Chapter 20 Vinnie
VINNIE
“This is nuts.” Bianca drops her purse on the sand near the wraparound porch. “The water is so blue.”
She spent the entire flight typing away furiously on her laptop, trying to work on the problems her editor and agent had told her needed to be fixed.
I studied game film and the team’s playbook, hoping like hell I was ready for our first preseason game.
We each have a lot on the line. I am fighting for the starting quarterback position, and she is chasing her dreams, wanting each book to be more successful than the last.
“There’s no place like the Caribbean and absolutely nothing like a private island.”
The island’s small but more than enough for the two of us. With no one around to bother us, we can spend a few days soaking up the sun, relaxing to the sounds of the waves lapping against the shore, and clothes are entirely optional.
Bianca stares in my direction with a smile. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”
“You needed to get away, and to be honest, I wanted you all to myself.” I lift my T-shirt over my head, exposing my chest and arms, knowing full well Bianca likes the way I look without my shirt on.
She’s no longer looking at the ocean as her eyes rake over my bare chest. “We could’ve gone to Mackinaw or somewhere less exotic.”
I grab her around the waist and haul her against my bare chest. “You can’t walk around naked in Mackinaw.”
I have big plans this weekend. I’m going to sweep her off her feet and make sure she knows we are meant to be together. We work. We’re both workaholics, with big families, and we’re just plain right together.
She swallows hard. “I can’t walk around naked.”
I brush the backs of my fingers against her cheek. “You wear what makes you feel comfortable, but I plan to soak up the sunshine.”
“I have a swimsuit.” She rests her palm against my chest and smiles up at me.
“A bikini?” I lift an eyebrow.
The thought of her in a bikini, the sun glistening off her skin dotted with water droplets has my cock hardening.
“Something like that.”
I grab our bags and haul them up the stairs because the ocean is calling my name. “Come on, babe. Let’s go for a swim.”
Her footsteps are heavy on the steps behind me. “I don’t really love going in the ocean. Just looking at it.”
I drop the bags to fish the key out of my pocket. “Just a few feet,” I tell her, trying to find a happy medium.
“Sharks can get you in a foot of water.”
I laugh as I put the key in the lock, opening the door. “Seriously? You think a shark is going to eat you?”
“The Bahamas have a fuckton of sharks.” She grabs her suitcase from my hand and steps inside, leaving me on the patio.
“Who says?” I ask as I follow her inside.
“Google.” She glances around the empty house with big eyes. “Holy shit. This place is…” Her voice trails off as her mouth hangs open.
“Ridiculous.” I finish her sentence.
From the outside, it looks like a normal Caribbean home with a beautiful wraparound porch. The inside is more decadent, with oversized furniture, shiny polished-wood floors, and lush draperies.
“It’s absolutely beautiful.” She looks up toward the high, wood-beam ceiling. “This makes our places look boring.”
I step behind her and wrap my arms around her middle. “We could get a place like this.”
She glances up at me. “Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”
“We can become partners in something like this. It would be an investment.”
“I can’t afford it if I don’t finish this damn book.”
I kiss her cheek. “Then you better go put on that bikini so we can swim, and later you can maybe get some words written.”
Bianca disappears into the bedroom to change, while I open all the sliding doors and fill the place with the warm ocean breeze.
I grab some beach towels and water bottles and place them on the lounge chairs on the front porch, prepping for a few hours of fun in the sun and badly needed relaxation for both of us.
The door creaks open as I walk back inside, and Bianca sticks her head out. “Close your eyes,” she tells me, twisting a few pieces of her brown hair around her index finger.
I smile, feeling like a kid at Christmas before closing my eyes tightly. “Finally decide you’d rather go skinny-dipping?”
I’m crossing my fingers, hoping that’s the case. The thought of her naked, the water dripping off her breasts as she comes up through a wave has my dick practically standing at attention.
“I can’t go naked. Someone might see,” she says, and her voice is louder, as if she’s right in front of me.
“There’s no one around for miles, babe,” I reassure her because that’s what I was promised when I booked the place.
“There are eyes everywhere.”
I jostle from foot to foot because the waiting is killing me. “Can I open my eyes now?”
“Fine. You can look.”
“I have to look sometime,” I tell her as I slowly open my eyes. Bianca’s standing in front of me with a towel wrapped around her body, and the strings of a white bathing suit peek out from underneath.
I grab the edge of the towel with two fingers. “What’s with this?”
