Sex on the Beach (Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin) (4 page)

“You’re also naked now.” And he was ready to go, his erection nudging her thigh impatiently.

“Coma.”

“Right. Condom?”

“On.”

She blinked up at him, willing her head to clear so she could remember she was still pissed off at him. No good. He wore a post-orgasm halo now, and looked like a god up there. And she’d missed this so much, missed his weight and his attention. Tears pricked their way up and she closed her eyes quickly to prevent them escaping. This was supposed to be about rocks and getting them off, not people and missing them. “Then why aren’t you doing me?”

“I was waiting for you to be conscious.”

Even his smugness at the blackout orgasm didn’t render him unattractive. Especially not when he shifted his weight to one elbow, positioned himself and pushed half his length inside her on one stroke. Amanda’s turn to wince at the unexpected friction. Ready as she was, it had still been close to a year, and Jeremy was on the thick side.

But good, even with the sting of pain. So good, the way they fit together, moved together. She gripped his butt and levered her hips up into his, trying to hasten the process because she didn’t want to make love, she wanted to bang.

Jeremy grunted and sank deeper, thrusting hard once, twice, then the third time was the charm, hooking them up completely. He froze, buried to the hilt, and she willed herself not to open her eyes and check on his status. When she tried to thrust again, he hissed and dropped a bit more of his weight onto her, pinning her down.

“Stop that. Unless you want this to be over in about one minute.”

“As if.” He’d never taken less than five minutes, in her experience.

“God, honey, you have no idea.”

She did. If it hadn’t been for the unexpected twinge when he entered her, she’d be well on her way to a second orgasm just lying there with him inside her, making tiny encouraging movements and trying not to think too much. Even with the pain, she was getting there again. Getting wet again, just thinking about what they were doing. It seemed vaguely scandalous, for some reason, and the scandal added spice.

“Move.”

He moved. Amanda thought the earth might have, as well. From a near standstill, everything changed in an instant, the floodgates of unrequited lust finally bursting open. They arched frantically into one another, fingers tangling in hair, tugging on skin, as if they could wrap themselves together into one being with one mind. Rolling over, nearly tumbling off the bed, a jumble of kisses and
“Unf!”
and madly pumping hips until Amanda came, and Jeremy came, and then Amanda sort of came again a little bit.

When it was over, she lay on top of his chest, unable to do anything but hang on tight and gasp for air.

It had been well over a minute, but nothing close to five.

Chapter Five

Jeremy fumbled for his phone when the alarm sounded, slapping the screen until the noise stopped then dropping his head back to the pillow. He was alert, relaxed, and blissfully aware that he’d had the first good night’s sleep since he could remember. The sun streamed through every tiny opening in the blinds, tiger-striping the room, and a chorus of birdsong lent a slightly over-the-top, Disneyesque charm to the early morning. The only part that wasn’t perfect was the temperature of the bed, which was slightly warmer than he was used to.

And then he remembered, and flipped over to make sure she was still there. That he hadn’t dreamed her. That she hadn’t run away while he slept.

A splash of sunlight brightened the pillow she’d pulled over her eyes. He was sorry not to see her face, but the rest of the view more than made up for it. Her neck and the curve of the arm thrust up toward the pillow. The slope of her sternum, delicate bone structure under ivory skin, leading into the ambrosial pink-tipped cream of her exquisite breasts. He’d always loved them, their soft geometry and the way the colors reminded him of frosting on petits fours. Ribs too visible below them, he noticed with a frown, because she’d lost weight. Her stomach, another sleek curved surface; she always complained it wasn’t flat enough, he always said she was crazy. Right now she was probably satisfied with it, but Jeremy wanted to feed her a sandwich.

The crumpled white sheet lay over one hip, exposing the other. As usual, the covers were partially wrapped around one of Amanda’s absurdly tiny feet. She always kicked the sheets and blankets down as she slept. He decided that if he got the opportunity, he would never complain about it again.

“Are you looking at me while I’m sleeping?”

Oops
.

“Apparently not.”

The pillow was still in place, but Amanda was already reaching for the sheet, pulling it up to cover herself as if there were any modesty left between them. Once she had it firmly tucked beneath her armpits, she pulled the pillow off her face and pitched it in Jeremy’s direction, forcing him to catch the thing to avoid taking it on the nose.

She always looked cute-awful in the mornings, like a sleepy anime character. Fair hair in crazy spikes, puffy eyelids that she had a bad habit of rubbing with her fists like a little kid. The coffee usually had to kick in enough to make her hyper before her mood started to improve. Albino Sonic the Hedgehog the morning after a bender. Today was no different.

“Did we miss the kayak thing?”

He detected a note of hope in her voice but wasn’t willing to face the day without some sort of structure. Something that required they work together. “Nope. Why don’t you hop in the shower? I’ll order some breakfast, and by the time you get out there’ll be coffee.”

