“Beautiful,” he groaned.
He licked her hip bones, scraped them with his teeth. Erica jerked under him, her breath coming quickly as he kissed her, touched her. Nikolas pushed her thighs apart, his breath fanning against her hot and dripping spot. He kissed her.
“So good!”
His lips covered her throbbing clit, sucking it deeply into his mouth. She sank her fingers into his hair. The pleasure unfolded in her, fluttering over her body, renewing her like a summer rain. He groaned into her flesh, and the vibrations shuddered into her, bringing delight, pleasure, more wetness.
Between her thighs, his eyes lifted, compelling hers. While she watched, he parted her slick folds with his fingers, held her open, tasted her with long and luscious swipes of his tongue. Flames sizzled under her skin.
She couldn’t look away from him. She felt that if she stopped looking at him, he would stop lapping at her. He ate her greedily, with a hunger that left her breathless. Her fingers flew away from his hair and twisted in the sheets; she was afraid she would hurt him.
His tongue thrust inside her, and she hissed at the thickness of it, so deep, so agile. Then his fingers. Oh! His fingers filled her. She writhed in the bed, gasped and moaned her pleasure and desire as his fingers stroked her deeply, pressing into her. She panted, wailed, cursed him as the sensations lashed through her.
“Oh, my God!” Her hips bucked under his mouth
He pinned her to the bed, loving her, plundering her wetness. Erica’s thighs trembled. Her breath exploded from her lungs with each thrust of his fingers, each suck of his wicked mouth on her clit. He fluttered his hard tongue against her clit as she watched, his elbows pressing her thighs open, fingers holding open the wings as he teased her with his fingers and lashed her clit with his tongue.
The entire bed jerked with her tremors as she began to come, hoarsely shouting his name.
As he lapped at her, his hips thrust into the bed, the muscular globes of his ass making tight circles on the mattress. The sight of him taking his pleasure that way nearly made her explode. Everything about this man made her burn, made her drip, made her lose her mind.
Finally she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. She flung her head back, squeezing her eyes shut. And screamed. Her throat was raw and hoarse from the scrape of his name as the tremors of orgasm swept through her.
He put on a condom and in one swift movement, rose up from between her thighs to shove himself inside her. He swallowed her gasp, his mouth claiming her completely. She moaned into him as he moved inside her, his hands firm on her ass, holding her to him as he moved his length with slow and thorough thrusts that she felt through her entire being.
Erica jerked upright in the bed. His body prevented the completion of the abrupt movement. Hard muscle. Sweat dripping from him. A haze of pleasure. The thrust of another orgasm exploding. Her shout. The sheets ripping in her fist. The bed rocking with each shove inside her. He grunted, and the mattress springs squeaked.
He moved inside her like a dream. Thick and hard. Rippling delight through her body with each thrust. Then she was coming again, body shuddering, her belly going tight as the orgasm rolled through her. Then another. And another. Her body and his a continuous loop of pleasure until she didn’t know where his satisfaction began and hers ended.
He shouted into her throat. “So good!” His completion pumped hot and sweet between her thighs. The bedsprings wailed. Their damp flesh slid together.
Nikolas slowly pulled away from her, his gaze of wonderment on her. “I didn’t think it could get better, but...I was wrong.”
He gently caressed her hips as he pulled semihard out of her. He flopped over on his back to stare at the ceiling. At his side, Erica could only do the same. She licked her lips, unconsciously moving her thighs together, relishing the wetness between them, the soreness that already lay there. She turned to Nikolas. He was already looking at her. As she watched, his lashes slowly drifted down over his dark brown eyes, coming to rest against his cheeks.
Typical man, Erica thought. Just as she too fell asleep.
Chapter Five
She woke to the sound of his voice.
“This weekend I should have been in Athens with family friends, having a last holiday before I go to work with my father.” The words were low, intent. He could have been sleep-talking. He could have been channeling another man, he sounded so different. This was the other Nikolas. The one who lived in a white palace at the top of a dark mountain.
“But you’re here instead. Why?” she asked, deliberately keeping her voice low.
There was something almost magical about the mood between them. The music from the iPod was soft in the room, not shielding the hypnotizing sound of the sea. The boat rocked gently. All around, Erica felt the large boat humming with activity despite the lateness of the hour. And here, in her small room, sharing this night with her, was the sexiest man she’d ever met. She felt drugged with pleasure.
“I’m exactly where I need to be,” Nikolas said.
“Shirking your duties on the boat just to have some fun?”
“Having fun with you is amazing,” he murmured, his hand moving with hypnotic gentleness along the lines of her face and throat. Nikolas’s lashes fluttered down over his eyes. “You make me want to say and do the most ridiculous things, jump from a cliff to catch an angel for you. Steal the breastplate of the goddess Athena herself. Make love to you all night and into the morning. Just to prove that I’m worthy of being here in your bed.”
She stared at him in amazement. “Are you drunk?”
He laughed. “Drunk on you.”
When he moved to gather her into his arms, she let him. Once sheltered in the crook of his arm, she sighed with the pleasure of it, wondering what had taken her so long to get there.
