Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Henry
W e were both panting when I caught her, her body limp and her eyes closed as she tried to even out her breathing.
I hadn’t even been touched and I could already class that as one of the most sexually satisfying moments of my life. Knowing she trusted me, watching her come undone so easily, knowing how receptive she’d been to every caress…
Fuck, I could only imagine how good sex between us would be.
The thought had my dick straining against my boxers, begging for a release of its own.
For now, though, Phoebe was my main priority, so I picked her up again, walked her a few steps back from the waves I wasn’t sure she’d even noticed lapping at her feet, and I dropped to my knees to lay her overheated body down on the cool sand.
She let me do with her what I wanted, as though she trusted me completely, and she stared into my eyes as I laid on my side beside her, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her face.
Neither of us said anything for a few moments, but then a soft, satisfied smile came to life on her face. “I was just thinking…”
“About?”
“If the others could see us now.” She chuckled, her chest bouncing with ease.
The sight of her happiness shouldn’t have mattered as much as it did. “Please. Don’t bring them into it. I was enjoying this until then.”
“You were?” Her smile grew. “But I haven’t even repaid the favour yet.”
“I give because I enjoy it, not to receive.” I brought a finger up to her exposed chest and drew lazy patterns over it, relishing the feel of her deliciously soft skin. “All that matters to me is that you enjoyed what just happened as much as I did.”
“Does this smile of mine not tell you any thing?”
“It suits you… that smile.”
It faded only a little, her expression turning more serious as she reached up to run her hand through the side of my hair, like she had before.
We were so close again, but I wanted her closer, so I draped my arm over her stomach and pulled her against me, knowing she could feel the effect she had on me. That twinkle of lust, want, and need soon returned to her beautiful eyes.
“You go against everything I promised myself before this holiday,” she said, her voice as soft as her touch.
“I know.” I slid my hand up her body, between the valley of her breasts, and up to her neck. “But I promise it’ll be fun. The most you’ve ever had.”
Her gaze fell to my lips. “Swear it on something important to you.”
I didn’t need to swear it on anything. I knew what she wanted from the way she stared at my mouth. So, leaning down, I let my parted lips hover above hers, tasting her sweet breaths before I whispered, “I swear it.”
Then I finally kissed her.
I kissed Phoebe Turner like I’d never cared to kiss anyone before, tenderly, slowly, committing every moment of her soft tongue against mine to memory.
She tasted exactly as I imagined, like citrus and honey.
Her soft moan of appreciation followed by her hand curling around my neck had me damn near losing my mind, and without thought, I rolled on top of her, nudging her legs apart and positioning myself between them.
She moved without hesitation, sinking into the sand, letting me hold my weight above her as we pressed ourselves together this way for the very first time.
She knew how to kiss, too. This woman who dared to think herself as weak took control, leading me into a sensual dance of tongues and lips I never wanted to end.
My dick nudged at her soaked lingerie, making a moan of encouragement fall free from both of us. She wanted it. I needed it.
“Fuck, yeah, bro! Get some!”
The cry of a stranger followed by the laughter of several others had me pulling away from her sharply and glancing over my shoulder to find a group of barely legal arseholes wandering down the beach, swinging their beers around like they were swinging their dicks.
“Shit,” I cursed, quickly lifting myself off Phoebe and covering her until she pressed her legs together again so they couldn’t see anything.
She sat up quickly, tucking her legs under her arse and straightening her dress as the lads kept on cheering. I was ready to hurt someone again, until Phoebe grabbed my arm and made me look at her. “They’re just kids. Ignore them.”
“Aww, don’t stop on our count!” another from the group cried.
I didn’t have time for my old grounding technique, so I closed my eyes and counted to ten before I rose to my feet and turned to give them my full attention. The moment they saw the look on my face, and no doubt the size of me, one of them held up his hands in surrender and started backing away.
“Sorry, man. No offence. Just having a little fun.”
“Well, fuck off and have fun somewhere else,” I practically growled.
With a raise of the main guy’s hand, they turned and walked the other way, not bothering to hide their laughter as they staggered away in the other direction. I did not want to have to throw any more punches tonight, but I would if they dared to say anything else in front of my girl.
My girl? Where the fuck had that come from?
“Little pricks,” I muttered to myself, my good mood soured by their interruption.
Phoebe subtly cleared her throat behind me.
When I turned back to her, she was sitting there staring up at me with a smile on her face, her arm outstretched. “Help me up, soldier. My legs still feel like jelly after all that swooning over a tall, dark, handsome stranger who seems to want to fight the world to protect my honour.”
Well, shit. She sure knew how to make me smile again, too.
I gave her hand a tug, pulled her up in one quick motion, and caught her as she stumbled into me.
“So strong, too.” She batted her eyes and pretended to faint. “How will a girl like me survive being around a guy like you for the rest of this trip?”
“A guy like me?” I smirked, raising a brow.
She brushed her delicate thumb over my swollen lips, her eyes focused on them as she leaned in and quietly said, “Someone who seems to be annoyingly good at everything he does, even when he isn’t trying.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Captain.”
Her eyes rose to mine in warning. “I prefer it when you call me angel eyes. Makes me feel special.”
