Love Everlasting

  “I don’t want this night to end, Shannon,” he whispered, lacing his fingers through hers with a smoky look that stole all moisture from her throat. She held her breath, expecting him to kiss her, but he only grazed his fingers down the curve of her cheek. “Take a walk with me?”

  A gust of relief rushed from her lungs as she nodded. He gave her hand a squeeze and got out to open her door. “I don’t know about you, Angel Eyes,” he said softly, securing her hand in his as they walked down Bluff Drive, “but this was one of the best nights I can remember.”

  “Me too,” she whispered, the heat of Sam’s hand against hers making her warm all over. She peeked up with a shy smile, hardly able to believe she and Sam Cunningham were dating.

  “You know what’s really freaky, Shan?” Pausing, he looped an arm around her waist to face her head-on. “One day we’re the best of friends, and then the next?” He feathered her hair away from her face while moonlight highlighted his handsome features. “I’m so head over heels, all I can think about is holding you …” His eyelids shuttered halfway as he traced her mouth with the pad of his thumb. “Kissing you …” Her stomach quivered when he bent in to gently skim his mouth against hers, the taste of him almost buckling her at the knees. As if sensing the effect he had, he groaned and clutched her closer, devouring her with a kiss so urgent, it completely consumed her, taking possession with a fierce urgency as if to stake his claim.

  He pulled away, and the separation was almost a physical ache, her lips following as if he were a magnet. Eyes closed, her body swayed forward in a dizzy lean, desperate to recapture the sensation of his mouth. His husky chuckle lured her eyes open as he cupped her face in his hands. “You know, Shan, I thought a walk might be nice and safe, but I’m not sure anyplace would be safe when I’m with you.”

  The heat pulsing through her converged in her cheeks as she nibbled on the edge of her lip. Her smile was shaky and shy, and she was quite sure the glow of love in her eyes was brighter than the harvest moon overhead. “I think I know now why they call you Dr. Love,” she said softly, the sigh that sifted through her lips as wobbly as her limbs. “That kiss was …” A warm shiver skittered across her bare shoulders, and she wasn’t sure whether it was the sea breeze or Sam. “Unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”

  “That’s because it’s not just a kiss,” he whispered, bowing his head to touch his forehead to hers, “it’s the gift of my heart, Shan, all wrapped up in the need to cherish both you and this fragile feeling inside that I never, ever expected.” His quiet sigh feathered her face. “After a lifetime adrift, you anchor me unlike anyone I’ve ever known, Shannon, and just being with you completely calms my soul.” He paused and she felt his smile rather than saw it. “Of course it would appear that you also stir my body with a passion that is anything but calm, Angel Eyes. Which,” he said, putting distance between them with a gentle brace of her arms, “is why I’m going to employ some of that famous will power I’ve fine-tuned over the last few months to avoid serious temptation.” He grazed her lips with a bare breeze of a kiss. “And Jack’s fist.”

  Grinning at the reference to the teasing threat Jack had made when he discovered she and Sam planned to date, she stood on tiptoe to return a tender kiss of her own. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that, Sam, because I’m not sure I could survive too many kisses from the notorious Dr. Love. At least, not unscathed.”

  He threaded his fingers into her hair to cradle her head with an intensity that stilled her, the unflinching sobriety in his eyes revealing the core of the man she’d come to love. “You have my word, Shannon, I will do everything in my power to try and never hurt you,” he whispered.

  Try. One word that reminded her there were no guarantees in love. But somehow she sensed Sam was different. He would never betray her like Eric, she just knew it. A shiver tiptoed down her spine.

  Would he?

  “You cold?” He took off his jacket before she could stop him and draped it over her shoulders, bundling her in a magical cocoon of his warmth and scent. “We should get you inside,” he said softly, “even though I really don’t want to go.”

  “Hey …” She glanced up, the dark stubble on his jaw making him look like a pirate in the moonlight. “Ever been in a dory?”

  One corner of his mouth jagged up. “I’ve never been in a boat, period.”

  She blinked, mouth hanging open at the notion that Sam Cunningham, all-around sportsman and man about town, was a complete landlubber. “Never?”

