He jumped into the water and retrieved the top. Balling it up in his hand, he swam toward her, his chest tightening with every stroke. He found his footing on the ocean floor near her. “Did you lose something?”
She glanced over her shoulder, her arm covering her chest, her hand cupping her breast. Jesus Christ. She shrugged as if it was of no consequence to her, but then she held out her hand for it. She tried to put it back on, but she kept getting knocked down with the crashing waves.
“Can I help you with that?” he asked, the idea of touching her wet, salty skin heating up his body in the otherwise chilling ocean.
She looked over her shoulder with a self-deprecating expression. “If you can contain yourself.”
Her words were meant as a joke, but he damn sure wasn’t laughing. The waves calmed as he moved toward her and took the top, swallowing hard as she positioned herself in front of him. He reached around her with the top, his body coming closer to hers by default. When her ass bumped against his cock, he closed his eyes as sheer want flooded his midsection.
“Sorry,” she said.
He wasn’t.
He brushed the side of her breast with his wrist as he pulled the strap behind her. Connecting these two pieces of material was one of the saddest tasks he’d ever performed. She gave him the two strings, and then held up her hair with both hands while he took his time tying them together, wanting to lick her neck like a vampire thirsty for blood. He brushed his fingers along her shoulders as he finished, his libido so fired up he thought it might shoot out of the ocean like a rocket.
She twisted around to face him, her green eyes bearing into his. “Thanks.”
“Mmm hmm,” was all he could mutter.
She pointed over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off his. “The sun’s setting.”
He floated closer to her as he was vaguely aware of a Jet Ski zooming by behind them. “Mmm hmm.”
His hands moved to her waist, his desire for her stomping down any momentary guilt or logical thinking. A series of waves flowed through, bumping her up against him.
“Whoops,” she said, her gaze trained on his lips. The ocean took hold of them, pushing them toward the shore and breaking his hand from her. She grinned in the direction of the Jet Ski. “It’s a good thing you came along when you did. Otherwise I’d have given that guy an eyeful.”
The idea of another man looking at her bare chest made his own light up like a stick of dynamite. But she wasn’t his to be jealous of.
Another wave pushed through, separating them farther as if the ocean was doing the thinking for him. He blinked awake from the situation, like he’d been in a trance for the past five minutes. Goose bumps sprouted up on Seanna’s neckline as a cool breeze passed over them, reminding him of how chilly the water was despite the heat that had generated inside of him.
“Do you want to go to the shore and dry off?” He glanced at the big bed on the small beach, the only thing missing from it a neon sign. He wanted to skin Bo and Chase alive. “I mean, it looks like there’s a couple of towels over there.”
“Sure,” she said, and they both let the ocean nudge them toward land.
He made it to the bed first and handed her a towel from the foot of it. She wrapped it around her back, and then smoothed it up and down her legs and arms, ending with running her hair between the folds of the towel. He was trying so hard not to watch her, but all that exposed skin was holding him in some sort of trance, and her breasts shook with the motion of the towel. Jesus Christ he was horny.
She spread the towel down on her side of the bed and lay face down on it, resting her chin on her folded arms in front of her. He followed suit, mimicking her position.
Turning her head away from him, she let out a satisfied sigh like she was settling in…leaving him a full unabashed view. That body of hers was the culprit in all of this. He couldn’t think straight around her as it was. Toss in her body in a bikini, and he was toast.
Her ass needed to be in a hall of fame somewhere, rounded and firm and attached to those legs that looked strong enough to hike a mountain or hold her up when she wrapped them around his waist while he drove into her against the shower wall. God, if she was his, the things he’d do to her. He’d take the time to worship every curve of her body from her thighs, to her stomach, to her shoulders, and all the places in between.
He dreamed for a moment of a world where he was allowed to let himself fall in love…where he’d lived in this area forever like Bo, and she’d just stumbled into his life one day, and they were lying here now as unapologetic lovers. If she was his, this was when he would cup the back of her thigh and run his hand up toward her sweet ass. He’d let his fingertips graze between her legs with just enough contact to make her want him to go deeper with his touch, but he wouldn’t. He’d move up farther and slide his hand over the curve of her ass and to the side so he’d have access to the inside of those bikini bottoms. He’d run his hand over her cheek and let it dip down between for enough of a tease to make her give him a playful look, warning him not to go there. Or maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she’d wiggle just a little, inviting him in. Nobody was looking after all.
She turned toward him, and he hoped he closed his eyes in time so she didn’t catch him staring. “So,” she said, “what’s your theory?”
He blinked his eyes open, pretending she’d woken him from a snooze. “Hmm?”
“The private cruise…this couch/bed thing…our own personal staff. What’s all this about? And don’t tell me you can’t find a date on your own.”
He shrugged. “I’m guessing they’re trying to hook me up so I’ll stay here instead of taking the job in Kansas City.”
She snorted. “If I’m their final Hail Mary, they’re screwed, bless their hearts.”
She had no idea what a liar she was…or maybe she did. She had to know how he felt, even if he couldn’t convey it to her. He’d never been a good liar.
