Natural Passion (Au Naturel Trilogy Book 1)

by Anna Durand

  "Hold on," I growled as I lifted her legs and shuffled forward until she hung upside down with her hands flat on the ground and her legs bent. I slid my hands up to her ankles, one at a time. "Okay?"

  "Yes. Do it."

  I thrust into her, sinking deeper than ever inside her lush body, and paused there for a moment, letting myself fall into the pleasure of taking her. Then I plowed into her fast and hard, her cream making a sucking sound and my balls slapping on her skin, every movement rough and hungry. If my eyes had been open, they would've rolled back in my head from the indescribable pleasure of her body around me, so wet and warm and supple. When she came, I let out a strangled cry at the sensation of her sheath tightening around my cock and her body milking me. I threw my head back and punched into her even harder, twice more, spilling everything I had inside her depths.

  "God, Evie." I lowered her feet to the mat, carefully, and hooked an arm around her waist to draw her up into a standing position. With her body plastered to mine, I wrapped both arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder. "That was incredible. You are incredible, amorzinho."

  "That was earth-shattering, I'd say." She wriggled around to face me, enfolding me in her arms, her cheek against my neck and her breaths tickling my skin. "What was that you called me? Amorzinho?"

  "It means love or sweetheart." I kissed the top of her head. "You are sweet, and perfect, but you're also brave and wild and passionate. I love being the only one who sees this side of you."

  Her fingers plunged into my hair while she whispered into my ear. "I love it too. And I love the way you keep calling me affectionate things in Portuguese."

  "Can't help it. I feel affectionate toward you."

  "Me too."

  This time when I'd spent myself inside her, I had experienced more than a sexual release. Something inside me had let go too.

  I held her for a long moment, caressing her silken hair.

  She pulled her head back to look at me and smiled that sensual little smile. "Let's do more erotic yoga."

  "Love to."

  What we'd just done had been more than sex. We both knew it.

  The sound of a car door slamming made us both freeze.

  "What was that?" Eve asked. "There aren't supposed to be guests arriving or leaving today."

  "I'll check. Wait here."

  I trotted to the corner of the guest house and peered past it to the driveway.

  Quentin Smith's truck was backing up, turning around at a dangerous speed. Gravel sprayed up when the vehicle rocketed down the driveway toward the road.

  What the hell had Quentin been doing here?

  Eve came up behind me, laying a hand on my shoulder. "What is it?"

  "Your former handyman just left. Took off like he was running from an erupting volcano."

  "He probably stopped by to pick up his last check."

  I turned to face her. "I thought you mailed that to him."

  "Planned to, but he called and said he'd pick it up. I told him not to." She pursed her lips. "He doesn't listen very well."

  No kidding. The man heard only what he wanted to hear. He'd probably hoped to find Eve alone and try to wheedle his way back into her life.

  "I left his check in an envelope taped to the door of the house," she said, linking her hands behind my nape. "He's gone. Let's get back to dirty yoga."

  I grinned. "Lots more poses to try."

  "Command me, oh wise and scorching-hot yogi master."

  We both laughed.

  After less than a week with Eve, I felt closer to her than I had with anyone else in my entire life. I might've dismissed it as nothing more than the thrill of tempting a straitlaced woman into doing things she'd sworn she would never do. Deep down, I realized what we'd done today had been more than a conquest. It had been more, period.

  I had no idea what that meant.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Eve

  Val stayed, even after the Kittens left. The day before the girls took off in their RV, Val and I walked in on Ollie and Heidi kissing in the downstairs hallway of the guest house. Both of them blushed and stammered excuses they didn't need to make. Afterward, Val and I agreed that Ollie and Heidi made a cute couple and seemed perfect for each other. Later, Heidi confided in me that she had liked Ollie for a long time but thought he didn't like her. They were going to try a long-distance romance.

  It was so sweet. They were so sweet. I loved seeing two of my favorite people find happiness together.

