“Yes...you taste good everywhere.” His eyes were glazed with want.
Erica’s center tightened with a powerful desire.
Her hands gripped his shoulders even as her legs sprawled wider to receive him; her feet planted into the sand. She lifted her mouth to his, commanding his lips, dragging him back from the stupor he seemed to be in. Her tongue dipped into his mouth, caressing him, teasing him. She tasted herself in his mouth, and her eyes rolled back in her head.
Erica liked it when a man couldn’t get enough of her taste, when he enjoyed that bit of foreplay almost as much as he loved sex. Nikolas seemed to be that type of man. She slid a hand between them, stroking his hardness.
Nikolas groaned into her mouth. A sudden frenzy. His hands roamed over her belly, burning almost as hot as the sun on her naked breasts. Fingers tugged at her nipples while she stroked him, luxuriating in his length, his width.
“Fuck me!” she breathed against his mouth.
She didn’t wait for him. Erica guided him to her entrance. Then his hand curled around hers, and the head knocked at her entry. She felt him glide against her wet and swollen lips.
“I want to make this good for you,” he said. He held himself above her, keeping his weight from crushing her body. The muscles of his arms trembled as he hovered over her. Sweat popped out on his forehead. Uneven breath rushed from him. He was fighting against simply taking her. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t!”
With a heavy groan, he sank into her. She caught her breath at the sudden fullness of him. A pinch of discomfort. Then the sweetness of being filled so completely. He positioned his hips between her legs, dipped his head to tongue her breast. Erica gasped again, this time in undiluted pleasure.
“I want to see,” she demanded.
He lifted his head, and she propped herself up on her elbows. Nikolas shifted his hips so she could see how they fit together. His thickness sinking into her dripping center. Her juices matted her wiry black hair, mingling with his dark curls. The liquid suck and kiss of their bodies connecting. Pleasure skimmed over her skin, raising up prickles of sweat, her breath shivering in her chest.
Hair fell over his eyes. His body quivered on top of hers as if straining to keep the slow pace, the angle of his body. His sweat-slick hand squeezed her breast, thumb strumming her nipple. The action zinged straight into her clit. She bit her lip and moaned, back arching against the blanket.
His patience shattered.
“Next time I’ll take it slow, I swear.” Then he began to move at a more intense pace.
Plunging into her, angling to hit her clit with each powerful stroke. Her fingers curled into the blanket. Her head fell back. His fingers pulled at her nipple as he sank into her and stroked her with a hard sweetness that made her cry out. She locked her ankles around him, pulled him tighter against her. She panted. Her eyes squeezed shut to block out everything but the sensation of him inside her, his belly and chest moving against hers, the pebbles biting into her back, adding to her fierce and consuming pleasure.
“Look at me!”
Her eyes opened.
“I want to see when you come.”
His eyes held hers as his face hardened even more with lust. He slammed inside her, gliding against her clit with each thrust. It felt like the sun was inside her, a glowing ball of light illuminating everything to a sharp and undeniable brightness.
Erica gasped under Nikolas, meeting his frantic thrusts with her own, twisting on the blanket. The sounds of her pleasure poured out of her throat and into the clear afternoon. The orgasm caught her unprepared. One moment she was riding a wave of pleasure, squeezing his thickness, her muscles gripping him hard, the heat a rich fullness inside her. Then feeling overwhelmed her. The orgasm brought her down like prey. She cried out, her nails scoring deep into his back. Shuddering. Her world a bright light. Blind to everything else. Her skin quivered from her pleasure.
“Nikolas!”
He growled something into her throat, his hips relentless as he poured more pleasure into her, his dick hard and firm and true. Nikolas threw his head back as wordless cries erupted from his mouth. Sweat dripped from his throat, and his body jerked into hers as he came. Nikolas panted.