  His smile was sheepish. “Not even a canoe at Camp Hope,” he admitted, nudging her hair over her shoulder. “Still love me?”

  “Mmm, I don’t know …” She wiggled free from his hold, a mock serious look on her face as she perched hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know I’m Queen of the Dory, mister, a title hard-won against both my brother and sister in a race timed by my father.”

  A competitive spark lit in his eyes. “Ahhh … an overachiever. That’s my girl.” He trailed her lip with a glide of his thumb, his eyes following the motion before they connected with hers in a potent look that pooled heat in her belly. “Queen of the Dory, huh? So I’m in good hands if I ever go with you?”

  She swallowed hard. “You won’t be in any hands, Dr. Cunningham, I promise, because I’m as adamant as you about not rocking the boat. Besides,” she said with a wiggle of brows, feeling as impish as Cat, “each person has to sit on his or her own bench seat several feet apart, so we don’t upset the balance.”

  Stepping closer, he slid his hands into his coat and around her waist, a bob in his throat telling her he was feeling the intensity of attraction as much as she. “And we wouldn’t want to do that, would we?” he whispered, enfolding her in a hug before he deposited a kiss to her hair, finally resting his head on top of hers. She felt his chest expand and deflate. “This is going to be harder than I thought, Shan,” he said quietly, his shaky sigh feathering her hair.

  Tell me about it. Shannon slipped out of his jacket, handing it back before she took his hand. “Come on, Doc, your moonlight sail awaits.”

  “Whoa, wait a minute ...” She practically bounced off his chest when he jerked her back, his body rooted to the street more firmly than the lampposts lining Bluff Drive. His brows lifted high as he put on his jacket. “You don’t mean tonight? In my good clothes and shoes?”

  She giggled, his obvious reluctance making her grin. “Yes, tonight, mister, and I promise neither you nor your beloved wardrobe will get wet.”

  “B-But … can’t we just sit on the dock?” His voice hitched as she dragged him across the street.

  “Nope. The chairs are too close and the moonlight too tempting. It’s best in the dory, where we can enjoy the beauty of the night while we keep our distance.” She halted halfway down the ramp, brows in a scrunch. “You can swim, can’t you?”

  “Oh, now there’s a confidence builder!” He eyed the row of Adirondack chairs with a look of longing. “Yes, I can swim, Teach, but just barely.”

  “Don’t be such a baby, Sam.” She grinned while she retrieved two life jackets from the storage closet, kicking off her heels before leading him to the dory that was tied up to the side of the dock. “This will be an adventure you’ll never forget, I promise.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he muttered, peering over the side with a suspicious squint.

  She tossed the life jackets in the boat and hopped in, taking her position at the stern to lower the trolling motor into the water. “Come on, Sam, get in. We’ll just putt upstream a bit and float down. Trust me, you’ll love it.”

  “You, I trust,” he said with a wary look, “but this sad excuse for a boat?” His smile went flat as he carefully removed his shoes, placing them beneath an Adirondack chair prior to methodically draping his jacket over the back. “Neither I nor my J. Crew loafers and favorite ‘trappings’ are feeling too cozy about this.” With painstaking care, he slipped his “preowned” Rolex watch into his blazer poc
ket, then began unbuttoning his Armani slim-fit dress shirt, the one he’d told her he only wore for special occasions.

  “For goodness sake, Sam,” she said, watching as he took the shirt off, revealing a well-muscled T-shirt beneath. “We’re not going to get wet.”

  He cocked a brow as he meticulously laid the shirt over his blazer. “Well, my prized wardrobe won’t, that’s for sure,” he said with a ghost of a smile, shocking her when he began to unbuckle his belt.

  “Sam!” She jolted straight up in the dory, slapping a hand to her eyes while her stomach whirled like an eddy in the river. “What on earth are you doing?” she rasped, peeking through two fingers in case he planned to remove his trousers as well.

  He grinned as he whipped off his belt, neatly coiling it before placing it on the seat of the chair. “Versace alligator—stiff price, but worth every penny.”

  A knot ducked in her throat. “You do plan on leaving your trousers on, right?”

