TAKING HER HAND, Ford stood and led her toward the pilot-house. “I want to show you this.”
They walked along the edge of the boat and then climbed a metal ladder to the top.
“You can access the pilothouse from the back way up here, or the front below.” Ford opened a hatch and stepped down, turning to help Gina.
Two club chairs sat in front of the boat’s controls. “Directly behind us is an extra sleeping alcove.” The bed looked large enough, but the ceiling was only two feet above it. Not exactly the love nest she’d been hoping for.
“Watch.” Ford flipped a lever and the ceiling retracted, leaving a clear window above the alcove.
“That’s kind of cool.”
“Not done yet.” He pressed a control somewhere and the window slid open.
“It’s a moon roof!” Okay. She saw where he was going with this.
“Climb on up.”
Gina did so and stretched out on her back, looking up at the evening sky. How like him to want to be connected to nature while making love.
She heard Ford toe off his deck shoes and when he climbed up, he’d removed his shirt.
He sat with his head and shoulders through the open ceiling. “It’s a pretty view. Want to take a look?”
Gina smiled at his naked torso. “I think my line is ‘I’m already looking at a pretty view.’”
He grinned down at her, but stayed seated.
Gina got up on her knees and hugged his back. Looking over his shoulder, she saw the green shores of the narrow, twisted lake. She knew there were houses dotting the hills, but they were part of the landscape and not fighting with it.
Ford needed to live in an area like this. If he had to live in the center of a hip, urban area, he wouldn’t be Ford anymore.
He ran his hands along her arms. “I don’t want to rush you or pressure you into doing something you don’t really want to do.”
So sensitive and thoughtful.
But there was such a thing as overthinking.
“Ford?” Gina spoke into his ear. “Do you remember the way I kissed you?”
“Best kiss ever.”
“You think?” She let go of him and lay back on the bed. “Then you ought to try kissing me when you aren’t engaged to somebody else.”
In an instant, he was beside her, scooping her into his arms and kissing her cheek, her temple, her nose—her nose?—her chin, and finally, when she was about to go crazy, he kissed her mouth. Ah. She settled in, parted her lips and deepened the kiss. She touched her tongue to his. And… And…
She stopped. “Ford?” She traced his lower lip.
“Hmm?” He nuzzled her jaw.
Nuzzled. Nuzzling was nice but this wasn’t nuzzling time. This was long-suppressed-physical-desire time. This was an explosion-of-need time. This was Gina-getting-the-chance-she’d-never-thought-she’d-have time.
“Ford.”
He drew back.
“This is not the best kiss ever.”
Rolling to his back, he drew her to his side. “I don’t want to jump you like some sex-crazed maniac. I want you to know my emotions are involved.”
“You know, I’d really like to get your penis involved. Do you mind if I jump you like a sex-crazed maniac?”
He grinned. “A true sex-crazed maniac wouldn’t have asked.”
Straddling him, Gina unhooked her bikini top and shimmied out of it. She tossed her head so her hair fell behind her shoulders and let him look at her. For months, his eyes had been friendly, amused, tired, serious. Now, she wanted to see them darken with desire.
And they did.
“So beautiful.” His voice was rough.
When he reached to touch her, she intercepted his hand and brought it to her lips. Drawing his index finger into her mouth, she sucked on it, swirling her tongue around and around.
Ford’s chest rose and fell.
Gina squirmed against the hard length trapped in the shorts he wore.
“Gina!”
Slowly, she released his finger and used it to rub back and forth across her nipple until it peaked. “Mmm.” She squirmed some more.
Ford was breathing through his mouth now, his eyes nearly black. Holding his gaze, Gina drew his finger down her abdomen until it reached the edge of her bikini bottom.
He stopped breathing.
She smiled.
And then she pushed past the edge, through her curls until his finger was nestled against the very best spot. She rubbed her body against it, groaning softly and biting her lower lip. Her excitement built much faster than she’d expected and she had to back off. “Are you sure you don’t want to jump me like a sex-crazed maniac?” she asked in a breathy voice.
He twisted his hand from beneath hers and ripped off her bikini bottoms. “I might have been too quick to judge.” He flipped her over with gratifying efficiency.
So Mr. Sensitive didn’t mean Mr. Wuss. Gina ran her hands over his ribs and as far up his chest as she could reach.
Sitting up on his knees, Ford pulled a condom from a pocket, put it in the palm of one of her wandering hands and got out of his shorts while she opened it.
Moments later, he lay on top of her, kissing her as though he could draw her into him even as he slid into her.
Gina gasped, and then, startling them both, she burst into tears. “I’m n-n-not a crier! I’m a moaner and-d-d occasionally a screamer. I promise.”
Ford nuzzled her neck and this time it was the right thing to do. “It’s just your emotions. They must be really involved.”
“Of course they are! I love you and I had to hide it for so l-long!”
“Shh.” He kissed her cheek and licked at a tear.
“It was horrible. What if you’d never—”
“But I did.” Ford started thrusting in time with the rocking of the boat.
Gina stopped crying. Funny how that worked.
“Oh, Ford…”
“Nobody here but us sex-crazed maniacs.”
She giggled until he lifted her hips and moved faster and deeper.
“Ford!” It was as though they’d gone from the slow lane to the autobahn and were zooming toward the Magical City of O.
Gina clutched at his shoulders. In the background, she heard an outboard-motor boat roar past. Moments later, its wake reached the Sarah June and lapped at the hull.
The extra movement set off a throbbing pleasure that rolled through Gina. She still felt the ripples as Ford tensed and gasped her name.
As they lay, still breathing heavily, limbs entwined, Gina smiled. “That was a nice touch—saying my name like that.”
“Mmm?” He traced lazy circles on her shoulder.
“You said, ‘Gina.’”
“That’s your name.”
“I know, but…you could have forgotten and said ‘Monica.’”
“No.” He nudged her until she was looking at him. “I know exactly who I’m with and exactly who I want to be with. Fortunately, it’s the same person. You.”
“I don’t want to live in a cave.”
He blinked. “Sometime, you’ll have to tell me how you got from me calling your name in a moment of deepest passion to cave dwelling.”
“I want to be sure you know who I am.”
Cuddling her, he asked, “Will you look at the mock-up of the house before you call it a cave?”
“Of course.”
“Anything else?”
“I’m not a green activist.”
“I know. You don’t have to be.”
“But I will try to be more conscious of our effect on the environment.”
“Fair enough.”
Gina hesitated. “Is there something I need to know about you?”
“Yes.” Ford pulled her on top of him. “I’m really intrigued by the idea of you as a screamer.”
Gina laughed. “So give it your best shot, tree hugger.”
Later that night, in the middle of a hushed and placid Lake Travis, a woman screamed.
Twice.