“What are you doing?” I ask, already breathless.
He holds a finger to his lips as the water licks at my calves, then thighs, then waist. He tugs me out toward the catamaran and pulls me behind its shadow.
Then he kisses me, hard and deep enough the crystal waters and beautiful surroundings fall away and I’m drowning in him—his scent, his touch, his taste.
“There might be sea monsters,” I manage when he pulls back, and he snorts.
“I’ll protect you.”
“I’m serious. Beck already found them,” I laugh against his mouth.
“Beck who?”
Tyler’s chocolate eyes are almost black, his hair ruffled from the wind, and the turquoise ocean leaves trails of water that drip off his chin and bead deliciously on his shoulders, sparkling over the canvas of black ink that curls around his chest and arm.
He’s the most stunning man I’ve ever seen. And he’s mine.
Desire washes over me, through me, becomes part of me like the sea.
His scent is wild and familiar at once, the smoky cedar invading my senses. It steals the part of my brain reminding me we’re sharing this beach with a dozen other people.
My fingers tangle in his hair, tugging hard enough he groans. He pulls my hips against his, and the hard ridge of him through the shorts makes me ache.
This week, there’ve been moments he’s felt like a stranger. I feel like a traitor even thinking it when I know deep down he’s the Tyler I love. But between a few stolen moments, I’ve barely seen him.
Now, as if he’s thinking the same thing, he drags me back to him.
Nothing will come between us, say his lips, his tongue, his touch.
His fingers skim my ass under the bathing suit, making little shivers electrify me. Underwater, it’s even better. His touch is a shimmer, a promise, a tease I couldn’t ignore if I wanted to.
“You know what’s wrong with spending the afternoon on a deserted beach with your friends and family?” he murmurs against my ear. The friction of his lips leaves me shivering despite the warmth of the water, of his body.
“What?” My arms band around his neck, the buoyancy making it easy to hook my ankles around his waist. I’m reduced to a barnacle on this man, and I don’t even care.
“Absolutely fucking nothing as long as we can do this.” Tyler’s voice is a dark promise before his wicked fingers press where I’m already aching for his touch.
I don’t need his satisfied groan to tell me I’m wet. The way those fingers penetrate me, sliding deep, filling me with a confidence bordering on arrogance.
His eyes change color. “Fuck, I’ve been thinking about this all morning.”
My body tightens around him, and one of those sounds rips through my chest, muffled by his shoulder. “Tyler… don’t get me wrong, because this is hot—so damn hot…” I pant when his thumb presses against my swollen clit, taking my arousal up another thousand notches. “But I want more than this. It feels like we’re stealing moments, and this is supposed to be the time for us.”
His jaw works, his nostrils flaring as if he’s being punished by some invisible force. “I know. Soon.”
His tortured words land on my skin, melt there. Tyler knows it doesn’t heal what’s between us, and the fact that he doesn’t pretend it can makes it impossible to deny him.
Because if all I have with him right now is this moment at the edge of the world, our life on the other side of this catamaran, I’ll take it.
It’s never been about sex with Tyler. I’d love him even if we didn’t have a connection like this. But our connection leaves nothing untouched. He takes unrivaled satisfaction in claiming me inside and out.
My body, my heart, my soul.
I pull him out of his shorts, and his jaw clenches with need.
“In my mind, we’re in a bed,” he whispers. “It’s you and me and nothing but time.”
I shift down onto him, arching my back to take him. “Oh my God.” I hiccup a breath, fisting my hand in his hair.