Bring It On (11 page)

Surprise mixed with adrenaline, but even as her mind raced to catch up her body was already melting into him. His arms wrapped around her, lifting her up onto her toes and crushing her against him. Their tongues warred, sucked, played. His hands wandered. It would have been so easy to just let the moment take her and deal with the consequences later. But that wasn’t who she was.

Pulling away from him, Lena drew in a deep breath. Colt didn’t take the hint, instead latching his mouth onto the sensitive side of her neck. Her knees buckled and he caught her, scooping her into his arms.

Carrying her a few feet, Colt laid her onto the silvery surface of an emergency blanket. It crinkled loudly beneath her body.

“Where did this come from?” she asked.

“I was a Boy Scout. ‘Always be prepared.’ This pack has been all over the world with me and it’s always ready.”

He dropped to his knees beside her, adding his own rustling to the muted sounds of the jungle around them. In this moment, it was easy to believe they were the only people in the entire world.

He leaned over her, ready to pick up where they’d left off, but Lena stopped him, pushing her hand between them. Her fingers connected with his lips and even that shot a tiny spark through her blood. But this was important.

“What changed?” she asked, hoping with every fiber of her being that she liked his answer.

He drew back from her, rocking onto his heels. “I don’t know.”

That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Pulling her legs beneath her, she was ready to get up and walk away, but he stopped her.

“I’m tired of fighting it, Lena. I’ve wanted you for days. Probably longer, if I was honest with myself. It was easy to ignore when we were continents away. I’d come home, feel a little buzz when we were together, and leave again. I’d convince myself it wasn’t real. Or I’d stay away long enough to forget it.”

“I was so easy to forget?”

He bent down, pressing his forehead to hers, whispering, “No. But I don’t want to change what we’ve already got.” He pulled back, looking into her eyes. A shadow of something clouded the bright green surface.

“I think it’s too late for that. The minute we stepped onto this island it was inevitable.”

“I can’t promise you anything.”

She swallowed, recognizing exactly what he was telling her. Nothing that she didn’t already know. They had two completely different lives that only intersected on occasion. He was the worst possible man for her, but apparently that didn’t mean anything to her wayward body.

“I don’t remember asking you for a promise. What I want is for you to make me feel. To make me forget. To give me everything you’ve got for however long we have. At the end of the week we’ll both go back to our separate lives. Like we always do.”

Knowing what to expect should help keep her heart uninvolved. Sex. That’s what this was. Nothing more.

“You’re sure?” he asked, one last time. She probably should have taken the escape hatch, but she really didn’t want it.

“Absolutely,” she said, wrapping her arm around his neck and drawing him back down to her. “Love me. Now.”

His eyes blazed. With a growl, he reached for her, rolling their bodies until she was draped across him, her soft curves sinking into his hard planes. She expected his hands to be rough, for him to tear at her clothes and skin and hair, to want to devour her as much as she wanted to be devoured.

Instead, he gently scraped the hair back from her face, staring up into her eyes for several moments. His eyes were sharp, missing nothing. With all of her clothes still on, somehow he managed to make her feel naked. Exposed. The intensity she could have handled, but this soul-deep exploration made her want to squirm.

Colt knew her better than anyone—including Wyn—and she realized she was about to share the only part of herself he hadn’t already seen.

As if he’d read her mind Colt spoke, his gravel-roughened words brushing against her skin. “You’re beautiful and he’s an idiot.”

She tried to capture his mouth, to cut off the words so that she wouldn’t have to think about them, but he wouldn’t let her.

“I don’t want to talk about him while I’m having sex with you.”

He rolled them, the unexpected motion leaving her breathless and slightly disoriented when the world stopped spinning around them.

“Who said anything about sex?
Sex
implies something raunchy and quick. Nothing about this is going to be quick. I’m going to touch every inch of you. Drive you mindless. Before I’m done you’ll be begging me to let you come.”

The secret muscles deep inside her body contracted at his words. She felt the slick proof that he could make good on his threat between her thighs. Lena squirmed, trying to relieve some of the pressure, but it didn’t help. Nothing would.

“What if I make you beg first?” she asked, reaching between them. Her fingers had barely brushed against the tantalizing ridge of his erection before her hands were captured and stretched above her head.

“Maybe later.”

She wanted to protest, but couldn’t. Not with his mouth annihilating hers, stealing what coherent thought she had. The only thing left to do was feel.

He kept her locked there, at his mercy, as his mouth consumed everything it could touch. Pushing her thighs wide, he settled his own hips into the cradle there. The hard length of his erection pressed into the weeping center of her sex. Layers of clothing separated them, keeping what she really wanted so close but so far away.

As he worked slowly across her skin, stopping to suck and lick at pulse points she hadn’t even known she had, he kept up a steady, torturous rocking motion. The hard heat of him rubbed against her, too light to bring her any sort of relief. It wasn’t long before her head was thrashing between her upstretched arms, her eyes closed tight against the unforgiving edge of frustration.

Only when her body burned so hot she thought it might implode did he let go long enough to tug her clothes away. Any time she’d allowed herself to think about this moment, there had always been a tinge of anxiety. They’d been friends forever, but he’d never seen her naked. Would he be disappointed?

In reality, she was too consumed to worry about anything but the relief only he could give her.

