Intend To Seduce(19)

But it was dangerous to dwell on that, dangerous to want…

No, it was much safer to concentrate on the fantasy she was about to create and slip into the persona of Fiona.

Dragging her gaze away from Lucas, she checked her surroundings, then increased the speed of her stroke. The moment she rounded the curve, she spotted the churning in the water that told her the waterfall and the little rock cave were just ahead.

She summoned the image of a ladder into her mind. All she had to do was take it one step at a time. The first step was to create the mermaid fantasy. Concentrating, she focused on the water beyond Lucas. Though the lagoon was man-made, every effort had been made to create a facsimile of the real thing. Concrete in the shape of rocks lined the walls, and in the shade created by the palm trees on either side, the water was a deep, exotic blue-green. Shafts of sunlight lightened the color at intervals.

Slowly, inevitably, her gaze fastened on Lucas again. It was almost too easy to imagine that this was a man she'd rescued from the sea. She watched the steady ebb and flow of muscle beneath his copper-colored skin. He was so different from anyone she'd known before – so fascinating.

How often had she swum to the surface to watch him? Then the watching had turned to wanting. How she'd longed to touch him, to run her hands over that sleek, smooth skin. And now that she'd finally lured him to their destination she could reach out and…

Desire struck her then, so sharp and so piercing, she nearly doubled up from the ache. Oh, it was altogether too easy to fantasize that she was a mermaid, and Lucas was the human being she was prepared to give up everything for.

Touching him once on the shoulder, she angled to her left and swam ahead of him through the tumble of water and into the small cave.

*

For a few seconds after he'd made it through the waterfall, Lucas thought he'd entered another world. The inside of the cave was small, the light dimmed and filtered by the curtain of water falling from the rocks overhead. Mac was sitting on one of the ledges that lined the walls, the lower half of her body submerged, her hair and face drenched with water. She looked like a creature of the sea – some primeval goddess that men would have followed anywhere.

And she was beautiful. Why hadn't he noticed that before? The ache that had built the whole time he'd been swimming beside her twisted low in his body and began to spread. For a moment he couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He could only want, and the torture was exquisite.

He watched, still mesmerized as she lifted one hand out of the water and beckoned.

"I want you."

He wasn't sure who'd spoken the words. But he knew they were real – the one real thing. She wasn't a mermaid. He wasn't some hapless sailor lured off course by her song. Fantasies were never real.

It was time he put an end to the game.

Even as he moved toward her, he glanced quickly over his shoulder. The thick curtain of water provided some privacy, and the cave faced the ocean, not the hotel. Still, all that separated them from anyone who happened by was water. When he turned back, they were facing each other eye to eye. Her lips were parted and wet. Real. It took all his control to touch only her hand. "Come with me," he said.

"Stay with me."

He brushed his lips over hers.

"We don't have to be who we really are as long as we're here. We have no past. No future," she said.

He traced her bottom lip with his tongue, then tasted each corner of her mouth in turn. And all the while her words burned through him, eating at his control like the hot, hungry flames of a bonfire.

"No regrets. No repercussions."

In some small part of his mind that hadn't completely shut down, he knew that her words were the worst kind of fantasy. Every action produced an effect as surely as a pebble made ripples when tossed in a pool. There would be a price to pay. There always was.

Unable to resist any longer, he crushed her lips with his. If he could just stop the words … but he couldn't seem to prevent her from making those small hungry sounds deep in her throat. They shot through him like electric shocks.

He grabbed her hands, bracketing them in one of his behind her back. Then with a quick groan of pleasure, he slipped his hand beneath the tank top, ran it up that smooth skin and cupped her breast. Helplessly, she arched toward him and moaned. It seemed he'd waited forever to touch her like this again.

