Chapter Seven
Somehow, Burke managed to heave the absolutely satiated weight of his body off of Kam, but he couldn’t leave her altogether. After quickly disposing of the condom in the shorts he didn’t intend to don again anytime soon, perhaps the next millennium, he pulled her close, tangled his legs with hers. She murmured something as she easily rolled toward him, but her voice was so drowsy, he couldn’t make it out.
So he lay there, in this perfect pocket of paradise, with what just might be the perfect woman sprawled across his body, and let himself, and the tangle of thoughts trying to push their way to the surface, drift blissfully away. Plenty of time for that later. He let the motion of the sea work its magic as he slowly stroked his fingertips the length of her spine.
He’d thought her asleep, but she surprised him by lifting her head just enough to prop her chin on his chest. He tilted his face to hers, surprised to discover he could actually feel even better than he had a moment ago. The contentment and honestly joyful expression on her face when he opened his eyes was a punch to a system already battered by pleasure so shocking and complete, he wasn’t sure what to do about it.
“Hi,” he said, his voice a gruff rasp.
“Hi yourself. Miracle Man.”
His mouth spread into a lazy grin. “I can assure you, that last part wasn’t in the original lesson plan.”
“Well, I think you should consider adding it to the curriculum. In fact, you could probably do away with lessons one through four and go directly to five and be perfectly satisfied with the results.”
He rolled to his side and cupped his hand to her cheek. He couldn’t seem to rid himself of this constant need to be touching her or stroking her. She said he soothed her, but he wondered now who was soothing whom. He’d never considered himself particularly unsettled, but something inside of him was decidedly smoother than it had ever been before. Another notion to contemplate. Later. Much, much later. “I rather liked all the steps,” he told her, wanting to taste her again, and deciding not to deny himself. He lifted her mouth to his and took what he wanted, quite pleased to find her needs once again matched his.
Her mouth was an endless pleasure that he’d only begun to sample. Funny how, having had her, rather than feeling satisfied, even temporarily, he only hungered for more. So much more.
“So,” he said, drifting from her lips to her chin, then along the line of her jaw. “Tummy still okay?”
“I don’t think there’s a part of me that could be tense at the moment.” She turned his mouth back to hers, kissed him slow and deep, rousing him up all over again. Making him wish he’d tucked more than one condom in his shorts. “I suppose the real test will come later, when we set sail.”
“We don’t have to go anywhere, anytime soon, if you don’t want to.”
She smiled at that. “I think I’m up for the challenge. Besides, if I begin to feel the least little bit woozy, we’ll know exactly what to do about it, won’t we?” Her grin turned decidedly devilish as she rolled him to his back and slid her body over his. “We’ve got several weeks to run a thorough check on just how cured I am.”
He gripped her hips, amazed at how easily they moved with each other. In sync, as he’d always felt out here on the water. That was when he was most at peace. She made him feel much the same way. “I think I can safely say this will be the best Christmas I’ve ever had,” he told her, wanting to laugh at the sheer joy of it, the surprise of discovery, of her, wanting to shout to the world how great he felt at the moment.
She settled her body over his, just enough to stir him further, but also somehow settling him when she tucked her head beneath his chin, weaving her legs with his and draping her arms over his shoulders, plunging those long fingers of hers into his hair. He made a little moan of pleasure as she gently raked his scalp. “Do you always spend your holidays at sea?” she asked him, as the warm air brushed their skin, the sun keeping their bodies warm.
“Mostly.”
“No family calling you home?”
He shook his head. “I have three brothers. We’re close, but we’re scattered all over the globe. Home was something we pretty much avoided at all costs.” He sighed, not sure why he was telling her any of this. He didn’t normally talk about himself, his past. “I don’t know, that might change a little now. My father passed away around this time last year.”
Her fingers stilled and she lifted her head. “I’m so sorry.”
He covered her hand, brought it down to rest on his chest as he shifted his gaze to hers. “Don’t be. He was the reason we escaped.” He fiddled with her fingers, wove his through them. “Now that he’s gone, my youngest brother, Jace, has moved back home, taken over the family spread, as it were. He reunited with his high school sweetheart during a huge blizzard we had at home this time last year. They’re planning a wedding, rebuilding the homestead. Who knows, maybe a new generation can breathe life back into the place and cast out all the old ghosts along with it.” He glanced away. He didn’t spend much time thinking about Rogues Hollow, the Virginia land he’d been raised on, and had escaped at his earliest opportunity, as had all three of his brothers. But more and more now, when his thoughts turned to his brothers, they also turned to memories of home. And it wasn’t as repellant as it had once been.
