THAT MAN COULD SIT on a laptop all day, and somehow, I would still salivate over him. When he took his top off, I wasn’t going to look away for anyone. I didn’t care if everyone in the world knew I’d slept with him right then.
Kauai somehow made everything more vivid, colors more saturated, life more vibrant. And under that sun, Jett became a man I wanted more and more. His arms looked bigger, his chest wider, his abs more defined. His skin already looked bronze even though I was sure he didn’t spend extra time tanning.
I didn’t respond to him, knowing that’s what he probably wanted. I just met his gaze and held it.
He cocked his head as if assessing me. ‘Paddleboarding won’t make me enjoy this trip.’
‘Have you ever paddle boarded before?’
He grunted and then walked past me to grab a board. ‘Of course.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Not everyone has done it. It isn’t just common practice, Jett.’
I grabbed mine and followed him out.
‘Have you not?’ he asked the question like he knew the answer.
‘I just learned on this trip.’
As he waded into the water, I followed. When he veered around a large rock that blocked the others from view, I did too.
‘So, you just suntanned when you went to the beach before?’
I let the cool blue water lap at me while the sun warmed my skin. I breathed in the humid air and felt the breeze in my hair before I answered. ‘My family only went to the beach when I was young. I haven’t been to one since high school. This is my first time.’
Before he jumped onto the paddleboard, he asked, ‘Why?’
I shrugged. ‘Life sometimes gives you lemons and you make lemonade. Other times, you can’t make anything.’
It wasn’t an answer. We both knew it. I waited to see if he’d pry, but he jumped up on the paddleboard instead.
I got to my feet, the board shaking beneath me, and steadied myself. Jett paddled ahead with confident strokes. When I stuck my paddle in the water, I overbalanced and belly flopped in with a splash.
Jett looked back and laughed. I managed to right myself and paddle a few strokes after him, but it wasn’t long before I fell again. Each time I fell, he laughed harder.
Under the sun and in the sparkling water, I could swear Jett was finally enjoying himself.
After about my tenth fall, I stayed in the water and rested my elbows on the board as I stared up at him. ‘You have to admit this is kind of fun, Jett.’
He paddled up so close, looming over me. Droplets of water glistened on his legs and he smiled down at me like Zeus would at an ungodly soul. ‘I’m getting my exercise in for the day instead of having to work out when I get back to my place, so that’s a plus.’
‘Oh, come on,’ I whined. ‘You are the epitome of a bad mood. Nothing will make you enjoy this trip, will it?’
As soon as the words left my mouth, Jett crouched on his paddleboard. His smile disappeared and his brows drew a little closer together. Determination glittered in his eyes.
I took a small step back in the waist-deep water. He jumped off his board, unhooked himself from it, and came toward me. I backed away and tried to put my board between us. ‘What are you doing, Jett?’
‘Showing you exactly what will make me enjoy this trip.’
He ducked underwater and suddenly I felt his hands skating around my ankle, removing my board’s band. Then, he was back above water, pushing away my board so he could grab me around the waist and bring my body up against his.
I glanced around quickly. “Are you joking? We can’t …”
He didn’t shift his eyes away from mine for a single second, not even checking his surroundings to see who might be watching us. He just pulled me closer with his hand on the back of my neck and kissed me.
Devoured me.
Branded me with that kiss. He didn’t leave room for me to object or resist or even breathe. No part of me wanted to do any of those things anyway.
My stomach flipped, and my heart rate picked up. My mind got lost in the illusion of a world where we were lovers, the only people who existed. The waves lapped at my back, cooling it while Jett heated me everywhere else.
“This bikini top …” he groaned as he kissed down my neck.
“You love it?”
“Me and every fucking man on the island.”
He untied the strings around my neck. “Is that a problem?”
“You enjoy men looking at you?”
I smirked and shrugged. “I don’t really care whether they do or not. It’s all about fun, Jett. Enjoying yourself on a vacation. I enjoy feeling sexy, and if men enjoy looking, I guess everyone wins. They’re just looking.”
He hummed but didn’t say anything else. He let my top slide off of me and drop into the water. The breeze felt liberating against my bare skin. His hands skimmed down my neck to my breasts. “They don’t deserve to see this body, Vick. Not like it’s a piece of meat. It should be a crime.”
