Natural Passion (Au Naturel Trilogy Book 1)

by Anna Durand

  Once dinner was over, Eve invited me into her bedroom again. We were lingering in the hallway near the door to my room when she posed the question.

  She hunched her shoulders and angled her head down to peek up at me through her lashes. "Would you like to come into my bedroom?"

  "I'd love to, but I'm exhausted." I skimmed a hand up and down her arm. "You must be exhausted too."

  "Yeah, but—" She bit down on her lower lip and stared at the wall next to me. After a few seconds, she forced a smile. "Never mind. You're right, we're both too tired. I'll see you in the morning. Good night, Val."

  She all but sprinted toward her room.

  "Good night, Eve," I called after her.

  The door to her bedroom swung shut.

  Her shyness about inviting me into her room had been adorable, but I couldn't understand why she'd felt embarrassed. Had she wanted me to sleep with her more than I'd thought? I'd assumed it was a casual request. Maybe she'd meant it as more and surprised herself with that realization.

  Did I want more?

  Of course not. Neither did she.

  I ambled into my room but left the door open. Part of me hoped she might sneak in here in the middle of the night and crawl under the covers with me. Why was I wishing for that? We were having sex, that was all. I didn't need to feel her warm, supple body tucked against mine while I slept. I didn't need to wake up and find her head on my chest, and I absolutely did not need to dip my nose into her hair and inhale the sweet, fruity scent of her shampoo.

  No, I didn't need or want any of that. I loved her body, and I loved enjoying that body, but my desire for her ended there.

  For the first time in years, I had trouble sleeping. I was positive it had nothing to do with Eve.

  I got up earlier than usual in the morning—not on purpose like I had yesterday, but because I couldn't sleep anymore. A hot shower sounded good until I was in the shower and started wondering if Eve would sneak in to join me.

  She didn't.

  Wishing she would join me in the shower had nothing to do with emotions. I wanted her like I'd never wanted any woman, and I wanted to be inside her as often as possible from today onward. Thoughts of Eve's body had me beating off in the shower, but that wouldn't tide me over for long.

  By the time I walked into the kitchen, Eve was already making breakfast for everyone.

  She waved toward the stool on my side of the island. "Have a seat. I'll give you first dibs on breakfast."

  I perched on the stool, noting that she'd already set out plates and silverware for us. "Thought I'd beat you into the kitchen this morning."

  And I might have if I hadn't needed to relieve my lust twice in the shower.

  The outfit she'd chosen to wear today didn't help matters. Her tie-dyed dress held up by spaghetti straps barely covered her ass and breasts, and the gold anklet draped around her elegant ankle made me hunger to have that leg strapped around me again. The sandals she wore had the skinniest straps I'd ever seen and looked like they might snap if she took one step. The shoes didn't have me wincing and adjusting my position on the stool, though. It was the dress. Was she wearing panties under that thing? She couldn't be wearing a bra, not with that plunging neckline and those slender straps.

  Eve's breasts. Naked under the dress. Her perfect tits swinging free.

  My erection scraped against the underside of the island's lip.

  I coughed into my fist and said, "Smells good. What are you making?"

  "Sheet breakfast sandwiches."

  "What is a sheet breakfast sandwich? I've never heard of that."

  She smiled at me over her shoulder. "You've heard of a breakfast sandwich, right? The ones I'm making have a pancake layer on the top and bottom with sausage, eggs, and cheese in the middle. Instead of making each sandwich individually, I whip up one huge sandwich on a big baking sheet. I'm using three baking sheets today. Then I slice each big sandwich into smaller pieces."

  "Do you pour syrup on it?"

  "No, but I put syrup out on the buffet table for anyone who wants it." She glanced at me again, this time curling her lip. "I also have to put out hot sauce and jalapenos. Ollie and Sylvester love that stuff."

  "Have you tried it? Hot sauce and jalapenos sounds good to me."

  She wagged a large knife at me. "If you expect to kiss me later, better not eat any of that."

  Kiss her? Yes, I wanted to do that—for hours. I loved kissing Eve.

  "When can I eat one of those?" I asked. "Estou verde de fome."

