18. Natalie
EIGHTEEN
natalie
“Do you seriously think you can avoid him all night?” Charlee asked.
“That’s the plan.”
It had been nearly two hours since I first spotted him. Two hours since I’d been able to breathe like a normal person. Two hours of trying so hard not to notice his casual light blue linen shirt that made him fit right in. Between that and the sunglasses...
“Oohhh finally,” Mazzie said. “My friend from Arizona. I think she’s the last one to get in. I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.”
With that, the bride was gone to mingle, leaving me with Charlee and Zoe. I was surprised we’d even gotten her on the beach at all earlier with the party in full swing behind us. But Mazzie had been on the go since landing in Palermo and insisted she wanted at least an hour or so to kick back before the wedding festivities kicked into full gear tomorrow.
“Seriously, Nat,” Zoe said. “You know you’re going to talk to him at some point. Just go over there. He must have looked your way ten times.”
Or more. I only knew that because I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one. It seemed every single woman, and probably some not-so-single ones, had eyes for him too. And who could blame them? He was the epitome of maleness with a dash of arrogance, but not cockiness like I first thought. Just someone who knew their worth.
Adjusting my bikini strap for the hundredth time, I declined. “Nah. I think I’m good right here. Actually, I might grab my stuff and take this bikini off. The straps are seriously digging into my shoulders.”
“Changing rooms are over there.” Charlee pointed to the wooden stalls that lined the ramp leading off the beach and onto the street level above.
“Next to the bathrooms?”
“Yep.”
Grabbing my beach bag from behind the bar, I made my way over to the changing rooms, hoping there was a light inside. Darkness had fallen, and even though bulb lights lined the lido’s deck, the bathroom and changing area looked pretty dark. At worst, I’d use my phone as a flashlight.
Pulling open the wooden door, I looked around for a light switch before letting it close and losing any of the moonlight streaming in. A few Aperol spritzes didn’t help. About to give up, I began to fish my phone from the bag when the door I was holding open swung open even farther. Before I could even say the changing room was occupied, Jax stepped fully inside and closed the door behind him.
Only a bit of light streaming in from a large crack where the door shut allowed me to see him at all. But it was enough. He wasn’t playing.
Grabbing me by the waist, he hauled me into his chest. “You are so fucking hot, Natalie. Do you realize how incredibly sexy you are?”
His voice, deep and smooth in my ear, was only slightly more mesmerizing than the way his fingers gripped my waist, as if I were his possession.
“Jaxon,” I said, wanting this so badly but knowing it couldn’t be. “The bet.”
“Screw the bet.”
“Um.” I stared up at him. Jax’s face was just inches from my own. “What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means there is no bet in Sicily. We can go back to being on opposite sides back in New York.”
“So, another pass?”
“Sure,” he said. “Another pass. For the weekend.”
It was all I needed to hear. No way I was leaving this changing room without kissing him if the bet was on pause. He must have sensed as much because Jax’s lips came crashing down on mine. His head slanted, his tongue finding mine as we shared the most passionate of kisses yet. It was like the one in the rain, except this one was not going to stop so quickly.
“Fuck,” he murmured against my mouth.
“Yes,” I said, deliberately misunderstanding. Somehow my hands worked their way between our bodies as I unbuttoned his shirt. Taking my cue, Jax grabbed the hem of my sundress and lifted it up and off my body, tossing it aside.
“Look at you. Just fucking look at you,” he said as I finally finished unbuttoning. I watched him shrug out of the shirt and explored every single nook and cranny of his Army Ranger body. His arms, his shoulders. Then down to his chest and abs.
“Your workouts must be intense.”
“Not as intense as the one I’m about to give you.”
With that warning, which sent shivers all along my arms, seemingly down to my toes, Jax reached around to untie my bikini top.
“My only regret is that there isn’t more light in here,” he said, as the top followed my sundress to the floor. When his hands covered both of my breasts, Jax’s groan and subsequent teasing of my nipples with his thumbs made me feel like mine were the first set of tits he’d ever felt.
Clearly, not the case. But fun to consider.
“I love the sounds you make,” I said as his hands explored.
“Your turn to make sounds,” Jax said, one of his hands not wasting any time and moving southward, dipping right into my bikini bottoms. Without warning, his palm cupped me as one finger slipped inside, followed closely by a second. “So wet,” he murmured. “Mmmm.”
As Jax predicted, it was my turn to make sounds.
Overachiever that he was, Jax’s fingering game was strong. I may have even stopped kissing him back for a second or two when he built me to a budding climax. Either for that reason, or some other, Jax did stop kissing me as his fingers and palm worked together in tandem. Suddenly, his other hand was over my mouth, a good thing, as I couldn’t keep it in. With his chest pressed against me and his fingers working magic beneath my bikini bottom, not to mention the very pleasurable sensation of Jax basically pinning me against the wall with one hand over my mouth and the other deep inside me...it was simply too much.
