Part 18 (1/2)

”Jesus, stop,” he muttered. ”This hard-on is getting impossible to hide.”

”Sorry.”

”Yeah,” he said on a suffocated breath. ”Me, too. Most l y that it's four o'clock instead of ten. Okay, babe, we've got company coming into range.”

She only had time for one last look as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Lordy, Lordy, those were buns of steel, his shoulders like a stevedore's, and she didn't even dare think of the front of him. That she knew was hard as steel.

”We have to behave now,” he murmured, standing on the sand waiting for her. He waved at Jordi and Marie who were swinging their arms like semaph.o.r.es from a distant man-made grotto midway up the rough escarpment bordering the private cove.

”I'll behave, if you will.”

”s.h.i.+t,” he said. ”I was counting on you to set an example for me.”

”I'm not sure I can promise that,” she breathed, her insubordinate gaze on the tantalizing bulge in his swim suit.

”Hey, eyes forward. Ve rn ie's watching us.”

Her gaze flashed up, Vernie's command and control an effective deterrent.

”Hey, Vernie!” Johnny shouted. ”We're going for a swim first!”

Vernie waved in acknowledgment from her seat inside a striped cabana that was fortunately a football field away.

”Race you to the water,” Johnny said, and driven by necessity, he sprinted for the safety of the sea. Finally stopping waist-deep, he turned to watch as Nicky removed her long s.h.i.+rt and walked toward the water.

He was reminded of that cla.s.sic scene from 10 with Bo Derek. Nicky even walked with the same fluid grace, her body supple and fit. As she smiled at him, he suddenly felt as though the subtlest s.h.i.+ft in his universe had occurred. Nothing big-more like he was experiencing a new appreciation for life. Or maybe just a specific appreciation for one particular woman with long, slender legs, trim hips, a narrow waist, and f.u.c.king great t.i.ts. The kind of appreciation any normal, h.o.r.n.y male would feel.

Not that he had to have more than the usual reason for liking her, but he also liked the fact that she'd chosen a functional suit. It set her apart from the women who were more interested in their decorative role around a pool. Not that the figure-hugging suit was purely functional. It was frigging turning him on, and first chance he had he was stripping it off.

Which, unfortunately, wouldn't be real soon. He groaned.

Maybe he should swim far enough out to take the edge off his l.u.s.t. Perhaps strenuous exercise would calm the savage beast in him.

Good idea, his voice of reason agreed. ”I'm going to swim out a ways. Be back in a while,” he called out to her.

”I'll come with,” she shouted. Already knee-deep, she dove in, and coming up a few seconds later, she moved into a smooth crawl.

He immediately kicked off, intent on putting distance between himself and temptation. It was a long, long time until ten o'clock.

But a half mile out, he slowed down to catch his breath and was surprised to find her only a few strokes behind. He was a strong swimmer. ”Apparently, you've done this before,” he said, treading water as she approached.

”Minnesota, Land of Ten Thousand Lakes,” she replied as she reached him. ”I've been swimming since I was four.”

He smiled. ”You're good at lots of things.”

”Back at you,” she replied, treading water effortlessly. ”And might I add,” she said with a grin, ”tonight I'm looking forward to one particular thing you do exceptionally well.”

”Speaking of which-have you ever been f.u.c.ked in the Mediterranea n?” His voice of reason apparentl y had drowned on the way out.

”No. Although, I expect it would be wise not to ask the same of you.”

”Ask. I haven't.” He'd never been that desperate before.

”You surprise me.”

”Come closer, and I'll surprise you with something else. No one can see us out here.”

”Except for that sailboat over there.”

”I doubt it's anyone we know.”

”For sure, it's no one I know.”

”So, whaddya think?”

”I'd love to.”

Christ, he loved her honesty. No games, no pretense. She said what she meant and meant what she said. An unprecedented phenomenon in his world where no one ever meant anything they said. ”Let's see what we can do then about giving you an o.r.g.a.s.m or two. Come here, I'll take your suit off.”

He pulled off her suit, then his, slipped them up one arm for safekeeping, and holding her under her ribs, said, ”Wrap your legs around my waist.”

For a man who'd supposedly never done this before, he'd figured out the procedure without missing a beat. But with the head of his erection nudging her Mediterranean-Sea-bathed p.u.b.es, she wasn't about to take issue. And as he slid his ever-ready hard-on into her, it felt so good, so right, and really-so enormously gratifying-that she lost any sense of even mild resentment.

It was amazing how well they fit together, as though after only one night, their bodies had dovetailed, synchronized, and now fit to a T. It was equally amazing how strong he was-able to keep them both above water with just a leisurely kick of his feet. That the slow rhythm of his kick somehow matched the flux and flow of his hips resulted in a highly effective and fiercely arousing hard, steady penetration and withdrawal.

”Is that far enough in?”

As punctuation to his query, he drove in deeper.

She gasped, her legs tightened around him, and a kind of pleasure she didn't know existed suffused her entire body.

”More?” he whispered, as if he didn't know, as if she wasn't melting around him like hot fusion. ”Answer me,” he growled, needing the words, needing to hear she was as bad off as he, as insatiable.

”Yes, yes, yes... give me more...”

It was barely audible, the light breeze picking up the words and carrying them away.

He shouldn't have been so gratified. It shouldn't have mattered-one woman or another. Then again, why dwell on philosophical considerations when they were both grooving in some prodigal s.e.xual wonderland.

He gave her more, and she greedily took it, rus.h.i.+ng toward the finish line that first time so precipitously, he barely kept up.

But he did.

After years of f.u.c.king, he'd acquired a certain skill level.

And flipping on his back afterward, he pulled her atop him and floated in the aftermath of o.r.g.a.s.m, the sun warming the sea and air, his body warmed by a heat of another kind.