“Gorgeous. Can you lower your left hand for me?”
She did, lowering her shoulder as she did, aware that she was tense. Nervous. Keeping her eyes shut, she let Ashton’s voice flow through her. She was in Bali, with him. Her crush. How on earth did that happen? And more than that, she’d kissed him and taken the power back; she could feel it in the way he looked at her. Summer gave a little sigh and opened her mouth.
“Great. And open your eyes.”
Was that lust she heard in his voice? A smile pulled at her lips. Ashton was the perfect way to move on from T.J. Someone to make her feel beautiful again and to boost her confidence. Enough that she actually got onto the leaderboard and stayed there. If she could keep it secret… The thought of it filled her up with new warmth. People had marriages of convenience all the time. Maybe she could have a secret relationship of convenience. Sexvenience? Could that be a thing?
“I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but keep it up. Move a little to the left.”
Summer shifted a little and opened her shoulders more. Why not? Have a little cake. And eat him up. Tonight.
“Now look at me. Right down the barrel of the camera.”
She gave the camera what she hoped was a scorching look.
For a second her resolve faltered as Ashton seemed to be impervious to her come-hither attempt. But then she remembered what he’d been like last time he was behind the camera. It was his filter, his way of making sense of the world. Fair enough. She watched him, trying to give him what he needed to make the shots work. He had a remote button, so he could toy with the light reflector and hold up a flash every so often. The way Ashton moved when he was at work was graceful, totally different that the hard-edged stance he had when his attention wasn’t filtered through the lens.
“Have fun with it. Laugh a little. Can you toy with a piece of your hair or something?”
She laughed. It felt unconvincing, and she chuckled at how much of a shmuck she felt. That lead to another laugh for laughing at herself laughing, and she leaned on the frame of the door, utterly relaxed. His camera clicked, capturing her, and she found herself enjoying the attention. Maybe this whole modeling thing was okay.
But as she arched her back against the doorway, Ashton suddenly stiffened. “Don’t. Move.”
There was something different in his voice, and Summer’s skin prickled. “What?”
“Just stay still. Really still.” Ashton had stopped, but now put his eye to the camera and she could hear the button releasing frame after frame. He took the camera off the tripod and stepped towards her, still clicking frames till he got right up to the hut, then he put out a hand for her.
“Okay. Slowly now. Step down into the water.”
Summer shuffled her butt, ready to step down, when she heard movement beside her. She turned and—“Oh, shit.” She jumped into the water just at the same moment a large orange and black sea snake slithered out of the broken doorway to her left. The snake turned and gave her a look that was one part scorn and two parts dismissal, then wiggled its stealthy way along the surface of the ocean before disappearing towards a rocky outcrop.
“Give me strength. He was in there the whole time?”
“Could have been a she, actually. And I guess so.”
“And you just kept taking photos?”
“I did tell you to stay still. Didn’t want to frighten her. Figured that she was a safe enough distance away.”
“Until she wasn’t.” Summer’s heart was racing, a bitter taste of fear in her mouth. The snake had seemed calm, and she knew that most water snakes weren’t even venomous. This one hadn’t seemed the least bit interested in her. But still, in its mouth were teeth that might have been poised full of venom, ready to tear at her precious muscles if she’d made the wrong move. And Ashton hadn’t even thought about her safety.
“Hey.” Ashton put a hand on her arm. “Shit, I’m sorry. It was only a puff-faced water snake. They’re not poisonous. She was a biggie, though, enough to give you the heebie-jeebies if you’ve got a thing about snakes.”
Okay, so maybe he had thought about her a little bit. But still, she felt betrayed, by the guy she wanted to block everything out with, just for a couple of days. Summer waved him off. “It freaked me out is all. Seems a bit of a risk.”
He smiled, but softly. “And surfing a seven-foot wave over coral isn’t risky?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
She shuddered. “I hate snakes. Seriously. Hate them.”
