by Lexy Timms
“Why is that even a question?” she asked.
“Come on,” he said with a chuckle. “Two crab salads and a pitcher of adult lemonade coming up.”
She watched in awe as Ash slapped the dinner together in forty-five minutes. The crabs were fresh from the bottom-refrigerated compartment of the kitchen and the lemons were freshly squeezed. The salad was full of freshly chopped vegetables, and she watched in shock as Ash wielded himself around the kitchen like a professional.
“Are you secretly a chef that moonlights as a bartender?” I asked.
“What? A man can’t know how to cook?” he asked.
“Not like this, no. Not without a reason.”
“Does a beautiful woman count as a reason?”
Kallie felt her face flame and shook her head as the salad was set in front of her.
“And one adult lemonade for the lush,” he said with a grin.
“Yeah, yeah. You’ll be the one to finish that pitcher,” she said as she grabbed her plate.
“Where are you headed?”
She peered at him through the slats in the stairs before she smiled in his direction.
“To watch the sunset, of course. You coming, handsome?”
And she laughed when he grabbed everything and ran toward her for the stairs.
Chapter 21
Ash
Ash sat in the lounge chair next to Kallie as the waves jostled softly against the side of the yacht. The crab salad wasn’t half bad, but the lemonade was fantastic. Kallie was drinking it down quicker than she probably realized, and soon he was pouring her another glass. He didn’t put a lot of alcohol in it. Just enough to make them feel good if they decided to drain the entire pitcher. The sunsetting beneath the horizon was beautiful, but taking it all in with Kallie made it perfect.
“Want to hear my plans for our weekend?” Ash asked.
“We have other plans besides me enjoying your fabulous cooking?” she asked.
“I take it the crab salad’s good?”
“It’s fantastic, Ash. I don’t know how you excel at so many things. But it’s incredible to me.”
Her words warmed his heart as his gaze panned over to hers. She was gorgeous in the colors of the setting sun. Her face was glowing with a warm hue and the purples and the blues that stretched across the sky reflected in her seafoam eyes. The way she chewed—the way she held her plate up to her mouth so she could eat quicker—it was unlike any other woman Ash had ever experienced. The women that surrounded him would’ve been sitting upright at a table, eating their salads with forks and knives. Taking the tiniest bites and chewing them until the food was nothing but fluid in their mouths.
There were so many things Kallie was afraid of.
And so many things she wasn’t.
“You gonna tell me about these awesome plans of yours?” she asked.
“If you want to hear them. I could always keep them a surprise,” Ash said.
“I think if you surprise me anymore I’m going to have a heart attack. At least give me a heads-up on what’s coming.”
“The organizer’s afraid of a little surprised disorganization in her life?”
“You have no idea the panic attacks you could throw me into,” she said with a giggle.
“Well, there are some hidden islands I know about. Places that haven’t been touched by tourists yet. There’s this one island that has its own tide pool, and you can literally bodysurf the waves back into the soft sand. It actually cushions your fall. It’s great.”
“That sounds like so much fun,” she said with a smile.
“And there’s another island that has great hiking. We can take the natural trail up this winding little mountain thing and look down at a waterfall that flows into a saltwater lake in the middle of the place. It’s deep too. We can jump down into it and explore behind the waterfall.”
“Jump? How high is it?” she asked.
“We can do it from multiple spots. We can go all the way to the top, which is about a thirty-foot drop. We can hit it halfway at fifteen. Or, we can stick to the sidelines and jump maybe six feet from the side and into the water.”
“We’ll see when we get there.”
“Then there’s this other island. It’s my favorite. It’s smaller than the rest, but it has that same waterfall, right? And behind the waterfall is this hidden cove and I don’t know how, but it has this hot spring.”
“No it doesn’t,” she said.
“Swear to everything on my name, it does. It’s not bubbling or anything, but it’s warm. Soothing. Relaxing. We could sink down into it. Maybe go skinny-dipping.”
