8. Sutton

8

SUTTON

My pulse tripped when I saw the word "Yes" form on her lips. The more evolved part of me wanted to make sure I hadn't imagined it, but the primitive beast that lived deep inside me was already clambering for a taste of her. He was running hot on want and need, and he thought—no, he knew —that June was mine.

I dipped my head and took her mouth, fighting hard to be gentle about it. The beast could make his demands. He could show me mental images of spinning her around and pinning her to the railing. Of caging her in as I plundered that sweet mouth.

But I wouldn't give in to that urge.

The images of what I wanted to do played in my head as I held her, coaxing with a soft swipe of my tongue. And when her lips parted for me, my resolve started to crumble.

My fingers threaded through her hair as she rose up on her toes to deepen the kiss, triggering a satisfied growl that rumbled from my chest. She clutched my shirt, sending tiny shocks of fire and ice through me, and it was all I could do not to grab her by the hips and haul her up my body.

Never in my life had I wanted a woman so fiercely.

My pulse was a deafening drum beat in my ears. She leaned in closer, pressing those luscious curves against me, and I ached to be inside her, to bury myself to the hilt and grind into her until her voice was hoarse from screaming my name.

But the flow of the music changed, and the world around us flooded back into my awareness. As much as it might have felt like it was just the two of us on that deck, with the ocean breeze ruffling my hair and tugging at the hem of her dress, we weren't actually alone.

All we had was the illusion of privacy.

I eased back, letting my hands slip down to the safety of her hips. When her mewl of disappointment hit my ears, I had to grit my teeth against the need to dive back in for another scorching kiss.

Instead, I pulled her tight against me and brushed my lips over the shell of her ear. "Does that make up for my first kiss?" I rasped.

A beat of silence followed. "No."

"No?" Was she serious? I angled back to find her smirking up at me with an irresistible flush spreading over her cheeks.

"But if you ask nicely, I might give you another chance."

She was teasing me—tempting me—and goddamn, the woman was all fucking kinds of tempting.

I looked past her and out to the crowd, where I hoped no one was paying attention to us.

Unfortunately, lady luck had taken the night off.

My fingers twitched when I spotted her friend Missy watching us like a hawk from her perch at the bar. Another sweep showed me Brandon dancing with a cute little brunette. He might have been putting a little more effort into making it look like he wasn't watching, but when our gazes locked for a beat, his face lit up in a knowing smile.

"Not here," I said, returning my attention to June.

"Why not?"

Despite the swell of want muddling my thoughts and blunting my common sense, the overwhelming need to protect her from prying eyes was riding me hard. No one else should get to see that look in her eyes or hear those intoxicating sounds slip from her lips.

"Because I want you all to myself," I confessed.

She arched her brow and leaned back. Her chestnut waves caught on the breeze, revealing the sexy line of her neck that was just begging to be licked. "Wouldn't that defeat the purpose?"

"Of what?" I asked, half-drunk with the need to taste her again.

June stepped back, and even though my hands didn't want to cooperate, I let her put space between us. "The point is to look like a real couple, right?"

Did she think that kiss was just for show?

I knew I should respond, but my foolish mind was too gobsmacked to form words. I'd never felt a connection like that. Heat like that.

There was no way it was one-sided.

Was there?

The sounds she made echoed through me. The delicious press of her soft body against mine was seared into my flesh. But the look on her face was projecting a very different message.

Had I read her that wrong?

I leaned against the railing for support, gripping the smooth wood so hard my knuckles throbbed. The heat that had been threatening to consume me bled away, leaving a hollow coolness stirring inside me. "Yeah," I managed to grind out. "I guess it is."

A flicker of uncertainty shadowed her expression, there and gone so fast I couldn't even be sure it was real. For all I knew, it might have just been my idiot mind playing tricks on me.

I tipped my face to the sky, scowling up at the stars as they mocked me with their cheery twinkle. A smart man would turn in for the night. He would politely bow out, keep his distance for the rest of the trip, and disappear back into the safety of his familiar life.

He definitely wouldn't be considering telling the woman in front of him that he didn't want to pretend.

"Do you want to dance?" Her voice was like silk, smoothing over my jagged edges.

If I wasn't careful, being around June was bound to give me a serious case of whiplash.

Going back to my cabin and sitting out on the tiny balcony by myself with a cold drink in my hand was tempting, not going to lie, but not nearly as enticing as the prospect of moving to the beat of the music with June.

Why?

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, apparently.

But the dancing didn't have to mean anything. It was just for fun. For show. And all I had to do was not let her get to me.

I held out my hand and she took it without hesitation.

"Are you any good?" she asked, as I guided her out into the crowd.

"It's been a few years."

"A little rusty then?"

"Maybe," I hedged. It depended on the music.

When the song playing over the speakers morphed and blended into the familiar bumping bass of Ginuwine's "Pony," the crowd cheered.

"You sure about this?" I asked, settling a hand on June's hip. "You might not be able to resist me after this song."

Her teasing smile was all the encouragement I needed.

I leaned in, pulling in her sweet scent before I whispered, "Hold on tight, babygirl."

My hips found the beat like I was twenty-one again, and June's surprised laugh faded into a heated look that damn near knocked the air from my lungs. Then she found her rhythm, matching every dip and roll like she was made for me.