“I’m not ready for you to see my body.” She bites her lips and glances down at the wood floor. “I’m embarrassed.”
I take my fingers off the towel and slip them under her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Bianca, you’re beautiful. Don’t ever think that whatever is under that towel is going to make me feel any different.”
This is classic Bianca. Most women I’ve been with are more than happy to get naked, showing me everything they have without hardly speaking to me first. But this girl, the one I’m falling for way too quickly, is too modest for me to see her in a swimsuit.
“I know the type of girls you date,” she says with her eyes locked on mine.
I raise an eyebrow because dating is something I never do. I’ve never even taken another woman on a trip with me. Bianca is the first. “I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“I think you’ve been hit in the head one too many times.” She smiles.
I lean forward, placing my mouth close to hers, staring into her eyes.
“I like you for your bitchy attitude and strange little ways. I don’t care what’s underneath the towel.
That’s the bonus for me, baby. If it would make you more comfortable, stay in the towel, or go put on your writing outfit and swim in that. ”
“I can’t get that wet.”
I move quickly and lift her into my arms. She squeals, grabbing at the towel and holding it closed. “Either way, you’re going in.”
“Oh my God. You’re going to drop me.” She wiggles, trying to get away, but I’m not having it.
I hold her tighter and laugh as I step outside, heading toward the water. “You weigh nothing. I’m not dropping you, and I’m certainly not letting you go.” I walk quickly across the sand, which feels like hot coals, burning the bottoms of my bare feet with each step.
Bianca lifts her face toward the sky, eyes closed, soaking in the sunshine. “The sun feels so good.”
“It would feel great on the rest of your body too.” I smirk, wishing she were more comfortable with her body. I love the fuck out of it, and I haven’t even seen everything.
“That’s easy for you to say.” She presses her fingertips into one of my pecs as she relaxes in my arms. “You’re all hard muscle. Your body is perfection.”
“Hard muscles or not, we all have perfect bodies.”
“Bullshit,” she mumbles.
The waves crash over my feet, finally putting out the flames. “No more body shaming.” I lean forward, still holding her tightly against my body. “I’d spend hours worshiping your flesh.”
She swallows hard. “Hours?”
“Hours.”
“Guys always talk a good game. Delivery is another matter.”
“What kind of men have you been with, baby?”
She wiggles again, and I relax my hold, letting her slide down my body. “I don’t want to talk about the past right now.”
Fair enough. The last thing I want to do is talk about the line of women I’ve been through before this moment. Though, I am curious what has her in knots and swearing off cock for so many months. Something must’ve happened, but she never wants to talk about it.
She’s still clutching the top of the towel, hiding what’s underneath, and staring up at me. “Where’s your suit?”
I glance down and tuck my fingers into my waistband. “I’m not wearing one. Do you mind?”
“You weren’t kidding about skinny-dipping.”
“I never joke when it comes to being naked or having sex.”
“Fine,” she says with a smile. “Let me see, then.” Her eyes go to my shorts.
“If I lose my shorts, you lose the towel.” Somehow, the exchange isn’t even, but I don’t care. I’ve never been shy about my body, and I know for a fact that Bianca likes what she’s seen so far.
“Works for me.” She smirks. “I’m getting the better deal. Just so you know.”
“I disagree.” I pull at the waistband, yanking my shorts down my legs and kicking them to the side. I rest my hands on my waist, giving her an unobstructed view of every inch of my body. I motion toward her towel, practically salivating to get a look at her caramel skin. “A deal is a deal.”
Her fingers let go of the towel edge, and the fabric falls to her feet in the sand.
I soak her in. Dark skin, white one-piece suit with only a small patch of cloth running down the middle of her stomach connecting the top and the bottom. Her breasts glisten in the sun, calling my name and wanting my attention.
“You’re stunning.” I take a step forward and lift my hand to her face. “You okay?” I ask because I know this was a big moment for her.
She nods. “I am. You didn’t run away screaming when you saw my body.”
I bring my lips to hers. “I’m going to worship you before we leave this island, Bianca. Every inch of you.”
Her eyes sparkle with glints of honey in the overhead sunlight. “For hours?” She lifts an eyebrow.
“Until you’re begging for me to stop,” I whisper against her lips before kissing her.
She melts into me, pressing her breasts against my warm skin, making it impossible for me not to get a boner.
“I guess you like me,” she murmurs.
My cock twitches, answering for me as I kiss her again.
Tonight, I’m going to show Bianca just how much I like her.