Her eyes, gritty with need, watched as the sharp edge of his gaze scraped down the length of her body. Her back arched, begging him to put her out of her misery. Her breasts felt heavy and swollen. The tight nipples ached to feel the pebbled surface of his tongue caress them. The insides of her thighs were wet with desire, waiting, weeping, for him to finish this.

After all her blustering bravado, it didn’t take long for her to beg. “Touch me. Please.”

He did, this time leaving her hands free to return the favor. She reached for his clothes, tearing frantically until they finally fell away. Her hands shook as they skimmed down the warm expanse of his chest.

He was so solid beneath her touch, drawn tight with the same tension that whipped through her own body. The muscles beneath her fingers quivered. The further they dipped towards his sex the harder they leapt.

Her fingers feathered down the length of his erection and his entire body jerked. A low animal rumble ripped through his chest. She’d meant to play, to torture him the way he was making her mindless, but that intention disappeared the moment he sucked the tip of her aching breast deep into his mouth.

Her breath backed into her throat and the world around her blurred. Her fist closed tight around him, a reflexive reaction to find an anchor in the storm. He was hot and heavy in her hand.

Her palm slipped up and down his smooth weight. He felt wonderful and she could imagine the exquisite pleasure of him filling her deep inside. Her own hips pumped in unison with her motions, mimicking what she wanted.

Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around his waist. Her heels pressed into his flanks, her hand guiding him to the center of her need.

“Wait,” he said, the single word garbled almost beyond recognition. She whimpered in protest as he fought against her hold on him. Until she realized he was reaching into the magic backpack, removing a shiny foil packet.

“Condom,” he uttered, tearing into the packet and rolling the latex over his sex. She watched as the long, throbbing vein that ran the length of him disappeared beneath the opaque surface.

Grasping her hips, Colt pulled her back beneath him. The weight of his body pressed her into the blanket, grounding her in a way she’d never realized she wanted. Her body felt hot and light, ready to break apart into pieces and disappear. Colt was the only thing that gave her substance. Surrounded by wild jungle, he was the only thing that felt real.

Reaching down to spread her folds, his fingers slipped and slid, hitting her clit and making her arch against him. Cool air brushed across her exposed skin and her muscles contracted in anticipation.

Colt slid inside, slowly, deliberately, the heft of his sex stretching her. Filling her up. She gasped. Lifting her knees, she widened her thighs, taking all of him that she could.

Their eyes locked. Something deep in her chest tightened, something scary. But it was too late to go back now.

“Don’t think we won’t be talking about why you just happen to have condoms in that backpack,” she whispered, trying to distract herself.

A broken chuckle erupted from his body. She could feel it everywhere, the vibrations echoing through where they joined. “Later.” His mouth grabbed hers and he said again against her lips, “Much later.”

The frenzy, held at bay for far too long, finally broke free. Their bodies slapped together, over and over, each trying to pull and push one last ounce of desire from their joining. Lena sunk her teeth into Colt’s shoulder. The salty tang of his skin exploded across her tongue. His fingers dug into her hips, lifting her higher as he pounded in and out of her.

Lena’s body bowed. Every muscle froze and then exploded into a quivering mass of delirium. Pleasure tore at her, breaking her into pieces and leaving behind a shell of what she’d been before.

Colt joined her, yelling so loudly that a bird in the branches above them startled. Flying away, it rained indignant squawks down on them. Lena barely heard them, focused as she was so totally on the rolling aftershocks that rocked through her body.

Deep inside, she could feel the speeding pulse where she and Colt joined. Collapsing beside her, Colt gathered her in his arms. She was coherent enough to realize they were shaking, his entire body quivering with long-denied release.

She had no idea how long they lay there. She should probably be feeling something. Panic maybe. Or remorse. Perhaps guilt. But she felt none of those things. She felt…right. As if there was nowhere else in the world she’d rather be than right here, tucked against Colt, satisfaction still rushing through her muscles.

Exhaustion stole across her. There would be plenty of time for regret.
Later,
she thought, and snuggled deeper.

COLT BOLTED AWAKE. Where was he? It took him a minute to remember. The jungle. With Lena. She stirred beside him, still asleep.

Sitting up, he looked around and cursed. Darkness had fallen, although a weak, watery light still managed to filter down through the canopy of leaves above them. It couldn’t be all that late. Here, surrounded by dense trees, the light disappeared early. The jungle thinned closer to the resort. If they hurried, they might be able to make it out.

He didn’t want to think about Lena’s reaction if they couldn’t. While sleeping out in the open didn’t bother him, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be her first choice. Not when there was a soft, comfortable bed waiting for them.

If he hadn’t been such a lust-fogged idiot.

“Lena, get up. We have to go,” he whispered gently.

“Hmm,” she mumbled and rolled onto her side. Thirty seconds later she sat straight up. Eyes wide, she looked around them. Her body sagged as she frowned. “Well, shit.”

Colt chuckled. Her reaction could have been worse. Holding out her clothes he said, “As much as I hate to say this, you need to get dressed.”

While he’d been gathering her clothes, he’d pulled his own on. Reaching down, he grabbed his pack. Zipping open a side pocket, he pulled out his cell phone. Illuminating the dark screen confirmed what he’d already feared, no signal. Who needed a cell tower in the middle of the jungle?