Hardly. My instant grasp on her skin and quick pull back to rest her against my dick have her gasping out a breath. I shove into her, sliding closer, my lips a breath away from her ear.
“I’m not afraid of anything, Gabby. Haven’t been for a very long time.”
She doesn’t look back at me or show a visible reaction; she simply tightens her muscles around the machine and accelerates hard, damn near forcing us both off the back. I laugh, amused at her antics, and cling on until the speed peters out to steady. It gives me time to look back at the shore, starting to appreciate its worth. It’s beautiful here. Tranquil. Long white beaches melt into the water, the forests rising up into the canopy of trees and mountains behind. I could be happy here. Lost still, but happy. I can feel it in my guts as the ski swerves over the light waves, some element of calm finally settling in and giving me a sense of peace from the endless risks that have been my life.
“So, what do you do when you’re not on holiday?” she asks loudly, breaking me of my musings. I look at the back of her neck, following the line of it down to the string of her bikini, and smile.
Juvenile.
“Accountant.” I let go with one hand and raise it up to run my fingers over her shoulder. She shudders, shooting a sharp look back at me before looking forward again. “I’m all about numbers and decisions.” I keep caressing and wait for any sign she’s saying no to me. She doesn’t, not one part of her. She moves her neck around instead, letting me glide over the skin and follow her curves downwards until I reach the dip in her back. “Wouldn’t know anything about juvenile behaviour.” Her head turns a little, mouth open. “I’m steady, dependable. Nine ‘til nine every damn day.” My hand flattens against her as I crawl it back up and under the bikini string. She’s so soft, hard lines of bone moulding into supple flesh. I close my eyes and feel her skin rather than see it, letting the air breeze across me as we carry on, then tug on the tie. “Are we going somewhere secluded?” She shivers, her back undulating under my fingers. “’Cause I’m thinking this is coming off, Gabby.”
She giggles. I feel it in her back as her eyes search the coastline for something, hands turning the ski towards a sharp cliff that juts out into the ocean.
“Getting ahead of yourself again? All good things, Nate.” I look at the formation in front of us, gazing at the way it falls gracefully into the sea below. “We’re going around there. And I don’t want to be exposed when we get there.” She looks back, a sexy smile curving her mouth. “Behave.”
I keep rubbing anyway, barely restraining myself from carrying on with my delinquent thoughts as she steers us, crashing through the loose waves, until eventually she rounds the headland. A small cove comes into view in the distance, no access down to it other than from the water. High cliffs surround the expanse, jagged rocks and trees framing the periphery.
“See?” she says, pointing down to the shore. I follow her arm, finally seeing what she’s pointing at as it comes into range. “Lunch.”
A table and chairs have been placed there, one man standing by the side of it who lifts his arm and waves as we approach.
“Stylish. You trying to romance me into sleeping with you?”
She giggles again, head shaking as she slows the ski down towards a wooden jetty that juts out.
“You really don’t need to. I’m up for it. Begging isn’t required yet.”
“You’re funny. I didn’t realise accountants were funny.”
I frown. “We’re not. I’m being serious.”
The ski rides up to the side of the jetty, the man already there to grasp onto the rope she slings at him. He smiles at both of us as we clamber off, and he nods at her.
“It’s all there, mademoiselle. We’ll be back at three. Anything else I can get you?”
“Thanks, Manuel,” she replies, wandering off along the wooden boards without a care in the world. “No, you can go.”
The ski roars off almost immediately and leaves us alone. All I’m interested in is her, and I watch the way she sways along, commanding every curve she’s got without any thought of hiding her assets. I’m damn well drooling by the time I catch up with her, about ready to rip that bikini from her skin before we get to the food.
“Drink?” she says, handing me a cocktail.
“What is it?”
“Don’t know. I’m taking risks.” She quirks her head at me. “Presumably accountants don’t do that, though.” She sucks on the straw in her other hand, pulling it into her mouth with her tongue. “Or do they, Nate? Take risks? You said you weren’t afraid.”
I take the glass from her and pull the little cocktail umbrella out. The blue liquid blends into white, ice cubes clinking about as I draw the straw to my lips. “Careful. It could be poisoned.” I hover, watching her stare, and remember all those early years when Quinn told me to watch my back, never drink something unless you’d got it yourself. I shake my head, pushing the stupidity to the back of my mind. She doesn’t even know who I am, let alone want to kill a Cane.
“I don’t think so,” I reply eventually. She smiles slightly and raises the drink to her own mouth again, still rolling that damn tongue around the edges of it. “You’re just trying to get me drunk so I’ll sleep with you.” I suck a large amount down, all the time watching her watch me. “Told you. You don’t need to.” She backs away a step, the coy tease still evident in those lips. “Before or after we eat, Gabby?” I ask, moving forward. “I’m thinking before. Get it out of the way so we can get to facts and…” I look her over again, “…figures.”
She smiles wider and places her drink on the table, hands reaching behind her back for the strings on that scrap of material.
“You sure? I’m not stopping once we start.”
“Holiday fling.” Her fingers pull the strings out to the sides. “Everyone should have that, shouldn’t they? Something exciting?” I wet my lips, teeth dragging over them as she lets go of them and begins reaching for the strings on the bottom half of the bikini. “Sin compromiso. No second names. No love. Just...”
“Calculated fucking.”
She gasps at the remark and stops untying the bikini, a slight hesitancy I’ve not seen from her before at my words.