“Hey, I really am sorry. I knew it wasn’t venomous, and I knew you’d keep a cool head. But still, sorry.” He put an arm around her, and Summer felt herself melt into him. Adrenaline still flooded her body, and all she wanted was to be held, to be comforted, safe. “Kiss me better.”
His arms tightened around her before he released her. “You know I want to.”
“You know, I know.” She tilted her head up at him.
“Doesn’t mean it should happen. Too easy for things to get out of hand and everything go to shit.”
“You said you’d changed since we were kids.”
“I have. But the stakes are a hell of a lot higher now.”
“True.” She bit her lip. Her mind knew he was right, but the blood speeding round her body didn’t care. “We know how to be discreet, or at least I do.” She stepped back from him and made a play of looking around. “There’s seriously no one here.”
“I know. And while you might not believe it, this is how I like it. The fans, they’re not what drives me. You’re better than T.J.”
“Am I? Or is it just because you want me to take the moral high ground? Be a good girl?” Summer felt the anger simmering. There’d always been people telling her what sort of girl she was, and in this industry, with the all the macho bullshit floating around daily, she’d felt the pressure to be a certain type of girl even stronger.
Ashton sucked in air through his teeth. “You are better than him. You want more, and you deserve more.”
Summer waved a hand at him. “Pffft. Says the man who can screw anyone he wants and everyone forgives him.”
But he shook his head. “I’m not going to get sued for breach of contract if I do anything stupid. And anyway, I’m not proud of my past. It broke me for a while. Hell, I’m dangerous.”
“No, you’re not.” She took a step towards him.
She watched the thoughts flash across his face, and then she saw the moment he threw caution to the wind. He gave her a wry smile.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He pulled her towards him, and his hands around her waist felt about ten kinds of delicious. “I’ll just get you hurt,” he growled.
“I’m a big girl.”
“Yes, you are.” He said, his eyes directly on hers. “You just did a shoot with a live snake.”
She grinned. “Guess I’ve gotten used to being around snakes.”
“Fair call.” A broader smile crept across his face. “Damn great shot, though. Couldn’t have planned it better if I’d hired that snake to be a stand-in.”
There was a pause, and she watched him watch her. Then his pupils dilated, and she knew she had him. “Got any other snakes on standby?”
“Shall we see?” He pushed his hand through her hair and pulled her up for a long, languid kiss.
Too nice. Everything inside her tingled, even the ends of her hair. Man, but she liked kissing him.
“You kiss me like that again and your bikini will be following that snake into the ocean,” he said when they came up for air.
She smiled. “Good.” Her gaze was drawn again to his lips.
A small wave crashed at their feet, and the moment shifted. “My mermaid. Always calling the water in.”
She snorted.
“No, really.” He turned the camera’s tiny screen around. Summer gave herself a little shake, squinted at the screen, and then she saw a mermaid and her snake-minion. The two of them seemed almost haughty, but
in a serene way. The snake was half coiled around a length of bamboo and the rest of it its almost two-meter-long body hung suspended, tilted on the same angle as Summer. The image showed them almost in conversation, looking out at the ocean. “How do you do that?”
Ashton smiled again. “Not me. You. I told you to relax, and then it was like you turned a switch. You’re a natural.”
They were standing face-to-face now, but she clenched her hands, wanting to touch him again but not willing to be rejected. They stood that way for a long moment before Ashton pulled up his camera.
“Okay, then. Let’s go,” she said.
“Go, go?” He laughed, and it brought the light blue of his eyes to life. They sparkled and danced in the last of the day’s sun.
“I have to practice. And be in the water. And keep this all kinds of on the down-low. But if you can cope with that, you are going to get in my bed. No more talk. No more excuses. You’re mine.”
He ducked his head for another kiss, and this time, his hands spread over her back, lifting her a little off the ground. “Well, as lovely as that sounds, I’m going to have to decline, because when we get back to the hotel, you’re going to be mine.”
