"Not yet." Carolyn glanced over her shoulder to see him moving toward the entertainment center. As she watched, he turned on the sound system and slipped a CD into the player. When soft music began to play, he adjusted the sound a bit, then straightened and moved toward her.
Carolyn turned back to the windows, and found herself sliding the door open and stepping out onto the terrace.
The evening breeze was soothing, and she walked around the pool to the rail as she removed the cap from the bottle of water and raised it to her lips.
She heard Christian's footsteps behind her as she lowered it. When his hands settled on her shoulders, she glanced back in question.
"I can help," he said quietly.
Nodding, Carolyn turned back to the rail, her eyes bypassing the villas below to slide over the star-dappled sea as his hands began to massage her shoulders, moving toward her neck. She knew at once that she'd made a mistake.
This was almost like her dream on the beach and her body was reacting in much the same way now as it had then, his touch sending tingles rushing through her.
But it wasn't a dream. Carolyn bit her lip. "Maybe you shouldn't-"
His hands stilled. "I'm not gay."
Carolyn just stood there, blinking at the sea. That was like her dream too, she thought with confusion. "But Gia-"
"Gia could see how attracted we were to each other and how uncomfortable it made you. She wanted you to get to know me to give me a chance, so she lied and said I was gay."
"But you're not gay?" Carolyn asked uncertainly.
"No."
Eyes locked on the sea, but no longer seeing it, Carolyn said, "So my being your beard...?"
"Was all just so I could spend time with you."
"Why?" she asked with bewilderment.
For answer his right hand suddenly moved from the base of her neck, to slide around her throat and up to cup her chin. When he then used his hold to turn her head to the side and back, Carolyn found herself staring up into his eyes and blinking as she noted they were molten silver again, glowing in the dark. Colored contacts, she recalled and then his head lowered.
Carolyn stood absolutely still as his lips moved over hers, almost terrified that if she moved this would all suddenly fracture and prove to be just another one of her erotic dreams. She seemed to be having a lot of them, and each one seemed real until the phone or alarm rang, then she'd wake up in a frustrated sweat.
Please God, don't let me wake up this time, she thought and then sucked in a startled breath as his left hand drifted down from the base of her neck to run along the top of her dress over the curves of her br**sts. Carolyn almost could have believed the vacuum from her gasp sucked Christian's tongue right in with the air, because it was suddenly there, slipping past her lips and filling her mouth. A torrent of passion immediately rose up inside her, and she moaned around his tongue when he suddenly peeled the leather down off her left breast, his hand replacing it.
They both groaned as he kneaded the soft globe and then his right hand left her throat to peel away the leather from her other breast and do the same. Carolyn kissed him desperately and dropped the bottle of water to cover his hands and encourage him briefly, then let one slip back between them to find him through his jeans. She found him hard and pressing eagerly against the heavy cloth. When she squeezed gently, it sent a shiver of pleasure through her that left her gasping.
Christian immediately tore his mouth away on a curse, and released her br**sts to turn her to face him. He then urged her back until her behind bumped against the railing, muttering, "God, I wanted you."
Carolyn responded by finding and squeezing him again, but stilled as the touch sent another ripple of almost unbearable pleasure through her own body. She glanced up to him in confusion, and saw something like realization cross his face, and then he urged her hand away, caught her by the waist to lift her to sit on the rail, and covered her mouth with his. In the space of time it took for Christian's hands to find her br**sts again, that odd moment had left her mind, pushed out by the passion he was bringing to roaring life within her. The next time she reached for him, he caught her hands and held them both behind her back, and then broke their kiss to trail his mouth down her throat, over her collarbone and on to one breast.
Carolyn cried out and tugged at her hands as his lips closed over her nipple, but he had a firm grip and kept it as he drew on the hard bud. When he let the first nipple slip from his lips and turned to attend to the other, she tugged harder and gasped, "Christian, please."
He released her hands then, but slid between her legs, pressing against her as he returned to kissing her. Carolyn immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, her body arching to press her br**sts against his chest as he kissed her. But then she reached for his T-shirt and began to tug it up. She sighed with a combination of disappointment and relief when he stopped kissing her to help remove it.
The moment he'd tossed it aside, he returned to kissing her, however, and she arched toward him again, groaning as the coarse hairs on his chest tickled her ni**les before she pressed herself firmly against him. Christian responded by pulling her forward on the rail with one hand at her h*ps and grinding against her, and then she felt his other hand sliding up her thigh.
Tearing his mouth from hers, Christian began to nibble his way back down toward her breast, muttering against her skin, "It's been driving me crazy all night that you had no panties on."
Carolyn's answer was to throw her head back on a cry as his hand reached what her panties would have covered.
The movement almost overbalanced her and would have had Christian not quickly raised the hand at her h*ps to catch her.
Cursing, he pressed her hard to his chest. Her ear was against his thundering heart, but she heard him mutter, "Bedroom." Then he caught her legs, drew them up around his hips, and caught her at the waist to lift her off the rail. Carolyn immediately crossed her ankles, clinging to him as he carried her across the terrace.
The soft strains of music reached her ears as he carried her into the house and Carolyn lifted her head to glance toward the music system. When she glanced back to Christian it was to find him staring down at her rather than watching where he was going. She had barely taken note of that when he lowered his head and kissed her again, his footsteps slowing. With one hand still on her bottom, helping to hold her up, he then found her breast with the other, and groaned along with her as he gently pinched the nipple. He started to walk again then, but when he sat down a second later, rearranging her legs so that she straddled him. Carolyn broke their kiss to glance around with confusion. They were back in the living room, on the couch.