sex could be.
The pleasure mounting in her body had a bittersweet edge. This could be the last time she ever felt this desired and adored. When the ferry arrived, she and Jack would leave the island and likely never see each other again. This experience would be a distant memory.
Jack’s mouth was at her breast now, his tongue flicking at her hard nipple. He sucked it, grazing it across the edge of his teeth. Her fists clenched the bedsheets, and her back arched against the mattress. Desperate for release, her skin practically radiated with desire.
“Raven, I want you so badly,” he growled.
She placed her hands on the sides of his face. “Then take me, please,” she begged.
He shifted the condom. Lying down between Raven’s legs, he grasped her hands, entwining their fingers. Looking into her eyes, he entered her.
“You are so beautiful,” he said as he slowly slid inside her. “So, so beautiful.”
Her breath shuddered. The intensity of his gaze was blinding and almost too much to bear, but she didn’t dare close her eyes.
“Jack, I . . . ” Words and emotions locked in her throat, and her voice caught.
If she could, she’d tell him how he made her feel, that she didn’t want this weekend to end, and her growing fear that her heart might break if she never saw him again. But those realizations were as frightening as they were foreign, and since she barely recognized them as her own, she could hardly voice them out loud.
“It’s okay, don’t say anything,” Jack said softly. “Just relax and enjoy it. I want you to feel how much I want you.” He kissed the spot on her neck that made her tingle, and Raven closed her eyes and sank into the sensation.
Moments later, hands clutched, legs entwined, they came apart in each other’s arms. For a long time afterward, they lay in silence, the only sound the beating of their hearts.
Finally, Jack broke the quiet. “We’re really good at this.” As she curled against his chest, his fingertips painted lazy circles along her bare back.
“And we’re really bad at staying separate-but-together,” she said.
He laughed. “We’re the worst.”
She reached to stroke his stubble. “This looks really good on you. Have you ever had a beard?”
“Not in ages.”
“I think you should keep it. It’s too bad I won’t get to see it grown in.”
He paused for a long moment like he’d been mulling something. “As much as I need to get back to work, I kind of hope it takes a while for that ferry to show up.” He rolled onto his side and faced her. “The longer it takes, the more of this we can do.” He cupped her jaw, then pressed a sweet kiss to her lips.
Funny. The same thought had been playing in her mind. She’d always known this weekend would have to end, but now that the time was drawing near, a part of her wished she could freeze the clock and hide out in this dreamland with Jack.
But that was a fantasy. Real life awaited and she had decisions to make. She kissed him back, savoring the sensation of his lips on hers. “But the ferry will come. And then we’ll leave Heron Harbor and go our separate ways.”
“We will.” The note of finality in his voice was somber. “Unless we decide not to.”
Raven’s heart tripped in her chest. The possibility of taking whatever this was between them beyond this weekend should have excited her, but instead, it sent a shock of terror up her spine. She’d never contemplated being in a relationship before, nor had any man ever said he’d wanted her to. The prospect of having both offered by someone as wonderful, charming, sexy, and handsome as Jack was paralyzing.
She shook her head. “We had an agreement.”
“Those are broken all the time. You said so yourself.”
She scoffed. “Yeah, by disreputable assholes. Never by me.”
He ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it back off her forehead. “Look, people change. Things evolve. We’re allowed to change our minds.”
A normal woman would be jumping for joy at this moment. Raven was acutely aware she wasn’t normal. Because while she was reasonably sure she didn’t want to be without Jack, she couldn’t bring herself to say she’d be with him either.
She sat up, mostly to avoid his hypnotic gaze. A sigh slipped through her lips. “It wouldn’t work.”
“How are you so sure?”
“For starters, we don’t live in the same place.”
He sat up, turning to face her. “We