Devilment curled his lips and something hungry flashed in his eyes. “Damn. You. Shorts. Every day for the rest of vacation.”
Anna used her foot to flick water at him, only managing a tiny spray.
“I mean it.” He turned, tossing the words over his shoulder. “If I didn’t think you’d try to drown me, I’d ask you to get off and jump back on all over again.”
Dev hopped into his tube with a splash and, without his feet to anchor them, they were off. Swept away with the steady flow of the river.
With a jerk, she clamped her hands down on the handles of the tube, words leaving her mouth that sounded like Ergh, and Don’t want to die.
The water leveled out a few yards down, and they moved slower and slower, coasting to the point where they both finally had to paddle.
“This is why they don’t put in down here,” Dev explained. “Tourists don’t want to start a tube ride with a bunch of paddling, but the momentum makes it so you only have to do a bit of work right here before the good stuff.”
“What’s the good stuff?”
As soon as she asked, they hit a dip and curve in the river.
“This dip comes up on our left, so lean right a bit,” he told her.
She white-knuckled her way through the first little splash, but it really wasn’t bad at all. She’d been on waterslides rougher than that.
“Next one is a little steeper. Coming up on our right.”
That one made more of a splash and was right on par with a wild-water ride.
The water propelled them down more and shallower declines, the occasional steep one, and turns that made them spin 360 degrees. But rather than worry at each new dip and dive, she anticipated it. Dev kept holding her tube periodically, even though they were tethered together, telling her what would come up next.
He wasn’t going to let anything catch her so unaware that she’d flip over or fall out. She wasn’t worried about the unknown, she was excited. Nearing the end of the cascade, she wanted more.
“Last one’s the best one,” he called over, his smile bright white in the sun.
Ahead, the river dropped maybe a foot or two. Anna held on tight, while Dev held on to her tube. A couple of feet wasn’t much, but the result was a rush of water that shot them downriver, fast enough that her hair blew back, a jolt of adrenaline rocking her system.
She opened her mouth and let out an honest to god, “Whee!”
From there, the river calmed. Not enough that they had to paddle, but there was no intimidating rush of water either.
They bobbed along, Dev maneuvering them around any obstructions, until the river opened up wide, the leaves of the trees fluttering in the breeze, the sky above them a perfect cornflower blue.
The smooth speed of the water and wind in her hair rushed through her senses. The air suddenly smelled cleaner, the midday sun a little bit warmer on her skin. She didn’t know why her face hurt, until she realized she was grinning from ear to ear.
She tilted her head back, soaking it in. “Amazing.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Dev agreed. But when she glanced over, he wasn’t looking at the sky.
“This is great. Thank you.”
“Didn’t I tell you you’d love it?”
“You did. You were right.” A wiggle started at her hips and snuck its way down to her toes. She couldn’t help it.
She wiggled her feet and giggled. “Let’s do it again!”
“What?”
“I’m serious. You were right. I want to go again. Please?”
“What the lady wants on her vacation, the lady gets.”
When they reached the let-out spot, she was first in line to get back on the shuttle to ride up and go down the river again. She raced past him and the beard-boys at the put-in spot, splashing through the water and hopping on her tube as soon as he joined her.
In her life, she’d been wrong plenty of times, but thinking she’d hate tubing was right up there with thinking she’d look good with bangs.
Tubing was wild and fun. Only one other thing would be even more wild and fun, and that too included Devlin.
Chapter 15
Anna glowed. Not from the sun that shone on her skin or the wind that touched her cheeks, but from the inside out.
She’d never looked more beautiful, more appealing, more vibrant, and he’d never wanted her more than he did right then.
Considering he’d wanted her every day since he met her, that was saying something.
She shivered, standing next to his SUV, and Dev jumped out of his daydream and into action. “I have a dry shirt. Hang on.” He dug in the back and found one of his clean undershirts.
She tugged on his old T-shirt and smoothed it out, looking herself over.
The pieced-together outfit was the sexiest thing imaginable. Shorts wet and clinging, thin white shirt sticking to her curves in that black bathing suit. The perfect combination of seeing everything without really seeing anything drove him mad.
Anna glanced up, still trying to fix the shirt. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” The day, the moment, the woman—all of it was right.
She tugged at her shirt again. Without the perfect outfit, hair, and makeup just so, she was noticeably unsure of herself.
“Stop.” He stilled her hands, taking them in his. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“I probably look like a drowned cat.”
“You look hot.”
A laugh erupted from the back of her throat. “I doubt that very much.”
“Do I need to prove it to you?” With her hands still in his grasp, he tugged her forward, slipping one hand beneath the shirt, smoothing it over her stomach to her side, pulling her flush against him.
Her gaze darted about, but the river guides were gone.
“You’re thinking drowned cat, but you don’t see what I see.” His thoughts, when she looked like this, and after he’d spent all afternoon being tempted by wet skin and close contact, were far from sweet and flirtatious.
