Clear as Day (2 page)

“So tell me, why are you back so early? Aren’t you supposed to be heading to New Guinea?”

He neatly turned the filets. “Plans changed fast, and I wanted to see you.”

Happiness rushed through her at his simple statement. She waited for the rest of the story, but Nate simply nipped at her earlobe and scattered butterfly kisses along her nape and shoulder between sips of champagne. He knew her every ticklish, arousing place, and the touch of his clever hands and lips on her bare skin made focusing on conversation difficult.

“Hey, babe, got a question for you. I always meant to ask. Why do you do that wet towel over the ice chest thing?”

What? A sour clench of her stomach kicked her out of her bemused daze. Why? “That’s how Dad said it had to be done.”

****

Damn. Nate sighed. He’d tripped over another of her mysterious buttons. Even simple stuff was complicated with Kay. “Ah, okay.”

Kay glanced over her tense shoulder with defensive shadows in her blue eyes and her brows drawn into a pensive wrinkle. “We’ve always done it this way.”

“No biggie. I just was curious.” He kept his arm around her, stroking her belly, sneaking caresses up to her breasts. He wanted to kiss away that worried line. He needed to fix whatever put it there.

“Damn, it’s great to be here with you, babe,” he murmured, nipping again at her ear and tasting kisses down the curve of her neck to her shoulder, pleased as she settled and softened under his touch.
That’s better. No problems here
. “You taste so good.”

Tasted good, felt better. Being with Kay knocked the exhaustion right out of him better than any pick-me-up of caffeine. This had been the longest damn year away from her.

Her relaxed sigh broke into a laugh, and she set aside her champagne. “Hey, one of us better keep an eye on the fish or we’ll end up with cinders.”

Chuckling, he stole one more kiss before he released her. “Right. Fish. I’m on it. Have a seat and enjoy the champagne and I’ll get this fish served up.”

As he plated the filets, he savored the simple, perfect pleasure of watching Kay. Sunshine lit the gold and red flyaway wisps escaping her neatly braided light brown hair. He loved that yellow polka-dot bikini on her. He’d nearly swallowed his tongue when she’d risen from the water topless, water dripping from her pale and lovely freckled skin, her breasts tight and tempting.

Kay’s blue eyes flicked up to him as she sipped her champagne. She licked a droplet from her lips with a quick pink touch of her tongue, followed by a thoughtful nibble at her lower lip.

Desire curled through his belly. Maybe he shouldn’t have let her pry loose to make lunch after that kiss.

Yeah, but his obnoxious grumbling stomach had kind of broken the moment, and Kay had needed to regroup after his unexpected arrival.

But was it his fault she camped in wilderness areas without cell service and hadn’t gotten the message from George?

“Here you go. One blue-plate bluegill special.” He set the blue-and-white Melamine plates on the table.

She’d likely be further upset with him for holding back the rest of his surprise—that the gang was over at Spider Camp—but yeah, he was being completely greedy and unwilling to share her attentions just yet.

Her smile reemerged. “Perfect.”

“Yeah, thanks to you. Caught them in time.” He took his seat and topped off her glass and his. The surprise of the champagne and the fancy crystal glasses had gone over well. Damn, but he loved making her smile.

“So, tell me everything.” She drizzled honey onto her biscuit. “Why’s the Whisper over at Spider Camp? Last I heard from you, you weren’t getting back to the States until October.”

“My less than shining effort at a surprise. It seemed brilliant at the time.” He winked. “Can I plead sleep deprivation as an excuse?”

Honestly? On mental autopilot, he’d anchored with the others, grabbed his picnic bag and backpack, and charged on over. Bringing the Whisper over to Kay’s camp would have been the sensible thing.

“Well…since you caught lunch.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Now tell me, what happened to the New Guinea trip? You were all excited about that project.”

“Schmidt cancelled at the last minute, but Cane still wanted Schmidt, so after much arguing, name-calling, snitting, and making up, they’re looking at next year now.”

Instead of frustration at the whole debacle between his two prima-donna friends, he’d simply felt relief. Then, while he’d been cooling his heels in Auckland waiting on Cane’s final word on the trip, idly browsing the Web, playing
what if
and kicking himself over the wasted time, realization had struck. He’d been wasting time in more ways than one. Time to go home.

