“Or what?”
“Or we’ll just have the best damn sex of our lives.”
He felt his mouth kick up in a smile. “Let’s find out.”
Chapter Twenty-four
They kissed with purpose, and that purpose was connection. Not sex, not pleasure, not the desire that sliced through them. They needed each other in a way that…well, that Ari had never felt before.
That need had her shaking as she balled up his T-shirt to get it over his head, but his hands were sure and steady, already exploring her naked body. When his chest was bare, she splayed her hands over his pecs and rubbed each cut and angle, loving the heat, the hair, the slamming heart under her fingertips.
And the dear, good heart that pounded underneath that sexy male flesh.
He cupped her breast and feathered kisses down her throat, bending to taste her. She reached to his jeans, easily unbuttoning and unzipping, her hand instantly filled with his engorged erection.
“Arielle,” he murmured, his kisses stalled while he found his footing and let her stroke the length of him. “I love when you touch me. It’s perfect.”
It was. He was. This was. She kissed his chest and shoulders and mouth, while they took a few steps away from the railing. He stopped where her clothes were lying and scooped up the bathrobe.
“The bed is on the other side of those French doors,” she said.
“Too far.” He spread the robe on the cushions of the double-wide chaise. “We’ll go there for round two.” Standing next to the chaise, he stripped off his jeans and boxers with lightning speed, leaving her on her back, looking up to appreciate…everything.
He was enormous, defined, dusted in dark hair, and as manly as anything she’d ever seen. Still standing, he reached down and stroked her hair, a far more gentle touch than she expected with a man whose gaze was anything but gentle.
She closed her fist around his hard-on, making him hiss in a noisy breath.
“I want to touch your hair,” he said. “I want to get lost in it.”
“I want to touch this,” she said, giving him a squeeze. “I want to get lost in it.”
He laughed softly and finally gave in, joining her on the cushion that easily accommodated both of them.
“Out here?” she asked.
“Under the three-quarter moon,” he whispered, settling mostly on top of her.
“That sounds like a song.”
“I thought it sounded like an Indian legend. Making love under the three-quarter moon guarantees a lifetime of endless, fruitful couplings.”
She tried to laugh at his joke, but her heart tripped her up. A lifetime? Fruitful? “You better be careful, Luke McBain. You’re starting to sound like Grandma Good Bear.”
“I know. I need an Indian name like Moonraker or…” He stroked her from collarbone to hip, going slow at strategic places in between. “Little Mermaid’s Bighorn.”
She giggled at that, letting him touch her, finding her perfect place with him, the fight about whether he was The One completely over in her mind. It had evaporated as he told his story, and she understood him so much better now. Understood and appreciated him.
“Hey, you stopped kissing and started thinking,” he noted, traveling a finger around her nipple until it budded in near pain.
“I was thinking about all that you told me.”
He closed his eyes. “Funny, I was forgetting about it.”
“But you can’t.”
He answered by lowering his head and replacing his finger with his mouth, kissing, then sucking on her breast. Fire licked her veins, his mouth searing her skin. “I have to,” he insisted, making her wonder for a second if he meant he had to forget or he had to suck. Harder.
She arched her back and tunneled her fingers into his short hair, pushing his mouth harder against her.
“I have to forget,” he murmured as he trailed kisses over her stomach. “I need to…I need to.” He punctuated each word with another kiss, moving lower, over her belly, over her navel, lower to lick the tuft of hair between her legs.
She gripped his head and pulled him up. His expression was pure bewilderment. “Let me taste you.”
“Then we have to go inside,” she said.
“Why?”
“Condom?”
He smiled, slow and easy, reaching around to grab the edge of the robe. He slipped his hand into the large tufted pocket and pulled out a foil packet.
“You brought that out here?”
“Either that or there’s one in every bathrobe in this resort. That’d be a good amenity for this place.” He grinned as he set it on the armrest next to them. “Now where was I?”
She pushed his head, and he followed the order, kissing his way back to her hips and thighs, using his tongue to tease and torture her, curling, kissing, licking, and making her moan and fight for every breath through every second of pure pleasure.
“Please, Luke.” She pulled his shoulders, wanting him back on her, wanting the weight of him on top of her, wanting to spread her legs and take him in.
He complied with one, long, lingering kiss on her tummy, then lifted her legs to kneel between them and roll on the condom.
While she watched, Ari’s heart hammered and her hands shook. As always, her heart ached with that feeling of…making room for love. Her limbs were numb with need, her head light with love.
So maybe it had been lust when she first laid eyes on him, but it wasn’t now. Despite what they were doing, how utterly lusty it was, this wasn’t just lust. The certainty of that washed over her, as warm and exciting as his hands and kisses.
He braced himself over her, positioning his body to enter hers. His jaw was slack with short, pained breaths, his chest heaving with the work of taking each one. But his eyes were soft, unfocused, and full of the same love she felt.
Lowering himself, he eased into her, both of them gasping at the contact, freezing for a moment, then easing into a natural rhythm that rocked the chaise in a tap tap tap against the bricks.
