Thomas chuckled and kissed the end of her nose. “You’re so cute in the mornings. So dopey.” He laughed again when she glared at him. “And no, you haven’t been ill. You went to sleep last night and, if you take out the… pleasant interlude… we enjoyed in the early hours, you’ve had about seven and a half hours of shut eye.”
Their unhurried lovemaking session in the middle of the night—apparently her slumber hadn’t been as undisturbed as she’d thought—slammed back into her mind with blazing clarity and intensity, making her smile and sending a zip of sexual awareness directly between her legs. But the smile faded as she realised she still didn’t know what he was talking about.
Reading her confused expression correctly, Thomas sighed. “Honestly, Mia, what are you like? It’s your bloody birthday, for Christ’s sake!”
She gasped, and her heart leapt. “Really? We’ve been so cut off from the outside world that dates and times have kind of lost all meaning. I can’t believe I forgot my own birthday!”
“Lucky for you, we’ve been keeping track, and have a very special day planned. And before you get too excited, you haven’t got piles and piles of presents—”
“Aww,” Mia said with a deliberately exaggerated pout, “why not?”
Seeing right through her guise, he gave her nose a playful tap. “Many reasons, my love. One, because we couldn’t have fitted them in our luggage. Two, because we have nowhere to hide them on this tiny island. Especially since you’re so damn nosey. Three…” He paused, and a wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. “Actually, that’s it. So maybe not many reasons, but reasons nonetheless. Anyway, happy birthday, Mia. I love you.”
“Thank you. I love you, too.” She snuggled up to him, murmuring happily as naked skin met naked skin, then grinning as Thomas’s growing erection made its presence known. “Ooh, is this my first present?”
He mirrored her expression. “I’m very flattered that you’d consider it a present. And if that’s the case, then technically speaking you’ve already had it on your birthday, since it was after midnight when you jumped my bones.”
“Jumped your—you cheeky bugger!” She batted at his chest. “Wasn’t it more like the other way around?”
“Can’t remember.” His tone was casual, but Mia caught the glint in his eye just before his lips twisted into a smirk. “Regardless of who jumped whose bones, this,” he groped around under the covers for one of her hands, found it, then placed it on his now fully-hard cock, “isn’t a one-time deal, on your birthday or any other day. You can have it as many times as you like.”
“Oh, good,” she purred, wrapping her fingers around his velvety-smooth length and stroking it. A rush of arousal coursed through her as Thomas bit his lip and his eyes rolled back in his head. God, he was just so bloody sexy, with his sleep-tousled hair, striking blue eyes and cheeky smile. And that was before she even took into consideration his work-honed physique, quick wit, sense of humour, and the dozens, probably hundreds, of other things she adored about him, both physically and personality-wise. She squeezed him tighter, smiling as the action elicited a deep, guttural moan from his parted lips. “You know, I think this might already be my very favourite present. I may stay in bed all day long and enjoy it…”
She shifted on the bed, manoeuvring them both so she was astride him, her slit resting against the length of his cock.
He gripped her hips and, with some difficulty, likely caused by his raging arousal, Thomas said, “Mmm-uch as that would be a present for me as well as you, that’s not… really an option.”
Rocking her hips so the juices already seeping from her pussy coated his cock, she replied, “And why’s that? It’s my birthday—shouldn’t I be able to do what I want?”
“Y-yes, but the day we have planned does involve having to be in certain places at c-certain times. And you wouldn’t want to miss out on any of it.”
Mia frowned. What could they have possibly organised on this paradise island that had a schedule? Other than sunrise and sunset, time had little meaning. They’d been waking up when they wanted, eating when they wanted, showering when they wanted, sleeping when they wanted… “How intriguing.”
“Trust me, it’ll be worth it.”
She gripped the base of his shaft and held it in position, allowing her to slide onto it. “Oh…” As he entered her, pleasure and desire robbed her of the ability to speak. After a second, she regained control of her voice. “I do trust you. Oh!” Thomas had pulled her down onto him, stretching and filling her in one fell swoop. Her buttocks rested on his thighs. As thrills zigzagged through her entire being, she leaned forward and laid her hands on his pecs, then dug her fingernails into his flesh.
