by Jo Leigh
She let her head drop to his shoulder. It fit to perfection.
6
THE BAR WAS AS EXOTIC and cool as everything else about the resort. A thatched roof, wonderful gold-on-black designs on backlit panels, several small tables, and, of course, tall seats that offered a panoramic view of the ocean. Reggae music wafted from hidden speakers and there were two couples dancing between the tables.
It was crowded, but not overly so. In fact, they scored two seats at the far corner of the bar, where it was relatively dark.
The bartender, in his Escapades uniform, came to them immediately. He smiled as if he meant it, and said, “I’m Reggie and you two look like you could use a drink.”
Alex turned to her, waiting, but she had no idea what she wanted. She had no idea what was in any of the drinks he’d told her about. Never much of a drinker, she mostly stuck to white wine, but that seemed too mundane for a night in paradise. “What do you recommend?” she asked.
Reggie studied her for a while, his large dark eyes moving from her face to her hands and back again. “For you, I think Sex on the Beach.”
Meg grinned, wondering if that was his stock answer for all the women, or if she was broadcasting something more than her desire to enjoy the local color. “Sounds great.”
“And for me?” Alex asked.
“Ah, for you, sir, a .357 Magnum.”
Alex chuckled.
Reggie went to the far side of the bar and Meg took the opportunity to scope out the people around them. To Alex’s right were a young couple, early twenties, who were very tan and all smiles. Their drinks were half-gone, the sunny umbrellas lying on the bar top, and his hand was on her thigh. Quite high up her thigh.
They were very attractive, and this time Meg didn’t think it was just happiness that made them so. They looked as if they’d stepped out of an ad in Vogue magazine.
The guy caught her staring, but before she could turn away, he winked at her. It made her blush, but in a good way. The bar stools were close enough that there was really no way to ignore the company.
“Hey,” the young man said, shaking a lock of his sun-bleached hair out of his eyes. “How you doing?
The question made both Alex and the other woman turn. Meg couldn’t help but notice that the woman, also blond, had no reservations about checking Alex out.
“Great,” Meg replied. “You look like you’ve been here for a while.”
“Six days,” he said. “It’s been awesome.”
“I’m Meg,” she said. “This is Alex.”
The guy leaned over and extended his hand to Alex. “Jeff.” He nodded at his companion. “Rachel.”
The men shook hands, and Meg figured that would be that, but their bar buddies shifted to more comfortable positions for conversation.
“When did you guys get here?” Rachel asked.
“Today. We’re here for five days, and it looks like that’s not going to be enough time to do everything. I can’t believe how much is packed into this little island,” Alex said.
“You’ve gotta check out the diving,” Jeff said. “It’s the best. Especially down by the cove. There’s a coral reef there that’s incredible.”
“We’re signed up to snorkel,” Meg said. “What else have you done?”
“The rock wall was cool,” Rachel said. “And we’ve been on the Jet Skis. Too much fun.”
“Sounds like it,” Alex reached over for Meg’s hand and she felt instantly better, which was odd because she hadn’t felt bad. She squeezed gently to let him know how welcome his touch was.
Reggie came over and put their drinks on coasters. “Enjoy.”
Meg nodded her thanks, loving the look of the frosty tall glasses, and, of course, her very own tiny umbrella. She remembered their conversation on her birthday, still amazed that Alex had convinced her to come. Glad though. Because later…
She took a sip of the drink and found it icy and sweet, with hardly a hint of alcohol, although she was sure it was just masked by the juice. Since she was an admitted wuss when it came to the hard stuff, this suited her to a T.
“If you guys just got here today, then you haven’t been to the disco, right?” Rachel asked.
Meg held her drink as she turned back to Rachel. “It’s on the agenda.”
“Great. We’re going up later. And you do know that outside the disco, on the roof, there are Jacuzzis, right?” Rachel said.
“Nope, hadn’t heard about those,” Meg replied.
