Tempt (Take It Off)

by Hebert, Cambria

  He leaned closer so his lips brushed against the hair covering my ear.

  “Can you feel my heart pounding?”

  I swallowed and nodded. It was pounding… so hard that its rhythm matched mine.

  Still pressing my hand against the smoothness of his skin, he dragged our hands lower, down his pec, across his defined abs, and then hooked them around his waist. When he pulled his hand away, mine stayed, flexing over his flesh, my fingers refusing to let go.

  He flirted with the waistband of my shorts, tugging at it, then smoothing it back into place. Lightly he dragged his fingers up, climbing like a spider over my ribs until his hands rested just below my breasts.

  Instead of traveling upward, he went around, fingers fiddling with the strings that held my top in place.

  His forehead leaned against mine. I could hear his breathing, slightly uneven, as the heat from the fire enveloped us. “I’m going to kiss you now,” he whispered. “And I’m going to put my hands all over your body. You’re going to feel every single thing I do to you and then you’re going to beg me not to stop.”

  He swallowed my reply, kissing me so profoundly it was as if he completely understood the inner workings of my body. The kiss wasn’t deep, but it reached so far inside me that I no longer knew where I ended and he began. He cupped my face, angling it up so he could sweep his tongue along mine until they tangled together so intimately I groaned.

  As we kissed, he pulled the string behind my back, untying my top. When it didn’t fall away, his hands delved into my hair and found the other bow, tugging, and the top fell between us, landing in the sand.

  My breasts brushed against his chest and I gasped at the skin-on-skin contact. My nipples hardened instantly and became more sensitive than I ever thought possible. But their sensitivity didn’t make me pull away; it made me arch into him farther.

  He growled low in his throat. The sound vibrated from his mouth and into mine, echoing deep inside me. His hands cupped my butt, kneading its softness and tilting my hips forward so I could feel his rock-hard erection pressing against me urgently.

  I purred. Like a contented cat.

  I gripped his waist, trying to pull him closer. He just wasn’t close enough.

  He ripped his mouth free of mine and lifted me; my legs wound around his waist. Instead of letting me fall against him, he held me out and suckled my breast into his mouth. I jerked against him. The sensation of his hot, wet mouth upon me sent a rush of fiery tingles throughout my body. It was like his mouth was in one place, but I felt him everywhere.

  The ocean breeze carried away my moan as my head fell back and the ends of my hair brushed against my waist. When he lifted his head, I grabbed at him, delving my fingers deep into his mane of hair, finally touching the curls that had called to me since I laid eyes on them. They were softer than I imagined and they curled around my fingers, claiming them, as if everything I had wasn’t already his.

  His mouth moved to my other breast and he licked beneath it, a long drawn out drag of his tongue on the underside. His mouth traveled upward, nipping lightly at the creamy flesh before closing over my nipple and causing jolts of pleasure so intense that it felt like I was being electrocuted.

  No one had ever put his mouth on me before like this.

  He languished attention on my chest until I was making small mewling noises and both our bodies were shaking. Totally weak and turned on, I collapsed against his chest, managing to keep one hand tangled in his hair.

  “I’m not done with you yet,” he murmured and sank to his knees right there beside the fire. Gently, he laid me on my back, my blond locks fanning out around my head and across the sand.

  “You still with me?” he murmured, his body hovering over mine.

  I opened my eyes and gazed up at him. He was utterly gorgeous. He was everything I ever wanted and never thought I would have. Not because I wasn’t good enough for someone like him, but because I didn’t think feelings like this actually existed.

  “Yes,” I said, reaching up and running my hands across his chest. “I’m with you.”

  His mouth claimed mine once more, searing my soul and trailing down into the hollow of my neck, leaving a scorching path behind him.

  My skin would never be the same after this.

  It would forever echo with the memory of how he made me hum. Desire curled through me, rising up like steam on a humid rainy day and filling me up until I craved something more, but I had no idea what more there could possibly be.

