The fine white sheets were a tangled mess around us, a testament to what had unfolded moments ago. Lying beside Ella, I still felt the echo of her touch against my skin, that lingering warmth fueling an insatiable desire.
This woman was dangerous. Addictive.
Her head rested on my chest, and her chocolate brown hair spilled in waves over my arm. Deep rhythmic breaths fell over my scant chest hair like she was close to falling asleep. But I wanted those hazel green eyes open again. They’d been so wary and wide when she spilled her drink on me like she thought she was in trouble.
I could have taken pity on the girl, but I wasn’t ready for sleep. My mind raced, already plotting the next step in this unexpected game we found ourselves playing. I wanted her in every way possible.
Normally, I dated within my social set. It would be unseemly for me to be with a woman like Ella. But women my age weren’t usually this carefree with themselves. They had more obligations and things to consider than a girl in her twenties. Back home—
But I’m not home. I don’t have to worry here. No one knows me on the island.
Maybe that was the magic of vacation sex. Nothing to consider, no responsibilities. Just fun. Ella The Chef was the perfect vacation hookup.
And I wanted more.
Waves crashed outside, the sound filtering through the open balcony door. I should have smelled the ocean. Instead, I smelled her all around me. Vanilla and sugar and something undeniably female. I wanted her here, in this moment with me, indefinitely. Her presence was intoxicating.
‘Ella,’ I began, my voice low as I traced my fingers along her arm to outline the small whisk tattoo there. Her skin was like silk. I wanted to know her. Not only her body, but the woman she was. ‘Tell me something about you that no one else knows.’
She chuckled at my request and yawned. “I hate underwear.”
I barked a laugh. “Something tells me I’m not the only person who knows that.”
She shifted slightly, propping herself up on one elbow to look at me. The moonlight cast her face in a soft glow, highlighting the curiosity in her eyes. “Something no one knows? That’s a big ask from a stranger.”
“I don’t see the point in making small talk. Life’s too short for that.”
Her lips curled into a thoughtful smile. “That’s true.” She laid back down on my shoulder. “When I was a girl, I used to write poetry. Silly stuff, really. About dreams or boys I liked, the kind of things you think will never really happen.’
I smiled, tightening my hold on her. ‘Why wouldn’t the boys happen?”
“I was a late bloomer. Didn’t have my first boyfriend until I turned twenty.”
“So, this was two, three years ago?”
She laughed. “Ten.”
“You’re thirty?”
She nodded, then took a bite of my pec.
I swatted her ass for that infraction, and she giggled and released me. “What was that bite for, young lady?”
“You’re not supposed to ask a woman’s age, and thus, you had to be punished.”
“Oh, I’ll show you punishment, if you like.”
Her breath hitched at that. “Maybe later.”
I liked that she had an adventurous streak in her, even if only for the night. It was my nature to push for more—to know more, feel more, own more. With Ella, every piece of information felt like a piece of her soul she was handing over, and I was eager to collect as much as she was willing to give.
“Promise me I’ll get to punish you again.”
“What we did didn’t feel much like a punishment to me.”
“Promise me.”
She laughed, a sound that was part music, part magic. ‘Maybe,’ she teased, leaning in to kiss me softly. ‘If you’re lucky.’
The kiss deepened, and I rolled over, pinning her gently beneath me. My body was ready again, my desire for her reignited by the mere sound of her voice, the taste of her lips. ‘I don’t rely on luck,’ I whispered against her mouth. ‘I make my own.’
“That’s why I have a four-leaf clover tattoo on my ankle. I had to make my own luck a long time ago.”
“Sounds like there’s a story there.”
She smiled, and it was enough to take my breath away. “Yeah. But I already gave you one of my secrets. Tell me one of yours. Something no one knows.”
“That’s not how this game goes—”
“It is when you play with me,” she said sharply. “Unless you don’t want to play with me again—”
“Fine, fine, a secret for a secret. Brat.”
She grinned. “You bring the brat out in me.”
Lucky me. “My secret, if it can be called that, is that I miss simpler days.”
“How is that a secret?”
“Because anyone who knows me would think I have the perfect life. The truth is, I miss the old days when I was starting my company.”
“I assume that means you’re a big success now?”
I chuckled. “If you’ve ever had surgery for a heart murmur on the East Coast, there’s a significant chance the hospital used some of my company’s equipment.”
