by Niecey Roy
“Yeah, I miss him. It’s just weird sometimes when I go to my parents’ for supper and his seat is empty. Even overseas, we were together.” Pain made his voice deeper.
I reached over the space between us and touched his chest, his skin warm beneath my fingers. “I’m sorry.”
He took my hand and squeezed it. “Thank you.” He changed the subject, but didn’t release my hand right away. “There’s a bonfire tonight, we should go.”
“A bonfire sounds fun.” I picked up the tote bag beside my chair, packed full of things like towels and tanning lotion, my cell phone and hand wipes. “I’m surprised my sisters haven’t called to check on me yet.”
Catherine had been sending me text messages every couple of hours. One of the twins was sick, and she was home, bored with daytime soaps and the cooking channel.
“You haven’t thrown up in a day, so I’m doing a pretty good job of keeping you out of trouble.” He winked at me, and I dropped the bag into his lap. He made an oomph sound. “You’re so abusive.”
“You deserve it.” I squeezed tanning lotion into my palm and rubbed it onto my leg.
“Need a hand with that?”
“I, uh…” Licking my lips, I stared down at the cheetah-print bottle. How dumb would it be to invite him to put his hands on me? It wasn’t a good idea. At all. I handed him the lotion. “Sure, thanks. My back.”
His eyes widened for the briefest of seconds before he sat up and took the lotion from me. I turned away from him and waited for his touch. It wasn’t until his fingertips caressed my shoulders and his thumbs brushed against my neck, I realized I’d been holding my breath. My skin tingled beneath his touch so I concentrated on something less dangerous, like the dragonfly buzzing around the potted flowers.
“So,” I said, hoping my voice wasn’t as jittery as the butterflies dancing in my stomach. “Dad mentioned you’ve been in to rent some equipment from him.”
“Helping my parents with some remodeling. She wanted her floors sanded and stained. Now she wants an open living space, so I’m knocking out a wall to open the dining room up to the living room.”
I imagined Leo with a sledge hammer, shirtless, sweat beading off his chest. “That sounds…hard.”
“It’s not that big of a job. Mom’s trying to keep Dad busy with projects at home so he doesn’t come into the office every day. He’s supposed to be retired.” His fingers kneaded my back before a thumb slipped beneath the strap of my bikini top.
“That’s, um, great.” I nibbled on my lower lip as his hands drifted lower, just under the clasp of my top.
“Do you like hot tubs?”
“What?” Now I had an image of him in a hot tub. “I mean, why do you ask?”
He chuckled. “Just wondering. Roxanna wants me to put one out on the back patio.”
“Oh.” I gripped the edge of the lounge chair as his hands rubbed lotion onto my lower back. “Hot tubs are good.”
I’d always wondered what hot tub sex would be like. Now, I wondered what hot tub sex would be like with Leo.
“I think that’s enough lotion.” I twisted on the chair to confiscate the bottle. “Thanks for…”
His face was so close to mine, his gaze magnetic. If I leaned in a couple of inches our lips would meet. His gaze was hot and searching, and when his lips parted, I gravitated closer.
“Lex,” he murmured, and I stopped thinking. Period.
“Mm?”
“No kissing, remember?” His question brought me to my senses, and I pushed him away.
“You’re such an ass sometimes, you know that?” I grumbled.
He laughed. “Unless you beg me to, remember?”
“That’s not going to happen.” I lay back onto the lounge chair and closed my eyes. “I saw you at my wedding.”
“Yeah?”
Of course he knew I’d seen him—his eyes were the last ones mine had met before I’d run out of the church. “You wore jeans and a t-shirt. To my wedding.”
“You didn’t go through with it.”
Peeking an eye open, I glanced over at him. His skin glistened under the sun. “Yes, but you wore jeans to my wedding.”
He shrugged. “It was a last minute decision to stop. I didn’t exactly have a suit picked out for the occasion.”
“So why’d you come, then?” His chest was obnoxious—I studied a palm tree instead.
“To object.”
I jerked my head to look at him. “You’re joking.”
