Chapter 9

CHAPTERNINE

London felt like she was floating on air. The summer breeze had goose bumps forming on her exposed skin. The boat beneath her bobbed gently on the peaceful lake.

She risked a glance over at Trey, reclining beside her on the forward deck. Wearing only a pair of board shorts, he was a mouth-watering display of sculpted sun-kissed skin that she wanted to reach out and touch. Everywhere. Only she couldn’t bring herself to lift a finger. Her fear of doing something naïve kept her body frozen in place.

They’d only known each other for a little over a week and she still had to pinch herself that a guy like him wanted to hang around her. There were certainly plenty of young women more sophisticated than London vacationing on the lake. She’d seen them casting speculative glances in their direction when she and Trey were walking through town.

For his part, Trey didn’t seem to notice. He only had eyes for her. Wherever they went, he was quick to lace his fingers through hers, almost as if he couldn’t bear not touching her. It was a heady feeling for a girl who only ever went to her prom with a group of friends rather than a date.

She could get used to the tender way he stroked a finger down her cheek before he kissed her. Or the way his hand felt, possessive and failsafe, resting on the small of her back. Not to mention how electrifying his hard body felt pressed up behind her, his arms wrapped around her middle, as they watched the sun set over the lake in the evening. Fortunately for London, the cautionary tale of her mother’s twentieth summer on Lake Geneva kept her from completely losing her head over Trey’s attention. And considering she could barely get up the courage to initiate a touch, it wasn’t likely to ever become an issue.

In less than two weeks, when he was gone, all she’d have left of him were the photos she’d collected when he wasn’t looking. While pretending to be capturing images for her college portfolio, she’d surreptitiously snapped enough images of Trey to make a five-minute film that she watched in her room each night. Except photos wouldn’t be enough to sustain her, she was beginning to realize. She itched to know if the light dusting of hair on his chest was soft or coarse. If the muscles on his abdomen were as hard as they looked. Would his legs feel nice wrapped around her hips?

His eyes remained closed as she unabashedly let hers roam over him. When she landed on his lips, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up in a smug smile, as if he could feel her checking him out.

“See something you like?” His husky voice was wreaking havoc on her nerve endings.

London surprised herself by rolling over on her belly so that her arm and leg were brushing against him. She was rewarded for her bravery by the sound of his sharp intake of breath. She shifted her eyes to the horizon, propped her chin on top her hands, and asked the question that had been nagging at her since they’d met.

“Do you have a girlfriend at school?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t be here with you.”

His quick response bolstered her confidence. “Why are you here with me?”

The boat shifted when he slowly rolled over onto his side to face her. London immediately missed the sizzle of his body.

“You have to ask that?”

Her skin heated beneath the weight of his intense stare. He hesitated only briefly before reaching down and skimming his finger along the back of her thigh and up again before stopping abruptly at the vee of her bikini bottom. The movement made her insides tremble.

“You’re fun to spend time with,” he murmured softly. “You don’t take things too seriously. You’re easy to talk to. You call me out on my shit. And your smile lights up my world every time you gift me with one.”

She sucked in a breath when he leaned down to sweep his tongue along her shoulder.

“And you have to know how hot you are,” he whispered against her skin. “I can’t help but want to touch you. Hell, I can’t think half the time, I’m so busy imagining all the things I want to do with you.”

“I don’t have any experience with that kind of thing.” There. She’d said it.

His lips stilled against her skin and London suddenly wanted to throw herself in the lake. As if reading her mind, his hand settled lightly on her lower back, anchoring her to the boat.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

It took everything she had to do as he asked. She nearly wept at the tender expression in his golden eyes.

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he said.

An exasperated sigh escaped the back of her throat. While she appreciated his gallantry, she wanted to do things. Lots of things.

Trey chuckled wickedly. “But if there’s anything you do want to do, I’m all yours.”

London sank her teeth into her lower lip before tentatively placing her palm against his chest. His eyes grew dark, and his breath seemed to still beneath her touch. She ran her fingers through the coarse hair on his chest before following the trail lower along his abdomen. He hissed sharply when she let a finger skim his belly button.

The sound had her jerking her eyes back to his face just as his eyelids fluttered closed. Now it was him chewing on his lip. Emboldened, she leaned forward and traced her tongue along the swollen flesh of his mouth. Trey growled, then ruthlessly took over the kiss. He rolled onto his back. London followed, practically crawling on top of him. He sank his fingers into her hips, adjusting her so she was straddling the hardest part of him. A sudden jolt of pleasure coursed through her body at the feel of his arousal between her legs. The thin barrier of both their bathing suits did nothing to diminish the hot, hard feel of him. He groaned when she slid her core along his erection.

Breaking their kiss, she stretched up on her elbows and gazed down at him. He was breathing just as hard as she was. He dragged his eyelids open. The passion she saw reflected there made her stomach flip.

“You’re a fast learner,” he told her. “Anytime you’re ready for another lesson, let me know.”

He’d barely finished his sentence when she was kissing him again. This time, he let her control their tempo, her tongue tangling with his. His fingers sank into her butt cheeks, kneading and squeezing until she was perfectly placed along his hot length once again. Her body moved on its own, grinding against him as a sense of urgency grew deep within her belly. Dragging her mouth from his, she sank her teeth into his shoulder, to keep from wailing.

The sound of a boat horn startled them both apart.

“Ohmigosh!” she shrieked as she frantically skimmed the boat deck for some sort of covering.

“Shh,” he said. “No one can see us. I rigged the sunscreen to shield us from view.”

His reassurance did nothing to calm her racing heart. Or the throbbing that lingered between her legs. Still gasping, she was embarrassed at her inability to stop squirming.

“Let me help you, London,” Trey whispered.

“I—”

“I’ve got you.”

Reverently, he traced the pebbled nipple beneath her bikini top. She nearly jumped out of her skin at the contact.

“Mmm,” he said right before he lowered his head and took the bud into his mouth.

London’s hips bucked. She’d never known such pain and such pleasure. A sound of male satisfaction filled her ears right before he slipped a finger beneath her bikini bottom and dragged it through her tight seam.

She threw her head back with a moan. Trey moved to her other nipple. The ache inside her built to a feverish pitch. She buried her fingers into his hair, pressing his head more firmly against her.

When Trey slid a finger inside her, London lost all conscious thought. She could hear him whispering words of encouragement, urging her to let go. To take what she wanted. Her head was thrashing from side to side when suddenly, a cataclysmic wave of sensation overtook her. Her stomach dropped as though she’d leaped off the high dive while a thousand pinpricks of light danced behind her eyelids.

“London.”A far-off voice called to her. “Wake up, honey. We’re finished.”