But then she lifted her dark eyes to his, and the expression in them was unfathomable. “I’ve never done this with someone I loved either.”
His gut said she wanted to just as badly as he did. Geez. When had that happened?
Subject change.
“You know what’s great?” he growled. “That we have all night and there are so many things that you’ve never done. Tell me another one and we’ll do it. Right now.”
Her smile shouldn’t have been so full of grace. “I’ve never made a man come with my mouth.”
His eyelids slammed shut as he visualized that. And after already coming twice so close together, it shouldn’t have whipped him up as much as it did. “No, honey. That’s about me. I want to make you feel good.”
“Then you know what would make me feel unbelievable?” she whispered. “If we just talked. Hold me like you did earlier, nothing between us but skin, and talk to me.”
He swallowed. That sounded nice. It shouldn’t sound so nice. And it ripped at his already tender heart because he got the reason she asked. She had a hard time talking to people. But not to him. Not anymore. Success. He’d coaxed that out of her, and it felt every bit like a victory as he nodded.
But first, he owed her a quick date with a baby wipe, which he found in his bag faster than the condoms since he never left home without either. She sat so still under his ministrations. So trusting. Her skin practically glowed in the firelight, and she was pretty much the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
When he curled her into his arms, she relaxed, and a sense of peace settled over them and it was just… great.
“What do you want to talk about?” He toyed with a lock of her hair. It felt good against his fingers, clean and silky.
“I don’t care. Tell me about being in the military or a story from when you were a kid. Your first name,” she suggested with a note of levity in her voice that made him smile in turn.
“Best job in the world, I broke my leg falling out of the first tree I ever tried to climb and not for a million dollars.”
She laughed and her back quivered against his torso nicely. “Two million? It’s weird that I’ve slept with you but don’t know your name.”
And there was a very good reason for that.
“Trust me, there is nothing more mood killing than my first name. If you hope for a round two at any point tonight, I’ll stay mum on that one.” He let his finger trail down her throat, tracing a line in a lazy pattern. Would he ever get tired of touching her? “Tell me why photography.”
“When I’m behind the lens, it’s another world,” she said slowly, testing out the words, maybe to be sure she meant them. Or waiting for his hammer of judgment to fall, which was not going to happen. Either way, he had no plans to interrupt her. “One where I don’t have to struggle to express myself verbally. It all comes out in the photograph. Sometimes. When I get it right. But the chase is part of it.”
“I want to see the pictures you took tonight,” he said.
A window into her mind? Yes, please. How many other people got an opportunity to learn more about the fascinating woman they were sleeping with in such a visual, memorable way?
“I… don’t know how they’ll turn out,” she hedged. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“So you said. But neither have I,” he reminded her. “How will I know if you did it wrong? I just want to see how you expressed yourself when taking pictures of me.”
God, what was that all about? All the emotional talk had wrung him out obviously. What good would come of an examination of that? A clue as to whether she was thinking about what it would feel like to be in love while she took pictures of a guy she’d just met? That was crap.
“I have to get them processed. I print them myself in my darkroom. Digital is so cold, you know? Maybe I’ll mail you one of the better ones,” she offered generously after just having said she felt a little vulnerable about the result. Brave. And a whole lot sexy. He’d have his own private memento of this jaunt to the Caribbean.
Mail. It was a quick douse of cold water. Of course she’d have to mail it; after this trip, they’d never see each other again. That was how vacation flings worked. Which kind of sucked all at once.
“Sure, sounds great. You know, if you want to,” he commented offhand like it didn’t matter, because it didn’t. Or rather, it shouldn’t.
He was afraid it did matter, but hell if he could figure out why.
“I do. I want you to have something since we’re not going to win the race.”