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.Maggie, I’ve known you for two days and I’m sure of it.” He paused and swallowed thickly.“If your dad tried to take you with him, it was because he couldn’t stand the thought of going anywhere without you.”Tears squeezed from my eyes.“My grandmother always said the same thing.”“Because anyone who knows you for more than five minutes wants another five minutes,” he told me, his voice heavy with emotion.“And that next five minutes leads to wanting even more.”Teekay bent down to kiss me fiercely.And as he ran his hands down my face to my shoulders in a tender, caring gesture, I wanted to believe him.But as he pulled away, I met his perfect eyes, set in his perfect face, and I was reminded of all the other perfect people who made sure I knew the truth.“At school, they found out what happened.Even though I was a thousand miles away from it, they still heard about it.Someone knew someone who knew someone and…” I trailed off before forcing myself to go on.“They called me Ghost.Every day, they did it, until I believed it.And after a while, it became so true – I was so totally ethereal – that when they talked to me, when they saw me…it surprised me.It scared me.And it was never for something good.A ghost who doubled as a punching bag.”I waited for an angry outburst, for Teekay to demand why I hadn’t stood up for myself or done anything about it.Instead, he said, “I can’t change the past.I can’t go back and undo the things that were done to you, or unwind the hurt you’ve been through.But I’m going to make it up to you.I’m going to show you how valuable you are and how wrong those kids were to treat you like that.”I stared back at him helplessly.How could I explain to this man I barely knew that the damage was too far done to be repaired by his words? I could acknowledge what he did to me physically, I could accept it, even if it embarrassed me.But anything more, anything emotional…It would leave me vulnerable.“I want to build you up, Maggie,” he added softly.“Not tear you down.Will you let me do that?”I’d thought I was powerless against his commanding nature and bold looks.But they didn’t hold a candle to how weak I felt at his sweetness.I took a shaky breath.“Teekay, if you build me up…I’ll have that much farther down to fall.”His eyes filled with some unnameable emotion.“Goddamn.”And then his hands were on my shoulders and he was drawing me into a crushing embrace.He pulled me close and peppered my face with tiny, tender kisses.He ran his fingers over my hair, down my neck, and across my shoulders.His touch was light, but that didn’t stop it from making me burn.Gently, he kissed my lips, then my chin, then my collarbone.I arched into the warmth of his mouth, my chest rising and falling rapidly.Then he sat up and grabbed the neoprene bag, unzipped it and pulled out a thin, silver blanket, then wrapped it around my shoulders.And something inside me shifted.I could no longer pretend that whatever was happening between us was purely physical.He met my eyes once more.“I said I wouldn’t let you drown, Maggie, and I meant it.”I started to reply, but before I could speak, a half a dozen raindrops cascaded down on us, momentarily breaking the spell.14)Twenty minutes later, Teekay had converted the emergency blanket into a lopsided shelter attached to a few low tree branches just up from the shore.He had also managed to get a small fire going, and was cracking open a can of condensed soup.He handed me a spoon and smiled his crooked smile.“This isn’t how I pictured this,” he said.“How did you picture it?”He scooped out a cubed potato, popped it in his mouth and made a face.“Warmer.Not quite so salty.Less water-soaking and more sun-soaking.Plus, I was going to take you around to the other side of this island and show you the little dock there.Then I was going to sweet talk you into sitting on the edge of it and convince you to put your feet in.”“That wouldn’t have gone over very well,” I admitted.“Which is why I brought wine.Speaking of which…”Teekay reached for the emergency bag and pulled out a small bottle.He shot me a grin – half-cocky, half-sheepish.“In retrospect,” he said.“My cell phone might’ve been a better thing to grab at the last second.But I wasn’t exactly thinking straight when you crashed my boat.”“Hey!” I protested.“I didn’t crash it!”Teekay opened the wine, took a swig, and raised an eyebrow.“Was that some other perfectly hot, perfectly sexy girl on my favorite bed with her legs spread and her hand—”I cut him off by yanking the wine from his hands and taking a deep sip.Teekay chuckled.“I was also going to impress you with my ability to order pizza on the water.”“For real?”“Mm hmm.I know a guy who knows a guy.And I figured you might be forgiving of my gross display of wealth because I was being so damned romantic.”I gulped back a little more wine.“I might’ve forgiven you, but I guess you’ll never know.Since we’re shipwrecked.”He snagged the wine and took a long pull.“We’re not shipwrecked.We’re just temporarily waylaid.I bumped the hull on an outcrop of rock, but I don’t think there’s any damage.And as soon as the rain stops, I’ll swim out to the boat and rescue us.It’ll give you another excuse to jump into my arms.”“Do I need an excuse?”I inched closer to him, leaned in like I was going to kiss him, then grabbed the bottle and chugged some down.Teekay laughed and snaked out his arms so he could pull me into his lap.“I think I said it before, but I like drunk you.”“And I think I said before, I’m not drunk.”“Uh huh.”“I’ve had two sips of wine!”He repeated, more slowly and more disbelievingly, “Uh.Huh.”Exasperated, I took another deep, deliberately slow drink.“It is not the wine.It’s you.”“It’s me what?”I refused to acknowledge the blush creeping up my throat.“It’s you that makes me act this way.You make me say things I wouldn’t normally say.”Teekay touched my lips.“So I make you drunk?”“Drunk.Ish.”“Hmm.” His finger pushed my mouth open.“Maggie?”“Yes?”“Can I ask you something?”“I guess so [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]