  After the Kittens left, things quieted down. Some guests left, new ones arrived. The guest house stayed at full occupancy, thanks to the guys finishing the repairs to the water-damaged room. When they'd completed the job, Val sought me out to inform me it was done. He found me in the kitchen making lunch.

  "The room is ready," he said, lingering by the door to the outside. "All the repairs are done, and no one will ever guess a pipe had burst in there."

  "Great." I put a pan of muffins into the oven and shut the door, brushing my hands off on my apron. "It's a relief to have that fixed. Thank you for helping out."

  He shrugged one shoulder. "We were all happy to pitch in."

  The way he was loitering by the door made me wonder if he was anxious about something. When he began to shift his weight from foot to foot, I knew he was.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, walking up to him.

  "The room is ready." His mouth pinched at the corners the same way his eyes did. "The room meant for me."

  "Originally meant for you."

  "Yes." He scratched the back of his neck. "Should I…ah…move there?"

  "What? No, of course not." I got anxious then, rubbing my arms. "Unless you'd be more comfortable there."

  "I wouldn't." He pulled me into his body, dipping his head to nuzzle my nose. "I'm the most comfortable when I'm with you."

  "Well then…" I looped my arms around his neck and tickled his nape. "Maybe you should sleep in my room from now on. It's silly for you to go back to your room after we have sex."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Positive. Are you okay with that?"

  His lips eased into a grin. "Yes, Evie, I'd love to sleep with you every night."

  "Good."

  My heart did a little cartwheel every time he called me Evie.

  Time zipped by. My family left after twelve days. Both my mom and my sister told me how much they loved Val and that we made a great couple. Even my dad and my brother liked Val. They saw through his infamous past and got to know the real man underneath, the good man who refused to let me handle chores on my own and who insisted on making me breakfast every morning.

  He'd even started bringing me breakfast in bed.

  During the day, in between prepping meals and otherwise taking care of the guests, we would head to the hot spring, take walks, go into town to buy supplies, or anything we felt like doing. We talked a lot too. I learned more about his childhood in Brazil and what it was like moving to America, first as a teenager and later as an adult. I told him all about my family, my childhood, everything and anything he wanted to know. Every time I did photo sessions for the guests, Val wanted me to take more portraits of him—in and out of clothes. He kept trying to convince me to pose while he took pictures of me. I kept saying no, mainly because he wanted naked pictures of me. Besides, though I was a photographer, I didn't like pictures of myself.

  One afternoon, Val and the guests went on a nature hike. I bowed out since I had boring business stuff to do in my office, like the task of filing my quarterly taxes. Maybe I should've found it strange that I no longer thought of Val as a guest, but I'd stopped trying to rationalize everything. I enjoyed his company, and I hoped he'd stay for a good long while.

  After I finished my taxes, I headed out across the lawn toward the main trail.

  Feminine shrieks emanated from deeper in the woods.

  I stopped at the trailhead and tilted my head to listen. Why were wom
en screaming? Val had probably made an off-color joke or done something flamboyant like grabbing a Frisbee and leaping up to toss it high in the air and then catch it. He liked to show off his athletic prowess.

  Footfalls pounded. Twigs cracked.

  A large figure barreled toward me.

  I ducked sideways right when Val rocketed out of the woods. He kept rocketing straight past me and onto the lawn. Gasping for breath, he stumbled to a halt and doubled over with his hands on his thighs.

  "What's wrong?" I asked when I rushed over to him.

  He held up a hand, one finger raised.

  I waited while he caught his breath.

  Guests meandered up the trail toward the lawn. Ollie, Ruth, and Sylvester approached me and Val while our newest guests, the young ladies who must've been the ones screaming, trotted off to the guest house. Their smiles and giggles suggested they hadn't been terrified when they shrieked.

  "What happened?" I asked Ollie.

  "Val should've listened. You and everybody else told him to use the bug spray. He said he didn't see bugs, so why did he need to spray chemicals all over himself?" Ollie shook his head at Val. "Humility, man. You've gotta have a little humility when you're a naturist out in the woods."