  "You're starving, eh? Oh yeah, you look puny and weak, for sure." She turned around, holding a plate with three breakfast sandwiches on it. Setting it down in front of me, she slanted in to peck a kiss on my lips. "Can't have you malnourished, not with the things I want to do to you today."

  "More cookies?" I half hoped she would do that again.

  She shook her head. "I saved a bottle of caramel sauce and a tub of ice cream just for us."

  "An ice cream sundae? I like those."

  "Uh-uh, this one's all for me." She stretched out one delicate hand, trailing the tip of her longest finger down my chest. "You are the sundae."

  "I like that even better." I caught her hand, lifted her outstretched finger to my mouth, and sucked on it. "But it's only fair that I should get my turn to have an Eve sundae."

  She withdrew her hand, but her eyes had taken on the glossiness of desire. "Well, I guess it is only fair."

  While she returned to portioning out the breakfast sandwiches, I abandoned mine and sneaked up behind her. The scent of her hair made me draw in a deep draft of it, my nose buried in her silky locks. I slipped an arm around her waist.

  "Can't wait for dessert," I said. "Need you now."

  "But I have to finish making breakfast. Hungry nudists are waiting, and they won't like their hot breakfast to arrive cold."

  I fisted my hand in her hair, tugging her head back to expose her slender throat. Her mouth fell open. I raked my tongue up her skin from the base of her throat to the tender spot right under her jaw. "We'll heat up the food in the microwave."

  She leaned into me, her hands landing on my thighs. "We can't. We shouldn't."

  "Yes, we should, and we can." I glided my palm down her leg until I found the hem of her dress, then slipped my hand under it. Her skimpy underwear blocked me from touching her where I desperately wanted to, so I settled for stroking her through the fabric. "Say yes, Eve."

  Her breasts heaved. Her panties grew wet.

  She crooked her fingers into my thighs and whispered, "Yes."

  I suckled her earlobe.

  High-pitched screams erupted outside.

  Eve jerked. "They're early."

  "Who?"

  "The Kitten Brigade." She shoved me away and whirled around, straightening her dress. "They never get here this early in the morning."

  She raced out the door.

  I followed at a slower pace.

  There in the driveway hunkered a neon-pink motor home. Young women were still pouring out of the vehicle, every one of them wearing a simple white T-shirt dress.

  Eve and I stopped ten feet from the group.

  Once the last girl had exited the motor home, they all whipped off their clothes and shrieked. White dresses, the only items of clothing they wore, flew into the air and sailed down to land on the gravel of the driveway.

  The gaze of every last member of their group zeroed in on me.

  Whoops and shrieks exploded from them, and the throng descended.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Eve

  Oh. Dear. God. The Kitten Brigade swarmed Val like they'd discovered a juicy T-bone steak after being on a liquid diet for a month. I got muscled out of the way as eight twenty-something women rushed at the man I'd spent most of yesterday screwing. They giggled and shrieked and barraged him with questions, all talking at once so there was no chance he could understand their questions, much less answer th
em.

  Val stayed calm, though. He smiled and shook the girls' hands. How a naked man surrounded by nubile, nude women could remain so composed baffled the hell out of me. Most guys would've freaked out or gotten angry—or developed a raging erection. I supposed Val was used to this kind of attention. He had become a celebrity thanks to his outrageous public behavior.

  When the Kittens continued to swarm Val after a couple of minutes, I shoved two fingers into my mouth and whistled. The sound pierced the babbling of the crowd, and everyone in the vicinity—the Kittens, Val, and the other guests—swung their attention to me.

  "Girls," I said, "let the man breathe, okay? Having a guest suffocate under a pile of women wouldn't be good press for the resort."

  The de facto leader of the Kitten Brigade, Heidi Mackenzie, sashayed over to me. She gave me a quick, firm hug and then feigned a pout. "We're sorry, Evie. But you can't expect us to ignore the hottest guy who's ever set foot on your property."

  "No, but I can and do expect you to not assault him en masse."

