The Reef

her hand again and pulled her on deck. Before she had a clue what he was planning, he’d scooped her into his arms and was lowering her over the rail into the tender.
    “Have you lost your mind?”
    “I should have lost it weeks ago. I’m taking her to Nevis,” he shouted to the Mermaid. “We’ll be back in the morning.”
    “In the morning.” Shading her eyes, Marla stared at her daughter. “Tate?”
    “He’s lost his mind,” Tate called out, but was forced to sit when Matthew leapt nimbly down. “I’m not going with you,” she began, but was drowned out by the tender’s engine. “Stop the boat right now, or I’ll just go overboard.”
    “I’ll pull you back,” he said grimly. “You’ll just get wet.”
    “If you think I’m going to spend the night with you on Nevis—” She broke off when he whipped his head around. He looked too dangerous for arguments. “Matthew,” she said more calmly. “Get ahold of yourself. We had a disagreement, this is no way to settle it.” Her breath hitched when he cut the engine back. For one humming moment, she wondered if he would simply pitch her over the side.
    “It’s long past time we finish what we started eight years ago. I want you, and you’ve just said you want me right back. You’ve had plenty of time to think about it. Until we settle this, it’s going to keep getting in the way.” His hand ached from his rough grip on the tiller. “You look at me, Tate, and you tell me you didn’t mean what you said, that it doesn’t affect you, and everything we’re doing here, and I’ll turn around and go back. That’ll be the end of it.”
    Shaken, she dragged a hand through her tousled bangs. He’d shanghaied her, tossed her into a boat, and now he was putting the choice back in her hands. “You expect me to sit here like this and discuss the effects of sexual attraction.”
    “No, I expect you to say yes or no.”
    She looked back toward the Mermaid, where her mother still stood at the rail. Then toward the smoky peak of Nevis. Oh, hell.
    “Matthew, we don’t have any clothes, luggage, we don’t have a room.”
    “Is that a yes?”
    She opened her mouth, heard herself babble. “This is crazy.”
    “That’s a yes,” he decided, and gunned the engine. He didn’t speak to her again. They reached the pier, docked. As they crossed the beach at arm’s length, he pointed to an empty lounge chair. “Sit,” he told her. “I’ll be back.”
    Too bemused to argue, she sat, staring at her bare feet, offering the wandering waitress who stopped by with a tray a vague shake of her head and a baffled smile at the offer of a drink.
    Tate looked out to sea, but the Mermaid and the New Adventure were beyond sight. It seemed she’d cut her line.
    If this was an answer, she could no longer think of the question. But when Matthew came back, held out his hand, she took it. They walked in silence through the gardens, across the slope of green lawn.
    He unlocked a sliding glass door, pulled it closed behind them and flipped the latch.
    The room was bright, airy, dreamy in pastels. The bed was neatly made, plumped with generous pillows. She stared at it, jerking only once when he pulled the blinds and tossed the room into shadows.
    “Matthew—”
    “We’ll talk later.” He reached behind her to undo her braid. He wanted her hair loose, flowing through his fingers.
    She closed her eyes and would have sworn the floor tilted beneath her feet. “And if this is a mistake.”
    “Haven’t you ever made one?”
    His grin flashed, and she found herself smiling in response. “One or two. But—”
    “Later.” He lowered his head and found her lips.
    He’d been sure he needed to dive into her, the way he sometimes needed to dive into the sea, as if to save, or at least to find, his sanity. His hands had itched to tug at her clothes, to touch the skin beneath and possess what he’d once given up.
    But the hot-edged hunger that had driven him to bring her here mellowed as her taste flowed through him. As sweet as yesterday, as fresh as the instant. Love, never quite conquered, swarmed through him in triumph.
    “Let me see you,” he murmured. “I’ve waited so long to see you.”
    Lightly, gently, mindful of her trembling, he loosened her blouse, slipped it aside. She was pale ivory and soft satin beneath, a delicate feast for hands and eyes.
    “All of you.” As his mouth skimmed over her bare shoulder, he tugged at her shorts, at the practical