HIGH TIDE (29 page)

Confidence and love
deepened her voice as she murmured, “I have to show you something in the model.”

A knowing quirk of his lip made her chuckle.

“What are you looking so smug for, McCord?”

“I’m going to make love to you in your beautiful model, Holt.”

With forced affront she put her hands on her hips. “You most certainly are not. We’re just going to have a
talk
.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I mean it, Nick. I’ve got to get back out there and solicit some new projects—”

Nick cupped Briana’s arm
and guided her down the elbow-shaped sidewalk. “I’m afraid my stamina today isn’t up to par, I’ll only keep you for an hour.”

Conjuring an image of being in bed with Nick for an hour had Briana fanning her flushed face with a brochure. She ignored his goading grin and paused with her hand on the doorknob. The reason for his lack of stamina hit her as if one of the nearby concrete trucks had dumped its contents on her.

“What’s going to happen to them, Nick?”

***

Nick leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb and touched the spot on his abdomen where a piece of debris had pierced the skin. The corner of his mouth hefted as he recalled Briana arguing with the paramedics,
that they weren’t working on him fast enough.
All he could remember was her soft fingers replacing their clinical touch to sooth and heal better than any ointment.

“Most of them aren’t even citizens, they’ll be deported.”

“Chavez?”

“He will eventually be extradited, but not until he’s answered to several governments.” Nick met her eyes. “He murdered that boy in Acapulco—the relative of the
Francisco
crewmember.”

“Oh God,” Briana hugged her stomach and stumbled into the foyer.

When the door closed behind them, Briana keyed in the alarm and reached down to peel off her pumps.  With a sigh, she slouched back against the wall and stared down at her bare toes.

“Nick, I’ve been
going through the motions today—because if I stop, if I hesitate for even a second I’ll remember what happened last night.” She rubbed her forehead. “As long as I keep moving, I can dupe myself into thinking of it as a nightmare, and that it never really happened.”

Briana stepped forward and touched Nick’s shirt to inspect the wound. Tremulous fingers brushed the clean white fabric and felt the strength concealed behind it. Today the shirt was white, yesterday she saw
blood. She closed her eyes to the disturbing image and dropped her hand to her side.

“You’re safe, Briana. I’m safe. Our friends weren’t hurt.” Nick moved in close to grip her shoulders. “It was a terrible tragedy, but you have survived greater horrors than that.”

“But Joy—” she started bleakly.

“Joy was troubled. She shouldn’t have died. I tried, baby, I tried.”

“Nick, my God I’m not saying that you didn’t.”

“I know.” Nick reached and cradled her chin in his palm. “All that mattered to me—” his voice turned husky. “If I had lost you, Briana—”

She silenced his anguish with a light touch of her fingers and rendered a heartfelt smile.

***

Nick searched the soft curve of lips, the sweep of high cheekbones, and the almond-shaped eyes that shifted colors with the tide. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he commanded softly.

In an earnest whisper she responded, “I’m thinking how much I love you.”

Until this moment, he didn’t realize how badly he wanted to hear Briana say those words. It had been there, in her eyes and the tender way she looked at him, making him feel cherished. But this—
Briana
—was something missing from his life. And now he would hold fast to it.

“Say that again.”

“I love you.” Her smile was serene.

His
hands slid from her cheeks to immerse in her hair, as he tipped her head to kiss her. Tenderly, his lips grazed hers, an airy brush that made them both yearn for more.

“Again,” he uttered huskily.

“I love you, Nicolas McC—” Her declaration was severed when his mouth seared hers. He hauled her body up against him, nearly lifting her off the ground. Sleek and supple conformed to hard and determined. Briana’s lips parted wider to welcome him in.

In this fevered exchange, there were no boundaries
—no inhibitions.

Nick felt the brush of her fingers as they slipped into his collar, spreading it wide enough for the soft tip of her tongue to graze his skin. God, it was such blissful torture. In a battle of control that he was slowly losing, he reached to the back of her skirt and hauled the silky blouse from the waistba
nd. His palm rhythmically circling the base of her spine, goading her forward, closer into his body until she was arched in such a manner that clothes were no longer a barrier.

“You were going to give me a tour of your model,” he murmured against her
mouth. “How about showing me the bedroom.”

Briana had already released three buttons on his shirt and was feasting with her hands, caressing the muscles, flexing her fingers in the dusting of curls. “That’s so far away—I—I don’t think I can make it.”

“You’ll make it.”

With little effort, he dipped and hauled her up into his arms and smiled down at her. “You’re going to be late for your meeting, Ms. Holt.”

Clutching his neck, Briana managed a demure expression. “You mean you think you can last longer than an hour?”