Those hazel green eyes go wide for a flash. “Oh, wow. Impressive.”
Shrugging off her compliment felt wrong but accurate. “Thank you, but I miss the days from the start of things. Twenty years ago, when things were sketchy, and we didn’t know if we were going to hit the way we wanted to…it was me and two partners working with manufacturers and others to move our products to market ourselves instead of selling to one of the big corporations. Those are the days I miss.”
“That sounds terrifying. Why would you miss it?”
There were some secrets that I couldn’t tell her, so I kept things as clean as possible. No sense in dragging her into my sorrows. “Back then, the company was small and nimble. The three of us against the world. I was finishing my degree in Chicago when I met my partners, and that’s where we started the company. Life is simpler there than in New York. I assume that’s where you’re from, too—”
“Born and raised.”
“Same. I love New York, but Chicago has a Midwest charm. People there are friendlier and warmer. Things move at a slower pace. I miss that.”
“What’s so different about things now?”
“Now, Morbinski Incorporated is a behemoth by comparison. Over two hundred employees, a board to answer to, all the trappings of corporate life. My partners sold me their stake in the company, so I own all of it, and there are days it is more than I want to handle. So—”
“Simpler sounds better.”
I nodded once. “I’m here to escape…that and my son. He has refused to go to rehab again, and we had a shouting match about it. Again. What about you? What brought you here?”
She sighed and laid back, taking her delicious warmth with her. So I laid on my side to be closer to her. She licked her bottom lip, a hesitation. “I don’t want to bring you down. Don’t—”
“Whatever you’re holding back, there is nothing you could tell me that would diminish the high of having you in my bed.”
“You sound very sure of that.”
“I am.”
She bit her lip once more before blurting, “Bad breakup.”
“What happened? If it’s bad enough that you needed a passport to escape your breakup, you likely need to talk about it.”
Her smile died. “I guess that’s true. We dated for two years, give or take. Things were mostly good. Kind of. Anyway, I thought we were really gonna be something, you know?”
“What went wrong?”
“Recently, God, I guess it’s been almost a month now—he told me he couldn’t see himself settling for someone like me.”
“Settling?” I didn’t have the time to blink before the anger set in. “What precisely did he mean by that?”
Her voice cracked, and she gave a tight, embarrassed laugh. “That I’m… not exactly his type anymore.” She shrugged, but it didn’t hide the hurt flashing in her eyes. “Too soft. Too much of me, I guess.”
All sense of satisfaction evaporated upon hearing those words. “That son of a bitch—”
“He has a lot of problems,” she said as some sort of explanation.
“He’s about to have another.”
She laughed. “Stop. It’s not the first time some guy has said something rude to me about my body, and it won’t be the last, I’m sure of it. He’s a big pill head and drinks too much, one of those artists who take the Hemmingway approach to life, you know what I mean?”
“All too well.”
“He mixes too much of one with the other, and sometimes, it makes him mean. He says…rude things. I’m not trying to excuse what he said—only trying to explain it.”
“You don’t need to do either for my benefit, Ella. No context excuses what he said to you.”
She shrugged. “Anyway, my boss told me I needed to come here and get my head straight. She and her husband come here to get out of the city, so she recommended this place.” She rolled onto her hip to face me. “I’m glad she did.”
“Enjoying your stay?”
“Tonight in particular.”
I traced along her collarbone and down her sternum, losing my fingertips in her cleavage. “Tonight has been especially good.”
Her breath hitched in her chest. “Agreed.”
I loved seeing the effect I had on her. Every inch of her had been so responsive, and knowing she’d likely been neglected by her bastard ex-boyfriend, I made a silent vow to make up for his mistakes. “I owe you another punishment.”
Her smile turned playful. “But I thought I had been so good.”
“The punishment isn’t because you were bad. It’s because I’ve been good.”
Her pupils blew as her breaths increased. “You have been.”
“Stay here.” I exited the bed and fetched a pair of robes from the closet. “Put this on.”
“What kind of punishment requires a robe?”
“Put it on and find out,” I said as I put mine on.
She huffed and took the robe. “All right, but this better be good. Someone promised to distract me all night long.”
“Yes, well, you were five minutes away from falling asleep not long ago, so I’m not sure you could keep up with me.”
Her indignant laugh made me smile. “Oh, bullshit! You’ve got ten years on me—”
“Eighteen, actually.”