  Somehow, even while stark naked with her nipples jutting from her perky breasts, she pulled off an expression of pure innocence. Her angelic looks, with golden-blonde hair and pale-blue eyes, helped. "We didn't touch him. Not even an ass pinch. We kept our hands to ourselves even though he is a walking fudge pop begging to be licked."

  Oh yeah, Val and Heidi had something in common—utter shamelessness.

  Heidi leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Please tell me you've tapped that."

  "You know I never kiss and tell."

  "Sad but true." She backed up a step and waved her arms, summoning the Brigade. When every last one of them had abandoned Val, some adopting a fake pout like Heidi had done, she turned to address her group. "The new guy is off-limits, Kittens." The sassy girl winked at me over her shoulder. "Evie's got this one."

  My mouth opened, a denial on my tongue, but I shut my trap. Nobody needed to know the details of my whatever-this-was with Val.

  "And now," Heidi said, "Eve will introduce us to the new hottie."

  I glanced at Val, my brows raised.

  He shrugged.

  And I took that as permission to tell them.

  To the Kittens, I said, "This is Val Silva. He's originally from Brazil but calls LA home these days. He was a soccer star for years, even went to the Olympics, but now he's a model."

  "And he belongs to Evie," Heidi said with mock gravitas.

  Shelby Thomas, the shortest member of the Brigade, shook her head. "What a bummer. I was looking forward to a good cat fight. Oh well, at least I don't need to keep my hair tied up if nobody's going to use it as leverage."

  The brunette ripped the scrunchy out of her, setting her long locks free, and tossed the scrunchy high into the air.

  It landed on Val's shoulder.

  He wrapped the strip of lavender fabric around his wrist.

  Shelby giggled.

  "Let me finish the introductions," I said, and pointed to each lady in turn as I told Val their names. "Heidi. Shelby. Taylor. Allison. Heather. Sydney. Jane. Leah."

  Val smiled. "Nice to meet you, ladies. What a lovely bunch you are."

  Some of them smiled shyly. Others grinned. A few gave him saucy looks.

  Heidi rose onto her tiptoes to glance around the area behind me where the other guests had gathered. "Where's our Ollie? Isn't he here yet?"

  I turned around, searching the crowd until I spotted Ollie.

  At the instant I spotted him, Heidi did too. She hopped on her toes and waved her arms in the air. "Get over here, sweetie! We missed you!"

  Ollie smiled sheepishly at the people around him, shrugged, and pushed through the crowd to reach Heidi and the gals.

  Heidi grabbed him in a bear hug.

  "Cut that out," I chided. "Do I need to recite the rules right here? I thought we could hold off on that until you get settled in."

  "We know the rules," Heidi said, releasing a blushing Ollie. "But I couldn't help myself. This boy is cuteness squared."

  The rest of the Kittens took their turns hugging Ollie, but in the permitted fashion. Shelby ruffled his hair. Several of them kissed his cheek. In fact, they paid more attention to him than they had to Val.

  Well, they had known Ollie for years.

  I walked over to Val, who now stood alone.

  He draped an arm around my waist. "I seem to have lost my appeal. Can't compete with Ollie."

  "Yes, he does have that adorable-nerd vibe women love."

  "Would you rather be hugging and kissing Ollie?" he asked with a smirk.

  "No, I prefer the notorious-exhibitionist type."

  He tugged me against his side. "I'm glad to hear that."

  The Kittens spotted us in our intimate pose and started cooing "ooooh." Several of them shouted various things at us—well, at me.

  "Evie's got a boyfriend!"

  "No, she's just licking that lollipop!"

  "When's the wedding?"

  "Look at those muscles! Woo-hoo, Evie!"

  Ollie, still surrounded by women fighting for his attention, flashed me an impish grin. "Leave her alone, girls. If Eve wants to shack up with the new guy, it's her business."

  "Shack up?" Heidi said, sidling up to Ollie. "Do tell."

  "Val's staying in Eve's house."

  I wagged a finger at Ollie. "Don't be a gossip. You know it's only because of the burst pipe in the guest house."

  "Right, the pipe. How are those repairs coming?"

