“You okay?” he questioned, as he secured the belt that wrapped around my waist.
I nodded, and held on as the plane took off.
I glanced down once as we leveled out to what I could only assume was the dizzying height we were meant to jump from, and I turned my head away. “You should have kissed me way more passionately for a goodbye.”
He didn’t reply, but I could feel him laughing behind me.
“You guys ready?” the pilot in front of us asked.
“No.”
“Yes,” Declan said, and we moved closer to the door. “On the count of five.”
I closed my eyes and counted, “1…2…3…”
“Now!” He jumped forward, pushing me out of the plane and taking me with him.
“DECLAN!” I screamed as I felt the rush of wind all around us. But I wasn’t brave enough to open my eyes.
Oh my God. Oh my God.
“Open your eyes, Coraline!”
“No!”
“Coraline!”
I peeked out and as I saw the blue water, and the shoreline hundreds of feet below us, my eyes opened wider.
“Oh my God!” I screamed and then I laughed.
I wasn’t really sure how loud I was screaming or if it bothered him, but I couldn’t stop, not because I was scared, but because it felt exhilarating! I never wanted it to end and when we got closer to the ground and he pulled the chute, I was a little disappointed but that took nothing away from how I was feeling. Declan landed us perfectly. His feet touched the ground right before mine did.
The moment I could, I turned around and jumped into his arms, kissing his lips as hard as I could. He arms snaked around me as he lifted me off the ground. Opening my mouth for him, his tongue brushed against my own.
If it weren’t for our desperate need for air, I would’ve never let go.
“Thank you,” I said through deep breaths. How I had managed to not have a heart attack was beyond me.
“Are you living yet?” he whispered no more than an inch from my face.
“I can die happy.”
He frowned at that. “No, you can’t. I have too much to show you.”
In one day, Declan Callahan had expanded my world more than I had ever thought possible. I felt like I was alive, every one of my senses were now fully awakened. He’d made me brave enough to jump.
And now that I had, there was no going back.
DECLAN
I stood on the porch outside our two-bedroom villa overlooking the beach. I’d made sure to have not only clothes brought up for her, but also a personal maid just in case she needed anything while we were here. Glancing down at my hands, I smiled at the memory of her in my arms; how she’d kissed me, how I’d kissed her. She was the only woman I had dated since I was a teenager. I didn’t kiss women. Allowing them to kiss my body, fine. Fuck them, yes. But I never felt the need to make it any more personal than it had to be. Maybe it was because I had seen how my parents kissed each other as a child. It meant something and I didn’t want to waste it, I didn’t want it to be meaningless. Liam thought I was insane, but we all had our lines. He never said a woman’s name in bed. Neal, before Olivia, never took a woman to any place other than a restaurant on Fifty-Sixth Street. Not once had I ever been tempted to go over my line, and yet from the first moment I met her, I wondered how her lips would feel on mine. And now that I knew, I still wanted more.
You’re losing it, Declan.
“Declan?”
Turning around, I froze. She stood there dressed in plunge-neck white dress with a thigh-high slit. Which meant I could see her perfectly long legs and smooth thighs, along with the curve of her breasts. She was trying to kill me.
“Shoes or no shoes?” She lifted the heels beside her.
I shook my head. There was no way I was letting anyone else see her tonight.
“Dinner is waiting for us on the beach” I said softly, as I walked towards her. “You look…beyond words, Coraline.”
She smiled, crossing one foot over the other as she brushed her hair behind her ears. “Thank you. You don’t look half bad yourself.”
“Shall we?” I offered her my arm.
Linking arms, I led her towards the stairs, and out of the house. The beach would have been pitch-black, had it not been for the row of lanterns that lit the path and led right to the table in the center. A waiter stood waiting for us and as we approached, he pulled her chair out and seated her.
“Wow,” she whispered, glancing up at the stars above us.
“You like?”
“I’m a little past like by now.”
Good.
“You’re fine with seafood, right?”
“I love seafood.”
Our waiter motioned to the servers who brought out our dishes on silver trays.
“Grilled lobster tail with chive and ricotta gnocchi.” He presented the plate to her and she smiled so beautifully.
It was a smile I selfishly wanted to keep for myself, but instead, I thanked the man as he placed my food in front of me.
“What would you like to drink, sir?” he asked.
“Two pomegranate mojito cocktails,” I said, and he nodded, walking off. Finally I turned to her and asked, “Why don’t you drink?”
“It’s not that I don’t drink, it’s more of I don’t like the taste of alcohol.” She removed a chunk of the meat from her lobster tail.
“You don’t like any alcohol?”
“I know it’s weird. In school, there was a lottery going for who could make me a drink I could actually enjoy. But at least I can say I remembered everything that happened while in college.” She giggled to herself.
“You’re the eternal optimist, aren’t you?” I liked that about her.
She nodded. “I’m on the beach in Cancun, eating what I’m sure is the best lobster in the city, with a hot guy who has made it his personal mission to make me have fun. How could I not be optimistic about life?”
I leaned in. “You think I’m hot? I was trying to tone it down.”
“Well, you failed tragically,” she replied as she took a bite.
“At least I’m not the only one,” I said, as my eyes drifted down her neck. “I couldn’t think of a word before, but I think sinful works now.”
“That’s exactly what I was going for.”
Our eyes met again, and if it wasn’t for the waiter who brought over our drinks, I might have cut dinner short. I reached for my ice-cold glass of water and drank deeply in the hopes that it would cool me down enough to make it to the end of dinner.
When her foot brushed against my leg, I jumped slightly and I wanted to both smack and laugh at myself.
“Sorry, my legs are long,” she said.
I’d noticed. “It’s fine.”
It wasn’t. I was two seconds always from clearing the table and having her for dinner instead.
“You don’t seem fine,” she said, and once again her foot brushed my leg. This time I reached down and grabbed it.
“Are you tempting me, Coraline?” I asked as my gazed focused on the curve of her lip. She smiled at me under the candlelight.
“I have no idea. I’m following your lead now, remember? What happens next is up to you.” She took another small bite.