Instinctively, she took his hand and squeezed it. He turned to look at her. A hot jolt of electric current shot between them, shocking them both.
Brice stopped walking. His eyes grazed her face in a tender caress. Naomi felt a pulse begin to beat between her thighs. Her heart felt as if it was tumbling around in her chest as she watched his face come closer to hers, until his image blurred and his warm lips brushed against hers.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. The instant was so perfect as to be surreal.
Brice pressed a tiny bit closer. The overwhelming craving to taste the full sweetness of her mouth had his arm snaking around her waist, pulling her closer. That only made this sudden, driving desire more urgent when he felt her body glide against his and his erection bloom hard and full.
He groaned deep in his throat as her lips parted ever so slightly and she allowed him to run the very tip of his tongue over the inside of their wet softness.
Brice held her and drowned himself in the lushness of her, let her essence seep through his skin and awaken sensations inside him that he’d put on the back burner. Now, with Naomi, all the jets were on full blast. What he wouldn’t give to spend real time with her. Get to know her and get to make love to her the way he was imagining.
This was so unlike him. Women were a dime a dozen in New York. He could have his hands full if he wanted. The women he knew and had run across didn’t rock his world, make him lose perspective and think about all the things he wanted to do to them. But this woman…this Naomi Clarke was not like all the others. It was as if she had woven some kind of spell over him from the moment he set eyes on her. She stirred up a burning thirst in him, and he wasn’t going to ever be satisfied until his thirst was quenched.
Naomi felt weak all over, and her body was on fire. From deep inside she trembled. This wasn’t her. This isn’t what she did with a virtual stranger. But she couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t stop and she didn’t want to. His mouth was like an irresistible gem that had to be captured and held. When his fingers pressed into her back and brought her closer, her own sighs floated into the night sky when she felt the bulge of his sex press against her.
It had been so long since she’d felt desire, and, more importantly, desired by a man. It emboldened her. And the fictitious life that she’d created was her shield. She could hide behind it. She could be a bookseller from the panhandle of Florida, who took classes at night and who was on a vacation in Antigua.
It didn’t matter. This was a fantasy being played out in real life. For once, she was going to take a risk. She was going to give in to her feelings and not try to make sense of them.
If she would only have one night with Brice Lawrence, she was going to take it.
With great reluctance and pure willpower, Brice eased away from the simple kiss that had shaken him to the depths of his soul. He knew that if he didn’t stop this spontaneous act, they would go much further than either of them were prepared for.
Naomi felt like Christmas morning. Brice’s arms were the red ribbons that laced around her, holding her like a prized possession. She was lost in his arms, transported to a place of pure sensual pleasure with his kisses. She’d tossed aside her inhibitions, her nonos, and simply went with the moment. When he pulled away, she’d instantly had a moment of doubt, of panic. What had she done wrong? But that wasn’t it, she quickly realized. She understood when she looked up into his eyes that he had been in that same special place, and his words confirmed it.
He held her face in his palms and looked into the soft sparkle of her eyes, the questions that were reflected in them. “I…really didn’t mean for that to happen,” he said. “Yes, I did,” he confessed. “But I don’t want you to think that I’m just another guy on the make.” He tried to collect his thoughts so that what stumbled out of his mouth made sense. “I can’t explain it. There’s something about you that…damn, I don’t know.” He shook his head in confusion and chuckled in spite of himself.
Naomi brushed his chin with her thumb. “You don’t have to explain. For some things there are no words,” she said, surprising herself. She’d always been one who lived by rationale. Everything had a reason and an explanation. But on this beautiful tropical island with this handsome, desirable, sexy man, under the moon and the stars…there were no words.
“Then I’m not losing it,” he said.
“If you are, then so am I.”
Brice drew in a long breath of relief and pulled her tight against him. He kissed the top of her head. “I probably should get you back to your room before I do something really crazy and strip you out of that sexy outfit right here on the beach.” He took her hand and they walked back toward the hotel.
Naomi’s heart pounded and her spirit smiled.
Chapter Four
Naomi felt like a small earthquake was going off inside of her by the time they reached the front door to her room. What happens next? Should she ask him in? Would that be too aggressive? A little late to be thinking of being aggressive. Her mind ran in circles.
“So…” he said on a long breath. He stood in front of her with her back to the door. “See you in the morning?”
“Sure. Yes.”
“How about breakfast down on the beach?”
She smiled. “Sounds great.”
“And what if I knock on your door at say, seven?”
“I’ll be ready.”
He stepped an inch closer. “And what if I knocked on your door…before then?”
Oh God, what was he saying? “Umm…”
He lifted her chin and smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t put you on the spot. But I do want to make it clear that if I had my way, I’d be on the other side of your door making love to you.”
Her insides jumped up the Richter scale. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to speak, but no words came out. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. “See you in the morning.”
“O-kay.”
He turned and walked down the hall to the elevator.
Naomi’s knees wobbled so badly she could barely stand up. It took her several tries before she could get her key card to slide through the slot and open the door.
Once on the other side of safety, she all but collapsed onto the first available club chair. Her pulse raced, her chest was damp and her clit was throbbing like a tiny heartbeat.
“Oh, lawd. What have I gotten myself into?” She took several deep breaths, then checked her watch. It was nearly two a.m. Alexis might still be up. She dug in her purse for her cell phone and tapped in Alexis’s number.
She listened to the phone ring on the other end until Alexis’s voice mail came on. Naomi babbled out a message and disconnected the phone. She pushed up from the chair, went to the bathroom and began getting undressed.
The evening with Brice played over and over in her mind while she stood under the pulse of the shower, as she ran the soapy loofah over her body. The water washed away the suds but not the heat that sat in her center and spread down the inside of her thighs. She relived his smile, his laughter, his scent, the feel of his hands around her waist, his lips on hers. She closed her eyes and allowed the sensations to take over and flow through her veins.
She imagined that the pulsing water was Brice’s fingertips playing a concerto along the surface of her skin. Her eyelids fluttered. A soft moan slipped through her lips.
In the distance she heard knocking. She blinked, turned off the water and listened. There it was again. Her heart thumped. Brice? Did he really come back? She grabbed the thick