by Anna Lowe
For the first time since arriving in paradise, the minutes slipped by and his mind went gloriously blank.
Chapter Thirteen
Hannah forced herself to take regular breaths and focus on the turtle instead of the acre of steely flesh next to her. Much like the carpenter of her dreams, Kyle had muscled arms and a broad chest. Not bulging freakishly, but just right. She’d seen him on the windsurfer, of course, but had been so mad at the time she’d barely noticed the details.
Well, she sure noticed now.
She dove down to watch the turtle from its own eye level until she ran out of air, then carefully angled toward the surface. As she was coming up, Kyle was going down, and something in her soared. Watching the turtle was magical in itself, but having someone to share it with was a highlight of its own. Finally, she had a taste of what the truly lucky people had — people like Marie and Luc, who could not only enter this magical world but share it with each other.
They followed the turtle for a few hundred yards, careful not to get too close. The next time Hannah glanced up for orientation, they were past the next boat in the anchorage. When she looked down again, the turtle was gone. Kyle swam over in two easy strokes, eyes sparkling with delight.
God, what a sight.
Not wanting to break the Zen of the moment with words, Hannah just nodded, then swam back to the boat. When they were both were dangling from the swim ladder, pushing back their masks, Kyle grinned a mile wide.
“That was great!”
“Beautiful,” Hannah said, just because she could. For once, she wasn’t doing everything alone.
“Beautiful,” he echoed, quieter now. His eyes rested briefly on her face, then jumped away, and she caught a breath, realizing how close he was.
Close enough for their hands to brush on the rung of the ladder. Close enough that their legs wove in and out of each other’s space as they slowly tread water.
Close enough that if she tilted forward just a little, they could kiss. She studied his lips, imagining how nice that would feel. How soft. How easy…
A ripple of water skipped between them, and Hannah sucked in a sharp breath.
“’Scuse me, “ she murmured, climbing the ladder quickly.
Was it just her, or was Mr. Nine-and-a-Half closer to a ten?
She was toweling off in the cockpit when his face popped up at the stern rail, and something in her stomach fluttered.
Definitely a near-ten, this guy.
“Wow, I didn’t realize how long we were swimming,” he said.
Something about his voice had her insides ticking — that middle ground between tenor and baritone. Not too smooth, not too gravelly. Just right. Everything about the man seemed just right.
And he had a point; the sun was starting to dip toward the west. She reached for the solar shower hanging overhead, ridiculously self-conscious about rinsing off in front of him, even in her bikini and shorts. When it was his turn to shower, she tried very hard not to notice the way the water slid over the hard planes of his body. Something about showering next to a guy, then having him shower right next to her was oddly arousing. Or not so odd, considering the view.
But it was more than that, she realized. He was turning out to be a genuinely nice guy, and she was having way too much fun to let him go.
“Can I make you dinner?” The words popped out of her mouth before she even realized it. “It’s the least I can do. Unless you have somewhere to be,” she said, hoping desperately there wasn’t.
He answered with a grin that could have melted stone. “I’m on vacation.”
Maybe, just maybe, Hannah wasn’t the only one wearing a tiny blush. She whisked a towel over her face. “Pizza okay with you?”
His eyebrows shot up. Perfect eyebrows over a perfect face. “You can make pizza on a boat?”
She titled her head toward the galley. “Come and see.”
Pizza, as it turned out, was a lot more fun to make for Kyle than for Robert. He followed her every move like it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen, even if she was only kneading dough. But her hair kept slipping over her shoulder, and her hands were too sticky to push it back.
“Um, seeing as you’re the hair man,” she ventured, “do you think you could…”
He was already there, smoothing it back from her cheek and shoulder, catching all the loose strands and herding them together. His hands were warm and capable as they reached over her shoulder and brushed her cheek. He was close enough behind her now that his hips might just brush her rear if she backed up half an inch.
Tempted. Hannah was sorely tempted. But she wasn’t going to slobber over him. She couldn’t resist lifting her chin and tilting her head back toward him, though. All in the name of taming her hair, of course.
He collected the hair at the nape of her neck and combed it with his fingers. A short hesitation — what was running through his mind? — then a slight jolt, a snapping to attention and back to the task.
“Up here? Or down here?” He held the ponytail in two different positions.
God, if only she could think of some way to prolong the sheer pleasure of his touch.
“Down is good,” she finally said, using her elbow to point to her hair band.
She kneaded the dough a little longer, then covered the bowl with a towel.
“Now what?” he asked.
Yeah, now what? a naughty voice giggled inside her mind.
“The dough has to rise for half an hour,” she explained. “So, um…watch the sunset?”
They sat in the cockpit sipping wine and admiring the sunset in mutual silence. Then he followed her below to observe stage two in the process as if she were revealing some amazing magic trick instead of merely making pizza.
“It’s critical to have the right tools for the job.” She pulled a bottle from a rack, sprinkled some flour on it, and used it to roll out the dough.
Kyle chuckled. “Interesting use of a rum bottle.”
“Double function. Roll now, drink later.” She worked the dough to the right shape and size, then transferred it to a cooking sheet. “Can you live with square pizza?”
