In Too Deep

by Taryn Belle

  “It’s me,” Alex said softly as he knocked on the door. Nicola opened up and stood before him with wet hair, her body wrapped in a towel.

  “I took a shower,” she said. “No hot water at my place.”

  Alex let the door close behind him and took her in his arms, inhaling the clean scent of her hair. They kissed, and then he held her at arm’s length and slowly pulled her towel off. It dropped to the floor, exposing every perfect inch of her. Unsurprisingly, his cock stirred to immediate attention, but he could no longer deny it—his feelings for her reached far beyond his body’s reaction. He wanted to absorb every detail of her. He wanted to enter her and stay one with her for as long as she would have him, an act that no longer seemed right to call fucking.

  “No fair,” Nicola said, tugging him over to the bed. “I want to see you, too.” Once there she reached out for his T-shirt and pulled it up over his head, then removed his shorts and boxers. Together they lay back on the mountain of cushions and turned to face each other. Nicola gave him a sad smile, and he put a finger under her chin. “I know you think we don’t stand a chance,” he said. “But I can’t imagine a time will come when I won’t dream about this face all day long.”

  Nicola caught his hand and kissed his fingers. “I’ve loved every minute with you.”

  “Not true. But please stop talking like it’s over.”

  “This is a fantasy. You are a fantasy—”

  “Again, not true. I’m all too flawed, as you already know.”

  “Maybe,” Nicola allowed. “But this—” she ran her hand up his side “—is perfection. And this...” She swept her fingers down the trail on his belly that led to the part of him that gave her so much pleasure. “Don’t even get me started.”

  Alex watched her every move, then he pulled her toward him until she was fully enveloped in his arms. His hands slid over her body, memorizing every inch. Then he was on top of her, moving slowly, feeling her breath more like soft satin than an electric current over his skin. Pure sensuality.

  “I love fucking you,” he said in a voice that melted her. “But right now that’s not what I want to do.”

  She gazed deeply into his eyes, so like her own. “Then what do you want to do?”

  Instead of answering he kissed her softly on the lips, and then he worked his way down to her breasts and tummy with his mouth. She pushed her hands into his hair and arched into him as if she wanted to meld her body to his. Then he gently pushed her knees open, exposing her beautiful pussy. His tongue danced on it lightly as her hips moved upward, matching his rhythm and his mood. “Oh, Alex... God, yes.”

  After a while he rose to his knees, reached for the condom and rolled it on. Then he pulled her up, sat back and lowered her onto his lap, facing him. She gasped as he slid inside her. “God, it just feels better every time. How is that possible?” Nicola whispered.

  “Because it’s you and me,” Alex replied, looking into her eyes. She held his gaze for a moment, and then she wrapped her arms around him so their torsos were pressed together. Her skin felt heavenly and her hair danced over his shoulders as they moved together, their breath quickening as one. Then Nicola leaned her hands back onto the bed, looking down at the place they were connected. “I’m going to miss this so much. Having you inside me.”

  Alex lifted a hand to her breast, encircling the nipple with a fingertip. “Is that all you’re going to miss?”

  “Not even close.”

  “What else?”

  “Your incredible body. This face...” She reached out to cup the side of his jaw in her hand. Then she brought herself forward again and kissed him. “Everything about you. Everything.” She pushed his shoulders down gently until he was on his back and she was over him. “I never want this to end.”

  Alex pulled his hands through her hair. Staring into her eyes was magical, like an ocean he wanted to get lost in forever. “You mean this? Or us?” He watched her face, daring to hope.

  Nicola stilled her hips while she held him inside her. Then she leaned down and put her face inches from his. “Both,” she whispered.

  Alex’s heart skipped a beat. “It doesn’t have to,” he whispered back. They held each other’s gaze for one intense moment, communicating all that was still unsaid between them, and then Alex flipped her onto her back. Through his entire body, he felt an erotic charge unlike any he’d ever felt before—one that didn’t stem from pure lust, but rather something much more intimate and deeply personal—something only between them.