  He knew damn well the repairs weren't finished. Since firing Quentin yesterday, I'd forgotten to call around and find a contractor to finish the work. If anyone would come out here. Maybe I didn't want Val to move into the guest house yet. Or ever.

  Or maybe scorching sex was making me forgetful. Yeah, that was it.

  Everyone stared at me and Val, their expressions running the gamut from amused to surprised.

  Which might've had something to do with the fact Val had his arm around me and was hugging me to his naked body. I fought the impulse to shout, "He's not my boyfriend!" That would lead to more questions about why we were so chummy and what exactly we were doing together. In my house. Alone. Most of the day and all of the night.

  I broke up the crowd by suggesting the Kittens get their tents set up. Ollie offered to help out with that, and several of the older men offered too, as did Val.

  While the girls retrieved their equipment from the RV, Ollie approached me. Val and the other men had gone around the guest house to the camping area, so Ollie had me alone.

  He put his arm around my shoulders. "Is Val treating you right? You're like a sister to me, and I don't want some Casanova athlete breaking your heart."

  "That's very sweet, Ollie, but I'm fine. No danger of heartbreak."

  "You sure?" He gave me a squeeze. "Because you two have that look."

  "What look?"

  "The one that usually means two people are falling in love."

  "Oh please," I said. "Now you're an expert on human behavior?"

  "Hardly, but I've known you for four years." He took hold of my shoulders and angled me to face him. His expression was serious. "I have never seen you act the way you do with Val. This isn't a fling, Evie. You really like him, and he really likes you."

  "We met four days ago."

  "You never heard of love at first sight?"

  "Heard of it? Yes. Believe in it? No."

  Val and I were enjoying multiple orgasms per day, not falling in love. Neither of us wanted a relationship. I wouldn't tell Ollie any of that because it was private and none of his damn business. Still, his concern for my well-being might have been the nicest thing anyone had done for me in a long time.

  "Okay," he said. "If you're good, I'm good."

  He jogged off to help with the tent setup.

  I went into my house to finish preparing breakfast.

  Ollie was wrong. No way, no how could I fall for a
guy I'd met four days ago. I certainly wouldn't fall for a big-time womanizer who liked to strip in public to get media attention.

  No way, no how.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Val

  After breakfast, I observed while the other guests enjoyed a raucous game of miniten with the rules treated as suggestions and everyone laughing more than hitting the ball. Though the game was supposed to be played by two pairs, the Kitten Brigade insisted on having six players on each side strictly for fun. Eve had only four thugs on hand, so the other players took up tennis rackets. The Kittens lost to the Silver Foxes, the team name for the gray-haired guests, but no one seemed to care about the score.

  Once the game ended, I followed Eve into her house. She'd announced to everyone she was going to make lunch. Considering she now had twenty-five guests to feed, she needed help. Of course, she wouldn't ask for it. The woman seemed to be allergic to admitting she needed a hand.

  In her kitchen, she rounded on me. "Go back outside. You're a guest, not my sous chef."

  "Don't want to be your sous chef." I looped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. "I'm your slave, remember? I do your bidding all day and all night."

  "Even if I made you clean all the toilets in the guest house?"

  "Yes, even then." I considered what she'd said, then asked, "Tell me you don't do all the cleaning yourself."

  "I do."

  "Eve, you need to hire more people to help you."

  She wriggled out of my hold. "I don't have the budget for that. Maybe soon I will, now that I've paid off the bank loan, but not yet."

  "I'll give you the money."

  She settled a hand on the counter and drummed her fingers. "Thank you for the offer. It's very generous, but I can't accept. I'm not a damsel in distress waiting for you to rescue me."

  "This is help from a friend, not charity."

  Her lips ticked upward at the corners even as they puckered slightly. She shook her head. "We're screwing, Val, not knitting quilts together."

  I grabbed a spatula off the island, unsure why I did it, and clenched my fist around the thing. Maybe I needed to throttle something other than Eve. Most women begged me to give them money or buy them clothes, but she would have none of it. I thumped the spatula's handle on the butcher-block surface. "Why won't you accept my help? I have more than enough money. Let me share it with you."