by Arden, Susan
“Everything is fine now, Dad.”
Her father held out his hand to Rob. “Good to see you again. I didn’t think it would take this long.”
They shook in a friendly shake, not the cold, hard, obligatory business one they’d shared many times before, but one where they stepped closer and shook slower.
Rob backed up and put his arm around Cynthia’s shoulder and squeezed, and the two of them exchanged quizzical looks.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Her dad shifted his weight and smiled. “Back when Rob was photographing you, only a blind man wouldn’t have seen how taken the two of you were with one another. Why do you think I asked you to take him to lunch? Anyway, as you say, it’s all fine now.” He then gazed at her hand. “May I?”
She lifted her hand up to her father. His fingers were papery and he gently held her hand. “Lovely. If you need anything, just let me know.”
She inhaled. “We will.”
“Marcia,” he called, “it looks like we’ve got a wedding ahead.”
“Oh, isn’t that grand.” Marcia said. “When?”
“Soon,” Cynthia murmured. “Very soon.”
“You’ve got your pick of honeymoon spots if you want to go to any of our resorts. You’re more than welcome.”
“Thanks, Dad. We’ll let you know.”
Epilogue
Lying on the edge of the shore, Cynthia sighed, letting her gaze drift along the silvery Polynesian sands at the five-star resort. She’d finished writing the outline for her next book, and already had the manuscript contracted.
She stroked the sun-bronzed shoulder of her husband as he stretched out on a chaise lounge next to hers. “I’d like to try something out I’ve been toying with for the next book. Are you almost ready to go in?” she asked.
Rob grinned wickedly over at her. “Perfect timing. I was just envisioning you naked and open to me. Mrs. Graham, I’ve got plans for you.”
Her toes curled every time his heated glance swept over her. The fire of her husband’s touch stoked her erotic embers into an inferno, feeding her imagination all the material she’d ever need to pour out onto the pages of her next sexy manuscript. He was her sensual resource, and she tapped him over and over. Here in paradise, her own story was a dream come true.
“I think I’d like to explore the makings of a scene involving restraints or two specific Kama Sutra methods I’ve been mulling over. Care to help me out with my research?” She rubbed her calf over his leg.
“Wanton vixen. Let’s go,” he said, his voice lowering into growl. “It’s either back to the suite or into the ocean. Either way, I’ve got something to show you. Right now.”
His piercing gaze scorched her skin during the time it took for him to slant his azure eyes from her face, down to her chest, and then lower. He bit his lip. Sexy didn’t cover the way he appeared when turned on.
Rob’s face suddenly darkened. “Company. Twelve o’clock,” he muttered.
“No ocean then?” she asked, just to see him respond.
He glanced over his shoulder. “I’m not into sharing or putting you on display. Just wait until I get you back to our suite.”
“Maybe we should introduce ourselves?”
Arm-in-arm another couple was coming down the path toward the beach. Rob held out his hand. “Up to the room. Not another word. I don’t want to get caught in honeymoon conversation. Not in this state.” Standing up, he readjusted his swim trunks over his hard-on.
She smothered a laugh gathering her beach bag. “I’m ready.”
Rob half-hauled Cynthia, and eventually picked her up in his arms. “We’ll get there faster if I carry you, my sweet,” he murmured.
He cradled her body, starting over the private bridge to their honeymoon suite, one of a collection of rooms linked together by seaside walkways. The bright, turquoise water lapped at the pier posts while the warm breeze swept into their room.
She curled her arms around his neck and kissed his chest, licking the saltwater off his skin. Secure in his muscular grasp, with her legs dangling and his fingers caressing her back, she realized with a giggle that he was already undoing her bathing suit top.
“What are you doing?” she murmured.
“Multi-tasking,” he said, and then kissed her deeply.
Rob set her down in front of the canopied bed with white gauzy curtains. Stripping naked, he sauntered forward catching her wrists. “The things I’m going to show you today.”
“Shall I take notes?” she teased.
“I think not. You’ll be far too busy.” He removed her bikini top, easing his hands down from her shoulders, and then cupping her breasts until his palms melded with her curves. “You’re amazing,” he said in a low, deep voice.
She traced her fingers over his chest. “Tell me your plans. I can hardly wait.”
Without a preamble, he was on his mark as soon as she said ready. He never disappointed, and it was all she could do to keep up with his desire. Seeing his hard, tan body, she wondered why she was still wearing her bottoms. She shimmed out of her bathing suit, kicking it off her foot, and then pressed her body snug up against his. This time, it would be she who would make him howl.
“Get in bed,” he commanded.
Waltzing past him, she arched a brow. “Care to join me?”
