He hooked his wrists over her legs and with his thumbs, spread open her lower lips. He simply stared at her sex a long moment until she began to wonder if something was wrong. “So beautiful.”
Carm relaxed until his mouth and tongue began to wreak havoc on her senses. He kissed, licked, and nipped her tender lips but ignored her clit and the opening of her wet vagina. She bucked, moaned, and begged for satisfaction.
“Please! Tony, I need you inside me now!”
But he ignored her pleas. Was this what he meant by torture, because it certainly felt like that to her. Just when she thought she’d lose her mind, he flicked his tongue against her clit at the same time as he buried what felt like three fingers inside her, and she bumped her hips hard against his face.
No, Tony merely chuckled again and leaned away. “I see you’re ready for me.”
Finally! “I’ve been trying to tell you that for a while now.”
“Demanding little principessa, aren’t we?”
“Tony!” Was he going to make her wait forever?
With that, Tony stretched out over the length of her but rested his upper body on his elbows. She could smell her essence on him.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time, Carmella.” Without giving her time to contemplate what the “this” was, he lifted his hips and, leaning on one elbow, used his free hand to maneuver himself at her opening. “Hang on, dolcezza.”
Taking him literally, she placed her hands on his shoulders and wrapped her legs around him until her feet rested on his butt. With one swift, hard thrust, he was inside her and Carm found herself on the brink of orgasm already from the long, teasing buildup. He pulled out slowly and drove inside her again. This time, she lunged up to meet him and soon they established a rhythm of wild abandon. Sweat broke out on her forehead, and she tried to interpret the intense play of emotions over Tony’s face. Wonder? Excitement? Lust?
The tension reached a fever pitch, but she didn’t go over the edge until Tony wedged his hand between their bodies and flicked his fingers against her clit. Suddenly, as if a dam had burst, Carm exploded.
“That’s it, Baby. Come with me.”
And with that he increased his movements and the two of them went into the sensual abyss together. Tony’s hip movements slowed, but both of them continued breathing hard. After a minute or so, Tony stopped moving and lay on top of her. His delicious weight wrapped her in a cocoon of satisfaction. Carm kept her legs wrapped around him and surrounded him with her arms as well.
She didn’t want to break apart anytime soon, but when they’d both regained control of their breathing, he raised himself up and stared down at her.
When he didn’t say anything, she broke the silence. “That was mind-blowing.”
Still, he remained silent, and she began to worry if she’d been mistaken about how cataclysmic it had been for him when he cleared his throat as if choked with emotion. “I have no words. All I know is that I can’t wait to do it again.”
Carm relaxed and cupped his face in her hands. “You have a standing invitation. Anytime, anyplace.”
He grinned. “I don’t know that any place will do, but I’m going to spend the week trying to think of as many places as I can to make love to you.” He bent and placed a tender kiss on her lips. “You’re an incredible lover, Carmella. I hope I can keep up with you this week.”
She’d been about the say the same to him, but his mention of only this week put a slight damper on her spirits. Was this all he wanted, a fling in paradise? She feared she’d be ruined for any other man after having been made love to by Tony Giardano. But did he want anything beyond this week?
Tony hated to pull out of her after the orgasm that had rocked his world. What the hell had happened? Tony had had sex lots of times, but he’d never made love to anyone before Carmella.
And he’d never be the same, that was for sure. With great reluctance, he pulled out slowly and rolled onto his back staring up at the ceiling. He wasn’t sure his legs would work for him to go into the bathroom to discard the condom. Carmella rolled onto her side and rested her tousled head in the palm of her hand as she played with the sprinkling of hair on his chest.
“If I didn’t have a dive class in an hour, I’d say let’s do it again.”
“Woman, have mercy on me. I might need a little time to recover.” His physical body might bounce back long before his psyche would. She’d blown everything he thought he knew about sex completely out of the water.
Carm laughed. “Would you like to come with me? I know you don’t need a refresher, but you could hang around the pool or dock or wherever we do the refresher then we can grab dinner and head to tonight’s lecture.”
He almost agreed to go but remembered he had made an appointment with Lisa that would coincide with her refresher course, knowing Carmella wouldn’t be around to overhear.
“I need to check in with Matt. Why don’t I meet you after the dive?”
She stared into his eyes a moment too long, making him certain she knew he wasn’t being truthful, but he wasn’t ready to talk about his counseling sessions with her. “I’ll text you the address. I should be done by four-thirty.”
“Perfect.” Tony pulled her face toward his and kissed her again. Already he could feel his libido stirring. The woman would be the death of him. Not that he’d complain at the moment about death by intercourse. Not with Carmella anyway.
When Tony released the back of her head, she sat up on her knees and he took in her full breasts, her nipples still erect from her orgasm. He ached to take them in his mouth again.
My goddess.
Before he made her late for her class, Tony pushed himself into a seated position and scooted off the bed. “Let me get rid of this. Do you have time for a shower?”
“I’m not sure I have time for a shower with you.”