With the tips of his fingers, he brushed along the side of the suit to the opening in the back. “I see skin. So much fair skin. Even in my white T-shirt, I can still see the black bathing suit underneath. Teasing me. Might as well be black lingerie. And I see shorts. The kind I want to peel down those smooth thighs.”
Her throat worked as she tried to swallow.
“Are you going to let me take you somewhere better than my backseat? Get you out of those wet clothes and put my mouth on you, everywhere, like I was dying to the other day?”
She opened her mouth, like she was going to speak, then closed it. And then opened it again. “But I’m all gross and rivery.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to her cheek, kissing his way down her neck, to the wide opening of his shirt. “You’re delicious.”
“I’m dirty.”
He pulled away enough to see the worry line marring the creamy skin of her forehead. Covered in sunscreen and river water, Anna wouldn’t feel . . . good enough.
She wouldn’t be able to enjoy the moment, and by god, they were due a ton of enjoyment.
With another kiss near her ear, he whispered, “Then I’ll bathe you. Strip you down and wash you. Touch and kiss you everywhere. Use my tongue on you until you can’t form words anymore and—”
She leaned back and clamped her hand over his mouth, eyes wide, her neck bright. “And we should go do that.”
“Back to your cabin?” he mumbled behind her hand.
“Right now.”
They could not get back to her place fast enough. They hit the porch of Cabin Five at a near run, not even closing the door behind them before he was on her. Her lips cool against his, arms around his neck as he finally managed to kick the door shut.
Spending all day with her, glowing, happy—they were practically frolicking—now he wanted her naked.
Over him, under him, beside him.
“Hang on. I have an idea.” Leavin
g her in the den, he hurried to the bathroom, the raised Jacuzzi tub one of the nicest on the property. He even knew where to find the bubbles.
When he returned, Anna hadn’t moved an inch.
“Come here.”
Slowly, she moved closer.
“What’s your idea?”
He grabbed the belt loop on the damp shorts and tugged her into a kiss. “We are taking a bath in that tub. You haven’t even used it yet, have you?”
“No.”
“It’s a good thing you have me.” He worked open the button of the shorts.
“Bubbles too?”
“Of course.” With both hands, he shoved at the wet material, wriggling down and down, over smooth thighs.
Something or someone had convinced Anna her round hips and full thighs weren’t right, or weren’t good enough. Whatever made her think that could go straight to hell.
Anna was everything that turned him on. Sharp mind and a curvy figure. He’d told her as much, but he wanted to show her.
Once he peeled the shorts off of her, he tossed them aside. Before he went to work on her suit, he tugged off his shirt, her focus and her hands immediately on him. He slid the straps of her suit down, revealing one breast, then the other, kissing his way down as he dragged the suit lower. Lower still until the clingy black material moved over her hips, and she wriggled her way out.
And there she was, completely bare to him, pink dotting her neck, her hair wild and unruly, creamy fair skin, her dark pink nipples and a little thatch of black hair between her legs.
Anna was glorious. The kind of woman artists spent centuries rendering.
“I am so naked,” she whispered.
“Yes, you are.”
“You’re not.”
In one swift move and a shake of his legs, his swim trunks were kicked aside. “I am now.”
The naughty gleam came back in her eyes as she looked him over. Nothing she hadn’t seen before, but there was a difference between making out in the backseats of cars, and standing together, naked, no way for either of them to hide.
“We better hurry before the tub gets too full.” Taking her hand, he led her to the bathroom, bubbles reaching the top of the tub. He shut the water off and threw a couple of towels down.
“This is—” She ran her hand down his arm to where they held hands. “Thank you.”
He stepped in first, holding her steady as she stepped in. As they eased down, some of the water splashed onto the towels, and bubbles rose up to where he could barely see her over the sea of white foam.
Her laughter echoed against the tile as she blew a glob his way. “Did you use half the bottle of bubbles?”
“Why bother with less?”
One smooth leg caressed his under the water, but the contact wasn’t enough.
“This won’t do. You’re too far away.” He crossed his legs and scooted closer, grabbing the backs of her knees and draping her legs over his.
“Better?” she teased.
He worked his hands up both calves, massaging until she leaned back, her head right above the bubbles.
“Much. You?”
“Getting there.”
“You know you don’t have to be perfectly clean and made up for me to want you, right?”
Anna scooped up some bubbles, blew them over his shoulder, and didn’t answer.
“Dirty and hauling plants, rinsing off in a spigot, wet and cold in a river, you’re still as much of a knockout as the day you checked in.”
She was gorgeous with all her hair and makeup done, and she was equally hot like this, with none of that. But Anna didn’t seem to know.
“I do like being fixed up.” She dropped her hand back into the water. “But I liked it today too. On the river. I felt . . . amazing.”
“You were amazing. Once you finally got on the tube.”
A glob of bubbles got flung his way, hitting him square in the forehead.
He laughed, swiping them away, and slid his hands lower in the water.
With his thumbs he rubbed small circles up the inside of her calves, rubbing his palms up her shins. “Do you know how much restraint I practiced today, watching you hop around on that tube?”
