Tony startled and managed to look guilty and angry at the same time.
“Oh, look!” Amber was glad to distract him by pointing out a toucan making a lazy loop above them, but she knew that Tony was living some lie with her, and it reminded her too keenly that this fantasy had no place in reality, for either of them.
Chapter Twelve
Tony would have kicked himself it had been physically possible. He hated that he had to continue to keep Amber in the dark about who he was, and kept ridiculously forgetting that he had told her the story he was using with the resort. It felt like he had known her forever, that she must know every one of his secrets.
The whole thing reminded him that he still did not have any of the information he had come hoping to find, and he realized he was scowling at Amber when she distracted him by pointing out an exotic bird in the sky above them.
“You know, I'm starving,” Amber said, and it was the perfect excuse to put both his work and his guilt behind him.
“It's still a while before dinner is served,” Tony said, checking the spot on his wrist where his watch used to be. Fortunately, he already knew the time from the position of the sun in the sky. “But I could use some food now, too.”
Amber slipped her hand into his as they walked, and he gratefully kept it; there was something satisfying about having even that tiny amount of contact between them.
The buffet had been replenished and freshened since they'd last been there. Both of them took heaping tacos that bore only a passing resemblance to their American cousins, and ate them with relish and mess, licking their fingers and plates with laughter.
Amber took a glass of wine with her second plate. “I'm on vacation,” she said defiantly.
“Don't have to defend yourself to me!” Tony chuckled. He took a beer, and they lingered over their drinks until the waitstaff began to set the tables for dinner and the sun began its journey to setting over the water.
“I haven't been to the beach yet,” Amber said as they left the dining hall and paused at an intersection of the paths. Something in her voice suggested to Tony that she wasn't really interested in a walk.
“You aren't missing much,” Tony said off-handedly. “Lots of sand, some crabs, maybe a dead fish.”
Amber's eyes sparkled back at him. “I'm sure you have a much better idea?”
“There's a fine view of the sunset from my cottage porch,” he purred at her.
They didn't watch much of the sunset, kissing on his porch and caressing slowly under each others' robes. There was no rush this time, no pending engagement, no pressing urgency.
They simply made love, fingers sliding over silky skin, and tangling in hair. They kissed until his lips felt heavy and abused, tickled, and explored each other. He worshiped her soft breasts with fingers and mouth, and thought he could not possibly run his hands over the place where her hips met her waist enough times to memorize it.
Touching the back of her neck made her shiver with desire and he spent some time sweeping her hair out of the way so that he could properly kiss it.
Clothing was unnecessary; nudity was easy and casual and perfect.
When their lovemaking finally rose to a fevered pitch, he lay her down on the bed like she was the goddess that he knew she was, and kissed her as he entered her. She was slick and ready, and her hips rose up to meet him.
They coupled on the bed, on the chair, on the couch, leaning over the ottoman ... every position he had ever imagined and several others that he hadn't, and he loved her in every orientation.
It didn't matter if he was breathing in her feathery dark hair, or caressing her arms, or holding her hips as he thrust into her, it was all magical, musical, and deeply mystical.
When he finally came, after bringing her to heights of pleasure several times, he felt like it was the emotional and physical completion he hadn't known he was seeking for his entire life.
***
A sharp rap on the door woke him.
Disoriented, Tony sat upright in bed, grasping at empty covers in the space where Amber had been. Sunlight spilled around the corners of the curtains, and he could see in the light that her clothing was gone; there was no trace of her anywhere. He rolled out of bed and staggered out of the bedroom as the knocking was repeated, more impatiently than before.
“I'm coming,” he roared, and he nearly paused for the bathrobe before deciding that it served whoever it was right to meet them naked at the door.
Scarlet, dressed in a perfectly crisp linen skirt suit, looked entirely unfazed by his nudity.
Of course, Tony decided with chagrin. She did run a clothing-optional resort, after all. He, on the other hand, would have appreciated having a layer of clothing to give him some shreds of dignity. He settled for a dark scowl, crossing his big arms at her. “What do you want?”
“It's not what I want,” Scarlet said, all business. “It's what you've been hounding me for all week.” She thrust a file folder at him, all but forcing it into his hands. “I've cleared your background,” she said, no hint of apology in her voice for her earlier obstruction.