We didn't devolve into college party level grinding. I refused to let my hands wander too far, no matter how badly they itched to explore every inch of her, but it was still easily the hottest dance I'd ever shared with a woman.

And when the next song came on, we moved to the new beat. And the next. And the one after.

If someone asked me how many songs played as we danced without saying a single word to each other, I wouldn't have had an answer. Sometimes we shared looks filled with fire. A few times we both started laughing and dancing like idiots. But words? They weren't needed.

I told her everything I wanted to say with my body, and the way she responded almost had me convinced that this thing between us could be real.

Fuck, I wanted it to be real.

When she grabbed my hand and led me away from the dance floor, I followed. Wherever she wanted to go, I would go. Whatever she wanted to do, I was there for it.

She grabbed us each a bottle of water from the bar, handing me one as she pressed the icy plastic to the side of her neck. "I got hot," she explained.

It took effort to tear my gaze from where she rolled that bottle along her delicate flesh. The urge to kiss her again pulsed inside me like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. Want. Need. Want. Need. It was like it was counting down the precious hours and minutes I had left to convince this electrifying woman to give me a real chance.

Down, boy. I cracked my water open and drained half the bottle, letting the shock of cold wash through me. Just because she had fun dancing, it didn't mean she would suddenly be game for throwing caution to the wind.

June sipped her own water, scanning the crowd. She shifted on her feet, and I thought I heard her whimper.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She shifted again and showed off one dainty shoe. "They're cute, but I think I've done all the dancing I can do in them tonight."

"So, take them off." I offered her what I hoped was a teasing smile. "I promise I won't step on those adorable toes."

She brought the bottle up and took another sip before answering. "With those moves, I have no doubt. Which brings me back to the unexpected. Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"College parties, mostly. Why? Where did you learn your salacious moves?"

June snorted a laugh. "I don't think anyone has ever called anything I did ‘salacious.'"

"I stand by my assessment." Because she was that and so much more.

She searched my face, rubbing her plump lips together. "Would you mind walking me to my deck?"

"It would be my pleasure," I answered, though it was a half-truth. I would have gladly spent the rest of night talking with her, but I wouldn't push.

She was overheated and sore, and we'd spent a huge chunk of the day together. It could just be that she needed to get off her feet and steal away for a little alone time. It was a sentiment I could certainly understand.

Besides, I still had two days to win her over, right?

A few minutes later, after a slow walk where we joked and laughed about the music and the dancing as the chaos of the deck party faded behind us, the elevator doors hissed open. Motioning her inside, I put my forearm up to hold the doors open without following her in.

"I had fun tonight," I said.

She touched a button on the screen before leaning against the back wall of the elevator with one graceful ankle crossed over the other, and one shapely leg peeking out between the layers of her gauzy dress. "Me, too. But you're not off the hook yet, mister."

I arched a brow. "No?"

"You agreed to escort me to my deck, remember?"

I'd been trying to give her space and end the night on a high note, but if she wanted to take an elevator ride with me, who was I to argue? "Indeed, I did," I said, stepping over the threshold. "Better?"

She waited until the doors glided shut to crook her finger and beckon me closer. My feet moved like there was an invisible string stretching from my heart to the tip of that elegant digit.

"You said earlier that you wanted me all to yourself." Her words, soft and dangerously seductive, reignited the fire that I'd been trying like hell to let die down.

"I did."

"Do you still?"

Yes, because I wanted—needed—to taste her again. But also no, because just breathing the same air as her had a way of bringing down my defenses. If I let her in too far, watching her leave at the end of this cruise would shred what was left of my scarred heart.

"Yes," I breathed the first truth, giving in to the hunger burning in my veins.

"Well?" she motioned to the otherwise empty elevator.

What am I waiting for?

I crowded into her space, took her face in my hands, and kissed her hard. It was nothing like earlier when I'd been holding so much of myself back that I thought I might burst into flames. That was still very much a possibility, but now it was for a different reason.

I slammed a hand against the elevator wall to keep from crushing her against it, but she grabbed my belt and yanked me closer. My cock had been aching for her all night, and with that one move, my control slipped. I pressed against her, pinning her to the polished surface.

The pressure between our bodies was enough to drag a groan from me, and I forced myself to ease back. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" I rasped.

She answered by looping her hand around the back of my neck and pulling me down into another kiss.

Goddamn, she was all kinds of trouble.

I slipped my knee between June's legs, giving her hot center a point of friction as I ground my painfully hard cock against her. She moaned into the kiss, and the sound slammed into me with the force of a pickup truck.

Everything she did—every little roll of her hips, every sound—dialed the flames inside me higher, and I couldn't get enough.

Then, in some distant place that could have been a thousand miles away for all I cared, the muted ding of the elevator let us know we'd reached her floor.

No. I growled the word in my mind. My grip on her tightened. It was too soon. I wasn't ready for this moment to end. At least, not until a throat cleared behind me, and June turned to stone in my arms.

Shit.

I eased back an inch and helped her straighten her dress. Crimson rushed up her neck and cheeks, and if she hadn't looked so mortified, I might have laughed at how adorable she was when she blushed.

Instead, I took her hand and turned, putting myself between her and the older couple waiting patiently for us to clear out of the elevator.