Between Us: Sex on the Beach (5 page)

He said a few words, pointed in my direction, and shook his head. The girls turned my way, gave me a dirty look, and huffed away. I took a steadying breath, locked eyes with him, and made my way to his side. The closer I got, the faster my heart beat.

This was it. This was
him
. The guy I’d been waiting for all this time.

It was time to collect.

“Hey,” I said, trying to sound casual. “You came.”

He removed his shirt from the chair next to him and cocked a brow at me. “Did you doubt I would?”

“Maybe a little bit.” I sat down, my gaze dipping to his chest. He had a foreign word across his chest, in Greek lettering, and black tribal tattoos swirled around the word. Flames licked out from the black lines, making the word inside of the design pop. I wondered what that one word meant, but I didn’t ask. “Nice ink.”

“Thanks.” He reclined and crossed his hands behind his head. “Why did you think I wouldn’t come?
I
asked
you
to come here with me, not the other way around.”

“I didn’t think you wouldn’t show up,” I argued, taking off my sarong and stretching out beside him. I turned my head his way. He was watching me with hooded eyes, and I swore I could feel his gaze on me. How cliché was that? I fisted my hands as my stomach twisted with desire. “I just wasn’t sure you would.”

He slowly lifted his gaze from my body and met my eyes. “There’s a difference?”

“Yeah, there’s a difference all right.”

He sat up and flipped his legs over the side of the chair. Reaching out, he trailed a finger over my stomach, right above the top of my pink bikini bottoms. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. I told you I wanted you last night. I just wanted to make sure you really wanted me, and that it wasn’t the booze talking.”

I sucked in a shaky breath when his hand crept higher, dangerously close to the undersides of my breasts. He kept it strictly PG, but it felt more R because he drove me crazy with need. “I still want you.”

“Good.” He skimmed over my ribcage, his knuckles scraping my bare skin. All around us, people laughed and chatted and walked, but they all kind of faded away. “I see the big hat’s back.”

“Yeah.” I tugged it lower. “What can I say? I’m a girl who likes her privacy, almost as much as she likes you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night.”

Maybe I should tell him who I was, so he would get why I was hiding from the world. Come clean. But what if he wasn’t trustworthy? What if he turned it around on me, and took some pictures to sell to the paparazzi? My agent would throw a freaking fit if that happened again.

His hand brushed across my ribcage, sending shocks of need and desire through me. “You were on my mind, too. All night long. You know, I’d like to get to know you a little bit better. Ask you a few questions, maybe.”

I watched his fingers as they crept lower, still remaining perfectly family appropriate…not that there were a whole lot of families here or anything. “Like…?”

“What’s your favorite color?”

I laughed lightly. “Easy.” I pointed to my bikini. “Light pink. Yours?”

“Green.” He cocked his head, his palm splayed across my stomach. It felt…territorial. And I liked it. “Favorite food?”

“Steak. You?”

He slid his hand a tiny bit lower. “Pizza. Always pizza.”

“Favorite sport?” I threw in, beating him to the punch.

“Football.” He snorted. “Is there any other kind?”

“Same here. Cowboys all the way.”

“Blech.” He rolled his eyes. “Redskins fan here.”

“Washington?” I blinked at him. “Why?”

He looked away, then looked back at me with hard eyes. I had a feeling he hadn’t meant to admit that. The man liked his secrets almost as much as I did. “I used to live there when I was a baby. It’s where my mom’s from, but we moved down here when I was three.”

“Oh. Wow. That must have been a big change.”

“I don’t remember,” he answered dismissively. He leaned in, his hand skimming over my hip and slipping almost underneath my butt. “Let’s make this more interesting. Favorite position?”

I hesitated, not sure what he was asking me. “You mean in football? I mean, I don’t play, but I guess quarterback.”

His eyes widened, and then he laughed, throwing his head back. It was the first time I heard him
really
laugh, and it was as musical as his voice. I could listen to it all day long. “Yeah. Sure. We could pretend that’s what I meant.” He chuckled a little bit more. “I used to play quarterback, you know. In high school.”

I turned away, my cheeks hot. Only now did I get what he meant—
sex
. “Actually, to answer your question, I like when the man takes control,” I said, dropping my voice low. “I like to lose myself in his touch. In his lips…” I trailed off, my attention on his mouth. I could lose myself in those particular lips for as long as he let me, thank you very much. “I like to forget who I am for that short time.”

He let out a small groan. “Is that so?”

“Yes. So tell me, Austin. Are you the type of man that can make a girl lose herself?” I asked boldly. I reached out and rested my hand over his racing heart. “Can you make me forget
everything
?”

He swallowed hard, then lowered his head over mine. But before he could kiss me, he stopped, his lips close, but not close enough. He watched me with so much unspoken promise in his eyes that I didn’t even know where to begin collecting.

“I can, but not here.” He kissed my knuckles, sending a shiver through my whole body, then pressed my hand against the dimple in his chin. Man, I loved that dimple. “Something tells me that a girl who wants her privacy isn’t going to want me making her scream out in public.”

He was killing me with those lips…but he was right.

I sat up, my legs brushing his as I did so. “Ready to go to my room?”

“Hell yeah, I am.” He stood up and offered me his hand. “Let’s go.”

I knew, just
knew
, that after I had him…I would be irrevocably different.

