He slipped his hands inside her robe, like he had under her dress, cupping her buttocks to lift her to him. She’d ached and trembled, and tears filled her eyes. Like now.

“Then I said I love you, Drew. I’ve always loved you. We’ll always be together. You’ll never be alone again,” she gasped, her mouth moving against his.

Now, like that night, Drew stopped, grew rigid, and stepped back from her.

“You were seventeen, the daughter of valued friends. A virgin. I wasn’t. Clayworths, contrary to popular belief, have a code of honor. Honesty in life and work, love of family and friends, and an effort to give something back to mankind. If we had made love that Christmas Eve, I would have betrayed that. You scared the hell out of me, because I didn’t know how I was going to take care of myself, let alone take care of you. We were too young, but I trusted you, told you what I planned to do.”

She closed her eyes, remembering, like she had countless times, his passionate declaration that he would win the Fastnet for his parents. Her frantic cries that his uncles would never allow him to do something so dangerous, and his cool words, “They’ll never know. Only you know, and you’ll never tell.” Her nod of agreement, even as she plotted how to stop him, how to save him.

She opened her eyes, brave enough, as she’d promised to face this.

He stepped closer. “I believe you told my uncles because you thought you were doing the right thing. You cared about me and wanted to keep me safe.”

His simple words, spoken with conviction, penetrated her battered heart. His face blurred behind her veil of tears.

I believe him.

“Give me your hand, Athena.”

Blood pounding in her head, she reached out and twined their fingers together, allowing him to lead her to a cushioned bench along the wall.

He flung himself down beside her, his face open to her instead of the charming mask he showed the rest of the world.

“Athena, this is our second chance. If you’re willing, let’s see where we go from here.” His eyes clouded to a slate blue. “No pressure, I promise.” Drew shifted closer, and his eyes softened to warm cornflower. “Will you give us another chance?”

She swallowed, trying to rid herself of the urge to break openly into sobs of joy. But if they had any future, there was one more hurdle to cross. She flung up her chin, needing to vanquish the last lie. They had come too far to shy away from the truth now.

“Dad won’t tell me what happened at Clayworth’s. Why he resigned. Why you let him. Will you tell me?”

He narrowed his eyes so she couldn’t read them. “We all agreed not to discuss it. Including your father. I have to honor that.”

Fear and doubt made her weak.

I won’t cry. I won’t cry.

But she failed. Large, hot tears totally blurred Drew’s face mere inches away.

“Christ, Athena, please don’t cry. Tell me what you want me to do. How I can help you understand.”

His raw voice touched a place deep inside her, vulnerable and waiting. It was enough for now. “Kiss me,” she ordered.

He crushed her to him, and she wrapped her arms around him. He kissed her cheeks, her eyelids. He opened her mouth for long, slow kisses and his hands were all over, feeling her through the terrycloth robe. Scorching current ran through her and into him. She pressed her breasts against him, wanting to be closer, to feel every part of him.

They went down together onto the soft bench. He pushed at the robe, freeing her. With her hands trembling, she hadn’t known how hard it would be to jerk off his shirt and push down his swimming trunks.

She hadn’t seen him naked since she was seventeen. He looked more gorgeous than she remembered, and she felt beautiful as his eyes roamed over her.

She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know the words. Something important, more intimate than mere sex was happening to her, and she didn’t know how to tell him.

He scooped her up and carried her toward the owner’s cabin. She laughed to hide her feelings and pressed a kiss on the nape of his neck where his hair grew in a vee.

He shuddered. “I loved when you did that.”

Naked, they fell onto the wall-to-wall bed, rolling over, kissing and rubbing against each other.

He held her down, and eyes wide, she stared at him, heat rising between them.

“I want to kiss every inch of you,” he whispered. He pressed one slow, gentle kiss on her bruised shoulder. Moved lower to rub his lips against the fading bruise on her wrist and place a long, lingering kiss on her thigh.

She tried to stay still, but she couldn’t stop shaking. With his lips brushing the inside of her thigh, she shifted under his mouth. “Drew, kiss me,” she breathed.

He took her head in both his hands and kissed her, open-mouth, slow kisses, and she pressed against him, wanting him on top of her, wanting him inside her.

All at once she heard bells ringing.

“Christ,” he groaned, burying his face in her neck. “It’s the damn alarms.”

“They’re five miles away. We have time.” She kissed his cheekbones, his hair, his eyes, not wanting to waste a precious moment of this feeling.

“Athena, I’m going to explode in a few more minutes,” he groaned. “I want to make this last longer for you.”

From the cockpit came a loud mechanical voice blaring out words she couldn’t quite make out.

“Perfect. It’s my NOAA. The marine weather station. I have it set to come on every hour.” He pressed one more kiss on her swollen wet lips. “I’ve got to find out what’s going on.”

Her entire body, from her tingling toes to her excited hair follicles, throbbed with sexual frustration. Staring at the cherrywood ceiling, she thought about the day in her office when she looked up at the molding and imagined she heard and saw the Fates laughing. This time they must be under the bed having hysterics.

She threw on her clothes and followed Drew into the cockpit.

Legs wide apart, he stood at the wheel.

The sun had set. There were no stars. The sky rolled dark gray, and off in the distance, lightning flashed through black, billowing cumulus clouds.

“This storm came up unexpectedly,” he called to her. “We’re going to motor in.”

The storm turned the surface of the lake silver. The boat quivered as it dove into trough after trough of turbulent lake and out again.

She wasn’t afraid. She saw the hard, almost detached look on Drew’s face. Like he welcomed the challenge of the wind and waves and rain and knew he could survive all of them.

Through the pouring rain, lightning, and booming thunder, he took her right up to the clubhouse. “I have to go back to my berth. It’s the last one. But I want you out of this storm.”

At the gangway, rain pelting them, he caught her in his arms for one last fast kiss. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“I know.” She ran down the gangway and into the shelter of the overhanging porch because she knew he wanted her safe. Fear for him, alone, kept her watching him maneuver away, back toward the entrance of the harbor where the bigger boats were berthed.

It felt too new, this sense of another beginning, of discovery, of realizing she’d been waiting for this since she was too young. A steady calm fell over her body and soul. At her core she felt certain she should be here with Drew and from this point on there would never be another mistake, another regret to haunt her. He understood she’d been trying to protect him all those years ago, and she knew in her heart that when her father returned, somehow, they’d work through what happened at Clayworth’s and fix it together. Nothing could separate them now. She wouldn’t let it. Nor would Drew. This was too right.

A clap of thunder made her jump, and she strained her eyes, trying to make sure Drew had safely reached his berth. She glanced at her watch.