Chapter Nine
Back at their resort, Ashton put his camera bag down, shut the door firmly behind them and inhaled Summer’s scent. Seawater, of course, but a hint of honey, of Baklava, of sweetness. Every part of him wanted to cup her face in his hands and kiss her. Kiss their past away, kiss T.J. and his ego-driven contract away.
“Are you going to kiss me?”
“If I wasn’t being such a gentleman, I would have had you up against that wall already,” he said, his voice a low growl even to his ears.
“We already decided you didn’t have a gentlemanly bone in your body. What are you waiting for?” Her voice deepened, too, and the dark emerald flecks in her eyes glittered.
“For you.”
She took a breath. Looking him straight in the eye, she pulled her T-shirt over her head and shucked her pants, standing in only her bikini. Her skin goose-bumped; he saw the blonde hairs raise themselves up. Putting a hand to his chest, she pushed him backwards towards the wall until his calves hit the smooth wood. “Something like this?”
Just like that. His body tightened, and he knew there was no going back now. He had to have her. “It’s a start.”
She raised an eyebrow. “A start? What goes next?”
He dropped any pretense at being coy and pulled the strings of her bikini undone. In one swift move, the scraps of fabric fell to the floor.
Wow. Ashton’s body hardened, the blood no longer pumping but stretching at his veins, as his whole being wanted to grab the woman in front of him and make her his.
She put a hand back on his chest. “Your turn. Get that off.”
He pulled his shirt off without having to be asked twice.
“And those.”
Suddenly the two of them were naked. Standing facing each other. And he still hadn’t touched her. As if she’d tied him up, the titillation was electric, his skin buzzing with anticipation. Who knew that whole less-is-more thing was true.
She took a small step back and scanned him up and down. “Not bad, Evans.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “I could say the same, Roberts. You’re all grown up, haven’t you?”
“Better believe it,” she said and turned to walk away. He grabbed her arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I was just going to have a little lie down.”
The light had been dimming steadily since they’d got back, and now the room was lit only by the lamps that housekeeping had turned on in the bedrooms. In the minimal light, her skin glowed, and touching her arm after holding himself back made Ashton feel like he had something wild in his hands. Summer might be a good girl for the magazines, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know what she wanted and wasn’t ready to take it.
“I don’t think I can wait for the bedroom.” He pulled her to him, and the feel of her skin, all of it, all over his, did nothing to calm him. He turned and pushed her up against the wall, crushing her lips in a deep kiss. She pulled on his bottom lip, nipped at it with her teeth, and he pushed back, pressing her further into the wall so she had no escape. The feel of her soft breasts pressed against his chest made him arch his back, trying to spread the feeling all over himself. As the kiss deepened, he felt her nipples pebble, and he wanted to feel the contrast of their tautness against the soft flesh of her breasts. Coming up for air he said, “You know what I said about making you mine?”
She snaked a long leg up his, and the touch charged through him, making his cock surge and push harder into her stomach. “I thought that was me.”
He smiled and, cradling her butt in his hands, lifted her up and felt her wrap her legs around his waist. Oh. Yes.
Her hands in his hair, she pulled him closer. “Take me now.” Her kiss was wild, her tongue pulling his deeper, her mouth open, aching, drawing him in.
“Mine.” He carried her over to the daybed and laid her down on the soft white cover, the wide window in front of it showing the ocean’s unrelenting rhythm hissing against the silvering sand. Just at that moment, the moon began to rise, the liquid light reflecting to cover Summer’s naked body. “Beautiful,” he whispered.
“Come here,” she demanded, and he laid himself beside her and held her arms up over her head with one hand.
“This is for being so goddamned demanding,” he said, kissing her on her jaw. “And this is because it would be a crime not to have a taste,” he said, kissing then nipping the bud of her nipple gently with his teeth. She gave a whimper, and he smiled. Letting his hand stray, he traced the line from his first kiss at her jaw to his second, then cupped her taut breast. Despite her gooseflesh earlier, the skin of her breast was warm, like a peach that’d been out all day in the sun. He couldn’t help himself and dipped his head again to take it in his mouth, letting his tongue circle her nipple. Now it was she who arched her back, pushing her breast deeper into his mouth as his hand travelled down under its curve towards her waist.