“Besides, I never said I was staying here.” She nudged him with her toe. “Hey, I know. We’ll make them think it was a home run, and now I’m taking you back to Nashville with me.”
There was a thought. Scoop her up and take her somewhere else…anywhere in the world where they would never have to speak with anyone else they knew again. Nobody would have to know about his past, and he’d have her all to himself. Watching her smile at him, he could see all the people who were important to her in her life and how she could never be someone who would cut ties with them. He could. He had. But part of why he liked her so much was because he knew she was a better person than he was.
“What’s so great about this job anyway? How could it beat this?” She pointed over her shoulder at the ocean, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Color invaded her cheeks, and she smiled in that way that made her look half her age for the moment. She put her chin on her arms, and then glanced back at him. “Why do you look at me like that?” she asked, her voice soft and gentle.
It was his turn to feel the heat in his face. He furrowed his brow, inspecting his thumb. “Sorry.”
She rolled over on her side, facing him. “You confuse me, you know?”
He did know…exactly. He was the biggest tease this side of the Florida state line. “I don’t mean to confuse you.”
She narrowed her gaze in that way that told him she was getting ready to call him out. He loved and feared that quality of hers. “What were you like in high school?”
He’d prepared himself for a few possibilities of what she might say, but not that. He shrugged. “I played football. Studied a lot.”
“Did you date a lot?”
He frowned, focusing on a broken shell behind the bed. “Dating in high school was…a challenge.” She sat silent, waiting for him to say more. “I didn’t have a car, so I couldn’t really take a girl out on a date.”
“Would your house parents not let you borrow theirs?”
“I never asked. I didn’t want to stir anything up.”
She
smiled. “I’m guessing there were a lot of disappointed girls at your school.”
He cut a look at her and then rolled over onto his side to face her. “What about you? Were you the prom queen?”
“You’re hilarious.”
“What were you like?” he asked, suddenly really wanting to know.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t necessarily call it popular.”
“Were you a late bloomer?” She’d definitely bloomed at some point.
“No, I wouldn’t call it that. I was more of an early bloomer.” She glanced at her chest. “These came along when I was eleven, which was way too early if you’re wondering. The girls thought I was a slut because I had a slutty body, I guess, and the boys did me no favors in helping them think otherwise.”
“How so?” he asked, but he guessed at what she was hinting at and suddenly felt like shit for ogling her a minute ago.
She swatted the air. “Stupid high school stuff. In the past.”
“Did anyone hurt you?” He hoped like hell that wasn’t the case.
“I got asked out a lot. Lots of first dates. Lots of disappointment when they found out I wasn’t an easy lay. I had this one guy get really pissed off when I told him no. He wanted to know what Scott Banks had that he didn’t. I told him Scott Banks didn’t have anything I was interested in either.” She shook her head, looking off at the boat, her mind in the past. “He wouldn’t believe me. He was so sure his buddy would never lie to him about screwing some girl.”
He frowned, not sure what to say. She went on. “Lots of girls were pissed that their boyfriends turned their heads when I walked by at the pool. I hated these things so much I tried to get my mom to let me get a breast reduction.”
Blake couldn’t think of anything sadder than Seanna altering her body to try to fit in. “What’d she say?”
She pointed at her breasts. “What do you think she said?”
He couldn’t help smiling around her. He’d never been much of a smiler his whole life…until now.
“That’s why it doesn’t bother me when Marigold or anyone else body shames me. It’s not anything I haven’t heard before and won’t hear again. A lot of people have worse lots in life than a big butt and boobs.”
The smile left his face as he stared at this woman he was falling harder for by the minute. This woman who made him want to laugh and jump into the ocean after her…this woman who wasn’t afraid to be honest about herself…this woman who was so different from him, but rounded him out in ways he couldn’t have dreamed of.
“I’m glad you never changed your body. It’s beautiful.”
Her brow slightly creased as she considered him, but she must have given up because she finally turned back over on her stomach and laid her cheek on her hands, facing him. She huffed a laugh. “I was just about to say that the whole thing made me into a good judge of character, but I missed the mark on Jason, didn’t I?”
He turned over on his stomach, too. “You didn’t misjudge him in that way, though. He wasn’t just in it for your body.”
“No, he wasn’t. I’ll give him that. I mean…he was into it, for a while at least. But when he got so focused on the gambling, he lost interest in sex. I was starting to think he was sleeping with someone else.” She huffed a laugh. “What a simple solution that would have been. I could have just pawned him off on the new girl and been done with him.”
She dug her forehead into her hands and gave a frustrated grunt into the cushion. “Every once in a while in this gorgeous place, with these new friends I love, I forget that whole part of my life…just for a minute.” She turned back to face him. “Those little moments are like specs of gold. You’re all so simple here, at least to me. So uncomplicated. Nobody here wants anything from me,” she said with a chuckle, “except to send me on cruises with a handsome handyman.” She held his gaze tightly. “You don’t want anything from me, do you?”
He wanted way more from her than he’d ever ask her to give. That was the problem. He shook his head.
“You don’t need to lie to me about anything either,” she said.
