“You okay?” he asked softly.
“Oh hell yes!” Lucy opened her eyes wide. “That was fantastic.”
“Really? I thought it was terrible. Not the sex, I mean, not you. Me. I was terrible.”
She laughed in disbelief. “Are you kidding?” Turning her hand under his to interlace their fingers, she squeezed gently. “Yes, it was quick, but that was just what I wanted — what I needed. There’s a time for slow and languid and there’s a time to bang and get it out of your system.”
Bryce flinched back slightly, and it was Lucy’s turn to hastily restate her meaning.
“Not that you’re out of my system!”
“I’m not?”
“If you’re still here when I wake up in the morning, I’m gonna pounce on you,” she warned, and he laughed.
“I’m not going anywhere, angel. Trust me on that.” Bringing her hand to his lips, he kissed the back of it gently before laying it down again. “And if I wasn’t so damn exhausted, I’d be encouraging you to jump on me now.”
Lucy knew just what he meant. Her whole body was still humming with pleasure, but she was so tired she was fighting to keep her eyelids open. Letting them drift closed, she listened to the soft sound of Bryce’s slow, even breathing for less than a minute before sleep claimed her.
Chapter Thirteen
“Yoo-hoo, darling! Lucy!”
“Fuck!” Lucy sat bolt upright, clutching the sheet to her bare breasts. Despite making the excuse to Bryce the previous night to convince him to stay, she hadn’t really thought her mother would come looking for her at some unearthly hour.
Glancing at the clock by the bed, though, she groaned. It wasn’t early; it was ten past nine, and she’d told Justine she’d meet her at nine in the lobby to take her on a tour of the island.
“Hm?” Beside her, Bryce rolled closer, an arm curling around her waist and pulling her towards him. “Is it morning already? Good, I can ravish you again…”
She spared a few seconds to appreciate how he looked, all rumpled in the warm light of morning, his hair shining gold, blue eyes peering up at her as he tried to pull her down for a kiss.
“My mother’s here!” she hissed.
“Don’t want to walk in on anything, darling,” Justine said loudly from outside the door. “Did you oversleep or did that gorgeous man of yours just not let you out of bed on time?”
“Sorry, Justine,” Bryce called back after a moment as Lucy fled for the bathroom. “My fault. Lost track of the time. I kept her up late, too.”
“Naughty boy,” Justine said playfully, and slid the door open. Bryce made sure the sheet was covering his hips before lying back and putting his hands behind his head, feigning a casualness he didn’t feel. Justine just stood and surveyed him for a moment, a smile on her perfectly painted lips. Even this early in the morning, she was fully made up, large designer sunglasses perched atop her glossy hair, wearing a white silk blouse with large pink flowers printed on it and white designer Capri pants. And white high-heeled sandals, Bryce noted, willing himself not to laugh at how ridiculously overdressed she looked. She could have just stepped off a film set or a yacht in St. Tropez.
“Hey, Mum.” The bathroom door slid open and Lucy emerged, putting the final couple of twists in her simple braid before wrapping a tie around the end. “Be right with you, I just need to put sunscreen on.”
The contrast couldn’t be more extreme between mother and daughter. Lucy looked surprisingly fresh — Bryce suspected she’d just splashed cold water on her face — her eyes sparkling, cheeks glowing. She wore a strappy pale blue cotton sundress, and stepped into a pair of old rubber flip-flops as he watched.
“Are you wearing sunscreen?” Lucy checked as she grabbed the bottle sitting on the dresser and squeezed some onto her hands. “Otherwise you’re going to fry.”
“My moisturiser is SPF 30, darling,” Justine dismissed.
“That probably won’t be enough. I’ll bring the bottle.” With a glance at Bryce, Lucy said brightly “Will you put some on my back?”
“Of course.” He patted the bed between his thighs, accepted the bottle as she sat down. Took his time massaging the thick sunscreen into her shoulders and upper back, ignoring Justine entirely. “There,” he murmured at last, leaning forward to nibble her ear. “Enjoy your morning. I’ll catch up with you for lunch? Got an afternoon dive leaving at two.”
