Hotbed Honey by Toni Blake

injected into her soul.

    Then his fingers were near her neck, smoothing, pressing in small rhythmic circles, working their way down one strap of her bikini top, moving onto the exposed ridge of her breast, fingertips reaching just past the top's edge, sending her desire to a fever pitch. She bit her lip in response to the throbbing sensations below. She wanted him to touch her more, everywhere . Wanted him to slide one hand into her top, another into her bottoms. Wanted to move against him and seek her pleasure and explode for him in wild release.

    Her lips were trembling now. Kiss me, she thought. Oh please, Max, kiss me.

    But Max, who had always been a slow and very thorough lover, continued in the same pattern, his fingers now leaving the valley between her breasts and gliding up onto the curve of the other. Kimberly bit her lip harder to keep from whimpering, to keep from begging.

    Her heart beat a frantic cadence when he moved his caresses back down her body, the cool lotion being smoothed into the skin at her hips and the tops of her thighs. So close, so achingly near to the center of her desire. "Oh, Max…" She hadn't meant to utter it, but it had come naturally with her escalating need.

    "I didn't get around the edges of your suit before." He spoke in a husky timbre, making it clear to them both that this was not the real reason his touch lingered in this particular area. She opened her eyes and their gazes connected. "Should I stop, babe?"

    She let out a heavy breath she hadn't realized she was holding, then gave her head a short shake. An emphatic no .

    His dark, sexy eyes narrowed on her with a heat so intense that it might have frightened her coming from anyone else. But it didn't frighten her with Max. Nothing frightened her with Max. She loved him, and she wanted him to touch her so badly that she could taste it.

    He slid the tips of his fingers beneath the thin strip of material at her hip. She sucked in her breath again, wanting this sweet, horrible teasing to end, wanting him to touch her there . Now . "Max," she whispered. "Please."

    She heard his labored breathing above her and let her eyes fall shut. His fingertips were moving, sliding ever so slowly, ever so hotly, getting nearer, nearer, until she wanted to scream. She realized that she was gripping the arms of the chair as if holding on for dear life, and she was panting wildly. Then his strong fingers moved over and down through the small thatch of hair and slid warm into—

    His hand was suddenly gone.

    "Damn," he said.

    Kimberly's eyes bolted open and she raised her head. "Max?"

    He stood above her, looking down. "I just heard a car door. He's back."

    "Oh," she sighed in utter disbelief. He was back? How could this be? How could it happen?

    They stared at each other for a long, awkward moment, thrust unpleasantly back to the reality of why they were here. Kimberly longed to say something, anything, to make this seem less strange and uncomfortable, to make it seem normal and right, but she couldn't find any words.

    "I'd … better go meet him," Max finally said. And then he was gone, disappearing through the French doors, leaving Kimberly alone to hold back tears of frustration.

    Oh damn it! she thought. Now Carlo was here and the role-playing would begin again. She had to be ready for him and she had to be tough and she had to be that way right now .

    She'd be damned if they were both going to come back out and find her lying here looking scared and bereft and nervous. She refused to let Carlo come upon her stretched-out body and gawk at her and feel all the things she wanted to make only Max feel.

    So she rose from the lounge chair and dove into the pool, and tried to let the cool water swallow all her frustrations.

    * * *

    "Here you go, babe. Medium-well, just the way you like it." Max set a sizzling-hot steak in front of Kimberly on one of the teak tables on the patio.

    "Thanks," she said, returning his smile, although she