“How long ago?”
“Years ago, Grandma.”
“And now he’s giving his heart to you.”
I nodded, sucking in a heaving breath.
“Do you believe in him? Enough to risk your heart?”
I thought of the way he looked at me from day one. The way he touched me, putting my pleasure before his own, drawing me out, loving me, cherishing me. I thought of his offer—his gift to me. The fact that he believed in me, when I didn’t believe in myself was a powerful thing.
“Oh, God. I do, Grandma,” I said. “What do I do now?”
She smiled at me again and gave my hand a squeeze before getting up from the table.
“You go to him, you silly girl.”
She poured herself another cup of coffee and added a splash of rum with a wink at me.
“Besides. He’s easy on the eyes. You two are going to give me beautiful grandbabies.”
I laughed and dried the last of my tears with a checkered cloth napkin.
“Thank you, Grandma,” I said.
“Don’t mention it. It’s what us old farts are for. Doling out advice when the young folk go astray.”
I laughed, thinking how right she was as I sipped my coffee and thought about what to do next.
***
I knocked on the door of the Kailani Suite, and waited, adjusting my pink sarong and wondering if the plumeria blossom in my hair was too much, or just enough. My heart was beating so hard in my chest, I wondered if Gavin would hear it and know just how nervous I was.
The door opened, and I found myself holding my breath. I made myself exhale as he opened the door. Gavin was in the middle of tying a blue silk tie and was in his shirtsleeves, his hair still wet from his shower. I could smell the intoxicating scent of his aftershave, and instantly, my heart swelled at the sight of him.
“Aolani…”
He broke into a grin, then his eyebrows rose, as if wondering if I was here with good news or bad. The anxiety on his face was so painfully genuine, so baldly unassuming, I knew instantly I’d made the right decision coming here. I had to see him as soon as possible.
“May I come in?”
“Of course,” he said, and pushed the door to the suite open.
I gasped as I walked inside. His accommodations were bigger than the entirety of my grandmother’s house, the spacious lanai overlooking the southernmost point of the beach, jutting straight out over the water. The interior reminded me of his home on Providenciales—spacious and luxuriously decorated. No matter where Gavin went, he traveled in style.
On the counter in the kitchen, another enormous bouquet, this time of red roses bound together. There must have been four dozen. I smiled when I saw them. So those are for me.
When the door closed, I turned to face him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but I reached for his hand, and he stopped, eyeing me with a mixture of hope and desire burning in his eyes. But the creases on his forehead said he was still anxious I was here to let him down, and he’d go home my partner in business, and nothing more.
“Gavin, I couldn’t wait to see you tonight. I had to tell you as soon as I knew. I mean, as soon as I really knew.”
He pulled me toward him, his eyes darkening as he looked down at me. “What couldn’t you wait to tell me?”
Now that the moment had come, it was like the words I’d been feeling for days, weeks, tumbled out of my mouth. Out of my heart. I couldn’t worry about pretense, about dignity, about poise. I just had to tell him how I felt as soon as possible so we could take the next step, whatever that was.
“I love you,” I breathed. “I love you so much...”
His hands cupped my face, and his eyes held a joy so fierce I thought I might burst just seeing it reflected there.
“Do you mean it?”
I put my hand over his, loving the way his touch felt, after all these days apart.
“God, yes.”
He pulled me to him, and then his lips were on mine, our mouths opening together in a sigh that soon turned hot and needy. I groaned into him, and he reached down, squeezing my ass and pulling my body harder against him. His tongue slid over my lips, tasting me, teasing me, before sliding past and dancing with mine.
He felt so good, and so goddamn right. I loved this man with all of my heart, and now we could finally be together after being so foolish apart. After all of this worry, all of this misunderstanding, all of this heartache, I could finally just be his, and he could be mine. The thought of that blew me away.
I was ready to risk it all for this man. I just hoped he wouldn’t break my heart.
He pulled away briefly, both of us breathing hard and looked into my eyes. He grinned in that wolfish way that made me tingle from head to toe.
“Wait here.”
Gavin jogged over to a staircase I hadn’t seen and took the steps two at a time, disappearing onto the top floor of his suite. My heart was in my throat, my body already responding to him, my core flooded with heat at his touch. God, it was good to be with him. And deep inside, I knew it always would be.
He jogged back down the steps and took my hand, leading me out onto the lanai. The light was just beginning to fade, and I could make out single pinpricks of stars overhead, eager to shine their light over the gorgeous white sand beach below. The porch was private, cut off from the other suites by palms and foliage obscuring the view on either side. Standing here with him felt like being on the prow of his yacht again, alone together except for the wind and the waves sliding along below.
Gavin pushed his hair back from his face and, with a look I will remember for the rest of my life, knelt down on one knee. My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, I froze, unsure whether this was a dream, or if this beautiful, incredible man was really doing what I thought he was doing.
“Aolani, the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were someone special. But as I got to know you, as I worked by your side and learned what a brilliant, talented, kind-hearted woman you are, I couldn’t help but fall madly in love with you. Lass… will you be by my side for the rest of my life? Will you make my world the best it can be by being in it for the rest of yours?”