  He started to whisper words I didn’t understand, words that sounded like a song rolling off his tongue, carrying across my skin, and sinking in… right into my heart. In between all his whispered words of romance, he pressed kisses like he was following a map to a destination that only he knew.

  When he reached the inside of my thigh, I tensed, not sure what he planned on doing. He rocked back on his knees, kneeling over me like a god conquering a new possession.

  And dear Lord, I wanted to be possessed by him.

  He watched me closely as he slid the black linen shorts down my legs, yanking them free of my body. He skimmed his hands up my thighs. “You are unbelievably soft,” he whispered.

  I shivered.

  “Tell me what you feel,” he said, sneaking his hands beneath the ties at the sides of my hips.

  I moaned. He expected me to speak?

  “Ava, tell me,” he commanded, pulling away his touch completely.

  “I feel like my skin is on fire and you’re the only thing that can cool me down.”

  He smiled. His gaze was heavy as he came over me, supporting his weight on his hands on either side of my body. “Did he touch you like this, bella?” he asked, his eyes were heavy with desire. “Did you want him so badly you could barely think?”

  “Who?” I asked, not wanting to talk. Talking was clearly overrated.

  He chuckled. “Good answer.”

  He lowered until our bodies brushed together and then he moved down, dragging his skin across mine, and I arched up, the touch driving me insane. He grasped the strings at my hips, and tugged, but he didn’t pull the bottoms away.

  “Can I see you, Ava? Can I see all of you?”

  “Please,” I whispered, rolling my hips.

  The night air brushed over my newly bared skin and once again he whispered something in Spanish. It sounded like a prayer.

  His fingers played with the nest of short curls between my legs, tugging and caressing. My eyes opened wide, shock rippling through me. He was going to touch me there?

  Instead of feeling insecure and embarrassed, I was curious. I wanted to know the kinds of pleasure he could elicit with a single touch.

  I didn’t have to wait long. He drew two fingers down the center of me, his fingertips gliding through the silky wetness that my body was pumping out to excess.

  He groaned. “You’re soaked.”

  Before I could say anything or wonder if that was good or bad, those two naughty fingers slipped inside me. My back arched up off the sand and I grabbed for something to anchor me to the ground because surely I was going to float away.

  In and out, in and out, his fingers worked me, my muscles contracting around them, begging for more. I was panting. The sensations rippling through my body were unmatched. It was the single most pleasurable feeling I had ever known.

  And then he kissed me. Down there.

  As his fingers worked, stretching out my entrance, his tongue began to lick at my folds, delving around, looking for something. Something I really wanted him to find.

  My hips started to move, pumping up against him, moving with his rhythm. And then his mouth closed over the hardened bud deep at my center. He tugged and gently sucked at it. I cried out.

  His fingers slid out of me, skimming up my center and leaving behind a trail of moisture. I was trembling, my skin was vibrating, and I couldn’t lie still. I had to move. I had to get there.

  “What do you want, bella?” he drawled from between my th
ighs.

  I couldn’t tell him because I didn’t know. I was floating around in unchartered territory and I was solely dependent on him to show me the way. I whimpered.

  He flattened his palms, one on each thigh, and pushed my legs wide, completely opening me up to him. And then he came forward, delving his tongue into my opening, his mouth connecting with my most secret place.

  I bucked up. The feeling was so intense. He clamped down on my hips, pinning them into the sand, refusing to let me move. And then he licked up, one long, firm stroke, and my entire world shattered.

  He held me down as I cried out, blinding white light exploding behind my eyes, completely decimating thought and knowledge of everything and anything. I wanted to squirm around so badly, but he wouldn’t let me. I had to lie there beneath him, next to the fire and the sand at my back, and do nothing but let the orgasm roll over my body relentlessly.

  When at last my body quieted and the sound of the crashing waves filled my ears, I lay back, completely boneless and breathing heavily.

