Chapter 2
But I don’t feel ashamed. This is something entirely different. An encounter with a revelation of another kind, and Matthew’s kisses make the woman in me respond sharply to a man’s caress, my heart beating faster.
Cool lips and hot breath. We are silent, and I let Matthew explore me. Let him gather the drops of seawater with his tongue, twisting a knot of desire in my stomach. He moves his hand from my hip to my waist and closes his fingers lightly on bare skin, as if afraid I might run away. He drags parted lips over my stomach, lowering his head, carefully sliding his fingers up beneath my breasts without touching them.
“Ashley… you smell like warm amber and sun. Like sea salt and red apples. Very ripe, very juicy ones. It makes me want to… eat you up.”
I don’t know what to say. I don’t think I can say a single word, and Matthew asks:
“Ash, stop me.”
The ocean breeze hasn’t gone anywhere; it blows November cold over Palmer’s back. I lower my hand to his bare shoulder and stroke it.
“You’ll freeze, and I don’t want that.”
He draws in a loud breath and presses his forehead against me. We lie like that for a while, feeling neither cold nor time, only each other. But at last Matthew gets up and lifts me too. He brushes sand from my clothes, tugging the warm sweatshirt lower.
“Hold still!” he suddenly asks seriously, moving the hair the wind has thrown across my cheekbones away from my face.
“What happened?”
“Nothing. There’s water in your lashes.”
“Oh, Matthew!” I laugh, smiling wide again. “You just made me remember I’m not wearing any makeup! My girls will be horrified if they find out I went on a date with a half-naked guy and didn’t even make myself pretty!”
“You don’t need it. Not now… Ashley?”
Our eyes meet again, and I understand what he means. I know the moment he steps closer to me. But I don’t know why it’s important to him to know.
“Everything’s okay, really! So okay that I want to kiss you again, but only after you get dressed. You may be Mr. Perfection, but if your nose starts running, that will make it, hmm, problematic!”
He laughs loudly, from the heart, and of course pulls me to him. Lifting me off the ground, he kisses me on the lips.
“Too bad it’s time to get you home, Miss Smile. Then let’s run back!” Taking my hand tightly, he takes off. “I don’t want those fat gulls crapping on my jeans!”