“If we smell smoke, we’ll go outside. I’ll go outside.”
He gave a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, right.”
She reached out and touched his robe-covered thigh, wanting to recapture a softer mood. “We can’t let anyone see you here, Seth.”
“So you admit somebody’s out there.”
“I admit nothing.” She stroked her hand along the terry cloth, coming to the edge of the robe and encountering bare skin. “You should come back to bed.”
He went still.
“I’m completely sober now,” she whispered into the dark.
There was another clattering sound on the deck and his muscles stiffened.
“Beach chair,” she whispered reassuringly, listening closely to the array of sounds. “Flag. Waves. Hot tub cover. And a tree branch.”
She feathered her fingertips along his skin.
“You are ridiculously distracting.” His voice was tight.
“Come back to bed and fraternize.” She parted his robe and kissed his bare thigh.
He dropped to the bed. His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her rear out from under her, pressing her back into the soft mattress. “If the place burns down, it’s all your fault.”
“The only thing on fire here is me.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
It felt so good to have him in her bed. It felt right, easy, as easy as drawing her next breath.
“And me,” he rasped, capturing her mouth in a deep kiss.
She pushed his bathrobe off his shoulders. “Good to hear.”
He reached between them, tugged at her sash and splayed her robe open, too. “You are exquisitely beautiful.”
She swirled her fingertips along his bare chest, down his hard abs, farther, until she wrapped her hand around his heat.
A growl rumbled through his chest, and he instantly came down on top of her. His mouth opened, fusing with hers in the heated kiss, his tongue calling to hers, his hands gripping her hips.
Her back arched, her legs separating, while his hand slipped between. She was slick, and he was obviously hungry.
“You are so hot,” he rasped. “So unbelievably sweet.”
Her mind blanked out everything but Seth. She hugged him tight, kissed him frantically, guided him mindlessly toward her. There was no time to waste, no time for anything but completion.
“Condom,” he whispered, holding back.
“It’s fine. I use birth control.” The hormone shots were a convenience thing in the military, but right now it meant nothing but Seth.
“You’re amazing.” His mouth captured hers. His hips flexed forward, and he buried himself deep.
“That’s good,” she moaned. “Good, good, good.”
She wrapped her arms around him, while his moved beneath her, holding her tight.
He turned onto his back. She straddled him, pressed tight, shocks of sensation exploding through her body. He moved, and she answered. His hands went to her breasts, strumming over her nipples, adding to the cacophony of sensations bombarding her brain.
She leaned over him, bracing herself, kissing his chest, his neck, his hot, moist mouth. Their bodies slammed together, harder and faster, lights swirling behind her eyes. Time sped up, then stopped, as she hovered on the precipice of ecstasy.
Then Seth shouted her name, and the world roared down around her. Her muscles contracted, and she collapsed onto his chest. His arms went immediately around her, and he groaned her name over and over in her ear.
Darby wanted to make a joke, or a flip comment—something to keep her intense emotions at bay. But she couldn’t find any words. She couldn’t form a single thought except that she’d never felt like this before. She wanted to hang on tight to Seth and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.
So she did.
Just for a few moments.
She squeezed her eyes shut, reveled in his warm, slick skin next to hers, inhaled his spicy scent and let her breathing and heart rate sync up with his.
He stroked his palm along the back of her head, smoothing her riotous hair. He wordlessly gathered her close, his forearm across the small of her back, keeping their bodies fused.
His breathing gradually slowed down. His heart steadied in his chest. And he pulled her quilt over both of them, enveloping them together in a warm cocoon.
Warm against him, she felt consciousness slip away. She was weightless, riding waves of smooth, random thoughts that took her from her bed to a warm pool, to a sunny beach.
“Sometimes you frighten me.” He broke huskily into her meandering brain waves. “If this is a secret plot to control me, I think you just succeeded.”
“It’s not a secret,” she managed to echo back on an exhale. “I told you that’s been my mission all along.”
“You are a dangerous woman, Darby Carroll.”
“Give up, Seth Jacobs. Give in, and do things my way.”
“This is a bad time for me to make that decision.”
She found herself smiling. “It’s the perfect time for you to make that decision.”
Instead of answering, he gathered her more closely in his arms, kissing her softly and cradling her against the warmth and strength of his body.
* * *
In the morning, Seth expected to find Darby in the kitchen, but he was shocked to find Lisa there, as well.
“Morning?” he ventured, wondering what Lisa could possibly be doing at Sierra Hotel.
“Mayor,” said Lisa, her tone crisp as she stood up from the breakfast bar where she’d been drinking coffee. “We need you back at City Hall.”
Darby handed Seth a stoneware mug of hot coffee.
“You couldn’t have called my cell?” Seth took a reflexive sip of the beverage, appreciating the hit of caffeine. Maybe if his brain was functioning, this would start to make sense.
“I’ve been trying since six a.m. You turn it off?”
“No.” Seth extracted the phone from his inner-suit-jacket pocket. “Battery’s dead.”
“Rather than have people mount a full-blown search party, I thought I better track you down. It was Abigail who guessed where to look.”
“I’d have come in on time.” Seth wasn’t sure whether to thank her for being discreet or to strongly suggest she and his sisters mind their own damn business.
“We need you right away. I’ll explain in the car.”
Darby had parked herself against a counter, her expression neutral. He hoped she hadn’t confessed anything to Lisa.
“I drank too much wine last night,” Seth told Lisa easily. “Stayed over. It’s a hotel.”
Lisa’s lifted eyebrow suggested that she challenged the story, and she glanced at Darby. But Darby didn’t flinch.
“I’ll meet you in the car,” Seth told Lisa.
“We need to go now,” she reiterated, but she moved toward the great room.
Seth crossed to Darby. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“She doesn’t know anything.”
“She knows everything.”
Seth paused, working up an argument. But there was really no point. Darby was right and they both knew it.
He sighed in resignation. “She’s discreet.”
“It’s was a mistake for you to stay.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s a mistake for me to go.”
“Seth, it’s time for you to go.”
Her calm conviction gave him pause. Most women would be upset by such an abrupt departure. Things had changed for him last night. Had they not changed for her?
“I thought we could at least have breakfast together.”
“I understand you’re a very busy man.”
He searched for a trace of sarcasm, but couldn’t find any. “What do you mean by that?”
She cocked her head sideways. “Let me see. I mean you’re a busy man, and I’m aware of that fact.”
“Are you upset?” he couldn’t help but ask.
“Are you feeling guilty?”
“About leaving, yes. But not about anything else.” He didn’t regret a single moment they’d spent together. His sisters could speculate, and Lisa would have to be discreet. He’d date Darby openly if he could. He’d love nothing better than to date her.
“Good. Then go with Lisa. Get back to your regularly scheduled life, and don’t worry about me.”
“We gotta go,” Lisa called from the front door.
“Be right there,” Seth called over his shoulder. “You sure you’re okay?” he repeated to Darby.
“Perfect,” said Darby.
Unsatisfied, but unable to think of anything else to do, he turned for the door.
“Let’s take your car,” said Lisa. “I can come back later for mine.”
“What’s going on?” Seth asked as he fished his car keys from the pocket of his slacks.
It was nearly 8:00 a.m. The sun was up, temperature rising as they headed into another clear, fall day.
“Clive Loring called this morning,” Lisa began. “He’s in town and wants to meet with you.”