A cool breeze made her shiver and she stopped, letting go of his hand. ‘Maybe this is a mistake… The wedding, the romantic setting, maybe we’re getting a bit too carried away.’ She wrapped her arms around herself. The ferns that looked so beautiful in the light of day were suddenly black serrated blades in the dark, poised to strike at any moment.
He shifted towards her, and she swallowed the sudden dryness in her throat. She stepped backwards, but he kept coming. His arms came up, caging her against a palm tree as he pressed his body into hers, surrounding her with his heat, his broad shoulders blocking out the lights of the stars andthe party. Cautious thoughts scattered like half-remembered dreams into the tropical night.
‘There’s nothing wrong with romance,’ he whispered against her lips, his voice rough and deep. ‘I’ve been going crazy for days wanting you, needing you. Thinking about every way I want to make love to you.’
He kissed her deeply and she clung to him as if he were her anchor to this world. His hands gripped her hips as he pressed himself against her. The hard length of his erection rubbed against her inner thighs and she moaned into his mouth, desperate for more. More of his passion, his weight, his words. More of everything. What did it matter if it didn’t last? At least she would have these memories to treasure.
‘Well, I am on holiday,’ she managed to gasp out between kisses. It was a happy surrender though; she had never craved anything more in her life than Alex’s sexy voice and drugging kisses. With dizzying speed, he threw off his linen jacket, as if he couldn’t bear the fabric separating them.
She took a step back, breathless, her naked back pressing against the rough trunk of the palm swooping above their heads.
‘I’ve wanted to do this for so long,’ he groaned, his breath coming out in hot pants against her neck as she tugged at his trousers and his hands traced up her thighs.
Their fingers fumbled in the darkness, pulling at buttons and ties, impatient for heated flesh to meet with heated flesh. A small, vulnerable part of Ellie was grateful for the darkness; she could allow herself to drown in the sensation of Alex’s body claiming hers without fear.
The clouds rolled away from the moon and a pool of silvery light opened around them. She had one curvaceous thigh wrapped around his waist, her skirt indecently hitched around her hips and her halter-neck undone, exposing the globes of her breasts.
Had the moon shone a light on her faults to punish her for daring to reach for the stars? Flinching, she pushed away from him, covering her breasts with both arms, and turned away from him. The same burning humiliation she’d felt after the lido incident the other day rushed through her. Fear churned with self-doubt, becoming something darker and crueller. He’d said security was always watching, were they watching her now, laughing at her?
‘Don’t.’ Alex’s voice was gruff, raw. Carefully, he pulled her arms away. ‘Don’t hide yourself from me. You look gorgeous in your dress. You’re beautiful.’
‘Are there security cameras here?’
‘No, not here,’ he reassured her.
Unwrapping her slowly, he eased the dress down her body and over her hips to puddle on the ground.
She fought the urge to suck in her belly or make a joke. A part of her needed to know if he really meant what he said. He took a step closer and stared at her hard. Black dilated pupils shone in the moonlight, and his breathing was ragged.
A male huff of pleasure was enough to get her pulse back into racing gear. ‘Gorgeous… you look even better out of your dress. Christ, that was worth the wait.’
One hand went to the curve of her waist, the other tentatively reached and then cupped one large breast. His thumb smoothed over the tight bud of her nipple and she bit her bottom lip to stop herself crying out from the shuddering pleasure of it.
She’d never wanted a man so badly in her life.
Heat radiated from the palm of his hand as it lowered from the dip of her waist to the flare of her hip. His thumb snagged under the band of her lace knickers and he tested the elastic with a light tug.
‘You’re so fucking sexy,’ he growled against her lips, gloriously carnal and filling her with powerful feminine confidence.
He pulled her close, reaching around to her bottom and squeezing it gently. The hard jut of his erection pressed against her groin and she moaned. She adjusted her legs slightly to press him closer to her core, but wobbled precariously. Belatedly, she realised she was still wearing her heels, her knickers and nothing else.
Despite the unsteadiness of her heels, she knew she was safe in Alex’s arms. Cupping the sides of his face, she pulled him down towards her for a brief, passionate kiss that made her toes curl. Panting, she pushed him gently away. ‘Your turn. I want to see your body now,’ she said, her voice a husky promise.
She took her time unbuttoning his shirt, delighting in how his tense muscles twitched with every brush of her fingers, how his heart thundered beneath her touch and a moan slipped between his lips when she grazed his nipple. Once she was done, she trailed her palms up his torso, from the dusting of rough hair in the centre of his stomach up to the broad plates of his chest.
Her core clenched with arousal. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, and that was the greatest aphrodisiac of all time. She pushed the shirt over the peaks of his wide shoulders and the fabric slumped down in heavy folds to gather at his wrists. ‘You’re so lush,’ she sighed, her fingers scoring lightly down his chest.
Alex chuckled, the sounds strained, and there was a rustling sound as he shook off the sleeves of his shirt. ‘Lie down. I can’t wait any longer.’
An irrational blush burned her cheeks. This wasn’t the first time she’d been with a man. This wasn’t even her first attempt at casual sex; not that she would describe this as casual – spontaneous, yes, but not casual. Sex had never been casual for her, and that was part of the problem. But she’d never felt so vulnerable or so excited in her life, and she knew that, if she laydown and surrendered to the moment, there would be no going back.
As she lay down on his clothes, she kicked off her heels. Alex lowered himself over her, taking the brunt of his weight on his thick arms. Her hands glided up them, revelling in the knots and cords of his muscles.
Alex wasn’t just muscular, he was solid, stocky, huge. The fine dusting of his dark body hair tickled her skin and, unable to resist, she buried her nose in the gorgeous sandalwood smell of him, licked and mouthed at his skin, desperate to feel him on her tongue.
One of his hands smoothed down her leg, and began to stroke behind her knee, and she gasped in surprise as goosebumps sizzled up her thigh.
Who would have thought that was an erogenous zone?
