Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
M attie kicked into the water feeling so full of happy energy she wanted to sing. Something about the ocean stripped away all her concerns and inhibitions and left her full of joy.
She pushed into the waves until they swept past her knees, then turned to find Adam only a few feet behind her. He’d stripped off his shirt, revealing the tattoo on his tanned, very well-defined chest.
He looked every inch a rock star standing in the surf, wet from the spray. She wanted to touch him. She wanted to trace the edges of that tattoo and then run her hands over his chest.
From the hungry look in his eyes, he knew exactly what she was thinking. Their gazes locked. Tingles of awareness shot between her legs. She could feel the anticipation building.
Was she really doing this?
She stepped back into the next wave and gasped as the water rushed over her stomach and between her thighs. “This is great. I’m sorry Cooper and Tina didn’t get to see it. ”
“I’m not. If they were here, we wouldn’t be, and I wouldn’t want to miss this.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Desire welled up inside, hard to ignore.
A wave hit Mattie in the back and shoved her forward. She shrieked and splashed to catch her footing.
Adam laughed. “Got a little distracted, did you?”
He flexed his chest muscles, obviously proud of his effect on her.
“Think you’re funny, do you?” On impulse she scooped up water with both hands and flung it at him.
“Oh, it’s like that?” Adam laughed, then picked her up in his arms and fell backward into the water with her, dunking them both.
They tangled arms and legs, each trying to get the upper hand. Adam had the advantage of height and found his footing first. He hauled Mattie up out of the water and steadied her. She clung to his arms for support while the salt water stung her eyes and drained out of her nose.
“Not fair!” Mattie sputtered.
“I got you.” Adam’s hands were firm and secure on her upper arms. He looked concerned, as if he thought he’d gone too far.
He had a brother. Surely, he knew better than that.
As a woman with three sisters, she’d had plenty of practice dunking people. She jumped up with the next wave and used it as leverage to kick Adam’s legs out from under him.
“Whoa!” Adam shouted.
They both went under and tumbled toward the shore. Mattie found her footing, dragged her hair out of her eyes and smirked at Adam. “Bet you didn’t see that coming.”
“Nice moves.” It was Adam’s turn to sputter. “Thanks for that gallon of seawater that just went up my nose. ”
They both laughed. Spending time with Adam over the past weeks made her feel so happy she never wanted to leave this pocket of paradise.
She glanced at the large boulder that marked the edge of the bay. “Race you.”
“What do I get if I win?” Sexual suggestion laced the question.
Not yet.
Too soon.
She wanted this joy to linger just a little longer before anything else intruded. “Bragging rights.”
A flash of disappointment flickered through his eyes, but it was replaced by a glint of determination. “You’re on.”
Adam dove, his powerful arms moving him forward before she even managed to get turned in the right direction.
“Cheater!” she shouted, then swam after him.
Adam beat her to the boulder. He grinned at her with smug satisfaction when her palm finally slapped the stone.
“You cheated.” She struggled to catch her breath. It had been a long time since she’d gone swimming.
Adam blinked at her with mock innocence. “You said race. I raced.”
Mattie clung to the boulder and looked back at the beach. Between the dark, craggy rocks, the lush, green line of trees above, and the white cabana below, it was a postcard-perfect scene. The sun was low in the horizon now, and the golden light had shifted to darker blues and purples. The last rays glinted off the top of the cliff to the right.
She pointed at it. “What’s that? Is there something up there?”
Adam looked where she indicated. “What?”
“There was something shiny.” She squinted at the spot, but it was all trees and rock. “Never mind. It’s gone. ”
“It might be minerals in the rock. They reflect sometimes.”
“Maybe.”
None of the other rocks had done that. What else could make that kind of shine? Something metal? Was someone up there? Unease flickered through her, but she brushed it aside. It had been a long, long day. First, the Jet Skis, then the song, and that kiss. She shivered as the memory of his lips on hers heated her insides.
Adam smiled down at her, a little wrinkle of confusion between his eyes. “Are you okay?”
She looked up at him. His face was close enough she could kiss him again if she wanted.
“I’m fine.”
He looked doubtful. “What’s going through your mind?”
Her thoughts sifted through a dozen versions of the kiss. Salt water dripped from her hair into her mouth, and she grimaced. “I was just thinking it’s getting dark, and I’m hungry. Race you back?”
His smile was wicked. “Last one back gets a massage.”
He pushed off from the boulder, and the waves carried him faster than he could have managed alone. He was at the shore before she even gotten started.
There was no way she could catch him, so she took her time and floated back.
Adam stood on the sand and tapped his foot. “Slow poke. You didn’t even try.”
“Nope.” Mattie ducked her head under the water then flung her hair back off her face. “It’s been a long day, and I’m too tired to chase after you. Plus, I could use a massage.”