He must have known I was close. As if his hands weren’t enough, Jax leaned forward and kissed behind my ear, whispering, “I’ve wanted you to come for me since the second we first met. If only I could see your face, sunshine. But I can feel you wet beneath my fingers. Make them even wetter.”
So. Damn. Close.
“Mmmm, wish I could remove my hand and hear what you have to say, but can’t take the chance of someone hearing you scream.”
I came apart in his hands at that, pulsing around him. Squeezing his shoulders with my fingertips and screaming against his hand, only a muffled sound escaping. Wave after wave took me until I finally returned to earth. Sensing as much, Jax removed his hand and kissed me so thoroughly, his fingers still deep inside me, that I wanted to melt to the floor.
But I had other plans. Ones that did include the concrete floor, which my knees would not thank me for later. But no way was I getting off like that without paying it forward, mostly because I wanted Jax to know what he’d be missing after this weekend when his pause button was unpressed once again, and we were back to being at odds with one another.
“Natalie. What are you doing?”
“You know exactly what I’m doing,” I said as I pulled his hand from my bikini. “I’m going to suck you dry, Mr. Army Ranger, because I know you’ve thought of this.”
“Fuck,” he murmured as I got into position. “I have, many times.” The floor wasn’t the most comfortable on my poor knees, but I wasn’t worried. This wouldn’t take long. He was hard as a rock, more than a little primed, and as my hands wrapped around the base of him, I only wished I could see his face.
There was an ongoing joke among the girls about my dislike for giving blow jobs. The fact that I’d willingly gone down on my knees and taken Jax into my mouth, was actually enjoying this...they’d never believe it. But to hear a man like him, one who’d done the things he had, groan that way...
It encouraged me. Made me want to please him.
As his hands wrapped themselves in my hair—not pushing hard into him, exactly, but not entirely gentle either—a bubble of excitement built in my chest. At least, that’s where it started. Was I really getting wet again?
What a turn of events.
“Natalie, my god.”
Cupping his balls, his hands firm on my head, I used my tongue and my mouth in tandem the best I knew how and willed him to come. To explode in a way he never had before. Unlikely, given his experience, but one had to aim for the stars.
I was still thinking of that orgasm he gave me when Jax pulled me into him and stilled. Waiting for that inevitable moment when I’d change my mind and dislike the whole thing, I swallowed every bit.
That moment never came.
When Jax hauled me to my feet and kissed me, seemingly not caring I still had the taste of him on my lips or that voices could be distinctly heard from just outside our door, his mouth moved over mine hungrily.
I’d never wanted to be consumed by someone, but at this moment, it wasn’t enough. The kiss, our chests pressed together...I wanted more.
I wanted him.
A knock at the door was like a bucket of cold water being tossed on us. As we broke apart, Jax whispered, “Go ahead and answer.”
“Someone’s in here,” I called out.
There were like five changing rooms. Surely some were empty.
“I know, silly,” Charlee said from the other side. “You’ve been in there forever. All okay?”
More than okay. Jax leaned down to grab our clothes. Standing, he handed me my bikini top. I quickly put it on as he did the same with his shirt.
“I’ll be right out.”
No response.
“How the hell are we going to get out of here without anyone noticing?” I asked frantically.
“More importantly, when can we do this again?”
Good question.
As we dressed, Jax and I whispered back and forth to each other. “What exactly does a Sicilian pause look like?” I asked. “We get together for a weekend and then go back to being enemies next week?”
He sighed. “We don’t have to be enemies, Natalie.”
“I just have to agree to be cool with selling the inlet. And then all is well?”
“How about this? We don’t talk about the inlet at all. No property talk while we’re here. When we go back to New York, we can sit down and go over all the options.”
Dressed, I picked up my bag. “Options as in I agree to the sale?”
“That’s one.”
No talk of the land. Come to think of it, since this didn’t affect our bet, that worked fine for me. Then we could go back, I could pretend to listen to Jax’s plan and then, avoiding him like the plague so there was no more getting together, he could find another piece of protected land to purchase.
And then what? He leaves Kitchi Falls and you never see him again?
Seemed like it would be the way of things. Even if he bought the land, Jax didn’t plan to use it for himself. Either way, he’d be out of dodge. In the meantime, why not have a little fun? Give in to temptation a bit. What did I have to lose?
“You go out first since your friends are looking for you.” He leaned down and kissed me one last time. “I’ll follow in a bit.”
What did I have to lose, indeed? The answer was staring me in the face, but I had no desire to acknowledge it. There was no past, and the future was uncertain. All we really had was the present.
“Deal,” I said. To the escape plan, but more importantly, to our weekend truce. Jax’s smile as I cracked open the door told me he knew exactly what I meant and was looking forward to our Sicilian adventure.
That made two of us.