“I should just go to my room. This was nuts. I shouldn’t have slept over, I didn’t mean to.”

“I slept like a baby. I haven’t been sleeping very well since...well. I sleep better with you there.”

“It’s probably just because of the whole northern latitude thing,” she dismissed him, tugging the sheet off the bed as she stood up. “Seattle has those long daylight hours. Screws with your diurnal rhythm or something.”

“Babe, why the sheet? You’re just making more work for the housekeeping staff.” He plucked at the fabric, catching a fistful and hanging on as she shuffled around the bed.

The resistance stopped her a few feet away. Sighing, she looked back over her shoulder at him. “Do you mind?”

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“Freedom.”

“Is that like a Denver omelet, but with extra democracy?”

“It comes with a side of universal suffrage.” She shrugged, let the sheet drop and strode to the bathroom as if she didn’t care who was watching.

She hadn’t lost too much weight in her ass, Jeremy was pleased to see. A little too pleased. He had to take several calming breaths and compose himself before he felt able to call for room service. Once the water was safely running and he could hear Amanda splashing in the shower, he made another call—this one to the concierge, who was able to add two names to the kayak-tour list without any trouble at all.

Breakfast was an exercise in surviving awkward silences. They’d both put clothes on, increasing the distance between them. Amanda seemed lost in broody contemplation, and Jeremy’s omelet sat uneasily on a stomach already suffering from stress. He ate up, though, wanting to be sufficiently fueled for a brisk morning of kayaking. Seriously, what had he been thinking with that? The bed was issuing a siren call, promising more amazing sleep if he could only lure Amanda back into it with him.

“I guess I’ll go change and meet you in the lobby in about half an hour, then?”

She startled him out of his bedcentric reveries, and he was astonished to see she’d cleaned her plate. Perhaps she wanted to fuel up, too.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Change clothes? Meet you in the lobby in thirty?” She started toward the door and he followed her.

“Down on the beach, actually. Next to the kayak-rental hut.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Turning at the threshold, she glanced at a point just beyond his shoulder, avoiding his eyes. “All right. Um, thanks for breakfast and...stuff. Sex or whatever.”

He wasn’t sure why being thanked for sex drained some of the fun away, but it did. “You’re welcome. By which I mean that you’re welcome anytime. For sex or whatever. I mean it’s vacation, I’m disease-free and you already know my kinks, so why not, right?”

The ghost of a smile transformed her face, breathing hope into him along with it. “You don’t have any kinks.”

“You’re my kink.”

Her Cupid’s-bow lips pursed as she seemed to consider whether that was acceptable or not. “You might want to broaden your tastes. I mean, what will you do after vacation is over and your kink goes back home to a different state?”

When in doubt
,
lie like a dog.
“I’m not thinking past the vacation right now. I just wanted to spend time with you again. Reconnect. I’ve really missed you.” As if saying it multiple times would make it mean more. But he couldn’t stop saying that part, because it was true.

“Reconnecting? Is that what we’re calling last night?”

“I’m calling it awesome, personally. Your mileage may vary.”

She attempted to hold back a chuckle, failed, and eyed him slantwise. “I can’t quite remember. I need a refresher. Could you just turn around a sec?”

When he shot her a questioning look, she circled her finger around. Obediently, but not without some concern, Jeremy turned his back to her. Her slim hands stopped him when he tried to complete the circle.

“No, just like that that.”

Those hands slid from his shoulders down the long muscles of his spine, finally fanning out over his hips as they turned to cup his ass. A gentle touch, at first, then a firmer squeeze—though not quite as hard as the way she’d gripped him last night, almost hard enough to leave bruises.

Finally she released him, with a parting slap to one cheek.

“Yep, you’re right. It was awesome.”

By the time he turned around, she was already off the patio and jogging down the path to her own cottage. But even after she passed from sight through the shrubbery, her giggles carried back to him on the breeze.

Chapter Six

If she hadn’t known the matching clothes were accidental, Amanda would have wanted to crush Jeremy like a bug for it. As a random occurrence, though, she had to admit it was kind of funny. At least until the kayak tour guide hailed them with, “Hey there, looks like a new mister and missus joining the group!”

When they explained they were not, in fact, on their honeymoon, he took a second guess: anniversary trip.

She couldn’t blame him. Her own rash guard-and-swim-short combo, in turquoise with a print of white hibiscus flowers, was almost identical to Jeremy’s cobalt blue outfit with a print of white hibiscus flowers. The fact that half the clothes on the beach had the same motif didn’t seem to matter much when she and Jeremy were standing side by side looking like officially uniformed members of Team Matrimony.

“It’s not that bad. He was just jumping to conclusions,” Julie reassured her. Then she had to elbow Alan, whose smirk had broken out into an active snicker.

