Sandcastle Kisses (The Kisses 5)

“That's because she wasn't invited.” The note of disdain in his voice made it evident he didn't think too highly of the secretary. “The party was just for the boys.”

“Oh,” I said with a nod. Then I processed the first part of his statement. “Jack met a girl?”

“Inquisitive, aren't we?” he teased, nuzzling my hair. He laughed softly, anticipating my next questions. “She's a tourist. He wouldn't shut up about her. I saw him for all of five minutes before he dashed off to see her again.”

“Is that so?” I murmured. I loved the way his lips felt as he nibbled down my neck.

“Oh, Noah, Emma's so perfect! She's so pretty and smart and sexy and...” Noah said, raising his voice several octaves to sound like a girl. I giggled. “It was actually kind of cute, but in a sickeningly sweet kind of way.”

“What's the secretary think about that?” I tipped my head to give him better access to my neck. “I'm guessing she wasn't here to work.”

“She threw a vase at my head this morning when I went in the house,” he said. I pushed his shoulders back so I could look at him, feeling a worried expression shaping my face. He smiled at my concern. “She thought I was Jack.” He must have seen the concern in my face, so he followed up with, “Don't worry, she missed.”

I punched his shoulder lightly, glaring at him through my eyelashes. He chuckled again and kissed the tip of my nose. “Good. I'd have to go beat her up if she had hit you. Poor girl, getting dumped on vacation.”

He pulled back, a frown creasing his face. “Don't feel sorry for her. She brought her pick ax to dig for gold on this trip. She didn't actually care about Jack, and everybody but him knew it.” He shook his head as if to banish any further thoughts about her before he smiled at me. “At least this Emma chick seems to like him. He says she doesn't know who he is. That she thinks he’s just some guy visiting his wealthy friend on the island.”

“That sounds familiar...” I said, exaggerating a thoughtful twist in my mouth and tapping my chin with my index finger. “Handsome man meets girl and keeps his job a secret.”

“Ha ha,” he said, rolling his eyes at me good-naturedly before going back to kissing his way up and down the side of my neck, his hands pulling my hips into him.

“I'm happy for them,” I said softly, pressing myself against him. I could feel him harden at my movement. I really wanted Beth to finish up in there. “You still haven't told me what you want to do today.”

“There's a great little touristy area to buy stuff from local craftsmen over by the resort,” Beth said, coming out the door. Noah and I both turned to look at her, and she blushed a deep red when she saw the position we were in. “Oh, but you weren't actually asking the question...”

She hiked her very full messenger bag higher on her shoulder, and gave a nervous giggle. I glanced over at Noah to see his eyebrows raise at her. Her face somehow became an even darker shade of crimson.

“Pretend I said nothing. Bye!” And with that, she scurried away and back to the main house. Noah groaned, putting his head on my shoulder.

“Well, at least the house is ours again,” I said, arching my back to press my hips into him again. His hands tightened on my waist so I couldn't pull away. He lifted his head and looked into my eyes.

“Actually, before we get to that, I have something I want to give you.” His eyes searched mine, and his handsome mouth curled into a smile as if he liked what he saw.

“You don't have to do that,” I replied. An impish smirk crossed his features, making him devilishly good-looking.

“Do what?” he teased.

“Give me things. I mean, I know you can afford it, but you really don't have to.” I was having a hard time concentrating on our conversation. I wanted to be naked with him, not discussing gifts.

“I know I don't have to.” He moved one hand to cup my cheek. “I want to. I want to give you everything.”

Before I had time to say anything, he kissed me, his mouth sending me to heaven. I was giddy with happiness. It wasn't the gift that made my stomach do joyful flip-flops; it was that he wanted to give me everything.

He stepped back, releasing me from his grasp and the wall. He grinned, excited like a proud child, and grabbed my hand to pull me indoors. I giggled and followed him, floating on air.

The room was clean of all traces of work. The laptop on the desk had even been neatly stored in a bag off to the side of the room. Noah dropped my hand and held his up for me to stay while he ran into the bedroom. I heard a drawer open and close before he came out, grinning like crazy.

He held his hand out to me, a small silver box with a shiny silver bow resting on his palm. It looked fancy. I took it with trembling fingers. Please don't be expensive jewelry, I thought. Since I worked on boats and in the ocean, I could never wear anything nice. I wanted to be able to use this gift, not just leave it to collect dust on my nightstand.

I bit my lip and looked up at him. His eyes danced with excitement as I pulled the bow free and opened the lid. I pulled out the necklace inside slowly. It was a shark tooth hung on a strong, simple black, cotton cord.

He took it from my fingers and undid the clasp before wrapping his arms around me to put it on. The point of the tooth hung right at the dip of my collarbone. I played with the smooth tooth between my fingers. This was something I could wear even at work.

“The tooth is from a lemon shark,” he explained, watching my reaction. “The guy selling it to me told me to get the black cord instead of a chain so you could wear it in the water. Something about it not sparkling.”

I smiled up at him. “Barracudas and sharks are attracted to sparkly things,” I stated, my brain going into Science Mode without me realizing it. “The flashing looks like a distressed fish to them.”

“You are such a teacher,” he said with a chuckle. “Do you like it?”