“And it’s probably a question you should have asked last night, when I had her alone on the beach, in the back of my pickup.” Drew raised an eyebrow at Celeste with a smirk on his face, and the dominant, cocky man I met yesterday morning was back. And with that smirk, so was the wet feeling in my bikini bottoms.
Celeste let out a laugh and I looked back and forth between the two of them. Where his eyes were previously trained on her, they were now dead set on me, raking up and down my body in appreciation. He kneeled down in front of me, placing himself at my feet.
“What are your plans today, bug?”
“You’re looking at them.” I lifted my sketchbook from my lap and tipped it toward him and raised a hand to show him the surrounding we were in.
“Mind if I join?” He placed a hand over my ankle, circling the delicate skin. A shiver ran through me as he stood and made his way to the side of my chair. It wasn’t until he was standing directly over me that I realized Drew could see the sketches I was currently working on. It’s not like it was his face I was drawing, but the way his eyes moved from the book in my lap to my mouth had me knowing he knew exactly who those biceps belonged to.
“We’d be delighted.” It was Monica who joined our conversation as she walked up to us, grabbing for her water by the chair we saved for her. Talon walked up behind her, hot on her tail with a blaze of fire in his stare. Seeing them up close now, you could feel the tension rolling off of them. He wanted her, but Monica wasn’t even looking his way. I tried to hide my snicker because I knew what she was playing at. She didn’t want him to know just how much she wanted him and I understood that, especially with looking over at Drew.
“It’s settled then.” Drew held his hand out to me and I only put mine in his out of instinct. Then he was pulling me from the lounge chair, sitting himself down, and pulling me back down to sit between his legs. “Continue.”
He pointed down to the sketchpad in front of me as his arms wrapped around my waist. I opened to the page I was on previously, hesitating for only a second before I continued on the sketch. When I finished that one, I flipped to the next page, drawing what was in front of me this time. Drew’s arms wrapped around my waist and our legs intertwined. I didn’t notice the passing time until it became almost too dark to see my sketchpad. That’s when I looked up to see that Monica and Celeste were long gone and it was only Drew and me left.
I turned around and looked Drew in the eyes, asking the first question that came to mind. “Will you come back with me?”
Without a word, Drew took my hand, led me to his car, and drove us back to the bed-and-breakfast. When he pulled into the parking lot, though, something clicked inside of me. I wasn’t sure if it was the need to prove to him that I wasn’t a little girl or the fact I knew what exactly I wanted right now, and in this moment, I wanted Drew.
I took his hand, leading him into the small house and up my room. He closed the door behind us as we entered the room. The dead bolt clicked loudly and was the only noise in the room as we stared at each other, not moving from where we stood. I might have gotten us up here, but from this moment, I wasn’t quite sure what to do.
Kissing was all I had ever done with any guy before and even with that it was only small kisses, not even making out. Right now I wished I hadn’t been the senator’s daughter growing up, where boys were always scared to date me or even look at me.
On pure knowledge from what I’d read in Celeste’s romance novels and seen in movies, I reached around to untie my bikini top, but Drew was on me before I could get the strings untied.
“What are you doing?” His hands were on mine, taking them from my top and holding them between us.
“It’s my first time. I figured most people just jump into it.”
I heard an audible intake from Drew, his eyes closing and then opening to look at me again.
“I’m not most people, bug.” He placed his forehead against mine, his voice coming out as a rasp that had my fingers itching to release my breasts from the confinement of my top. Just from the sound he made, I knew he wanted me.
“I can see that.” I leaned into him, his hands letting mine go and then moving to my waist.
“Then let me show you how it’s supposed to be.”
When I expected him to pull me closer, bring me flush against his body, he pushed me back where my knees hit the edge of the bed. I sat down, my face meeting his stomach that was covered in a plain white shirt, paired with khaki shorts.
Drew lifted the shirt over his head, baring himself to me. He took my right hand in his and pressed it against his chest.
“Explore.”
His word was a demand and my fingers took to it, tracing the ridges of his chest. My fingers moved up, running through the hairs at the top and down in a slow motion to where it smoothed out over his lower stomach. My fingers tried to count the muscles they found, but there were too many. For a man who was about to be forty, Drew was in perfect shape. Not too fit where his muscles were building, but enough that I knew he could pick me up and have his way with me if he wanted to.
“Your hands are perfection.” His voice was a whisper and they egged me on, tracing the line just above the waist of his shorts. A visible shiver racked through Drew’s body and I committed it to mind, watching his muscles spasm under my fingers. I wanted to replicate the visual on paper later, especially for when I knew I wouldn't see him again. I wanted this memory to stay alive in me forever.
I removed my hands from his, reaching for the ties on my bikini top, but this time, Drew didn’t stop me. He watched with intent, his breath hitching when the small piece of fabric fell away, revealing myself to him.
“Can I touch you?” His word was like a calling to my soul and I reached for his hand just like he had with mine and placed his over my breast. His hand squeezed slightly and a moan escaped my lips. That was all Drew needed to take the lead. He pushed me back onto the bed, a knee spreading my legs apart as his weight bore down on me.
I welcomed the feeling of Drew’s body against mine. His lips were centered against my neck, leaving small kisses as his hand kneaded my breast. My core lifted to him and connected against his thigh. It was my turn to hitch my breath. I was more sensitive now than when I had ever tried to pleasure myself.
When I lifted myself up a second time, Drew moved his thigh, applying slightly more pressure. My moan wasn’t contained this time as it echoed off the walls surrounding us.
“That fucking sound.” Drew’s mouth opened wider against my neck, taking more of my skin against his tongue, sucking just above my collarbone. The sensation racked through my whole body and I pressed myself farther into his touch. This time he took both breasts in his hands and pulled them, moving his lips away from my neck and to the first nipple he could get into his mouth. My hands came to his back, holding him against me, not wanting the feeling to go away. “I’ve got you, baby girl.”
My fingers raked down his back at the sound of the nickname. It made me feel wanted. He wasn’t calling me bug, like the young twenty-one-year-old I was. Instead, I was just his in this moment and age wasn’t a matter, nor was the concept of time.
