Before she could move an inch, his foot found hers under the table and tickled over her skin, making her jump as he sent powerful sensation rocketing up her bare leg.
A sea gull cried and circled above them. The pelican flapped his wings in warning. But it was hard to concentrate on the everyday occurrences with Joel stroking her and making her nerves turn to fire.
Joel wasn’t watching their sea neighbors either or the perfect powdery beach, the crystal clean, aqua water, or his loaded plate. Instead he gazed at her mouth and stroked her leg, like this was all he wanted to do, all day long.
Like she was more than enough for him.
The air around them flared with volts of penetrating electricity. Why was she worried about going to bed with this man? He would make it perfect for her.
His toe inched closer to the V between her legs, and her mouth dried. She tingled as she waited for his next move, his next touch. She swallowed, forcing herself to chew the bite she’d taken, not tasting it.
After she clanked her fork to her plate, she decided she wasn’t hungry, but food seemed a safe distraction. “Does the food really taste this good, or is it eating outside?”
“I’ve never been so hungry.”
His gaze speared into her skin, fiery hot. No doubt about it. He wasn’t talking about food. She licked her bottom lip. No man had ever watched her like that or sent her pulse pounding with his wandering foot.
Joel took her hand in his, brought it to his mouth, and gently nipped her palm until Ava bit back a moan. She forgot her fear as heavy desire replaced it, demanding she surrender.
As he continued to nibble her palm, she sighed out his name, glad she came. Her attraction to him had grown. Now it felt alive, like a force of nature.
“You’re not eating your breakfast.” He smiled a knowing smile that went straight to her head like a glass of wine. “How about we snorkel after…”
She knew what he asked, without asking. Her heart pounded, her body trembled. She felt too hot and out of control. She’d never felt this way with any man. Dangerous. Primal. On edge.
She needed more air. More space and room to get used to such a demanding lust.
What if her sister was wrong? What if this was more than just lust? What if she’d never felt this way because she was falling in love?
That thought dumped ice water over her heated body.
Why had no other man been able to make her feel like this? She reeled at how he’d been able to drug her so completely. Such power over her. She’d never felt such an inferno of passion exploding within her.
That was it. Of course, what she felt was brand new, and she needed time to desensitize her body. Because feeling so much passion was like running her hand over an open flame. Maybe the more they touched, the easier it would be. Or maybe she’d be incinerated, and all that would be left of her would be soot and ashes.
“Snorkeling first,” she choked out, her throat tight.
“What?”
She cleared her throat and tried her best to offer a soft smile. “Can we snorkel first?”
His eyes frosted for a blink as he registered her rejection, then went impassive. Walls were back up. Had she imagined the brief flash of emotion? He composed himself so quickly, as if touching her wasn’t like stroking lighting.
Whereas she was the complete opposite when he touched her. She knew now, she would change once she surrendered her body. And to him she was just another lover in a line of many. A pleasure to sample on the road to making some other woman his wife.
“You want to snorkel first. We’ll snorkel first. Then I take you to my bed.” He nodded. “I know why you’re delaying our love making.”
Her heart squeezed, her stomach sank. Did he guess she was bad in bed from her kisses? Were they too tame?
“You do?” she asked.
“Yes, you want to delay until both of us can’t take it. You know it will be hotter, crazier, if we wait. You’re right, it will be.”
Her stomach clenched. She snapped her bacon in two. “No. We shouldn’t wait. No more waiting.” She gripped the edge of her chair with clammy palms. This could get stronger, more frenzied? As long as it didn’t lead to love.
Maybe she shouldn’t have come and settled for one of the harmless men her sister had set her up with. But she knew she’d never be able to give herself to one of them. She’d never have felt strong enough with her thoughts stuck on Joel.
Was she making this into a bigger deal than it was because of her limited experience? She had to trust her sister. Why would Bethany lead her in the wrong direction? She never had before.
“I’ll be back,” Joel said, and she watched him leave.
A few moments later, Joel came toward her. With the snorkel gear in one hand, he grabbed her by the waist and tugged her from the table into his arms. His mouth hovered over hers, his warm, sweet breath feathering over her lips.
His dark hair was glossy and wild this morning, making him look untamed and gorgeous. His cologne drugged her and drew her closer to his sensual mouth. Everything about him made her knees weak, starting with his hard, muscled body pressing into her as he drew closer, inviting her to throw away her fear and grab onto her passion.
“Joel, I think we should…start our vacation.”
He pulled away without kissing her, making her miss his hard flesh. She ached with want.
“Put your snorkel gear on,” he ordered.
“Joel, I’ve never—”
“Snorkeled? It’s easy. I’ll help you. I’m a good teacher.” Joel leaned forward and helped her adjust her mask.
When Ava’s mask was in place and the rest of her equipment, he pulled her back into his arms and carried her to the water. She held on to his steely body as he took her deeper. Her fingers dug into the slick, smooth skin of his shoulders. He held her as if she were feather-light. It felt good to have a man strong enough to carry her and made her feel sensual and feminine.
Together they dove into the clear water to find abundant marine life and healthy, living coral. When they popped up to the surface, he explained what was safe and what she should avoid. He kept her from swimming into jelly fish and helped her feed a school of parrot fish as tame as goldfish living in an aquarium.