“Uh-huh. Skinny-dipping. That’s all you’ve got on your mind,” she said coyly.
“Do you hate the idea?”
She side-glanced Ash and he could see the devilish look in her eyes. Her smile grew broad and her shimmering teeth caught the rippling sunset against her wide smile. Her eyes shut with happiness as it bloomed on her cheeks and Ash couldn't take his eyes off her. The sun sank below the ocean, settling a darkness around them that blanketed her body in the most beautiful hue of blue he’d ever seen.
And that’s when Ash realized something.
He didn’t want their vacation to end.
He wanted to spend a week out on the ocean with her. Two weeks. Maybe even three. He wanted to set up camp on one of the islands and dock his boat against the sand. He wanted to lie with her naked in the sand and allow the waves to crash around their bodies. He wanted to hold her hands and jump into the waterfall until they had to retreat back to the yacht for food. He could fish and create a bonfire. They could eat straight from the ocean. The coconuts from the blossoming trees. Maybe he could convince her to stay with him for the rest of the week as they explored the dozens of deserted islands this area of the world had to offer.
Or maybe ... just maybe ... she would stay.
The thought was startling to him. He’d never wanted something like that with any of his other hookups. But he wanted it with Kallie. He wanted her to stay. He wanted her to choose him over a life he knew didn’t make her happy back in the States. She could move her career anywhere. Find clients who needed her help anywhere. And at the very least, he could go back with her. A month at her place, a month at his, a month abroad. They could make it a pattern. Live any type of lifestyle they wanted for the rest of their lives.
He wanted that kind of life.
And he wanted it with Kallie.
“The sunset,” she said.
“I see your salad’s gone as well.”
“It was good. Take it as a compliment.”
“Trust me. I do.”
“Is it bad that I want to stay on the deck. Just bob away in the endless expanse of the night?”
“I’ll do you one better. I’ll stay out here and bob with you,” he said.
“Would you? Stay with me?”
Ash looked deeply into her darkened green eyes and it was on the tip of his tongue. Everything and nothing. How he felt and what he was scared of. He wanted to stay with her. Badly. So much so that he considered telling her that. Considered telling her how he was beginning to feel about her. He admitted it. Ash was falling for Kallie. And he didn’t mind it at all. He was scared. Nervous as to what she would think about it. But also excited at the idea that she might want him back. That she might just wrap her arms around him and keep him around.
He liked that idea.
“Yes,” Ash said. “I’ll stay with you.”
Kallie’s hand fell toward his, and he laced their fingers together. The boat slowly bobbed away from the islands and the coral reef. So long as he could see the glow of St. Barts, he’d be able to get back. And if all else failed, a quick distress call without Kallie’s knowledge to the guards that were scattered along the beach would help guide him back in.
“Kallie?”
“Mhm?”
“Will you dance with me?”
He watched as her gaze whipped over to him and she smiled.
“I didn’t know you were such a romantic, Ash.”
“I guess you bring out the best in me,” he said as he offered his hand.
He stood, helping Kallie to her feet, then he pulled her soft body to his. He wrapped his arm around her waist and suspended her hand in the air against his. He began to sway their bodies. Move their feet in time with the waves splashing against the yacht. Kallie’s face fell to his chest and his chin settled on top of her head and he wondered if she could feel his heart. How quickly it was beating the deeper she melted into him. She had him all twisted up in knots. Nervous for the very first time in his life around another woman. He closed his eyes and took it all in. The way her pliable curves meshed with his body. The way her steady breathing felt against his skin. The way her hand fit perfectly into his.
Then, out of nowhere, Ash started singing.
“‘Come away with me in the night. Come away with me and I will write you a song. Come away with me on a bus. Come away where they can't tempt us, with their lies. And I want to walk with you on a cloudy day in fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high. So won't you try to come.’”
“‘Come away with me and we’ll kiss...’”
