Page 59 of The Other Plan

A tear slid down her face as she pressed her cheek into my hand. I slid my fingers beneath her jawline and lowered myself to her lips. A soft breeze blew between us as I hovered there, waiting for her to grant me permission to take what I wanted from her again.

“Okay,” she breathed. “Let’s try.”

I didn’t give her a second to change her mind, instead crushing her lips with the power of my kiss. I wanted to kiss away any remaining doubt that we were meant to be. Kiss away all the years we’d been apart. Kiss her so hard that she would never question my feelings for her again or that we belonged together. Always.

I pulled her against me, relishing the way she moaned into my mouth. The taste of her cherry-flavored Chapstick tickled my tongue as it swept through her mouth. Her arms encircled my neck as she pressed deeper into my kiss, and I bent her backward, suspending her in my arms while I let the emotions she inspired in me free from their cage.

As I softened my assault on her mouth, I pulled her back up to standing. Pressing my forehead to hers, I whispered, “See. We’re worth it. You can’t tell me you don’t feel the connection between us.”

“I’ll never argue it’s there. I’ve known it from the first time I saw you.”

“Me too.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead, then pulled her into my chest. As I stood holding her tight, I glanced up at the dark sky. Instead of just stars and blackness, I saw the most incredible colors swirling through the inky sky.

“No way,” I breathed.

“What?” she pulled back and looked up at me.

“Northern Lights.”

Her gaze drifted up to search where mine had landed, then she pressed her head into my chest. “Oh, I love those. We get them a lot in the summer.”

“Seriously?” I breathed, marveling at the way the greens and blues pulsed and fluttered.

“Yeah. I’ll never get sick of seeing them.”

“Way better than fireworks,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to see them but never have.”

“Yeah. Nature’s fireworks definitely outdo the manmade kind.”

As I stood beside her under the carousel of colors, the soft waves lapping on the shore captured my attention. With a smirk, I stepped out of her embrace.

“I have an idea.”

She furrowed her brow, tilting her head. “What kind of idea?”

I reached down and grabbed the bottom of my t-shirt and yanked it over my head.

“What are you doing?” She quickly looked around us, confirming there was no one nearby on this secluded stretch of beach.

I just grinned and reached for the buttons on my shorts, opening them up and dropping them to my knees along with my boxer briefs.

Her eyes went big as they swept up my naked body.

“We’re going skinny-dipping under the northern lights.”

“We are not,” she argued, looking around again. “Someone might see!”

“No one is anywhere near here. And we went skinny-dipping in Hawaii and didn’t get caught. So, come on. Take off your dress and let’s go.”

She chewed on her lip while she took one last look around, then I saw the mirth light up in her eyes. With one quick sweep, she pulled her blue dress over her head. She held my gaze while she reached behind her back and unclipped her bra. My mouth went dry when she dropped it to the ground, and I got to soak in the sight of her full breasts, her nipples hard in the cool breeze.

She hooked her thumbs in her underwear, a shy smile lifting her lips as she pushed them off. When they dropped to the sand at her feet, my cock twitched at the sight of her standing naked in the moonlight.

There she is.

That woman I’d spent a week with in Hawaii stood before me once again. Suddenly, I was twenty years old, and no time had passed since that night we’d met. The decade we’d spent apart disintegrated as I stared into those same eyes I’d never forgotten. Tonight, they revealed the same passion and desire I’d seen in them before. There was no fear or apprehension now in those chocolate irises as she stood naked before me, the moonlight licking her olive skin.

She looked like the woman I’d fallen head over heels for the moment I’d laid eyes on her.