Thomas let out a hiss. His cock twitched, and he bucked his hips in response to the pain she’d inflicted on him. “If it wasn’t your birthday,” he growled, “I’d make you pay for that.”
She grinned. “Feel free to add it to the bank, and I’ll pay you some other time. You know I’m good for it.”
He thrust up into her again, his eyes growing increasingly unfocussed with lust. “Oh, I will. No need to worry about that.”
“Mmm.” She bit her lip as bliss overtook her. He felt so damn good, his thick shaft stretching her deliciously and stroking all those sensitive places. She suspected it wouldn’t take her at all long to come. Which was a good thing, since apparently they had a schedule to adhere to. “Come on then, lover boy,” she teased, “give me the birthday bumps.”
Thomas chuckled, then, in the blink of an eye, rolled them so he was on top. “With pleasure. Though I’m not going to stop at thirty. It’ll take me longer than that to come.”
“Thirty!” She looked up at him, horrified. “You know damn well I’m not bloody thirty, you bastard!” She spanked one of his arse cheeks.
He laughed again, and bent his head to kiss her. Or possibly just to silence her. Either way, she submitted to it, opening her mouth to allow his tongue inside, which he began to thrust in time with his cock, slowly at first, almost infuriatingly so, then steadily building up speed. She wound her arms around his neck. After a while their movements became so fast, so frantic, that kissing was no longer an option, not without causing damage to their lips or teeth. They broke apart, alternately looking into each other’s eyes and squeezing them shut as pleasure overwhelmed them.
Bracing the soles of her feet against the bed, Mia began meeting Thomas thrust for thrust, upping the ante, urging him on to go faster, and faster still. Each rolling grind of his hips stimulated her clit, and she was soon teetering on the very edge of climax. “Ohh…” She removed her arms from around his neck and fisted the sheets instead, desperate to have something to cling to, to ground her, as she was ravaged by climax.
And it wasn’t long at all before that very thing happened. She stilled her hips and gripped the sheets even tighter as the pressure built in her abdomen. Sparks radiated out from her belly, right to the very tips of her fingers and toes, and prickled over her scalp. “Ahh… Tom!”
“Right… there with… you, sweetheart,” he said breathlessly, continuing at the almost blistering pace for several seconds longer, then freezing. “Oh… fuck!”
As Thomas’s cock began twitching and throbbing inside her, Mia reached her peak. The pressure within her suddenly released and she cried out as tingles assaulted every inch of her being. Her core pulsed around Thomas’s shaft, drawing a string of groaned expletives from his lips, making her smile even as bliss overwhelmed her.
After a while, utterly spent, she sunk boneless into the mattress. Thomas slumped over her, bracing himself with his arms either side of her head, and alternately pressing kisses to her hair and murmuring sweet nothings.
Mia reached up and put her arms around him again, then stroked his hair, the action soothing as they recovered from their climaxes.
After a minute or two, he rolled off her with a groan and flopped onto the pillows. “God, you have no idea how much I’d love to grant your wish that we s
tay in bed all day long and have sex, but we really should get a move on.” He turned to her with a grin. “It’s time to get your birthday celebrations under way!”
She cupped his cheek, enjoying the rasp of stubble beneath her palm. Were her men having some kind of beard-growing competition she didn’t know about? She wouldn’t put it past them. “Given the day started off with a bang—literally—it’s already showing signs of being the best birthday ever. Shower?”
“You go,” he said, though the slightly pained expression on his face made it clear that what he wanted more than anything was to join her. “I’ll jog back to my bungalow and shower there, otherwise we’ll get distracted and never be ready. We don’t want the others to stage an intervention and drag us out, do we? When you’re done, wait here and one of us will collect you, all right?”
Narrowing her eyes, she replied, “I have to be escorted?”
He gave a small smile. “Afraid so. Honestly, sweetheart, it will be worth it. You’re going to be absolutely blown away.”
