Chapter 10
Hunger
Josh’s mouth moved over hers, his tongue eager and demanding, as if he couldn’t get enough of her.
And she couldn’t get enough of him. He tasted like mint and smelled like sandalwood and soap and him.
A dizzying combination that made her light-headed.
He nipped at her lip, licked it, then sucked it into his mouth as if he was ready to devour her.
Last night’s kiss had been mind-blowing, but this one positively made the earth around her quake.
No one had ever taken her mouth like this before, and no one’s kiss had fired off all her nerve endings at once.
Desire she didn’t know existed inside her suddenly broke free, and she didn’t have room for it all.
She raised her leg and wrapped it around his waist, aching to get closer.
He gripped it in his strong hand, anchoring her to him.
Breaking the kiss, he moved to that sweet spot where her neck joined her shoulder, as if his mouth possessed a homing beacon for the precise place to land.
He lingered a beat, then trailed hot open-mouthed kisses along her sensitive skin, licking, sucking, nipping as he went.
“I want you so bad, Lexi,” he rasped.
He drew back, his eyes dark and glinting with lust. He was all predator, feral and savage and dangerous, bent on only one thing: her. And that made her soar inside.
Were they really going to do this?
God, yes!
His hands had been moving over her back with determination, but he’d kept it PG. She wanted him to cross the line into X-rated territory. Wanton Woman had broken free and demanded wild monkey sex.
Now.
“I want you too,” she managed to gasp out.
Unbridled hunger flared in his orbs as he peered at her. “Are you sure?”
Her yes was barely audible.
He set her apart from him, hands still on her upper arms as her leg slid from his hip. “We might not get to the beach for a while.”
“That’s okay,” she squeaked. God, she was bad at this!
“I’ve been wanting to see you in that bathing suit all morning.” One side of his mouth curled up. If he had been a predator, a wild beast, his fangs would be dripping right now. And God, she loved how that made her feel!
“Y-you have?” Butterflies and moths and every sort of winged insect beat a tattoo inside her stomach.
“Oh yeah,” he growled. He took her mouth again and walked them backward into the bedroom, where light poured through the windows.
He lifted the hem of her cover-up. “May I?”
Her eyes zipped around the bright room. The glaring light would reveal her bumps and bulges, her every flaw. Too many.
“I-I don’t know your full name,” she stammered. Her nerves had her tongue twisting on itself, and she cringed inside. She sounded like an inexperienced ingénue, which, minus the ingénue bit, she was.
Keeping the fabric bunched in his hands, he retracted his invisible claws and smiled at her with a tenderness that warmed her to her toes. “Joshua Michael Wylder. What’s your full name?”
“Alexis Grace Campbell.”
“That’s a beautiful name,” he rumbled, his timbre reverberating in her core.
He dropped the hem of her garment, and his lips descended on hers again with a possessiveness so powerful the breath whooshed from her lungs.
The kiss was fierce and demanding, and it lit up parts of her she didn’t know she had.
She ate it up. His tongue swept into her mouth, exploring every corner, while his hands skimmed over her back, down to the hem of her cover-up.
In turn, she glided her hands over the soft fabric of his T-shirt, reveling in the feel of his chiseled chest before she slid them up to his neck and tunneled her fingers through his thick, silky hair.
He worked up the hem and cupped her ass through her bottoms with his big warm hands.
God, that felt good! Then the tips of his fingers dipped just beneath her waistband, teasing the skin there but going no farther.
She deepened the kiss, silently urging him to go much, much farther.
He yanked her against his steely ridge as if he wanted her to feel every inch of what he was packing inside his board shorts. She had done that to him. Power surged inside her, rising up from her core, and she rocked against him.
Then his mouth was moving over her throat, up to her ear. “Alexis,” he whispered, and she froze. He snapped back, alarm etched in his handsome features. His hold loosened. “Did I say something wrong?”
“I-I … My ex used to call me that.” Frustrated tears built behind her eyes. Why was she letting Conrad ruin this moment?
Josh’s brows rode up his forehead. “I love the name, but I won’t use it if it brings up bad memories.” He moved his hands to her waist, and she missed his intimate touch on her chilly skin. “Do you want me to stop?”