Then it hit her. Joel was a man who protected those in his care. He would never allow anything to hurt her, not even himself. She could trust him. He’d be a great third lover. He would guide her in the right direction, taking her exactly where she needed to be, the way he guided her on this snorkeling trip.
She relaxed, her stomach settling. Before she’d been trying to tell herself he was the right sexual teacher but now she felt it. She was ready to begin her newest exploration.
Ava swam to the surface, and he caught her hands, placed them on his strong shoulders, and kicked them both back to shore, while she enjoyed the feel of the warm water against her sensitized skin and the feel of his strong back against her breasts.
Later they sat on the shore with aqua waves lapping at their toes, her hip against his, his arm around her shoulders. He kissed her temple, and she leaned into his body.
“Did you like that?” he asked.
Did he mean the kiss or the snorkeling? Didn’t matter. She liked everything. “I did, and I realized something.”
“That you want me to kiss you again.” It should have been a question but not with Joel. He was too arrogant to ask questions, but he was right. He lay back on the sand and pulled her on top of him.
It felt wonderful to be draped against his slick warm skin.
His eyes darkened and held a longing as deep as hers in their depths. His heart pounded against her cleavage. Her body blanketed his in a way that felt right. His crisp leg hair teased her smooth calves. His eyes continued to hold hers. Her nipples jutted into his chest, responding to his drugging potency.
His lips raised as hers lowered. An electric shot zapped through her as he captured her mouth. His lips were firm and possessive as he claimed her. Wit
h a sigh, she opened, letting his probing tongue explore, savoring the feel of him. He tasted like a combination of maple syrup, power, and excitement. He suckled her bottom lip until she sighed. Her fingers dug into his arms.
The pleasure of his kiss was so intense her eyes drifted closed. She focused on his hard body under hers, while his tongue made her crazed with passion.
When he broke their kiss, they were both gasping for air.
“Wow,” she whispered against his cheek. The man could kiss. She inhaled his sandalwood scent, and her mouth dried. One kiss and he’d ignited her body like a convection oven. She couldn’t breathe. Her oxygen-starved lungs screamed for air. She didn’t care. Fear of rejection disappeared.
He flipped her onto her back, his legs trapping hers, and he sandwiched her body, making it sink into the warm, powdery sand. His hot breath teased as his mouth moved to her neck, just above her shoulder, in a tender, responsive place. Her body quivered. She arched and surrendered more.
Joel’s expression darkened at her eager response, and he descended on her mouth again with a groan. She couldn’t get enough of his taste or the way his hands roamed over her body as they kissed. Her fingers threaded in his hair and yanked him closer. Her center ached, moistened with a heated longing. Her hips rose, pushing into his groin. His hard erection pierced into her, just where she needed him. Making her come alive.
“Ava,” he moaned her name.
Her heart pounded. Every muscle in her body tightened, ready for him. She traced his jawbone. Then she followed with her lips. His stubble was a welcome rasp against her sensitive mouth.
Just when she thought it couldn’t get more intense, he cupped her breast, kneading it, then tracing her sensitive nipple. His erection continued to rub against her center as she lifted her hips for him. Desire zinged through her. Her toes curled, digging into the sand. So hot and crazed. If she didn’t have him… she’d…
“I want you, Ava. In my bed. Now.” He knew she was his. But he still asked her, in his own way.
She swallowed, so she could speak. “Yes. Oh yes.” Wherever he wanted her, whatever he wanted to do to her, she was his. She burned for him to take her.
Chapter Six
Joel dragged Ava behind him through the powdery sand on the path to his island retreat. She raced to keep up, and smiled.
This was the right time. She hungered for him, and he was as honest as she needed him to be. She knew what he wanted from the relationship, to give her pleasure, that’s all. Her doubts and fears floated away.
He opened the manor’s heavy oak door with a resounding bang, then knelt in the foyer. His warm fingers dusted sand off her legs and feet. Shivers raced up her bare skin. His gentle touch made her nerve endings zap, and her thighs quiver.
After removing sand from his own body, he lifted her into his arms and carried her through the vast space toward the regal bedroom, depositing her on the bed’s feather comforter.
He slid next to her, watching her like this was the most important moment of his life. He lowered his head as she lifted hers to meet his kiss. Her arms snaked around his neck, and her fingers dug into his hair. With a sigh, she opened for him, and his tongue filled her. His warm, moist mouth tasted like heaven.
As his kiss deepened, he traced the outline of her bare hip then caressed her flesh, making sexy circles, until her head spun. Her fingers moved to his chest, reveling in the texture of his skin, the crispness of his lightly, sprinkled chest hair, the softness of his nipple. She encircled and teased those nipples, making them hard, until he groaned into her mouth. Her warm hand felt icy against the inferno of his steel body.
A breath later, he kissed his way down to her neck, finding the most sensitive spot, the place where her pulse leapt, his tongue searing her. Her toes curled at the sensual onslaught. She forgot her exploration of his chest.
