14. Chapter 14
Absolutely no relationships with a hockey player. Period.
We take the scenic route back to our cottages to walk off some of the huge meal we just ate. I take off my shoes since we’re walking along the beach, and Reno keeps my free hand firmly in his.
“How’s the book coming?” he asks.
“Really good. I’ve been a writing machine, and I’m actually ahead of schedule.”
The moon is full above us, casting enough of a glow for us to see without turning on our phones’ flashlights. Reno stops and tugs me around to face him, his eyes searching my face.
“Are you still interested in being… inspired?” He cups the side of my neck, his thumb wrapping lightly around the front of my throat, and I know he can feel my moan vibrating against his hand. Because he smiles. Smugly.
I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue, and those green eyes drop to watch before making a slow trail back up to my aqua ones.
“I could always use more hands-on experience to enhance my writing,” I say, and I mentally pat myself on the back for achieving master level in the coyness department. Okay, maybe not master level, but at least I didn’t grab his crotch and tell him to rock my world. I’m calling it a win.
“Hands-on?” he asks with a quirk of his brow.
I tilt my head and run a hand up his chest. His wide, very firm chest. “Oh, would hands-on activity be too much for you to handle?” I ask in my sweetest voice. “Or were you wanting to just talk about it? ”
Reno chuckles, knowing I’m baiting him and not caring. “How about if I talk about it while my hands are on you?”
“Will it be dirty talk?”
“Is there another kind?” he scoffs with a shake of his head like I’m the most ridiculous person ever.
“Okay, I’ll allow you to inspire me,” I say with faux imperiousness.
“Good,” he murmurs, pulling me forward by my damn neck and dipping his head to take my lips. As soon as his mouth covers mine, my toes curl—freaking curl —into the sand. No one has ever made my toes do that from a kiss before.
But Reno’s tongue is stroking against mine in a velvety twist of sensuality, and it’s not just his mouth contributing to my knees feeling like jelly.
One of his hands has migrated to my lower back and is holding me tightly against his body.
I taste the sweetness of the Riesling mingling with the richness of chocolate as we kiss, and I drop my shoes and bag before ringing both arms around his neck.
What feels like an hour later, but also like no time at all, he pulls back with a final soft peck. “There. It’s settled now.”
I lick his taste from my lips. “What was that? A kiss contract?”
He grins, and fuck, he is a pretty, pretty man when he smiles . All white teeth and full lips and model-like cheekbones. And those freaking green eyes that shine in the moonlight. Then his smile fades, and his expression turns serious.
“Just us, right? While we’re here?”
“Of course,” I assure him, dragging my fingers through the soft curls at the nape of his neck. “How long are you staying on the island?”
Reno hesitates for a brief second, as if he’s not sure, before replying. “My trip is supposed to be for two weeks, so I have eleven more days here.” I’m still amazed and offended on his behalf that his ex had the gall to book this resort for their frigging honeymoon.
“I booked for three weeks, so I have a week more than you.”
The wind coming off the sea blows a strand of hair across my face, and Reno releases my neck to brush it away and twine it around his index finger. “Will eleven days give you enough time to get through all the spicy scenes you need me for?”
Oof . I feel like a bit of a… pimp-ette when he puts it like that.
“It’s not just those scenes. I can also get inspiration from simply spending time with you.
” My tone brightens when I remember something.
“Like maybe you could go with me to the waterfall on the other side of the island. That’s on my list of places to visit, and if I’m there, I can better describe how everything looks and smells and feels.
I promise I’m not just using you for your body. ”
His smile is positively feral when he presses his hips forward so I can feel… dear heavens to Betsy, there’s a big ol’ erection against my stomach.
“Does it feel like I’m complaining?” he asks, gravel rasping his voice. “You can use me any way you want, dream girl.”
My kitty cave decides this would be a fine time to clench around nothingness, letting me know she’s ready and willing to indulge in every fantasy this man is promising.
“So that’s a yes to the waterfall?” I squeak, fully aware there’s a waterfall of a more carnal variety currently gushing between my legs.
“That’s a yes to everything,” he replies before kissing my forehead, and good grief ! I do love me some forehead kisses. “What’s your next scene in your book about?”
My brain currently resembles a pan of scrambled eggs, but I manage to remember where things are headed next in the story. “Reid is starting to have feelings for Anna, but he’s trying to deny it.”