  Still holding Nicola’s eyes, he started quickening his pace. She moaned and threw her head back, losing herself in the moment, and Alex drove into her ever harder and faster, feeling this new desire grow with each stroke. And when she finally came, calling his name again and again, he understood the driving force behind his fervor.

  He was making her his, and making himself hers.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  AS ALEX DESCENDED the stairs of the hotel to the reception area, he couldn’t help the happy spring that lightened his step. Finally, things were on track. He and Nicola were in a great place—no, a perfect place; it had been all he could do to tear himself away from her to complete his task of buying a few groceries at the island store.

  After spending several hours feeding their appetite for each other in the room, a hunger for food had gotten to both of them. Nicola had suggested lunch at her place. Kiki was out for the day, and in spite of the power outage, Nicola really wanted to prepare a meal for Alex before he left. Once he gathered what he needed at the store, Alex planned to spend the rest of the day with her. And tomorrow, if she was able to, and then...

  But he didn’t want to think about that. Somehow they would find a way to make things work—he felt sure of it. He would simply not give Nicola up. Now that he’d won her back, there was no way he was going to mess it up again—ever.

  “Mr. Stone?” The voice broke Alex out of his thoughts. He turned to face the receptionist, who was holding a slip of paper out to him. Everly—Alex recognized him from the first night. “An urgent message for you. You asked not to be disturbed, so I’ve been holding it here for you.”

  Alex almost kept walking. Fuck—Brissoli certainly hadn’t wasted any time in getting in touch with his father, though how he’d done it with all communications on the island still down was a mystery to him. His father was the last person Alex felt like dealing with right now, but he supposed he didn’t have much choice. “Thank you,” he said, taking the note from Everly’s hand.

  Alex stepped away from the counter and unfolded the note. Come to the studio immediately. Extremely Urgent. Dev

  Alex frowned. The studio? Extremely urgent? What was going on?

  He crumpled the note in his hand thoughtfully. His brother may have been a lot of things, but he was not an alarmist. Whatever the issue was, Alex would look after it and then continue on his day.

  “Please let Miss Metcalfe know I’ll be slightly delayed,” he said to Everly, and then he walked toward his golf cart with a sigh.

  * * *

  Dev was waiting for Alex in the studio. He was standing near the entrance by the seating area, and when Alex got close enough to see him, the look on his brother’s face halted him in his tracks.

  It was an expression Alex had never seen before—cold fury mixed with fear. The next thing Alex noticed was that they weren’t alone. His mind raced to place the vaguely familiar woman sitting on the white leather sofa across from him, but seeing as her hair was covered by a baseball cap, her eyes were behind sunglasses and her face was streaked with tears, it was no easy feat.

  “What—what’s going on?” Alex asked, bewildered.

  “I was hoping you could tell me,” Dev replied sharply. He grabbed the laptop that was sitting on the glass coffee table and spun it toward Alex.

  Alex wasn’t sure what he was looking at, other than to see that i
t was a Twitter feed. He glanced at the left side of the screen to see whose feed it was, and then he froze.

  Star*ucker.

  To the right of their handle was a Tweet accompanied by a photo.

  See how the stars really party! Hang tight for revealing pics of this celeb and more #crunk #nosecandy

  Alex’s head swam as he inspected the photo. It was a picture of an actress he recognized. The photo was taken from up high as if the photographer was looking down at her, allowing for a perfect shot of her plunging cleavage. She was holding a cocktail in her hand, which, judging by the dark stain on her skirt, appeared to have spilled onto her lap. Beneath her was a white canvas sofa.

  Dev’s sofa.

  It finally clicked. The photo had been taken at Dev’s party. Which meant—which meant that anyone who had been there had been fair game, including Dev himself.