Kallie uttered the last line of the song as she tilted her head up to see Ash. He looked down into her eyes, watching as the expanse of the sky reflected back at him in her stare. He was lost. A sucker for all she was, and he knew it. He knew he was falling into the endless abyss of uncertainty she brought into his life, and he loved it.
Somehow, after only a week of having her around, he was in love with her.
“Pretty Kallie,” he said with a whisper.
His lips dipped to hers and their movements ceased. His hands fell to her back and cloaked her, pulling her as deeply as he could get her into the crooks of his body. He drew in a deep breath, feeling her moan into him. He drew in her scent. Her taste. Her feel and her presence. He drew in her decadence and her curves and the valleys of her body. He drew in her essence. Her aura. Everything about her that drove him wild. That rooted him to reality.
That made him sway with weakness at the sight of her in the morning.
He sank them both onto a large cushion at the front of the ship. Underneath the stars, surrounded by nothing and no one other than the water that carried them away from the hustle and bustle of the island. He slid back her layers until nothing but her soft breasts were pressed against his bare chest. Parted her legs until nothing slid against his cock but her warm wetness. Their clothes were discarded, and he was tangled in her arms. Rolling around with her on the length of the cushion that kept them positioned underneath the stars that would behold the beauty of their writhing bodies that night.
It was romantic.
And he loved it.
His tongue slid into her mouth as his hips fell forward. Pressing into Kallie’s body as she gasped and skimmed her hands up his back. Goose bumps trickled along his skin, tethering him to the woman underneath him. Her breasts undulated against him and her hips rolled to encompass the whole of him. He sizzled as colors burst in his sights. Wondrous rainbows that blinded him and exposed him to the beauty of the woman sighing underneath him. Their lips danced and his skin heated. Her fingertips inched along his twitching muscles as her toes rushed up the backs of his legs.
“Oh, Ash,” Kallie said breathlessly. “I...”
He nuzzled her nose, knowing full good and well what she was trying to say. What she was going to say. What her body wanted to say. He rolled deeply into her, causing her to moan as her jaw unhinged in pleasure. He nibbled on her lower lip, drawing it between his teeth and listening as she whimpered beneath him. He propped himself up on his hands and planted his knees, watching the way her body melded with his.
He couldn’t take his eyes off their connection. Off the slickened arousal that painted his cock white. The evidence of her want. Her lust. Her passion for him. His head was spinning. Stars were bursting in his vision. Her body throbbed and jostled as the boat rocked in time with their passion.
With their tenderness.
“Come back.”
Kallie’s voice ripped him from his trance and his gaze rushed up to hers.
“Come back to me, Ash.”
And he fell into her, their lips crashing together, as their bodies rolled over and she straddled his pelvis.
Chapter 22
Kallie
Kallie lifted her head toward the sky as her hands fell to Ash’s chest. He felt so good inside of her. Filling her. Holding her. Gripping her as tightly as he could. She felt safe in his arms. Beautiful straddling his body. Like a goddess of the sea dominating the god of thunder from the skies. His hands spilled up her curves as she gasped, her eyes fluttering open as she took in the expanse of the stars above her. So many twinkling lights. So many stars cheering them on. Clapping and singing out as she rolled her hips against his body.
But the most beautiful sight she could behold was underneath her.
Ash, with his hair painted in sweat and his hands rocketing up her body. Like he couldn't get enough of her. Couldn't feel enough of her against the palms of his hands.
She crashed down into him and his body rose up, sitting them upright as she rolled against him. Their bodies, in time with the beating of her heart, ground together as they melded into one. She hung onto his shoulder with one hand and fell out with the other, hanging her breasts toward the skin as he wrapped his arm around her. He thrusted into her, spreading his legs as Kallie fell into the confines of his body. Panting and sweating as the night draped over them like a calming weighted blanket.
“Kallie. Sweet Kallie. Don’t stop what you’re doing.”