  Nash came over me once more, his curls falling over his forehead. “You, mi bella, are not broken. You are fucking perfect. So hot I almost came in my shorts.”

  “I want to see you.”

  One eyebrow lifted. “Do you now?”

  I nodded.

  I’d never felt so relaxed in my entire life. He rocked back between my legs and reached for the button on his shorts. I pushed up onto my elbows to watch.

  He gazed at me, tenderness filling his eyes. “We can stop right here. We don’t have to go any further. Your pleasure is my pleasure. It’s more than enough for me.”

  I believed him. He would stop and he wouldn’t get angry and he wouldn’t tell me I was cold. “I don’t want to stop.”

  I sat up the rest of the way and reached for his button, fully intending on experiencing everything I possibly could with him.

  In that moment, a sound cut through the darkness.

  It was the kind of sound that completely obliterated the passion surrounding us, the kind of sound that had Nash diving on top of me to shield my body from any harm.

  We lay there silently until all went still and I was wondering if maybe we had imagined it. But then it pierced the night again.

  We weren’t hearing things.

  We were hearing gunshots.

  11

  Nothing like the fear of being shot in your slumber to ruin a perfectly good night. After we heard those two shots penetrate the night, we gathered our clothes (okay, so they were my clothes) and hurried back to the plane.

  Nash shielded me the entire way.

  Once inside, I slipped on an oversized T-shirt I had in my suitcase and a pair of panties. Nash stood in the back of the plane, staring out into the darkness for a long time. After a long while of hearing nothing, we laid out all the blankets we could find on the floor against the wall and then lay down with a pillow and used the remaining blanket to cover us.

  It was the first night I slept with him.

  Well, in his arms.

  It was the first time I lay all night with a warm body pressed against mine and an arm draped over my waist. Whenever I moved, he moved. Whenever I shifted, his body would follow. It’s like we were two giant human magnets that couldn’t be separated.

  Yes, we were stranded and alone. We had very little food, very little water. We had no TV, no cell phone, and our choices for sleeping were limited to uncomfortable chairs or the floor of a plane. And yet…

  I’d never been more comfortable.

  It was a little unsettling to realize that just the mere presence of one person could make up for every comfort and convenience you thought you could never live without.

  * * *

  The sun was up when I stretched against him, my first thought being that we made it through another night without being attacked by weirdoes with machetes. The weight of being stranded on this island threatened to crush me, and I had to take a deep breath. How many more days would we be here? We needed a plan, some kind of hope that we wouldn’t end up trapped here forever.

  Or worse.

  As I worried, a hand stroked over my hip. My shirt had ridden up during the night and Nash caressed my bare skin. “Good morning,” he murmured, his voice thick with sleep.

  “Hi.” I tried not to notice his morning “wood,” as he put it, but it was kind of hard to miss. I had to admit, it was a good distraction from my mental state of chaos.

  “Did you get any sleep last night?”

  I nodded. I wasn’t about to admit how freaked out I really was. It wouldn’t make anything better. And besides that, I might not have gotten a ton of sleep, but lying here, crushed up against him, was better than sleep. My brain might be in desperate need of a chill pill, but my body was more relaxed that it had ever been—even after we heard the somber firing of a gun.

  Just the mere memory of what Nash and I did last night had heat wrapping around my insides, a slow burn igniting somewhere within me.

  He didn’t seem to notice the way he affected me. His hand slid up to rest at the dip in my waist as his thumb slid back and forth over my skin. I shivered. He pressed a kissed to my forehead.

  “Are you hungry?”

  I nodded. I was so hungry.

  He moved away, leaving me lying there all alone, and my eyes popped open. He came back seconds later and sat down, Indian style, in front of me. I rolled onto my back and looked up as he dangled the Luna bar in the air.

  He had one in each hand.

  I gasped. “We’re going to eat them?”

  He gave a little shrug. “We have all the fruit and avocado now. I think it would be okay if we indulged this one time and each ate one.”