Jeremy squeezed her hand—he kept on holding it, and she kept forgetting to let go—and bumped her body gently with his. “You just have good taste in beach attire, is all.”

“Thanks. So much.”

The tour guide started assigning kayaks, and Amanda turned to partner up with Julie, only to see Alan tugging her along to a boat.

“I would have made puppy-dog eyes until you agreed to go with me, anyway,” Jeremy said softly.

She looked up at him. Despite the sunglasses, she could tell he was already making puppy-dog eyes. He was kind of the evil genius of puppy-dog eyes, actually.

“You’re the one who invited me to go,” she said in what she hoped was a breezy manner. “Of course I’m going with you. Let’s get paddling.”

The hand-holding was indicative of a larger problem, she found as the tour progressed. She kept forgetting they weren’t
doing this
anymore, the whole couple thing. Kept noticing something amazing and turning to Jeremy to share it. Kept catching sight of him next to her in the boat and being struck by his profile or the way his neck was angled just so.

She did these things all the time, she realized. That was the problem. She did it all the time, but now he was here again to reinforce it. To respond to the amazing thing she’d seen with some observation of his own. To catch her looking at him and grin, causing her to smile with reflexive delight because he wasn’t just some random stranger who bore a passing resemblance to Jeremy, after all. He was the real deal.

He’s my kink
. Time and distance hadn’t changed that. But it had taken proximity to make her realize it.

Not only that, he seemed to be Jeremy, improved. Not just the fitness, although she couldn’t say she disapproved of that change. But it was as if the past year had focused and defined him more clearly somehow, tempered him into something with a sharper edge. The body was only the physical manifestation of some deeper change. Confidence, she supposed most would call it. Self-actualization. Turning into a grown-up.

Either that, or his absence had simply made her heart grow fonder.

“Oh, wow. Hey, honey, look!” Jeremy leaned closer to the kayak’s glass floor and pointed. “An octopus. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person before. That’s so cool. It’s small, it looks like a baby.”

“Do you say
in person
if it’s a cephalopod?” She bent over and tried to spot the creature. At first she failed, then the tiny octopus resolved against the background of coral and sand, like an optical-illusion poster suddenly making sense. “I see it! Wow! I can’t believe how cute it is.”

“Is it so wrong that this is all making me hungry for seafood?”

Giggling, she sat up again. “Yep. Pretty wrong. I’m thinking, something like a nice cedar-plank ahi, how about you?”

“Calamari all the way, baby. Sorry, little guy. Being cute doesn’t keep your cousins from being mighty tasty when they’re battered and fried.”

“Oh, please. Fried food? You?” She waved at his torso. “You look like you haven’t gone near fried food since you hit the Washington state line. Or a carb of any kind.”

He smiled, pushing his sunglasses higher on his nose. “So you keep reminding me. Subtly and sometimes not so subtly. Mostly not. And yeah, I admit I’ve been avoiding carbs some. But I’m not one of those fanatics about it. What about you, how are you even finding clothes these days? Kids’ department? You
need
fried food. For your soul.”

“Is my soul in my boobs? Because that’s where you’re looking. Those glasses don’t fool me.”

“Is mine in my ass? Because you keep checking that area for something and my soul seems like the least smarmy possibility.”

“Yes, Jeremy. You have a butt-soul. At last it can be told.”

His laugh rang out over the water, attracting the attention of another pair of kayakers. The couple were in their sixties or so, and they beamed at Amanda and Jeremy as they paddled past, heading toward the shore of the secluded bay where the tour guide had led them to better observe the local wonders. The older couple, too, were dressed similarly to one another...though it was a similarity born of ease and comfort rather than of any particular taste or function. Khaki shorts, polo shirts, floppy hats.

That could be us in about thirty years
, she thought before she had time to make the mental correction to
could have been
.

“Okay, Soul-tits. Can I call you Soul-tits?”

“Ah, no. No, you may not.”

“Looks like everyone is starting to veer toward the sand over there. You ready to paddle?”

As if on cue, the guide called to the kayaks farther out. “Take another few minutes, then make your way to the beach. We have a few more things to see before heading back to the hotel.”

Amanda swung her legs back over the seat, toward the front of the kayak. “Let’s do it.”

If only everything could be as effortless as the way they plied the oars. Like sex, a choreography so smooth and natural that it felt like a foundation to stand the test of time.
Of course
, the paddles said, dipping in and out of the water in perfect tempo.
Together forever
, their bodies had whispered when they came together in the night.

When they were together before, Amanda had often had moments of sheer astonished gratitude. Thankfulness that she’d found him. Delight that he seemed to feel the same way about her.
Love
. Love, like in the movies. It had been so perfect, so amazing.

It had been too good to be true. Because as much as she wanted him, as much as he claimed to want her...he had wanted Seattle more.

