When The Stars Align

by Jeanette Grey

  He held his breath as he got her situated. She clawed at his hair, clambering and sliding slick skin over skin as she fought her way onto his shoulders. When he rose above the surface again, it was to a chorus of noises he had never heard from her before.

  “What do I do?” It was nearly a wail.

  He sluiced the water from his face, shoving his wet hair back before grabbing her legs and holding them to his chest. “Just lean forward. You’re fine. You got this.”

  “I don’t know—”

  “I do.”

  He didn’t care if they won or lost. She was here with him, on the most beautiful sort of day, in front of their friends. A couple.

  A team.

  Before Jo could protest any further, he located Kim and Jared in the water. “Okay, no big. You just lock hands with Kim and try to shove her off.”

  “But—”

  “No one gets hurt. Jared’s got her and I’ve got you. Whoever falls just ends up wetter.”

  “You sure?”

  “Positive.”

  He stood a couple of feet from Jared.

  “Oh, man, you’re going down,” Jared says.

  Maybe. But either way, Adam was pretty sure he won.

  Still looking hesitant as hell, Jo took Kim’s hands. Jared counted off. As soon as he got to three, all hell broke loose, water everywhere. Jo may have been out of her element, but the girl was a fighter, both on land and at sea.

  And she was gorgeous. Wet and half naked and sitting astride him, her thighs closed tight around his ears. Bare arms glistening, teeth bared.

  Just as soon as it had begun, it was over. Jo gave a particularly savage twist, and Kim screamed before toppling, taking Jared with her. Adam whooped, gazing up at Jo, whose smile lit the whole damn world.

  Instead of issuing any additional challenges, Jo released her grip on him, widening her legs to slip down his body. He swiveled with her fall, coming to meet her face-to-face and nose to nose. Lip to lip.

  And suddenly they were right back there, curled around each other, the simmering heat of holding her and touching her like this bringing desire screaming to life.

  “Good job,” he said, tugging her close.

  “I had a good partner.”

  With that, she threaded a hand through his hair and tugged him down and kissed him. He was done worrying about the world around them or about who might see or what they might think. He’d been done with that, and she was clearly right there with him now. Around them, whistling and catcalls erupted, but he didn’t care.

  She jerked away, eyes hooded, fingernails digging into his scalp. “Want to go find that dark corner somewhere?”

  They’d been building up to it all day. And yet, as he gripped her ass and wound her leg around his hips, all he could say was, “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jo was scarcely listening as Adam made their excuses. All she could hear was the buzzing in her ears, the rush of blood through her veins overriding the hum of the surf. The sounds of the people around her faded into white noise.

  She’d just… Fuck, what had she done? She’d kissed this man, this boy who stripped her of so many of her defenses, in front of her boss and her colleagues and the world. She’d let him lead her out beyond her comfort zone in every possible sense of the words.

  She’d put her feet in the ocean. And she hadn’t even come close to drifting away.

  Now, with the memory of his head between her legs, his shoulders strong and firm beneath her thighs, she took his hand. Leaving yet more chatter behind them, they traversed the tricky layer of shells beaten into the sand, emerging out to a point where they were scarcely wading. The tide pulled at the sand beneath her toes with every lap of the waves. And yet she remained on solid ground.

  Only after they’d gotten a decent ways off did she find her voice again, the noises of the world filtering back in.

  “What did you even say to them?”

  He cast her an uncertain look but didn’t question her. Maybe he was just as far gone as she was. Driven by lust, if not by the tangled exhilaration of letting go. Of not keeping her distance anymore.

  “Just that we were going to walk along the beach a little. Maybe see if we can find something to eat.”

  It was a flimsy excuse at best. There were carts all over the place peddling empanadillas and ice cream. They really didn’t need to go very far to find one of them.

  She felt a little light-headed as she asked, “Do you even have your wallet?”

  “No. But they don’t need to know that.”

