“To the Hamptons,” I said, before tasting the wine.
“It’s always been our place, hasn’t it?” She grinned before she tipped some into her mouth.
“For better or for worse.”
“That sounds an awful lot like the wedding vows we never exchanged,” she said wryly.
“Ooh. Are we at the broken engagement level of joking now?” I snaked my arm around the dip of her waist, jerking her body closer until she was flush against me.
“I have to joke about it or else it’ll destroy me.”
I set my wine glass down so I could cup her face in my hands. “Destruction is not an option. So joke away. You know my morbid ass likes it.”
She pushed onto her tiptoes, silencing me with a kiss. The faint whisper of wine on her breath mingled with the clementine scent of her perfume, which had my heart thumping. I wanted her—again and again. I’d never stop wanting her.
We kissed like adolescents for what felt like forever, until Renault cleared his throat loudly several times and broke us from our dreamy make-out session. He summoned us to the table, where our first course awaited: leek and potato soup. Renault had some particularly harrowing stories of other Hamptonite homes pretending the help didn’t exist, so I made a point to insist he join us for each course. For the main course, grilled yellowtail came accompanied with caper aioli and baby root vegetables. Renault had created a strawberry and peppercorn sorbet to transition to dessert, which was a chocolate torte with espresso foam.
Cora and I oohed and aahed our way through dinner. If I could have orgasmed from food alone, Renault would be the man to push me over the edge. Hell, I liked to pretend that hehadgiven me the big O from his flavors alone. He was a wry guy, and I could tell he liked that I wasn’t as uptight as most of his Hamptons clients.
Once the last bit of espresso foam had been licked clean, I dragged Cora back onto the mahogany deck with a freshly uncorked bottle of red wine for us to share on the beach. This time, we both ran through the grass barefoot, laughing as we tripped our way toward the shoreline, wine sloshing out of the bottle. The sunset settled over the horizon in the most glittering way possible, golden hues draped over us like shawls.
Our laughter was overshadowed only by the rush of the ocean waves. We paused at the gazebo by the shoreline, setting down the bottle of wine. Cora stripped out of her dress while I grabbed beach towels from a small cabinet I kept stocked for just such occasions. Once her long, creamy legs were on full display, my cock was already half-mast. I shucked my button-up, my eyes fastened to her svelte form as she turned to me in her bra and panties.
“You planned on going for a dip, right?”
“I planned on whatever you were planning on.” I wet my bottom lips, pushing my pants down over my hips. My boxer briefs were tented, which only became more obvious as her gaze dropped between my legs.
Cora reached behind her back. A moment later, her silky bra loosened, and the straps fell down her shoulders. She tossed it aside, her breasts heavy and on display, nipples hardening to dusty-rose points.
“Oh, sothat’swhat you’re planning.”
“Mm-hmm.” She stepped out of her panties next, never breaking my gaze. “Planning onyou.”
Her words might as well have been a gunshot to start the race. I tore my boxer briefs off and crossed the space between us in two powerful steps. I gathered her warm body against mine, our skin gliding like silk. I hooked my hands behind her thighs, and a moment later she was hoisted against me, the sweet heat between her legs throbbing against the tip of my cock.
“That was fast,” she purred.
“You make it hard to go slow.”
“Can we go on the beach and make love in the sunset?” Her innocent question cracked my heart open further. How many moments like this had Allan stolen from us? How many thousands of conversations and kisses and sweet embraces would never be ours because of what that man had forced her to choose? I’d always hated her father, but now my hatred had fermented into something new altogether. I’d started acquiring shares and planning a hostile takeover as a way to prove to him I could do what he never believed I could.
But now? I wanted to take from him what he’d taken from me.
“Do you ever think about how many times we would have been able to do that by now?” I swallowed hard. “If it weren’t for Allan.”
“Every day,” she whispered.
“We would have been married by now.” I dragged my lips over her cheek. “We’d have two kids.”
She shook her head, looking up at me with unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. “Axel, I’ve tortured myself with these thoughts since the day we broke up.”
“I have too.”
“I can’t think about it anymore. Can’t we just pause this right now? So we can stay here forever?” A sad smile lifted her lips. “When everything feels right for once.”
I squeezed her ass cheeks, the heat of her against me bringing me back to earth. “Truth. And this is about to feelextraright.”
She giggled, tightening her arms around my neck as I stepped out of the gazebo and headed for the sandy shore. The sun hung low and bloated in the sky, partially obscured by the treeline, almost touching the horizon. Sailboats dotted the water, but none were close enough for us to care about. Warm sand squished beneath my toes. Once my feet found the ocean foam, I let her slide to standing. I gripped her chin between thumb and forefinger, snagging a deep kiss.