They skimmed up to Julie and Alan’s kayak, where some sort of hilarity seemed to be ensuing. Both her friends were doubled over, head to head over the boat’s windowed floor. Alan’s hands were resting on Julie’s shoulders, and they were both laughing to the point of tears. Alan said something about turtles, renewing the laughter, and by the time they finally sat up they were both bright pink and clutching their sides.

“Something you want to share with the class?” she asked, knowing that Julie wouldn’t answer in any meaningful way. Explanations were clearly called for, but now was not the time.

“We were admiring the turtle,” Alan explained.

“Right. Okay, well, the guy said we should head back in a few minutes. Wasn’t sure you’d heard him, what with the turtle admiration and everything.”
The kind of sickeningly cute turtle admiration
,
with the laughing and the hugging and the pink cheeks.

Alan took their picture before they paddled away. Amanda smiled as she leaned toward Jeremy and posed, and only afterward did she realize how natural, how unforced that smile was. She hadn’t been thinking about their past or future, just enjoying that moment, the time they were spending together. The way she used to, before the whole issue of Seattle arose and everything went to hell.

She and Jeremy both asked Alan to email them the pic. Amanda figured she’d see how she looked in it later and decide whether it was worth keeping. Maybe she’d keep it but crop Jeremy out.

Maybe she’d just keep it.

By the time the group made it back to the hotel, Amanda wanted nothing more than a heavy lunch, a long shower and a nap. She wanted all those things in more or less equal measure, and she felt that she should be naked for all of them. It was also vital that Jeremy be present and naked the whole time. After the food/shower/nap things were accomplished, there could be sex. Simple needs, easily met.

Except that Julie wanted to do girls’ lunch. Amanda had to claim an overdose of sun in order to decline gracefully. It gave her a twinge of conscience, but that twinge wasn’t nearly as strong as the countering desire to have seafood and Jeremy.

Julie didn’t buy it, Amanda could tell, but she rolled with it. More or less. She made a fuss, feeling Amanda’s neck to see if she was overheated.

“You probably need some water. Or I could find you a sports drink? A cool bath might be good, too.”

“I was going to order a sports drink with room service. If they don’t have it, I’m sure Jeremy won’t mind finding me some.” She glanced at Jeremy for confirmation, only to see he was deep in some sort of manly bonding with Alan. The guys had taken a few steps away and were both standing with their arms crossed over their chests, frowning at a nearby hibiscus bush. They looked for all the world like two dudes staring down at an engine, both trying to act like they had a clue how to fix it.

“Is there a word,” Julie asked quietly, “that expresses the intersection between
bro
and
horticulture?
”

Amanda remembered all over again why they’d been best friends for so long. “No, but when they find one, I know just the picture to illustrate that encyclopedia entry.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Better than okay.” She was surprised to find she meant it. “I’m having more fun than can possibly be safe. I’ve been trying to resist it all morning, but...I don’t know. Nothing’s changed, really, so it’s colossally dumb. But we just go together so well, you know? I’ve spent so much time focusing on how pissed off I was at him, I forgot how good we could be.”

Julie nodded. “You guys always were the perfect couple.”

“Yeah, but maybe that was part of the problem. We were spoiled by that. We didn’t know how to deal with things when it became less than perfect.” That particular revelation had come long before this trip, though. Remembering that didn’t count as progress.

“Have you talked about that, or—”

“No.” She didn’t even want to
think
about the breakup, its causes, who was culpable in what way. “We’re just doing vacation. That’s all. Sun, sex and seafood.”

“I think this place should use that as a tagline.”

“I missed my calling, I should’ve gone into marketing.”

“Seriously. Okay, you ready to help me break up a botanical bromance?”

They drifted closer to the guys just in time to catch Jeremy talking about how he’d been paying moving bonuses for new hires relocating from Silicon Valley. It kind of soured the moment, especially when Alan tried too hard to change the subject.

“Hey, so, Jules, are you starving? I’m starving.” He was so animated he looked as if he wanted to convert the rest of them to the cult of cheerfulness. “Are we ready to go chow down?”

Julie gave him a little
You’re crazy
look, then shrugged. “I guess so. But you promise to get some fluids before your nap, Amanda, and text me if you need anything, right?”

“Of course. But I’ll be fine, you don’t need to worry about me. Go eat, have fun.”

Jeremy rested his arm on her shoulders, but gingerly, as if she might turn and bite him at any moment. “I’ll make sure she’s hydrated and rested.”

Alan nodded at Jeremy, then aimed his goofy too-big smile at Julie. “Great. Okay, honey?”

“Honey? Really?”

“Sorry. Just thinking about various foods. Rumbly in the tumbly.”

Amanda couldn’t take it anymore. “Okay, well then. I’m going for Gatorade or whatever. Jeremy, I guess you’re coming with me. Jules, have a great lunch with Pooh Bear. Everybody clear on the plan? Aaaand...break!”