by Vivian Wood
He presses his lips against mine, only to pull away again.
Making me hungry for him.
Making me ache deep down.
“Gabe,” I whisper, fluttering my eyes closed. “Please… just kiss me.”
He smirks for a second, then tilts my head just so. Reminding me that he is so much bigger than me, that he is the one with all the power here.
Then his firm lips find mine, slanting across them, so unbelievably warm and honeyed that I can only sigh against him. He deepens the kiss, only now letting his hunger show. He moves over me, his mouth traveling along my jaw, down the pale column of my neck, teasingly skimming my collarbone.
I can’t breathe. I can’t think.
All I know how to do is work one of my hands underneath his simple t-shirt, feeling the hot skin of his side, the very beginnings of the vee of muscle that makes up his Adonis belt.
He growls low in his chest. Then I can hear a faint clattering of feet coming down the stairs.
I freeze. Gabe pulls away, his eyes aflame with out-and-out lust. He looks at me for several seconds, his breathing ragged. For a moment, I’m not sure whether he plans to kiss me, kill me, or kick me out of his cramped little bedroom.
“Dr. Luna!” someone cries. “Has anyone seen her?”
I shoot straight up off the bed, my face going ten shades of red. “Shit,” I mutter, grabbing my medical case.
“Luna?” the voice calls again, further away this time.
Running my hand over my hair, I push on Gabe’s door. It lets me out into the main hall without any fuss; someone oiled that door so it wouldn’t squeak, I’m sure of it.
Without so much as a backward glance I call out. “I’m here!”
Gabe’s door slides closed behind me, obscuring where I came from.
“Luna?” Carlos calls. I see his face down the hallway. “Oh, there you are. Can you come to look at Emma? I think she ate something bad…”
I smile stiffly. “Of course.”
Rushing down the hallway, my heart still pounding, I force myself to think of the task at hand.
17
Gabe
I’m sailing our yacht through what I consider the most beautiful part of the whole journey. Remote narrow passages, deep fjords, and cascading waterfalls. Ancient pine trees, breathtaking gray sand beaches, random fields of little purple wildflowers.
And the sea itself… nowhere else that I’ve ever been is it just this shade cold, dark, pristine blue. White caps can be seen here and there. It seems endless, though I know logically that it isn’t.
Everything here is just saturated with color. The air smells different as we reach the upper point of British Columbia, as if it is purer somehow. My senses are just a fraction sharper.
And despite all of the beauty and majesty surrounding us, I can’t stop thinking about Luna.
I went temporarily insane two nights ago and kissed her. To be fair, she did give me that look. The one where she bites her lip, where her eyes shine with a promise that is unfulfilled… The one that tells me all the erotic things she has in mind…
The one I don’t know how to resist.
I swear, it was the same look that lured me in back in Vegas. And I couldn’t say no this time any more than the last. It was all animal instinct when I took her lips, all gut compulsion.
When the door behind me slides open, I actually start. The clients are just behind the pilothouse, chatting and laughing. The sudden increase of volume throws me for a loop.
“I’m here to relieve you,” Mal says, crunching a bite of a potato chip. She wags the bag at me. “Sorry, do you want some?”
I frown at my sister, then grab a handful of chip out of the bag. “I’m glad you are here. My brain needs a rest, I think.”
She shrugs and makes a motion with her free hand. “Go, then. Get out of my chair.”
I rise from my seat with a sigh. Mal takes over, putting the bag of chips on the floor. She starts double checking all the settings and bearings. I pop a chip in my mouth.
“See you later,” I say vaguely.
“I’ll be here until about midnight,” she affirms, not bothering to look up from the instrument panel.
Nodding, I slide the pilothouse door open and let myself out. After stopping to exchange pleasantries with the clients, I am ready to vanish from view.
After heading down to the main deck, I start toward the stairs. I see a flash of blonde hair disappearing around the side of the pilothouse.
