‘Javier,’ she panted as he bent and rasped his tongue across each taut nub. Her hips shifted, her need for this kind of attention farther south. For him to ease both their hungers, not by mere tasting, but devouring. But he was focused on the slow, physical worship of her breasts first. He sucked gently at first, then harder—ravenously—until she moaned, almost blindly clutching his head to her body. Desperately needing the damp, low ache to be assuaged. This was too slow. She’d been tipped into the depths of an almost insane desire too soon.
‘I’m here,’ he muttered, working his hand between them, feeling her slickness as he brushed his fingers intimately against her.
‘Oh, no,’ she moaned desperately, arching against his hand to give him greater access. Because that instant was all it took for a powerful orgasm to rush her.
‘Oh, yes,’ he growled with savage triumph.
His rough laugh provided the baseline to her high cry of release. His gaze glittered into hers, magnifying the intensity as tremors of ecstasy racked her body. Dazed, she stared back up at him, locked in the seductive spell he’d cast her into too easily, her mouth parted in sensual supplication as she rode the last of the shudders his fingers had so easily summoned from deep within.
‘Please,’ she whispered brokenly with a shiver of tender pining.
He answered with a passionate kiss, instinctively understanding what she needed now. His tongue slid against hers with the commanding possession she ached for everywhere. She kissed him back furiously, even as the ebbing orgasm leeched the last of her energy, because she didn’t want this to end yet. Her lax legs spread wider and she moaned in the back of her throat as he plundered her mouth. She was hot and slick and soft and so utterly his. But even this achingly gorgeous fulfilment wasn’t enough.
She’d wanted it beyond belief, yet was devastated that it was over so soon. She’d come so quickly and they weren’t even naked. Now she was limp and forlorn because she’d hit that high too fast and she still wanted more despite her sudden exhaustion. She didn’t want it to be over.
‘Emmy,’ he murmured, his lips gently brushing hers. ‘Open your eyes,’ he ordered softly with another kiss.
The fluttering feelings deep in her belly resurged. She needed all of him. Tension bracketed his mouth, but he smiled as she finally looked at him.
‘You want to see my cabin?’ he invited with a teasing look in his eyes.
She welcomed the slide into humour and responded instinctively. ‘You want to show me the soft furnishings?’
His smile faded. ‘You know, I’ve thought about it a lot since I found you and Luke. I realise now the condoms in my wallet that day were really, really old.’ He shook his head, his gaze sombre. ‘That was my responsibility. My fault. I’m sorry.’
‘I’m not sorry,’ she muttered fiercely. ‘I’ll never be sorry for having Luke.’
‘I know. I’m not either.’ He nodded and his lips twisted. ‘I’ve got new ones in my room, okay?’
It was a risk but one she couldn’t resist. She ached for that complete intensity. ‘Okay.’
He took her hand and walked with her up the short flight of stairs to the master deck. At the top, Emmy paused to stare and take it all in.
‘You have your own pool up here?’ She glanced at him with a reproachful tease in her eyes.
‘It’s only a dip pool. I can’t actually swim in it much.’ He sent her a smile. ‘Though there’s a spa as well, if you’re interested.’
It was insanely luxurious. She licked her dried lips. ‘Maybe later.’
The master suite was incredible. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered a view of the ocean, but with the push of a button silk curtains covered them, leaving her feeling as if the rest of the world had vanished and there was only the two of them in this sumptuous, private space. She glanced at the bed—wider than any she’d ever seen and covered with gorgeous soft-looking linen. The photo book she’d made for him was open on the bedside table, displaying that first picture—the one taken moments after Luke’s birth where he was swaddled and lying on her chest in the hospital bed. She looked exhausted but was smiling. It had been the most humbling moment of her life.
‘You look beautiful in that photo,’ he said gruffly.
She turned to face him.
He tugged down his swimming shorts, kicking them aside to stand before her naked, aroused and proud. He gazed at her, his expression hot and hard as his body was. ‘Do you want me, Emmy?’
‘You know I do,’ she muttered.
She didn’t need to say it. He could see it, smell it, taste it, feel it. Just as she could in him—in his eyes, his aroused body.
She walked towards him, letting her hands slide from her ribs down her side to her waist and then to her hips. With a confidence she’d never felt around anyone else, she hooked her thumbs into the band of her bikini bottoms and slowly slipped the fabric south.
He stood, transfixed, the passion in his eyes flaring as he watched her bare herself to him completely. ‘You have the most lush body.’ He groaned as she stopped in front of him. ‘So gorgeous.’ He reached out to cup her with feral wonderment. ‘Just enough woman for me.’
‘Just enough?’ She shivered with a laugh. She was so far from skinny her breasts were spilling over his hands.
But he nodded with rapacious fervour and stroked his thumbs across her aching peaks. ‘Soft and strong and all mine.’
She liked that he appreciated her curves—there were enough of them, after all—and his untamed, possessive hunger stirred her own appetite for all of him.
It shimmered between them. Memories surged, melding with the present as they moved simultaneously towards each other and rediscovered exactly how well they worked together.
