“Paige, I?—”
“I mean, there are all these mixed messages. Sometimes I catch you staring at me, likereally staringand I’m pretty sure you like what you see, and you’ve said some of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me, about how I’ve got curves for days, and how much you like my voice and … and … you said I’m beautiful,” I say, feeling more brave, and more convinced that he wants me with each word. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve completely stopped wearing shirts around me, because believe me, I have. And part of me thinks it’s because you wantme to look at you. Although I could be wrong because it’s freaking hot here, but I think I’m right.” All my frustration comes spilling out now, every ounce of sexual tension that’s been building up in me until I’m ready to explode. “And the other morning, when we were in bed together, you seemed to beintowhat was happening, although that could’ve just been a whole ‘morning wood’ situation, but I really don’t think it was.”
“You were awake?”
“I woke up at the end, yeah,” I tell him, a feeling of shame coming over me when I think about leaving his blankets out in the rain so I could get him into bed. “Sort of. I wasn’t fully awake until you left the room, but I know we were doing stuff and you definitely seemed into it.”
“I was.”
“Well, the last few days I’ve been worried that you somehow got turned off and that maybe you’re not attracted to me.”
“Not attracted to you?” he asks, shaking his head. “Oh my God, Paige. Believe me, I’m attracted to you. I can’t stop thinking about you, about all the things I want to do to you.”
“So do them,” I say, tilting my head up. My words come out, thick with lust. “Doallthe things.”
He reaches up and rubs his thumb across my bottom lip. “You’re sure this is what you want?”
“More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”
“I’m not going to change my mind about the future.”
“I know you’re not, and I’m okay with it. More than okay with it. I want you. Right here. Right now. No strings attached. No games. No expectations.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. I promise.”
He lowers his face to mine and kisses me hard on themouth. I match his intensity, running my hands all over his hard body as I open my mouth to let his tongue inside. His lips taste salty, and the way he moves is something entirely new and wonderful for me. I’ve never been kissed like this before. I’ve never been kissed by a real man. One who knows what he’s doing. And, oh, my God, does he ever know what he’s doing. I let out a little moan and feel him smile as he kisses me some more.
When he stops, he pulls back for a moment. “You’re really sure?”
My heart pounds, and I’m suddenly terrified that he’s going to stop. “So. Fucking. Sure. It’s not even funny.”
He rests his forehead on mine, pulling me closer to him. “I had all these good reasons not to do this, but for the life of me, I can’t even remember one at the moment.”
“Let’s forget them together.” I lift up onto my tiptoes and kiss him wildly on the mouth to show him what I want. His hands move to the front of my shirt, and he yanks at it, popping all the buttons in one quick move. I gasp, shocked he could do that so easily. But he doesn’t stop there. He tugs the sleeves down off my shoulders, and the shirt falls to the sand, leaving me in my bikini. His mouth leaves mine just long enough for him to take a quick look at me like this, almost naked in the sun. The expression on his face tells me he meant what he said about my curves.
I run my hands down the ridges of his abs to the front of his shorts, then undo the button and unzip them. He smiles down at the sight of my hands on him, then quicker than I can think, my bikini top is gone, my bottoms have been tossed onto the sand, and I’m being lifted into the air. And oh, wow, we are really doing this, aren’t we?
“Okay … that was … whoa,” I say, my voice nearly gone as we lie in each other’s arms on the lounge chair. Somehow we ended up here, and I honestly don’t know how or when, but wow. There was a whole long thing with him holding me up, and some intensely amazing moments when we tested the strength of the outside wall of the house, and now we’re here and oh my God. Incredible.
“Did I manage to curl your toes?”
“Did you…? My toes actually seized up. For a second there, I was scared they’d never straighten again. That was a whole new level of perfection.”
He gives me a lingering kiss. “You’re a whole new level of perfection.”
I trace his lips with my fingertip and smile at him, feeling satisfied beyond what I’ve ever known before. “Back in the real world, there are no orgasms like that.”
Mac pulls me closer to him and kisses my cheek. “There are if you’re with me.”
I smile, letting his words soak into my soul as the waves lap against the shore. I know what I told him but is it too much to hope that he’ll want things to continue after we get off this island? I stop my mind before it starts spinning out of control to solve the impossible problem of how to make a relationship with this amazing man work.No, Paige. No. This is just for now. Take what you can get.
A thought pops into my mind. It’s not a welcome thought and it makes my stomach twist. What if he decides this is a ‘one and done’ thing? I don’t think I could handle that. Not after knowing what I was missing this whole time. My mind scrambles to figure out a way to make sure this doesn’t end right now. I decide that my best bet is to make sure he knows this is casual, even though my heart wants me to proclaim my undying devotion to him. “I’m so glad we decided to give in and just have some meaningless sex.”
The hand that was rubbing my arm stills and he narrows his eyes a little. “Meaningless?”
Oh, crap on a snack. I’m going to wreck this with my stupid big mouth. “No, notmeaningless. Casual. I mean casual.”