“Definitely.” He was right behind her now, sitting on the steps to the cockpit, watching her in the tiny one-person galley.
“It has to rise for another half hour.”
“Again?”
Good, the chitchat was fun. Cooking for two was fun. “How hungry are you?”
She turned to find him wearing a look just this side of naughty. “Hungry,” he murmured, eyes on her lips.
Was it just her, or was it hot in the galley?
Hannah took a deep breath. Was he thinking what she was thinking? Because he was awfully close and smelling awfully good, all salt and fresh air and the outdoors. His hair was spiky and scraggly, closer to Robinson Crusoe than Mr. Wall Street. His eyes drifted over her lips, speculating, and that smile — that smile wore the promise of sin.
Hannah felt a warm rush, the sudden urge to grab him by the collar and shag him silly right there on the stairs. Which, of course, she couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Wouldn’t?
Why not? part of her protested. This was her chance. Not only did she have the boat to herself, she had a studly guy to go with it. And if he was thinking what she was thinking, then they could have a couple of days of fun before Robert got back.
There was only one hitch. Hannah had never actually had a little vacation fling. Oh, she’d imagined dozens, but never actually done it. She’d only ever gone to bed with men she got to know over the course of weeks, not days. Casual sex wasn’t really her thing.
Except this guy was looking as good as a popsicle in summer. Sitting on the second step, he was at eye level with her, hands resting on his knees. Well, they had been resting on his knees until a moment ago. Now they slid forward and cupped the air before him, offering the perfect space for her to step into.
Putting the ball in her court, in other words. Damn. Why did she have to fall for the noble knight type
?
Hannah knew the way out. She could crack a joke, excuse herself to the bathroom, anything to diffuse this raw, insistent heat building between the two of them. That would be the safe thing to do.
But tonight, she didn’t want safe. She wanted hot and sweaty and just a little reckless. She wanted it all.
“I’m hungry, too,” she murmured, stepping forward and letting her eyes shut so she couldn’t witness her own sin.
His hands circled her waist, and the tiny tremor in his touch said she wasn’t the only one wondering how far they might let this go.
With a deep breath, she met him halfway for a kiss. A warm, close kiss that pulsed and swayed like sea grass in a silent current. When his lips parted and she tasted him, a rush filled her chest. She pushed closer. His upper lip had a bit of an edge to it — a fold where the outer lip met the softer flesh of the inner, and she toyed with it, first with her own lips, then her tongue. There was a hint of salt there, together with the wine: the flavor of Dionysus, sailing on a wine-red sea. Hannah let her lips play over his texture and flavor, feeling suddenly capable of anything.
Anything but stopping, that is.
Chapter Fourteen
That kiss could have come right out of a seashell, it was so soft and sweet. A hum started up in her ears, the way it did when she listened to a shell. It felt so good to be in his arms, so good to get close. There was no awkwardness in it, only delight — and promise, the promise of much more.
Hannah let her lips slip over Kyle’s, marveling in the play of his fingers over her arm, the wobble of his mouth. The first kiss was like opening a menu: the cover set the mood for what followed, and as she leafed through the pages, each offering seemed more enticing than the last. When they broke apart, it was only to suck in a quick breath.
“Nice,” he whispered, a little breathlessly.
Their faces stayed close as their bodies slid even closer. She let her tongue glide over his lips and slipped her hands over his shoulders. They were firm and corded, just the way they looked. She had one glimpse of his eyes at half-mast before squeezing her own closed and kissing him all over again.
Nice didn’t begin to describe it.
Their kisses went rapidly deeper and hotter, and her nipples went hard, rubbing against his chest. Hannah tucked her cheek alongside his, with her nose at his ear. She stayed there, steadying her breath, then pulled back. Whatever expression she was expecting him to be wearing, it wasn’t the flushed, hungry look he had now. The noble knight side of him was gone, and his flushed cheeks gave him the look of a Viking raider. Or was that surprise at this hussy who was jumping his bones?
“Sorry,” Hannah whispered. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No. Don’t.” His voice was hoarse.
He caught her in a new kiss, shaking his head slowly in a no that she hung on to for all she was worth. She arched her spine forward, pushing her body closer into him as she ran her hands over his back. They were moving fast — awfully fast — but her climbing heat was so insistent that she couldn’t resist.
“Do you want me to stop?” he murmured against her lips.
“God, no. Don’t.”
Kyle shifted and leaned closer. His shorts scrubbed her inner thigh, sending a twinge of pure lust through her veins. Her hands traced the planes of his shoulder blades, the valley of his spine, the ridgeline of muscle on either side before settling on his lower ribs, wanting but not daring to go lower.
“Mmmm,” he murmured, and she could feel it in her lungs. “Can the pizza wait?”
She nodded, still hanging on to the last kiss, her mind suddenly clumsy and slow. Had she ever come on to a man so fast in the past?
The answer was a scandalized No!
She moaned inside, wanting all of him at once and not caring one bit what that said about her. Tilted her hips forward, setting off another surge of heat as she made contact with his groin.
“Please believe me when I say I don’t usually jump guys like this,” she mumbled into his neck, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks.