He swallowed hard, feeling the weight of her gaze. He didn’t respond.
“Tell me a lie,” she said, her voice softer.
He gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “Nothing to lie about,” he said, his gut churning.
“I didn’t think so. That’s the problem with you, Blake Evans. There’s nothing complicated about you.” He couldn’t look away from her now. He’d give too much away. So he held her gaze, his chest on fire. “You deserve an uncomplicated girl. Is that what you want? A simple girl without baggage and ties to other men?” She wasn’t teasing or smiling. She just locked her gaze onto his.
“I don’t want that,” he said, his voice coming out husky, like he’d spent the night in a cigar bar.
She grinned. “Maybe you don’t want a girl at all. You and Bo are awful tight.”
He licked his lips, focusing on hers, barely even hearing what she was saying. His hand was itching to make its way across her ass…his hand was making its way to just that spot.
She glanced over her shoulder when he made contact with her, a curious expression of bemusement sneaking across her smiling lips.
“I’m leaving for Kansas soon,” he said, focused on his hand moving over the small of her back.
“I know,” she said.
“I can’t get into a relationship,” he said, his hand easing back over her cheek and down to her thigh. He wasn’t bold enough to tickle between her legs like he’d dreamed of earlier, but the fact that she wasn’t stopping him from touching her now was fuel for his fire.
“Who said I wanted one?” she said.
She rolled over on her back, letting his hand smooth over the back of her thigh to the front of it. Focusing on something behind him, she blinked, and then sat up. “We have company.”
He followed her gaze to a speedboat powering toward their boat. Chase’s black hair came into focus as he waved. The engine cut off and Blake could make out Bo grabbing for the ladder and steadying the boat against the big boat.
“What are they doing?” Seanna asked.
Bo held out his hand for Natasha, who made her way down the ladder and hopped onto the speedboat. The tall woman was right behind her. Chase gave a salute to Blake and Seanna, and then the boat headed back into the sound.
Seanna pointed. “They just left us here.” She stared at him, wide-eyed and incredulous.
Suddenly, Blake was no longer pissed at his friends. He could kiss both of them, but he’d rather kiss the woman beside him. “That’s a damn shame.”
She smiled and relaxed back on the bed, her hand behind her neck. “All alone out here, huh? What should we do?”
He touched her stomach, easing his hand around her waist. “I can think of so many things I want to do right now.”
“What’s stopping you?”
He wasn’t sure there was a force on earth that could stop him from kissing her right now.
Running his hand up her arm, his lips met hers, and his eyes closed as he drank in her salty taste. She ran her hand through his hair as she opened up for him…her mouth and her body. Her hips rose to him, welcoming him to lower himself onto her. She ran her hands down his back to his ass where she squeezed as she drew her hips up to him again. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.
“You’re killing me with that,” he moaned.
“I’ve worked for this. I deserve this prize,” she said, squeezing his ass again.
He planted his face in her neck, cursing himself for not bringing a condom out here with him.
She nudged him off of her. “Come on. Let’s get back to the boat. What I want to do to you can’t be viewed by Mother Nature.”
Chapter Fifteen
When Seanna reached the top of the ladder, she really wished she exercised more, because she needed to regain her strength pronto. Not that it’d been a tough swim, but she’d already been breathless to start. To f
inally have Blake to herself to explore, she would rally.
When he made it to the top of the ladder, she tossed him a towel, and they dried off. Blake wrapped his towel around the two of them, bringing her in to him, their bodies pressed up against one another. “You’re a fast swimmer.”
She gazed up at him. “I had something to swim for.”
He let the towel fall behind her, and his hands went to her ass as his mouth met hers again. He walked her backward a few steps before pulling away and taking her hand. “There’s a bed down below.”
“How nice for us.”
He led them down the stairs to a tiny bedroom where rose petals were sprinkled on the bed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
She grinned. “I love your friends so much.”
“That’s just damn cheesy,” he said, pointing at the bed.
She collapsed onto it, tossing some rose petals on top of her. “I’ve never made love on a bed of roses.”
“I’m happy to be your first.” He dove onto her, making her giggle like a teenager. She practically felt like one right then. He reached behind her and untied her bikini top. “I never wanted you to put this back on to begin with.”
“You should have busted a move sooner then.”
Her top fell loosely around her, and he quickly rid her of it, admiring her bare breasts. It was times like this that made all the juvenile jokes about her big boobs worth it. He cupped them both, running his thumbs over her nipples. “Your body is so beautiful.” He said it like he meant it wholeheartedly, and his words unleashed a proud femininity inside her.
She lay back and lifted her arms over her head, giving him free reign. Closing her eyes, she bit her lip as his mouth covered her breast, his tongue exploring and warming her. Her back arched instinctively, pushing her breast farther into his mouth. If she wasn’t careful she’d choke him.
He pulled away, his face flushed. “You have no idea how badly I’ve been wanting to do that.” She nudged her other breast toward him, and he gave it equal treatment, his erection brushing her inner thigh as he worked. He moved down her body, slipping his fingers into the sides of her bikini bottoms. “These are in the way.”
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