He drew his mouth from hers long enough to say, “That’s hardly fair.”
“Shut up and touch me,” she said.
He cupped her breast in his hand, kneading the soft fullness, and when that wasn’t enough, he had to taste her, just one small taste to make it through the afternoon. He brought his mouth to her breast, teasing her nipple with his tongue. She moaned in pleasure and stroked his thick length through his bathing suit.
“Lace, I’m only human,” he whispered.
Before the words had left his lips, she was locking the door, dropping her bikini to the floor, and sauntering toward him with a seductive sway to her killer hips and a hungry look in her eyes.
“So am I. I don’t know what happens to me when I’m around you, but I swear I can’t control myself. It’s like I’m addicted to your touch,” Lacy said as she ran her finger down his chest.
“I don’t have protection,” he said. Shit.
She dropped to her knees beside the bed and took him in her hands, then in her mouth. Dane groaned, unable to think about how wrong it was that his siblings were right outside that door and he was in heaven with Lacy. She stroked him hard and fast, licking, sucking, taking him from the tip to the base, until he was worked into such a frenzy that he couldn’t hold back any longer.
He touched her cheek. “Lace, stop. Please.”
She looked up, his shaft still in her mouth, and she shook her head.
Jesus, she wants me to come. “No, not like this.” She wasn’t just any girl. He respected Lacy, and coming in her mouth felt wrong.
She slowly drew him from her mouth, then pushed him back on the bed. Where had this sexual vixen come from? In the next breath, she was straddling him—bareback.
“I’m on the pill,” she said, riding him quick and hard.
Dane had always practiced safe sex, more out of fear of an unwanted pregnancy than anything else. At that moment, all thoughts of how risky it was to not have a condom fell away. He wanted Lacy more than he had the night before. He sat up with her legs straddling his hips, rolled her onto her back, and drove into her, hard and fast, sucking her neck, her shoulder, whatever skin he could get ahold of, and burying himself so deeply that it took only a few minutes until they were both clawing at each other with raw need, then peaking in perfect unison.
He swallowed her moans with his mouth, burying each of her pleasure-filled cries against his own.
Afterward, Dane wondered what in the hell he was doing. He didn’t want to treat Lacy like that. He wanted to pleasure every inch of her flesh, to taste and tease, until she was begging for more. He wanted to cherish her, exploring everything about her, and now, not just once, but twice, he’d taken her in less-than-appropriate places.
“I’m sorry, Lace,” he said.
“Why?”
Her eyes were so big and round, so innocent, that Dane knew she really had no idea about why he was apologizing. He took her in his arms. “Because I like you too much for these quickies.”
“That’s good to know, but after fifteen months of waiting, I’m not sorry.”
Jesus, I’m in deep trouble.
TEN MINUTES LATER, they’d rinsed off, careful to keep their hair from getting wet, and they carried lunch up to the deck. Dane knew his siblings had heard the shower, but he knew they’d never embarrass Lacy by saying as much.
“Did you have to bake the bread?” Savannah asked with a wink.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, we did. Did you miss us?” Dane asked.
“I did, but only because I’m starved,” Hugh said.
Dane set the tray of sandwiches down on the table. Lacy smiled at Hugh as she sat beside him.
“Racing must be really exciting. How did you get into that type of career?” she asked.
Dane slid in beside her. He’d heard Hugh explain his career path more times than he could count. He watched a glimmer of excitement widen Hugh’s eyes as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“It was my dad, actually,” Hugh answered.
What? Dane narrowed his eyes, wondering what Hugh was up to now. Hugh was a self-proclaimed thrill junkie, and that had nothing to do with their father.
Hugh continued. “I watched my brothers each make these great careers for themselves—all from nothing more than an idea, or a passion. When I was in my second year of college, I was talking to my father about what I wanted to do when I graduated. I majored in business, so I figured I’d end up behind a desk somewhere.”
“Under a desk, maybe. On top of a desk, definitely, but behind a desk?” Savannah shook her head. “No way.”