He grinned. “Maybe. Maybe not. But even I knew you shouldn’t marry that douche.”
I couldn’t tell if he joked or not. Object? My mind raced with the possibility of it. “You know, people shouldn’t wait until the last minute to object. That only happens in the movies.”
“In real life, things don’t happen the way you plan them to.”
“Don’t I know it,” I muttered.
“You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think you’re glad I’m here,” he said.
“And I think you have a big head,” I tossed back.
“And I think you’re flirting with me.” He grinned.
“I am not.” A lie. He was always teasing me, and it was hard not to get sucked in.
“You’re so cute when you’re riled up.” He waggled his eyebrows dramatically. “Want to skinny dip?”
“What? No.” Um, yes.
He shot me one of his boyish smiles, and my insides turned to jelly. “Come on. There’s no one around. Live a little.”
My eyes darted around the private patio, as if someone might pop out of the foliage surrounding the villa. No one would see us. My heart raced. Naked. With Leo. In a pool. Just like a scene from a naughty romance novel. My cheeks flushed.
His hands went to the waistband of his swim trunks, a devilish smile on his gorgeous lips. My eyes bulged.
“No!” I exclaimed and winced at the panic in my voice. I didn’t trust myself with a naked Leo. Holy wow. “You’re just teasing. Knock it off.”
Except, I didn’t want him to stop his teasing. The blood in my body rushed through my veins, and I was thoroughly electrified. I couldn’t concentrate on anything but the sound of his voice, the contours of his chest. This was pure physical attraction. Yeah. That was it. The dirty, sweaty, sexy kind.
Being on this island makes me loopy. For Leo. I needed to keep it together, and he didn’t make it easy for me.
“When did you get so boring, Princess?” His hands dropped from his waistband, and I nearly sighed in disappointment. “You’ve been skinny dipping with me before.”
Of course I remembered—I’d lost my virginity to him that night. I couldn’t believe he’d brought it up.
“Fine, I’ll swim. But no skinny dipping.”
“That bikini you have on barely covers anything I haven’t seen before.” His hot gaze skimmed my bare stomach.
I threw my book at him. He laughed, catching it to his chest. Before I could react, he reached over and yanked me from my lounge chair and right into his lap. He gazed down into my eyes with an intensity that made everything fade to the background. The rushing in my ears drowned out the trickling of the fountain near the pool and the breeze rustling through the palm trees.
Breathless, I said, “You annoy the hell out of me.”
“You love it.” A playful smile teased his lips. “Lexie?”
“Yes?” I sucked in a breath.
“We’re going swimming,” he said.
I expelled a sigh and almost yanked his head down to kiss me, but he stood with me in his arms and took off running to the pool.
“Leo!” I didn’t get another word out before he jumped off the patio and into the water. When we broke the surface, I still had my arms around his neck, clinging. I blinked against the water dripping down my face. “You are such a beast, you know that?”
“You looked like you wanted to get wet.” His breath was hot against my ear, and I shivered. He had no idea how right he was
…or did he?
Maybe what I wanted was written all over my face. Maybe he knew just how hard I struggled against the ache of need building up inside of me. And if he did, if he were toying with me, it wasn’t fair. At all. Two can play at this game.
With a wicked grin, I wrapped my legs around him, the bulge of his penis pressed against the wet, filmy bikini between my legs. I leaned my head back just enough to look up into his eyes. If I didn’t watch it, I’d get lost in them. “I did. Want to get wet, I mean.”
The confident smile wavered, and his lips parted. He leaned in close, and I stopped his advance by pressing my finger to his lips.
“Leo,” I whispered, batting my eyelashes.
“Yes?”
“No kissing, remember?” I bit back a smile.
He groaned, but smiled, even if a bit reluctantly. “I’ll remember this, Princess.”
I laughed and dropped my legs from around his waist to stand in the pool. “Yes, well, you kind of deserved that.”
He captured a lock of my hair, smoothing it behind my ear. “Maybe a little.”
