He pushed off the bottom of the pool and when they broke through, it was like he’d broken through some impenetrable wall that had grown after his dad died, hardened after Kyle’s death, and locked down after Veronica’s rejection, all defensive tactics to keep his heart safe.
But safe also meant lonely and he was so damn tired of being an island of one.
He pulled her closer, her deliciously chilled skin against his. With their mouths never breaking, he swam them to the middle of the pool where he could stand. He kissed along her jawline to the gentle slope of her neck, her wet skin sliding against him, over him, around him.
Wanting more, he cupped her ass and lifted her higher until those perfect tens were right there for the taking and he took and took until she was moaning.
“By the lounger,” she whispered, but he was already on the move. Not to the lounger—he didn’t know if he’d make it that far before he finally got a taste of her—so he settled on the top step.
He gently set her down and worked his way between her legs, pressing them further apart as he nudged them with his shoulders.
“By the lounger,” she whispered, a little more demanding. It made him smile. But he didn’t listen. He kissed her stomach, moving lower until his nose was just about water level. Then, looking up at her, he grinned.
“Oh,” she breathed.
“Cupcake, I’m going to give you the biggest O of your life.” Then he was going to give her another one on the lounger.
Taking a breath, he submerged and ran kisses over her bikini tan line, then finally straight up the middle where her body immediately reacted.
“Oh,” she said, this one a moan. So he did it again.
Working her with his teeth and tongue, licking and nipping until he felt the beginnings of herOhheading for him like a jet plane. He resurfaced long enough to catch a breath and see that she was watching him—oh, how his little peeper loved to watch.
Why wasn’t he surprised?
Back to business, he touched her the way he knew she loved, licked her the way she craved, and pressed down just where she needed so that she could let go. And she didn’t just let go, she flew apart and burst into wild shudders.
He held her as she trembled, stroked her as she came down, easing her back to reality until she let out a single, sated sigh.Damn,that was the sexiest thing he’d ever watched.
“Clay.” She was breathing hard. “That was—”
“Outstanding. Phenomenal. Earth shattering?”
She cupped his face. “Perfect. It was perfect.”
“And it’s just the beginning.”
Scooping her up in his arms, he made his way out of the pool and onto the lounger at the far end of the patio, hidden in the shadows.
Setting her down, he gave her a languid kiss until she was sighing once again. “Be right back,” he said against her lips.
In his mind, he mapped the quickest route to his bedroom medicine cabinet for the condoms, calculating for wind chill and his hard-on. But when he started to move away, she locked her legs around his waist.
“I came prepared.” And thank the universe, she pulled up a big, Costco-sized box of condoms from beneath the lounger.
“You came all right,” he said, and she laughed. It was a showstopper of a laugh, light and carefree—and something he wanted to hear for a long time. “Was the box here all night?” Had he known, he would have kicked everyone out the minute she’d arrived in that sundress with the tiny straps.
She shook her head. “I brought them over with me a little while ago.”
“Did I tell you that I love it when you’re prepared?” And he kissed her quick and hard. But when he pulled back, she was studying him with the oddest look, as if he were missing something huge. So he gave her a gentler, more reverent kiss. The kind of kiss two people who were one another’s shared.
Even though he tried to control the heat level so they could ride a long wave, she wasn’t having it. Her hand was in his hair and her feet locked around him, all but yanking him on top of her.
“You feel good,” she said, her body rising up to brush against his. And how could he say no to that. So when her sweet hands covered him—nerves nonexistent—she guided him home.
“You feel more than good.” Too good. Any more good and he was in trouble.
Nothing had ever felt so right as that moment, with her body twisted around his like a pretzel, one hand on her ass, the other cupping her breast, hers running across his abs and down and under to give a little squeeze.
