Chapter Twenty
Ant
Lilavati steps into the pool beside me. We melt towards each other, our legs seeming to give out, and we sink silently into the still water, silky on our bare flesh.
My heart thunders as we kiss for the first time, fuelled by lips that taste of champagne and sea spray.
The pool is shallow enough here for us to stand.
I plant my feet and sweep Lil into my arms before pushing off into the deeper water.
And then we float, kissing, sinking, rising. Careful not to make a sound.
Without urging, she wraps her legs around my hips, settling the warmth of her core against my erection. The heat of her, the temptation of her, has every nerve in my body screaming with guilt.
As gently as I can, I ease her away. The confusion and hurt on her face nearly break my determination.
But I can’t do this without her knowing the truth.
Because Lilavati is not the kind of woman you mess around with and walk away with no hard feelings.
If we go there, we’re going from fake dating to real dating.
And beyond. I need to know she’s sure about what she wants, and that she knows what she’s getting.
And we both need to be stone-cold sober when we have the conversation.
With my hands on her upper arms, I dip my head to look her in the eye.
“Sparky, we need to slow down.” The hardest sentence I’ve ever had to say.
“So, you don’t want to …”
I groan and shake my head. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I don’t even have words to tell you how much I want to. But you were the one who said this was fake dating. I want you to be sure this is what you want. You need to make an intentional choice not fuelled by champagne and dancing.”
She opens her mouth to speak, but I shake my head again.
“Sleep on it, my charming one. Be sure. And we’ll talk about it tomorrow without the champagne buzz. The last thing I want, for either of us, is for you to have regrets.”
Which is ironic because I’m pretty sure my dick is currently regretting every word that’s just come out of my mouth.
But I hadn’t reckoned on what a force of nature Lilavati is.
She takes a moment to process what I’ve said, her trademark scowl softened by the desire that’s clear in her eyes.
“I agree. I don’t want regrets either. And what I know is, if we don’t do this, I will regret it.”
“There are things you need to know …”
“There’s only one thing I need right now, and talking isn’t it.”
Her legs wrap around me again, and she pulls herself tight against my body. The contrast between the warmth of her body and the chill of the swirling water is sensuous, arousing us both still further.
I surrender.
I don’t think there’s anything Lilavati could ask of me that I wouldn’t give. I just hope this doesn’t backfire because once I’ve had her, I know in my soul I won’t ever want to give her up.
With a moan, I lift her until I can draw a nipple, stiffened by cold and desire, into my mouth, nipping gently. She lets out an almost-silent sigh, shifting her core against me.
“Not here,” I whisper against the firm flesh of her breast. “I want to hear you moan. Plead. Shout my name. We need to go upstairs.”
Like a couple of giddy kids drunk on their parents’ wine, we stagger out of the pool.
Luckily, there are still a few towels rolled and stacked on the towel trolley.
I wrap one around her, and secure one around my waist. We gather up our clothes and creep quietly out of the pool area and up the nearby stairs to our room.
The door hasn’t even shut behind us when our lips meet again, our clothes and the damp towels dropped where we stand. I scoop Lil into my arms and stride into the bedroom where the resort has turned on the bedside lamp, turned down the bed, and left a heart-shaped chocolate on each pillow.
“Condom,” Lilavati whispers, a note of desperation in her voice. “Do you have one?”
I have a box. Because I’m an optimist. I nod and, depositing her on the bed, go into the walk-in robe, rifle through my duffel bag, and return with the box of condoms.
“Tell me what you want,” I whisper against the satiny flesh of her ribs as I climb over her on the bed.
“Everything,” Lil replies with a sigh and an arch of her back.
“Your wish …” I answer, hoping I can deliver, because I’m more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life.
I need to slow this down if I’ve got any hope of giving Lilavati what she wants. I sit up and gaze down at her. Drops of water from the pool still cling to the golden skin of her shoulders and arms. A few damp tendrils of hair have slipped from what’s left of her hairdo.
With trembling fingers, I pull the pins from the heavy mass and drop them, with a series of tiny plinks, on the bedside table. Her hair is long and thick and spectacular. I spread it out around her, dark as the midnight sky against the white sheets.
Lil makes an impatient sound and tips back her head, pushing her breasts up off the bed.
It’s an invitation I can’t resist. I draw a tight nipple into my mouth and flick with my tongue, rolling the other between my thumb and forefinger. The noise she makes goes straight to my cock.
