Chapter 17
OLIVIA
I didn’t know if I was more surprised that Jake admitted he didn’t want me to leave or that he had suggested we cool off at the beach, but I certainly wasn’t going to argue.
After throwing on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a tank top over my bikini and hastily stashing sunscreen in my raffia bag, I raced back out to the car.
He’d changed even faster than I had and was leaning against the car waiting for me in a pair of dark swim trunks and a short-sleeved linen shirt.
I wondered what he would do if I walked up to him and pressed my body into his.
But imagining him pushing me away again, my courage deserted me.
Besides, I wasn’t ready to let him off the hook for ignoring me just yet.
We drove in silence through town, the hot air blowing through the open window.
I tried not to get distracted by the wind in his wavy hair, his long fingers as he scratched at his scruff, and the maze of veins on his forearm in the open window.
But it made me realize how much time I’d spent in Burgundy stealing glances at him.
The most popular beach was already teeming with sunbathers; when we continued past it, I shot him a confused look. “We aren’t going to the beach?”
“Not that one,” he answered. “Too many people.”
We drove on, eventually pulling over onto a narrow dirt path that led into a copse of tall umbrella pines. After we parked in the shade, I wordlessly followed Jake through the trees, stepping over ochre rocks out to a crescent-shaped beach.
“There’s sand!” I cried, happy at last to discover a beach that wasn’t entirely covered in pebbles. “And a breeze.”
I turned my head up to the cloudless sky and greedily let the sea breeze roll over me.
“I told you we’d breathe easier here,” Jake said as he came up next to me to gaze out at the sun dancing on the turquoise water. “Where do you want to sit?”
There weren’t many people around, just a few older couples and sunburned tourists at the other end of the beach.
I pointed to the area almost hidden behind the curve of the jutting red rocks.
If I had wanted to paint a picture of a secret Mediterranean beach, I couldn’t have chosen a better spot.
We laid our towels under the shade of a sloping pine tree, and I stretched out with a lung-filling breath of the salt air.
Surely, there was no better view than this.
Then Jake tossed his shirt to the ground.
Although I’d imagined it a thousand times, I’d never seen him without a shirt.
Oh, I’d caught the sharp-cut lines of hips when his T-shirt rode up as he worked on the car.
But that had not prepared me for the broad expanse of golden skin over the taut muscles of his back, or the sexy smattering of hair over his pecs, or the alluring V-line of his abdomen that disappeared into the waistband of his shorts.
I tried not to stare, but I couldn’t drag my eyes away from him.
My whole body had dissolved in a hot puddle of yearning.
I quickly tossed my own clothes aside, glad that I’d chosen the sexier of my two bikinis—a dark green triangle top with tiny bottoms that tied on the side. Jake, however, didn’t seem to notice. He lounged on his towel and kept his eyes averted, looking out toward the sea.
I wasn’t about to let him get away with that. Taking out my sunscreen, I planted myself in front of him, hiding my smile of satisfaction as his eyes roamed up my body. “Do you want any?”
“Sure.” Feigning disinterest, he slid his sunglasses back on and held his hand out.
Not so quick, buddy . I clutched the sunscreen to me. My fingers ached to touch him, and I was determined not to let him avoid me. “I’ll do your back if you want.”
He sat up hesitantly as I positioned myself behind him.
His muscles jumped as I massaged the lotion into his skin, and I couldn’t help but notice how tense he was.
I drew my thumbs down the column of his spine in a sensual circular pattern, mesmerized by the trail they left.
There was something so intimate about touching him this way, and my breathing grew heavier.
Heat gathered low in my abdomen as I closed my eyes and focused on the warm breeze on my skin, the coconut scent of the sunscreen, him so solid and male beneath my fingers. I wanted him to turn around and press me down into the hot sand, cover me with his freshly oiled body.
My breath hitched. It was all I could do not to press my lips onto the smooth skin of his back.
“Could you do me?” I asked, scooting next to him.
A group of older German tourists wandered by, the men in tight speedos and the women unselfconsciously topless. I thought of Levi’s advice to go big or go home. Did I have the nerve to do it?
Before my courage faltered, I untied my bikini top. I could feel Jake tense beside me, but when I turned to hand him the sunscreen, his face was impassive except for a slight tic in his jaw, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.
I positioned myself in front of him, my back to him.
And then it was like everything was in slow motion.
I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning as his large, strong fingers roamed over me, tentatively at first, then more boldly, massaging in slow circles over my shoulder blades, my spine, spanning my lower back.