Ari closed her hands over Luke’s shoulders and pressed her cheek against his, their mouths so close to each other’s ear, they could whisper. Words like yes, please, good, more…floated into her head. And phrases like touch me, don’t stop, too much, and I can’t…all sang in her ears. She couldn’t tell what was her imagination, her voice, his voice. What was her body, his body, their connection, and their release.
Her orgasm happened fast, at almost the same time as his, with whip-crack intensity. And more words played around her head. Beautiful. Amazing. Perfect. Sweet.
And…I love you.
She wasn’t sure if she said it or he did, or if she imagined it or he did. Someone said it. And even if it was only the universe, truer words were never spoken.
* * *
He’d never really believed her. Not once, not really. This business about “the one” was merely nonsense. Silly. Ridiculous musings no different from some fairy tale.
Except nothing felt nonsensical right this minute. Or silly. Or ridiculous. In fact, every inch of Luke felt whole and complete, at peace and still.
And not just his body, which was relieved and satisfied. No, this peace was deeper. In his heart. In his soul.
“Luke?”
“Yeah?” Should he tell her? Should he admit that he’d been playing along, not believing anything, until—
“I’m freezing.”
He lifted his head to look at her, rubbing his arm over a billion chills. “Let’s go inside.”
“No, in the hot tub.” She gave him a little push. “It’s warm, and I don’t want to leave the moonlight.”
He got up and brought her with him, both of them taking quick steps to the edge of the hot, bubbling water. Holding hands, they stepped over the side, instantly blasted with heat. He sat on the ledge, up to his neck in water, and pulled Arielle onto his lap, tucking her down so she was blanketed in bubbles, too. She wrapped her legs around his waist and settled her bottom on his lap, smacki
ng their bodies as close as they could be.
Her hair drifted around the water like black seaweed, her eyes glistening, her lips a little swollen from their kissing. And his whole being just…melted.
Smiling, she laid her head on his shoulder and let out an audible sigh of contentment.
“I never believed you,” he whispered into her ear.
She answered with a tiny squeeze of her legs, not lifting her head as if she sensed it was easier for him to make this admission without looking into her eyes.
“I don’t believe things easily,” he said. “I mean, I need proof. I need something tangible. I need…” He caressed her back, up and down, memorizing the gentle curves of her body, a little overwhelmed by how she felt to him. “You.”
“You’ve got me.”
“Mmm.” He kissed her hair and ear and temple. “How’d I get so lucky?”
“There’s no such thing as luck. Or coincidence. Or chance. Or random anything.” Her voice was filled with such conviction, it nearly took his breath away.
“You really believe that.”
She laughed softly, lifting her head. “I really believe it. The same way I really believe you are The One meant for me.”
He waited for the punch of fear, the squeeze of nerves, the low-grade headache of holy hell, this can’t end well. But all he could do was fall into the depths of her eyes and wonder if he would ever breathe again without wanting her.
Damn it.
She laughed again, tapping his nose. “Why does this man look horrified?”
“Not because of what you said,” he assured her. “But because…” It can’t last. He knew that, because…because nothing lasted in his life. Not his great childhood, which went up in flames when he threw a bottle rocket at his sister. Not his badass military life, which lost its appeal when he killed two people with one bullet. And not this next phase. “Nothing lasts for me.”
“What about that little boy, Taka?”
“What about him?”
“He’ll last because of you. Don’t you see, Luke? All this pushing and pulling we’ve done with me trying to preserve the ancient history of a long-dead tribe and you saved a family that is alive today. I’m almost embarrassed at my obsession with the past when there are people living like that right now in places I didn’t even know existed.”
“Don’t be, but if you ever want to go down there and meet him…”
“Can I?”
He smiled, the words he wanted to say bubbling up like the water around him. I love you, Arielle. But he tamped them down. “I’m sure we can arrange something.” He played with some wet strands of hair, stroking her shoulder, the rise of her breast, up her throat. “When did you absolutely know for certain?” he asked.
“About you?”
He nodded. “I mean, I’m guessing you’re pretty sure about this.”
“I wasn’t positive until now. But, really, when I look back over the past few days, I think I knew when you touched me the first time on the hill. Didn’t you feel anything that moment, when you wrapped your hand around my wrist and helped me up?”
“I felt…” He closed his eyes and traveled back to the moment. “Stunned.”
“And yet I was the one knocked off my feet. Literally.”
He remembered the look on her face, wide-eyed and, yes, stunned. “What was your very first thought?” he asked.
“I was so wrapped up in that necklace, I didn’t see you. I heard a bird, a big vulture, and I thought your footsteps were another one flapping its wings.” She smiled slowly. “Then you came up the rise of the hill, all sweaty and bare-chested, and I…couldn’t breathe.”
“Really?” He shook his head. “I slammed into you and felt so bad and stupid, and then I thought you were…perfect.” Not gorgeous, which she was, but perfect. “I remember thinking that distinctly. But I thought it was hormones, not my heart.”
“Have you ever felt it with anyone else in your life—like that? Like this?”
No, not for one second, not even remotely. “I’ve felt sexual desire.”
“Does it feel like this?”