He cupped her face with one hand. “I believe you.”
“Really, I…”
He raised his free hand to her other cheek, and she lost herself in his eyes. Golden brown, they were, like brown sugar mixed with the yolk of an egg — the makings of a great recipe.
“I believe you,” he whispered.
His tongue teased her lips, touching and retreating in slow, measured moves. Hannah barely held back from the kind of greedy licks her body was demanding. With a confidence they’d never demonstrated before, her hands traced the waistband of his shorts. His hands slid down her spine and came back up the sides, just skirting her breasts, then met at the knot of her bikini in the center of her back. She pushed closer, squeezing herself against him.
He sucked in a long breath and ended the kiss with a nuzzle and a whisper. “I don’t have anything with me.”
“Hmmm, but I do,” Hannah said, her voice going sultry. She had several condoms, in fact, though she’d all but given up hope of ever using them.
Relief unlocked the hard muscles under her hands. Good to know he wanted this, too. She leaned back, coaxing him off the stair and onto his feet. Close enough for her fingers to slip inside his shorts and glide down his rear. God, the man was all muscle, rounded and warm.
“Good thing one of us is prepared.” He flashed a Lucifer smile and tugged her closer, hands brushing the sides of her breasts. “Damn good thing…”
Emboldened, she worked her right hand around his hip. Kyle shuddered then went rigid all over, quivering against his own willpower. For an instant, Hannah feared she’d gone too far, but he shuffled one foot forward, nudging closer, asking for more. She picked up where she’d left off, sliding her fingers lower. When she found his cock, it stiffened in her grip, and she couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. The hum in her ears was a roar, while a powerful, primitive force welled up inside her, weeping for more.
“Good thing,” she whispered.
His fingers teased at the knot of her bikini, then darted away.
“Must be hard, trying to be a noble knight instead of a Viking raider,” she murmured her thoughts aloud as she slid her fist along his length.
He groaned. “You have no idea.” He tugged the knot of her bikini free.
She hummed into his lips, loving the rock-hard feel of his shaft in her hand, a contrast to the silky soft head. Kyle tossed her bikini aside and cupped her breasts, eyes burning with need. His hand slid up and his chin tipped down, and Hannah closed her eyes. When his lips closed over her nipple, she gasped aloud, tipping her head back and giving herself completely over to him, as if she’d shed a trainload of restraint along with the bikini.
“Hannah…”
All she could summon was an affirmative, cavewoman noise.
“Which do you like better?” he whispered with intense, flashing eyes.
Better? She puzzled that out while yanking his shirt over his head, then tossing it aside.
“Viking or knight?” he finished.
If her panties weren’t wet already, they sure were now.
“Viking.” She nodded, an inch away from his lips. “Definitely the Viking.”
She barely had the words out when he dove back down. Caught her nipple with his teeth. Kneaded the soft flesh around the center, then nipped.
“Kyle…”
Being ravished, at least in this sense, was a good thing. A delicious thing. She lost her grip on him and arched back with an ankle hooked behind his leg. Her world became the warm bubble around their bodies and the brilliant light.
His hands skimmed her back, traced her shorts, then dove under the band. Her heart pumped in double time. If foreplay felt this good, how spectacular would actual sex be?
His hands made several extra sweeps over her rear, eyes raking her body before rising with a fresh hunger.
“Sorry…” he mumbled, kissing along her collarbone. “Can’t not…”
&
nbsp; Hannah managed a chuckle between lusty inner groans. “Nice to know I’m not the only one melting here.”
He nodded, now at her ear. “Melting is right. Maybe even burning.”
Hannah pulled the string on his shorts. She took her time, snaking both hands inside, one hand in back, one in front. His eyes slid shut as she closed on his bare skin, giving her a rush with the power she had over him. She pulled the shorts wide to clear his jutting cock and let them drop, then worked over every hard inch of him, slowly.
“You’re killing me,” he joked in a husky voice.
“I don’t know,” she answered, fisting him tighter, “this is looking pretty alive to me.” That and the pulse pounding at his neck, which she leaned in to kiss.
“Mmm. This is unfair,” he said, fingering the band of her shorts, then rolling them down. He pulled her closer so their bodies lined up, shoulder to toe. “Better.” He smiled into her lips.
His cock throbbed at her; she wrapped her hands around his rear and echoed his pull. Then she took a deep breath and let her nose nuzzle his ear, delivering her invitation up close as her hips worked a samba against his groin.
“Come to bed, Viking,” she murmured. “Come to bed with me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Hannah led him to the forward cabin, relishing the way he kept one hand on the small of her back, reluctant to break contact. A glance in the cabin mirror showed his eyes firmly on her rear, giving her a little rush.
She couldn’t resist a peek at his body, either. The man was something out of Olympus, all chiseled lines and power. Maybe he spent less time in an office than she assumed — or he made damn good use of his gym time. Either way, her heart was pounding, her body already throbbing with need.
The moment she’d stepped into his space, a heat wave had rushed through her body, steamrolling everything else out of the way. When Kyle started to explore the topography of her lips like he was mapping them for an expedition, everything in her screamed for all of him, right away.