  Hands perched low on his hips, he glanced down at perfectly pressed gray trousers, his little-boy grin sputtering her pulse. “Well, I don’t want to, Teach, but it might look suspect if they fish me out in my boxer briefs after I drown, you know?”

  “You are not going to drown, Sam Cunningham!” Smiling, she shook her head.

  “I already have,” he said with a weighty sigh, gingerly stepping into the bow of the boat. Easing down on the bench seat, he snatched one of the life jackets and put it on, his smile far drier than he obviously expected his clothes to be. “Into the sea of love, as evidenced by the fact that I’m willing to get into a boat not fit for a bathtub, on a body of water that’s churning my dinner.”

  Shannon’s gaze softened, suddenly remembering Jack mentioning something about Sam’s aversion to large bodies of water. “Look, Sam, if you really don’t want to go—”

  He gave her a shuttered look that wobbled her tummy more than the rolling dory, making her grateful he was at the other end of the boat. “Too late. I’ve already stripped down to near humiliation, Miss O’Bryen, so let’s get this moonlight sail underway. Besides,” he said, looking downright adorable with his life jacket tightly tied at his neck and palms knuckle-white on the bench, “your virtue has never been safer. Because as much as I want to kiss you right now?” His smile tipped starboard. “You have my word—it sure won’t be me rocking this boat.”

  Chapter Forty

  “By the power vested in me by the state of Georgia …”

  Tess blinked hard to battle her tears, the sound of Pastor Chase Griffin’s voice flooding her heart—and her eyes—with so much happiness, she felt ready to bust right out of her snug floor-length sheath gown. Who would have guessed she’d one day marry the crotchety neighbor next door in an intimate ceremony beneath a twinkle-light tent in Dr. Doom’s own backyard? She breathed in the heady scent of her small gardenia bouquet while the pink shadows of dusk cast its ethereal glow, her pulse thrumming along with the music of tree frogs and crickets.

  Dr. and Mrs. Ben and Tess Doom. Her lips quivered into a wobbly smile as she stared at Ben Carmichael in his crisp, classic tux, so utterly handsome and soon—so utterly hers!

  “… I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

  The tiny gathering of family and friends erupted into applause at a smattering of candle-lit tables, spoons clinking against glass complemented by whoops from her daughters and whistles from Jack.

  “You may now kiss the bride.”

  And, oh—Lord have mercy—did he! Tugging her flush, he dipped her back for a kiss straight out of the movies, the taste of Ben and monster cookies sweet in her mouth. “You’ve been into the cookies already,” she whispered, and his lips curved against her smile.

  “Couldn’t wait,” he said softly, pulling her back up to caress her with his eyes, the promise of untold joys warm in his gaze. “Still can’t.”

  “I now present to you Dr. and Mrs. Ben and Tess Carmichael.”

  The guests lunged to their feet, clapping and cheering while Chase shook Ben’s hand and their children doled out misty hugs and tears to both Ben and her.

  “Oh, Mom—you two are going to be so happy, I just know it!” Shannon whispered. She hugged Tess tightly while Cat flirted with Chase. “And nobody deserves it more.”

  “Oh, I don’t know …” Tess cradled Shannon’s face in her hands, a secret smile tipping her mouth. She glanced at Sam while he laughed with Ben and Jack a few feet away. “I know somebody who does if my prayers have any say. And from that look I’ve seen in Sam’s eyes lately whenever you’re around, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it happens pretty fast.” She tucked a wisp of hair behind Shannon’s ear. “Jack says he’s head over heels.”

  A pretty blush stole into Shannon’s cheeks, her lovesick smile in Sam’s direction confirming that her daughter felt the very same way. “Mom, it’s only been two weeks.”

  “But you’ve been close friends for almost five months now, sweetheart, in an extremely honest friendship where you’ve shared and prayed about everything, yes?”

  Shannon hesitated, her good mood dimming enough for Tess to notice. “Most things, yes ...” Her chin suddenly lifted with a bright smile, as if she were anxious to change the subject. “But now that we’re dating, definitely all things.” Her gaze flicked to Sam and back with a telltale shift of her throat. “And soon.”

  “Good girl.” Tess gave her a hug.