A tear rolled down my cheek, but I did nothing to wipe it away. It was a tear of joy, so much different than the ones I’d shed before. It was welcome.
“Aolani Kahale… will you please be my wife?”
He held out a ring that glimmered in the light from the setting sun, but at that moment, I only had eyes for him.
“Yes,” I said, although the sound came out more like a sob.
I knelt down and threw my arms around his neck, wanting nothing more than to kiss him and be kissed by him forever. My heart was so full, I wanted to laugh and cry and sing and…
He interrupted my thoughts with a kiss so passionate, it stole my breath away. His hands wound in my hair, stroking it gently, then wrapping it around his wrist, holding me fast, letting me know I was his. I moaned as he gave it a little tug.
“My beautiful bride-to-be,” he growled, kissing my neck in a way that made my thighs tremble.
“My husband-to-be,” I said blissfully, letting him take away with his touch.
He undid the halter tie on my sarong, and it fell gently down my skin, whispering off the curves of my breasts and pooling around my waist. I wore nothing beneath, and he groaned his approval as his eyes wandered over my body.
I pulled his loosened tie off and began working his buttons feverishly, wanting to touch him—to feel his body pressed against mine with nothing in between us. He shrugged out of his shirt and stood, pulling me up with him, then helping me step out of what was left of my dress.
Our hands were everywhere, me tugging on his buckle while he caressed me roughly, kneading my breasts before sliding down the indent of my waist to worship the swell of my hips. His pants fell, and he kicked off his shoes, then my hand was encircling him, and I was gasping at how hard he was already—how much he wanted me. How
much his need matched my own.
He sat back on one of the deck chairs then, and pulled me over to him, keeping me at arms’ length as I stood before him. Taking his fill of just looking at me. His fiancée. His bride-to-be.
“How do you take my breath away every time, my beautiful Aolani?”
I could have said the same about him, sitting back, his tanned body stretched out, muscles flexing as he gripped his rock-hard shaft in one hand, that hungry, wild look in his eye that told me he wanted to do nothing more but devour me. That he wanted all of me, from head to toe—wanted to make me his, to put his mark on me as his own. His Aolani. His woman.
I got down on my knees in front of him, suddenly unable to resist the idea of putting my mouth on him, of making him feel as good as I felt right then—of pleasing him with my tongue and hands and body. As I wrapped my lips around him, he gasped, his mouth open as he looked down on me, his eyes full of wonder and heat.
I licked my palm and ran my hand up and down his cock, feeling his hardness like silk over steel. I looked up at him, smiling around the tip, then suckled him in slowly, savoring the feel of him before tickling the bottom of his head with the tip of my tongue in the way I knew he liked.
“Watch out now,” he growled. “Any more of that, and I’ll have to fuck you hard, right here on the balcony, lass.”
I giggled around him, the sound more like a hum than a laugh, and he tensed, bucking up into my mouth involuntarily.
“God, Aolani… You naughty little thing…”
He leaned down over me and smacked my ass, making me squeal as I licked and sucked, determined not to stop until he made me.
“That’s it,” he grunted. “You’ve asked for it.”
I screamed as he pushed me back, then scooped me up in his arms, carrying me toward the deck railing. When my feet hit the ground, he bent me over the wooden beam with strong hands, until my back arched and my ass was in the air. I looked over my shoulder as the ocean breeze toyed my hair, and saw him positioning himself behind me, the look on his face dangerous. Primal.
I was already so wet for him, my body responding to him like never before. My nipples ached, painfully tight as they brushed over the railing, and my core felt empty without him inside of me. I pushed back, eager for him, but he smacked my bottom again, making it sting in a way that just made my need stronger.
“Do you want me to fuck you, lass?”
He pressed against me, rubbing his hardness against my body, teasing my damp folds with his cock. I could feel the heat coming off him, and mewled, wanting him more than anything.
“Yes, Gavin. Oh, yes, please…”
He pushed the head of his shaft against me, parting me, and I moaned, feeling the pressure as he sought his entrance. But before even the tip was inside, he stopped. I bit my lip and wiggled my hips, trying to urge him in, but his hands on my hips held me fast.
“Do you want this?”
He pushed forward ever so slightly, bumping into my channel, but leaving my clit needy and flushed, my nerves on fire for him; teased and nothing more. I groaned in frustration.
“Yes!”
“Do you want me to take you hard?”
He eased himself inward until the tip seated itself inside of me, and I moaned wantonly, my body stretching around him, adjusting to his width. God, it felt right being filled by him—by the man I loved.
“Yes, Gavin! Yes!”
“I can’t hear you, lass,” he said softly, and bit my shoulder from behind.
He started to draw back out, and I cried out like a woman in pain.
“Please! Fuck me, Gavin. Oh, God, fuck me hard!”
His low voice tickled my neck. “Good girl.”