  I groaned. An entire bar all to myself? Heaven.

  I reached for it and he snatched it away.

  “Hey!” I demanded.

  “You didn’t tell me good morning yet.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Hi, does not count.”

  I pursed my lips while watching him. He had this little twinkle in his eye, and scorching heat swept me anew. I sat up, the blanket falling around my lap, and scooted so our knees bumped. Then I leaned forward and kissed the underside of his jaw.

  He hadn’t been able to shave since we crashed and the short beard he was sporting tickled my lips. I kissed him again, going down his neck.

  “Wrong direction,” he whispered, his voice husky.

  My, he was demanding in the morning.

  I changed course, kissing back up his neck, across his jaw, and then rubbing my cheek against his, enjoying the scruffy feel on my face. Then I turned my head and grazed his lips with mine. Before I pulled back, my hand went into his lap and grabbed at the bar he was holding.

  He dropped the bar, but his newly free hand came up to wrap around the back of my head and hold me firmly at his mouth.

  He deepened our kiss, thrusting his tongue into my mouth, sliding it over my teeth and then nipping at my lip. Instead of pulling my bottom lip between his, he pulled my top lip in, gently tugging it down and into his all-too-willing mouth. I groaned and let go of the bar. My hand grazed something else in his lap. Something that would probably fill me up a lot better than any type of food.

  He pulled back, a smile playing on his lips. Then he reached between us, unwrapped one of the chocolate goodies, and held it up to my lips. I stared at him when I took a bite. I couldn’t help the little groan that erupted when the chocolate hit my tongue and melted.

  “Your little noises drive me insane,” he murmured.

  After I chewed and swallowed, he gestured for me to take another bite. “You have a thing for feeding me,” I said as I chewed.

  “A strong man always makes sure his woman is provided for. That she has everything she needs.”

  I paused in chewing, the food no longer holding my interest. “That sounds very possessive,” I observed.

  He smiled again. “I am a very possessive man, bella.”

  My stomach
did a full three-sixty inside my body. I may not always know what direction I’m going, but I always make my own way. I’m not the type of girl who likes to be told what to do, who wants to be dictated to.

  But Nash… he made being possessed sound like the most satisfying thing ever.

  I grabbed the other bar and unwrapped. Then I held it up to his lips. “Eat.”

  He opened his mouth and bit into the food, his lips pulling away like it was a lollipop. We didn’t say anything else. We just sat there and fed each other until the bars were gone.

  And then he kissed me again, a lingering kiss that tasted like chocolate.

  When I finally stood, I noticed that I had sand in places that weren’t entirely comfortable. In fact, if I wasn’t careful, it might turn painful. As I walked toward the water bottles, I moved a little funny, trying not to rub the sand farther into my, ummm… lady parts.

  “Bella…” The little nickname he used more than my name sounded like an angry command. Then he was standing behind me, spinning me around, and drilling his stare into mine. “Did I hurt you last night?”

  “What? No!”

  “You’re walking funny. I tried to be gentle.” His forehead creased.

  I reached up and traced the cute lines.

  “You were.” I whispered. “It was… it was seriously the best experience of my life.”

  He relaxed, but the creases still didn’t go away.

  “I have sand in uncomfortable places,” I admitted sheepishly.

  He chuckled, the little lines disappearing. Before I knew what he was doing, he had my shower items in my messenger bag and he hoisted me up onto his back—piggyback style.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, trying not to notice that when he walked, the muscles in his back moved and brushed against my crotch.

  “To clean up,” he said simply and then made his way deftly through the trees and plants while carrying me along.

  Turns out ignoring any part of him was impossible.

  By the time the little lagoon with the waterfall came into sight, I was practically panting with need.

  Once again he seemed oblivious (really, are all men like this?) and sat me on my feet beside the water. “Take off your clothes,” he said while unpacking the little bottles of shampoo and the bar of soap.