“Of course he is,” Reno replies with a tsk. “Men are so fucking stubborn.”
I laugh as he caresses my lower back with his big hand. “He decides if he can reduce their encounters to just a sexual level without emotion, all those pesky feelings will go away. So he’s going to completely defile her. You up for that?” I give him a flirty eyebrow.
“Oh, I’m an excellent defile-er, dream girl. What did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking a nice, hard fuck against the door.”
The flesh of my stomach is suddenly being poked by a very insistent penis that seems to be growing by the second.
“Hmmm,” Reno hums, biting into the corner of his bottom lip. “I’m not sure how nice it’s going to be. Can I interest you in a not-so-nice fuck?”
Images flood my brain and saturate it in lust. Reno pounding into me without mercy. His strong hands holding my ass. “I think I can grant you some leeway in the execution.” The thought of him holding me up makes my eyebrows inch together. “Look, I’m not exactly petite, so if it’s too much…”
His eyebrows mirror my own in a look of severe consternation. “Are you doubting my strength, Juliette?”
I rest my hand on the base of my throat in my best impression of a Southern belle clutching her pearls. “Oh, heavens no,” I drawl. “I was simply saying that I’m tall so not exactly—eeeep!” My words turn into a squeal as I’m suddenly upside down over Reno’s shoulder.
Then he squats and picks up my bag and shoes like he doesn’t have a fully grown woman on his shoulder. No wonder the man has the ass and thighs of a machine. He could probably squat my Volkswagen.
“Reno! Put me down!” I insist.
“No,” he insists right back as he begins to jog—freaking jog —up the beach.
“I feel like I’m having a conversation with your ass,” I say, admiring the flex of his posterior while I brace my hands on his waist to minimize the bouncing.
“He’s a very good listener,” Reno shoots back as he cuts up the path toward our cottages. At least I think this is the correct path. Hell, I’m not sure because of my previously mentioned navigational shortcomings. Not to mention that I’m currently upside-freaking-down.
“You’re a brute,” I declare with absolutely no heat behind the words.
“Thought that’s what you wanted.” He gives me a light swat on the butt, and I grit my teeth around a moan. “I’ve read some of your books, Miss Juli Mack, and I know your secret.”
“Oh, please enlighten me,” I say.
He steps up onto the back porch of what I realize is his cottage and gently sets me on my feet. Despite carrying me while jogging, Reno isn’t even breathing hard.
“You like a man who takes charge,” he announces, setting down my purse and shoes before stepping closer and herding me until my back is against the door. “You want a man to tell you exactly what he’s going to do to you and then follow through with every dirty thought.”
“Y-you think?” I stammer because his body is crowding mine as his mouth drops to my ear.
“I know,” he whispers, taking a quick lick of my earlobe. “I also know you like a man to bite you here.” His teeth sink into the fleshy part of my ear, and this time, there’s no holding back the groan. Because I do like that. It’s my go-to spot. I guess it comes through in my writing.
“I don’t like smug men,” I proclaim, earning me a chuckle from Reno.
“Liar,” he murmurs before sucking on my goddamn earlobe like it’s his very own cherry Starburst. “Would Reid go down on Anna before he fucks her against the door?”
“I, uh…” Yes. Fuck yes, he would. But what if Reno doesn’t like doing that? “It would be diner’s choice,” I answer breathlessly.
He gives me a lopsided grin, and one of his hands skims up my back. Two seconds later, he has my romper unzipped, and I’m naked from the waist up, except for my strapless bra. The man is smoothness personified. I didn’t even hear the zipper.
“This is pretty,” he says, eyes dropping to my cream bra as his fingers move over the delicate embroidered pink flowers adorning the cups. Then he uses the tips of two fingers to trace the mounds of my breasts, skimming just along the perimeter of the lacy fabric.
“You should see the matching panties,” I tell him.
Reno wiggles his eyebrows at me. “Oh, I plan to, dream girl.”
Fuck, I really like it when he calls me that.
My eyes flit around, and I let out a nervous laugh. “When I said against the door, I was thinking more, you know, inside the cottage. ”
Those two fingers slide up my chest, over my throat, and wedge beneath my chin, lifting until our eyes meet. “We can go inside if you want. Or I can fuck you here on the porch where anyone could walk up that path and see us.” My breath hitches, and he notices. “Does that turn you on, Juliette?”