  Letting out a long exhale, Alex sank into a chair and scrolled down to the next Tweet. It was an unflattering photo of Dev standing beside the bar, holding a beer with his body partially concealed by the back of a woman with strawberry blond hair. Coming soon! See Dev Stone’s new banana hammock in the flesh. PS she’s red-hot...and ready! #letsgetiton

  “Jesus Christ,” Alex said, finally looking up at Dev. “How the hell—”

  “You tell me,” Dev said, pacing back and forth across the polished concrete floor. “And you can fill Kiki in while you’re at it,” he added, nodding toward the woman. “She’s got as much to lose as I do.”

  Alex swung his head around to her. Kiki. Of course. Shit—she was almost unrecognizable.

  Nicola’s roommate and best friend.

  Fucking hell.

  “I still don’t—”

  “These are teasers, you prick!” Dev bellowed. “What the hell else could they be? If photos were all they had, they’d be all over the internet by now! Whoever took this shit has video! That’s the big reveal—and I can tell you right now it will not be fucking pretty! You left the party early, but things got pretty wild at around 3 a.m.—including between Kiki and me!” His hand slapped down on the screen, slamming the laptop shut. “I know you came to Moretta to meet Brissoli and now I also know that he owns Starfucker. Now, would you care to tell me what a photographer from the world’s most fucked-up website was doing at my birthday party?”

  “I—Holy shit, Dev. I cannot believe this.” Alex fisted his hands and pounded them onto his thighs. “Dad’s hell-bent on acquiring his company, and Brissoli suggested Moretta of all places to meet, but I didn’t invite him to the party, Dev. I never would have done that. I ran into him at the hotel this morning and I told him I didn’t want to do the deal after all—the guy’s a fucking cesspool, and so is his company.” He shook his head. “I remember now, though—his associate. Larry Something. He seemed really busy with his cell phone while I was talking to Brissoli. I thought he was just antisocial, but it’s pretty obvious now what he was up to.”

  Dev grabbed a magazine off the coffee table and hurled it across the room with a roar.

  Kiki, who was cradling her face in her hands, suddenly snapped her head up and fixed her eyes on Alex. “How long?” she asked in an unexpectedly strong voice. “How long until the videos hit the site? How long will he draw this out?”

  Alex heaved a deep sigh and leaned forward onto his thighs, trying to process it all. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. “The cell tower is down. How did you get on Twitter?”

  “I have my own VSAT connection,” Dev replied.

  Alex nodded slowly. “I don’t think Brissoli’s actually teasing it like this because he wants to. I think it’s because he has to.”

  “What do you mean?” Dev asked.

  “I mean the storm. After they got the footage, they would have gone back to the hotel to upload everything. The smaller image files might have been sent through to LA from the party, but for the larger files—the videos—they would have had to wait until they had WiFi again. Essentially, the videos are stuck on the island.”

  “Until the tower gets fixed,” Kiki said flatly.

  “Or until Brissoli or his photographer can get off the island.” Alex paused, calculating. “The internet’s already been down for a day and a half. Is that normal?”

  “It varies,” Kiki answered. “Usually it’s just a few hours, but I’ve seen it take as long as three days. In those cases, they have to bring workers over from Barbados or fly parts in, so things get delayed.”

  “I saw the damage to the microwave tower yesterday. They’re going to need parts.”

  “How the hell do you know so much about this stuff?” Dev snapped at him.

  Alex gave him an incredulous look. Of course—why would Dev remember what degree his own brother had graduated with? Not that this was the time to bring that up. “I have a degree in software engineering. Never really used it other than to get my membership in the geek club.”

  Dev’s face remained sullen. “Listen. If this gets out?” He looked over at Kiki, and for one awestricken moment, Alex thought Dev might actually cry. Then he shook his head. “I don’t need to tell you how fucking devastating it would be for everyone involved. I can take it for myself, but Kiki? She never asked for this.”

