“Really?” she said. “I thought you were just looking at my boobs.”
He laughed out loud. “That too.”
It felt good to make him laugh.
As they left the sand, something caught her eye farther down the beach, and she paused. A woman with long, dark hair was making her way slowly along, winding between the sand castles. She looked vaguely familiar, but from this distance it was hard to see her properly, especially as she was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and oversized sunglasses.
“You coming?” Liam asked, waiting just inside the alley.
She turned to answer. “Yeah.”
Before she followed him, she looked back one more time, but couldn’t spot the woman again. She shaded her eyes and squinted into the sun, trying to see better. Whoever it was had gone.
Then she looked to where Liam was waiting for her, all tall, dark, and beachy, and a flutter of anticipation started in her belly. She had some rewards to collect.
Chapter Thirty
They went up onto the deck, and he unlocked the door and pushed it open for her to go through. Inside, he hung the key on a hook just inside the kitchen. Then he turned to her, hesitant all of a sudden.
“Uh…do you need anything?”
She glanced at the table, the scene of her most wanton climax ever. “No thanks.” Then she thought about it again. “Actually…yes.”
He’d followed her gaze, and now he smiled, the memory obviously fresh in his mind too. “And where would you like it?”
She felt a heat flush her cheeks, because honestly, looking at his sun-kissed skin, and his strong arms, and the tempting curve of his lips, she’d like it right here, right now. He came and stood in front of her, just out of reach, and she felt an arrow of need shoot through her.
“Would you like it here?” he asked. She bit her lip, and he nodded. “I see.”
It hadn’t taken long for her to give herself away.
“Here works for me.” He took a step forward, and she could feel his body heat.
She found her voice. “I thought we were negotiating,” she pointed out.
“Right,” he said. “I forgot. So okay, maybe here.”
Then he took her hand and led her through the living room to the bottom of the stairs. In one smooth movement, he reached down and grasped the hem of her cover-up, and pulled it up and over her head. Her arms went up of their own accord, letting the fine garment come free, and he draped it over his shoulder.
“Or, would you like it here?” he said again, his voice slow and curious, as though he had no idea, even though she knew full well he understood the desire rising in her body. He trailed his fingers down the side of her neck, across her throat, and over the exposed swell of her breast in her bikini. Then he bent and followed the same path with his lips, letting his tongue run across her skin.
“Maybe,” she replied casually, while her nipples betrayed her by hardening inside her bikini top, and the heat grew between her legs.
“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. “Okay.”
He went behind her and rested one hand low on her back, encouraging her forward up the stairs. “After you.”
He let her go a couple of steps ahead before following, and she was acutely aware that he had an unimpeded view of her bikini-clad butt, right at eye level. She swung her hips just a little more, and smiled when she heard his appreciative murmur. She kept on going.
“The good thing about working from home is that you can do it anywhere,” he said in a conversational tone as they went up. Then she felt him take hold of her hips, stopping her in her tracks and turning her around as he came to the step right below hers. He reached up easily to where her bikini strings were tied behind her neck, and deftly undid them. The top slipped down, coming to rest around her hips. She held her breasts in her own hands, feeling the heat in them, and an unmistakable fire leapt higher, low in her belly.
“So…would you like it here?” he asked, still playing the game, but there was a pleasing rasp in his voice. And as she teased him, taking her own nipples between her fingers and thumbs, feeling them harden even more, she saw a telltale daze come into his eyes.
There on the stairs, she decided to call his bluff. She slipped a hand into his board shorts and wrapped her fingers around him, satisfied to hear his deep rumble of desire. Slowly at first, she moved her hand, then bolder, faster, and then she pushed the shorts out of the way with her other hand so that he was free of the fabric. He propped himself against the wall over her shoulder with one hand, and cupped her breast with the other, letting his thumb circle the hard bud of her exposed nipple. All the while he looked right at her, knowing in his eyes, and her breathing sped up in sync with his, the heat growing between her own legs, until she was wet and hot and so, so needy.
Then he lowered his head and kissed her, hard and hungry, and she was against the wall, pinned by his bulk and the force of his desire. She only managed to keep the rhythm of her hand going for a few moments before she lost all coordination. She slowed and stopped, lost in the tumult of hot breath and delving tongues and the urgent need to feel him closer, closer, not in her hand but inside her, and the sound she made against his mouth was a raw call that only he could answer.
At that, he stepped back, and she saw the equivalent animal hunger in his own eyes.
“Come on,” he said, his voice ragged. And he pulled her along the hallway into his room, where he tossed her cover-up away, and rapidly undid the other bikini strings, letting the top fall from her hips to the floor.
With a hot exhalation, he gazed down at her breasts.
“Just looking at my boobs again?” She couldn’t resist the jibe.
But he shook his head. “Not looking. Revering.”
She laughed. “You’re crazy.”
“Not as crazy as I want to make you,” he replied, tugging down her bikini bottoms.
