His Off Limits Best Friend - Vivian Wood Page 0,41

Sam walked out to the great room where sunlight streamed through the window. “I can’t decide,” she told him. “Which one do you think?” She held up the palm tree-covered mesh monokini and the option with bright pops of color and so many straps she couldn’t remember how she got into it.

His eyes ate her up, and traveled from the span of her thighs up—slowly—to her throat. “Definitely the one you’re wearing,” he said lowly.

It made her blush, but she nodded and put the other two options away.

Even behind her Oliver Peoples glasses, she noticed the stares as they walked to the beach. “Isn’t this a private beach?” she whispered to him as a middle-aged man’s eyes nearly popped out.

“The hotel owns, it, yes,” Connor replied. “But just because people have the money to stay here, it doesn’t buy them any class.”

She smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Sam noticed how the blazing white bikini she’d chosen complemented Connor’s trunks. The deep blue pattern was piped in white, and his vintage t-shirt was so tight in the arms and chest it threatened to burst.

“Wait a minute,” Sam said. She slowed down and looked around the beach. “Are they… is she…”

“Who? What?” he asked, concerned.

Sam grabbed his forearm and pulled him close. “That woman over there is naked,” she hissed.

“What? No, she’s not,” he said. He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked briefly. Connor turned back to her.

“Yes, she is!”

“She’s topless,” he conceded. “Not naked.”

“That’s what I mean!” Sam looked around and realized that most of them women wore nothing on top. Some were face down on their chaise lounge chairs or towels in the sand while they tanned their backs. But others didn’t seem to give a damn and were proudly face up. A couple passed them and smiled in greeting. The girl’s heavy breasts swung wildly.

“It’s Monaco,” he told her. “Most beaches here are topless. Hey, by the way, I got us a boat for tomorrow.”

She smiled awkwardly at him and tried to regain her composure. Connor tipped one of the attendants as they reached a roped-off area of the beach. He spread out a massive towel for them and she began to rub sunscreen across her skin. “You mind doing my back?” she asked him as she handed the bottle over.

“That’s an old line, if I ever heard one,” he said, but Connor took the bottle.

She rolled her eyes behind her glasses. “It’s hardly a line,” she said. “That’s exactly what I need, a sunburned back. Come on.”

“Lie down,” he commanded.

She moved onto her belly and rested her cheek on her hands. It felt strange, Connor’s large hands on her shoulders. He massaged her shoulder blades, her “wings,” as he called them, as slowly and seductively as possible.

Sam wanted to say something. She thought about breaking the tension by calling him out or making a joke, but couldn’t seem to make herself speak. His hands on hers were like fireworks. She thought she might burst into flames if she spoke.

When his hands reached her waist, she could have sworn he squeezed gently. She felt his palms at the swell of her backside, his fingers at the hem of that tiny bikini bottom. Sam remembered just how slight that material was. She couldn’t blame him if he stared at her ass, but was too embarrassed to turn around and look.

For a moment, she thought he would keep going. Just slide his hands underneath her, or into the crevice of her backside. But he stopped short. She was nearly breathless, and realized she’d hoped he’d go farther.

“Okay, now do me,” he said. Had she imagined the seduction? His voice sounded completely normal.

She lifted herself onto all fours as he pulled the shirt over his head. Quickly, he rubbed the lotion across his chest and abs, legs, biceps and forearms. A tiny mewling came from somewhere nearby, and Sam looked around. She was shocked when she realized it was her, but Connor seemed too caught up in the task to notice. She’d never been more thankful for the sound of crashing waves, the only other sound that could mask what must have been sheer desire.

Connor flipped onto his stomach and handed her the bottle over his shoulder. She tried, awkwardly, to spread the white lotion across his shoulders and back, but he was just so broad.

“You’re missing the other side,” he told her gruffly. “You’ll either have to switch sides when you’re done or just