She twisted, entwined with him on the glorious bed. It was the first time they’d had such soft luxury. That night on the beach, it had been on the floor of an abandoned boathouse.
‘I’ve never been this aroused,’ he muttered hoarsely. ‘I’m trying to slow it down, but I don’t know if—’ He broke off with a sharply inhaled breath, his eyes closing as tension locked his jaw.
She’d thought she remembered this. But the reality was another shift altogether. She slid her hands to his hips, tugging him closer. Arching. Yearning. She couldn’t get enough of the passion he poured into kissing her. Breathless she stirred beneath him, aching for him to move closer. She heard his laugh again, hot and hard and ending in a growl as he kissed down her body. She writhed in utter abandonment until he clamped his hands on her hips and held her still for him to savour.
‘It’s been so damn long,’ he muttered with angry passion before he pressed his mouth to her in the most intimate kiss ever. Torturing her with carnal delight until her breathing broke, until she threaded her hands through his hair and clung tightly on as best she could, until her heat rose, steaming her vision.
‘Could you please...?’ She couldn’t finish her sentence. She could only arch her hips towards him again and again.
‘Please what?’ He paused and teased.
‘Not stop!’ she cried. ‘Please. Not. Stop!’
He laughed at her loss of language. And then he wasn’t just kissing her, he was devouring her. Until all she could do was lie there like the willing supplicant she was—hot and wet and his to eat until desperation for everything he had overwhelmed her.
‘Please,’ she begged, thrashing her head from side to side. ‘Please...please...please...’
‘Are you ready for me, Emmy?’
‘Yes.’ She gasped as he rose and pressed powerfully between her soft thighs.
He was big and strong. She’d thought she remembered, but that searing memory was nothing on the deliciously full sensation as he finally thrust, taking his place within her again. With that one fierce push the orgasm he’d held just out of her reach now shattered her instantly. He locked still and d
eep, allowing her to ride the wave of it while fully anchored on his thick hardness. The pleasure of possessing him was so intense, all she could do was curl her nails into his back and scream.
‘Oh, Emmy,’ he growled with a satisfied glitter as he watched her go rigid and then crumble about him. ‘You’re so hot.’
She took a moment to catch her breath, stretching her legs wide to accommodate his size and giving her the leverage to push her hips up and into his—seeking to topple his self-control. ‘How hot?’ she murmured, daring him to lose it.
She traced his back with pleasure—discovering his strong, taut muscles again as they rippled with the strain he was putting them under as he surged into her again and again.
‘More,’ she breathed. Pure instinct driving her.
He swore, an earthy, crude celebration of their coming together and all it did was turn her on more. Her energy returned, with manifold intensity until finally they moved ferociously—pounding together in a fierce, passionate dance—pushing closer and closer, each driving action hurtling them both faster into that fantastic tumult of sensation—of white-hot, scalding satisfaction. She screamed it out until she could scream no more and all that fantastic tension snapped.
‘We’re damn good at this, Emmy,’ Javier said a while later as he rested his head on his hand and watched her attempt to recover her breath. ‘You do realise that, don’t you?’
Sensations were still storming around her body—every drop of blood pulsed with the remnants of ecstasy. She didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want reality to return. She wanted to remain suspended like this, as if in some dream state of pure bliss.
He chuckled. Her lack of response obviously cluing him in to her wrecked status.
He leaned close again. His kiss was luxuriant and indulgent—slow and lush, as if he had all the time in the world with which to savour and arouse her all over again.
But it didn’t take long. As impossible as it was, her hunger returned, strong and powerful, and she shifted instinctively closer.
He met her gaze. His mouth curved. His body moved.
CHAPTER SEVEN
FOR ONLY THE second time in years, Emerald woke late. She stretched, taking the moment to appreciate the pure luxury of the wide bed and pure linen sheets and the delectable stiffness in intimate places.
‘Sleeping beauty arises.’ Javier grinned from the window as she sat up.
Emmy’s heart skittered at his freshness in his bright white tee, black swim shorts and bare feet. His vitality was incredibly magnetic. ‘Is Luke...?’
‘Up and playing.’ Javier lounged one hand against the back of the large armchair at the foot of the massive bed. ‘He’s had a very messy breakfast and is currently destroying the block towers Thomas’s been building with him.’
She relaxed back against the plump pillows. ‘That sounds good.’
‘It’s very good.’ Javier inclined his head with a satisfied expression. ‘He’s very happy. So you can rest a while longer if you need to.’
Something curled in her belly. She didn’t want to rest. She wanted something else from Javier. Heat built in her cheeks as she realised the truth he’d stripped from her that first night. When it came to Javier Ramon Torres, Emerald was a wanton nymph who couldn’t get enough of his kisses. But that madness had been last night. Now the day was bright and she wasn’t sure what he wanted—if, indeed, he wanted anything.
‘Though I have something for you.’ Knowing amusement glinted in his eyes.