“My life is much too serious,” he said. “My father would have me cut my hair and become just like him, take over for him at Andromeda Shipping tomorrow.” Nikolas laughed without humor. “I am more than capable of the position I was born to fill. I am ready for it. But I will not be the type of executive my father is. His employees have never heard an appreciative word from him. He’d rather rule through fear than kindness and mutual respect. He doesn’t know when work ends and living begins.” He traced the bones of her fingers resting on his chest. “So when Christos asked me, I jumped at the chance to fill in for him this week. This is my last chance to do something completely for myself before I join my father and the board of directors in Athens next week.”
“You act like you haven’t had it easy your entire life,” she said. “From what you’ve told me, you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth. You can live anywhere in the world. You can buy or be anything.”
“Easy is relative.” His eyes darkened with emotion, but he said nothing else.
Erica lay still at his side, listening to the pain in his words. Another poor little rich boy? a snide part of her said. But he seemed so much more than that. And it wasn’t just because he had a big dick and knew how to use it. She touched his chest, then lightly stroked the thickly muscled flesh.
“We all have things we have to deal with,” she murmured.
“I’m hoping that one day you’ll share your worries with me,” he said softly. He touched her face, and she sighed. Her skin warmed and came alive under his seeking touch.
“You know that this is a vacation fling for both of us, right? There’s not going to be anything beyond these four days.” She felt she had to say it to take away the sting.
“Don’t be so pessimistic.” He kissed her mouth. “Spend some time with me after the tour is over so we can explore this thing between us.” Nikolas brushed her nipple with his thumb. “Let us enjoy each other for as long as possible.”
Could they? But what would that ultimately mean? Did he want...? Erica’s trai
n of thought tumbled off the rails as he caressed her. The slight flicker of interest became a flame as their kiss deepened. His tongue snaked against hers. “I want to make vacation love to you again.”
She shuddered in pleasure at his words vibrating against her skin. His hands curved around her breasts; he hardened against her thigh.
“I didn’t know talking about life made you horny,” she murmured as he kissed her throat.
“Everything about you makes me horny.” He slid seeking fingers between her legs.
Her nails dug into his back.
* * *
It was many hours later that he got up to leave her. Satisfaction sang through her body. Contentment in her very blood. He kissed her as he left the bed. She watched him as he pulled on his clothes in the faint light. His beautiful face, the wide and muscled chest, the narrow hips and the flaccid penis between thighs that she still wanted to bite and feel against her face.
“I have to get back to work,” he said. His voice was heavy with regret.
She hated to see him go. Erica curled her hands in the sheet to prevent herself from reaching for him and tugging him into her bed. “Come back later.” She grabbed his hand anyway, put it between her legs and into the wetness still there from their sex. “I’ll wait for you.”
Nikolas growled deep in his throat and sank his fingers into her, then pulled them back and licked them like they were laced with honey. “Hmm!” With his shirt gripped in one hand, he dipped back into the bed, kissing her mouth again.
“What are you doing to me?”
Erica smiled. “Come see me later.” Then she put a hand in the center of his chest and pushed.
He allowed himself to be shoved away and pulled on his shirt as he stumbled from her cabin, eyes still dazed with desire. Once he’d closed the door behind him, Erica sighed and fell back into the pillows. She stared at the door where he had just disappeared, unable to believe she was indulging in the ultimate cliché. A vacation fling indeed. But damn he was so gorgeous and he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. She curled up under the covers.
Just as her eyelids began to sag, a knock sounded on her door. Erica smiled, anticipating Nikolas’s arms around her again. She called for him to come in.
“Oh, good,” she murmured softly as she sat up, allowing the sheet to fall away from her breasts. “You changed your mind.”
But it wasn’t Nikolas who stood there in the doorway. It was Lani. The girl stepped into the cabin and gently closed the door behind her. Erica stared at her, unable to believe she was actually in her room. Although swift color moved into her cheeks, she stopped herself from grabbing for the sheets to cover herself. Instead she leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms.
“What can I do for you?”
Lani stared at Erica’s body, her face. “I wanted to know what he sees in you.”
“Why don’t you go ask him since you think the two of you still have a connection?”
The girl looked surprised at her response. Then her features hardened. “He only wants you because you remind him of his mother.”
Erica raised an eyebrow. “That’s not a very flattering thing to say about the guy you want back in your bed, is it?”
The blonde didn’t blink. “You have that in common, you know. That dark skin and your Afri—”
Erica sat up abruptly in the bed, her eyes narrowed at the stupid blonde. “Stop right there before you say something you’ll regret.”
“The only thing I regret is you stepping foot on this boat.” Lani clenched her hands at her sides. “Leave Nikolas alone. He may be half-black, but he’s with his own people here and he’s happy. Go back to America and stop confusing him. Stop trying to seduce him away from us with your black skin.”
Before Erica could recover herself and say anything in response, the girl walked out the door, closing it softly behind her.
Erica stared at the door, anger and disbelief warring inside her. Did she really come all the way to Greece to fight over some man?
Nikolas was an incredible lover, and he had been just what she’d needed to make her Greek vacation even more memorable. But was it worth all this? Erica cursed under her breath. She sat down at the edge of the bed and stared out the porthole at the dark and shifting sea.