Not even close. “But what happens when it’s over?”
She laughed softly. “Not to freak you out or anything, but it isn’t ever going to be over. Can you handle that?”
He closed his hands over her shoulders, gripping her, feeling the realness of her. “Arielle, could you handle if it ever was over?”
She didn’t answer, but for a long time, they looked at each other, and suddenly, the bubbles stopped, surrounding them in an unexpected silence.
“’Cause it could end,” he said. “Exactly like the Jacuzzi timer.”
She reached over his shoulder, pressing her whole body into him, then standing a little so her breast was centimeters from his mouth. And suddenly, the bubbles started up with a noisy splash.
“Then we’ll turn everything right back on again.” She deliberately let her breast brush his lips. “Like that.” And let him taste the other. “And that.” Very slowly, she rose from the water, her feet on the ledge where he sat, letting every inch of her glorious body pass by his face until his mouth was right against her thigh. “Maybe just like that, too.”
He groaned into the kiss, nibbling the soft skin, tasting heaven.
Reaching down, she wrapped her hand around his wrist and gave a tug.
“Looks like I rang your bell, McBain.” The words, so like the first ones he said to her, made him smile.
“So, now what, Little Mermaid?”
“Now we go inside and see how we do on a real bed.”
“I have a feeling we’re going to do great,” he said.
She laughed. “You and your feelings.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“I’m about to hand you a few million dollars and more trouble than you probably ever want.”
The words, whispered into Ari’s right ear, pulled her from a deep sleep and a sweet dream.
Her eyes opened, and reality hit. She was in bed with Luke, under a gauzy canopy with early morning light streaming in through plantation shutters. Very slowly, she turned to face the man who had her curled into his chest and belly, sighing sleepily at the sight of his green-gold eyes and unshaven face.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“Or I could say, ‘Hey, Cutter, I got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?’” He smiled and kissed her nose. “I’m practicing for the meeting I called with him this morning.”
She leaned up. “You have a meeting with him today?”
“I e-mailed him from your office last night, and he’s still in town, so we’re meeting at the property in”—he lifted a cell phone from the nightstand and checked the time—“a few hours. Enough time for a proper good-bye.” He dropped the phone and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in for a kiss.
She drew way back.
“Don’t tell me you’re a ‘have to brush your teeth first’ girl. I did already while you were sleeping. If you want to—”
“No. I mean, yes. I don’t know.” She choked softly in exasperation. “I’m not an anything kind of girl because I don’t spend the night with guys. Remember? Celibate?”
“Celibacy has ended.” He underscored that with a bold stroke over her belly, then lower.
She shuddered when he stroked between her legs. “Yes, it has. But tell me why we have to say a proper good-bye.”
His fingers glided over her. “It can be improper.” And slid inside her. “Feels like you’d enjoy that.”
“I…would. I am.” She closed her eyes and dropped her head back on the pillow, letting him explore her. “I don’t know why we have to say good-bye. Can’t I go…oh.” Sparks collided inside her as he worked more magic.
“No.” He leaned over and suckled her breast, using his thumb to drive her crazy and his tongue to make her want to scream.
“But I want to.” She rocked once.
“Then go ahead,” he teased, slipping another finger into he
r, rubbing and thumbing and bringing her right to the edge before she was even fully awake. “Come.”
“To meet Cutter.”
“In my hand.”
She couldn’t argue, not then, at least. Instead, she fisted the sheets and writhed under his palm and lost her breath and her mind and her ability to speak until she came, as he demanded, hard and fast.
“How…did…you…do…that?” she managed.
He laughed. “Want me to show you again?”
“Later. I won’t be able to walk today as it is.” She opened one eye and peered at him. “And I will walk…up the hill when we meet with Cutter Valentine.”
“I don’t know if it’s safe, Arielle. I’d rather you were here.”
“I’m safe with you,” she said softly, stroking his cheek. He looked doubtful. “I am,” she whispered. “I trust you completely to keep me safe. I think that when Cutter decides not to build that house, you should start some type of bodyguard business right here, close to me, because I want to stay with you.” Forever.
He just looked at her. “I love how straightforward you are.”
“And I’ll be straightforward with Cutter.” She closed her hand around his morning erection and stroked slowly. “When you take me with you today.”
“You’re manipulating me.”
She smiled, sliding under the covers. “I’m about to.”
An hour later, they were in Luke’s truck, gobbling up the gravel and dirt on the last bit of road before the turn to North Barefoot Bay.
“What do you think he’ll want to do?” Ari asked, taking a sip of the coffee they’d brought with them from the resort.
“Hard to say,” Luke mused, his eyes narrowing behind sunglasses. “Why is that freaking fence down?”
The bright yellow plastic fence, the silt fence, as he’d called it, was flattened at the place where they usually had to get out and unhook it.
“Cutter?” she asked.
“I doubt it. He’s not supposed to be here for a while.”
“Then who’s in that big truck?” A mud-splattered white truck with writing on the side blocked the view of the house.
“I don’t know. But Cutter’s Mercedes is next to it.” Luke swore softly. “I’m not late. I hate to be late.”