I stop, sighing.
“Luna?” I call.
Above the hum of the motors and the constant rushing of water, I hear what I think is a distressed sound. Hesitating, I step around to the yacht’s side.
Next to a pile of ropes is Luna, sitting on the deck. She’s looking at me with reddened eyes, wiping at her tear stained face.
Fuck. I wandered into a private moment.
Squinting uncomfortably, I clear my throat. “Do you want to be alone?”
There’s a pause. Then she shakes her head, pushing herself to her feet. “No.”
I nod toward the stairwell. “Let’s go downstairs. There are people listening here.”
Luna looks down, her throat working. She nods. I head to the stairs, clattering down the steps. There is a moment when I have to decide between taking her to the presumably empty dining nook or taking her into my bedroom.
Opting for as much privacy as anyone gets on a yacht, I head down the hall and press on the panel to my room.
I step back and let Luna go in first, looking both ways down the hall as I enter after her. For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, I don’t want anybody to know that I let Luna into my private quarters.
When I step inside and close the door behind me, the room seems tinier than usual with her in it.
She sniffles, wiping at her eyes again. I take a few steps away and lean against the wall, crossing my arms.
“What’s going on?”
She sighs, looking up at me carefully. “Nothing.”
My brows furrow. “Really? I’m pretty sure that you’re not crying just because you feel like it, Luna.”
She looks away from me, exhaling a long breath. “It’s silly. I was helping Sofia with her sprained ankle. She asked when I plan to get married and have kids.” She ducks her head. “Like it’s just that easy for everyone. You just decide to settle down and have a bunch of babies…”
“Okay, okay,” I say, holding up a hand. “I get it. A client asked you a question that was vaguely out of line. Maybe.”
Luna looks at me sharply. “I didn’t ask you for your opinion about it, did I? You asked me to come down here.”
I sigh. “True enough.” My eyes wander over to the nightstand. “Do you want to have a glass of whiskey? That’s all I’ve got for you.”
Her lips turn up at the corners. “Sure.”
Pushing myself off the wall, I sit on the bed. I start to open the nightstand when the boat lurches oddly.
I brace myself, seeing as how the boat does that sometimes. But Luna isn’t prepared and so she comes spilling into my lap, making an upset noise.
“Whoa,” I say, steadying her.
She looks up, flipping her blonde hair out of her face. Her eyes are wide. “Is that supposed to happen?”
I slide my hands down her arms a couple of inches, clearing my throat. “It happens.”
Warmth flows between us. It’s only then that I realize that our thighs are touching; our faces are a few inches apart.
My gaze leaves her beautiful blue eyes and wanders down to her mouth. She wets her lips, enticing me with that quick dart of her tongue over her lips.
The energy between us swells. Before I know it, I’m lowering my head, zeroing in on her lips, giving in to my desire. Like a moth to a flame, I’m drawn in to her bright, hot little world.
From the second my lips touch hers, my body tenses and hardens. Her lips are soft and warm, her mouth opening, inviting me in. Clutching her by
the waist, I growl low in my chest. That same energy seems to reverberate in her as she cups my jaw and slides her hand around into my hair.
I groan and pull her body closer. Already my mind is racing, my pulse sky rocketing, thinking of what to do next.
I want more. I want to feel her soft skin against mine. I want her naked beneath me, now.
When she sighs and pulls back, looking me in the eye as she unzips her coat, I realize that she wants it too. I rip at her clothes, my mouth seeking hers.
Her fingers stumble as they try to remove my coat and pull my shirt up over my head. There is no time for worrying about the niceties just now. Soon we are shedding the last of our garments.
Luna isn’t shy about her body. She shares it with me eagerly, not seeming timid one bit when I drink in her breasts and her bare pussy with my eyes.
“Damn,” I curse, fisting my weighty cock in one hand.
She reaches for me and I’m only too willing to come.
