Free Love in Maine by Connie Falconeri Page B

auctioneer yelling sold.
    “What are you waiting for?” he prodded.
    She took a deep pull of air, relaxed her shoulders, and dove in. When she came up
     for air, she was beyond caring. “Oh my god! This is freezing!”
    Her lips were trembling, and she swam to him as hard and fast as she could to try
     to raise her body temperature. “How long before we die of hypothermia?” she asked
     through chattering teeth, when she reached him.
    “Come here.” He pulled her hard and fast against him. His body was so warm and strong
     compared to the arctic deep that touched her everywhere she wasn’t touching him. He
     held her firmly under her arms, his arms snaking around her back. He could almost
     cross his forearms behind her.
    “You feel good,” he whispered.
    She reached her hands up to circle his neck. “So do you.” For some reason, she didn’t
     want to initiate the next move. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but all that hooker
     and hussy talk had gotten under her skin. Maddie wrapped her legs around his hard
     middle, linking her ankles together at the base of his spine. He made treading water
     appear effortless.
    “Am I too much?” she asked. She hadn’t meant it as a double entendre, but of course
     it came out that way.
    “Probably,” he said over a groan, then took her mouth in a possessive, demanding kiss.
    The freezing water swirled around them, and the warmth of his mouth and his skin seemed
     so hot by comparison. Maddie felt everything in the extreme: the cold of the water,
     the warmth of his skin, the slick welcome of his mouth. His lips started roaming down
     her neck, and her head dipped back into the water. His hand was there to cradle the
     back of her skull. He pulled her tighter against him and began to breathe harder as
     he kissed her neck. Hank moved his lips back up to the lobe of her ear, his legs never
     stopping the continuous scissoring stroke that kept them both afloat.
    “Still cold?” he whispered with a near-painful tug on her ear.
    “Not on that part of my ear at least.”
    His laugh rumbled deep in his chest, and she felt it thrum through her. She pushed
     her breasts more firmly against him.
    “My front half is pretty warm too,” she added.
    He kissed her again, taking his time, feeling the bend and ease of her spine as he
     found the edges and dips of her desire. His tongue traced the line of her jaw. “Mine
     too,” Hank said.
    “Come on, you’re starting to get too cold. I’ll race you.” He pushed her away from
     him, catapulting her toward the shore. She kind of adored how he could toss her body
     around like that.
    She could feel his presence behind her and pulled harder to beat him to the shore.
     Maddie ran out of the freezing water and dove into her backpack to take out the small
     face towel she’d packed. It was enough to pat herself dry. She hunched over her bag
     and tried to casually take her freezing wet bikini off without making a big deal about
     it. She pulled on her sweatpants and then pulled the sweatshirt over her wet top,
     then reached under and removed the wet bathing suit, keeping herself covered with
     the loose hoodie.
    “All set?” Hank asked. She turned to face him and realized he was still standing there
     sopping wet and must have been staring at her the whole time.
    “Yeah. Did you enjoy the show?” She hoped he did.
    “One good strip deserves another, right?”
    Maddie caught her breath when she thought he was going to give her a full Monty right
     then and there. He must have followed her salacious train of thought. He shook his
     head right and left. “Not now, Post. I meant last night when you were watching me
     under cover of darkness.”
    She smiled and folded her arms across her chest. “You obviously wanted me to watch
     if you were going to stand there by the open window and pull off your underwear for
     the whole world to see.”
    He walked toward her, then bent down to pick up her damp face towel. “May