“Lunch sounds good.” Lucy turned her head to kiss him, smiling at him gratefully. Though after the previous night, Bryce had no idea why she might think he wouldn’t go along with anything she wanted. He craved her again now, wanted to tell Justine to get lost and pull Lucy back into the bed, spend the whole morning exploring her body, the softness of her skin, the sounds she made as he made love to her.
As she capped the sunscreen and got off the bed, he had to shift a knee up to hide the fact that he was tenting the sheet. Justine was pointedly ignoring the pair of them, picking up and putting down things on Lucy’s dresser.
“Cheap moisturiser, darling, really?” She held up a bottle and shook her head. “I thought I taught you better than that.”
“You tried to raise me with expensive tastes, yeah,” Lucy said dryly. “Considering how much of the stuff I go through in this heat, I’d be broke in a few weeks if I tried to use high-end stuff. That’s been working for me.”
Justine pursed her lips and shook her head. Bryce sensed this was a regular battle between the two, and one Lucy had long since won by simply ignoring her mother’s recommendations and demands.
He heard Justine start up again as the two of them left, Lucy with a final wistful glance over her shoulder at Bryce still in her bed. He gave her a warm smile and she returned it before closing the door behind them.
Still tired, Bryce only gave brief thought to trying to go back to sleep. Sleeping in Lucy’s bed without her felt too intrusive, somehow. Pushing himself up with a regretful sigh, he headed for the shower. He’d clean up, get some food, and go prepare for the afternoon dive class. At least that would keep him busy until he could see Lucy again.
Chapter Fourteen
Lucy had spent most of her free time in the last few weeks planning activities to keep Justine as busy and engaged — and therefore, out of Lucy’s hair — as possible. The tour of the resort in a golf buggy, pointing out all the beauties the island possessed, was just the start, and occupied the rest of the morning. They caught up with Bryce for lunch at another of the resort’s restaurants, this one an Asian noodle bar overlooking the beach and coral lagoon beyond.
“I thought you might want a rest this afternoon, so I’ve scheduled to go into work for a few hours,” Lucy told Justine as they ate their lunch. “If you don’t want to sleep, you could relax by the pool, though.”
Justine looked dissatisfied, and turned to Bryce. “What about you, Bryce dear? Are you busy?”
“Taking out a dive at two,” he said cheerfully. “I’d say come along, except you shouldn’t dive for forty-eight hours after a long flight.”
“No, thank you anyway.” Justine shuddered slightly. “I don’t care for being underwater. I’m proud of what Lucy does, but I’ll have to settle for admiring her work from above the waterline.”
“Well, there’s plenty to see at the marine biology centre anyway. The stingray feedings are my favourite.”
Justine looked a little uncertain. Lucy chimed in again with another suggestion.
“Or there’s always the spa. You’ve got a VIP account which means you can jump the queue for spa bookings, or even have a therapist come to your suite, if you want. Watch a movie on TV and get your nails done, maybe?”
“Now that’s a good idea,” Justine said with an approving nod. “Then if I want a snooze, I don’t even have to move! Clever girl.”
Bryce really didn’t care for her patronising tone, and from the corner of his eye he saw Lucy’s jaw clench. Silently, he reached under the table and took her hand in his, feeling the tension in her stiff f
ingers. Gently, he massaged her palm with his fingertips until she relaxed again.
***
Lucy thanked her lucky stars, as she carefully loaded a batch of newly-grown corals into a transport tray, that her work wasn’t something she could just walk away from completely for too long. For at least a couple of hours a day, she could escape Justine and lose herself in doing something which mattered to her, and today she had almost a whole day’s escape. A large batch of corals was ready for replanting and she was going out with several other staff from the marine biology centre on a dive to replant them on a depleted part of the Reef. Pioneered in the Caribbean, the program was already showing great promise after only a couple of months here. Of course, the team had been growing the corals in the ‘nursery’ for months before she arrived, but Lucy still felt as though every one was her ‘baby’ as she directed the replanting program.
