw drops, and then she whispers, “He went naked?”

Nodding my head, I tell her, “Around the house.”

“Oh, God… fantasy come true,” she murmurs. “You lucky bitch.”

“I didn’t feel lucky,” I tell her truthfully. “It was frustrating as hell because I couldn’t cross that line with him.”

“But clearly you did,” she points out. She knows this for a fact, because when I came out into the kitchen this morning, she handed me a cup of coffee and said, “I don’t even have to ask if you had a good night last night. I clearly heard you did.”

My face went up in flames, then I was horrified that the kids had heard us, but she told me to relax, that they had slept through it. Then she nudged my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “But it sort of got Adam and me worked up, so thank you for that.”

Geez. Now my sexual escapades were making others horny. Just great.

“So, what changed?” Lisa asks.

“I just couldn’t resist him. I wanted him too much. So I gave in and submitted to it.” I don’t provide any more clarity on the details, and she certainly doesn’t need to know my submission meant that he put me on my knees and f**ked me without emotion from behind. While that first time felt amazing, when I think back on it, I don’t ever want to go back to that place again. Seeing all the depth of feeling Zach gives me now when we come together has spoiled me too much. I have his emotion now… I’m not giving that back.

“What are you going to do?” Lisa asks, and I know exactly what she’s asking. She and I email each other almost every day, and we talk a few times a week. I’ve kept her updated on Zach’s progress, and she’s well aware that he wants to return to Caraica.

“Zach has sort of committed to stay here a year. So I’m going to make the most of it,” I tell her simply.

“But at the end of the year?”

“He returns to his home… in Caraica,” I tell her sadly.

“And what will you do?”

“Probably die of a broken heart, I’m thinking.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Lisa says in commiseration, swinging her legs over the side of her lounge chair. Planting her feet in the sand, she leans forward and takes my hands. “I’m sorry. Maybe he’ll decide to stay.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I give her fingers a squeeze. “I doubt it. I don’t think he finds anything here that rivals his love for his home.”

Lisa’s eyes soften with sympathy. “Do you love him?”

“Getting there,” I admit dejectedly. “But it’s completely one-sided.”

Leaning over to the cooler that sits at the end of our chairs, Lisa reaches in and pulls out two beers. After she hands me one and opens her own, she says, “It’s still early. A year is a long time. Feelings can develop.”

“Or his longing for home can worsen,” I point out as I twist the cap off my bottle. I take a long sip and then lean back in my chair, pointing my face up to the hot Carolina sun and letting its warmth seep in to me.