Kissing Wes had always felt like a race. There had always been an implied finish line that I had been dragged toward, checking off boxes on the way. Tongue? Check. Bra off? Check. Hand creeping down my pants? Check.
Kissing Nico, though, is different. It’s slow. We luxuriate in one another, kissing just to kiss, and I find that I am the impatient one. I tangle my fingers through his salt-crusted hair as his tongue slips into my mouth, tugging lightly so he gasps. He’ssucha good kisser. So good that, for a fleeting second, I wonder if I’d been right about himromancing all the tourists who pass through Sorrento. But it’sNico, and I force myself to do a gut check and tether myself back to reality.
Finally, breathless, we both come up for air.
“So, what do you think? Good enough service for a five-star review?”
“Shutup.” I give him a light push.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Nico says. He lets go of my waist and uses his free hand to push his hair back from his face.
“Me too,” I say. “I wanted to even when I didn’t realize I wanted to.”
“Are you cold? You’re shivering.” Instantly Nico’s hands are on the sides of my arms, rubbing them, trying to warm them up.
“I don’t feel cold.” I look down at my forearms, which are now covered in goosebumps. “That’s weird. I feel warm.” I hadn’t even noticed I was shivering.
“Let’s swim back. Dry off,” Nico says. “We can watch the rest of the sunrise.”
“Okay.” We start swimming. Once we duck our way out of the sea cave, I see the sun is almost half up. I swim faster, trying to get to the boat to catch the full sunrise.
As we approach, I turn to Nico. “You’re getting out first.” The sky is much lighter now, and despite me having been pressed up all over him just minutes ago, I find that I’m now a little shy.
“No way.” He shakes his head. “You’re the cold one!”
“You go. I won’t look. I promise.” I wave him on, turning around to settle the issue.
“You sure can be bossy.” Nico’s voice fades as he swims toward the boat. Suddenly my sense of sound is so heightened that I can hear everything: the sea rippling as he swims, the water dripping off him as he pulls himself up onto the boat, then him toweling off. “Okay, I’m out. Your turn.”
I bite my lip as I quickly swim to the boat and pull myself up. The crisp air stings my skin. Nico has a towel wrapped around his waist and his back turned to me. He holds out a second one for me to use. It’s funny in a way, our modesty now.
When we’re both covered, Nico asks, “Was it worth the wait?” A pause. “Getting in the water, I mean.”
“I could do it every day, that’s how good it feels.” I hold his gaze. “You?”
“Ah, you know. I’m in it all the time.” But then he looks away, up at the moon, and at the sun that’s mostly risen, before he turns back at me. “It’s never felt like that before, though.”
His words send a shiver through my body. Nico notices and grabs another towel to wrap around my shoulders. He rubs them on the sides again to warm me up.
“Thank you.” I tighten the towel around me until it meets the one around my chest.
“Want to steer?” Nico asks, turning the motor on and reversing the boat away from the cliffside.
I walk to the wheel, putting my hands on ten and two,letting my second towel fall from my shoulders to the ground. Nico stands behind me, covering my fingers with his. His breath is hot on my neck. Every time his fingers brush against mine, sparks shoot through my hand. He gets closer to me, sweeping my hair to the side until his chin is touching my cheek. We stand there, swaying as we steer the boat, heading out to a tranquil, empty sea. Nico has led us to a stretch of vast open water with an unobstructed view of the sunrise.
I turn to face him. With his arms braced on either side of me, he reaches to turn off the motor, giving me a chance to observe his face up close, to trace my finger down his elegant Roman nose. I can’t help it; I kiss him again.
Now that his hands are free, they are everywhere, exploring my body and spreading a heat map of red across my back, my arms, my stomach. I crush my body into his, hooking my fingers in the towel wrapped around his waist and tugging him closer until there’s no air between us at all. When it’s clear our towels are only getting in our way, he grabs my hand and leads me to the bed in the small cabin below deck.
Nico gently lays me down and soon we are both on our sides, facing one another, our legs intertwined like a strand of licorice. My mouth is on his; our kisses are slow and tender. He trails his lips to the soft part of my neck, just under my ear, before kissing a line downward. He kisses along my collarbone, gently sucking, and I curl my toes. With one hand, he peels back my towel. His eyescascade down from mine to take me in. “You’re so beautiful, Soraya,” he murmurs.
My stomach flutters.Beautiful.Somehow being called beautiful is so much better than when Wes called me sexy, because I know he means it more than physically. Nico rips off his own towel, tossing it to a heap on the floor, and our bare bodies are pressed together, my skin on his. He pulls a blanket over us when I shiver, his lips never breaking contact with my body. The feel of his hand on my bare skin raises goosebumps. It traces down my arms, through my hair, until his palm slows as it rubs the junction between my thighs.
“Nico,” I groan, spine curving into him, my nails digging into the skin on his back.
“Mmm,” Nico murmurs. He is kissing the contour of my breast, each kiss closer to my nipple sends shockwaves through me until his mouth fully envelops it, lightly sucking. Heat has settled low in my stomach, a burning hunger that is raging out of control.
“I want you,” I whisper. “Please.”
