Across from the crater where they stood, she could see dozens of tourists, some pointing to her and Nikolas. She could almost hear their thoughts, wondering how she and the Greek man had made it to the opposite side from everyone else. She backed away from view, not wanting to compromise their relative privacy.
As if he understood, Nikolas held out his hand. “Come.”
They left the quietly smoldering crater and wound down a lonely path toward the beach. As they walked, he kept his hand at the small of her back.
“In case you lose your balance,” he said with a wicked grin.
She shook her head. If she lost her balance, she’d probably tumble headfirst down the gully and into the water. Although Nikolas looked very strong and capable with all those muscles, she doubted he would be able to protect her from herself.
But at one point, she did stumble over a jutting rock. Nikolas quickly brought her up against his side, easily lifting her off her stumbling feet and setting her upright before she could do more than cry out in alarm. Her arm latched around his neck. She panted in fear, staring down at the rocky beach that was still at least fifteen feet below the steep incline.
When she looked away from the frightening possibility of her fall, she found his gaze on her, his eyes on her mouth. Suddenly, she was aware that they were pressed close. His skin was warm from the sun. Slippery. Its softness and the hard muscles beneath made her curl her fingernails into his shoulder before she could even think about it. He smelled delicious. Sinful. The vague odor of sulfur and the salty air stirred around them. Erica bit her lip and deliberately stepped back.
“Thank you,” she said breathlessly.
“My pleasure.”
He released her but kept a hand on the small of her back as they continued down the incline. With each step, she was aware of his smell, the weight of his hand on her flesh, mere inches from the curve of her ass.
Erica glanced sideways at him. She didn’t know it was even possible to be aroused by someone this much. Just him touching her back made her wet. Her pulse strummed in her throat.
It seemed like it took forever for them to make it down to the water. The air was much cooler with the waves rushing up onto the dark, rocky beach. The sea was clear and calm with not even a boat in sight.
“We’re going there.” Nikolas pointed to a piece of the cliff face jutting out over the sea. “Around that rock.”
Again, he led the way, holding her hand as they tramped over the rocks that glimmered wetly from the waves washing steadily, then receding over them. Up close, she could see that the rock cut out even more sharply from the beach than she’d thought. They would have to walk out into the water—and a drop of over three feet—to get around the rock and to the other side. As he was about to step around the rock, Nikolas released her hand.
“Be careful,” he said. “Step where I step. And although you have your shoes on, still keep an eye out for sea urchins.”
He glanced down into the deep blue water that rippled in the sunlight and grew darker the farther out to sea it went. In moments, he stepped into the sea and disappeared around the rock’s bend.
With him gone, Erica felt utterly alone. Although she knew there were dozens of tourists somewhere nearby on the island and that Nikolas was only a few feet away, the melancholy stirring of the breeze and the whispering emptiness of the sea made it seem as if she stood on the loneliest place on earth.
Then she stepped toward the rock, into the water. Cool. The sea was cool around her thighs, lapping around her bare flesh at the edges of her shorts. Goose bumps blossomed all over her skin. Because of the proximity of the steaming volcano, she’d thought it would be warmer, at least warmer than the sea outside her room on the yacht.
She waded through the water, staying on the lookout for urchins as instructed, stepped around the rock and onto another rocky beach. Then she almost lost her balance as she stared in surprise at what she found on the other side.
It was a private beach. An isolated circle hugged on both sides by tall black rocks sticking out into the water, a convenient shelter from prying eyes. The water was clear and shallow and incredibly blue; the little beach was no bigger than her living room back home.
Even the rocks that made up the beach were smaller than the ones she and Nikolas had walked over to get there. An oasis. The sandy bottom of the sea mated with the fine black rocks on the beach in beautiful, rippling patterns she could see through the clear water. And there were no urchins, thank goodness.
Nikolas already had a blanket spread out on the beach. He was sitting down, simply watching Erica as she made her way toward him.
“How did you even find this place?” she asked, stepping out of the water.
“Luck.” He shrugged. “I take my boat out here sometimes to scuba around the volcano. One evening, I came out farther than usual and stumbled onto this.”
“It’s like your own piece of the volcano.”
“The government wouldn’t agree, but, yes, it is. And I’m sharing it with you.” His smile was inviting, flirtatious.
Erica couldn’t help the answering smile that took over her face. This man was a charmer. He had to know what he was doing when he made declarations like that. She shrugged off her backpack and sat down next to him.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Yes, actually,” she said, surprised.
She’d only had juice and honey-drizzled yogurt at her hotel before she’d left for the boat, and now it had to be well past noon. She reached for her backpack as Nikolas opened his messenger bag.
He pulled out a bottle of water, two oranges and two spinach pastries. “I brought enough for both of us.”
“How do you know I eat spinach? I might be the type to hate my vegetables.”
“No one hates spanakopita. It’s a law of the universe.” His lush lashes swept up, eyes capturing hers.
She chuckled, unable to look away from the bright beauty of his gaze.
Why was this man so compelling? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known gorgeous men before. Even her ex-boyfriend Trevor, who had gotten through most of his life so far on his looks alone, hadn’t affected her like Nikolas. No one had.