He cupped one breast. Her nipples tightened underneath the smooth lycra of the bikini top. When he untied the strings, the fabric fell, and the cool island air brushed across her bare breasts. Then he kneaded her aching flesh until she arched into his touch.
“Ava,” he whispered. His breath and tongue swirled over her nipple.
“Oh God!” she cried.
He took her breast into his mouth and suckled her. Her head fell back, her eyes drifted closed as she absorbed the shivery pleasure.
When he finally released her and rose to his feet, she sat and watched him pull his swim trunks down his muscular legs, marveling at the lean beauty of his naked body. Not an ounce of fat on him, only lean and hard man.
Speaking of hard—his erection was huge. He wanted her now, but would she be enough woman to please him? Her mouth dried.
Only one way to find out.
She reached out and encircled him with her fingers. His erection felt fiery and silky smooth.
A groan rumbled from him. He snagged her hand then brought it to his mouth to kiss. To nibble, to lave. “Not yet.” His voice sounded hoarse, and his expression was pained.
She liked it. Way better than the emotion-free mask he usually wore. Her mouth curved in a satisfied smile. Some part of her could penetrate his almost impenetrable walls. A surge of feminine power shot through her.
His eyes darkened to a deep shade of midnight, focusing in on her, seeking her satisfaction alone.
Her gaze moved from his gorgeous bronze face to his hands as they slid down her body and stopped at her feet. He stroked her arches until sensation shivered over her. Next he caressed up her calf, exploring every inch of her flesh, making her skin rise with goose bumps, and her muscles jump with excitement. When he stalled his exploration, her legs opened for him.
He anchored her hips into the bed, while his mouth found her female center. He laved at her clitoris until heat burned low in her pelvis, until she fisted her hands at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. Her throaty cries grew desperate as orgasm waves built.
It was so intense. But her orgasm was worth every minute of rapture filled suffering.
Her body buzzed as it fell, a deadweight, into the feathery softness of his bed. But she only relaxed for a brief second, listening to the rustle of a condom wrapper as he protected them.
Then he entered her, spreading her, filling her. Filling her a little too much. He must have remembered her telling him it had been a long time or maybe she felt too tight because Joel froze, his gaze intense as if taking in her features. His granite muscles held motionless.
She realized he waited for her direction and her permission to go any further, and his forehead beaded with sweat.
She relaxed and adjusted to his size. “Don’t stop. Please,” she whispered.
He exhaled before he gently moved inside her.
And with each stroke she reveled in the way he filled her.
So good. Not at all like what she’d remembered with her other lovers. She’d never known it could be like this, never in her wildest, late night fantasies. He’d awakened something inside her, by making her his.
When he started to lift himself from her, the movement’s friction made her grab at his shoulders. Her hips rose to pull him back inside.
“Mm,” she moaned into his neck. She inhaled his delicious, sandalwood scent, wanting to remember everything about this moment. The way he felt against her. The way her nipples rubbed his chest, and the way she shivered when he moved.
She tasted the salty skin of his neck, and he groaned. His hips descended as he sank into her, inch by glorious inch. This man was made to fill her. She raised her pelvis to meet him. He started slowly, letting her learn his rythym.
Until slow wasn’t enough, and she had to have more. She needed him faster, deeper.
When her cries grew more desperate, and her nails clawed at his shoulder blades, he let go. His hips crashed against hers until she wanted to scream. And he kept kissing her, his tongue stroking inside her mouth as he plunged into her.
To her surprise, another shattering orgasm took hold, releasing her just as
close to heaven as the first.
He waited until she was still as if giving her time to enjoy all the waves of pleasure, before following her lead, finding his release with one final plunge.
Then with a harsh groan, he dropped onto her. Her fingers still speared into his shoulders, unable to let go. She was dizzy. Her legs wrapped around his in an effort to lock him in place. Her skin tingled, and her muscles dissolved like quivery, melted cream.
Their hearts pounded against each other in one pulsing beat. Their ragged breathing filled the room.
When he lifted to pull free, she whispered, “No.” But it was too late, he’d left her empty to dispose of the condom wrapper.
Then he returned to bed, flipped onto his back, and dragged her next to him, slick skin against slick skin. She nestled in the crook of his arm and sighed. “If I knew it was going to be like that, I would have attacked you in your plane’s bedroom. We wouldn’t have landed without me devouring you.” She smiled. Making love with him had been wonderful, powerful.
And she’d been nervous? Please! A total waste of energy.
“That was awesome, don’t you think?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, and the warm afterglow of his love making faded away.
Chapter Seven
“Definitely,” he finally answered. If he meant what he said, why the pause?
Ava’s face blazed like an open flame flicked her skin. She’d thought she’d pleased him. She was wrong. He thought what Jason thought. She was an ice cube in bed. Now he was about to reject her and she braced herself.
She rolled to her side and rested her chin on his chest reading his stony expression.
“How many lovers have you had?” he asked.
Her muscles stiffened. “How many have you had?”
“We aren’t talking about me. You told me it had been a while, not that your experience is practically nonexistent. You were so tight, then you acted shocked by the orgasms.”
“I’ve climaxed before.” Just not like that, with that much intensity, and never with a man inside her.
A Weekend Temptation Page 5