Everywhere he touched I was molten. When his fingers grazed my ribcage, I held my breath and waited for his fingers to keep exploring me.
But his fingers stilled, slid back briefly to my waist, and then disappeared. I wasn’t going to be deterred, however.
Go big or go home , I told myself. Breathing raggedly, I retrieved the sunscreen, sat on my knees so he had a good view and then slowly applied it to my stomach and my breasts in slow strokes. I could feel his eyes on me, but he was still as a stone.
It seemed like an eternity passed and still he didn’t move.
I don’t know what I thought would happen.
Maybe that finally he wouldn’t be able to resist me, that he’d fling me down on the towel and cover my body with his.
But he remained motionless, lying back on one elbow, knees bent; I couldn’t even see if he was having a physical reaction to the show I’d just given him.
I couldn’t face the prospect of being rejected again, so I stood and said, “I’m going for a swim. Are you coming?”
He didn’t answer, just kept staring at me from behind his glasses. Then finally, he shook his head.
I walked down to the water, now completely conscious of the fact that I was half naked on a public beach. No one else seemed to care, though, so neither did I. In fact, it felt liberating.
The water was cool, lapping at my skin in gentle waves as I slowly sank into its aquamarine depths.
I swam out past the jutting rocks, then floated, eyes closed as the sun soaked into me.
I don’t know how long I stayed in the water, wishing that Jake would come in with me, but when I glanced back at the beach, he was still laying on the towel watching me.
Oh God, had I made things even more awkward between us?
After a while my fingertips began to wrinkle, and I knew that if I stayed in the water much longer, I’d turn into a prune.
As I swam toward the shore, my foot scraped against a jagged rock and a sharp pain sluiced through me.
Gasping, I reached for my foot while trying to keep my head out of the water.
Not an easy task. Water swirled over my head, and I flailed and choked out a cough.
The next thing I knew, a pair of strong arms encircled me, lifting my head out of the water.
“Jesus, are you okay?” Jake asked as he held me to him.
I coughed out some water and nodded. “I kicked a rock. I think I broke my toe.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he carried me toward the shore. He kept holding me even when we were out of the water. “I can walk, Jake,” I said, afraid I was too heavy for him.
But he either didn’t hear me or didn’t care because he didn’t let me go until we’d reached our spot under the tree. He set me down carefully on my towel then took my foot in his hand. “Can you move your toe?” I wiggled my toes.
“It’s just a bruise. I don’t think it’s broken.” He held my foot, moving it gently in circles. My breath slowed. “Better now?”
I nodded, unable to break eye contact with him as his hand moved up to massage my ankle, then my calf. God, how could even that simple touch be so erotic? I took a deep breath and leaned back. His eyes dropped to my chest where a fat drop of water rolled down between my breasts.
He closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. Shaking his head, he said, “You’re killing me, Olivia.”
“How so?” I whispered.
“I mean, I’m not made of stone. Christ, look at you. Do you know how hard it’s been to keep my hands off you?” he asked softly, but I could hear the longing beneath it.
I let out a ragged breath and drew my foot up the length of his thigh. “What if I want your hands on me?”
His eyes burned into mine, his jaw twitched again, and then, ever so slowly he raised his hand to my face, then ran the pad of his thumb over my lower lip, before sliding his fingers down my neck, my collarbone, as if memorizing me.
He traced a feathery path down my sternum, and then finally, dragged his knuckles over my nipple, making me moan with need.
He cupped my breast, his thumb circling the tight peak.
“God, you’re fucking perfect,” he whispered and, with excruciating slowness, lowered his head and took my nipple in his lips.
The shock of his hot, wet mouth on my cool skin made me gasp.
His tongue darting over the sensitive peak sent streaks of pleasure through me straight to my core.
I cried out and arched into him as he continued to lick and suck, kissing a path across my chest, his scruff tickling my skin, and turned his attention to my other breast.
“Oh my God, Jake,” I panted as I drew my fingers through his thick hair.
“Is this what you wanted when you decided to flash these tits at me?” he growled before sucking hard on my nipple.
I cried out, pressing him against me. “Yes, yes.”
He pushed me down onto the towel, his knee sliding between my legs. As he rose up over me, hand on my cheek, he forced me to look at him. “Tell me again this is what you want.”
“I do. I want this. I want you.”
His eyes burned into mine, gold on green. I’d never seen such raw need in them before. It made me feel powerful and weak at the same time.
With another low growl, he lowered his mouth to mine, claiming my lips in a deep, all-consuming kiss.