“Okay… so, what should I wear? And do I need to bring anything?”
He thought for a second. “Bikini or swimsuit. Something to cover your arms and legs if the sun gets too fierce. Sandals or flip flops. A book or magazine. Hat. Sunglasses. Sun cream. Hairbrush and something to tie your hair up with. Maybe another swimming costume if you don’t want to sit around in yours if it gets wet.”
If it gets wet? Mia’s level of intrigue was growing by the second, but she knew Thomas wouldn’t tell her anything—he was already giving her the absolute bare minimum of information. So the best thing for her to do now would be to hurry up. The sooner she got showered and dressed, and waited for one of the guys to collect her, the sooner the birthday fun—or the rest of the birthday fun, anyway—could begin.
“You got it,” she said, then leaned over to give him a kiss. “Catch you later.” With that, she all but sprung from the bed, her increasing excitement laying waste to her sleepiness and post-orgasmic lethargy.
Thomas’s throaty laugh followed her as she scurried naked into the bathroom, making her smile from ear to ear and causing a fresh rush of arousal to hit her right between the legs. Only the heftiest dose of willpower, and the dizzy eagerness to find out what surprises awaited, prevented her from spinning on her heel and hurrying back to the bed to stop his laughing the dirtiest way she knew how.
***
Her bungalow was deserted when she emerged from the bathroom some thirty minutes later. Just as well, really, since she wasn’t sure she’d have been able to resist Thomas a second time if he was still tangled between her bedsheets, all rumpled and handsome.
As she hurried to get ready, her stomach let out a growl. She clutched at it, hoping breakfast was somewhere in her near future. Then she shook her head at her own stupidity. Of course there would be food. She was on holiday with four men in their prime—food was never far from their thoughts. That, and sex.
She grinned. As the five of them had endured the long, boring flight to their three-week holiday, Mia’s mind had inevitably wandered. One of the topics her brain had alighted on had been that having the four men around twenty-four-seven could mean that having too much sex was an actual possibility. That she’d get sore, or too tired—physically and mentally—or that overindulgence could cause her libido to take a nosedive. So far the reverse had been true, and, as she’d discovered many months ago, the more sex she got, the more she seemed to want it.
She’d also once daydreamed about having all four of them at once. She still wasn’t sure if it was something she really and truly wanted, or whether she just liked the idea of it. Could any of them be fully satisfied with a scenario like that? Would it feel like a meaningless physical encounter, rather than the deep emotional ones she enjoyed with each of her men currently? That was the last thing she wanted—she was incredibly happy with the bonds developing and deepening between them, and fracturing them for the sake of making an idle fantasy come true was not a risk she was willing to take.
As she continued getting ready, she forced herself to think about something else. Anything else; just not sex. After all, there was so much more to her life, to her relationships, than that, and thinking otherwise was an insult to all of them.
Chapter Six
“Is this really necessary?” Mia grumbled as she made her way, blindfolded, over the sand, with Elias and Alex flanking her and holding on to her arms to make sure she didn’t trip or fall. Keeping up with them wasn’t easy given their long legs and her much shorter ones, especially since she couldn’t see a damn thing. Thomas and Arjun, she presumed, were hot on their heels.
“Yes,” Elias said, his exasperation clear in his tone. “Come on, darling. You once told me that you like surprises, as long as they’re nice ones. And this most definitely qualifies as a nice surprise.”
“Yeah,” Alex added, “it definitely does. And it’s been a lot of work for us to put all this together. Can’t you let us bask in the moment? Besides, it’s not much further now.”
“All right. I’m sorry. It’s just the suspense is killing me!” She was sorry, too. It hadn’t occurred to her that arranging this day—whatever it held—for her provided her men with as much pleasure as they intended for it to give to her. Perhaps there was something in that old phrase about it being as pleasurable to give as to receive.
“Right, stop,” Elias ordered, and all three of them drew to a halt. “We’re at the bottom of a short flight of steps. There are…” he paused momentarily, presumably to count them, “four. Alex and I will be with you the whole way. Be careful. Take your time.”