Erica tilted her head back and stared up at the sharp blue sky. She slowly raked her fingers up and down the back of his neck as the after-tremors moved through her body. Her hips still moved, making unconscious circles on the blanket while her muscles clasped his softening flesh. She felt like purring. Her body hadn’t been touched so well in ages.
“Damn, you feel better than any woman I’ve ever known.” He murmured the words into her throat.
Erica stiffened at the reminder of his other women, specifically the other woman on the boat. Lani.
“Let me up,” she said.
After a moment’s hesitation, he did. She pulled away, disconnecting their bodies and not meeting his eyes. Afraid that one look from him would only make her want to feel him inside her again. The other woman was real. No matter what he said, the woman’s feelings were still a factor in this. She pushed away from him, ignoring his puzzled look, and stumbled to the water to immerse herself and wash the sweat from her body. The water felt good on her skin, a cool splash to remind her that what she had done, what she was thinking of doing again, was completely wrong. She walked back to the sand with heavy steps.
Nikolas was sprawled on the blanket, watching her as she walked from the water, his eyes heavy on her breasts, her feminine curves.
“You are beautiful,” he said.
But she didn’t want to hear any more from him. Nothing about her beauty. Nothing about how he liked her more than other women he might be seeing. Erica didn’t want to be just another girl in a long string. She quickly pulled on her clothes and shoved her wet bikini into her backpack.
“Shit!”
Her head jerked up at Nikolas’s curse. He yanked on his shorts and stowed the bottle of water, his iPhone and the oranges in his bag.
“What’s wrong?” She stared at him as he wadded up the blanket and quickly stuffed it in with the rest of his things.
“We have to go right now.” He spared her a brief glance. “The boat is about to leave without us.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. It was bad enough that she had to be stuck on the boat for a day longer than she’d planned, but she’d be damned if she got marooned out in the middle of nowhere with little food and no shelter with this insensitive tomcat.
She quickly followed Nikolas in the water and around the outcropping, gritting her teeth as she admired his taut backside in the cutoff shorts and the wide span of his bare, muscular back. This man needed to put on some clothes ASAP. If not to protect against skin cancer, then certainly for her sanity’s sake.
They got to the other side of the rock. The water splashed their legs and thighs, and their sneakered feet crunched into the black rocks as they ran across the beach. Nikolas reached back for her, and she automatically grabbed his hand. It felt like forever, but soon they broke through the arid landscape and down to the docks. All the other boats were gone.
The only ship that remained was theirs. The Agape bobbed in the water, giving an air of impatience as it floated at the dock. Nearly half a dozen faces turned to watch them scurry down the mountain, some with curiosity, others with irritation.
As they ran down the face of the volcano, Max, the lone man standing on the dock, spied them. He shouted something toward someone standing out of sight on the boat, then crushed out the cigarette that he was smoking and dropped it in the small trash can near him. He jumped on the boat, leaving the gate swinging open for Nikolas and Erica. Nikolas waited for her to climb on the boat ahead of him before joining her. He slammed the small gate closed and latched it.
Most of the passengers on deck seem
ed relaxed, lying back with bottles of beer or glasses of wine. The mother and daughter couple faced each other over a board game and barely looked up as Erica and Nikolas stumbled on board.
Cyrus seared them both with a knowing look, his eyes lingering long on Erica. Lani was nowhere in sight. Did she know that Nikolas had been off with Erica? She wanted to not care, but she did. Her eyes skittered around the boat looking for the blonde.
After waving a quick goodbye to Nikolas, Erica ducked her head and went belowdecks to her cabin. A proper shower. That was what she needed. That and a healthy dose of anti-Nikolas. She’d always avoided drama like the plague. Even when Trevor had tried to pull her and the Spelman girl into a catfight, she’d merely turned her back and wished her ex well. Why now after a stellar twenty-eight-year record of being drama-free, had she come to Europe and lost her mind over a rock-hard body and a bold smile? It must be the sun. Erica stripped off her clothes and got into the communal shower.
