Gansett After Dark by Marie Force

“You wanna let me in on the joke?”  
    She fixated on his muscular chest, the intricate tattoo that encircled his bicep, and the mat of dark chest hair that had begun to go gray in places. He was a finely built man, and she suddenly wanted to touch him, to feel his soft skin under her hands, to examine every hill and valley of the muscles that had fascinated her for months. “I’m nervous,” she said, keeping her gaze fixed on his chest rather than looking at his face.
    “It’s just me, Sarah. Your friend Charlie.”
    “Who’s now in bed with me and at least half naked.”
    “Only half,” he said with a gruff chuckle.
    “Are you nervous, too?”
    “Hell yes, I’m nervous.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you’re here, finally, and I don’t want to do the wrong thing or scare you off.”
    “You could never do the wrong thing.”
    “Don’t be too sure. It’s been a long time since I was in bed with a woman. A long time.”
    “So you haven’t, with anyone… Since you got out of prison?”
    “Nope.”
    “Oh.”
    “Yeah, so I’ve got my own set of worries, especially knowing what that bastard you were married to put you through. I want to give you everything you deserve, everything you should’ve had all along, but I don’t want to rush you—”
    Sarah caressed the face that had become so dear to her. “Kiss me, Charlie.”
    He put his arm across her middle and tugged her closer. “Is this okay?”
    She nodded.
    Leaning over her, he studied her for a long, breathless instant before he lowered his face to hers, his lips soft but persuasive. “This is all we have to do. It would be more than enough to have you sleep in my arms.”
    “Why don’t we see what transpires and try not to worry too much about anything?”
    “That sounds like a good plan to me.” He kissed her again, more insistently this time, his tongue seeking hers in deep thrusts that made her want so much more of him.
    She took advantage of the opportunity to touch him, to learn the planes and textures of his muscular chest and arms.
    Her touch seemed to inflame him, and he ended up on top of her as one kiss became two and then three. She couldn’t get close enough to him, even with her arms and legs around him, her fingers pressing into the muscles of his back as his lips and tongue continued to devour her. His arousal pulsed against her, hard and insistent, a reminder of where their heated kisses could be leading if she wanted to go that far.
    It had been so long, so very, very long, since she’d wanted anything the way she wanted this man. With desire strumming through her entire body, setting her on fire with an almost painful need for more, she moaned against his lips.
    He gasped as he broke the kiss. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose control. It’s too much.”
    “It’s not enough.”
    Looking down at her, he appeared stunned by what she’d said. “Sarah…”
    “I need you. I need more.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, Charlie. Yes, I’m sure.”

Chapter 9
    After sneaking away from Carolina and Seamus’s wedding, Grant and Stephanie went home to their cozy cottage on Shore Point Road and talked for hours about all the things that had been on Stephanie’s mind for months now. With the floodgates open at last, the words poured out of her in a steady stream of worries and fears that she’d kept from him for so long that she was afraid he’d be hurt by her reluctance to share them with him.
    “I can’t tell you how badly I wish you’d let me go through this with you, rather than feeling like you had to keep it from me,” he said when she finally ran out of things to say. They were curled up together on the sofa with lit candles on the coffee table casting a warm glow over the small room.
    “You’ve had your own stuff to deal with, after the accident and everything. You were so undone by what happened that day, how you couldn’t save Dan and Steve, too, all while you were trying to finish the screenplay. I