His grunts. His groans. They were all music to her ears. The crashing of the waves against the boat and the rhythmic rocking of their bodies. Her toes curled and her heart slammed against her chest. Her hand hooked into his muscles as his grip grew tighter around her. She was floating and falling. Swimming and flying. Living and dying, all at the same time. All against the body of a man she’d come to cherish. To respect. To care for, even in a time of great loneliness in her life.
All against Ash.
She threw her arms around him and took him back down to the cushion. She crashed her lips into his and he rolled her over, tossing her leg beyond his shoulder. He folded her in half, opening her up to him as his cock slid deep into her body. Rolled against her pulsing clit as his balls smacked her ass. Her hands twisted into his mahogany hair, soaked in the darkness and dripping with sweat. She was coated in him. His scent hung in the air around her. Her eyes locked with his and she couldn’t close them. Couldn’t disconnect. Couldn’t put any space between them.
She didn’t want space between them.
Faster he rolled, until skin slapping skin drowned out the sound of the water splashing against the yacht. Kallie moaned and cried out, her back arching into him as his lips fell to her breasts. He sucked on her nipples and pulled them between his teeth, tugging on them and sending a rush of electricity surging through her body. Her pussy was pulsating around him. Dragging him farther into her depths as his hips stuttered against her body. Her leg quivered and her toes curled, and the colors of the coral reef suddenly burst in her vision.
She wanted to tell him she loved him. She felt it, deep in the pit of her gut. A raging emotion filled with so many uncommunicated thoughts. Passions. Desires and hopes for her world. Ash filled parts of her she didn’t know were empty. Spilled himself into cups that were sucked dry by her ex. By her schedule. By her friends who pushed her to do things they thought were right. By her parents who hovered and her college that almost sank her and her endless need to have everything organized down to the colors of the shirts in her damn closet.
She wanted to cry it out into the night and drench his skin with how she felt.
But she settled for grabbing his face and slamming his lips into hers.
Her body rocketed over the edge, shaking as her orgasm rushed over her body. Her vision tu
nneled and her back bowed. Like an overtuned violin neck ready to snap at a moment’s notice. Goose bumps pulled so tightly onto her skin it hurt, and fluids gushed between her legs. Soaking Ash as he sank his cock into her. He shivered. Groaned. Grunted and rutted against her. Ground against her clit and sent a blinding, white-hot pleasure surging throughout her veins.
She couldn't breathe.
Couldn’t speak as her pussy clamped down around his dick.
She felt him spilling into her. Filling her with his mark. His scent. His essence. Her body plummeted to the cushion and the darkness crept in around her vision. Threatening to swallow her under as her body jolted with shock.
Ash collapsed on top of her, blanketing her as their arousal spilled from between her legs. She could feel how hard his heart was beating against his chest. His body shivered against her and she lazily wrapped her arms around him, fighting off the darkness so she didn’t pass out. Her orgasm had been blinding, but his body left her breathless.
Unable to communicate the love she knew she had for him.
Kallie was falling for him. And she was almost convinced he was falling for her as well. She could see it from time to time in his eyes. Looking at her when he thought she wasn’t paying attention. And the way he looked at her—got lost in her during their pleasure underneath the stars—she was almost convinced.
Almost convinced this could last past her vacation.
Maybe it didn’t have to end. Maybe she could abandon her life at home and stay on the island with him. She would, if he asked. She’d travel the world with him on this yacht if he wanted. Ash had opened up something within her. Something that had been aching to break free. A longing for adventure she had buried so deeply within her that even she had forgotten it existed. It wasn’t just Ash, or his body, or his cock, or his romance. It wasn’t simply all the things he could show her and how he called her his “Pretty Kallie.” It was the respect she could feel he had for her. It was the care he took with her, even though she was a stranger. It was the way he was patient with her and kind to her and so unjudging in his opinion of her.
