And despite her awkwardness, she found herself smiling again. Sometime in the last twenty-four hours, Mack had developed an uncanny knack of rousing her spirits. When he wasn’t being a potato, of course.
She dipped her chin in the salty surf and inched toward him, grainy sand and pebbles squishing underfoot. “I’m only staying in for ten more seconds, so get in already.”
Mack gestured to the water surrounding them. “What do you call this?”
“I call it half measures. The list says ‘swim’ not ‘stand.’”
“Semantics.”
She let out a battle cry and surged out of the water, her arms flapping like a swarm of angry herons. Mack flung out his hands, but it was useless against her onslaught. By the time she backed off and dropped below the water once more, his full-length underwear was plastered to the skin and his flabbergasted expression sent her into peals of laughter.
He shook his head, flinging water droplets in every direction, and then pinned her with his gaze.
“Now you’ve done it.”
The gleam in his eye sent her scrambling toward the shore, but her laughter slowed her movement. Her toes had just touched dry sand when his arms locked around her and she was swept up against his hard chest.
“I’ve got you now,” he murmured hotly against her ear, his forearms brushing against the curve of her breasts and sending shocks of electricity to her nipples.
She dropped her head backward into the crook of his shoulder and met his gaze. “What are you going to do about it?”
Was that sultry voice really hers?
Mack’s nostril flared, and then his lips were pressing into her neck. She tilted to give him more room. He obliged by nibbling his way to her ear, tracing the outer rim of her ear with his tongue. She clutched his forearms, her nails digging into his skin, but he didn’t seem to mind. If anything, it inflamed him. He rocked against her bottom, and the hard evidence of his lust made her lose her breath.
“I’m going to make you scream,” he growled.
The hot promise destroyed her. She twisted in his embrace and threw her arms around his neck. She pulled his mouth down to hers, licking at his salty lips. He groaned and palmed her bottom, hauling her against his body. His hardness was perfectly positioned at the juncture of her thighs, the thin cotton of their underclothing leaving little to the imagination.
Their kiss grew desperate, almost violent. Mack twined his fingers in her hair, immobilizing her while he plundered her mouth. Their tongues danced in a timeless ritual that made her slit moisten and tingle. She tore her mouth from his with a gasp.
“I need you.”
“Then you shall have me.”
A heartbeat later, she was swept into his arms. “I’m too heavy,” she protested.
“Not for me.”
He moved confidently toward their camp, and delight coursed through her. Her tall, lanky editor made her feeldainty. She hugged him tighter, unable to get close enough, and sucked his neck, hard.
Mack lost his grip and they tumbled haphazardly onto their coats. He rolled them to one side so his weight took the brunt of the fall. She stretched out on her back and sighed.
“I knew it was too good to be true.”
He raised to an elbow and narrowed his eyes at her. “Ididhave you, but then you turned into a damned succubus and my soul left my body.”
She wheezed a laugh.
His gaze lowered to her soaked, transparent chemise. Bending forward, he drew one peaked bud into his mouth and laved it gently. He released her just long enough to murmur, “Dear God, how I’ve wanted to do this.” When his attempts to lower the neck of her chemise proved unsuccessful, he let out a huff of impatience and sat up.
“Please save my sanity and take this blasted thingoff.”
His urgent plea sent a thrill through her, and she rose to her knees at once. Gathering the material in both hands, she dragged the soaked chemise over her head and tossed it to the sand. She dragged a finger across her stomach where skin met the cotton of her drawers, and the moan that escaped Mack’s lips filled her with power. “What about these? Should I take them off, too?”
“Yes. Slowly.”
She untied the string at her waist, curling her legs to pull the drawers off. She was naked in the sand, fully on display, and the freedom was both liberating and terrifying. The urge to cover herself was strong, but Mack didn’t seem to notice any of her imperfections. He devoured her like she was the last bonbon at a feast. He actually licked his lips, one hand fondling his hard length under the wet union suit that molded and magnified his bulge.