She stepped the rest of the way out of the surf.
Adam did a double take. “I was teasing. You don’t have to…I can book you time at the spa. Just say when. ”
She frowned. He’d been acting funny ever since they’d kissed. No, before that. Ever since she’d dumped him off the boat. He hadn’t made a move on her since that day, and it was starting to feel strange. Adam was a man who rushed toward what he wanted like a train with jets. She wouldn’t have thought a little dunk in the ocean would slow him down this long.
“We should rinse off before we eat.”
“Yeah, okay.” Adam turned and started toward the grass hut.
“Hey, silly. Not there.” Mattie pointed at the waterfall. “There.”
Adam’s gaze flicked from her to the plunging water and back again. “It’ll be cold.”
It was a narrow stream of water, so they’d have to get close to each other. Maybe that hint would be enough to get him to kiss her. “Good.”
As they got closer, the sand turned from dry to wet and squelched between her toes. The waterfall had created a divot in the sand that was about five feet across and filled with water. Mattie stepped carefully into it and squealed as the cold water plummeted down on her.
Adam flinched away from the spray. “Told you.”
She gasped and turned her head to the side. The cascade of water washed her back, not quite hard enough to sting but enough to not linger too long.
“Come here, you.”
He shook his head. “Not enough room. You finish first.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Mattie gestured with one finger.
Did he not want to kiss her? From the look in his eyes she thought he probably did. Why was he still holding back? Didn’t he realize when she’d agreed to the picnic that she was saying yes to so much more ?
He shook his head. “I think I’ll go use the shower in the hut. It probably has hot water.”
He took a step back but didn’t look away.
Mattie put her hands on her hips. “You know, I thought for sure you’d make a move by now but you’ve barely touched me since we got here. What’s up with that? Why haven’t you kissed me again?”
“You told me not to. Have you changed your mind?” He looked cautiously optimistic.
She had told him that.
He’d tried hard to do exactly as she’d asked, and it warmed her heart so much that all the reasons why she shouldn’t give in to temptation evaporated.
“Yes.” Mattie grabbed his hand and pulled him into the waterfall.
Adam yelped as the cold water splashed down on his head, then laughed. “That’s really cold!”
“Maybe I can warm you up.” Mattie wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. There was nothing timid or hesitant about the kiss. She wanted him to know that she wanted him.
Adam’s lips softened against hers, then his arms went around her and he pulled her even tighter against him. Cold water buffeted her back while his body warmed her front. She shivered and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. He tasted of sea and salt and sun.
Their bodies melted into each other. Her hands drifted to his shoulders, arms, then back up to his neck. His hand tangled in her hair and gripped it, while the other hand pushed the small of her back until there was no space between them. His heat wrapped around her, delicious and hungry. She lost herself in the sensation of wanting and being wanted in return.
When they finally broke the connection, Adam pressed his forehead to hers. “Are you sure, Mattie? I don’t want to pressure you. We can go back now. Your call.”
Mattie tilted her head as if considering his suggestion. “We can’t do that. You’re covered in salt.”
She spun him around until the water slapped him in the face.
“Oh you little—” He tugged her under the stream with him and held her there until they were both shivering but salt free.
They stumbled away from the waterfall laughing. Adam grabbed her hand and spun her around to face him.
The look of concern on his face made her stop. “What’s wrong?”
Adam pulled her closer, but not so close she couldn’t step away if she wanted. “I’m serious. I know what this looks like. Cooper obviously had something in mind when he set this picnic up, but that doesn’t mean we have to run with it. We can go back right now. No pressure.”
His gaze was steady and resolute. His grip on her arms was gentle, and easily broken. They stood near the path through the rocks that led to the golf cart that waited to carry them back to the villas.
She could go. She should go.
She lifted her face to his, and he kissed her, long and slow, until she was forced to come up for air. The ghost of his touch lingered on her lips.
She didn’t want to go.
“Are you sure?” he asked again.
“You owe me a massage.” She touched the Delusions of Glory tattoo with her fingertips. His chest muscles flinched.
Adam groaned as she traced the tattoo. “Mattie…” He put his hand on hers and pressed down. “If you keep this up I wo n’t be able to stop touching you. It’s damn near impossible to keep my hands to myself as it is.”
She shifted her hand, laced her fingers with his, and led him toward the cabana. “Good. We aren’t leaving until you pay up.”
He said something under his breath, but she couldn’t hear it over the crash of the waves.
When they reached the cabana, Adam gestured to the bed. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” Mattie called after him.
He flashed her a wicked grin and left.
“I was kidding!”
Surely, he wasn’t serious. Demanding the massage he’d offered up as a reward was just an excuse to move to the bed, not something to follow through on. She wanted a lot more than just a massage.