  Kiki stood up and walked toward Alex, placing herself in front of Dev. She lifted her chin, and Alex found himself impressed by her calm demeanor. “You came here to meet with this guy, Alex. I assume you had a contract ready to offer him? I’d like to see it.”

  “It’s on my laptop.” Alex nodded, turning to retrieve the device from his room. Heaving open the heavy door, his stomach gave a painful clench as the implications of the disaster hit him full-force. Throughout this whole ordeal, he hadn’t had time to wonder if there were any possible implications for him and Nicola...but now he realized the gravity of just what might be at stake.

  A predatory photographer at large on the island.

  His and Nicola’s public dalliances—on the beach, behind Pablo’s and especially in the pool house.

  The low voices and footsteps they’d heard outside.

  He and Nicola in the heat of the moment, deafened and blinded by lust.

  No lock on the door.

  Alex felt a punch to his gut. Jesus Christ.

  He would have to tell Nicola—after everything she’d already been through. And after he’d just won her back again.

  As the door began to shut behind Alex, Dev’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder. Then his brother’s face was in his, more furious than he’d ever seen it. “Unfuck this, Alex,” Dev said to him in a low voice. “Or I will never forgive you.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ALEX WAS TAKING FOREVER. Nicola glanced out her window again as she sliced cherry tomatoes on her cutting board, wondering what could be delaying him so long. This being out of touch thing was getting old. Drying her hand on a dish towel first, she then reached out and tapped her phone to check for reception. Still down. She glanced at the clock: nearly two hours since she and Alex had parted.

  At the memory of their time in the hotel room, Nicola’s tummy gave a warm flutter. His touch was still imprinted on her entire body, but it was so much more than that. Alex was like a dream she never wanted to wake up from. He was doing his best to convince her she didn’t have to—and she was beginning to believe it.

  Nicola debated; maybe it was time to call Tortoise Point. She was moving toward the landline when she heard a golf cart pull up. Confirming it was Alex with a glance out the window, a small smile came to her lips as she switched her focus to her next problem: whether or not Alex had been able to find avocados at the grocery store. She enjoyed cooking and was excited to make her first meal for Alex, but her menu had been dictated both by the power outage and by what she had on hand. Like everyone else on the island, Nicola traveled to Barbados once or twice a month to shop at a supermarket; here on Moretta, the tiny grocery stocke
d only basics with a sporadic selection of produce and meat that cost a small fortune. Once she’d gotten home she’d had a small panic attack when she realized she didn’t know if Alex had any dietary restrictions, but with little choice in the matter, she’d made a simple dish of wahoo fish from her still-cold freezer, grilled on the barbecue and presented on a bed of salad. But it wouldn’t be nearly as good without the avocado.

  “Come in,” she called, going back to her cherry tomatoes as the knock came at her door. As Alex stepped into the kitchen, she turned to smile at him, but it faded the second she saw his face.

  Alex looked like he’d been through a war since she last saw him. His tanned skin seemed paler, his hair was disheveled and his T-shirt was half-untucked.

  “What’s wrong?” Nicola breathed.

  Alex just shook his head as he closed the door behind him. Nicola’s stomach rolled over. Everything had been so perfect today—what the hell could have happened in two hours? Numbly, she took a seat at her table for two. Alex lowered himself down across from her as if he was in pain.

  “What is it?” she asked again in alarm.

  “I have to tell you something,” Alex started. “And you are going to absolutely hate it.”

  Nicola’s throat clicked closed as she swallowed. “Okay.”

  Alex took a deep breath, brought his hands together in front of his face as if he was praying, and then he exhaled. “I’ve just come from my brother’s house. Kiki was there, too.”

  Kiki?

  “O...kay,” Nicola repeated cautiously.

  “There was a photographer at the party the other night. You met him briefly—the guy with John Brissoli. Only I didn’t know he was a photographer at the time.”

  Nicola’s stomach turned over. Photographer. Wherever this was going, it was going to be bad.