Soon I am pushing myself on top of her, finding her collarbone with my mouth. She rakes her nails all the way up my back, drawing a ragged noise from me. I grind my cock into her belly and thighs, aching to feel her pussy.
When I kiss my way down to the pink tip of her breast, I push her thighs apart with my hand. Moaning, she shifts, forcing me to lay on my side.
When her clever fingers first find my cock, I exhale all the breath in my lungs. I close my eyes and move my touch down between her thighs. She spreads her legs wide for me and I find her wet for me at the merest brush of my fingers up and down her lower lips.
Kissing and nibbling my way over up to her neck, my hand finds her hot little clit. She encircles my cock with her hand and moans at my touch.
It’s been too long for me since I even jerked off. So I can’t even let Luna give me a hand job, not if I plan on finishing what I started.
Pulling her hands away from my cock, I force her onto her back again and spread her thighs wide. I place a kiss on her lips, exploring her pussy with a fevered touch. I circle her clit and seal my mouth over her earlobe.
She moans so loudly and so suddenly that I feel the need to hush her. “Shhh,” I whisper into her ear. “You have to be very, very quiet.”
Luna nods, pulling at my body. “Please, Gabe. I need you inside me.”
I pause. “Do you have protection?”
Her eyes open, pinning me in place. “No. Have you been tested?”
My lips quirk up. “There’s been no one since you.”
That apparently surprises her. “Oh. Well… I’ve been tested recently. I’m clean and on the pill.”
That’s all that I need to hear. I kiss her lips again, shifting my weight so that the heavy head of my fisted cock settles right against her hot center.
Her hands land on my shoulders; she bites her lip and urges me forward with a flick of her hips. Her legs encircle me as I sink into her pussy, inch by slow inch. I grit my teeth, willing myself to move slow.
“Oh god,” she whispers, spearing me with her aqua gaze. “Gabe, it feels so good. Don’t stop…”
I won’t. I can’t. Closing my eyes again, I have to be extremely deliberate with each and every movement. Because if I start thinking about how her tits bounce or how to make her scream my name, I will be done for a matter of a minute.
So I just try not to think about the slick push and pull of fucking her, or the soft slapping where our bodies meet.
I try to go as slow as possible, as deep as I can. All while being as quiet as I know how to be.
After a minute, I shift my pose to create so more room between my body and hers. I can feel her focus on me as I use two fingers to probe her clit.
She sucks in air, writhing against me. “Gabe, I… I’m close,” she whispers. “Go faster…”
I’m not sure whether she means that I should fuck her faster or move my hand faster, so I do both. Her pussy feels so good, hot and wet and tight. She immediately responds by bucking her hips against mine and hissing.
When she comes, she convulses against me, her pussy clenching around me tightly.
She closes her eyes and presses her knuckles against her mouth. I take that as my cue to focus putting her calves on my arms and fucking her until I am about to come, slamming into her again and again with shallow thrusts.
I look down at her as I come, hissing her name. “Luna! God damn it…”
I pump my seed into her, feeling myself empty with each thrust. At the end I have to close my eyes again for a moment.
I know that I waited too long to fuck someone, but for the life of me, I can’t be worried about it just now.
Instead I shift onto my side, pulling out. I grab Luna and bring her to rest comfortably by my side. Her eyes are closed, a faraway smile on her mouth.
I’m still struggling for breath, my skin still dampened with sweat. When she opens her eyes just a crack and presses close to me for kiss, I am more than happy to comply.
“That was…” she starts, then trails off, blushing. “My trigger was a little more sensitive than normal, I think.”
Grinning at her, I nod. “Same. Usually my control is a lot tighter. I guess we both need to fuck.”
She puts her hand on my back, her fingers caressing my bare skin in a rhythmic way that I find pleasing. “We both definitely needed something…”
“If you wait a few minutes, I’ll be good to go again,” I say. “I can last a lot longer than that, I swear.”