The other especially good thing about today, apart from a full day’s respite from her mother, was that Bryce was assisting on the dive. She’d only climbed out of their bed an hour ago, and here he was again now, smiling down at her as he helped her load the transport trays onto the boat.
“I’m really looking forward to today,” he voiced exactly what she was thinking, and she smiled back at him happily.
“Me too.” She’d even fished out her best bikini for the occasion — Bryce had made a remark to Justine the day before about Lucy wearing a red bikini the first time they met. Surprised he’d remembered such a small detail, she nonetheless dug it out of a drawer and put it on before donning her usual work uniform of blue T-shirt and khaki shorts. No sooner had the boat pulled away from the dock, everyone settling down for the hour-long trip to the replanting site, than she pulled her shirt off and cast Bryce an inviting look.
“Want to rub in some sunscreen for me?”
“Temptress,” he said with a laugh, pushing his sunglasses up on top of his head and taking the bottle from her hand. “You’re lucky there’s nowhere private on this boat except for a very small toilet, or you’d be about to get ravished.”
“Yeah?”
“Damn right. That bikini shouldn’t be legal.” His eyes were locked on her breasts, though they did drop lower as she removed her shorts too with a shimmy of her hips. “Hot damn, Luce. You trying to give me a heart attack?”
From any other man, such a display of blatant lust would have given Lucy the creeps. But this was Bryce, Bryce who told her he admired her brain just as frequently as he remarked on her looks, Bryce the most considerate man she knew. Even as he rubbed in the sunscreen, warm hands massaging her skin sensuously, he took the time to warm the cream in his hands first before putting it on her skin.
“You shouldn’t be allowed to be brilliant and beautiful,” he murmured in her ear, nibbling on her earlobe, making her shiver in sensual delight. “Makes the rest of us feel inadequate.”
“Same as you shouldn’t be allowed to be sexy and charming,” she riposted, but her voice was high and breathy. She’d made a tactical error, she realised; she felt hot and needy, her nipples jutting hard against the thin fabric of her bikini, dampness welling between her legs.
“When we get back to the cabin,” Bryce murmured in her ear, hands sliding down to massage her upper thighs and up to the high edge of the bikini bottoms, “I’m gonna bend you over the bed and fuck you until you scream my name.”
Lucy had honestly never realised just how sexy being talked dirty to could be. When Bryce did it, her knees trembled and her pulse raced, her breath coming faster.
“Since you can’t get a room right now,” Jodie the boat pilot called to them then, “take your hands off her before I make a citizen’s arrest for indecent behaviour, Bryce Seabrook!”
Laughing, he lifted his hands and took a reluctant step back. “Later,” he told Lucy with a dark look full of promise before he turned and headed aft to check on the oxygen cylinders.
“I can’t wait,” she muttered hoarsely to his retreating back, before turning with a sigh to pull her wetsuit from her dive bag. With hours to go before they returned to the island, she was going to have to concentrate on her work, or the time would drag interminably.
They couldn’t even bolt straight off the boat once they docked, of course. Lucy had to help her team get the empty trays back to the research centre, and Bryce had to take all the oxygen cylinders back to the dive hut for test and refilling. By the time everything was done, it was almost six o’clock, and they’d agreed to meet Justine for dinner at seven. Lucy should really be washing out her salty hair in the shower and deciding what to wear, but instead she was lying on the bed, wearing nothing but her red bikini, waiting for Bryce to get back.
At last, the screen door slid open and he brushed aside the curtain hanging over it with a puzzled look, since Lucy rarely bothered to draw it.
“Ah,” he said, seeing her on the bed, and turned to close the door and replace the curtain. “You waited for me, I see.” He grinned broadly as he approached the bed, yanking his shirt off over his head and discarding it onto the floor. Lucy didn’t even care just then, watching avidly as his shorts went the same way and he paused to open the nightstand drawer, grab out a condom.
