Page 66 of Silver-Tongued Devil
“Oh.” The relief punched into his chest, and he was grinning like a fool. He was running his hand up and down her back now, just because he could. Because she was here in his bed, naked, and he’d loved her right after all. “Well, good. You could say I had some stored-up frustration to work out. You could say that.”
“Mm.” She had her hand on his shoulder, on his arm, like she wanted to feel him, too. “Because I was so attractive the first, oh, five or six times we were together. In my navy-blue swimsuit and my overalls.”
“Doesn’t matter what wrapping you put on it. All that does is make me want to unwrap it more. Especially now that I know what’s underneath, because, darlin’, you have got about the most—ah—” He caught himself just in time. “… lovable body I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking over. And I did love taking it over.”
She was smiling some more. “Oh, don’t wimp out on me now. That wasn’t the word you had in mind.”
“I am a Southern gentleman,” he protested.
“Oh, come on, Mr. Perfect. Let me hear it.”
“Right.” He scowled. “You want me to tell you that you’re the most fuckable thing I’ve ever seen? There, I said it. Sounds bad. I told you.”
She was laughing. “I’ll tell you a secret. Whenyousay it, it works. Mr. Irresistible.”
He was stroking the curve of her bottom now. It felt too good, so he did it again. “I’ll tell you something else, then, while I’m down here digging this hole for myself. You’ve got an ass like a Georgia peach, and I’ve been looking at since the first day I met you. Made my palms itch, and it still does. Know why I made you turn over?”
“Because you like to do it that way? Because it gets you all excited to see me do what you tell me?” She was still teasing, still smug.
He gave her a slap there. That was because he could, too. “You just keep talking, wild thing. Because I wanted to look at it, that’s why. And by the way—when you were wearing that little orange skirt at Russell’s that night?” He sighed. “Man, that about drove me wild.”
“Mm. Very nice. You aren’t so bad yourself. I could catalogue a few body parts of yours that I enjoy, but I’m not going to. You’re conceited enough.”
He touched the two small designs inked into her side. First one, then the other. He hadn’t suspected those, hidden away as they were just below her shoulder blade. “What are these, darlin’? These tattoos? That was a pretty little surprise.”
Her smile vanished. “They’re doves. One for my grandma, and one for Riley. We did them at Riley’s funeral, and I just… I got them after that.”
He could swear his heart actually throbbed. “Tell me.” She hesitated, and he said, “Please.”
Silence for a few long seconds, then she said, “It was this… moment. When the bugler played ‘Taps,’ and the guy let them out of the cage. They flew up into the sky and away. Like Riley was still there, and he was free. I remember I lifted my arm. I couldn’t help it. Sending him on his way. Waving goodbye. I wanted to remember that moment.”
That thing in his chest twisted again, and he touched the tattoos once more. Gently. Tiny birds in flight, less than an inch across. A talisman, and a promise. “That’s what these are, then. Letting them know you remember.”
She looked into his eyes, there on the bed, their hands on each other, their hearts beating together, and said, “There’s a poem they read at a military funeral.” She took a moment while he waited, then said, her voice so soft, ‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’”
“You are a beautiful woman,” he managed to get out through a throat tight with emotion. “And I’m crazy about you.”
She got still, and then she pushed herself up to sit. “What time is it?”
“What?” That had been her reaction? Why? “Uh…” He groped for his phone in his pants pocket. “Almost eleven.”
“I should go home.”
Somehow, she was slipping away. He was losing her. “You could stay,” he suggested. “Stay on the boat and sleep with me. It’s kinda nice, you know. Rocked on the waves.”
“A shower. Brushing my teeth.”
“Got some toothbrushes in a drawer. Got a shower, too. Tiny, but it’s there. And I’d dearly love you to stay.”
She was looking at him so closely, but she wasn’t going to see anything there he didn’t want her to. There was nothing bad to see. “Go on,” he said. “Whatever it is. Say it.”
“You don’t have to be a gentleman now,” she said. “I wanted to do this. I’ve wanted to do it since the first day I met you. I know you’re not a bad person. I trust you not to hurt me. I know you won’t talk about me.”
All right. He was getting mad. “You know I’m not a badperson?Thank you very much. I tell you I’m crazy about you, and you say, thanks for the hookup?”
She sighed. “Come on, Blake. I’m not stupid. Your life is completely different from mine. You’re dating other people. You told Evan so. No, Isawyou doing it. I’m sure I don’t figure into your plans, and you don’t figure into mine, either. I’ve hurt enough in my life. I don’t need to go sticking my hand in the fire, searching for something that isn’t there.”
She was groping around, looking for her thong, probably, and he was lost for words. “Wait. Dakota. Let’s… wait.”