“What about your other two brothers?” she asked, sliding down so she could prop her chin on his chest. Their fingers remained in a woven tangle over his heart.
“Tag, my oldest brother, is presently on a dig in Scotland. He’s an anthropologist who specialized in Mayan history, but recently shifted gears to do a little digging into our own heritage.” He smiled. “A Highland snowstorm and a certain Maura Sinclair had a little to do with that change of direction.”
“Ah, so two of the four Morgan men have lost their hearts recently.”
“Actually, three of the four. Austin, who is second oldest, is a fashion photographer. He’s presently somewhere in Europe with a woman he also met, oddly enough, last Christmas, on a snowed-in train.”
Kam smiled. “Well, if I had to get stranded with a Morgan brother, I’m glad I got the one that resides in the tropics.” She shivered. “I’m not much for snow.”
Burke laughed. “We agree on that, one hundred percent.”
“So, you’re from a whole family of vagabonds, then.”
“The ‘rogue’ part of Rogues Hollow came from an ancestor of mine. Maybe there’s a little of that still in all of us.”
“Maybe that’s why we connect so well.”
“Ah yes,” he said. “Dorsey alluded to your black sheep of the family status. Apparently I’m not the only one who ran away from home.”
She smiled. “Yes, but I didn’t manage that feat until I was in my twenties.” She sighed a little, but the smile remained. “I love them all dearly, but their ideas of how my life should be are dramatically different from my own.”
“I’ve heard a lot about Lana. She sounds like something of a dragon, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“I don’t mind at all. She is all dragon, though a beloved one.”
“And your parents? What do they have to say about your desires?”
“They are pretty much cut from the same Apolo mold as my grandmother. My mother married quite young and centered her life around taking care of her husband, house, and children.” Her smile turned dry. “Often in that order.” She lifted a shoulder. “And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’ve got dozens of aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, all blissfully happy with their lot in life, to prove that point. Only I wanted something different. Not that I’m averse to marrying, or raising my children. But that’s something that for me, you can’t plan for. It either happens, or it doesn’t. So I had other goals.”
“Why a catering business?” he asked. “Why not your own restaurant?”
“That was my first dream. I’m from a family of wonderful cooks who truly appreciate the art of a finely prepared meal. I caught the bug early, only I wanted to do more with it than make dinner on Sundays for the clan get-togethers. But after college, followed by some specialized training, then finally climbing the ranks to cook in one of the best places around L.A., I realized that if I ran the restaurant, I’d be management, not the chef. But at the same time, head chef in a successful restaurant was too intense and political for me.”
“So you decided to scale it down, cook for a smaller audience.”
“Exactly. I started doing some small functions on the side for friends, dinner parties and such, so I already have a burgeoning client list. But to go full-time I need dedicated space, more equipment, a promotion budget, and I’ll need to hire on a few people at least part-time. I’ve been saving for what seems like forever, and I’m close. Another eighteen months or so at my last job and I’d have probably made it.”
He tipped her chin. “But? Oh, right. Heavy-handed Steve.”
“Yes, the lovely Steve March, golden son of the very well known and wealthy March clan.”
“It was harassment. You should have nailed him, no matter how powerful he was.”
“I know. And trust me, I thought about it. It was a game to him, and all in all, relatively harmless. Annoying and tiresome, but I wasn’t in fear of attack or being fired for repeatedly rejecting him.”
He tipped her chin to him. “If you didn’t welcome the advances, it was harassment. Bastard should have his balls in a sling.”
She just smiled at that. “Well, I had an arsenal of sharp knives at my ready disposal, and I’m pretty sure he knew that push come to shove, I wasn’t afraid to use them. That kept him just on the other side of the line. Besides, I’d worked too hard to start over again, and if I’d gone the legal route, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying there, no matter the ruling. I knew it was only a matter of time before I could get out.”
“Then Dorsey called and made you an offer you couldn’t refuse.”
“My best Christmas present ever,” she agreed. “I leased out my place in L.A. to a friend, and without that overhead and no living expenses here, my cut from this will take care of my financing in six weeks instead of another year or so. Plus there was the bonus of getting out of going home for the holidays and suffering through God knows how many blind dates.”
She gave a little shudder, but Burke grinned. She might have been complaining, but it was clearly a sort of exasperated affection. It was obvious she loved her family very much.
“Enough about me,” she said, settling herself across his chest. “Do you get to see your brothers often?”