She raised her head to the salty shower spray—recycled seawater, just like in her hotel—and closed her eyes. Memories of the beach came rushing into her mind. The hot slam of their bodies, the way he had moved on top of her and inside her, so well that her toes had curled.
He’d been so tender in moments and then so masterful, seeming to know just how to touch her. She remembered him caressing her, watching her face to gauge her reaction to each stroke of his fingers or tongue. Once he knew she enjoyed something, he did it again and again, teasing her until she was going wild. His hand between her legs. His eyes on her face as he touched her clitoris, as he slid seeking fingers inside her to check how wet she was. In the shower, Erica began to moisten, to get ready for him again. She shook her head, rousing herself from the intoxicating memories.
Okay. This isn’t the kind of shower I need.
She picked up her washcloth and soap, finished cleaning herself and left the bathroom.
* * *
While the boat made its way to the next destination, Erica slept. She woke just in time for dinner. Then, wearing a simple white sundress and sandals, she climbed up on deck and found herself sitting with the young Australian trio traveling together.
The girl, Grace, was long-haired and charming, a gorgeous Aborigine with dark skin and gray eyes. The two boys traveling with her—blond Aidan and dark-haired Michael—both seemed infatuated with her. Even sitting at the table, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Aidan rubbed Grace’s back under her blouse while the girl linked her fingers with Michael’s. Erica didn’t doubt they were having a very fun threesome while everyone else was gawking at nature. Nice for them.
She enjoyed her moussaka and salad and indulged in a glass of red wine as she chatted with the Australians.
Grace leaned back into Michael as the breeze played in her loose dark hair. “So where are you from, Erica?”
“The States. Washington, D.C.”
“Oh, cool.” Grace looked genuinely interested. “I’ve never met anyone from there before. Usually Americans say they’re from New York or Los Angeles.”
“Or Texas,” Aidan chimed in.
Erica smiled, toying with the stem of her wineglass. “I was actually born in New York City. I went to college and law school in D.C. I’ve worked there for a couple of years.” She sipped the Shiraz, holding the faintly sweet flavor of the wine on her tongue before swallowing.
“Why would you give up the city that never sleeps for that dirty den of politicians?” Michael asked.
Erica didn’t think he wanted to hear about her parents’ expectations for her to continue the family tradition and attend Howard or some other historically black university. “It was a nice change from the hectic pace of New York,” she said instead. “I’ll be going back. A few days ago, I got an offer for a job in the city.”
“Oh, good,” Grace said with a wide grin. “I’d much rather come visit you in the Big Apple than whatever it is they call D.C.”
Erica smiled. “The nation’s capital.”
“I’d rather bite the apple,” Grace said.
Her two lovers laughed.
Their voices hushed in reverent silence when the sun began its descent toward the horizon. Oia’s famed sunset blanketed the sea with deepest orange tones, ambers, spectacular shades of reds. The surface of the water glittered as if sprinkled with tiny diamonds. High up in the town set up on cliffs, she could see the hundreds of tourists who had gathered to watch the miracle of Oia’s sun.
As she watched the gorgeous sunset, she couldn’t stop thinking about Nikolas and his kisses. His smile. All around her on the boat, the others were snuggling close together, cooing nonsense words as they watched the landscape all around them turn into gold. A few pulled out their cameras and took endless shots of the sky and the landscape.
It truly was beautiful. And for just one moment, she felt the prick of longing, the desire to share the spectacle of the sunset with the man she’d just met. And had sex with. Erica shook her head and shoved the longing away. It must have been caused by the lingering effects of her earlier sunstroke.
While she watched the sun and breathed deeply of the warm, salt-sweet air, she suddenly became aware of Nikolas on the deck. He was watching her. So she watched him. He was actually wearing a shirt for once; his body was clothed in a light blue shirt and faded jeans. His hair was loose and fluttered around his face in the wind. Her breath caught when the golden sun touched him. Gilded him.
Oh, damn...