Adam came back a minute later with a bottle of massage oil in one hand. “I always pay my bets. Flip over and get comfortable.”
She gaped at him. “Seriously? Now?”
“Now.” He wiggled his index finger in a circle to indicate she should roll over.
Mattie stared at him. What kind of man refused to follow through the second a woman offered?
A frustratingly good man. The kind of man who cared about her more than he cared about himself. It figured. Just when she was ready to throw caution to the wind, the man she chose wanted to take it slow.
Then she caught the glint in his eye.
He wasn’t taking it slow to be nice. He was teasing.
Two could play this game.
She shifted until she could get a good grip on her bikini top .
Adam’s eyes widened.
The fabric was still wet, and it clung with the suction power of an octopus. She kept her gaze focused on him as she tugged, wiggled, and jiggled her way out of the top. She tossed it to the side, and it landed in a wet heap somewhere near one of the tiki torches.
She smiled suggestively at Adam. “A massage isn’t as good with the bathing suit on.”
Satisfaction surged through her when his mouth dropped open.
Mattie slithered to the edge of the bed and stood up, then slowly peeled the suit bottoms down. She kicked them over toward the tiki torch.
Adam made a strangled sound. He gripped the massage oil so tight in one fist that she thought it might pop like a champagne bottle.
She smiled in triumph, then slid back onto the bed and crawled toward the center, where she leaned back on her hands, stretched her legs out in front of her, and slowly kicked one leg over the other. The evening breeze played with her nipples until they stood at attention.
Adam stared at her like a starving man in front of a juicy steak. The muscles on his chest flexed as his breath quickened. Judging by the fullness in his swim trunks her invitation had been well received.
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Done playing games now?”
His eyes flashed with the challenge. He flipped the top open on the massage bottle with his thumb. “Roll over.”
She waited long enough to be sure he knew what he was missing, then uncrossed her legs in a slow, deliberate way that revealed everything she had to offer.
Adam made a low, rumbling sound, but he didn’t move any closer to her. He wiggled his finger again. “Keep going.”
She groaned in protest and rolled over. “You know, it’s not that I don’t like massages. I just thought we might do something else instead.”
Adam crawled onto the daybed with her and straddled her legs just below her butt. “We’ll get to that.”
He brushed his hand across her lower back. “I didn’t know you had a tattoo.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “We got them at the same time to celebrate after we won Best Pop Group Performance. Four bells, one for each of us, with the infinity symbol.”
He traced the symbol with his index finger. “Bellamy Babes forever?”
She smiled at the memory. “Always.”
“Nice.” His wet shorts brushed against her legs. The cold sent a shiver of heat racing up her thighs and into her groin.
Something cold rained down on her back, and she wiggled away from it.
Adam chuckled. “Lay still, now. You don’t want to miss this.”
His touch was firm as his hands glided over her body in long, smooth strokes. Every time his fingers brushed the top of her bottom or the sides of her breasts, heat pooled between her legs. The anticipation that he might touch more sensitive body parts stoked tension higher and higher until she ached.
Adam’s fingers pushed under her breasts, over her nipples, then away again. It was a small, quick touch, but it sent a shiver racing through her.
His hands traced her back, her butt, and teased her inner thigh.
She moaned, so ready for more she could hardly stand it .
Adam moved his hands up her back, then along her shoulders. He leaned forward, his body pushing her into the cushion, and blew on the back of her neck.
“Like it so far?” he whispered.
“Tease,” she said. She wiggled her hips and felt his response against her back.
“I’m the tease?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Yes. If you weren’t you’d be naked right now.”
Adam lowered his head and kissed her. Though their mouths barely touched, the movement brought his chest into full contact with her back, and his hips shifted until she could tell just how ready he was.
“Adam.”
He moved his lips to her ear. “Roll over.”
Adam shifted his weight to the side, freeing her so she could finally face him.
She lay on her back and reached for him.
He clicked his tongue. “Relax, Bellamy Babe, the bet’s not been paid yet. This is a full body massage.”
“Come on.” Mattie groaned. She ached so much that if he didn’t move on to more interesting body parts soon, she was going to have to take care of the need herself.
Adam lifted himself over her, his swim trunks still frustratingly in place, then lowered his mouth to hers and lightly brushed her lips. “I want you, Mattie Bellamy. I want to know every inch of you.”
He settled over her, his thighs pressed against hers. He held the massage oil high over her stomach, and with a wicked grin crawling across his lips, he poured the oil, slow and steady, onto her breasts. Liquid cascaded over her nipples, drizzled across her stomach, pooled into her belly button, and dripped down her sides .
She sucked in a breath.
He put down the bottle and put his hands on her stomach, smoothing the oil in a circular motion.