“You made me a promise.” She licked her lips as she watched him roll the condom onto his jutting, swollen cock.
“I did, and I’ve been thinking about it all damn day. Get over here. And gorgeous though you look in that bikini, it’s going to have to come off.”
“Take it off then.” She crawled to the edge of the bed obediently. The bikini was ridiculously easy to remove, with shoelace ties at the sides of the bottoms and in between her breasts. One yank of Bryce’s strong fingers and her breasts sprang free, nipples peaked and hard, anticipating his touch.
“Christ, Lucy,” he said hoarsely, and looking up at his face, she caught her breath at the intensity of the passion she saw there.
“Don’t just stand there,” she said when he just gazed at her for a moment. Reaching down, she tugged loose the laces which held her bikini bottoms together. “Don’t make me wait.”
“Never,” Bryce promised, and then he was going to his knees beside the bed, cupping her breasts in his hands before his mouth closed over one nipple, hot tongue laving the stiff peak until she shuddered and gasped his name, her fingers running into his thick blond hair to hold him close.
Desperate for more, Lucy grabbed his hand, pulling it between her legs. She felt Bryce smile against her breast before he curved his fingers, crooking two of them up into her already wet passage, his thumb gliding over her clit.
She made a low, hungry sound in her throat, hips rolling against his hand, seeking more stimulation. His teeth grazed her nipple, making her jump slightly. Bryce pulled back briefly, looking up at her.
“Tell me if I’m being too rough,” he said. “My control… I lose it when I’m with you, Lucy, I want…”
“I want, too,” she said throatily, leaning forward to kiss him.
“Turn over, then.” He slipped his fingers out and stood, towering over her. Shaking a little with excitement, Lucy turned over and went to her hands and knees on the bed, looking back over her shoulder and chewing on her lower lip as she watched Bryce with wide eyes.
“You’re so bloody beautiful,” he said, his accent thickening so that beautiful came out as bewdiful. “Fuck me, I’m a lucky bugger.”
“No, fuck me,” Lucy demanded with a giggle, waggling her bottom at him deliberately.
“An’ you’re a cheeky sheila.” He grasped her bottom firmly in both big hands, pushing his hips forward so his cock slid between her thighs, glancing over her clit and making her moan. “Something you want?”
“You,” she half-sobbed as he repeated the motion, teasing her almost beyond bearing. “Please, Bryce!”
He didn’t make her wait, thrusting to the hilt on one swift, hard motion with a grunt of effort, drowned out by Lucy’s ecstatic shriek. She writhed on the deep impalement, her eyelids fluttering closed, br
ow dropping to rest on the bed between her hands.
“No,” Bryce gritted out. “Head up. Look.”
His hand in her hair at the nape of her neck made her lift her head and now she saw what he was seeing; they were right opposite the open bathroom door, looking into the big mirror over the sink. Bryce loomed large and solid behind her, and she — well she looked almost wild, her hair a tangled mane of dark curls, her eyes large and lucent, pupils blown wide with lust, her mouth open as she gasped for breath.
“So fucking sexy,” Bryce said raggedly. “Watch yourself, Lucy — see what I see when I make love to you. How beautiful you are when you come.”
His hips flexed as he began to pump, one hand on her hip and one on her shoulder holding her steady for him. His cock shuttled in and out of her faster and faster, slamming deep with every thrust, rubbing right over the sensitive little bundle of nerves deep inside her body.
What he was doing alone would have been enough to push Lucy up to the edge of orgasm pretty damn quickly, but combined with the sight of their reflection in the mirror, Bryce’s expression tight with lust as he fucked her roughly, her breasts bouncing with the jolting of their bodies together… Lucy lost it within seconds, struggling to keep her eyes open to watch, seeing the expression on her own face go slack as the climax washed over her.
When she was able to focus properly again, she watched Bryce, admiring the way the muscles of his arms and chest rippled with his movements, his whole body working as he chased his own release. His eyes met hers in the mirror and he grinned, almost feral.
Her Fake Island Wedding Page 8