  She considered that for a second, alarm bells sounding. “Wait. Do you have anything?”

  She’d told him that very first night she always kept a condom on her, but without her pack or her boots or real pants—

  His voice took a low tone that told her he knew exactly what she was asking him. “I promise. I have everything we need.”

  A heady tension thrummed through her, and she shifted closer, letting him slip his arm around her. The hot, wet press of his skin made her heart go into overdrive, tingles flowing inward from every place they touched.

  The beach hadn’t exactly been crowded even over on the prime real estate they’d staked out for their umbrellas and blankets. As they neared the pier, the shore got rockier, the waves choppier. The place more deserted.

  Perfect.

  She cast a glance over her shoulder as they fell beneath the shadow of the structure. The rest of their group was far enough off that she couldn’t tell if they were looking or not, but even if they were, she doubted they could see. None of the strangers on the beach paid them any mind.

  And it was a good thing, too. They’d barely passed the first pylon before Adam was tugging her along behind it, slamming her back against the wood.

  “Don’t you want—” She gestured farther into the cover the pier provided.

  “You. I just want you.” With that, he captured her lips and stole her breath.

  She’d thought their kisses out in the water had been building toward something, but she’d had no idea they were building toward this. Those embraces had been all slow sensuality and the warmth of contact, out where anyone could see.

  They were still only barely hidden, but these were kisses of a different kind, harsh and impatient. He must’ve been keyed up as hell for the dam to break so spectacularly, now they were alone.

  It didn’t take her long to catch up.

  His hands seemed to be everywhere, tugging at the sodden fabric of her top, kneading her breasts through the cotton and plucking at her nipple ring, coaxing the peaks into stiff, aching points. She groaned aloud as he hoisted her up. He pinned her with his hips and kissed his way down her throat, probably leaving marks. All she could do was wrap her legs around his hips and hold on.

  “Jesus.” She got her hands into his hair and thumped her head against the wooden post behind her.

  “You have no idea.” His teeth bit into her collarbone. “Seeing you out there, getting to kiss you in front of everyone. Showing you off.”

  It was male pride at its worst, and damn, fuck, she loved it in a way she’d never thought she ever would.

  She closed her eyes. “Yeah, because I’m such a prize.”

  “You are.” His fingers fumbled with the drawstring of her trunks, the ridiculous, shapeless things she’d worn because she was too stubborn to let her colleagues see her bikini line.

  “I look like a lesbian.” She raked her nails across the nape of his neck as he snuck a hand between them, a sudden pressure exactly where she needed it, almost too intense. She sucked in a gasp before biting out, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

  He lifted his head, gaze fierce. “You look so fucking sexy I wanted to take you on the beach and in the water. In front of all our friends.”

  She hadn’t doubted his sincerity before. But the way he said it now, his voice rasping, hands clutching, the evidence of just how hard he was for her pressed agains
t the hollow of her hip…

  Something that had been coiled so tightly inside of her unfurled. Blossoming.

  How long had she said she didn’t care what anybody thought of her? It hadn’t been a lie, but the acceptance in his voice cracked her open. Made that lack of caring into something new.

  Made her free.

  With a sharp tug at his hair, she hauled him up to her. His mouth was hotter than the day or the air or even the sun, his tongue a soft, slick caress between her lips, probing inside the way she wanted him inside. With his hand in her trunks, he slipped his fingers up and down her slit, nudging at her clit only to slide back to her opening, blunt pressure there to spread her wetness around.

  “God, stop teasing me.”

  “It’s called foreplay.”

  “Overrated.” It was such a lie, but she didn’t care. “Come on.” She bit her way to his ear. “Don’t you want to fuck me?” She looked around them at the ocean just past their feet. Listened to the sounds of people walking above them on the pier. “Here? Where anyone could see?”