He dove ahead of her onto the mattress and gracefully landed, patting the space next to him.
Cynthia took her time, keeping the distance between them as she made her way over the bed. She lowered herself. “May I?”
“By all means. I can see you’ve something on your mind.”
“Maybe.” She snaked her hand over his body, slowly walking her fingers down his torso.
He gasped when her hand curled around his erection. Rob was harder than steel within her fingers. She gripped him, sliding her hand over his length. He moaned, moving his hips. Increasing her stroke, she lightly flicked and alternated a swirling motion with her thumb, a teasing move she’d only learned in the past week.
They’d tried to slow down once they were engaged, but some days—if not all of them—it had been impossible for them to keep their hands off each other.
Considering their huge wedding, a blowout society event in which her aunt and cousins had worked magic in an especially short time, and then flying here to Tahiti, they’d arrived breathless.
Rob and she had no reason to hold back in a place that saturated the senses, and she gave herself to him fully. He’d taught her ways to open the door of pleasure, bliss, and ecstasy between them. She craved learning how to please her husband, as though making up for lost time. Her hunger fueled a decadent yearning for him. Nothing seemed too erotic.
No longer was she the shy young woman he’d met, but in every sense his wife, and she delighted each time her touch caused his breath to hitch.
She moved her body, coming up next to her husband. Slowly, she bent her head down licking and kissing a line across his chest until she took his nipple into her mouth. His deep groan made her skin tingle. She sucked his nipple until his skin puckered under her tongue.
She pressed her breasts into his chest and rubbed herself against him. “Feel good?”
“You’ve got my number. Don’t hold back from me.” He watched her intently, his gaze heating, and his breath rolled over her in hot waves.
“I love the way you taste. So sexy.” She bent before him, beginning at his navel, and unhurriedly trailing her tongue over his skin. Deliberately, she held back, drawing out the time it took to reach her destination. She followed the line of his dark hair, gradually making her way downward with her lips and teeth and tongue.
By the time she was near his erection, his fingers were twisted in the sheets. His muscles were hard ridges, and he was breathing rapidly.
“Baby, take me in your mouth.” He was fully erect. His cock twitched in a fervor she’d not witnessed before. “You drive me crazy.”
“Oh, you naughty boy. Not so fast,�
�� she hissed back at him.
Her fingers tightened over his hips. She replicated the route he’d taken with her on quite a few occasions.
Instead of doing what he desired, she skipped over his reddened crown, glistening at the tip. She stopped and sucked the skin at his hip, and again in the middle of his abdomen.
He growled. “You’re driving me mad. Play nice.”
She moaned, sucking his skin. She returned his gaze, licking her lips while her fingertips lightly traced the underside of his shaft. “Like this?”
He pounced, taking hold of her, and adeptly pulled her head back, his eyes ablaze. “You’re teasing me.”
She widened her eyes innocently. “Me? Never,” she laughed.
He lifted her up into his arms and flung her gently back against the mattress. “Two can play at this game, my love.”
“Show me what you’ve got.” She rubbed her hands over her breasts in an invitation for him to bring it on, and arched an eyebrow in a dare.
His eyes darkened in response, a glittery expression that made her clench. “We’ll see who cries uncle first,” he returned.
“I think I can handle you. Stud.”
“Baby, damn, but you’re going to get it.” Rob moved her hands aside and squeezed her breasts, catching her nipples between his fingers. He lightly pinched each tip taut. “Now, you’ll see. I have no intention of leveling the playing field.”
“We’ll see.” Cynthia pretended to roll one way before she swiftly turned.
He easily caught her. His fingers toyed with her hardened peaks. “Maybe I need to step up my game,” he whispered.
His raw gaze on her was like being hit with electricity all over her body. His lips crawled up her skin, stopping for a suck here and there. Tingling prickles spread over her skin, making the space between her legs swell. Arching against him, she closed her eyes, unable to stop the force of his body over hers.
“Look at me. I want to see your climax as it overtakes you.” She opened her eyes staring into the blue fire of his gaze. His kiss devoured her mouth in an unrelenting pursuit, leaving her gasping.
She had to do something to balance out this sexy equation. Reaching down, she grasped his length and stroked his slippery tip. Her husband moved his fingers over her body, and then between her legs, running his thumb up her seam, over her mound. She jerked in response, and he softly chuckled. Jesus, the things he did to her with feather flicks. Each swirling motion sent spasms of pleasure racing over her skin.
Rob refused to let her gather her wits. Her body was on fire, her folds painfully engorged, wet, and aching. He made no move to touch her clit or spread her. Instead, he alternated kissing and biting her jaw and along her neck, causing starbursts to erupt behind her eyelids. He ran his tongue over her skin, trailing embers all across her body.