That stopped her for a moment before she tied the robe. “You’re forty-eight?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Not even a little. I was just surprised. Now, what is the robe for, Dom?”
I took her hand and led her to the balcony. When she saw it, her appreciative gasp was all I needed to hear. She leaned on the decorative railing for a better view of the ocean. It was why I had picked the suite—I liked a good view.
“It’s beautiful out here.”
A private beach was flanked by jungle on two sides, but the sandy beach stretched before us. The water was black and glittered beneath the stars and a half moon. There was little light pollution from this end of the resort, so the natural surroundings shone all the brighter for it.
But then the sound of drums pulsed out from the corner of the building. I had timed this just right. I pressed myself against her ample backside and held the railing on either side of her. “We’re just in time.”
“The resort’s nightly parade?”
“Indeed.”
She giggled. “Didn’t think that’d be your scene.”
“It’s not.” I slipped one hand from the railing to place it inside her robe.
She startled and stiffened for a beat before relaxing against me. “Oh.”
The adults-only nature of the resort made me worry less about pushing the boundaries of propriety. Guests and employees walked around the building every night at eleven. Musicians and dancers carried torches or instruments, while the guests usually carried their third or fourth cocktails as they laughed and danced. Not a large parade, but usually several dozen people long. Enough for a hint of risk.
I’d always enjoyed public play, so I hoped she wouldn’t object. My fingers splayed over her belly, the tips barely grazing her softness down below. “Anyone could look up here and see that my hand vanished into your robe. So, you better be quiet, young lady.” My hand dipped lower, my thumb on her clit as she mewled behind closed lips. “Wouldn’t want to get caught, would we?”
“No,” she whispered.
I experimented with my touch until I found the motion that made her go tight against me. “What a pity you don’t want them to see this. A pussy this pretty should have an audience.”
“Oh God.”
“Have you ever played in public, Ella? Have you let people see you come?”
“No.”
I hooked a finger into her, and she shuddered and arched ever so slightly to take me deeper. I nudged her hair out of my way and exposed her bare neck to bite her there. Not hard—just enough to satisfy my need to own each part of her body. She whimpered and opened her neck to me, making it easier to sink my teeth into her.
She was mine only for the night, and I intended to take everything I wanted.
“Dom, please.”
“Please, what? Tell me what you want.”
“I need to come. Please.”
Even if Ella wasn’t the most addictive woman I’d met in a long time, hearing her beg for orgasm was enough to hook me. I opened the front of my robe and lifted the back of hers. “Lean forward and watch the parade, Ella.”
“What are you—”
I entered her from behind, earning a surprised yelp from her sweet lips. Fuck, she was so damn wet and tight. I moved as if dancing to the parade music, and she gripped the railing. “Dance with me.”
“Oh my fuck—”
The sound of a trumpet cut her off. The parade leader liked to come through and wave at all the people on the balconies as he played his trumpet. Sometimes, he had a pair of women with him to toss beads to the balcony spectators.
I was delighted to see them again tonight. I grunted. “Smile and wave, Ella. Give them a show.”
“Can’t—gonna come!”
I pounded into her to the rhythm of the parade, just another dancing spectator lost to the music. When she clenched on me, she nearly yanked me over the line. But I held back. I had other plans.
The bead tossers threw some necklaces our way as the parade wound around the other side of the building. When the last of them vanished from view, I pulled out and tucked myself away. Ella leaned back on me for balance.
“What…the fuck?”
“Don’t like a little danger in your fucking?”
Slowly, she turned around to face me. Her face was flushed, sweaty. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she had a fever. “I don’t…never…wow.”
I took her hand in mine again, this time leading her back to the bed. “Lay down for me.”
“Don’t have much choice. My legs are still shaking.”
I unwrapped the robe from around her and kissed a trail from her exquisite, full tits to her thick thighs. “You are a vision. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.” And then, I feasted on every inch of her.
Once was never enough. With a woman like Ella, it could never be enough.
As our physical connection ebbed, I held her close, feeling a proprietary satisfaction in the heat of her body against mine. ‘Stay with me tonight,’ I murmured into her hair. The thought of her leaving, this room growing cold by her absence, was unacceptable.
Ella looked up at me, her eyes searching mine in the dim light. After a moment, she nodded, her smile soft. ‘I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.”
As sleep finally claimed us, I was content in the knowledge that she was here, safe in my arms, and for now, mine.