I wanted to tell her she was special, but this thing—whatever this thing was—between us had barely begun, and I didn’t want to scare her off too soon after promising her it would only be something fun, nothing serious.
“Interesting. What about when I call you smart arse?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “That’s not so bad. You only usually say that when I’ve got one over on you, which technically means that’s when I’ve beaten you, so… you know… who doesn’t love being called a winner?”
With a playful growl, I picked her up again and spun her around, letting her squeals of shock and delight ring out all around us. “I don’t lose, smart arse!”
But it was a lie.
It was all for show.
For her, I had a feeling I’d lose every time she asked me to, so long as I got to turn all her nightmare days into dreamy nights and see that smile on her face again.
We walked the rest of the way back to our apartment making effortless conversation.
I had no idea where the night was going to go, but I did know I wanted to strip her out of that body-hugging dress, peel off her underwear, and feel just how much I’d made her come.
Every time I looked at her animatedly talking about something, her hand gesturing this way and that, all I could focus on was the blush in her cheeks I knew damn well I’d put there.
Mykonos faded into the background because her beauty outshone it all.
How I’d managed to keep my hands off her until tonight was beyond comprehension now I’d touched her just once.
All I could think about was that soft skin.
About bringing her to climax again and again, watching as she fell apart in my arms, listening to her every intake of breath or delicious moan that made me feel like a fucking king.
Despite the slow pace we’d walked at, eventually, we came to the entrance to the apartments—the same place we’d argued only days earlier after I’d chased that little punk down for stealing her purse.
Phoebe spun around in front of me, next to a bright pink shrub-like vine of flowers. She reached out to run her fingers over one of the petals.
“Do you know what these are called?” she asked, focusing on the flower next to it, moving her fingers over them delicately.
“Not a clue.”
“Bougainvillea,” she said proudly before a little scowl of concentration took over. “At least I think that’s how it’s pronounced.”
I pushed my hands into my pockets, ready to let her enjoy this moment instead of pulling her to me again. “How do you know that?”
“I Googled it the other day, after…” She paused and looked at me as though she’d said something she hadn’t meant to.
I raised a brow.
“After that argument we had out here.” She carefully tugged a flower head off the vine and twirled it between her finger and thumb as she stepped closer. “Even though you were angry, Henry, you still looked pretty when standing next to them.”
“Excuse me? Pretty? ”
She pushed it behind my ear and stepped back. “Yeah. Real pretty.”
“There goes my reputation.”
“I’d say so.”
I took the flower from behind my ear and slipped it into the dip between her breasts, letting it settle there as her skin burst to life at such a simple touch from me. “I think it looks better here.”
She was just about to say something else when we heard very familiar voices approaching from around the corner.
Phoebe and I stepped away from each other just in time before Andy, Jace, Bailey, and Rhea walked through the apartment gates, talking amongst themselves until they saw us standing there, looking sheepish.
I turned my back on Phoebe and ran a hand through my hair, hoping like hell I looked like a moody fucker again instead of someone who’d just been about to throw a gorgeous woman over his shoulder and march her off to bed to give her the fucking of a lifetime.
“Hey.” Andy glanced between us both. “You’re still up? We thought you’d have been back in your rooms by now.”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “We, erm…”
“I needed some air,” Phoebe said, coming to stand by my side like us being together was normal now.
“If he looks pissed off, it’s because he’s been asking to bring me back here for about an hour, but I made him take a detour so I could chew his ear off and annoy him some more.
” She smiled a flat-lipped smile full of sarcasm and attitude—a world away from the woman who’d come all over my fingers not so long ago.
“I’m finding new ways to irritate him. I think it’s my favourite pastime now. ”
“Poor Cohen.” Jace laughed.
“You have no idea,” I muttered, aiming for indifference when really, I wanted to show her what my favourite pastime had become. I curled my fingers into my palm, reminding myself where they’d been.
“We’ve been so worried about you.” Bailey stepped forward and pulled Phoebe in for another hug, and before I could so much as make eye contact with her again, Phoebe’s friends had her surrounded and were guiding her back to their shared apartment without even a whisper of a goodbye.
With my head wedged firmly up my arse now, I began to walk away, too, only for Jace and Andy to fall in line beside me.
“You two seem to be getting along a lot better,” Andy said, slapping me on the back. “It’s almost like you’re friends now or something.”
“Before you start… don’t,” I warned him.
“Nah, you know Cohen, bro,” Jace butt in. “He’s just a sucker for a damsel in distress, that’s all.”
“She doesn’t look like much a of damsel to me with all that snark.” Andy laughed.
“She’s got that, all right.” I sighed.
I just didn’t bother to tell either of them how she had so much more. I meant what I said when I wanted to keep her all to myself.
Somethings were too good to share with other people.
The world had a way of tainting everything I enjoyed, and I wasn’t prepared to let anyone taint anything when it came to my new little secret obsession, Phoebe Turner.
I only had a limited number of days left to make count.
If I had to go to my room alone, I’d spend all night thinking of ways to make those days ones we’d both remember for the rest of our lives.
The idea of becoming a memory she thought about for the rest of her days suddenly seemed more important than the very breath in my lungs.