However she played it,he’d seen the hurt in Amber’s eyes.She couldn’t understand how he could leave her without a word of explanation.It was simple.He had no ties other than with Dante, Diego, and Cesar, and they were as close as brothers because they shared the dangers of the undercover work.It wasn’t safe for Amber to know where he’d been, or what he’d been doing.“Need to know basis” wasn’t just a glib phrase, it was a lifesaver.He’d been to clear up the contacts of the gang in Monte Carlo to make sure Amber was safe.They’d seen her face.He couldn’t risk any of them coming back for her.He hadn’t been away because he’d wanted to leave her but because he was concerned for her and cared deeply what happened to her, and even that was a warning that this…whatever it was they had between them, had to end.He couldn’t risk her life.He couldn’t be that selfish.
“Why are you frowning?”she demanded.
“I’m thinking about the very unsuitable things that are happening in my life right now.”
“Like me?”she suggested.“Am I unsuitable?”
“Hugely,” he said, drawing her close.
“It doesn’t seem to put you off.”
“It doesn’t,” he admitted, knowing that was the problem.Caring for her had set the clock ticking on their relationship.It would be a cruel indulgence to prolong it beyond Christmas.“Swim with me,” he said, needing a distraction.Nuzzling her hair aside, he kissed her neck.
“Where to?”she whispered.
“Just as far as that rowboat.”He released her so she could swim at his side.“Hold on to the anchor chain,” he recommended when they reached the small red boat.
“You say such romantic things,” she said, starting to laugh.“And only choose bikinis secured by bows,” she scolded when he started to undo them.
‘I would love to claim responsibility for the purchase of this charming garment,” he admitted as he draped it over the side of the rowboat.
“But you got someone else to buy it,” she guessed.“And now I know why I have to hold on.”
“Don’t worry,” Alexei said with a dry smile.“I’ll keep you safe.”
“In that case, I’m minded to forgive you,” she said as she wrapped her limbs around him.
“Did you miss me?”
“Don’t be silly.I was too busy performing my shipboard duties to even notice that you’d gone.”
He hummed.“Are you serious?”Suddenly her answer mattered more than it should.
He relaxed when she turned serious.“More than anything,” she admitted as she reached for him.
He inhaled sharply as her tiny hands closed around him.“You’re not holding on to the anchor chain,” he scolded.
“I only have two hands, and I can’t hold you in one.You’re very big Alexei.”
He laughed and kissed her, and then he couldn’t wait any longer and plunged deep.
Sexin the sea wasn’t just possible, it was incredible, Amber discovered, and poignant too, in a way she couldn’t quite identify.Alexei was an amazing lover and she’d missed him, but there was something more between them now, a closeness that hadn’t been there before.There was always part of him that held back, but not today.Today it felt as if he’d missed her as much as she’d missed him.Sex was always incredible with Alexei because he understood her body so well, but this time it seemed to bring them dangerously close.The expression in his eyes was a compelling mix of confidence and concentration, intimacy and concern, as if his entire world had been tuned to pleasing her.
“I can’t hold on—”
“And why should you?”he murmured.
Taking her buttocks in a firm grip, he increased the pace the way she needed him to, working her rhythmically and quickly until she flew past the point of no return.
Wailing and bucking as the pleasure waves washed over her, she created a small tsunami all her own as she thrust her hips wildly back and forth to claim a long and powerful release.
“Better?”he murmured as she clung to him, groaning softly with contentment.
“Getting there,” she teased.
“Have you got the strength to swim back to the ship?”
“What do you think?”