“Oh, yeah,” Jeff said. “Sometimes it can get a little crowded, but it’s worth it.”
“I didn’t bring my suit,” Meg said.
Both Jeff and Rachel laughed.
“Oh,” Meg said. “I had no idea. I thought there was just the nude beach on the other side of the cove.”
“It’s pretty loose. Although if you really want to get down, you go over to E.D.E.N.,” Rachel said.
“What’s that?” Meg asked.
Rachel grabbed her own drink, then leaned back against Jeff. His arm came around her waist and he rubbed small circles over her tummy. Rachel was wearing a bright, pink-hued sarong and Meg thought she looked amazingly sexy in it.
“E.D.E.N. is the sex camp,” Rachel said.
“What?”
They both laughed again, but Meg’s gaze had gone to Alex. He seemed as surprised as she was.
“We tried to get reservations there first,” Rachel said, “but they were totally booked. It’s supposed to be a real adventure, if you know what I mean. Orgasm classes, tantric sex, massage techniques. My sister and her boyfriend went a year ago, and it blew them away.”
“I’ll bet,” Alex said. “I’ve never even heard of a sex camp.”
“They don’t advertise a lot.” Jeff moved his hand up Rachel’s stomach until his thumb brushed the underside of her breast. “They don’t have to. There was a big article about the place in Esquire, though.”
Meg’s gaze was riveted by what was happening to Rachel. Jeff’s ministrations were growing increasingly bold. His thumb had moved up her breast and the circles he traced were more powerful. Meg could see the pressure from here.
It made her own nipples tighten in sympathy, and she wished she could lean back against Alex. But she’d have to stand up, move the chair, and that would kind of spoil things.
Alex let go of her hand, but instead of getting his drink, he put his palm on her thigh. She looked at him and he smiled at her before his gaze shifted back to the Rachel and Jeff show.
When Meg looked up, her eyes met Rachel’s.
“We’ve met some really cool people here,” Rachel said, her voice a lot lower and smokier than just a moment before. “Open minded, you know? Adventurous.”
Alex’s hand squeezed her thigh, and that, combined with the images in Meg’s head, made the heat rise from her throat to her face. She grasped the straw between her teeth and drank, picturing the four of them naked in the Jacuzzi. They were beautiful, and God knows Alex was sex on wheels. She’d never done anything remotely like a foursome, although she’d been invited once in college. Back then, the idea had frightened her into a stammering no, but it had fueled many a solo fantasy.
Now, here, when they were so far from anything resembling her normal life, she wasn’t frightened in the least. The idea of hot sex with the three beautiful people in front of her intrigued her and made her terribly aware of the pressure between her legs, the tightness of her chest.
Intrigued, but that’s all. She wasn’t about to do anything with anyone except Alex. She wanted him, wanted his touch, his kiss. It seemed silly that she’d hesitated at all, although the idea of waiting appealed to her, too.
All she knew for sure was that Alex’s hand had moved higher up her thigh, that his fingers had slipped to the tender flesh just below the crotch of her white panties, and she had to fight the urge to spread her legs, to throw back her head and let him do all manner of wicked things beneath the chaste covering.
Feeling his touch, his wa
rm breath on her neck, she couldn’t deny that she looked forward to the negotiations.
She closed her eyes and let her body slide down until his fingers touched the top of her inner thigh. Braver still, she parted her legs, not widely, but enough that he couldn’t possibly mistake her move for anything but the invitation it was.
She heard a gasp, but when she looked up, she saw that no one was watching them at all. Rachel and Jeff were busy, the bartender was on the other side, and the gasp had come from Alex, followed quickly by the soft clunk of his glass being abandoned, and then the scrape of his bar stool. Shutting her eyes again, she felt his chest press against her as his arm circled her back. Then his fingers returned, his thumb rubbing against her moist panties.