“Okay…” She lifted her right foot and used it to feel gingerly around. As promised, Elias and Alex still flanked her, ensuring she couldn’t fall, and she placed her foot down on the first step. Having gauged the height of the steps, she climbed the rest without too much trouble.
“Any minute now…” Alex said excitedly as they made their way along what she suspected was a wooden platform. A bridge over one of the creeks on the island, maybe? But were any of those bridges wide enough to hold the three of them abreast?
Mia couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at Alex’s enthusiasm. Warmth filled her heart and radiated out. She didn’t even know what was going on yet, but it was clear they’d gone to a lot of trouble and were eager for her to enjoy it. But she wasn’t worried about that—any time with her gorgeous guys was time well spent. The five of them could probably have fun watching paint dry, though she certainly wasn’t in any hurry to test that theory.
They continued along the wooden surface, their five sets of footsteps sounding extraordinarily loud against it—though that was likely because being robbed of her sight had heightened her other senses. As the thought went through her mind, it was given credence by her picking up the sound of the sea—which had, naturally, been ever-present since arriving on the island—lapping and splashing against something which was not a sandy shore. So, they were on a pier, then. And if they were on a pier, that meant—
Elias said, “Okay, stop again, darling. I’m going to take off your blindfold, okay?” The three of them halted, and Elias released her arm. Alex released her too, but only to entwine his fingers with hers.
Mia nodded, then immediately felt her husband fumbling around at the back of her head. After a couple of seconds, he uttered a triumphant sound, and the material fell away from her eyes. She blinked and squinted in the bright sunlight, then noticed the hand wafting in front of her clutching her sunglasses. She took them and slipped them on, then turned to see Arjun standing there, smiling. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, with a little bow of his head, a mannerism of his which she found adorable.
Her eyes having adjusted to the light, she looked straight ahead and gaped. There, bobbing gently on the beautiful aquamarine waves, was what could only be described as a ginormous yacht. It practically shone in the sunlight, demanding attention. Not that it needed to—M
ia glanced around to find the men equally as entranced, despite having known about it all along.
Alex squeezed her hand, drawing her attention. “What do you think?” he asked, his eyes wide and gleaming.
“It’s… she’s beautiful. So, what—we’re going out for a trip on her, then? A ride around the island?”
“Better. We’ve got her for the whole day, and we can go wherever we like. Within reason, of course.”
Alex’s excitement was infectious, and Mia shook her head incredulously as she peered at each of the men in turn, all of whom wore wide smiles. “This is wonderful. Thank you so much. What a fantastic way to spend my birthday.”
“And,” Elias said, taking her hand and leading her towards the gangplank, Alex still holding her other hand, and the others following close behind, “it’s only just begun. There’s more, my darling, so much more.”
“Seriously? I can’t think of anything else that could top this.”
“Yeah, well, we could,” came Thomas’s voice. She looked curiously over her shoulder at him. He winked, making her pulse flutter.
“Come on, birthday girl,” Alex said, tugging her hand.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” She chuckled. “Give me a chance, you. I want to look at her first. I’m in awe.”
They paused, then, a couple of steps from the end of the gangplank, allowing them all a closer view of the stunning craft. It was then Mia spotted the vessel’s name: Pearl of the Ocean. Her heart thumped. “Wow! My birthstone is pearl—did you guys rent this yacht for her name?”
At that, Elias, Alex and Arjun turned to Thomas, who grinned broadly and gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Might’ve occurred to me.”
Mia grinned back, her heart swelling with love for him. It seemed each of them had had some input into arranging this day for her. Even though their financial situations were very different, they’d each played to their own particular strengths—in this case, Thomas knowing her so well. It emphasised how well things were gelling within their group—they’d worked together to arrange this in secret, without her in their midst, and they’d done a stellar job. “Honestly, you guys, I couldn’t be happier. I don’t know what to say, since thank you doesn’t seem to do it justice.”