Page 65 of In Want of a Wife
“Lily?”
She refused to look up at him.
“Let’s take a walk on the beach.”
Lily pulled away. “But I’m looking at the stars, I…”
He shook his head and backed away toward the path down the cliffside. He wasn’t about to kiss her for his family to see, but he wished to kiss her thoroughly and well. He was finished acting the gentleman. He was never good at that role, anyhow. She would hate him soon enough if he confessed the truth.
Rafe waited for her at the bottom of the steps. He kicked off his boots and rolled up the cuffs of his trousers. It was glorious to have his feet in the sand once more.
Lily slowly descended the steps, her gaze fixed firmly on her feet. She had let her hair down, and in the moonlight, it made him nearly feral. She might as well have been made of the heavens, for she looked just as lovely and just as out of reach.
He grabbed her hand and pressed a courtly kiss on the top. Just a soft press of his lips against her soft skin, but it made his chest ache all the same.
“Really, Rafe, what are we doing?”
He had no earthly idea to be honest. That was the very devil of it. Something within him could no longer untangle himself from her. Maybe it was the full moon. Maybe he didn’t wish to say goodnight to her just yet.
Maybe it was simply that he wished to hear his very favorite sound in the world—her laugh.
“Sit down, please.”
Lily narrowed her eyes and lifted her nose playfully before sitting down on the bottom step. Tall grass waved back and forth as a soft breeze swept over the beach. Lily reached out and ran her fingers over the dancing blades, mesmerized.
He loved the way she moved through each day full of wonder. How she never stopped asking questions.
He sank to his knees and reached for her feet. She made a soft noise in the back of her throat as he lifted the hem of her dress and reached for her right foot. His hands skirted up the back of her soft calf before he removed her slipper, then slowly the next.
What he would do if he could lay her back here by the dunes, push up her skirts, and taste her.
“Rafe?” she whispered.
He stood, holding out his hand for hers once again and pulled her up to join him.
“Are you going to talk?” she asked, backing away from him. “Or do you plan on being broody and mysterious for the rest of the evening? I have important business to see to.”
She spun and dashed around him.
He sprinted after her, and the two chased each other into the surf. She reached down and splashed him. He did the same until their clothes were damp and the air in his lungs burned.
And he only wanted her. Here, on this beach, dancing under the stars.
“I am quite excellent at broody,” he mumbled as soon as they stopped to catch their breath.
“No, no you are not.” She laughed again.
He couldn’t stop himself; he laughed as well. He didn’t recognize the big booming sound reverberating throughout his chest, shaking him awake. This is what it felt to be alive. He hadn’t realized until now how numb he had been to it all.
“Come here and kiss me, love,” he said, his voice a low rumble.
“Kiss you?” Lily pursed her lips and looked upward. “But I might miss a comet.”
“Make a wish then, first.”
“I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Then start with me.”