Chapter Eight
A tropical rain had settled over the island¸ and we were stuck inside. Without Leo dragging me around the island, I had nothing to keep my mind busy. Sleeping in Leo’s arms was like eating too many chocolate dipped strawberries. Strawberries were great, but too much chocolate would give me sugar zits on my chin. And it didn’t matter that I knew this to be true. I wanted those damn chocolate dipped strawberries. My level of sexual frustration was through the roof, and now Mother Nature had us crammed like sardines in this tiny villa. This honeymoon villa. Meant for intimacy and sex…and more sex. Ugh!
His lingering touches, his smoldering gaze, drove me insane. Like yesterday, after I’d stepped out of the shower only to find him shaving at the sink and he’d leveled me with a gaze that made me aware how easy it would be to drop my towel. It had taken all my control to keep walking.
After all of these years, he’d decided he wanted me again, and now I couldn’t stop thinking about wanting him. Last night, when I was supposed to be as deeply asleep as he was, the warm breeze carried his whisper soft breaths to me through the dark where they brushed against my skin like a loving caress. He slept like a baby, while I tossed and turned. I spent most nights staring up at the canopy, my senses alert to the very essence of him, just a hand’s width away. If I wanted, all I’d have to do was roll toward him and kiss his lips. And I wanted to, badly.
Again, I had awoken this morning in his arms, every part of my body tingling with awareness, with his warmth. I was tired of fighting the attraction. I wanted to tear his clothes off and make love to him. The need was so unbearable, my body screamed—I wanted to scream.
A warm, moist breeze lifted the thin, ivory fabric draped around the bed. The rain fell in thick drops on the other side of the patio door. The sun hadn’t made an appearance in a day, and right now the haziness of the rain and grey sky matched my mood. Leo was in the other room on the phone, and his voice drifted in to me, making me warm all over.
His presence was so strong—his scent, the warmth surrounding him, his smile, and most of all, his penetrating gaze. I squirmed on the bed, kicking my feet in annoyance, and squeezed my eyes shut. What the hell was wrong with me? The sexual frustration outweighed any hesitation I’d had before about getting involved with him. I didn’t even care about all that, and I certainly wasn’t thinking about the right or wrong of it. All that mattered was the damn ache between my legs. I flopped onto my back and groaned in frustration.
“Fuck,” I cursed, and then sighed because I wanted to do exactly that. With Leo.
“What’s wrong?”
I jerked at his words and opened my eyes. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed; perfectly at ease while I was a mess.
Why is this so easy for him? I leaned up on my elbows and sent him a defiant stare.
“Nothing!” I winced at the screech in my voice. My “nothing” sure sounded like something. Softer, I said, “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking about…nothing.”
“If you say so.” He pushed away from the wall and sauntered up to the foot of the bed. He paused, and I wondered what passed through his head that remained unsaid. Then he brushed the canopy aside and crawled up beside me. He didn’t touch me—damn it—and instead rolled over to lie on his back, resting his head in his hands.
I settled back into the covers and stared up at the ring hanging from the ceiling, holding the canopy fabric together. I couldn’t even say I wanted nothing to do with him anymore; it was so far from the truth. He clouded my senses. Every breath I sucked in was Leo.
I turned my head to look at him. His eyes were now closed and it gave me a moment to study him without him noticing. “What are you doing here, Leo?”
“Taking a nap. You?”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. What are you doing here right now. On this island?” I rolled to my side and reached for the wine bottle I’d opened earlier, pouring the rest of the contents into the glass on the nightstand. The wine was a necessary distraction while I waited for his answer. The silence would have been deafening if it weren’t for the soothing sizzle of rain outside.
After a few long moments, he said, “I didn’t want you to be here alone.”
I swallowed the wine in one gulp and set the glass down, my hand shaky. “Yeah, well, I don’t know why you care.”
I wasn’t sure why those words fell from my lips. I wasn’t mad at him, I was mad at myself for wanting him so much. I wasn’t ready to fall in love again, and I wasn’t ready for the falling out of love part, either. Still, from somewhere deep down inside there was a need to hear he still cared. I needed to know someone cared about me, that I wasn’t just a throwaway piece of garbage. I curled up on my side, away from him. The rain falling on the patio had slowed to a sprinkle.