He slammed into me, up to the hilt, and I screamed again, loving the feeling of him buried inside of me, his hardness filling me up until I almost couldn’t stand it. He reached around and squeezed my breasts, then, pulling out oh-so-slowly before ramming into me once again. I moaned, holding onto the railing, my fingernails scrabbling on the wood as he picked up the pace.
He rolled my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, drawing moan after moan from my lips as he thrust again and again, his other hand digging into my waist, pulling me back hard to meet him with each slap of flesh on flesh. Electricity crackled inside of me, each hard pistoning of his hardness inside of me making my body light up, like lightning striking out over a darkening sea.
The wind picked up, stealing the gasps from my mouth as he fucked me, and then he was pulling my hair back with one hand, holding me, making me his, and the other was between my legs, drawing my pleasure out like a maestro playing his favorite instrument.
I put one leg up on the bottom of the railing, and felt him deeper, my breasts swaying to the beat of our coupling, our sweat mingling as his stomach touched my back, his scent and mine mixing into something intoxicating. Insatiable. Unreal.
“Oh, God, Aolani,” he gritted behind me. “God, you’re so incredible.”
His hand moved faster, strumming my clit as he thrust again and again, faster and harder than ever, moving at the pace of a man at the edge of control. I whimpered, my hips grinding against him, my greedy clit aching beneath his touch, my body vibrating with the electric pleasure as he coaxed me higher and higher.
And then I was cumming, my body milking him as I screamed his name, his thumb still stroking, stroking, stroking until pleasure became almost as sharp as pain, his hard strokes coming faster and wilder now as he sought his own release.
When he came, he encircled me with his arms, pressing us both into the railing, holding himself still until I could feel him moving inside of me, his cock twitching as he spilled inside of me, my channel still squeezing him again and again with the force of my orgasm.
We stayed like that a long while, joined, naked in the sea breeze, kissing softly, me reaching back to run my hands over his strong buttocks and thighs, him exploring my curves and cupping the swells of my breasts. Loving me with his touch.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
I leaned back, resting my head on his shoulder.
“For what?”
“For trusting me.” He kissed my neck, and I nodded, understanding.
Because I did trust him, thoroughly, for the first time since I met him. I’d finally seen Gavin’s heart, and in it, instead of the empty shell I’d feared, was a place kept open just for me. A private place he’d kept for his one love. The love of his life.
When we finally broke apart, he led me into his suite, and finally, up to his bed. We lay in the dark a long while, talking of plans for the future—setting up the photography studio in Edinburgh and visiting Grandma on holidays and during the rainy winter months, having children and moving my things into his estate—and just when I thought I was finally dozing off, I felt something cool touch my palm.
I opened my eyes and looked at what my husband-to-be had placed in my hand. It was the ring; a cushion-cut diamond set in a delicate design of platinum leaves and tendrils.
“I had it made before I left Scotland just in case,” he said, running his hands through my hair. “The leaves reminded me of you—wild and beautiful. My lush island girl.”
I held my left hand up, my eyes misting as I looked at it, the diamond winking at me in the moonlight filtering through the window. He slid the ring down over my finger, then pressed a hot kiss to the palm of my hand.
“It’s… Oh, Gavin, it’s perfect. If I’d ever have designed anything for myself, this would be it.”
His face lit up, even in the darkness, and he rolled over, pushing my thighs apart. I giggled, and raked my nails down his back, loving the feel of the place where his taut waist met his muscular ass.
“I’m so glad, love,” he said, and kissed me deeply.
He slid into me, and I moaned, titling my hips up to meet him. “I just want you to be happy.”
I wrapped my legs around his waist and we moved together lazily, my body heating up again at the feel of him rocking
inside of me.
“I’ve never been happier,” I said, and as I looked up into his eyes, shining above me, I knew my whole life was unfolding before me, moments even more beautiful than this one, just waiting beyond the horizon. “And I have a feeling it’s just going to get better and better.”
He buried his face in my neck as he bucked into me harder, drawing a sigh from me, then a moan.
“You’re goddamn right, it is,” he said. “I’ll make sure of that, lass.”
And as we came together again and again, him drawing me to new heights even as I felt sweet exhaustion creeping into my limbs, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
I was going to marry Gavin Fletcher.
I didn’t think it could get much better than that.
***
The End
***
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About the Author
Delilah Fawkes is the bestselling erotic romance author of "The Billionaire's Beck and Call" series, selling more than 150,000 e-books in 2012.
She's known for sizzling romances with red hot alpha males you'll fall in love with and strong women who make them swoon. If you like your romance gripping, fast-paced, and dripping with sinful love scenes, you've got to check out what Delilah has to offer.
Delilah Fawkes always delights in bringing you the very best in erotica and erotic romance!
For more Delilah Fawkes stories, please visit her blog.
BONUS MATERIAL
Love naughty alpha males who take control? Check out this sizzling excerpt of BOUND BY THE VIKING (A BDSM EROTIC ROMANCE):
He pulled her back on his lap until she was forced to lie back against him, her back to his front, as if she were a child on her father’s lap. But his motives were most definitely not fatherly.
Lush Curves 6: Safe Harbor Page 3