  Sylvester snickered. "Ought to listen to your girlfriend too."

  I realized with a start Sylvester meant me. Was I Val's girlfriend? Was he my boyfriend? I guessed those labels did apply to us. After all, we were essentially living together.

  "The rest of us used the bug spray," Ollie said to me. "We only got a few bites."

  "What was all the screaming?" I asked.

  "Val started shouting and swatting at the air, then he took off down the trail like a rabid bull on a rampage."

  The bull in question straightened and faced me.

  And that's when I noticed the red marks all over his body.

  I winced. "Oh honey, you ran into no-see-ums, didn't you?"

  He nodded, looking miserable.

  "Why didn't you use the insect repellent? I warned you about the no-see-ums."

  "Didn't see any insects."

  "That's why they're called no-see-ums."

  He scratched at a swarm of bites on his chest. "Didn't hear them either."

  I bracketed his face with my hands. "Poor Val. You're all bitten up. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

  Ollie raised his hand. "I got a few bites. Do I get the Evie special treatment too?"

  "Sorry, it's for ex-footballer guests only."

  I shepherded Val back to the house and made him lie down on my bed on his back. It seemed like the no-see-ums had mainly bitten him on his front side. I snagged a bottle of calamine lotion, a box of cotton swabs, a pill bottle, and a glass of water from the bathroom. Thus armed, I straddled him on the bed.

  "Take this," I said, holding out a pink pill and the glass of water.

  He eyed the pill with suspicion. "What is it?"

  "Don't trust me enough to take it no questions asked, hm? It's an antihistamine." I glanced at his bites. "Maybe you need two pills."

  "One will do." He nabbed the pill and the glass, popped the pill into his mouth, and swigged the water. As he set the glass on the bedside table, he said, "Thank you for taking pity on me."

  "It's not pity. I've been swarmed by no-see-ums. It's awful." I set to work daubing the lotion onto every single bite with the cotton swabs. "Besides, you're as pitiful and miserable as a lost puppy in the rain."

  "Pitiful? The itching might drive me insane, but I am not a lost puppy."

  "Relax. I wasn't insulting you. Your misery is cute."

  "I'm glad my condition amuses you."

  "Shush. I'm working here." I bent to kiss him. "Once I finish tending to your wounds, I'll distract you from your itching."

  "How?"

  "I was thinking a striptease might do the trick."

  Despite his discomfort, he pulled off a naughty smile. "Yes, please."

  "Followed by sex."

  He grinned. "You're a genius, meu amor."

  "I don't think they give out a Nobel Prize for sex."

  "They should create one for you."

  "Don't hold your breath for that one." I raised my brows. "What did you call me this time?"

  He went stone-still, his eyes unblinking. After a few seconds, when I was about to check for a pulse, he relaxed and smiled. "Never mind."

  I let him get away with that only because of his pitiful condition. And because I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer. We had developed some kind of bond between us, but we hadn't talked about it. I had no idea if all his endearments were nothing but smooth talk he used with all the ladies.

  No, I didn't believe that.

  And I was pretty sure whatever he'd said included the word love.

  By the time I finished covering him with calamine lotion from head to toe, Val was gazing at me with sleepy eyes.

  "Ready for a nap?" I asked.

  "Yes. The antihistamine helps, but it's making me too groggy to enjoy a striptease."

  "We'll do that later."

  He patted the mattress beside him. "Lie down with me. Please."

  I dutifully crawled onto the bed and stretched out alongside his body.

  Raising one arm, he invited me to cuddle up to him.

  How could I resist? He'd become as pink as a baby pig thanks to the calamine lotion, but I'd risk getting the stuff all over myself for the chance to cuddle with him. Tucked under his arm, I nestled my head into the hollow of his shoulder.

  Five seconds later, he was snoring.

  We never did get around to the striptease.

