CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Wrapped in a towel, Angela let Sawyer lead her upstairs. His towel hung dangerously low on his hips. The chill of air conditioning and of anticipation pricked over her flushed skin.
They entered her bedroom. Without a flicker of uncertainty, Sawyer pulled back her covers.
She didn’t have his unflappable confidence. Maybe that was one of the many reasons why her pulse pounded. Angela let her towel fall to the floor in a pile around her ankles.
His eyes flared, and he nodded toward the bed.
She dove under the white sheets.
But he didn’t join her. “Give me a minute.” Sawyer pulled the soft linens over her naked body and then padded out of her bedroom.
Solitude washed over Angela. It wasn’t as much a cold shower as it was a second of clarity. She’d never been in a relationship that ignited her deep within her body and soul. She’d never experienced a desperate need to touch and be touched, to give and give and get then give some more.
Uncertainty seized deep in her chest. She’d never known that in any relationship, reaching back to her earliest crushes and flirtations. And here, she’d found it, but it had an expiration date. The situation with Sawyer was built on a timeline. They had stepped out of their normal day-to-day and into an alternative reality in which exploring lust was almost as important as the reason they had traveled across the globe.
That almost was damn close.
A moment later, Sawyer returned, and with him, all the uncertainty subsided. Angela needed their legs tangled and hands searching.
He tossed a box of condoms on the nightstand.
Anticipation replaced any last remnants of doubt. She reached for the towel at his waist. It dropped next to hers.
Sawyer joined her in bed.
Angela giggled. “Oh my God. How are you so cold?”
He rolled on top of her and kissed her laughter away. She liked how they played together, that it wasn’t an itch-scratching of wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am.
“You’re a lot of fun,” he said.
“Glad you think so.”
His mouth dipped below her ear. “I could have fun with you all night long.”
She couldn’t stop smiling. This wasn’t how she pictured falling into bed with anyone. Comfortable and charged. Giving and taking. She and Sawyer asked what worked and tried new things. They smiled. Holy God, did they smile—when they weren’t gasping.
Sawyer kissed her neck, nipping to her collarbone. His strong hand cupped her breast. He thumbed and stroked her tight nipple. He inched lower and kissed her other breast. The dual teases matched tongue and touch, gentling, deepening, and fueling her fire.
“Please.” Her back arched. “I need you inside of me.”
He laid his head on her pillow and let his fingers dance down her stomach until they gently dipped between her legs, like he’d done on the deck. “I don’t want to rush you.”
Enough restraint. She crawled on top of him, straddled the thick ridge of his cock, and rocked her sex against him. “Maybe I haven’t been clear.” She kissed his cheek. “I have been ready for this since you walked onto the beach.”
Well before that, if she was being honest. The day before? Yes. The days before the day before? Yes. On the jet? Absolutely, yes. Before that? She wasn’t going to be any more honest with herself.
Sawyer flipped her onto her back. Their lips locked around laughter. This was more than arousal. This was the life .
He removed a condom from the package and covered himself, and nestled between her legs, he held her eyes. The head of his cock pressed against her opening.
Angela gave herself to him. His body flexed. Hers gave.
As if they had eons to lie together in bed, Sawyer sank deeper and deeper. Their breaths shortened.
An all-consuming ecstasy expanded inside her. She couldn’t fathom how he could give her so much. Angela’s eyelids closed.
Sawyer feathered kisses along her cheeks until her eyes met his again. He grinned in the most beautiful, soul-clutching way. Then his expression turned roguish.
When Sawyer slid from her and back again, her legs climbed his. Their mouths locked. Swirling desire and burning kisses blinded her from the world outside their bed. He drove her higher and higher, stealing kisses and breaths and calls of bliss. An unrecognizable climax beckoned. She was already too far gone to explode. But Sawyer didn’t know that. He pushed her understanding of pleasure past what she could comprehend, and when she couldn’t take another dazzling second, Angela called his name.
Sawyer gathered her close and buried his face against her neck. His release hit as her violent eruption rolled toward a lazy, lust-drenched contentment.
Angela stroked his back. Then he collapsed against her and caught his breath.
She pressed a kiss to his temple.
Finally, he carefully withdrew and rolled onto his side. Sawyer removed their protection and then gathered her to his side, big spoon once again.
“Definitely very fun,” he whispered just before kissing the back of her head.
“Very,” she agreed. Now wasn’t the time to explain how trivial the word “fun” was. She’d never known this level of satisfaction existed. Now was too precious a moment to contaminate with revelations. But she did want him to know how special he made her feel. Angela turned in his arms.
Sawyer brushed her hair off her face. “What?”
She couldn’t find the words to do justice to the glittery happiness that had grown in her heart. “Thanks.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “For what?”
“Being you.” She shrugged. That was a far cry from what she wanted to convey. “For letting me be me.”
His lips quirked upward, and he snuggled her close as if he understood that the right words were impossible to find. She could have fallen asleep to the rhythmic beat of his heart, but her body had other plans.
“Are you hungry?” he asked of her growling stomach.
“Yeah, but I don’t want to move.”
Laughter rumbled through his chest. “I was just thinking the same thing. But…” He propped himself onto his side. “I bought steaks for the grill.”
Her mouth watered. “Yum.”
“Do you want to stay here while I get the charcoal fired up?”
The mundanity of making dinner plans struck her as strange. Did other people live lives filled with mind-blowing sex and then go about their regular business? If she’d thought about it before, it would have sounded like the stuff of fairy tales for adults. “What did you get to go with the meat?”
“Corn on the cob and potatoes for the grill and salad stuff in a bag.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Relax.” He rolled out of bed. “Got a book or something?”
“Am I living in some kind of dream world?”
Laughing, he walked out of her bedroom. “Maybe you need to readjust your expectations of the real world, sweetheart.”
He was joking, but the sentiment hit home. He didn’t think their day was out of the ordinary. It was almost sad how much of life she didn’t realize she’d missed.
Sawyer returned, wearing shorts. “What’s that look?”
Angela scooted against the headboard with the covers tucked to her chest. “You’re lucky, ya know. Having known fun like this was possible.”
Again, he cocked his head. “What are you talking about?” But he seemed to recalibrate his thoughts and strode to the end of the bed. Sawyer grasped her ankles and pulled her until she was on her back again. Then he crawled over her. “I have never had this much fun in my life.” He studied her as if trying to read her mind. “Do you hear me loud and clear, Angela?”
Her heart, doing jumping jacks and making jazz hands, certainly did. Her mind wasn’t so sure. “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. Because what I said about relaxing with a book? You deserve that. You deserve everything.” After taking a deep breath, he gently kissed her lips until she melted into the mattress.
She wasn’t sure how long she had remained in bed after he left. He’d never had this much fun? Neither had she. She’d been hesitant to explain that. Sawyer hadn’t. Nothing fazed him. His mental strength was just as durable as his physical power. Angela had always known he was a rock-solid force of nature. Now she had the bonus of knowing how much he could care. She could fall in love if she weren’t careful to mind the parameters of their situationship. Love would be incredible and then devastating and leave a friendship in ruins—or, they could explore what a situationship might look like as a relationship. Except he had always been upfront with her, even before she’d floated the crazy idea of a physical fling. Sawyer didn’t do long-term relationships. At all. For whatever reason, he’d never wanted to share. But it had been an immovably firm boundary.
Of all the respect he’d given her, she would give him that one thing he’d made clear. Maybe that dulled her sparkle, but it was still much brighter than it had been at the start of the day. That was okay. They—and all their fun—were okay.