She should have been much more embarrassed, knowing that the two strangers, not to mention the bartender and all the other patrons, only had to look at the right angle to be completely aware of what was going on. If she’d been this brazen at a bar in Los Angeles, she would have been asked to leave. But this wasn’t L.A. It wasn’t even the real world. Alex had taken her to an adult playground, one where the regular rules didn’t apply.
She sighed, letting herself sink against his chest. She wished she hadn’t been holding her drink, but she felt too wonderful to disrupt the flow by putting it down.
He continued to tease her with his lips. To kiss and nip and lick her temple and her cheek. She gasped as he slipped two fingers underneath the edge of her panties, touching her sensitized flesh for the first time.
He hummed in appreciation as he explored within the limited range. She could have made herself more available, but she didn’t want to move an inch. The teasing was the sexiest thing she could remember, and when his other hand brushed the side of her breast, she squirmed. She had no choice.
“You’re incredible,” he whispered, his lips brushing the shell of her ear, his breath hot and tickling. “So soft. God, I want you.”
She turned her head and met his gaze, and the fire she saw in his eyes was equal to her own. “I wish…”
“What?”
“No, never mind. This is perfect. For now,” she whispered.
He grinned at her. “I knew you were a tease.”
“If it was too easy, it wouldn’t be fun,” she said.
“Nothing about you is too easy. But damn, you’re worth it.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
He leaned down and captured her lips in an awkward kiss, but it didn’t matter. What she could get of him was enough.
Not for him, evidently, because the hand on her waist disappeared, his stool scraped, again and his head moved until his mouth could claim her fully.
He thrust his tongue into her mouth just as his finger slid between her lips to search and find her clit. He swallowed her sharp gasp as he rubbed her in tight, perfect circles.
She found his arm with her free hand and clutched her drink with the other. If he didn’t stop, she was going to come, and while the prospect thrilled her, the knowledge that they weren’t alone didn’t. She pulled back. “Stop,” she whispered.
Instantly, he obeyed.
She pushed his arm down gently and, quick on the uptake, he slid his hand from beneath her dress. He trailed his damp fingers down her thigh, and then rested his hand just above her knee.
Worried that she’d disappointed him, she turned to catch his eye. His smile quirked but his eyes were sympathetic, and for that she was very grateful.
He sat back on his stool, and she did the same, stealing a glance to her right, a little afraid to find an audience. Everyone seemed to be occupied by their own dramas. When she finally looked at Rachel and Jeff, she bit her lip to stop from laughing.
Clearly, Rachel didn’t share Meg’s inhibitions. She and Jeff were all over each other.
Alex chuckled, and she turned her attention to him.
He leaned close. “You’re blushing.”
“I guess anything goes here, huh?”
His hand moved up her leg. “Anything. I want to give you every one of your fantasies, make every whim come true. Anything you want, Meg.”
She shivered as his words traveled through her veins, through her blood, and pooled in the tight, hot wetness between her legs.
She’d been right all along not to speak to him on the phone. His voice was whiskey and velvet, stroking her as sensually as his nimble fingers.
This was what she’d been afraid of. This thrumming in her limbs, between her legs, awakening long dormant sensations, feelings she’d only dreamed of in secret.
Wanting this, wanting him, was dangerous. Having him was lunacy. Her life was so far from here, a million miles away. When he was words on a screen, she could pretend just enough. But the pretense had ended the moment he’d made her tremble. The emptiness of everything back home pressed against her. Five days of tasting heaven, and then back to…
“Meg?”
She looked at him, at the concern in his eyes.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded. “Take me somewhere else. I need to move.”
He slipped the glass from her hand and put it on the bar top, then stood, held out his hand.
Behind him, Jeff and Rachel were snuggling, oblivious to anyone outside their circle of two.
It still excited Meg, what she and Alex had done, but she hadn’t been prepared for the fear. She’d built a whole private world around Alex. It was the place she went when she was lonely or needed a shoulder to cry on. The man in her head was not the man holding her hand. He was real. Flesh and blood and sexy as sin.