“Are you going to join them?”

He’d wished Cane aloha and good luck and started the crazed flurry of phone calls, e-mails, negotiations, plane flights, and caffeine-fueled driving that brought him where he needed to be: with Kay.

He smiled. Damn, he was pretty secure about most decisions in his life, but this next step was the big one. “No, I’ve got new plans.”

Hoping he wasn’t sounding like a complete idiot, he rambled on about the shoots in Australia and everything and anything light and easy he could scramble up to spill out over the meal, avoiding—uh, make that saving—the explanation of why he was here and what he had in mind until the right moment.

He was done with the endless traveling. He was more than done with holding back his heart. Kay had always been more than a summer fling, and this year he’d come to finally claim her—and her wary heart.

As for exactly how, well, he hadn’t settled on the answer beyond following his heart. That all depended on Kay and trusting his gut. He smiled at the quick neon image of Las Vegas and its games of chance—an easy ninety-minute drive north from the marina.

He wasn’t a gambling man, but trusting his gut had never let him down before.

Whatever rubbish he’d been blurting out while they ate was working. She began sharing bits of her summer travels, sights she’d seen, and work she’d accomplished. Gradually, the sensual, happy warmth he longed to see edged the last anxious nerves from her blue eyes, and desire bloomed.

Everyone else might buy the artistic free-spirit act Kay carried off with aplomb, but at her core, his Kay was all plans, order, and routine. Heck, one glance at her tidy camp proved her organized mind in an instant.

His Kay. He took a long swallow of champagne. The clean, fresh taste of her fair, freckled skin, her generous mouth, her slim, strong body wet and cool against him flooded his mind.
Be patient
.

He watched her mouth close on a bite of fish, slide along the fork.

His hard-on ached and he shifted in the chair.

Kay blushed, but mirth gleamed in her eyes as she sipped from her glass.

Don’t push.
Or should he? Oh, hell. Patience was a lost cause. It had been a long, long year. He’d been half-hard since landing at LAX, and now with her here…

Be patient
. Every reunion was this way, both of them wanting, desperate for each other when they got within reach, but Kay needing to close the space between them first.

Yeah, Kay made him freaking nuts, but damn, she was worth the wait. When her reserve fell away, her blue eyes softened, and she made her move to him, she was every fantasy, every hope he’d ever had.

Kay set aside her knife and fork on her cleaned plate and stretched comfortably in her chair. “That was delicious. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” He leaned over, meaning to take a quick kiss, but slowed and strayed his lips over hers. “Want some dessert?”
Or we could just kiss
. Yeah, this was good.

“I have oatmeal raisin cookies. I could make coffee.”

“We’ve got something better. Hang on a moment.” He dug around in the picnic bag and retrieved the container buried in the ice. “For dessert…one well-traveled lemon meringue slice from Mira’s Diner.”

Kay’s delighted laugh was the best thanks. Oh, yeah, Kay with joy in her eyes was like sunrise, Easter, and Christmas all rolled together.

Scooping a forkful, he teased the serving a few inches from her mouth. “Indulge me and shut your eyes. This is an experience.”

Giggling softly, Kay obeyed.

“Open up.”

Her lips parted and he slipped the portion of flaky pastry, creamy lemon custard, and sweet meringue into her mouth. She closed her lips over the fork, slowly drawing off the bite.

His body tightened, and he had no choice but to kiss those soft, pursed lips.

“Mmm.” Her eyes flew wide. “Oh, wow, that’s amazing. Best ever. From a
diner
?”

Most diner lemon pies he’d encountered were a mountain of rubbery meringue over gluey canned filling and bland crust. Not this one. “Don’t tell anyone, but I swear it’s better than my mom’s.”

He stole more kisses between shared bites of the sweet-tart dessert.

Pie and champagne finished, washing the dishes progressed to leisurely swimming in the refreshing lake water. Swimming led to lighthearted play and promising touches, a sensual game of tag and kiss, teasing quick and slower, sweeter kisses, and slick, cool embraces, all laced through with laughter.

Nate caught her one more time, scooping her up in his arms. Her laughter pealed.

This was exactly where he wanted to be. Kay was his, and he wasn’t letting her go again.

Now, God help him, he just needed to convince her of the same.