I’m never going to last this time around. I’m too aroused. Thankfully, we’ve got all night.
I drag my lips down her ribs and across her belly to her neatly trimmed mound.
Gently, I push her thighs apart and sink between them.
She smells of fresh water and of desire, the wetness between her legs not from the pool, but from her arousal.
I stroke my tongue along her folds, gathering her juices before I nip at her clit with my teeth.
Her whole body stiffens and shudders, and there’s a fresh rush of damp.
Her flesh pulses and twitches. Jesus. She came with one stroke of my tongue.
The aftershocks of her orgasm grip the finger I slip inside her. She’s hot and wet and swollen and my cock is throbbing with need.
Rearing back on my heels, I roll the condom on, made all the easier by the precum dripping down my length.
With a jerk, I pull Lil’s hips up my thighs until her entrance presses against me. Her eyes are closed above her pink cheeks, a dreamy expression on her face, hands gripping the covers beneath her.
“I need you to look at me, Lil.”
Her eyes pop open, and our gazes lock as I press my tip to her entrance.
“Now,” she whispers. It’s all the invitation I need. In one thrust, I’m deep inside her, so aroused I’m not game to move for fear it will be over too soon.
Lil’s impatient, though. With a strangled moan, she digs her heels into the bed on either side of my hips and arches her back in a slow, rolling rhythm, sliding up and down my length.
“Fuuuck.” It’s barely more than a groan.
And I can’t hold back. Grabbing her legs, I pull them up my chest till her feet rest on my shoulders, and leaning forward, I drive into her.
Again and again. One hand slides down her thigh.
I find her clit and stroke in counterpoint to my thrusts, eliciting a keening moan from Lil.
I struggle to breathe. Sweat beads on my chest, my back, my forehead.
My muscles burn. But I can’t stop moving.
All it takes is for her walls to contract. To pulse and squeeze with her second release. A purr coasts across her lips, and I’m erupting with a bellow loud enough to wake the whole resort.
Lil’s legs slip from my shoulders and fall to my sides. I collapse on top of her, sweaty and heaving, barely catching my weight on my elbows.
It takes a few minutes for my breathing to slow and settle enough for me to speak.
“Everything might have to wait for round two,” I gasp.
Lil tangles her fingers in my still-damp hair, pulling my face to hers.
“That was everything enough,” she whispers against my lips. “For now.”
“I thought you wanted to go snorkelling this morning to put you in a good mood before your day with the Emily Brigade?” I murmur as Lilavati trails her lips down my abs.
I need to stop her. To confess my, well, not lies, but half-truths.
But her lips are warm, and I’m a weak, weak man. Where she’s concerned, at least.
“Lilavati …” I start. But she ignores me, continuing to run her lips and tongue up and down my chest, sucking my nipple into her mouth. And I’m lost.
“There’s more than one way to put me in a good mood,” she murmurs against my skin.
“Oh, is that so? Tell me more, Sparky.”
I stretch my arms above my head, giving her free access to my torso. She rises on her knees, straddling me and runs her fingers up my sides to tickle the hair under my arms. I can’t control the twitch at her touch, and now she knows I’m ticklish, which I have no doubt will come back to bite me.
“What I’m thinking is, a little sleep-in now. Then some snorkelling this afternoon. When we get back.” Her hands continue to roam, working their way back down across my belly, not quite reaching where I most want them.
“What if it’s too late?” I say, rolling her left nipple between my thumb and forefinger.
She puts her hand up to her forehead dramatically.
“I fear I have a headache coming on. Must be this humidity.”
I laugh and flip us over so I’m hovering above her.
“You know what’s good for a headache?”
“Sure I do. I’m a doctor.”
Those are the last coherent words either of us utter for quite some time, because Lil's plump lips wrap around my cock and rob me of all rational thought.
My chest is still heaving, and I’m contemplating the fact that right now is not the ideal time to confess when my thoughts are interrupted by a buzz from the bedside table. It’s her mother reminding us we’re late for breakfast. Saved by the buzz.
I sit up and am about to climb out of bed when Lil puts a tentative hand on my arm.
“Um … before we face the enemy.” Her tone is uncharacteristically cautious, with me at least. “Should we, do you think we need to, maybe, talk?”
Fuck.
My heart changes gears. From a coasting, relaxed fifth to a grinding, heaving first.