40-Love - Olivia Dade Page 0,88

there’s always a chance someone could ignore the sign and go around the barrier.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. Then she straightened her shoulders, opened her eyes, and met his.

All telltale hints of shyness banished, she cast him a chiding look. “This isn’t an impulse or moment of folly, Lucas. I considered the potential problems, and I took steps to control as many variables as I could.” Gently, she detached herself from his embrace. “The remaining risk, I’m willing to accept. So I can have what I want. What we both want.”

With steady, careful hands, she removed his soaked tee, his shoes and socks, his loose shorts, his boxer-briefs, until he was bare. Entirely, willingly exposed to her.

Then she reached for the hem of her sundress and tugged it over her head as he gaped at her. She stripped off the swimsuit beneath and tossed both items onto the blanketed lounger.

Chin tipped high, her round body framed by the tent’s open flap, she stood there naked.

Espresso hair dancing in the fitful breeze, defiant hazel eyes, lips bitten to lush pinkness, tan nipples crowning pale breasts, a dark brown triangle between ivory thighs. Behind her, the blue, blue ocean rushed to shore, green palm fronds rustled, and the setting sun bathed the sand, her skin, with rosy warmth.

Colors. He didn’t remember colors ever being this vivid. So bright they stung his eyes.

She turned on her heel and left the tent. Left shelter in exchange for the open beach, bare feet sinking into the sand. Her dimpled, adorable ass jiggled as she strode toward the water without hesitation, without any attempt to shield herself from his stare or the unforgiving gaze of unseen strangers.

He couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe in the presence of such beauty.

She glanced at him over her shoulder, one supercilious eyebrow cocked high. “Coming, Lucas?”

Stripped naked, he followed.

Of course he did.

Twenty-Four

In the end, they didn’t have sex on a blanket outdoors.

Not so much because Tess was worried about random lookie-loos with cell phones—although she was, if only a little bit, and she’d privately wondered whether she’d be able to relax enough to climax under those circumstances—but because Lucas was worried about her joints.

When she offered, he shook his head. “You need more cushioning and support than that. I won’t have you in pain when we leave here.”

“You wanted to see me naked in the sun,” she protested as he led her out of the ocean and back toward the tent.

“And I have.” His grin turned wicked, and his dimples popped. “I saw you naked in the water too.”

Oh, she knew where this conversation was going.

A more decorous woman would blush, but she’d left decorum behind about fifteen minutes ago—around the same time Lucas had used the water’s buoyancy to hitch her upwards, guiding her until her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms wrapped around his neck. Then he’d taken her mouth in a hard, hot kiss before biting at her neck, palming her ass, and moving her exactly the way he wanted.

In the water, the rock of his hips was so fluid, so easy, as he rubbed his cock precisely where she needed friction. He’d teased her for so long, never quite giving her the speed and firm pressure she needed. Not until she was begging for it, trembling and gasping.

The sun on her face, the lap of water over her flesh, the caressing breeze had all sharpened the sensations. They’d all made the experience glorious and unbearable in equal measures.

In the aftermath of pleasure, her legs were watery and trembling. She was relying on Lucas’s arm around her shoulders for support as they walked in the sand.

When they neared the tent’s entrance, he ran a possessive hand over her butt. “Best of all, I saw you naked in the sun and water as you came apart, and it was the most gorgeous fucking thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Yup. She’d known he’d end up bragging about her orgasm eventually.

He was so damn smug, radiating intense satisfaction from every pore despite his still-hard dick. She should find that annoying. Would find that annoying, if only her legs weren’t still shaking beneath her from the violence of that orgasm.

He’d earned his smugness, and she wouldn’t puncture it.

That said, he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. He didn’t understand gorgeous. He couldn’t, unless he located a mirror and saw himself right here, right now.

In the falling light of dusk, he was beautiful enough to break her.

With every