long to catch his drift. Her mind was just as much in the gutter as his.
“I wonder what that could be?” She bit her bottom lip, a move that drove him insane. He wanted that lip between his teeth. Gliding over his cock.
He reached out and cupped her cheek, letting his thumb graze over it. “I can show you, but there’s just one more challenge you have to complete before I do.”
She cocked her head, a grin spreading across her lips.
“Race you to the beach?”
She gasped, and without hesitation, smashed both hands down on the surface of the water. The splash hit him in the eye, and it was the perfect distraction. She was already bolting for the shore.
“Cheater,” he yelled after her.
His chest swelled. And so did his cock.
Penn had been the first woman who had touched a part of him other than what was hidden in his pants. He wanted to shake his fist at the sky every time he thought about it. He couldn’t see where things could go with Penn.
This fling was just that. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to spend the rest of the week wearing out his dick.
Chapter Nine
Penn didn’t think anything could feel as good as Cole’s hands on her body. But she’d been wrong. She’d fallen off that surfboard fifty times, at least, and she’d survived. She’d humiliated herself in front of Cole, and he hadn’t cared one bit.
The elevator dinged on her hotel room floor, and she peeked out, making sure the coast was clear.
When she looked over her shoulder and smiled, he grabbed her hand and tugged them down the hallway to her room. She struggled to keep up with his stride and hold on to his hand. They were both covered in sand from where they’d both fallen to their knees on the shore.
After she’d gotten there first.
She rummaged in her bag for the key and slipped it into the slot. She stepped over the threshold, turning to face him, and waited.
He took one more look both ways down the hall, and then he was on her, kicking the door closed behind them.
Within seconds, he was ushering her toward the bathroom where he turned on the shower faucet, testing the water temperature.
When he turned, his eyes took in every inch of her body. “You’re all dirty.” His words came out on a groan, like he was trying to stifle his need for her.
He stalked toward her and placed his hand on her cheek.
She looked up deep into his eyes. He always had an edge of fear, of hesitation in his eyes when he looked at her. And she was happy for that, because she feared the moment he let down his guard completely, she might never be able to let him go.
“Let me take care of you.”
She nodded. Smiled. He turned her to face the mirror above the sink.
Tenderness. Vulnerability.
Two words not in her vocabulary when it came to Cole Murphy. But right now, he was a completely different person than he’d ever been with her before.
He lifted the sundress off her body, which had been a bitch to squeeze back into when it was soaking wet. It fell with a wet thud to the floor. Then he pulled down the bottoms of the bikini and let them settle around her ankles.
He wanted to take care of her. To please her. She could just sit back and let him do it. She’d never allowed a man to do that before. She was always so concerned with earning things on her own that she never asked for help. Never allowed anyone to give her anything, even if it was something she craved, like intimacy.
Next, he reached up to loosen the string at her back. The bikini top fell away, leaving her breasts partially exposed. His gentle hands moved up her rib cage, his fingers fluttering over her tattoo. He traced up to her shoulders, the sand scratchy under his touch. When he reached her neck, he swept away her hair and loosened the knot at her nape. He didn’t push it off. He let the top slide down her body at its own pace.
He looked up and their eyes met in the mirror. “I want to be gentle with you,” he whispered.
She gasped when he dipped his head and his nose grazed the skin at her shoulder. Then her neck. Then the spot behind her ear. She was too sandy for his lips to make contact, but she