CelebrationAfterDarkKobo by Marie Force Read Free Book Online Page B

okay with me? He wanted to laugh out loud at how okay that was with him.  
    “Before you let your mind wander, I’m not offering anything special.”
    He covered her hand with his, noting how his dwarfed hers. “Yes, you are. You’re offering to spend a whole night with me. If all we do is talk, that’s definitely something special.”
    “You’re such a charmer,” she said with a laugh. “I have to watch out for you.”
    “No, you don’t. Anything that happens between us will be on your schedule. I’d wait forever for you.”
    “I don’t know how you can say such things so soon.”
    “I was struck by lightning when I saw you with Joann yesterday. I’ve never felt anything like it, and I know, I absolutely know , that I belong with you and vice versa.”
    “Mac… You can’t say that kind of stuff to me the day after we met.”
    “I said it to you the day we met. Nothing changed overnight. At least, not for me.”
    “We’re far too young to be talking this way.”
    “My dad had my brother on the way when he was my age. Who says we’re too young?”
    “I do. I have to finish college and get a job and do things. And so do you. Look at what you’ve just taken on here with the marina. We’re too busy to be making life plans.”
    “If my life plan includes you, I’m not too busy. I’ll never be too busy.”
    “I have no idea what to say to you when you talk this way.”
    “You don’t have to say anything.”
    “You’re sure you’re never this forthright with women?”
    “I’m sure. You’re different.”
    “Why? Why am I so different?”
    “I don’t know. You just are. It’s a feeling that I had when I first saw you. It was like how I felt when I first saw the marina. Certainty.”
    Taking the last turn before they reached the marina, he glanced over at her. “Have you ever felt that way about anything?”
    “I’m trying not to feel that way about you.”
    “Why would you do something so foolish as try to deny the inevitable?”
    “Because! Stuff like this doesn’t happen to regular people. It’s preposterous .”
    “That’s a very fancy college word. Pre-pos- terous .” Pointing to another large, dilapidated building on the hill above the marina, he said, “Speaking of preposterous, see that place?”  
    “What about it?”
    “I want to buy it and turn it into a hotel. Not right away, but eventually.”
    She sighed deeply, making him wonder if he’d gone too far in sharing his hopes and dreams with her. But he’d never been one to hold back, and why would he start hedging now when the stakes were so high? “I can’t keep up with you.”
    “Sure you can. You’re more than equal to me. I bet between the two of us, we could turn this corner of the island into something quite spectacular.”
    “I’m an English major. What do I know about marinas and hotels?”
    “About as much as I do, which is nothing. But I’m going to figure it out.”
    “I have no doubt that you’ll make a spectacular success of anything you set your mind to.”
    He put the truck in park outside the main building at the marina and turned off the engine. “Anything?”
    A sweet blush crept up her cheeks when she realized he’d included her in his list of anything he set his mind to.
    Mac simply couldn’t resist touching that flush of rosy color. “You’re gorgeous, but of course you know that.”
    “No, I don’t.”
    “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that before?”
    “Well, my mom and dad did, but they kind of have to.”
    “What’s wrong with all the boys you’ve ever met?”
    “They were boys.”
    Her meaning wasn’t lost on him.  
    She leaned into the hand that he’d kept on her face. “They had nothing on you.”
    The compliment heated him from the inside, making him want her fiercely. Before he could do something stupid to mess things up, he said, “Let’s go in. I need to spray the back room for spiders before bedtime.”
    Her shudder was a reminder of the monster task he had