I didn’t answer him, didn’t tell him that his idea of hiding it all away was silly. Because at one time, I’d thought I would never get to display it again or even have a body to display, for that matter.
I looked down at his hands squeezing me. I rubbed my hands up and down his chest. Then, I did what any woman would with Jett Stonewood in front of them. I hooked my arms behind his neck and jumped up to wrap my legs around his hips. He grabbed my ass with both his hands and hummed low in my ear, “Woman, next time we go to a place you have to wear a swimsuit, wear a damn one piece.”
I bit his neck. “No fun.”
“And we all know you’re all about fucking fun.”
He slid my bikini to the side. When his fingers brushed over me, I should have glanced around to make sure my friends weren’t looking for me, that people weren’t catching me in the act.
I didn’t though.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
This was my moment and the little sound in my head reminded me of that. In the middle of Kauai’s bluest bay, under the brightest sun, with one astonishingly hot guy who wanted me here, and I wanted him.
I catalogued it, saving it for a future daydream when I’d pull it out of my imaginary Rolodex. I noted the way his blue eyes darkened, the way his jaw tightened when I slid my hand down the front of his swim trunks, how he thrust into me and every one of his muscles rippled under me. I would have taken a freaking picture of his face if I could have, so perfectly symmetrical and angled just right that every woman in the world would probably drop their bikini top for him.
I didn’t need to record the way his hand moved in me though. He had learned how to work each inch of my body into a frenzy the first night we were together and there in that crystal-blue water, he used every skill he knew to drive me to the edge.
I writhed against him, wanting to race to my release, but he kept a steady pace. “Jett, stop playing with me.”
“I thought you liked to play,” he quipped as he walked us into deeper water.
I squeezed him hard and quickened my strokes. “I like to have fun.”
His hand moved in me, and I moaned. “This fun enough?”
I didn’t answer, just rode his hand and stroked him at the same pace.
He grunted, “Looks like you’re having a great time, Vick.”
He slid another finger in, and I bucked against him. “Jett, can you please …”
“Please what?”
I moaned, “Please shut up and fuck me here. Please. Please. Please.”
He laughed at my chanting but didn’t move to take his shorts off. He curled those two fingers in me and rubbed in just the right place.
He kept strolling deeper into the water. And just as I was about to scream, he submerged us.
We looked at each other as I pumped him faster and faster, and he fingered me at the same speed. The water clouded my senses, disoriented me with lack of oxygen, and shook me to my core. When I orgasmed, I didn’t see stars or explosions or lights. I saw his blurry figure under the water like a foggy dream taking over my damn mind.
He owned me, held me where I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t feel air against my skin, or witness any life other than him.
I felt him spasm right after me, his muscles tightening. I saw his neck go taut and knew he was getting off just as intensely as me.
We were under the water, in an unfamiliar world made for us alone. I told myself to forget about the fairy tale, to stop living in reverie, but I lost myself to it with him under that water.
After Jett got me off, he swam away, then reappeared with my swim top. ‘Here.’
I grabbed it and retied the strings as he front crawled over to where the tide had washed our boards out. When he pushed mine toward me, I said, ‘Should I go around the rock first or you?’
‘Or we could both go at the same time?’
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He laughed. ‘Vick, no one cares what we’re doing.’
‘Speak for yourself. My friends are nosy.’
‘Are they? Or are you the nosy one and think they’ll ask the questions you normally ask them?’
‘Brey knows …’
‘She might know something is up, but that girl would never ask.’
I huffed and straightened my bikini top before I paddled my board toward the rock. ‘Whatever. It doesn’t matter.’
‘I know it doesn’t. We’re adults. We can do whatever we want in the damn water.’
I ignored him and swam toward Jaydon and Brey who looked like they had resorted to sitting in shallow water looking at seashells.
‘Where did you guys go?’ Jaydon asked.
I looked pointedly at Jett behind me. ‘There’s some beautiful coral reef on the other side of that rock.’
Jett rolled his eyes and walked past all of us without engaging in the conversation.
‘Guess Jett didn’t enjoy it?’ Jaydon practically yelled after his brother to irritate him.
Jett turned to respond, catching all of us off guard. ‘Oh, the reef was exceptional. Under the water, in this light—absolutely exceptional.’
My face heated, my stomach flipped, and my knees went weak enough that I slid down lower into the water to hide my reaction to his words.