  Shannon kissed Tess’s cheek just as the musicians struck up the dinner music. “Now, go,” she said with a renewed twinkle in her eyes. “Ben’s headed this way, and he looks pretttttty hungry.”

  Tess turned, and her stomach did a dizzy whirl, but not from hunger. She pressed a shaky hand to her abdomen, hardly able to believe she was actually Ben’s wife—poised on the threshold of sharing a future and a life with the man she adored.

  Not to mention a bed … Battling a gulp, she gave him a shy smile as he approached, food suddenly the last thing on her mind.

  “It’s time to eat, Mrs. Carmichael.” He took her in his arms, punctuating his statement with a slow and luxurious kiss. “Because I guarantee you, we’re going to need our strength,” he whispered, his husky tease fluttering her stomach when he ushered her to their table.

  The evening was a beautiful blur—a hazy kaleidoscope of faces and memories in the making and some from the past. Tess released a wispy sigh against Ben’s shoulders as he held her close in one of the last dances of the night. A hint of melancholy stole in when she glanced at his slate patio with its stone fire pit, where Adam and she and Ben and Karen spent many a summer night. Now Chase and Cat sat there in the same British green Adirondack chairs along with Lacey and Jack and Sam and Shannon, the latter two couples sharing two of the four chairs.

  A bit of moisture sparked in Tess’s eyes when Jack nuzzled Lacey’s neck while the couples talked, so grown up and ready to start a family of their own. And, oh, how she prayed for a bounty of children to fill their house with the same love and joy that they’d given her.

  She watched as Sam pressed a kiss to Shannon’s cheek, bundling her close, and Tess smiled, hoping he was the answer to a mother’s prayer. Getting to know him better over the last so many months had deepened her affection for the man Shannon loved, even if Shannon’s trust level still suffered the effects of a painful past.

  Her gaze trailed to Cat, who was laughing at something Chase said, and Tess’s heart cramped in her chest. If only her daughter’s flirty smile meant that they were a couple too. But, unfortunately, Cat harbored other ideas about what she wanted in a man. Ideas that caused Tess no little worry over her daughter’s future, which appeared as tenuous as her faith. Expelling a heavy sigh, never was Tess more grateful she could turn her children over to a God Who loved them far more than she.

  “That was an awfully big sigh, Mrs. Carmichael,” Ben whispered against her hair, the vibration of his husky tease skimming her skin with a delicious heat. “Either one of supreme contentment or wedding remorse.”


  She smiled up at him, falling in love all over again at the look of tenderness in his eyes. “Definitely the first, Dr. Carmichael, although there may be the tiniest tinge of the second.” She stood on tiptoe to slowly fondle his lips with her own. “But only that we didn’t do this sooner.”

  His groan melted into her mouth when he wrenched her close to finish the job with a kiss that weakened her at the back of her knees. Her body was limp when he finally pulled away to touch his forehead to hers. “We need to go,” he rasped, his breathing as ragged as the air pumping in her own chest.

  Tess blinked, realizing the evening had come to an end, but her life with Ben Carmichael was about to begin. And it would start at The Bohemian Hotel on Savannah’s Riverfront.

  In a corner riverview suite.

  Tess gulped, suddenly shyer than she ever expected to be.

  Followed by a week in Hawaii in a house on a very lonely beach.

  She peeked up with a nervous chew of her lip. “Now? Before the reception is done?”

  “Now,” he repeated, emphasizing his intent with a heated gaze before he playfully tugged on her ear with his teeth. “Before my will power is done.” As if he could sense her jitters, he gently tunneled his hands through her hair, bracing the back of her head with a quiet intensity she’d come to know and love. “I’ve waited all of my life for you, Teresa Carmichael. You’re the woman God created for me—to love, honor, and protect—and I’m ready to start right now.” He leaned in to nuzzle her mouth with an almost reverent kiss that totally disarmed her before his mouth curved into a slow smile against hers. “Preferably in that order.” Cupping her face with gentle hands, he caressed her jaw with the pads of his thumbs, those hazel eyes potent with love. “You are the perfect woman for me, Tess, and far more than I ever dreamed I could have.” His Adam’s apple ducked several times as his gaze flitted to her mouth and back. “And God help me, woman—I want to be alone with my wife.”