He came up for air. “And this,” he said, as he looked her in the eye, “is because you are driving me crazy, and if you don’t let up I’m going to explode before I get a chance to take you over the edge.” Sitting up a little, he used both hands to open her thighs. In the moonlight, her center glistened, ready, open. He trailed his finger along the length of her wet sex. She grabbed at his wrist, and their eyes locked again. “You’re sure about this,” he asked one last time to check.
In answer, she guided him downwards and, as if doing it together, led his finger deep inside her. He felt her clench around him instantly. Oh, God, but she was ready for him.
Not taking his eyes from hers, he drew his finger out then thrust it back in more forcefully. He gently pried her fingers off his wrist and slithered down the daybed until he hovered over her, then, withdrawing his finger with a gentle twist, lowered his head to her sex and dipped his tongue inside her.
She arched up and called his name, and he realized just how close she was to climax. He spread her legs wider and, using his tongue against her clit, slipped first one, then two fingers inside, twisting and rolling them as he pushed them in, out, in and out. She pushed her hands through his hair. As she held him to her, he sucked and licked, relishing the taste of her, loving the way she opened up to him, spreading her legs wide to give him full access.
Then, there it was; her pelvis started rocking in time with his rhythm. His heart was beating so loud he was sure she’d be able to hear it, and he had to clench and unclench his other hand to stop himself easing up her body and dragging her on top of his swollen cock.
Make her mine. Yes. He was doing that. But equally, and importantly, she was giving herself.
And that’s a good thing? Really?
No. It was madness, complete madness. The risks were huge: the press, his sister, T.J.—but he couldn’t stop himself. Not when she writh
ed like that underneath him. Not when she demanded he take her. Not when…her center tightened, gripping at his fingers, drawing them in further, slicking them with her wet need. Ashton felt her building and upped his tempo to match her rocking. She bore down on his fingers, and he used his tongue to rub the hard bud of her clit, faster, harder, faster still.
“Oh, yes. Ashton. Oh, don’t stop.”
He didn’t, and her hands fisted in his hair, pulling him closer and sealing his lips to her sex. Her body shook with a spasm, and her thighs clamped around. Her muscles clenched around his fingers inside her as if they would squeeze the blood and bone from them if they could. He kept up his pressure as her shuddering orgasm rolled over her whole body, and only when he felt her climax easing against his lips did he let up. Gently he withdrew, but gave her clit a few, last gentle nudges with his tongue, watching the tremors run through her each time he did so.
Finally, she was completely spent, and he climbed back up her body to hover over her.
“Oh my,” she said.
“Oh my goodness, or oh my badness?”
She laughed, the sound light now after the strangled pleas when she was in the throes of her climax. “Oh my badness. I like it.”
“I did warn you.”
“No. You tried to escape me,” she said and pulled him down on top of her, stroking a strand of hair from his forehead.
“Hold that thought,” he said and leapt up to grab a condom from his wallet. Sheathed, he lay down next to her, but she flipped him neatly till she was straddling him.
“You know how earlier I said to harden up?”
The laugh that shot out of him was sharp, a bright burst of mirth. “And how I said you’d grown up plenty?”
“I don’t work out in the surf all day to not be able to flip a dude like a board,” she said with a grin.
He grabbed her round the waist. “That so.”
She took hold of his wrists and smoothed her hands down along his forearms so that her body leaned down towards his.
“Remember how I said I was going to explode?” he said.
She smiled, her teeth brilliant white in the moonlight, and bent down further to kiss him. “I remember. But now I’m in charge. Should I get a bucket of ice water?”
Another Shot with Summer (Hot Tide Book 1) Page 9
