“I’m okay,” he deadpanned as he stripped off his shirt.
Once, he’d jumped out of a helicopter into the Persian Gulf about three miles offshore and then swam until he hit his coordinates at the border of Kuwait and Iraq. In the dark.
She let her gaze wander down his body. “I had a feeling. Would it be too forward of me to ask if you’d rub sunscreen on my back? I have a hard time reaching it and Isaac always misses the spot between my shoulder blades.”
After that hot once-over, obviously he could only interpret “sunscreen” as code for “put your hands on me.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he murmured and took the orange squeeze bottle from her outstretched hand.
She presented her back and gathered up her thick red curls, twisting them around her hands, binding them up against her crown, and hell if that wasn’t a sexy picture. Carefully, he squirted out the most miniscule amount of lotion he could physically get on his hand and smoothed his palm down the line of her spine.
Dang. Looked like he’d run out of lotion. He dropped the bottle to the sand.
Her creamy skin was warm under his fingertips as he explored, running along the ridges of her shoulders and back down again. It was such a beautiful topography that he couldn’t help but want a small taste. He fitted his lips to the place on her neck just below her bound hands, and she vibrated under his mouth. Her spine curved as she arched sensuously against him, and he took that as encouragement to put his hands exactly where he wanted them—on her.
Gripping her waist, he pulled her against his aching erection. She cradled it in the small of her back, pressing against it and teasing until he almost couldn’t take the raw need coursing through him.
“Charlie.” She moaned as he nuzzled her ear and then sucked the lobe between his teeth. “I thought you wanted to swim with dolphins.”
“Told you,” he mouthed against the shell of her ear where it most smelled like coconut and something flowery. “I added some other stuff to the list.”
“I’m a fan of the list so far.” Her voice cracked when he sucked on the column of her neck. “But have you ever actually had sex on the beach?”
“Yes.” He’d elaborate, but her hips were circling against his erection, driving him mad. Though he did like the turn the conversation had taken. He’d just been angling for a couple of hot kisses, but if she wanted to talk about sex, okay.
“Then you know it’s not as… fun as it sounds.” All at once, she turned in his arms, her peaked nipples sliding across his bare torso. Hell yes, much better.
“You’ve been doing it wrong, then,” he growled and nipped at her lower lip before taking her mouth fully, sliding her into the grooves of his body until they fit together exactly the way he wanted. Tight. Her thighs nested against his, and oh yeah, it was hot.
But then she deepened the kiss, changing the angle, taking control—and he let her because why would he complain? Her tongue slicked between his lips to taste him and his body caught fire, heat racing along his nerve endings.
More. He fingered underneath one of those green triangles and brushed a thumb across her hard, velvety nipple, groaning at the feel of her. He wanted it in his mouth. Right now.
All at once, she broke it off and stepped back, her breasts rising and falling as she contemplated him from beneath her lashes. “You’re very dangerous to my mental state, you know that?”
“Uh, huh. Come back so I can do it again.” He stuck out an arm but she danced out of reach with a skittery laugh, throwing up pink sand in her wake.
“Not a chance, honey.”
That did not align with how eagerly she’d kissed him a minute ago. But he immediately took a step back of his own. If she was saying no, she was saying no, and he’d respect that no matter how much his body ached to dive back into her gorgeous curves.
In that respect, anyone could call him the Saint all day long and he’d be okay with that.
“My apologies,” he muttered. “I misread the situation.”
Hard not to with all the talk about sex on the beach. Which was still fun, no matter what lameness some guy had done to ruin it for her in the past.
She blinked and shook her head. Hard. “Oh, no, you did not. Not at all. I’m having a difficult time holding myself back here, and you’re not helping by standing there being all sexy and hard and in possession of those amazing shoulders. No, the problem is that you almost made me forget that I don’t have any condoms with me.”
Um… yeah. Okay. He’d missed that small detail too. Mostly because he hadn’t expected things to flare out of control like they had, or he would have been on it like white on rice. That was definitely one area where he always did the right thing. “I hope you’re not expecting an apology for how hot you get me. Because I’m not sorry.”