And when he tipped her onto the bed, pausing only to cover himself before plunging deep inside her, she did feel a kind of crazy overtake her. But it was the kind of unstoppable, elemental madness that she had no intention of fighting.
* * *
Afterward, she lay with one arm flung across her forehead, her pose accentuating her luscious curves, her breath slowly steadying again.
“Well,” she said. “I believe this negotiation is complete.”
“We definitely came to an agreement,” he agreed, letting his hand rest against the damp curls between her legs. He might be spent for now, but he didn’t want to let go.
Her lips curled into a sultry smile, and she peeked at him from under her arm. “I think I came to an agreement twice, actually.”
“Very good,” he said appreciatively. Jesus, she was sexy. “By the way, there’s nothing wrong with your biology skills.”
She laughed, bringing her arm down and curving her hand on the side of his neck. “Likewise,” she said. “That was very…rewarding.”
He lay slow kisses along the line of her collar bone, down into the dip between her breasts. “Didn’t I tell you you’d come out ahead?”
“Mm-hmm,” she said, her eyes still half closed. Then she cupped her breasts, offering them up to his mouth. He trailed his lips over the soft skin, kissing here and there, circling one nipple with his tongue, then the other, each one hardening even more under his mouth. He felt himself twitch and stir again in response to her own reaction. God help him, she was a walking aphrodisiac.
“I could just stay right here,” she murmured into his hair.
He looked up at her, drinking in her rosy, post-orgasm beauty, her blue eyes shining above high cheekbones. She could stay in his bed as long as she wanted.
“Sounds good to me,” he said. But her words had triggered a question in his mind. “You know, I never asked why you left LA. Why now?”
She shifted underneath him, so he rolled over onto his side on the mattress, taking her with him. She tangled her legs in his, staying close.
“It was in the back of my mind for a
while,” she said. “But I always had commitments that stopped me from leaving. And then something happened, and I was like, that’s it. I’m out.”
“What happened?”
She sighed. “It’s the usual boring story.”
“I want to hear it.”
The story she told made him see red. When she finished, he shook his head, feeling his pulse pound in his temple. “If I ever meet that fucker…”
Her eyes widened at the sudden venom in his voice, and he stopped. He wasn’t joking…but she didn’t need to know that.
She shrugged. “Anyway, I’m basically elderly, compared to the girls he keeps threatening me with.”
He put his face close to hers, squinting as he pretended to examine her. “You look pretty damn good for an old-timer.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She put her palm against his forehead and pushed him away, trying not to laugh. “Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration,” she admitted. “I know you think I should be grateful.”
“I don’t think you should be grateful for pricks like that.”
She frowned. “Just for other things.”
Shit. Apparently she hadn’t forgotten the way he’d ripped into her that night, in front of Dane and Connor. He grimaced. “No. That was me being a prick too. I know you’ve worked hard.”
“Really? You’re giving me credit now?”
“I googled you,” he said, twiddling his fingers as though they were on a keyboard, and was relieved to see her laugh.
“No secrets, huh?”
“Apart from the big one. Yourself.” He cupped the side of her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb, and her eyes fluttered closed for a moment. Then she put her hand on top of his, and looked at him.
“Riley seems to think that particular secret might be out, after Friday night. But it’s just like…I’m giving Cin Scott a vacation. Sometimes I think maybe I’m not cut out for that life, even though I always thought I wanted it.”
He sat up a little more. “You are cut out for it.”
“How do you know?”
He twiddled his fingers again. “All the proof is on Google.”
“So basically, you’ve been stalking me on the internet.”
“Yep.” He grinned. He’d go right ahead and admit it. “And in real life.”
“You perv.”
He pretended to leer at her, and she made a fist, aiming for his chin. Lightning fast, he grabbed her hand, held it tight, and leaned in to kiss her. When they came up for air, her cheeks were satisfyingly flushed.
“Speaking of perving, you don’t spend nearly enough time with your shirt off.” Her hands traveled down his chest, then lower, tracing the lines of the abs he’d sweated to achieve. Thank God for house-building and gym-going. As she went lower, he held his breath, but she stopped, one eyebrow raised.
Tease.
“Thank you for your feedback,” he said, working to maintain his best customer service voice. “I’ll take that into consideration.”
“Good,” she replied. “Because you’re not too bad for an old-timer either.”
He grabbed her waist on each side, and she reacted instantly, twisting away with a little scream of laughter. And then they were kissing again, and their hands were on each other, and there was nothing to think about except her skin, her scent, her softness, and the way she hungrily met his seeking mouth.
When everything settled down again, he was struck with a depressing thought: he would really, really miss her when she was gone. But then, she’d said she might be touring—maybe she’d come back to the South Pacific for that.
“So what’s the deal with your tour?” he asked, one hand still roaming over her warm, smooth skin.
She frowned at the seemingly random question. “Just the States, and maybe a couple of shows in Canada. It would be opening for a guy who plays sort of Southern rock, mixed with country.” She shrugged. “He’s a pretty big deal, so…” She let the sentence trail off, twisting a strand of hair in her fingers.
