“Isn’t this your home?” I want to know too, but I can’t ask him. He’ll tell me when he’s ready.
One corner of his mouth curves. “Yeah. It is.” He kisses my brow. “I knew you’d understand that.”
“What an impossible position for you to be in. I guess they don’t get that, either.”
“They don’t. My father keeps talking about how it’s ‘an opportunity’ for me. That I can open up this place to take in the overflow when the hotel gets booked out. Because it will, of course. You’ve seen what it’s like here.” His mouth twists. “But the last thing I, and this island, need is a massive hotel and a huge influx of people.”
“Who owns the land right now?”
“It belonged to an old guy, lived here all his life. I think he wanted to build a house there for his kids, but he never had any. He honoured the cave for what it was, and took care of it for future generations. When he died, he left it to the island. To the collective. Thinking, I suppose, that it would continue to be taken care of. Not sold off.” Bitterness sits in every word. I can feel it in my chest, sour like acid.
“So he wouldn’t have wanted a hotel there.”
“No. My parents tried to buy the land off him, back when they owned this place. But he wasn’t interested. It’s why they were happy to let this plot go to me. It’s not really big enough for the kind of huge resorts they like to build. But next door is.”
I swallow. “I can’t buy it,” I say. “Not at the moment. I don’t have enough cash, though you can have what I do have. I’ll speak to the bank, see if they’ll give me a line of credit or something. Or I can?—”
“This is not your problem to solve,” Axel says, gently. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like it was. I’m going to speak to the banks again myself.”
“What about…” I pause, unsure how to say it. “I mean, your cabins are so nice and…” Axel comes from a wealthy family. Surely he has a trust fund or something. I don’t know how to ask that, though. He seems to read my mind.
“My family money? Yeah, I had a trust fund. But I cashed in most of it to buy this place, which my parents are well aware of. I made good money, shaping boards, and had a decent amount of savings, but I ploughed a lot of it into building the cabins and the main house. I thought… I was building a life, you know? Now I just live off the interest on what’s left, and the occasional board I sell. Which isn’t enough to pay for the land next door.”
“Axel.” I put my hand to his chin, turning his face until he’s looking down at me. His eyes are dark, lines etched in his beautiful face. My heart aches for him. “If I can do anything, or think of any other way to help, I will. There has to be a solution.”
He caresses my cheek, softly, his gaze darkening further. “I know. And I can’t lose hope. I won’t, not when I’m with you.”
I lean on him, breathing in his spicy bonfire scent, wishing I could think of some way to take the hurt from his eyes. And with that comes another realisation.
Axel Black is definitely not my rebound. He is something far deeper, stronger, than that. He might be what I came here for.
Axel
I rub shampoo into Jade’s long fall of hair, massaging her scalp, my touch firm. She purrs, leaning her head back, her perfect tits sticking out.
We’re in the shower again. I offered to run her a bath, as I never use the tub and the thought of her lying in it, rosy nipples teasing the soapy water, was making me hard. But she reminded me of the stitches in her leg. The dressing will hold up under the shower, but not for a prolonged soak. I guess that fantasy will have to wait.
My hands slide down over her slippery body, cupping her breasts and teasing the hard peaks.
“Axel! That’s not my hair.”
“I’m sorry.” I take my hand lower, across the soft patch of hair at her groin. “That better?”
She makes a little moaning sound, her legs parting slightly, allowing me access. I cannot get enough of her, can’t seem to do anything except touch her, kiss her, fuck her. She seems to feel the same way.
“Fuck.” She groans as my finger slides inside her. “I’ve got soap in my eyes.”
Shit. Okay, that’s probably not that sexy. I slip my finger out and grab the showerhead to rinse her hair, smoothing the soap from it, rubbing conditioner through the long locks. I rinse it clear, twisting it into a rope as I wring the water from it. And all the while my cock throbs with the need to be inside her again. I am truly unleashed, but this is something wilder than I’ve ever experienced before.
I release Jade’s hair and she bends forward, tilting her hips against me, bracing her arms against the shower wall. She glances back over her shoulder, her lush mouth parted.
She doesn’t need to say anything. Without a word I thrust inside her once more. The storm is well and truly upon me, and I don’t want it to end.
A while later we sit on my veranda, wrapped around each other on the wicker couch. The only reason we’re not still screwing is that Jade insisted we have something to eat. Plus, I think we both need a minute to catch our breath.
Jade is wearing one of my T-shirts. And that’s all. It barely covers her ass, her long legs bare. I’m in shorts. It feels like too many clothes, but I don’t imagine we’ll be wearing them for long. This is all happening so fast. I should feel worried, be cautious about the speed of events. But it all seems inevitable. I can’t imagine being anywhere else, with anyone else, at this moment in time.
Jade leans her head back, resting on my shoulder. The ocean, blue as the sky, laps at the shore. It strikes me that I don’t mind sitting here and watching it. Not with her. I tighten my arms, bringing her closer to me. Her hand caresses my forearm, and it’s just a perfect moment of bliss, of connection.