“Anyway,” Hugh said, shaking his head at Savannah’s comment. “I was home for spring break, and my father asked me what business I wanted to go into. I had no idea. None. So I told him so, and he asked me one question: Was there anything in life that brought me happiness no matter when I did it.” He shrugged. “That was it. I told him driving fast, and he said, Then do it.”
“That’s the same thing Dad asked me,” Savannah said.
“Me too,” Dane added. “Hugh, why haven’t I heard this version of the story before?”
Lacy whipped her head around. “The thing in your life that made you the happiest was swimming with sharks?”
Hugh laughed. “No, it was convincing other people to forget their fears and save the animals they hated.” He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head, trapping his thick dark waves as they blew in the wind, and flashed a wide smile.
“You’re kind of right,” Dane said. He remembered the day his father had asked him what he wanted to do as clearly as if it were yesterday. They were in the living room, his father in his favorite leather recliner and Dane sitting on the sofa. “It was right after I graduated with my double major—biology and social science. The more I studied, the more I wanted to know. The summer before I entered my master’s program, I completed a research internship, and something strange happened. My enthusiasm for knowledge and understanding became a passion for saving and educating. I think I told him something like, I wanna know more about sharks than anyone else in the world. I could see by the way he looked at me that he thought I was nuts, and honestly, I’m sure it sounded that way.” He smiled at the memory. “But Dad being who he is, he said, Then, by golly, make it happen.”
Lacy put her hand on his leg. “Your dad sounds really supportive.”
“Apparently, more so to the males in our family than to me,” Savannah chimed in. “I told him I wanted to be an accountant.”
“No way,” Hugh said with a laugh.
“You were always great at math,” Dane said.
“Yeah, and I like to figure things out, but he told me I was too smart to be a number pusher, and he asked me to think about it. The next day I told him that I didn’t care what I did as long as I was the boss, and he said—”
“That’s the Vanny I know,” Dane and Hugh said in unison.
“I guess your dad says that a lot?” Lacy asked. She watched the three of them, enjoying the way they teased one another. She noticed the glance that Dane and Hugh shared when they called Savannah Vanny, like they knew all her secrets.
“Dad just knows how to guide us well, and sometimes Savannah goes down the wrong trail. He nudges her back onto her path,” Dane explained. He lifted his glass toward Savannah and said, “You’re an amazing attorney, and just look at all the perks.”
Hugh said, “Connor Dean,” disguised as a cough.
Savannah sipped her wine and rolled her eyes.
“You know Connor Dean? The Connor Dean?” Lacy asked.
“Yeah, we kinda date, on and off,” Savannah answered. She gathered her long hair in her hand and twisted it, then laid it over one shoulder—it sprung free of the twist and covered that side of her chest.
Lacy’s reaction to Connor sent jealousy slicing through Dane’s gut. He put a possessive arm around Lacy and pulled her close.
Lacy put a hand over his arm and squeezed, then brought his hand to her mouth and kissed it before placing it back around her belly. “So how did you go from saying you wanted to be the boss to being an attorney?” Lacy asked.
“My father said that was the only profession where I could use my manipulative skills for a good purpose.” Savannah laughed. “He’s so funny. Most people really don’t like attorneys, but he said if I went into the entertainment business, maybe I could help clean it up. And now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“What about you, Lacy? What do you do?” Hugh asked.
“Nothing quite as exciting as you all do. I’m an advertising executive for World Geographic. I work mostly with nonprofits, building brands and bringing companies to the public’s attention, engaging media outlets for features. I guess you could say that I pave the way for companies to make their mark.”
“Do you like it?” Hugh asked.
Dane noticed that Hugh was stepping out of his typical self-absorbed bubble, and he wondered why. His brother held Lacy’s eye contact, but he wasn’t measuring her up or flirting. Dane shot a glance at Savannah, who appeared to be eyeing Hugh with the same curiosity.
“I do. I love my work, my boss, and my coworkers. I’m really lucky, actually, and the promotion I’ve been working so hard for could be really exciting. I’ve been there a few years now, and I can’t imagine working anywhere else.”