She had never been one to believe in the power of instantaneous attraction. The few men she had allowed into her life and into her bed had cultivated the relationship they’d eventually formed with her. Erica’s desire for them had grown over the course of weeks or months. This was the first time that her body was irresistibly drawn to a man, lusting after him with a strength that made her breathless and scared.
Erica forced herself to look away from Nikolas. She focused on the water, the cliffs, the golden sky. Anything else but his compelling presence on the other side of the boat. She lifted the glass of wine to her lips and swallowed.
Chapter Four
While the sun set over the Aegean, a few of the men jumped into the water instead of watching the sky. Erica was very aware that Nikolas was one of those men. He’d unself-consciously pulled off his jeans and T-shirt to show off his body, conveniently already wearing tight swim trunks. He glimmered like a god of old as he leaped off the boat, suspended for a moment above the water before arching into the sea with a splash.
Erica finished her dinner with the increasingly amorous threesome before making her excuses and heading to her cabin. Their happiness was beautiful to see. Still it made her lonely. Made her long for something, someone, she shouldn’t want.
In the cabin, she put on her nightclothes, exchanging her dress for a tank top and loose pajama bottoms. She put her iPod on the speaker she’d brought and lay back on the bench with the pillows from the bed propped up behind her. Alice Smith sang from the speakers, infusing Erica’s little room with melancholy and yearning. Beyond the porthole, the dark sea moved like a great beast around the ship.
Her eyes were beginning to drift closed when a knock sounded on her door. Erica jerked awake, not sure if she’d heard correctly or if the sound had been part of the music. Someone knocked again. She stood up, yawning. She pressed her fingers to her eyes and went to answer the door. It was Nikolas.
“American Princess,” he murmured in his deliciously accented voice. “May I come in?”
Immediately, the tiredness fell away from her. Her entire body stood at attention, focused completely on him. The scarred eyebrow that should have been an imperfection but wasn’t. His full and kissable mouth. The muscled landscape of his chest under the thin shirt. Erica gripped the handle of the door in her fist. “No.”
“Don’t be so uncharitable,” he said with a
smile. “I only want to talk with you.”
“What, talk now and have sex later?”
“Or the other way around, if you want it that way.” The humor vanished from his eyes. He took a soft breath and reached out a hand to touch her hip through her thin pajamas. “I was watching you earlier,” he said. “You are so very beautiful.” His voice was deep and low, rough as if forcing the words past a raw throat.
She shook her head, unable to think properly with his hand on her. “Nikolas...”
“I can’t stop thinking about you.” His fingers tightened briefly on her, a firm stroke through the cotton of her pajamas. “I can’t stop thinking about the way you taste.” He took a step closer. “About how you felt around my fingers.” His hand slid under her tank top, lightly touching her side, stroking her skin. “Let me in, Erica.”
The need rolled from him in scalding waves, brushing against her body. Her face. It grazed her nipples, which tightened under the thin cotton. Erica swallowed. Before she could think about what she was doing, she moved away from the doorway, retreating backward into the cabin. He followed with the heat of his body.
“Erica...”
Her mouth met his halfway. They came together like two pieces of a puzzle clicking tightly, belonging. Nikolas slammed the door shut behind him and pulled her tightly to him as Erica gripped his hair. They stumbled across the small cabin, discarding clothes as they went. His shirt. Her tank top. His jeans. Her pajama bottoms. They fell into her bed, Nikolas on top of her, falling between her parted thighs as if he belonged there.
“Wow! You feel good.”
He devoured her mouth, sucking her tongue, his lips hard and firm on top of hers, conveying his desire, his want for her.
“I saw you in the sun this evening.” He kissed her neck and her collarbone. “You were made to be in the light. So damn beautiful.” He gasped the words against her skin as he moved lower, licking between her breasts, his breath skimming over her nipples, misting her ribs, teeth nibbling the delicate skin of her belly.
Dim the Lights: Islands of DesireLiquid ChocolateHer Wild and Sexy Nights Page 5
