Of course neither of them had thought of their parents that night. They’d been in bed together, their love on the brink of consummation.
Marc shoved aside the emotion-packed memory with effort.
“Deidre holds my mother responsible for a lot of what happened with the crash. She thinks my mother was in denial about my father’s drinking problem. That’s why she doesn’t return to Harbor Town in the summer like the rest of us. Actually, Deidre refuses to come to Harbor Town, period.”
Marc sighed when he saw Mari’s horrified expression. He’d brought her here for a casual outing, a chance for them to reconnect over something besides their volatile past.
“Let’s not worry about it, okay? Not now,” he murmured.
He gave in to his need and placed his hands on her damp shoulders. She went still beneath his touch. He slipped a finger beneath the cloth of the swimsuit where it tied around her neck.
“I just thought the color would look good on you, that’s all.” He noticed her confused expression. “That was the reason I picked this suit. The main reason, anyway,” he said as he watched himself idly stroke her. He met her stare. “Gold—like your eyes and your skin.”
“Marc.”
Her breath fell across his lowering mouth. He kissed her softly, and she responded to his coaxing caresses, feeding his desire with a distilled sweetness he associated exclusively with Mari. His muscles tensed when he felt her fingertips touch his chest, her movements striking him as curious but uncertain, featherlight and quick, like ten drops of water scurrying over his skin. It hurt a little to feel his body respond so wholeheartedly to her taste and feel and to have to restrain himself, holding back what seemed so natural and right. When they’d been young, it’d been a serious trial.
As an adult man, it was nothing less than torture.
Her eyes seemed to smolder beneath her heavy eyelids when he finally lifted his head to study her. The need to press her soft, lithe body against his length in the calm water nearly choked him, it felt so powerful. He placed his thumb, a placeholder for his mouth, on her lower lip and rubbed, a reminder to Mari that while he’d do his best, there was only so much a man could do to control human nature.
“I’ll race you to the mouth of the lagoon.”
“What?” she asked, looking dazed and beautiful.
“I’m trying to control myself, Mari, but it’s hard.”
Her eyes widened at his abrupt, gruff statement. She blinked, as though coming out of a trance.
“All right, let’s swim then,” she said breathlessly.
Thankful for the rush of coolness across his over-heated body, he submerged himself in the water.
Chapter Five
They swam, and they ate the sandwiches Marc had brought and they swam again. They talked almost nonstop, as though they were trying to make up for fifteen years of separation in one afternoon. Mari hesitantly asked him about his divorce, but she soon discovered there was no reason for discomfort on that front. Marc spoke without rancor about his ex-wife. He explained how they’d grown apart and how they’d wanted different things.
“I suppose that can happen to any couple,” Mari murmured, thinking of herself and James as she idly dried herself with a towel. “People grow. They change. There’s no guarantee they’ll change in the same way.”
“Maybe,” Marc replied levelly. “But if you care enough about the person to begin with, there’s more of a cushion to weather the changes.”
He sprawled on the blanket to soak up the sun’s rays. He went on to tell Mari that Sandra had disapproved wholeheartedly of him running for Cook County State’s Attorney, and how his choice had been the nail in the coffin of their marriage.
“She insisted I only wanted experience at the State’s Attorney’s Office as a springboard for a cushy job at a law firm. When I said I planned to run for the job, she couldn’t believe it.”
Mari didn’t reply for several seconds as she studied his strong profile. “I’ve heard that you head up the second largest criminal justice system in the entire country. It’s an extraordinary feat, Marc. I…I was really proud of you when I heard you’d won the election.”
He lifted his head off the blanket. “You were?”
She rolled her eyes, both flattered and discombobulated by the fact that he seemed genuinely pleased by her compliment. “Of course. Do you—” she glanced away from his piercing eyes “—regret it?”
“Becoming a state’s attorney?”
“No. You and Sandra splitting.”
He exhaled and lay back, staring up at the blue sky and fluffy clouds. “No. It was the right thing to do. If anything, I regret entering into the marriage so impulsively. I was too young. Maybe I was grasping for something to hold on to.”
He glanced over and noticed her small smile.