He laughed. “Okay, let’s shower separately, but I do want the shower to be one of those places we try out this week.” After discarding the condom and cleaning himself up with a washcloth, he returned to the bedroom to find Carmella walking a little gingerly. Had he been too rough with her? He hadn’t been able to control himself when the moment came to claim her body as his.
His? For how long?
Tony came up behind her where she stood in front of the dresser pulling out clean underwear. He pulled back her hair and nuzzled the side of her neck. “Did I hurt you, principessa?”
“Oh, no! I mean, there might have been a little pain, but it hurt so good at the time that I hardly noticed.”
Tony wondered if she might not enjoy a few sex toys to explore the pain-pleasure dynamic, but then remembered he was thinking about Carmella D’Alessio, who had probably never even heard of kink. He didn’t want to scare her off.
Not yet anyway.
“Be careful. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
With another lingering kiss, he left her and returned to his own bedroom. After what they’d just shared, he worried that tonight she might expect him to spend the entire night with her, but he’d worry about that when the time came. He could always plead the need for sleep and that being anywhere near her would prohibit any sleep on his part. Sure, that sounded plausible.
Chickenshit.
Maybe he could get some advice or tips from Lisa.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Two days later, Tony concentrated on the roar of the outboard motor and the feel of the spray of saltwater hitting his face as the boat sped out to the coral-reef dive site. Carm sat on the padded bench next to him at the back of the boat. His arm was wrapped around her back, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. The sheer joy on her face over the upcoming dive was infectious.
Tony had never been on a dive like this before, but the dive guide had said it wouldn’t be all that challenging for anyone with his open-water certification. Seeing how he and Carm couldn’t keep their hands off each other, their guide even suggested that the two of them feel free to lag a little behind
the group if they wanted the illusion of being alone. Tony intended to do just that. There were only six people diving today not counting the guide.
Tony wore an ACFD charity T-shirt and shorts, but Carm was rocking a hot-pink crop top and short shorts that could pass as a two-piece swimsuit. His thumb idly brushed her bare lower back.
Tony glanced at her tanned, shapely legs, picturing them wrapped around him while he buried himself inside her as he had so many times since Tuesday afternoon.
Carm turned to him and smiled, as if she’d known he’d been lusting after her. Busted.
“Excited?”
Hell, yeah. “That’s putting it mildly,” he answered. He couldn’t wait to get her back to the villa and find new ways to explore each other’s bodies.
“So am I. There’s nothing more beautiful than coral swaying in the water, or discovering all the creatures hiding amongst them.”
Hold on. She’s not talking about where your mind has been the past few moments.
Recovering himself, he said, “I’m looking forward to having our first dive together.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head to meet his lips. She placed her hand on his leg and squeezed, and he decided it might be a good idea to break off this kiss before they embarrassed themselves in front of the others on the boat.
“I’m glad you’ll be able to join me for Friday’s nighttime dive, too. That’s a bucket list item for me.”
“You’re too young to have a bucket list.”
“Nonsense. Some may call them life goals or something, but I don’t believe we can ever start too early ticking off those important moments.”
Did she feel that her life might not be a long one, or did she just want to live life to the fullest? Perhaps her brother being killed at such a young age affected her outlook on life, but it certainly didn’t keep her from taking risks, from what he could tell. Regardless, Tony had never thought about making a bucket list or setting lifetime goals for some nebulous future that might never come. If he wanted to do something, he did it—like coming to the islands to be with Carm on the spur of the moment. Call him impulsive, but it was the way he rolled. Besides, in his profession, anything could happen. With the inherent risks his job presented, he chose to grab life by the horns.
But Carm didn’t have that kind of threat hanging over her.
“Whenever something comes off the list,” she continued, “I add something else to it. I just hope I have lots of time to accomplish everything I want to do.”
His curiosity was piqued again. “What else is on your bucket list?”
“You’ll just have to stick around a while to find out.”
Clearly, she had him pegged as the kind of guy who wouldn’t stick around. Not that she’d be wrong. He’d been with at least five women since they’d begun planning for Angelina’s wedding a year ago, including that one-night stand after the drownings.
There also was the fact that the past two nights he’d made excuses for not spending the entire night in her bed. If she thought that was a sign he couldn’t commit, so be it, but he wasn’t ready to tell her about his state of mind since the bad call when he’d failed to rescue the victims.
Of course, he certainly hadn’t shown any signs of commitment to any woman who’d come before Carmella. He wasn’t sure how much she knew about his dating life, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Angelina occasionally mentioned the dating lives of her brothers when talking with Carm. Didn’t women talk about stuff like that?
But what if he simply hadn’t met the woman he wanted to spend more time with?
Until now.
Until Carmella.
Before he could say anything more about bucket lists or commitment, the motor cut, and the crew hooked the boat to a mooring line with a thick rope.
The dive guide demanded everyone’s attention and started his dive briefing. “We’ll be diving to a maximum depth of sixty feet. Because we have some newer divers with us today, we’ll start heading back to the boat when the first diver reaches half a tank, and you’ll begin to head toward surface when you’re at 700 psi but won’t go all the way back up right away.” A full tank held about 3000 psi, but men used their air supply at a faster rate than most women did. Tony was familiar with the use of air tanks with his SCBA at work, so he could probably extend his cylinder longer and not cut Carmella’s dive shorter than necessary.
