Eva picked up her menu with casual elegance. “Do I need to prep a glass of milk for you, or are you planning to power through on sheer Midwestern stubbornness?”
“Oh, I’m finishing it,” I said, reaching for my water glass. “I always finish.”
Her smile turned slow and wicked. “Not at the table, Lex.”
I nearly choked on my sip, laughing.
And just like that, I was me again. No longer the center of attention—just the center of hers.
Chapter
Two
We took our time walking back to our room at the end of the night. An illuminated boardwalk hugged the resort’s sandy shoreline. Miniature lights marked our path and cast warm pools of gold onto the weathered planks.
Our steps were unhurried; we paused from time to time to stare out at the inky ocean, turquoise in the day, but now dark beyond the lighted walkway.
Eva’s fingers curled around my bare bicep, warm and steady. She hadn’t let go since we’d left the restaurant. She tugged her knit shawl higher up her shoulders with her free hand. The fabric slipped over the straps of her dress, nearly the same color as the bikini she’d worn earlier, the one still seared into my mind.
“Are you cold?” I worried. A cool, ocean-kissed breeze swirled around us. The temperature had noticeably dipped after sunset, sometime between our entrees and dessert.
“I’ll be fine.” I felt the light, reassuring squeeze of her fingers. “You can warm me up back at the room.”
My tongue darted out to wet my lips before I could stop myself. She caught it—of course she did—but instead of calling me out, her thumb traced slow circles in the crook of my arm.
Another couple passed us, moving in the opposite direction—a man and a woman, arms linked like ours. The woman’s laugh floated in the night air, light and easy. My body tensed out of habit, expecting Eva to shift away, to drop my arm and put distance between us.
But she didn’t.
If anything, she tilted her head closer to mine. She continued to hold onto me, our shoulders pressed together. We weren’t just good friends or former teammates. This wasn’t something casual, either, something to keep hidden behind closed doors. This was real.
And she wanted the world to know.
By the timewe reached our room, I wasn’t thinking about the cool night air or the curious eyes that had lingered at dinner. I was only thinking about her—and how I couldn’t wait to show her exactly how warm I could keep her.
The door had barely clicked shut behind us before her hands were on me. Eva pulled me to her as if we had only minutes, not the entire night, to spare. Her hands slid over my shoulders and down my bare arms, a mix of tenderness and need.
I managed to shrug out of my cross-body bag, letting it drop to the floor, just as she backed me up against the wall in the entryway.
We never made it past that wall.
Eva busied herself with the buttons at the front of my shirt while I pressed hot kisses to the tops of her naked shoulders. When she finished with the last of my shirt’s buttons, I spun us around so it was she with her back against the wall.
My eager fingers explored the expansive fabric of her maxi dress. The material was light, perfect for a tropical vacation, butimpractical for intimacy. I gathered the generous skirt in my hands and purposefully passed it off to her.
I leaned close and breathed my command into her ear: “Hold up your dress.”
I took a few steps back to admire the view. Eva’s long, powerful legs. Her smooth, lotioned skin. The seamless underwear that hugged her hips and tapered waist.
“You look so good like that,” I murmured my approval.
She visibly trembled.
Neither of us really dominated the other in the bedroom. Eva liked to be taken hard while I didn’t particularly care for penetration, but that didn’t mean I naturally topped her. If anything, she was a power bottom who told me exactly what she wanted. How fast. How deep.
And I was a good listener.
I stepped close again to brush the tips of my fingers against the front of her underwear. My fingers gently passed over her slightly protruding clit through the satin material.