He got it. She had plans. Things to do. She wasn’t going to sit around here at the ass end of the earth forever, no matter how pretty it was, no matter how much he wished things were different. But there was something off in her tone.
“You don’t sound very excited about it.”
“Yeah, well…it’s a long story.” She pressed her lips together.
Something in her expression gave him a sudden certainty. “You were involved with him.” It was a statement of fact, not a question. When she abruptly looked away, he knew he was right.
“No,” she said, suddenly fascinated by his old Star Wars alarm clock on the bedside table.
Shit. Not only was she leaving, she was leaving to go on the road with a guy she used to date. Great. He felt a swell of jealousy creeping through him.
But then he looked down at her—irresistible curves, dark hair sweeping across her soft skin, and remembered. She was here now. She was here in his bed, despite all the things he’d said and done. Despite their past. Or maybe because of their past.
He reached for her, putting every other thought aside. “It’s none of my business,” he said, even though it was killing him to think of her with some ‘big deal’. It made him crazy to think of her with anyone else. His brother included…but somehow, he’d found himself starting to come to terms with that.
She turned back to him. “It’s been ten years,” she said. “You must have been with plenty of girls.”
This was not the direction he wanted the conversation to take. There’d been other women, sure, most of them nice, some of them pretty great. But not one of them had compelled him the way Jacinda did. Only she inspired this kind of sweet torment, consuming his thoughts during the day, and keeping him awake at night. And now he wanted her with him all night.
“None of them were you,” he said, gathering her close and kissing her forehead. Then he threaded his hands in her hair and pulled back so that he could see her bright blue eyes. “Stay the night,” he said.
“Well…if we’re in your bed I guess you won’t be running out on me.”
Her voice was teasing, but he didn’t miss the point. He’d take that burn like a man, if it meant she was staying. “I’m not running anywhere.”
He loaded the words with all the meaning he couldn’t say aloud. And judging by the flash of recognition and warmth in her eyes, she didn’t miss it.
“Okay,” she said finally. “I’ll text Danielle so she doesn’t worry.”
Relief ran though him. If this was as okay as it got, he should be grateful himself. Even if he wanted more—and he always wanted more when it came to her, even when he shouldn’t—these short weeks would have to tide him over. Maybe forever.
He banished the thought, and focused on the woman right in front of him, right now. It was enough that they had a chance now. And if she fell for him the way he’d fallen for her—long ago—then maybe everything else would fall into place too.
“So we’re okay,” he said, as though it was a signed-and-sealed sure thing. At this point, the alternative was unthinkable.
“We’re…complicated,” she replied, her face serious, and a sudden doubt and fear lurched in his guts.
Then she smiled.
“But I think we could be more than okay.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Morning was her new favorite time of day. With her leg flung over his, and a hand on his broad chest, Jacinda looked at the man next to her in bed—his hair thoroughly pillow-rumpled, five o’clock shadow carried over to ten fifteen, the way he was watching her right back, with those amused, oh-so-blue bedroom eyes. Not to mention all the ridiculously hot things he’d just done…and done the night before. He made it easy to forget all the drag and drama of the outside world, and even their complicated history seemed like just that—history. If only every day could start this way.
As if reading her mind, Liam said, “I could do this every morning.”
“I could do it twice every morni
ng,” she said.
He lifted his head and looked at her. “Oh, really?”
“Really.” She ran a hand down his arm, then over the plane of his stomach. “Could you?”
He feigned indignation. “Do you doubt me?”
She paused, hearing a sound from downstairs. “Is that someone at the door?”
He listened, then shrugged. “Probably Sam. He’s always turning up during the day at random times. Or it could be Connor and Dane—they refuse to use the doorbell. I’ll go and see.”
He got out of bed, but seeing him standing there, carved and golden, she knelt up and took hold of his arms. One more touch before he left. One more helping of warm skin to tide her over. She leaned forward just enough that her breasts brushed against his torso, then matched the delicate touch with her lips, letting her tongue graze along the slightly salty skin on his chest. They’d been in too much of a hurry to think about showering when they came back from the beach yesterday. He let out a low groan, and she smiled as she felt him start to harden once more against her belly. Got him.
He bent down and buried his face in her neck. “You are a bad, bad girl,” he said into her ear, his breath hot. “And I fully intend to lay you down and prove I can do it twice. With variations.”
She shivered as he kissed the sensitive spot under her ear. Then he stood up straight again, and tapped the tip of her nose. “But there’s a kid on the loose to deal with first.”
“Or two big kids.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Either way, I’ll be right back.”
“You’d better.” She feigned a pout.
He grinned, running his hands down her back and cupping her bottom. “Oh, I will, I promise. See?”
She looked down. That promise was pressing hard against her, taut and eager all over again. She laughed, and resisted the temptation to play. Magnificent though it was, he couldn’t go and open the front door with that leading the way.
“I do see.” She put her hands behind her back. “And hurry, because I have some variations of my own to suggest.”
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