Damn.
Chapter Six
Erica jumped off the boat with a wild yell. She dropped into the cool water in a bubbling rush. The wetness greedily swallowed her. Blue deep all around her. For a moment, she was suspended under the azure water, seeing the bottom of the boat, its anchor. The legs of her fellow passengers as they swam for the shore. A beautiful quiet that soothed her senses. Then she kicked her way back up to the surface. Breath held. Eyes open. She swam toward the brown water on the rocky shore.
The Agape was visiting the warm springs, a warm and sulfur-rich bay on one of the volcanic islands of Santorini. The bay was too shallow for the boat to dock, so anyone wanting to enjoy the warm, muddy waters of the springs had to jump from the boat and swim out to the rocky shore.
Erica hadn’t seen Nikolas since he’d left her room the night before. She knew he probably wanted to talk to her, but she’d purposely avoided him, still rattled by her late-night visitor. Lani’s desperate eyes and hunger for him had haunted her in her sleep. Was that how she seemed to everyone looking at her with Nikolas?
As she swam toward shore, she was strongly aware of Nikolas’s presence nearby with a water rescue buoy in hand. He was watching the other swimmers, and watching her. With a few strokes of his powerful arms and legs, he was next to her in the water.
“Something is wrong,” he said. He held on to the rescue buoy, his chest glistening, water droplets clinging to his thick eyelashes and dripping down his face.
The sea was already noticeably warmer around her, and she felt more buoyant. The warmth stroked her body, moving her toward Nikolas. The desire to wind her body around his, to kiss him and take his body inside hers, sparked her irritation.
“The only thing wrong here is you,” she muttered. “Leave me alone and go back to your crazy ex. She’s desperate to be your woman again.”
Surprise flared in his eyes. “My woman?”
“I think he’s drowning!” someone suddenly cried out.
Nikolas immediately dashed in the direction of the voice and the body flailing in distress. Erica stared in concern as he knifed through the water to reach the man thrashing uselessly and grabbing at his chest while his girlfriend looked on in fear.
Nikolas flipped the man onto his back, then grabbed his hands and fastened them to the ropes on the rescue buoy. The man wheezed as he clutched the bright orange tube, his chest heaving as if he was having trouble catching his breath.
“His asthma!” His girlfriend was in a panic. “The inhaler! It’s in his bag on the boat.”
Nikolas called out in Greek to someone on the yacht. Seconds later, Max jumped into the water and swam toward them. He and Nikolas worked quickly, giving the ailing man his inhaler, which he gratefully grabbed and held to his mouth. Within moments, he seemed much better.
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. With the man in good hands, most of the passengers continued on toward the shore. Only his girlfriend lingered with Nikolas and Max, staying with the men as they slowly made their way back to the boat.
Erica stared after Nikolas, noticing his effortless strength and the way he carefully handled the asthmatic man. Angry with herself for looking at him, she turned quickly in the water, splashing, to swim toward the other passengers. The cool water of the Aegean slowly warmed the closer she got to the rocky, mud-painted shore. As she swam, the water changed from blue to clay to a deep reddish-brown.
The warm springs. A small inlet where the water was heated by the volcanoes and turned a beautiful rust-on-copper shade, with mud u
nderfoot that the guidebooks said was therapeutic and great for the skin. Erica’s toes sank into the mud as she stood up in the waist-high water.
Grace and her two lovers swam happily nearby, splashing in the shallows while being careful of the rocks that became more plentiful the closer they got to the shore. Erica made her way toward them.
Once on the shore, she joined the other passengers in smoothing the mud over her face and body, surprised at the silken feel of it on her skin. She sat on a high rock, covered in mud, while the sun baked her. She laughed and joked with the Japanese couple and the three Australians. But she couldn’t stop thinking about Nikolas. The look on his face when she’d mentioned his ex-lover.
With Nikolas on her mind, the pleasure of the warm springs quickly faded. Erica was the first to swim back to the boat. She quickly changed out of her mud-stained bikini and showered, then went back on deck to grab a beer and lie in the sun.
Near her sat the asthmatic man, who had apparently recovered from his episode in the water. His girlfriend lay in the shelter of his arms; his sunburnt skin and her deeply tanned mahogany complexion contrasted as they reclined in the shade. Their fingers were linked and his head tilted down as he listened intently to whatever she was saying. Their happiness made Erica envious.
She exchanged a smile and a nod with the man, glad to see he was doing better.
* * *
On day three, the Agape sailed toward their next stop, an abandoned French castle on the other side of the island. According to local legend, the castle had once been occupied by a disgraced French vicomte who had fallen in love with another man’s wife, kidnapped her and forced her to live out the rest of her days on the edge of nowhere.
In person, the castle was breathtaking. A high stone structure with an old system of drainage pumps that ran into the sea. It was a striking shape against the blue sky, a marvel of turrets and arches that had withstood the brutality of hundreds of years. But even after so long, an aura of despair still lingered around the castle.
Dim the Lights: Islands of DesireLiquid ChocolateHer Wild and Sexy Nights Page 6