Erica drew back, took a trembling breath. “Thank you. I’ll be happy to share your meal with you.”
“Good.” He separated the bounty into two neat mounds between them and pulled out two cloth napkins from his bag, a small bottle of wine and plastic cups. “And if you’re interested in something a bit more stimulating...” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
He had planned on seducing her up here. Wine. Food. A lovely view. Like he had planned a panty-dropper of an afternoon all along despite the guided tour they were supposed to be on.
“I’m not having sex with you,” she said.
“I don’t want you to have sex with me,” he countered with a smile. “I want to make love to you, and I plan on doing all the work.” His voice was low and sexy, eliciting a shudder over the surface of her skin. Skin that suddenly felt too sensitive for clothes.
She swallowed. “Why are you so determined for this to happen between us?”
“I’m not determined,” he said. “I’m hopeful.” He uncapped his bottle of water and lifted it to his full lips, drinking deeply.
For a moment, Erica was mesmerized. She watched the seal of his mouth around the rim of the clear plastic bottle, the firm column of his throat, his Adam’s apple moving with each swallow. Unable to help herself, she licked her lips, imagining she was that bottle, that he put his mouth on her, drank her up in such greedy and endless gulps. Erica flushed.
She was not the type to sleep with men she’d just met, but if she stayed next to him for a moment longer... Erica stood and walked to the water’s edge. Splashed water on her face. She gasped at the cold shock of it. Closed her eyes as the
cool droplets soothed her overheated face and neck. She thought she heard Nikolas chuckle behind her, but when she turned, she only caught him staring at her ass.
“Okay.” She lifted her shirt to wipe the wetness from her face, ignoring his hungry look at her bared stomach. With a sigh, she sat down on the blanket once again, putting a few more inches between them. “You have to understand something about me,” she began. “I don’t mess around with men who have prior commitments.”
“I don’t have any prior commitments.” He capped the bottle of water and dropped it on the blanket between them. The wind ruffled his long hair, tossed strands over his eyes.
“Does Lani know that?”
“She knows everything. I’m not her boyfriend. Never have been.”
“Are you lying to me?”
He chuckled. “If I was lying, why would I recant and tell you the truth now?”
“Good point.” She shook her head. “Just let me eat in peace for now, okay? You can try to seduce me later.”
“Seduction and food go perfectly together,” he said. “But I will wait. The anticipation will make it even better.”
She bit into the spinach pastry, smiling in spite of herself. Cocky bastard.
They sat with their legs stretched out on the blanket, their feet planted in the sand. The sun was bright and gorgeous, shimmering over everything as far as Erica’s eyes could see. Nikolas’s face, the blue water, the stretch of black rocks surrounding the large cove and leading out to sea. The tiny swatch of beach was private in so many ways. A boat had to be already heading there and just about ready to toss down its anchor before anyone aboard could see them on the beach.
The idea of such complete privacy made her quiver just the smallest bit in anticipation. To distract herself, she inched even farther away from Nikolas. Then struggled for something else to squash her growing interest.
“Tell me about this girl, Lani,” she said. “Does the rest of the crew think you and her have a thing?”
“Who knows what goes on in people’s minds? I am certainly no mind reader.” He chewed his pastry, his eyes twinkling in his brown face.
“Seriously, though.”
“I’m never serious, American Princess. I’m surprised you haven’t figured that out already.”
“I doubt that’s true. There’s something else going on behind that pretty face besides jokes and good times.”
“I think you give me too much credit, Princess. All I want is to have a good time on this trip, meet a nice girl or three. Enjoy myself.”
But his words were not very convincing.
“If you say so,” Erica said.
She shrugged as she finished the last bite of her spanakopita. She drank nearly half the bottle of water before standing up and walking away from Nikolas. She felt his eyes on her the entire time.
The water before her was one of the most beautiful shades she had ever seen. Not the turquoise shimmer of the Caribbean, but a unique and captivating darkness that made her want to dive in despite its coolness. She looked over her shoulder at Nikolas. Yes, he was watching her. Not eating, not drinking. He was simply watching her with his dark eyes, his expression ravenous.
She dismissed him with a shrug, then pulled off her shorts and tank top. In her bikini and tennis shoes, she ran into the water, diving into the cool depths in one motion.
Erica gasped at the chill against her skin. Salt water flying up into her mouth, stinging her eyes. But, oh, it felt good. The warmth of the sun on her face and shoulders, her chest. The cool water rippling around her breasts, gently lapping at her belly. She shivered and dropped her head beneath the surface. Swam away from the shore.
She heard a splashing in the water behind her when she resurfaced. Nikolas. He swam lazily toward her. Droplets of water shimmered on his bare shoulders and arms. His head was as sleek as a seal’s. She watched his smooth movements, hypnotized.
She dunked her head beneath the water again, needing the reassuring coolness on her skin. The worst—and strongest—part of her wanted to simply climb on top of him, kiss him again, share that heart-thudding desire that had moved like an earthquake through her on the volcano. But no matter what Nikolas said, he had a woman.
“Was that a challenge for me to follow you out here?” he asked.
