‘Why don’t you find out?’
He took the torch from my fingers and with one quick tug at the belt, one slide of his hands beneath the slippery fabric, Nick stripped the entire garment from my body. I gasped in shock and shivered, but not from cold.
‘As I believe I pointed out this morning,’ he murmured, drinking me in so intently I started to burn, ‘every inch of you is perfect.’
I didn’t know about that. My body was pretty average really, unlike his. I thought of him in the shower, the strong back and the long lean legs, all those lovely powerful muscles. Every inch of him truly was perfect, approximately nine of them, mouth-wateringly so. ‘Likewise.’
I stared at his mouth, desperate for his kiss, and lifted my chin while I leaned towards him but he jerked his head back. A tiny chill rippled through me and with a frown, I froze. ‘Games?’
He gave his head a minute shake. ‘Payback.’
Before I could work out what he meant he’d pulled me into the shower room and moved behind me. He set my torch next to his on a shelf, angled me so we both faced the mirror and, after a moment, murmured, ‘Now that’s a view.’
I stared at my reflection. My cheeks were flushed, my eyes had darkened to indigo and a pulse hammered at the base of my neck. My nipples were tight and hard. Nick was a head taller than me and far broader and if he put his arms around me I’d be cocooned in heat and strength, but he didn’t. Instead, he put his large warm hands on my shoulders and began to slide them down my arms.
He took my right hand in his and pressed it to the triangle of curls between my legs. The left he placed on my breast, and my entire body shuddered. I knew what he wanted me to do and I knew he wanted to watch. Nerves fluttered in the pit of my stomach. I’d never done anything like this before. It would have been way too sophisticated for the one and only relationship I’d had back when I was twenty and it was far too intimate for the casual flings I favoured nowadays.
In all honesty, it felt too intimate now, with the shadows dancing over the walls and us while outside the storm continued, but I couldn’t have stopped even if I’d wanted to. The heat in his gaze was mesmerising and I was hypnotised. A sudden, unfamiliar but mighty wave of invincibility and power swept through me, filling me with strength and resolve. I wanted him to lose control the way I knew I was going to. I wanted him to beg for mercy. I wanted him to want me as much as I wanted him and for us to generate enough steam to power an engine. But there’d be time for that later. In the meantime, there was torture.
He released my hands but I kept them where they were. Locking eyes with him, I caressed my heavy, swollen left breast and rubbed my nipple, and had to bite my lip to contain my moan at the sensations that sizzled through me.
Without stopping, I instinctively widened my legs and between them, I stroked my fingers through the curls and the soft slick flesh until I found my core. I rubbed the hard, aching nub in small circles that stoked the need powering along my veins and made me tremble even harder. I was feverish. Electricity was zapping through me. Every nerve-ending I possessed was throbbing madly.
Behind me, Nick’s jaw was tight and his breathing was becoming increasingly harsh and fast. He tore his gaze from mine and lowered it to my body and my hands, which made the desire shooting through me strengthen almost unbearably. He pulled me back against him and secured me there, his fingers digging into my hip, and I could feel the hard length of him pressing into me at the base of my spine. He swept my still damp hair to one side and set his mouth to my neck, branding my skin with a trail of scorching kisses.
On a shuddery exhale, dazedly wondering exactly who was torturing whom, I released my breast and lifted my arm to clamp my hand to his head. He slid his hand down my side and resumed the caressing, only it was so much better when he did it, and I arched my back to press my breast harder into his palm.
The tension building inside me was exquisite. The rush of anticipation and excitement was thrilling. My head spun and my breath quickened. I was so hot and my fingers were moving faster and harder, increasingly out of my control. The pleasure was rolling in and I closed my eyes and dropped my head back against his shoulder, a guttural moan sounding low in my throat.
Nick increased the pressure of his mouth on my neck and his hand on my breast and with one tiny pinch of my nipple, I was coming hard and breathlessly, spinning off into a splintering world of ecstasy where nothing existed but him and me and this.
I was still shaking and panting when I felt him scoop me up into his arms. My head continued to spin and my heart to pound as he carried me to the bed and dropped me in the middle of it. But when he ditched the towel wrapped around his hips and came down on top of me, the warm heavy weight of his naked body as delicious as I’d hoped, a fresh wave of desire gripped me and in an instant I wanted him inside me with an urgency I could scarcely believe.
His head descended, his eyes as dark as the shadows all around, blocking out the flickering light of the lanterns that stood on the bedside tables, the room, everything but him, and I gave up thinking altogether and succumbed to the renewed sensations flowing through me.
His mouth fitted with mine so perfectly my chest ached. The kiss that followed was a hot languid exploration that went on for ever, not simply an entrée but a main event to be savoured.
I wound my arms around his neck and threaded my fingers through his hair and the growl that sounded low and rough in his throat vibrated against my lips and sent hot shivers down my spine. As the onslaught on my senses continued, the heat and need rising within, I writhed beneath him in a futile attempt to alleviate the growing pressure, but it only made things worse.
He pressed against me, now exactly where I wanted him. One tilt of the hips and he could be inside me, and I so badly needed that but he had other ideas. He took my wrists in his hands and pressed them to the mattress and set his mouth to the spot where my jaw met my neck. I dropped my head back and shivered at the sensations rippling through me.
He explored my throat with thorough and devastating care, and moved his mouth achingly slowly down my chest until he came to my breast. He captured my hot tight nipple between his lips and I would have jackknifed off the bed if he hadn’t been pressing me down. I moaned, and he applied more pressure, his tongue driving me wild, and turned his attention to the other breast.
Too soon, he shifted down, dropping kisses down over my ribcage and my abdomen, the skin there jumping and twitching in response to the sparks he was generating and then he was pushing my knees apart and his mouth was there, on me, where my fingers had been only moments ago.
I was so sensitive it almost hurt but he knew exactly what he was doing. He read my body like a book. He licked me lightly and carefully and then, when my breaths shallowed and my moans deepened, with increasing intensity. I whimpered and clawed at the sheets and panted, the tension building while the ache deepened.
‘Enough,’ I breathed, grabbing his head and pulling him up. ‘Enough.’
He kissed me, which made my head fog even more, then rolled away and sat up to rummage around in the drawer of the bedside table. Over the thundering of my heart I heard the crinkle of foil. I turned my head to see his shoulders were shaking as he applied the condom and I couldn’t wait a moment longer, which he must have sensed because a second later, he was back above me, parting my legs and moving between them. He pushed into me, hard and deep and sure, and I completely lost what was left of my mind.
By the time Nick and I finally collapsed in an exhausted heap amidst the wreckage of his bed however many hours later, the wind had dropped and, although still squally, the rain wasn’t hammering down quite so hard. When I eventually woke up the following morning, however, I saw through the balcony doors that the sea was now millpond flat, the palm trees were battered but still and the sky was once again a deep cerulean blue dotted with the odd scudding cloud.
I blinked at the warm sunshine streaming in and bathing the room in soft golden light and, with a wince, stretched. Every muscle in my body ached. I had stubble rash in places I hadn’t thought it possible to have stubble rash. Nick had been true to his word. He’d made me scream. He’d had me begging for mercy on more than one occasion, and I’d returned the favour. We’d done things I’d never tried before but would definitely be adding to my previously limited repertoire. We’d only stopped to eat and rehydrate and refuel the lanterns as it began to get dark.
‘Good morning,’ came a gruff voice from the door to the bathroom.
I stilled mid-stretch and glanced over to find Nick standing there leaning against the frame with nothing on but some close-fitting underwear that left nothing to the imagination, looking at me in a way that made me shiver and ache suddenly in a different way. ‘It’s a very good morning.’