The threatening tears receded, and she shook her head.
Concern filled his gray orbs. “Are you sure? We can stop this right now.” His hand held her upper back while the other covered her stomach. A strange gesture, but the sensation made her feel protected. Cherished.
“I’m sure.”
Concern dissolved, and fever took over his gaze as he locked on to hers. “I’m dying to see you. Can I do that?”
“I-it’s light in here and …” Oh God, she wanted to take the words back as soon as they stumbled from her mouth!
One corner of his mouth twitched. “I’ll close the curtains if you’re uncomfortable. Or tell me not to look, and I won’t.”
She swallowed. “Maybe if we start with the cover-up?” Exactly where he’d first suggested, dummy!
When she looked down, she was stunned by the tent pole in his shorts. Long and thick, even through the fabric, it called to her, sparking a primal reaction deep inside her. Wanton Woman began pounding her chest.
“We need to start with this.” He pulled the scrunchie from the top of her head, sifting her strands through his fingers as he fanned them across her shoulders.
With languid movements, he worked the cover-up over her head and let it drop to her feet.
His eyes lowered to her chest, went round, and lifted back up again. “Jesus!”
The reverence in his tone emboldened her. “Is this what you’ve been dying to see?” She tugged on the tie at her nape.
He covered her hand, stopping her. “No, wait.” Holding her gaze captive, he traced a fingertip under her chin, down her throat, over her breastbone, between the scraps of fabric covering her breasts, and down her stomach until it reached the waistband of her bottoms.
She lowered her hand and held her breath, anticipating his finger dipping below, where she was dripping wet.
Her entire body ached for his touch. If she widened her stance, invited him in …
But he reversed course and slowly dragged his finger back up.
He paused when he reached the valley between her breasts.
His gaze lowered. His finger feathered over that line where skin and bikini top met, as if learning her curves. His touch was wonderful; it was maddening. She wanted more.
Her nipples puckered, pushing against the fabric, and when he cupped her breasts in both hands and ran his thumbs over them, she nearly came undone.
“I want my mouth on these,” he hissed.
Reaching behind her head again, she went for the tie, and he didn’t stop her this time. Instead, he watched her every move with fascinated focus. Somehow she’d forgotten—or didn’t care—that sunlight lit every corner of the room. Lit her. Her mind had traveled to a far more carnal place.
Her top fell, exposing her bare breasts to his view. He sucked in a breath. Lust flared white-hot in his eyes, and his smile grew rapacious. “Fuck yeah. Even more beautiful than I imagined.”
No one had ever talked dirty to her. No one had ever talked to her during sex, and his crude words, the look on his face, should have sent her running, but they had the opposite effect. She longed to feed that fire. She wanted him to feast on her.
She undid the last tie at her back and tossed the top aside.
“Oh baby, you’re killing me here. You are too much.” He caressed her breasts, and she let him touch and look his fill while she lifted the hem of his T-shirt. He paused his touching long enough to yank the shirt over his head.
The fabric made a ripping sound, and he let out a sinful chuckle.
“See what you do to me?” Then his hands were right back on her, moving from her shoulders to her mounds, handling her a little more forcefully this time as he massaged her and rolled her pearled peaks between his fingers and thumbs.
The sensation arrowed right to her core.
“God, you feel so fucking good in my hands. I can’t wait to see and feel all of you.” His hands fell away from her body, dangling at his sides, and she wanted them back.
It was her turn to finally get an eyeful, and she couldn’t hold back. She ran her fingertips along smooth skin covering the solid muscle of his chest. He was all hard, beautiful angles. “Do you like that?”
“Anywhere your hands are on me feels good. You touch me any way and anywhere you want.” His voice was husky, rough.
He took her chin in his hand and kissed her mouth again, gently licking into it.
Winding his free arm around her, he pulled her against him, his hot skin against her bare breasts.
The kiss heated, deepened, as his lips moved over hers, his eager tongue rolling over hers.
She wanted to climb inside him, and she pressed herself closer.
The only sounds were his grunts of pleasure and her reedy mewls against the soft whirring of the air conditioner. His spicy sandalwood scent was in her nose, on her skin. Mingled with it, she could have sworn, was the smell of her own arousal.