Luna bites her lip, her gaze sliding away. “Do you think we should? I mean, if anyone gets wind of this, it probably wouldn’t look good for either of us.”
I laugh, which startles her. “I think that the harm is done, whether we go another round now or not.”
When she looks back at me, her gaze seems to go right fucking through me. She arches a brow. “Are you saying that you are attracted to me, then?”
Shaking my head and rolling my eyes, I can’t help but chuckle. “Yes, I would say that’s a safe bet.”
Her lips tip upward. “You’re in a good mood.”
I kiss her again, slowly and with passion. When I pull away, I rest my forehead against hers. She is a little breathless from my kiss.
“So? What do you think? I promise to make you scream into a pillow this time…”
Before I resort to begging, she laughs and kisses me. “Just once more, then…”
Laughing lowly, I pull her on top of my body and take her mouth with my own.
18
Luna
At four am the next morning, I suddenly sit up, almost banging my head on the bunk bed above me. For a second I don’t recognize my surroundings. Looking left and right, I squint into the darkness.
That’s when I remember what exactly happened. Why I’m here and not curled up, warm and cozy on top of Gabriel.
Damn my big mouth. I casually, jokingly asked if he hooked up with his employees a lot…
And he got really, really upset. Angry enough to ask me to leave.
I was totally just kidding. I mean, if I do the math, I’m the only person he’s been with aside from his ex. It’s easy enough to figure out that he absolutely doesn’t fuck people he sails with.
Or anyone else, pretty much.
Since I’m already up, I slip out of my bunk and get ready for the day. Figuring I can catch Gabe alone before he starts the yacht up for another day of sailing, I stealthily head upstairs.
But Gabe isn’t the one that I find in the pilothouse when I knock on the window. Instead, Malkia turns her head, a frown fixed on her mouth.
She motions for me to open the door. I let myself in, sliding my gaze around.
“Where’s your brother?” I ask, trying to keep it as casual as possible.
Malkia shoots me a glare and then turns back to the instrument panel, flipping switches that turn on various screens.
“He said he drank too much last night and needed to sleep in.” She shakes her head. “It is not like him. Completely out of character. I thou
ght that it was a secret code for hooking up with an employee. But you’re here, so…”
She shrugs, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t know what it means now.”
I flush. “Do you happen to know when he’s supposed to be up here?”
Malkia starts the engines then sighs. “I am not in charge of anything, if that much is not obvious. Please, leave me to start the boat in peace, okay?”
“Of course.” I bow, feeling awkward.
Turning and letting myself out of the pilothouse, I curse silently. I had planned to apologize to Gabe for putting my foot in my mouth… but now is not the time, I guess.
I get sucked into the daily flow of life on the boat. Luke, who is technically the second mate, has a bunch of stuff for me to do. Iron what feels like a metric ton of bedsheets, help Sam prepare breakfast, tidy the linen closet downstairs.
That’s what I need, I guess. I have plenty to think about.
The way Gabe made me feel for hours the day before. Cherished, protected… but also naked and raw and very vulnerable before him.
How angry I made him last night.
God, if that pissed him off, just wait until he finds out that I’ve been bribed to steal his regatta map. Because I have no doubt that he will find out…
Once I make myself man up and actually steal the plans, that is.
I am so busy folding and thinking that I’m a little startled when the boat’s motors cut off. I look at Emma, who is neck deep in the linen closet right alongside me.
She gives me a comforting smile. “Don’t worry. We are just stopped here for the afternoon. I think that you will want to head upstairs, though. The medical attendant follows the clients, right?”
I puff out my cheeks and exhale. “Yeah. That’s the idea.”
Hurrying down the hall to grab my medical bag from my room, I hurry toward the stairs.
“Luna!” Gabe’s voice calls from the top of the stairwell. “Come on! Get moving!”
I step into the stair landing. For a second, I see Gabe. Dark, brooding, handsome as ever. He shoots me a glare and then turns away.