Seacrets by Adrianna Wingate

now serving me ." Maura gave another huge round of laughter.
    Daniel reached out and in one fell swoop picked Maura up out of her dining chair, into his arms, mid laughter and dropped her, clothes and all, into the tub of steaming water.
    Maura resurfaced, hair streaming down her face, gown soaking wet and completely awakened from her drunken state.  She was certainly not laughing now.
    "What did you do that for? Oh my brand new gown, it's soaking wet! Oh you!" she was furious.
    Now he was laughing so hard he needed to hold onto his stomach, for it was actually in pain from laughing. He too, had not had such a laugh in quite a while . “Oh thank you Maura for this well needed laughter.”
    The laughter came and went as quickly as it began and he was left looking into her eyes, of which he noticed were even more beautiful, when fiery.
    Her emerald green eyes glar ed at him through the wet strands of hair, covering her face.
    Her breasts heav ed, with each breath she took. The steam from the bath water rose off the swell of her breasts. Up over the bodice of her drenched gown, he could see a small hint of pink cresting above a tiny tuft of wet lace.
    Daniel, thoroughly overcome by her innocence and beauty, was unable to take his eyes from her. He imagined she was trying, in her very inexperienced way, to prepare herself for him. He surmised from her drunken state she must have become afraid and in an attempt to relax herself, she ingested too much brandy. He fought against the temptation to ravish her at this moment. He had never taken advantage of any female. All had been most willing participants, when he felt the urge to partake of the opposite sex. He felt certain she’d never been intimate with a man and he did not want to frighten her. He knew he would not be able to sail all the way to New England without tasting her. Of this he was certain. But it must be done delicately.
    Daniel moved closer and bent to one knee, beside the tub. He reached out to caress one side of her face and brush away the strands of wet hair from in front of her beautiful eyes.  He ran a thumb across one smoldering cheek and felt the soft velvet of her lashes brush against his thumb as she cast them toward the water. He moved his hand down, wiping away the droplets of water from her chin and neck, stopping at her décolletage area, above her breasts.
    Then He removed his hand, completely, from that part of her body, never taking his eyes from hers. He reached down below the water line, into the tub, in search of one, smooth, shapely calf. He ran his hand along the fine line of it and when he was sure he was being given silent approval, he proceeded to advance up, under her gown, toward her soft, shapely outer thigh.
    There was not a sound, between them, only the swirling, ripples of the warm water.
    Before advancing any further, he took careful notice of Maura's facial expression.
    When he began to advance toward her thigh area, he noted her eyes to resemble a frightened doe. There was a dreamy, yet somewhat, frightened look to them. This told him she trusted him, but he should go even slower. To ease her tension, a bit, he smiled into her eyes.
    This look wa s very different than any other Maura had seen upon his face.
    She continued to stare straight into Daniel's eyes as if she knew he were trying to comfort her for what would happen next. Maura's mouth suddenly went dry and she instinctively parted her lips and ran her tongue across them, in anticipation of his kiss.
    Daniel leaned in close , and with both hands, cupped her face pulling her to him.The kiss was soft at first and then became more desirous as he pressed closer to her.
    Maura knew this kiss was much different than the first kiss they had shared on the morning he discovered her true identity. This kiss had a definite purpose to it. It was a hungry, open mouthed kiss , animal-like, in nature. He was marking her as his and his alone… This was passion. She was thoroughly enjoying