“We keep in touch, but no, we don’t see each other as often as we’d like to.”
“Now that you’re all settling down, maybe it will be easier for you.”
“Settling down?” Burke snorted. “Jace maybe, but the rest of us, not hardly.”
“I didn’t necessarily mean it like that. But, well, you said all three of your brothers are now involved in long-term relationships. That’s settling, to some degree. And you bought your boat.” She propped her chin on his chest again, smiled into his face. “So, in a way, over this past year you’ve all taken on a responsibility to something other than yourself.”
“I never thought about it like that, but I guess you have a point.”
“I’m probably way out of line here, but maybe losing your father was a more life altering thing than you’re making it out to be. All four of you have made a pretty major life change in the year since then.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, didn’t want to think about that time a year ago and all the memories it had dredged up—many of them bad, but some of them surprisingly good, most of those having to do with his brothers. He’d been glad to see them again, and he’d thought he’d come to terms with the guilt that came from being more relieved than grief-stricken over his sole remaining parent’s death. “Seeing them again has made me miss them more. And I am planning on taking a trip to Scotland this summer. We all are.” Now it was his turn to shrug. “So, who knows, maybe you’re right. Maybe we will make more of an effort now.” He pulled her up so their bodies were fully aligned, her face close to his. “Probably think you’re pretty smart, figuring me all out,” he murmured, brushing his lips across her chin.
“Smart, no. Intrigued by you? Definitely yes. A man who’s made his own way, on his own terms.” She smiled against his lips. “That’s a man after my own heart.”
It wasn’t until she spoke the words that he realized that maybe, just maybe, his heart might be in jeopardy here. Even more startling was the notion that he might be okay with that. Of course, she was heading back to L.A. at the end of the season. But that was a long way off. And a lot could happen between now and then.
He rolled her to her back, surprising a laugh out of her. “What if I was?” he asked, having no idea the words were going to pop out until they did.
“What if you were what?” she asked.
He leaned down, captured her bottom lip, then took her mouth completely. He pushed his hands into her hair, pulled her to him, and rolled them to their sides, as she was already wrapping herself around him. So easily. So naturally. So . . . rightly, was all he could think. It should have terrified him, the feelings and ideas that began forging a life inside him. And it did, but not in a bad way. He’d never understood how his brothers, dedicated bachelors all, could have fallen so swiftly, and so certainly, for the women in their lives.
Only now did he begin to think that maybe, just maybe, it was a genetic Morgan trait.
When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, he shifted just enough so he could look into her eyes. Dark eyes, already glassy with desire, with hunger. For him. He could get used to that, he decided, knowing she was likely seeing the same thing in his eyes. “What if it turns out, somewhere down the line, that I’m a man after your own heart?”
The idea obviously surprised her, but the smile that lit her face couldn’t be faked. “I don’t know,” she said, her eyes lighting in consideration. She toyed with his hair, then ran her fingertips over his mouth, then along the line of his jaw. “I suppose we’re going to have some time to figure that out.”
“Might complicate things,” he told her.
“Might,” she said, then surprised him by rolling him to his back. Grinning, she pinned his hands over his head, pushed his fingers into the mesh. “But that’s what makes life interesting.”
“You’re something else, Kamala Apolo.”
“Yes,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows, “yes, I am. I hope you know what you’re getting into.”
“I haven’t a clue. But, like you said, that’s half the fun.” He laughed with her, but it abruptly became a gasp, then a moan, when she began trailing wet kisses down along his chest, taking her sweet time as she moved lower. And lower still.
Fun, indeed. A lifetime of this could be downright intoxicating.
“You know,” she said conversationally, “I’ve never been someone’s Christmas present before, best or otherwise.”
He growled just a little when she ran her tongue below his navel. An instant later he was gripping her head, and it was his back arching now as she took him in her mouth. “Lucky me,” he ground out. “You’re the gift that keeps on giving.” But taking wasn’t enough. With Kam, he didn’t think it ever would be. So he nudged her with his legs, until she turned around. He slid her legs over his shoulders, bringing her right where he wanted her. As he slid his tongue deep inside her, her throaty groan vibrated along his cock.
Mutual satisfaction. Body . . . and, he somehow knew, heart and soul.
That, he hoped, would be their true gift to each other. And a lasting one, if he had anything to say about it.
“Merry Christmas, baby,” she breathed, her voice a soft sigh of wonder as he grew hard once again.
“Ho, ho, ho,” he murmured in response, deciding right then that having a few Christmas traditions wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Starting with this one.