He'd known hunger before, but it had never been this deep, this desperate. Suddenly impatient, he stripped her out of the tank top, and then arching her back over his arm, he lowered his mouth and feasted. The skin at her waist was taut, smooth and cool. He'd wanted to taste her there since he'd stepped out of the cabana. He lingered, using his teeth and his tongue until she was shuddering. Then he moved on, sampling her navel, then that slender, strong torso, until he reached her breasts. They were as soft as satin, as sweet as the most forbidden fruit. He wanted to go slowly, to torture her as she'd tortured him. But as he moved his lips and his tongue first over one silky curve and then the other, the soft, urgent sounds she made vibrated against his mouth and pounded into his brain.

Twin desires warred within him. He had to have her. Soon.

He had to draw out the pleasure for them both, for as long as he could.

Taking one cool, puckered nipple into his mouth, he moved his tongue over it, then closed his teeth around it. She arched back, her hair dipping into the water, and offered him more.

He slid the palm of his hand down the slick skin of her torso and dragged the bottom of her suit down her legs. Then he pressed his hand against her soft, hot center. When his finger penetrated her, she cried out, and he covered her mouth with his. Pushing in deeper, he felt tight, slick satin pulse and pull, begging, demanding.

Need slammed into him, not an ache this time but a chain saw with a rusted blade, shredding his restraint. Control streamed away as quickly and surely as the water crashing down overhead. He couldn't think. He had to be inside her, completely naked. He had to feel hot slickness pulling him in farther and farther.

"I … want … you." The hoarse sound of her voice had the need slicing deeper. "Now."

"You've got me." Slowly, he withdrew his finger. Then releasing her hands, he gripped her waist and settled her back on the submerged rock ledge. He ran his hands up the inner side of her thighs, pushing them apart.

Her fingers were already dragging his swimsuit down. The moment he was free, he grabbed her wrists. If she touched him now…

Drawing in a deep breath, he fought against the climax he knew was close.

Then, when he was sure he could, he took her hands and placed them on his shoulders. "Wrap your legs around me." He helped her, drawing her closer until his erection was pressed just inside her core. The searing heat of it – the promise of even more heat to come – nearly undid him. In spite of the coolness of the water swirling around them, he felt sweat pearl his forehead and slide down his spine. He'd never been this close to the edge before without letting go. His entire body was clenched tight, but the desire to take her warred with a greater need.

"Open your eyes." His words were only a whisper, but her lids opened.

"Say your name," he said.

She tightened her grip on his shoulders and met his eyes. "Fiona." Then she tightened her legs around him and began to draw him in.

It took all his control to resist. "No. Your real name."

"Mac."

"And mine."

"Lucas."

He thrust into her then, hot and deep and hard. For a moment he was sure his heart stopped. He thought he'd known what it would be like, but she was tighter, hotter, much better then he'd imagined. He knew he should wait, give her time to adjust, but he couldn't stop himself from withdrawing and thrusting again. And again. And again.

He watched her eyes grow darker even as the sheath she'd wrapped him in pulsed around him.

He wanted more than anything to stop – to draw out the moment – to prolong the feeling of oneness he'd never experienced before now. But he felt her convulsions start, felt them radiate through her, and he was lost. He had to thrust even more deeply into her until his own release began to rip through him. The pleasure built in wave after wave after wave – pulling him higher and higher – until it finally thrust him free. Holding her tight, he took her with him into a breathless, airless void.











Chapter 9

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When she could breathe again, think again, Mac found herself sitting on Lucas's lap on the rock ledge that surrounded the little cave. His arms were around her and her head was cradled against his chest. Against her ear, she could hear the sure beat of his heart. Contentment spread through her, and she didn't want to move, to think.

That was not good. If she were in the lab, she would be feeling that sudden rush of elation that always came when an experiment went well. She would be running the whole thing through in her mind, evaluating what had worked, what needed to be improved.

But she didn't want to analyze. All she wanted to do was to hang on to the moment – to spin it out and to pretend just for now that Lucas had really wanted her, not Fiona.

That was not only wrong, it was dangerous. An impossible fantasy. Even as fear knotted in her stomach, she pushed it away. She couldn't afford to repeat the mistake she'd made all her life of wanting what she could never have. She had to settle for what was real – her research.