There was something in the way he made me feel, the way he treated me, that told me he wasn’t like any other man. He would be the guy I measured every other guy up against in the future, and they’d all be found lacking. If I was smart, I’d pick a safer bet. A guy who didn’t have this effect on me.

“Mackenzie?” he asked, his brow furrowed. “Are you in, or are you out?”

I looked up at him, taking in the muscles and the warm look in his eyes. The way he waited for me, hand extended, never wavering as he let me decide. Who was I kidding? He was one of a kind. I couldn’t let him go without spending some time in his arms. That would be foolish.

I slid my hand into his and stood. “I’m
so
in.”

I’
D SEEN
it back at the pool. Her hesitation. In a way, she would have been smarter to change her mind. To pick some Ivy League kid down for vacation with a squeaky clean record to have a little fun with. One without tattoos or scars. A kid without a dark past or his own secrets to hide. I wouldn’t have blamed her in the slightest.

It would have been the right choice.

But then she had gone and placed her hand into mine, and I forgot all about right choices. All I knew was that I was happy she’d picked me. Thrilled she was taking a chance on a guy like me. I knew it couldn’t come easy, the amount of trust she had to place in a man to do this. She had no way of knowing if I’d take advantage of her, or if I was a good enough guy to get naked with.

I wasn’t. But I wouldn’t be using her. I wouldn’t be taking advantage of her. If anything, I’d let her use me. There was something about her that made me want to do the right thing…whatever the hell that was. She would get what she wanted from me, and then she would move on. She’d go back to her fancy little world of A-list outings and awards shows, and I’d catch glimpses of her here and there on the TV. Maybe I’d even buy her album. But I’d never see her again.

I knew it. She knew it.

And we were both okay with that.

The elevator doors opened and I led her inside the small box, my throat going dry. I almost suggested we take the stairs, but I bit back the suggestion. I stole a glance at her as she swiped her card for the penthouse floor. She was all smooth alabaster skin, and I was ink and scars. She spent her days sunning and singing, and I spent mine dealing with…well, my own shit that I didn’t want to think about right now. But despite our differences, I was hers for the next few hours.

After a few seconds she turned to me, her green eyes pinning me in place, and a smile playing at those luscious pink lips of hers. She had freckles on her nose. I’d never seen those in any videos. She must hide them with makeup. I had no idea why. They were endearing. The smile faded. “Um, hi.” She gave a tiny wave. “So, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” I asked quickly, not sure what I’d done.

She thought about it. “I don’t know. It’s almost as if you can’t figure me out or something.”

I laughed. “That’s because I can’t. That’s not a bad thing. I find you intriguing.”

She tapped her fingers on her thigh. She was only wearing a bikini. Her skirt thing she’d been wearing was draped across her arm. “There’s nothing to figure out. I’m just a girl.”

“And I’m just a guy. Right?”

She nodded. “A special one, but yeah.”

Before I could ask her what she meant by that, the elevator dinged. She headed into the hallway and marched up to her door, swiping her keycard through the slot again. I was glad to be the hell out of that box. I scanned the hallway, taking in the layout. There was only one other room up here, and the floor was fucking huge. This was the only hotel I knew of that actually had a penthouse suite, but I’d never been in it. How big was her room, anyway?

I had a feeling it might be bigger than my whole house.

Once the lock flashed green and beeped, I pushed it open for her. With a quick search of the living room area, it was confirmed. It was definitely bigger than my house. After she tossed her key, hat, and skirt on the table by the door, she turned on me, looking nervous.

“Okay.” She wrung her hands. “So…there will be some rules.”

I shut the door behind me and crossed my arms. “Rules?”

“Yeah.” She tilted her chin up. “I’ve heard horrible stories about people taking pictures and videos without girls knowing, so I have some ground rules. No cameras or phones in the bedroom.”

I was impressed she’d thought this through so thoroughly. I held my phone up and tossed it next to hers. “All right. Done.”

“Empty your pockets.”

I cocked a brow. “Is this your idea of foreplay? If so, you need a few lessons.”

“It’s just how it has to be.” She wrung her hands again and nibbled on her lower lip. “I’ve seen too many friends get screwed over by guys, so I always play it safe. Something else my daddy taught me before he died.”

I wanted to know more, but I already knew enough. I’d Googled it last night. He’d been killed in a car accident a couple of years ago. Mackenzie was alone now. I knew how that felt all too well, in some ways. “He taught you to strip search men before sex? That was quite the liberal father you had.”

“No.” She gave me a small smile. “But he taught me to always be smart and never get caught in compromising situations. It’s a lesson I’ll never forget.”

“Fair enough.” I emptied my pockets, turning them inside out to show her I wasn’t hiding anything. I couldn’t help but be grateful I hadn’t shoved much in my swim trunks. Just my keys, phone, and some cash. “See? All gone.”

She nodded. “Thank you for your understanding. Now follow me.”

“As you wish, milady,” I said, bowing to her playfully. “I’m at your service.”

She shot me a weird look and I laughed. She was so delightfully paranoid that it was cute. I got that she wanted to be in control of the situation. I even understood it, considering her position in life. For now, I would let her have her way. I would let her boss me around. But once we were behind closed doors,
I
would be the one in control.

After all, it’s how she liked it. She’d told me as much.

She led me in to the bedroom, motioning me inside. Then she shut the door behind her and leaned against it, her cheeks pink. She gripped the knob behind her, seeming torn. “There’s something you should know. I’m…I’m a…”