Commanding Her Seal (Plus Bonus Novella)(10)

For her lack of preparation, Charlie apparently planned to make her pay. The wicked intent in his gaze made her shiver as she led him around the far side of the island where she’d last seen the dolphins. Anticipation roiled between them and did indeed heighten every nuance of her awareness.

She could hear him breathe, for God’s sake. Feel him watching her backside as she carefully stepped barefoot through the foliage to reach the rockier part of the north shore. Her flesh tingled at the back of her neck, right at the spot where he’d first laid his lips on her. The shock of it had forked through her core with lightning-fast heat.

She’d be okay with a repeat of that. The longer he didn’t do it, the worse her anticipation became. Obviously he’d mastered this game well before she’d proposed it.

A secluded cove opened up under an outcropping of rocks that partially shaded the beach. The color of the sand wasn’t as vibrant here, but the water maintained its clarity. Dark rocks studded the ocean floor every so often, which made it a favorite for dolphins who liked to play find the fish with the marine life that took shelter in the tranquility.

“This is where they hang out,” she explained. “We can swim out about fifty feet and stand on one of the larger rocks to wait.”

“Or,” Charlie countered smoothly and slipped her bag from her shoulder to let it thud to the sand. “We can stay right here and talk about lists until our friends make an appearance.”

Her pulse thumped in her throat as he watched her. “We have multiple lists now?”

“I think we’re at four.” Charlie lifted her fingers to his lips, sucking one into his mouth and mumbling around it, his tongue teasing her flesh as he talked. “My Caribbean vacation list, your list of things you’re going to do to make me groan, my list of fantasies I’ve had about you, and a mutual list of times when we’re going to have sex. That last one is a little vague, so I suggest we start there.”

Heat flushed along her skin, pooling at her core as she processed that. “You’ve had fantasies about me?”

“Many.” His sizzling gaze swept down her body.

“Like what?

“Oh, no,” he said and shook his head against her palm, abrading it with his unshaven jaw. “We’re not talking about that list. Not yet. We’re still on the list of times to have sex. I’m thinking we definitely go with what we have currently. Now. Later. Tomorrow. And then I’d like to propose middle of the night. I’ve never done that. Seems like a nice addition.”

A weight had dropped on her lungs, making it hard to breathe through the vibrating sexual tension encompassing her whole body. “Now isn’t on the list. Remember?”

“Maybe we should talk about how to define sex.” His deep baritone lanced through her, finding all sorts of hollows inside to occupy.

“Maybe we should,” she countered and nearly came apart when his hand trailed down her side and began toying with the string tying her bikini bottoms together.

“I’m more of an action kind of guy. How about if I show you how I define it?”

A sharp “eeet, eeeeet” followed by a splash cut through the thick atmosphere. She nearly groaned. Of course.

“Our friends have arrived,” she muttered. Stupid dolphins. Didn’t they know she had a hot man paying attention to her?

He grinned. “Remember where we were.”

As if she’d forget. She splashed into the water by his side as they swam out to the group of gray humped backs rising up out of the blue about fifty yards offshore. True to his word, he was a great swimmer, easily pulling ahead of her even though she’d spent the better part of every day in the ocean since the age of sixteen.

She surfaced, treading water, and searched for the dolphins. There. They were rolling and splashing each other. Four of them.

Charlie found a rock to stand on, rising up out of the water like a sexy Poseidon short only the trident and crown. Instead of letting her find her own, he guided her to his and wrapped her up in his arms, spoon-style, to help her balance on what was not really a surface meant for two. But his warm hands splayed across her abdomen, holding her against him in the chest-deep water. The steel of his erection pressed into her back and she couldn’t complain about the size of the rock. Especially as he played with the hem of her bikini bottom, sliding a couple of fingers inside to stroke at her curls.

Her lungs strangled over a breath, but he didn’t go any further no matter how insistently she rolled her hips, seeking his touch.

“Shh,” he murmured in her ear, and his lips grazed her flesh, sending a shower of sparks down the line of her throat. “Be still. We don’t want to scare them away.”