  He made a noise that sounded like it’d been punched out of his chest. He tapped her thigh in warning so she could get her feet underneath her before he set her down. Then it was a mad scramble, her getting the trunks the rest of the way unfastened and shoved off her hips. For the first time, she regretted not wearing a normal bathing suit, the skimpy kinds of bottoms a girl could push to the side.

  Adam took a more optimistic view. “Not that I don’t love your boots…” He’d fished a condom from wherever it’d been hidden in his suit and tore it open with his teeth. “But damn it’s nice not having to stop to get you out of them.”

  “Don’t get used to it.”

  The trunks landed on the sand with a damp splat, and that was all the time she got before he had her up against the beam again. He pulled himself out of his own suit, giving his length a couple of rough, quick strokes before rolling the condom on.

  And then he was lifting her, pressing her spine to the wood. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hooked her ankles at his ass. With one hand, he held her up, while with the other he guided himself, putting the head of his cock right against her cunt, gliding it through her liquid. Still being so goddamn careful.

  She kicked him, trying to force him to move.

  His gaze met hers and he asked, “You sure?”

  “I swear to God—”

  Whatever threat she’d been about to pull out died in her lungs as he finally, finally thrust forward. Her eyes rolled back in her head at the sudden stretch. The rough pleasure of being filled the way she needed to.

  He buried his forehead against her shoulder, his big body tremoring. She was just this side of wet enough and open enough, but that made it all the better. The rough, tight fit that felt like it had brought him to his knees. Stroking her hands up and down his spine, she murmured encouragement against his ear. Little filthy things about how good he felt inside her, how strong his hands were on her flesh as he held her up, supported her. Fucked her. “Come on, baby,” she breathed. “Doesn’t it feel nice?”

  He gave another shiver before lifting his head. The dampness on his skin was his sweat and the sea, and his eyes burned. “You feel incredible.”

  He drew back only to slide right in again, the whole movement easier this time, slicker, and she moaned. A half dozen or so strokes, and a slight shift of his hips shot sparks up and down her spine, grinding his pubic bone against her clit.

  She arched forward to meet his thrust, chasing that pleasure, raking her nails over his flesh. “Fuck. Do that again.”

  “This?” He pressed into her harder, and the sparks turned into flames.

  “Yeah, God.” She squeezed the nape of his neck, rocking into the shallow movements of his body into hers, riding the tide as they sped and lengthened. She tightened her thighs around his waist. “Come on,” she urged. No foreplay, and she was already spinning out of control; she just needed a little more, a little harder. She whined and tugged at his hair.

  He made a grunting sound that went straight to her clit. The hand that wasn’t on her ass slammed into the wood above her head. He shifted his stance.

  And with that, he started to fuck her in earnest.

  It was exactly what she had been waiting for. Sure, she liked to be the one on top in general, but his strength intoxicated her, and she’d already given up so much. What was a little more? She was at his mercy like this, pinned by his hips and held in place. Taken.

  Safe.

  He dropped his head, pressing his brow to hers. He was watching every movement, every expression that flickered across her face, and she let him have them all.

  He lowered his arm to brush her jaw. “Come on, beautiful.”

  And it was too intimate, too much for any situation, much less for having sex up against a wall. But it was that echoing beautiful in the hot ocean air, the quiet, claiming kiss he laid upon her mouth while his thrusts met just the perfect place inside her—

  Her vision whited out when she came, and he followed right after, spilling out a groan that was only her name.

  Through it all, through the shudders of pleasure and the sudden slackness that came after climax, he never relaxed his grip. He took her weight and held her up.

  And what was more, she let him.

  Absently running his fingers through Jo’s hair, Adam stared out the window of the van at the dim silhouettes of palm trees passing by. He was surrounded by faint strains of music and hushed laughter, all muted by the rushing of cool, wet air flowing in through the open windows. Above the tree line, the stars were just beginning to rise.

  It had been a good day. Maybe one of the best.