“In shorts, I probably looked like a beached manatee.”
“Stop it. A lot of things came to mind, watching you, and a manatee was not one of them. Seeing you float down the river, with these gorgeous legs spread wide in that tube.”
“Oh god.” She inched lower in the water, trying to hide, but he leaned forward too, making her giggle.
Then her laughter faded, replaced with something a hint more devious. “You know, I noticed your legs too. That first day I was here.”
“Oh yeah?”
She nodded, getting bubbles on her chin. “In this bathroom, when you were bent over, fixing the seat. You had on jeans, and that tool belt.”
“You little vixen. Tell me everything.”
“And I thought . . .” With a shake of her head, she glanced away.
“What?”
She lifted her chin barely above the bubble line. “Nothing. I can’t say it.”
“Yes, you can.” Because he needed to know about as much as he needed his next breath.
“I remember thinking your legs looked thick and strong enough to hold me up against the wall, and we could have sex that way.” She sunk completely under the water, her head disappearing in the bubbles so she could hide.
A moment later, she reemerged and he’d already moved so he’d be leaning over when she popped up. As soon as she swiped at her face to open her eyes, he caught her lips with his, kissing the water away, bubbles slipping down onto his nose.
“You ever had sex up against the wall?” he murmured, and kissed her again.
A quick shake of her head.
“Then we are going to fix that.” He kissed her again, slanting his lips over hers until she arched her back, rising up for more. “Mmm, but not first, I don’t think. Not right now. When you least expect it, I’m going to catch you around the waist, and press you back against a wall. Give you everything you imagined that first day, and then some.”
Her neck was practically crimson with her admission and his promise, but her expression was pure satisfaction.
Maybe she’d never confessed anything like that out loud before. Knowing her, she might’ve thought it plenty of times, but to speak of such things would be too forward for a lady.
He liked forward. And, if he got to be the first to satisfy such a desire, maybe she’d confess more.
The last bit of suds slid down her hair, and he swiped it away. Smoothing his hands lower, he brushed over each breast, down her stomach, her hips. “Are you clean enough now?”
With a pinch of her lips, she nodded.
“Good.” He dunked his head underwater and popped up. He stood, opening the pop-up drain with the heel of his foot, and grabbed a fluffy towel from the nearby rack. He held the towel open for Anna, wrapping her up before helping her from the tub.
“I’m beginning to think you’re a romantic.” She tucked the towel a little tighter around her.
“Maybe.” He grabbed the other towel, drying off and dropping it on the floor.
“A very brazen romantic. It doesn’t faze you in the least, does it? Standing around naked.”
He lifted a shoulder. “You standing around naked fazes me. For me, it feels nice. Breezy.”
Once she dried herself off, Anna let the towel fall to the floor.
As glorious as before, and even a little more relaxed, her eyes were still huge, dark pools. She silently pleaded for assurance, confirmation that what he saw in her, both the physical and the person underneath, was acceptable.
When in truth, Anna was beyond acceptable. She was exceptional.
Dev stepped closer, tilting her chin up so she’d meet his gaze. With a slow sweep of his lips over hers, he brushed her mouth, skimming the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue. “Let’s go upstairs. Let me kiss you unt
il there’s no doubt left.” He let his hands drift to her waist, lower, brushing the back of his hand against her so she gasped against his mouth. “Then have sex for hours. For as long as it takes for me to hear what you sound like when you come for the third time. Until neither of us can move, let alone worry about anything. Until all we want to do is sleep, so we can wake up and do it all over again.”
Chapter 16
Anna leaned into him, mesmerized by his voice, imagining him doing all of those things.
And heaven help her, she wanted it all.
Devlin thought she was sexy, amazing, and right now, she felt exactly that way.
His belief made her brave. Gave her the courage to take his hand and, stark naked, lead the way to her bedroom.
As they climbed the stairs, Devlin made an appreciative half hum, half growl behind her. Her butt probably all up in his face.
She turned as they reached the bedroom, her back to the bed, and he pulled her into his arms.
Keeping every word of his promise from earlier, he kissed her until her blood ran molten hot, her limbs loose as he eased her back onto the bed.
With smooth lips, he explored. From her lips to the tips of her fingers, across her breasts with sweet suction, and down her stomach, to nip at the insides of each thigh, all the way to the arch of her feet; a tantalizing tour of every inch, until she writhed on the sheets.
Hungry for him, her body thrummed. She clenched the bed sheets in her fists, desperate for him to kiss the one place he hadn’t touched.
He spread her legs, caressed her thighs, and moved forward until he knelt between them. Lust darkened his gaze as he leaned down. “You want me to kiss you here too?”
A jerk of her chin was all she could manage.
Her legs began to tremble and he looked at her like she was something to devour, to worship.
With the tips of two fingers, he barely touched her, a torturous brush against her flesh. And she cried out.
The side of Dev’s mouth pulled up, a smug look that only made him look more desirable. Then he touched her again, and the first sweep of his tongue against the top of her slit was like lightning in her blood.
A Date with Desire Page 15