  One afternoon about a week later, following a series of portrait sessions with guests, Val repeated a request he'd made several times before.

  I had just taken the memory card out of my camera and was plugging it into my laptop to download the images.

  He came up beside me—nude of course—and said, "Pose for me, Eve. Please. Keep your clothes on if you like, though I love your naked body. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

  "Not ashamed."

  "Why won't you explain to me why you won't pose for pictures?" He leaned against the wall, beside where my computer table butted up against it. "I keep asking, and you keep sidestepping."

  "I know, I'm sorry." I scrubbed hands over my face, groaning. "Explaining the reasons why I don't want to pose might offend you, and the last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable or unhappy."

  When I glanced up at him, he was staring at me with a blank expression.

  "See?" I said, dropping my forehead into my raised hand. "I've already hurt your feelings by saying I'm afraid I'll hurt your feelings."

  "I'm not offended." He knelt beside my chair, peeling my hand away from my forehead. "I was surprised, that's all. But I love that you care about me, and I care about you the same way. You can tell me anything, Evie. Whether I like what you say or not, I will never lash out at you because of it."

  "Yeah, I know that. I'm not good at sharing my feelings, though."

  "Neither am I. We're learning together, aren't we?"

  "Guess we are." I relaxed back into my chair. "I don't like pictures of myself. It's not that I'm ashamed of my body. You know I have zero problems with wearing short-shorts and tank tops and other skimpy stuff. I'm not comfortable in front of the camera, that's all."

  "There's something else. I can tell."

  I squirmed in my chair. "If I were to pose for you, what would you do with the pictures?"

  "Nothing. They're yours."

  "But you like to flaunt your nudity. I don't."

  He studied me for a moment, his lips tightening. His lips curled into a little smile, and he shook his head. "I think I understand. I only publicize my own nudity. I would never share photos of you, in or out of clothes, without your explicit permission."

  "Not worried you'll post naked pictures of me online. Your assistant leaked
your sex tape. What if somebody leaks my photos this time?"

  "I won't let that happen." He took my hands in his. "I care about you, and I will never let anyone hurt you. After my former assistant leaked the video, I not only fired him but also implemented new security measures. My phone can only be accessed with an iris scan, and my home computer requires a password." He grunted, one side of his mouth twisting into a sardonic expression. "My password used to be the word password followed by the number of my football jersey. Now, it's something no one will ever guess. Besides, like I keep telling you, I'm not demanding you pose nude. I would love to have a photo of you, that's all. You're beautiful, on the inside and the outside."

  His words set off a lovely warmth in my chest that blossomed outward. He cared about me. He loved the way I looked no matter what I wore or didn't wear. In the three weeks that we'd known each other, he'd done nothing except protect my privacy and help me in any way I'd let him. Even that day at the hot spring when we'd made love in the water, he hadn't pressured me to undress. I'd done it because I wanted to do it.

  I slanted in to touch my lips to his. "Okay. I'll pose for you."

  "Thank you, Eve." He kissed my cheek. "You won't regret this."

  "Can't regret anything we've done together." Rolling my chair back, I stood and picked up my camera, then offered it to him. "All yours."

  He accepted the camera and rose, scrutinizing the various buttons and switches on it. "I've never used a high-end digital camera like this one."

  "Don't worry, it's easy. I'll show you the ropes."

  For the next ten minutes, I demonstrated the basics for him, and he mastered all of it right away. I tested the lighting by having him lie down on the crimson cushion. When I held the light meter near his hips, he smirked.

  "Is it critical," he said, "to make sure my cock is properly lit?"

  "Oh, absolutely." I withdrew the light meter. "Can't have your gorgeous dick hidden in shadows."

  He lunged up to grab me around the waist and haul me down onto the cushion on top of him. "It's your turn in front of the camera."

  "It'll be hard for you to photograph me while I'm lying on top of you."

  "You're right, though I hate to give up fondling you." To prove he meant that, he cupped my bottom with both hands. "But I suppose I must."