  He glanced down at Jo. The edges of her face were cast in the glow from her book light, and sure, maybe she was spending the trip with her nose buried in her work, but she was choosing to do it with her shoulder tucked under his arm, her whole side pressed against him.

  It was a stark contrast to the distance she’d kept from him earlier in the day, refusing to even sit near him with their advisors watching on. He didn’t know what had changed her mind. Only that Heather had sat down beside her on the beach, and after that, she’d stood with this intentness to her gaze. She’d let him kiss her in front of everyone, had practically asked him to take her down the beach and then to take her. His sex life in the past had been fulfilling enough, but he’d never been so overcome like that, so wanton.

  God. His heart squeezed, just thinking about the way they’d connected there beneath the pier. She’d been so gorgeous and unselfconscious, wet suit stuck to her breasts, her arms and legs wrapped around him, consuming him as he’d lost his mind, staring into her eyes and pressing into her, deep inside where she was warm and perfect and accepting. Holding on to him exactly the way he wanted to be held, making him feel strong and wanted and… well.

  She might not love him yet. She might not ever. But he wasn’t going to kid himself about the warm rush he felt every time he looked at her, the cracking feeling in his ribs with every step she made to meet him in the middle. Every additional inch she let him in.

  And she’d let him get so far today. Not just the kissing and the hand-holding and the sex. Even after they’d reassembled themselves, she’d stayed more or less by his side the rest of the afternoon. At dinner, she’d gone so far as to laugh a little, talking to their friends. With her cheeks flushed from the sun and the better part of a margarita, she’d looked so open. Still fierce as anything, but looser somehow. Less hidden within a suit of armor and more letting people see behind the plates.

  If the smirk Jared had shot him as they’d piled into the van was anything to go by, Adam wasn’t the only one seeing the change. Wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good thing.

  He glanced back down at her, expecting to see that little wrinkle in her brow she got when she was particularly absorbed. But instead… His breath caught in his throat. Her head, which had already been resting against his arm for the b
etter part of the ride, had lolled to the side. Her mouth was slack, her eyes closed.

  It was the first time he’d ever seen her asleep.

  The warmth behind his ribs grew and grew.

  Taking care not to jostle her, he reached over and shut off her reading light. He wrapped his arms around her more securely.

  He wasn’t inclined to count his chickens, but he resolved it there and then. Tonight would be the night he’d get her to stay with him. Clearly, the cat was out of the bag. There was no more reason to hide. She’d sleep in his bed, maybe after another slower, quieter round, and in the morning he’d kiss her awake. Bring her coffee and make her breakfast and simply… care for her.

  Love her.

  It ached, just thinking the words. But if he wasn’t fooling himself about the other things, there wasn’t any point denying this one. It was stupid, probably the most idiotic thing he’d ever done. At the end of the summer, it was going to hurt like nothing else.

  Unless he could convince her to love him back. To keep this fire they’d kindled alive, this summer spark that could grow into a warmth that could last them all winter long. Even apart.

  The whole rest of the drive, Jo slept peacefully against his side. It wasn’t until the van came to a stop outside their houses and the lights came on that she stirred. She jerked away from his shoulder, twitching a hand up to swipe at the corner of her mouth and then at her eyes. As everyone else started to clamber out, she looked around, confused. “Are we here already?”

  Her eyes were wide, her mouth sleep-soft, and her voice hoarse. And it struck him square in the chest. This is what she would look and sound like, every morning, waking up in his bed.

  And in that moment, he loved her so fiercely it burned.

  “Yeah,” he said. His voice hitched on the word, and she looked at him strangely. A lick of panic curled inside him. What if she saw? She wasn’t ready yet, and she’d…

  She’d end it, wouldn’t she? If she knew?

  “Oh.” She glanced away, toward the front of the van, as if he hadn’t said anything at all. She’d missed the feelings he had written all over him. It was a relief, and at the same time, it almost made him feel worse. Raking her fingers through her hair, she called out, “Are you taking the van back to the observatory?”