“What do you think?”

She trembled in his grasp. “I think I’m going to be late for my meeting.”

They reached the top of the stairs, with Nick remarking about the décor in between kisses. “Lovely,”

“Hmmm,”

“The use of colors in here is lovely.”

Of course, with his face tucked into the warm nook of her shoulder and throat, he couldn’t give a damn about the colors or décor. And when her head tipped back to offer him better access, he had to stop on the landing and feast on that gift. With three abrupt strides he was in the bedroom. He didn’t notice the soft champagne carpet and white wicker furniture, or the sliding glass doors that offered a view of the ocean beyond feathered coconut palms.

Instead, he focused on Briana as he gently lowered her to the mattress and immediately reached for the silken blouse, drawing it over her head.
He sank to the edge of the bed, and for a moment just indulged in the view. With a catch in his breath, he met Briana’s gaze.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Hey, yourself.”

“What are we going to do about this?”

Did she feel the same? Did she feel that this was forever?

Cautiou
s, she replied, “I don’t know.”

Drawing in a deep breath, he took
the plunge.

“Would you consider marrying me some day?”

Briana’s heart thumped so erratically she
was certain that Nick could see it on her naked chest.

“I might
,” she whispered.

Each sat in a silent face-off, their eyes locked, their breathing suspended.
His were dark and solemn. In a hoarse voice, he declared, “I love you.”

Briana felt something break inside her. A tiny dam secreted away. Now breathing seemed to come
much easier. So did the tears. “Nick, yes.”

“Yes you love me—or yes you’ll marry me
?”

“Everything.” She drew him down, and
rode the wave that would carry them home.

EPILOGUE
 

“I’ve got a half hour right?”

“You know I hate it when you go down there, don’t you?”

“You could come join me.” Nick grinned, hanging off the stern of his 31’ Bertram. It was a sleek white craft, previously neglected, but now flourishing under their newfound hobby.

Tempted by his
smug expression, Briana deliberated. “I’m still testing the waters, so to speak. Besides, you need my guidance from above.”

She turned to confirm this by studying the
radar panel and caught a glint of sun flashing off the gold band on her left hand. She extended her fingers and smiled down at the ring, jolting when Nick goaded from behind.

“Stop daydreaming about our wedding and tell me if I should dive down here.”

“Well, it looks promising—more so than where we put in yesterday.”

“We?”

“You, okay,
you
. If you keep antagonizing me like that I’m just going to have to show you how it’s done myself.”

“Anytime, honey.”

A breeze caught her hair and lashed it across her face, concealing her grin. Nick’s teasing was just that.  She knew that he was proud of her, and that after everything she had been through, she trusted him enough to come out on the water.

Someday, under his protective eye he would entice her into the ocean, but only when she was ready. Until then, just the fact that they were together was all that mattered.

That they were together
and
working on a mutual project was all the more stimulating.

Briana tried to lure him back aboard with the promise of a kiss, but Nick fought the temptation
with conversation.

“What are your two lovebirds up to today?”
he asked, seemingly reluctant to dive and leave her just yet.

“We’re looking for treasure, remember?”

“Not us,” he snorted.

“I think Kathy dragged Naoki to the North Shore.
 She wants to teach him to surf.”

“Damn, he
must
be in love.”

“Must be.”

Briana studied Nick. The damp dark waves on his forehead. His tan chest and muscular stomach tucked into white trunks that had her tongue breezing across her upper lip.

“Change your mind,” he
must have read her thoughts. “Want to come in?”

“No.” There was that goading smile again. Briana had to look away before she
yielded to the bait and nothing was accomplished here today.

“Briana?”

“What?”

“Come here a sec.”

With an exaggerated sigh, she turned back and leaned against the balustrade. Nick used the strength in his arms to haul him up even with her, and then he gave her a kiss
.

Only when his shoulder muscles began to
quake did he draw back. After all this time, his kiss could still produce goosebumps on her arms. She didn’t think that would ever change.

“Okay,” Nick
let loose a husky chuckle. “Let me go find your galleon.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maureen's illustrious writing career began in the fourth grade with the blockbuster hit, Super Watermelon Man. Many years later, she evolved into a full-fledged Romantic Suspense author with her first novel, WIDOW'S TALE, which was nominated for a Golden Heart by the Romance Writers of America. A fan of the old Gothic romances, Maureen enjoys the formula of danger, romance, dark cliffs, and sinister houses. All these elements can be found in her romantic thriller, ENDLESS NIGHT. Maureen has now branched out into the Young Adult genre with her Science Fiction Romance, BEYOND.

You can find out more about Maureen at
www.MaureenAMiller.com