God, enough with the doubts. She wanted him. And everything he’d promised.
7
ALEX STEERED MEG TOWARD THE hotel pool. He wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but for the moment, he wanted to walk on this almost empty path away from the bar so he could get himself calmed down. He knew she wasn’t trying to kill him, but stopping him when he was as hard as he’d ever been was not good for his health. Something had to give, he just wasn’t sure what. Maybe during dinner his head would explode.
He didn’t even dare look at her. Not yet. Because, jeez. She’d felt amazing, and when her breath got all raspy and her eyelids fluttered, he nearly came without a single touch.
She seemed to be handling things pretty well. He remembered a late night session they’d had, one of the many where they discussed their fantasies. He’d asked her about doing it where they might get caught, and she’d been pretty interested. He’d asked her if she was a member of the mile high club, and she’d just laughed. He grinned. Online, her laughter was a series of HAHAHAHAs, and he could tell how amused she was by how long it went on. Twice he’d earned a two-liner. That had pleased him inordinately.
Now that he knew the real sound, it would all be different. Sure, he’d still use the length litmus test, but now he’d hear her. By the time they went home, he wanted to hear every expression she had. Laughter, pleasure, satisfaction, and most especially he wanted to hear her come.
Bad thought. Okay, his seventh grade math teacher, Miss Cardinal. She’d been as ugly as a fireplug.
“Where are we going?” Meg asked, just as he shuddered.
“I thought we’d check out the rock wall. It’s behind the pool. Then we can go inside and get our activities schedule.” He squeezed her hand. “Sound okay?”
“Great. I think the sun sets in about an hour, yes? Maybe we can find a nice place to watch it. Another bar, perhaps?”
“You’re smart and beautiful. Go figure,” he teased.
She bumped into him, with her hip again. He liked that. Christ. It had been too long since he’d been on vacation. Especially with anyone like Meg.
“Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“How come you never told me about your family?” she asked.
“Where did that come from?”
“Don’t know,” she said. “It just occurred to me that I don’t believe you’ve mentioned them at all.”
&n
bsp; “I haven’t?”
“Nope. I’ve told you about mine,” she said.
“You only had your mom and dad. I have siblings,” he stated.
“Well?”
He sighed. “Okay, the Reader’s Digest version. My parents live in Boston. He’s a superior court judge, she’s a criminal attorney for a huge firm. A partner. My brother, Lucas, is also an attorney, but he lives in New York. He’s also a partner in his firm. My sister, Carra, is a pediatrician in Connecticut, married to another doctor, a neurologist, and they have two kids who are being raised by their Haitian maid.”
“Pressure much?”
He laughed. “Ya think?”
“I know you got the grades. And you’re one of the youngest columnists at the Post. So they must be happy, yes?”
“For the most part,” he said.
“What more could they possibly want?” she asked.
“For me to be a real journalist. The kind with cover stories in Time and Newsweek. They want me to go to Europe, cover international politics. They want me to get a Pulitzer. At least that’s the stated goal. What they secretly dream of is for all of us to get Nobel prizes, preferably in the same year, although the logistics of that are a bit fuzzy.”
Meg shook her head. “That’s nuts.”
“Yep. My family. Overachievers of the first order. Nothing is good enough until it’s better than everyone else on the planet.”
“That must have made growing up a complete joy,” she said.
“Oh, yeah. Although I’ll give them credit. They loved their kids. We got the finest things money could buy. And not to turn out ungrateful or entitled, we all had to work. I started at fourteen with a paper route. I paid for my own apartment when I went to Harvard, and I bought my own first car,” he said.
“That’s not a bad thing,” she stated.
“No, it isn’t. I got a lot out of it. A good work ethic. A sense of responsibility. My passion for politics started when I worked for the Clinton campaign in ’92. Before that, I was going to be an attorney,” he said.
“Clinton, huh?”