When he placed his hand on my waist, I squeezed my eyes shut against the turmoil burning inside of me. I don’t want you, I thought to myself, but I didn’t say the words out loud. I couldn’t, because it wasn’t true. Because I didn’t want to open my mouth and ruin this moment—he’d take his hand away and leave, and I didn’t want him to go. I needed him to stay.
I needed him.
“Lexie, look at me,” he whispered, and I rolled to my back.
My heart was in my throat as he gazed down into my eyes. My lips trembled when he brushed his thumb against the tears on my cheek. Sex with him wouldn’t be so simple; it would be so hard for me to stop at only giving him my body when I’d once offered him my whole heart. And it’s only been a couple of weeks since Jeremy.
All of these emotions, these thoughts, and yearning for Leo’s touch filled me with guilt.
He smoothed away my tears. “I hate seeing you like this.”
“Why?” I hated how I’d pushed this conversation, hated how I needed him to soothe my wounded soul.
“Because it hurts.” He leaned closer, and I held my breath. “Ask me.”
I shook my head. I wanted more than anything to say the words he wanted to hear, what I wanted to say, but was filled with hesitation.
“Yes.” He rested his forehead against mine. “Ask me. Please. I need to know you want this.”
My heart slammed against my chest and I pressed my eyelids together. Four words, that was all that stood between his body and mine—make love to me. I sucked in a breath when his hand rubbed down the length of my side; the thin cotton of my dress bunched at my waist where his hand settled.
“Lexie,” he whispered. The need in his voice matched the need tearing through me, the heat of it pooling low in my belly.
My gaze caressed the contours of his face to the small cleft in his chin. I touched my finger to the indent—a long-ago habit I seemed unable to break. My gaze traveled up to his. The question there reminded me of the less confident teenager I had once been so in love with.
He and I were like an old song, I supposed. Even when the radio no l
onger played it, I could still hear the tune, I could still sing every word—it had been my favorite song for so long. The thought of losing this moment made my chest constrict.
I pressed my hand against his cheek. “Kiss me, please.”
His lips captured mine tenderly, the taste of his lips igniting an urgency inside. My hand ran through his hair and I grabbed a fistful, pulling him against me so every hard plane of him pressed along the soft contours of my body. I wanted to taste him, to feel his wet tongue tangle with mine. I moaned. My heartbeat hammered straight through my dress and against his chest. There was no getting close enough, not until he was deep inside of me.
I kissed his neck, licked my tongue out to the salty flesh just under his earlobe and the shudder that passed through him emboldened me. I’d been fantasizing about the taste of him for days now, but my fantasies hadn’t done him justice. I was lost in him, my head fuzzy with his scent. Every breath I took was ragged.
I arched my back. “Leo, please.”
He hesitated, his head hung with indecision, and I couldn’t see his eyes.
As if we hadn’t been dancing around this moment since his arrival? As if we both hadn’t wanted this very moment to happen days ago? I reached up to place my hand against his cheek, gently pushing his head up so he would look me in the eye. Concern furrowed his brow.
Brushing my thumb against his lower lip, I whispered. “It’s okay. I want this.”
“You’re sure?” he asked, his eyes searching.
“Yes.” I hadn’t felt this alive in so long…
His mouth took mine in a demanding kiss, and my lips parted so his tongue could slide against mine. His heat surrounded me, his breath against mine. Knowledge of what we were doing consumed me, made me feverish to feel him inside of me. His hands were everywhere. There was a soft tug as he drew my dress over my head, and then his mouth kissed and licked the skin.
“God, you taste good,” he said, his lips brushing against my breast.
I shivered in his arms. My entire body was taut with anticipation and the thrill of being nearly naked with him. When he pushed the bra down, my breasts swelled over the cups. I shivered at the flick of his tongue against my nipple. By the time his mouth searched out my other breast, lavishing it with his tongue, my nerve endings were on fire. He reached behind me and unclasped the bra and pulled it from my chest, dropping it beside me on the bed.