Their game was maddening, and she tugged his hair. “Not fair.”
He tweaked her nipple. “Mmm. I like it when you play rough.”
“Do you? Then how about this?” She made a move to push him that only proved he was much stronger. Cynthia used her legs, trying to form a wedge to keep him from her.
He deftly moved his hands, using his fingers and pulling her legs down. The man was utter craft in how he dodged her actions while invading her inch-by-sensuous-inch.
Rob moved with incredible deliberation in drawing out her pleasure and conveying her to the point of no return. She closed her eyes against the storm that threatened to unleash. His name nestled on the tip of her tongue, and she pressed her lips shut.
“How’s this for a lesson in tantric lovemaking? Holding back to increase the intensity of our climax. Is it working?” he asked, nuzzling a point under her breast.
“I don’t know.” She sucked in her bottom lip, unwilling to agree with him.
“Let me see what I can do.” His erection grazed over her. Pleasure shot through each one of her cells.
His torso moved over her, and the friction of their skin set her on fire, seeming to scorch her from head to toe. His fingers traced along her slit intimately teasing her. Rob avoided her hot spots and opted for subterfuge in this passionate warfare.
It was an unfair matchup. He knew all her pressure points and what turned her on, and he shamelessly employed her own body as a weapon against her will. His mouth seared the muscles of her neck. He kissed and sucked and bit a path over her body which had—thanks to him—gone rogue. He held her arms by her sides, not letting her move. Between her legs, she was throbbing. Tugging swiftly, she broke free from his grasp. She touched herself, finding her sensitive nub erect and slick.
“Mmm,” she panted, stroking her clit, and rode a wave of burning desire, brilliant and bringing her closer to the edge, where bliss waited.
He took hold of her hands. “No cheating,” he whispered, sucking her wetness from her fingertips.
Cynthia twisted under the weight of Rob’s body. She groaned loudly. He moved over her hips, letting his cock dip between her legs, brushing against her sensitized clit, but no further. Chill bumps danced across her skin in swarms, and desire pooled deep in her belly building into a hurricane threatening to unleash.
She bucked her hips and cried out, “You win. Rob, please. Not another second.”
“Tut-tut. Say it.” He clasped her arms above her head. His knees wedged her legs open wide, and still wider as he slowly lowered his body, brushing himself up against her by degrees. His cock grazed her and then moved. An inch, no less. He was almost there.
“Please, take me.” She swayed her hips.
His erection was at her opening, his crown nudging, but then he pulled away. Her breath hitched sharply.
“Shall we dance this dance, my love? One word is all it takes. But it must be the right one.” His hips brushed against her mound and left her with only the shadow of his touch.
Her insides melted from the pulsations erupting within her body. A fireball of lust consumed any and all of her false pride. She called out, “Uncle. There. I said it. Did you hear? Uncle!”
He laughed in her ear and released her arms. She wrapped herself around his body. They fit together tightly, and he skillfully positioned himself.
“Now, I’m taking what’s mine. Always mine,” he said.
She kissed her husband, the man who had taught her about pain and forgiveness, as well as infinite joy and pleasure. Each and every precious moment she held as though fragile, and she’d never let him go either.
He pushed into her, forging a connection of love and passion. His kiss assaulted and saved, took and delivered, softly savage, driving her to moan for more. She tasted his essence on her tongue that reminded her of salt, fresh air, the sea and, most of all, a love so rare.
Cynthia closed her eyes for a second, then flashed open her lids, preferring to focus on him. His body hovered over her, plunging intensely inside her, rocking against her, and sealing their love forever.
Rob caressed her with his breath, seduced her with his touch. She called out to him, and he responded with her name on his lips. She neared the cliff where’d taught her to fall, secure in his arms. He continued driving himself into her further, plunging deeper.
She moved her body in a harmony they shared. Another second, another one of his body-slamming thrusts, and she released in an exquisite glowing explosion under him. He arched back, slamming in her, climaxing with her. Their breathing, the sound of the fan, and the waves were music to her.
They slept locked together, his leg thrown over her possessively.
She awoke and turned ever so slightly to face him. “Oh, you’re awake.”
He smiled before tenderly pushing back a tendril of hair from her face. “I love you so much, baby” he murmured.
“I love you, too. Forever. Hold me close to you.” She turned on her side snuggling against him. His arms tightened around her.
Across the room was a mirror. Their eyes met in that reflection, and Rob asked, “Did you ever believe we could be this happy?”
&nbs
p; “Now that we’re together,” she whispered, “I believe we’re picture perfect.”
