Chapter One
T he sun kissed my skin, stoking a deep seeded desire buried within me. The breeze whispered coconut secrets that made me sigh with bittersweet happiness. I longed to freeze this moment. I wanted to stay here forever.
The invisible timer that would whisk us back to reality seemed close enough to touch. Soon, we’d put Hawaii in the rearview, and it would be back to the work I’d reluctantly left behind. Work I’d tried to sneak into our vacation, checking my phone constantly in between sightseeing and sunbathing.
Last night, Jacob caught me ignoring his plea to unplug after I cc’d him out of habit. His phone had dinged during the luau, right as he noted, with an edge, that I was missing the fire dancers. Contradicting himself, he’d paused to check his own phone. When he saw the email I’d sent, he all but threw both phones into the ocean. It was the wake up call I’d needed. For the first time since we touched down on the island, I turned off my phone. I even paused to smell the tuberose blossoms wrapped around my neck.
Now, six days into our seven day getaway, I dropped my hands to my belly. I stroked the round curve gently, sizing up the man beside me.
Naturally, Jacob Whitmore had figured out a way to turn lounging into an erotic act. His ball cap was tipped over his face, masking most of it in shadow. Still, the angular line of his jaw made my pulse race. His lips were ripe for the taking.
They belonged on me.
Inside me.
The muscled lines and squares of his body were on full display, the sun all but licking his golden flesh. Like this was his plan all along, tempting me, making anything but having him my top priority, the fly of his board shorts was left tantalizingly open.
Lust flared between my thighs. I wanted to lick. I wanted to seize this moment so it wouldn’t be like all the other moments I’d let pass me by.
I wanted to seize his cock.
Since we were on vacation, and what happened in Hawaii stayed in Hawaii, I decided to test the water.
Three of my favorite words fell from my lips.
“Let’s have sex.”
I glanced over at Jacob, wondering if he was annoyed by my brazen demand. Even from behind the tinted hue of my shades, Jacob glowed. He wasn’t a mirage, but it felt impossible that this man was all mine.
Why wasn’t I tracing every perfect, golden square inch of skin that glittered within reach? Why wasn’t I stroking my fingertips through his ebony waves as I pulled his mouth to meet mine? Why wasn’t I grinding my hips, teasing him as I felt him harden with arousal? With unbridled need?
I saw the very same questions coursing in his fierce blue eyes. We’d both been so busy, adjusting and building our new life that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so bold. I couldn’t put my finger on the last time he dominated me.
The warmth that settled over me had very little to do with the sun that glittered above us. This moment, these sensations, were all about Jacob. I relived the thrill of him. The way his strong, powerful hands felt when they gripped me. The hiss when one of those hands cut through the air and delivered stinging, delicious pain as it connected with my bare skin.
And then there was his eyes, blue and intense, dancing with all the things he wanted to do to my body. There wasn’t an inch of me that he hadn’t kissed, licked, or spanked, but he gazed at me in awe, like there was still so much to discover.
Or at least, he used to.
I peered down at myself glumly. I hadn’t even bothered with a bathing suit today, opting for a caftan instead. I went for function over fashion, something easy to get in and out of since my bladder seemed to have a mind of its own these days.
Shapeless caftans, the reek of sunscreen, and unpredictable bladders: it was no wonder I wasn’t climbing on top of him. I felt huge and bloated and-
No.
I gave myself a mental smack upside the head and stopped that train of thought dead in its tracks. Yes, my body, bigger
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