She stared as he straightened and held out the package she’d not realised he’d been hiding behind his back. It was gorgeously wrapped in black paper with a white ribbon. Yet her core temperature slipped a few notches. ‘When did you get that?’ she asked, awkwardness rising.
‘The chopper brought it in with some other supplies this morning.’
‘This morning?’ How had she slept through the sound of the helicopter arriving again? The soundproofing in the cabins was astounding and it made her grateful for the monitor Thomas had put into Luke’s room even though he had taken the room on just the other side.
As she toyed with the wrapping, her skin chilled too. This wasn’t what she wanted from Javier—not treats or rewards. She didn’t want any things. All she actually wanted from him was his touch and even that she didn’t want to want. ‘You don’t need to give me anything, Javier.’
He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. ‘Why don’t you open it and see what it is? I ordered it after you gave me the book yesterday.’
‘Before...’
‘Before.’ His gaze narrowed on her with mocking humour. ‘So don’t start thinking poisonous things. I’m not rewarding you because you let me have my wicked way with you again. Why don’t you open it before you decide to reject it?’
That he guessed her fears so quickly made her feel ungrateful and overly cautious and appallingly judgy of him. Releasing a wary breath, she unwrapped the gift and discovered a digital camera in a large box.
‘I can’t accept this,’ she murmured as she carefully pulled the camera from the packaging. It was so fancy she wasn’t even sure how to turn it on. She set it down on the bed beside her and frowned up at him. ‘Javier—’
‘I want you to take more pictures of Luke and me. More of your aide-memoires. So it’s for Luke as much as anything,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘And for me.’
Stilled, she gazed at him. ‘Oh, of course. I’d like to do that.’
She appreciated that this request was part of the forgiveness building between them, and part of his relationship building with Luke. And when he was older Luke would see that his father had been around and was there for him from a young age.
‘Thank you,’ he said.
She smiled wistfully. ‘Stop acting so chivalrous. You know I’m the one who needs to say thank you.’
‘Acting?’ he echoed with a gleam in his eye. ‘What makes you think I’m acting? Maybe I truly am chivalrous.’ He waggled his brows. ‘Anyway, I’m betting you want to get up and check in with Luke. Am I right?’
With a swallow she nodded and he left her to dress. Emmy’s heart thudded heavily, as if drumming in impending doom. Javier had been right: last night had been inevitable. But her newly discovered, awkward truth was that last night hadn’t been enough.
* * *
After breakfast she curled up on deck, reading the instruction booklet that came with the camera, and experimented with taking shots.
‘Why are you taking photos of your hand?’ Javier stretched out on the deck, moving toys in and out of Luke’s reach.
‘I’m experimenting with the light.’
He nodded and rolled to his stomach, looking lithe and gorgeous as he observed his mini-me. Emmy had to fiddle with the camera settings just to stop herself staring at the two of them.
‘You’ve been on your own since you were how old?’ Javier asked after a while.
‘Sixteen.’
‘And travelling the world all that time?’
‘For seven years.’
‘That’s a long time.’
‘And a lot of places.’ She smiled in reminiscence. ‘But I’ve been on the Galapagos for almost two years of that seven.’
‘And how had you not fallen for some guy in all that time?’ He lifted his chin and scrutinised her. ‘Was there no boyfriend ever?’
She shook her head.
‘Girlfriend?’
She kept shaking her head.
‘How, Emmy? You’re a sensual woman. You’re...’ He frowned slightly, as if picking his words carefully. ‘That night we met...’
Yes, she knew she’d not exactly made it difficult for him. At the time they hadn’t discussed it much, they’d been too carried away in the intensity of the moment. She’d been so eager, she knew her enthusiasm had swept away his concern when he’d realised. And then his ma
in response to the discovery of her inexperience had been determination to make it even better for her.
‘I don’t believe you never had any other opportunity before that night.’ He moved another of Luke’s toys. ‘So why me—why then? What happened to make you choose differently then?’
She didn’t know what to say when the plain truth was that he had happened. He was the difference. It wasn’t as if she’d decided one day that the next man she met was going to be the one; it had all been because of him—only because of him. He’d walked into her life and swept her away. He still swept her away. And if he’d walked into her life five years ago or five years from now, she was afraid he’d still have that same effect on her. He reached forward, rolling one of the toys in his hand, then squeezing it.
‘I’m not going to feed your ego,’ she finally answered with a teasing smile.
But he didn’t laugh. ‘Has there...?’ He cleared his throat. ‘Has there been anyone else since then?’
‘I have a baby, Javier.’ Droll amusement bubbled out of her. As if she’d had any time or inclination, given her circumstances. ‘What do you think?’
He paused and his answer came slowly. ‘I think I wouldn’t blame you if you’d sought a momentary escape...’
Was that what he’d done since then? She stiffened at the stab of hurt inside. ‘Well, I didn’t.’
He was staring right into her eyes but he still didn’t smile. ‘Me neither.’
She stared back at him as an illicit heat slowly infiltrated her nether regions. She’d chosen not to think about the time they’d been apart. Why would she torture herself with the thought of all the women he’d had since that night with her? But to hear that there’d been none?
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