His hands moved up, up, up until they covered her breasts. His fingers teased her nipples, then moved down her sides, to her stomach, then back up in long, slow, elongated circles. With each pass, his hands explored a little lower.
She moaned his name, low in her throat.
He leaned forward and ran his tongue over her left nipple, then blew on it. His breath felt cool against her heated skin. Goosebumps prickled. She arched up, and her hands found his arms. She tugged, wanting him closer, but he resisted.
“Oh. Sweet. Jesus.” She was going to explode. Her body was going to break apart from the tension his hands evoked. “Adam. Please…”
“Shh.”
Adam kissed her, his tongue erasing every thought from her mind as he plunged and explored, slow and deliberate.
His thumbs flicked past her most sensitive area and played with the soft flesh that was now so swollen that the brush of his fingers made her body twitch. Jolts of electricity raced through her as his fingers moved in slow, circular motions, over and around, in and out, steady, persistent, relentless, insistent.
She raised her hips, inviting more, more, more.
Adam moved his hands away in a slow caress of her thighs before they disappeared.
Mattie groaned and opened her eyes. “You’re stopping?”
Adam looked at her with the intensity of a hundred suns. “I won’t stop until you tell me to.”
She gripped the covers with both hands. Every nerve in her body was a live wire. “Keep going. Oh God…don’t stop. Keep going.”
He made a feral sound and lowered his head. His tongue reached and licked until her body vibrated. Pleasure rose hard and fast. Mattie screamed as climax slammed into her and spilled over into wave after wave of spasms that made her buck against him.
He rode the waves with her, his face buried in her until her climax faded away. He gently licked and teased at the still-vibrating center of her until she put her hands on the side of his head and pulled.
Adam looked up. “Should I keep going?”
She huffed out a harsh, impatient breath. “Yes. But not like that.”
“Like what, then?” He sat back on his knees, his legs still straddling hers.
“You know what I want.” She pointed at his swim trunks. “And you can’t do it like that.”
He grinned but didn’t move. “I don’t think I finished the massage. I haven’t done your feet yet, and I never welch on a bet.”
“I don’t want you to finish the damn massage.”
“What do you want?” His voice was low enough to send a shiver up her spine.
Mattie sat up and grabbed his shoulders for leverage to haul herself closer to him. “I want you naked.”
He chuckled, husky and low, and kissed her before he backed away and stood up.
Adam turned his back on her and lowered his trunks, revealing his toned, untanned behind. The tiki torches didn’t provide nearly enough light, so half of his body was in shadow, but the parts she could see made her want to jump him. His bottom was round and firm, with a dimple on both sides that she wanted to squeeze.
“You have an award-winning ass, you know that? You should enter contests. ”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I do, and I have. I took second.”
She pictured him on a stage at some beach with other men in a Speedo and shook her head. “They were blind.”
Adam fumbled with the fabric of his trunks, then tossed them to the side. A package ripped open.
“Safety first?” she asked.
“Always.” Adam turned around and held out his hands. “Now that you have me naked, what would you like me to do next?”
“I…uh…” Mattie sucked in a breath, then blew it out in a low whistle. He stood totally, gloriously, unashamedly naked, and he was offering to do whatever she wanted.
She’d never had a man ask what she wanted during sex. Ever. Usually, the guy fell into bed with her, romped a bit, and, pop, it was over. Sometimes she came, but more often she didn’t. None of those men looked anywhere near as good as Adam did in this moment. The gold light of the torches played with his tan, accentuated all the angles of his torso and the muscles in his chest, and highlighted just how interested and excited he was to be here with her.
Adam smirked. “Tongue tied, word girl? Want me to get your notebook out for inspiration?”
She growled with frustration. “Get over here.”
He crawled on top of her, not quite touching, until his face was even with hers. He was so close she could feel his heat on her breasts, stomach, and lower down.
He held himself that way, in a pushup position, and waited.
If he was going to tease, so was she. She traced along his most sensitive parts with the tips of her fingers.
He sucked in a breath, and his stomach twitched, which made the rest of him spasm. “Oh, that’s not fair. ”
She smiled sweetly up at him. “How long can you hold that position?”
He groaned.
Mattie wrapped her legs around his hips and pressed down. “I want you inside me,” she whispered.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Adam shifted, then he was inside her, filling her up, igniting a wave of desire that was deeper than before.
He rocked forward and backward, slow and deliberate, maddeningly patient, driving her insane.
“Faster.”
Adam did as she asked. She pushed her hips up to meet his, driving him deeper inside.
They rocked together, building the pressure until her muscles contracted around him and she pushed up, up, up and over the edge of another climax, this one more intense, a tremor buried inside of her that raced to shake the rest of her body like an earthquake. She shouted her release and clung to him as she rode the waves.