The amusement was gone from his face. In its place was an intent and hard look; the angles of his face had transformed.
“I only challenge in the courtroom,” she said with a slight shrug, sending ripples into the water around them.
“Liar.”
He kissed her. The shock of it held her immobile for a moment. Much like the cold water had, stopping her breath, instantly stimulating her skin. Electric attraction jerked through her. She opened her mouth for him. Slid her hands into his heavy wet hair. Her tongue in his mouth. Him sucking her lips, licking the inside of her mouth until she loosened a noise, unable to keep quiet. From just that kiss, her bikini bottom suddenly felt too tight against her. She wanted to pull it off, she wanted to—
Her thoughts stuttered to a halt when he grabbed her ass and jerked her against him. Erica gasped. He was completely naked. His body was hard and bare against her, smoldering iron under the cool water.
“Nikolas!” She pulled her mouth back from his.
But she felt her control slipping away. Her hips pushed back into him, her body practically purring from the large and solid feel of him.
“I love the way you say my name,” he groaned, rolling his hips against hers.
She kissed and kissed him, her mouth opened wide over his. He rubbed his tongue over the sensitive flesh of her lips while his hips moved against hers under the water, shoving against her, telling her what he wanted to do. She clung to his slippery shoulders, lost to the reality of wanting him.
Erica raked her fingernails over his chest, sighing in satisfaction when the prominent muscles jumped under her touch and he groaned into her mouth, moaning when she pinched his nipples. Both his hands were on her ass now, caressing her, slipping inside her bikini to grasp her rounded flesh, to squeeze and caress it. How did he know what would feel good to her? How? He pinched her ass as she pinched his nipples, like small stinging kisses lower and lower until his fingers slid between the thick globes and caressed her wetness.
“Ah, Princess...” He breathed into her mouth, his chest heaving and hard against her own. “I want you more than I should.” He groaned out something in another language and kissed her harder. She joined him in the ferocity, teeth biting, breath huffing, until her lips felt wonderfully bruised and still wanting more.
“I don’t...I don’t...”
She thought she knew what he was trying to say. And she agreed completely. They couldn’t do this in the water. Erica pulled back from him, breathing heavily, her breasts heaving. His eyes dropped to the front of her bikini and he reached for her again. She turned in the water and swam away, her body moving swiftly toward shore as if running away from her desire for him. But it latched more tightly to her than ever before, pulsing hot and hard between her legs. Her nipples were aching and tight with arousal, the breath rushing from her lungs.
She wanted him. She exploded from the water, struggling briefly over the slippery rocks until she reached the shore.
Nikolas was only a few feet behind her. The loud stumbling of him made her feel like a lioness in the wilderness with a potential mate hard on her heels in search of the satisfaction only she could bring. Her heart pounded. She dropped down to the blanket on her back, reached for him even as he was falling into her, his hips landing in the V between her thighs that she made for him. Her desire was more intense than any she had ever felt before.
The sun beat down on her face, burned into her skin as he kissed her.
“You taste incredible,” he murmured against her mouth.
She met his lips, openmouthed, drinking in his flavor, the hint of pastry on his lips, the saltiness from the sea. Erica clasped his hips, surging up against the thickness already probing between her thighs. The blanket was soft, but she felt the rocks through the material, piercing into her back, into her ass. The discomfort felt strangely good. Grounding her in the now of the moment.
Here I am! she wanted to shout.
Yes. Here she was, twisting with a stranger under the burning Greek sun on the small beach, her heart pounding, his palm pressing at her throbbing clit. An odd and delirious ecstasy.
Nikolas lifted his head, dark eyes hooded and glittering with passion. His mouth red and wet. “Condom!” He gasped the word, his chest moving quickly against hers.
He lifted from her and grabbed his bag, his movements frantic and uncontrolled. His hand soon emerged with the prize. Erica watched as he rolled it on, wetting her lips as the clear latex covered every potent inch.
Nikolas was big, definitely not the biggest she’d ever seen but gorgeous. The head glistening and fat, veins roping the length like tattoos. His sack was heavy and tight. It made her even wetter to know he was the same deep copper color all over. She bit her lip in anticipation as he reached for her, then squirmed against the blanket, wet and dripping into the crotch of her bathing suit.
He covered her. All hot and slippery skin. His lips parted, hands tugging off her bathing suit. Nikolas cupped her, fingers combing through the dark hairs framing the heat of her.
He gasped something she couldn’t understand, fingers moving through her wetness. “I love touching your pussy,” he said. “I want to feel it on my face.”
She bucked at his rough words, already imagining how his mouth would feel on her flesh. His fingers slid over her clit, provoking pleasure, a moan. Then he slid a finger inside her before pulling back, then diving in again. He actually licked his lips, as if he wanted to eat her more than he wanted to make love to her, as if the choice was a hard one. Want flowed through her. His desire, clear and undeniable, shook her even more. She’d never known a man who’d wanted her this much. Who showed his desire so easily. He withdrew his fingers, sucked them.
Dim the Lights: Islands of DesireLiquid ChocolateHer Wild and Sexy Nights Page 4
