Read Online Ex on the Beach by Kim Law - Free Book Online Page B

started.
    A small, regret-filled smile was all he had left. “It was exactly like that. You were more interested in a career and my name than in being my wife.”
    She was quiet for a long time, as they once again began moving down the beach. They passed behind Whitmore Inn, and he couldn’t help but take in the mansion with the triple layer decks running the length of the house. In the eighteen months that they’d dated, sixteen of them engaged and living together, she’d never told him that her aunt owned a place like this. He’d barely even known her aunt existed. It made him wonder what else about her he hadn’t been aware of. And why he hadn’t pushed for more.
    It wasn’t like he’d kept his life from her.
    He paused in his thoughts as he admitted that yes, actually, there had been one part he’d kept from her. But that part hadn’t mattered. It had been buried long ago.
    Finally she stopped walking and turned to him, and he wanted to wrap his arms around her and take them back to before she’d finished school, before she got her job. They’d been happy then.
    “I might have had my priorities screwed up, but you were more to me than a name,” she whispered. Lifting her hands, she stroked her fingers along his cheeks, as if seeing them through her touch. Her face was a study in thought. It caused him physical pain to stand there and let her touch him like that, but he was helpless to stop the movements. “Way more,” she said.
    She lifted to her tiptoes and put her lips to his, and he forced himself not to press for more than the good-bye that he could feel behind the gesture. He’d come here for this.
    He’d thought it had been good-bye four years ago, but this nearly destroyed him.
    When she pulled back, she swiped a thumb over his bottom lip, then lowered her hand. “I loved you, Mark. I swear I did. I just didn’t know how to do that and the job, too, I guess.”
    And he’d tossed it all aside without trying to make it work.
    Frustration had him clenching his jaw, but the soft look in her eyes made him think of another way to say good-bye. Maybe it was too late for them, but that didn’t mean they had to finish it her way.
    That light kiss had not been enough. They’d once been so much more to each other. And she was here now. Right in front of him. And he’d already figured out that she wasn’t immune to him as she’d claimed.
    Without giving it further thought, he scooped her up against him and settled his mouth to hers, giving her only the briefest chance to tell him to stop. But instead of calling a halt, she opened her lips and released the sweetest, softest sigh he hadn’t heard in four years. And he was a goner.

CHAPTER FIVE
    A ndie got lost in the feel of Mark’s mouth. It was a bad idea, a really bad one. But she didn’t care. She’d just found out that she’d lost him over a job she’d hated. A job she’d gotten fired from because she hadn’t been able to win the account he’d mentioned.
    Life sure had a way of laughing in your face sometimes.
    So right now she was laughing back. She and Mark may still be from different worlds, but he was there now, and his kiss made her think of roasted marshmallows. He was warm and tough on the outside, but inside he was gooey and delicious and she couldn’t get enough. She wanted to dip her tongue in and lap him up.
    A wave crashed against them, plastering her dress to her legs, and she had the momentary thought that they needed to stop. This wasn’t going anywhere — they weren’t going anywhere. And anyway, she was pretty sure she was still mad at him. At least a little.
    And she knew she’d just given him a good-bye kiss.
    They should not be doing this.
    Another wave slammed, and he grunted and slid his hands down to her butt, pulling her tighter against him. While trying to keep her eyes from rolling back in her head with the pure pleasure of his kiss, she sidled closer, gliding her arms up his chest to wrap tight around his