After giving them a rundown on the coral reef they’d be exploring and the key sights to be on the lookout for, he showed some hand signals to use to communicate with each other about the marine life they might encounter.
“Last thing,” the guide continued, “everyone be sure to complete your three-minute safety stop before surfacing.” He explained that those with air remaining could stay down a little longer to explore the reef under the boat.
Everyone got busy preparing to enter the water by putting on their equipment. The dive company had already taken care of assembling the weight-integrated buoyancy control devices or BCDs, regulators, and air cylinders for each diver.
His heart raced. He hoped he wouldn’t embarrass himself, given his relative lack of experience compared to hers. He would try to remember his training and be ready for whatever came up and try not to make any rookie mistakes. But today was more about having fun than having perfect technique and skills. Spending the next half hour or forty-five minutes diving with Carm was all that mattered. A new bond between them.
After they put on their masks and fins, they entered the water. The four other divers started to follow the guide, but Carm signaled for him to follow her in bringing up the rear. Happy to. The hair not contained by her dive buff undulated in the water like a mermaid’s. As she swam ahead of him, her shapely legs moved her fins up and down in a rhythmic motion, mesmerizing him—until she came to a stop and turned to face him.
Carm then signaled, asking if he was okay, and he indicated he was. Then she pointed downward, and he glanced where she pointed to find a reef shark apparently napping in the sand amongst the vibrantly colored coral. It was the closest he’d ever been to a shark—without an aquarium glass between them—but the guides had assured them they were harmless unless threatened. He and Carm simply stared at it awhile before she tugged on his arm, and they swam to where they caught sight of the rest of the group again.
Soon they found themselves amidst the coral in an area filled with fish of every color. It was as if he and Carmella had swum into a tropical aquarium like the one Franco had had since high school. Only these fish were enormous. He needed to talk Franco into taking a starter scuba class so he could bring him down to the Caribbean sometime; they hadn’t done anything together in a long time. This sight would blow Franco’s mind.
Not that Tony knew when he’d find time to get away like this again.
But that thought fled as he became intrigued by two off-white fish with brown stripes that seemed to be in a love-hate relationship. One would come up to the other trying to get some action only to be rebuffed. He’d never thought much about fish having serious relationships, but these two sure had some kind of tension going on between them.
He gestured for Carm to watch and signaled her asking whether she knew what type of fish it was. She glanced around as if to make sure the coast was clear then took his hands and placed them on her breasts and squeezed. His cock got hard as he felt her nipples harden under his palms, but he wondered why she wanted to start something down here when others were close by. One of the other divers even had an underwater camera and had promised to take photos of them at various points in the dive.
Carm pointed to the fish once more, placed her hands over his, and groped herself again.
Oh! Grouper! She was giving him her own signal for the Nassau grouper. He sure liked her signal better than their guide’s boring one. Removing his mouthpiece, Tony gestured for Carm to do the same, then kissed her. Not as deeply as he would have liked, but just enough to show her how hot he thought she was. He couldn’t wait to get ba
ck to the villa—or to the surface at least—to finish the kiss properly.
They put their regulator mouthpieces back in place, and Carm descended closer to the sandy bottom. He saw a turtle the length of his arm swimming above a green-camouflaged crab hiding under a coral or rock outcropping. Taking his mind off the hot woman beside him for a bit, he marveled at how amazing this experience was—an entirely new world. No wonder she’d come back to the islands every time she could get away from her family’s mountain resort.
Swimming through the bubbles in Carm’s wake, the two of them continued to explore the swaying coral. The scene put him into an altered state of mind, slowing down his breathing, his heart rate, his thoughts. All distractions and concerns faded away. Grounded in the moment, Tony let her take the lead, and he simply swam behind her on this incredible journey.
At one point, she pointed to a seahorse hanging onto a piece of coral by its tail. Carm winked at him, reminding him of a legend she’d told him about last night. According to the story, if you and someone of the opposite sex came across a seahorse while diving together, it was a sign that you are meant to be together.
Was there anything to that or was it merely a diving myth?
One thing was certain: Tony would never forget this experience or the woman who shared it with him.
They continued to swim after the group. After about 10 minutes, Carm and Tony caught up to the other divers in a clear area. The dive guide checked how much air each diver had left; apparently, everyone still had plenty, so he continued through the coral canyons. Tony loved the view of Carm’s backside as they followed behind the group.
She entered what looked like a cavern but turned out to be more of a swim-through or a ledge, because once they ventured inside the natural arch, sunlight poured in from above again. He noticed a moray eel peeking out from one of the rocks and swam quickly to catch up with Carm to point it out to her. The two of them hovered in place holding hands and staring for a long time until the eel ducked inside the rocks to hide. She turned to him and smiled, giving him the okay hand signal before moving on.
TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) Page 28
