No Tan Lines (28 page)

He pulled her closer and parted her thighs. He probed her sex with one finger, then two, and her body pulsed against his palm. She shivered in spite of the steamy, hot water.

His breath was ragged as her climax neared.

She brought him to the edge, too. The pendant from her necklace pressed into his chest, leaving the imprint of a tiny heart over his own. Her wavy bracelets drifted over his cock with each stroke of her hand. The slide of silver against skin did him in. He was a goner.

He couldn’t hold back any longer.

He wanted this woman,
now
.

He slipped on his condom and backed her against the wall. She gasped as he glided into her, only to groan moments later when he opted for the hand-held massager. High-powered and pulsating, the water beat where their bodies joined, heightening their release.

Nicole climaxed first.

She clutched his back and moaned her satisfaction.

Kai followed, his hips pumping until the end.

His sigh was deep, his body, sated. He returned the shower massager to its wall casing, then held Nicole close.

They were squeaky clean and physically spent when they emerged from the shower a few minutes later. They wrapped each other in guest bathrobes and moved toward the sitting room.

Their clothes littered the floor, and they both took a moment to straighten up. Afterward, she went to the minibar for a bottle of wine, an assortment of cheese and crackers, and a cluster of green grapes. She spread the food on the low coffee table.

He took her hand and drew her down beside him on the plush green leather sofa. He stretched out at one end, and she curled her feet under her and leaned back against him. He slipped his arms beneath her breasts. She felt soft and warm and womanly. He liked her curves.

“We need to talk baseball,” he said, kissing the soft spot just below her ear. “Our team is number one and will soon play Southern Trust from Saunders Shores in the all-star challenge.”

“Are we any good?” she asked.

“We need to be better,” he said. “I’m going to schedule additional practices. I want you at the park, too. The boys think you’re hot. They fall all over themselves to get a hit when you’re cheering them on.”

“They liked their dog tags,” she said.

Kai smiled against her hair. She’d designed brass tags with the boys’ names and their position on the team, along with the word
Winner
on the back. “You gave them team spirit,” he said. “No boy has taken his tag off even to shower.”

“How can we beat Southern Trust?” she asked.

“Prayer.” He was honest. “It won’t be easy. We’ve never won the summer challenge. In the past we’ve faced a shutout and the mercy rule that ends the game if one team leads by ten runs.”

“That’s awful,” she said, appalled. “We can’t let that happen this year. I want my boys to win.”

“So does Shaye,” he said, smiling. “She’s competitive and cheers until she’s hoarse.”

“Our team will do just fine,” Nicole said, so positive, Kai believed her. “I’m more worried about Shaye and Trace. I’d hoped they would connect after the volleyball tournament. But they seem so distant.”

Distant? Doubtful,
Kai thought. He was fond of his cousin, but she’d become secretive recently. He wondered what went on behind closed doors at her houseboat.

Trace Saunders nuzzled Shaye Cates’s neck. Her skin was amazingly soft. They lay entwined on her double bed. A blue cotton sheet covered their hips. The curtains were drawn against a full moon. Privacy was of the utmost importance to these two. A summer-breeze-scented votive candle burned on the bedside nightstand. The top drawer was open, and the box of twenty-four condoms was down to the last two.

It had been a sexually charged week.

They couldn’t get enough of each other.

Trace now lay on his back with Shaye curved against him. Her hair was still damp from their shower. He breathed in her scent, Dove soap and woman. “I like you next to me,” he said.

She smiled against his midnight stubble. “I like a man who keeps me in hair bands. Have I thanked you for the red velvet with the filigree bow?”

“You thanked me twice,” he said. Their night had been arousing and hot. She now rested her head on his shoulder, and he stroked her arm. “But feel free to do so again.”

“Again is good,” she agreed, skimming her hand across his chest and down his abdomen. She dipped a fingertip into his navel, then gently pressed her palm into his stomach, stretching her fingers south.

Trace liked the way she touched him. He was barely able to concentrate as Shaye stroked his cock.

She kissed his right pectoral, then flicked her tongue over his nipple. The moist heat of her mouth did him in. He rolled her under him so fast that she gasped.

He settled over her. Her belly cradled his sex, and her nipples pressed against his chest. She clutched his shoulders and softened into him. Heat flashed across her face, and her body warmed. Her mouth tempted, grazing his, and she parted her lips, welcoming his tongue.

He lusted for this woman.

Her skin was silken, her flesh sensitized.

Her gaze was passion-glazed.

He kissed her with promise and possession, holding nothing back. He made love to her, aware she was his future. He wanted no other.

Her touch was intimate and knowing. She traced the lines and dips of his defined ribs, then went on to circle his sex. The short strokes of her fingers matched the mating rhythm of his tongue.

He took a heartbeat of seconds to locate and fit his condom, then returned to her. His hands moved over her breasts and down until they rested on her thighs. He slowly parted them and, without pausing, pushed inside her. She took him deep. They fit perfectly.

Her breathing came faster.

His chest rose and fell quickly.

She arched as his thrusts grew hurried.

His hips pumped, and her thighs tightened.

He felt her heart beat against his chest, rapid and wild.

His own pulse raged, raw and out of control.

His muscles stood out beneath her hands. She gripped his back as if she’d never let go. The crescent curve of her nails marked him as hers.

Pleasure took them both to a new level, where intensity and satisfaction collided. He took her closer and closer to orgasm, until her desire crested. He clutched her hips, and he came in a pulsing rush.

He gave her one last kiss before rolling onto his back. Minutes passed as he waited for his heart to calm and his breathing to slow. His focus took even longer. The white-hot flash behind his eyelids had been blinding.

He exhaled his satisfaction. He’d had good sex, even great sex, but never like this. Shaye engaged his mind as much as his body. He was committed to her.

He finally rose and rid himself of the condom. He returned to find her under the sheet, hiding from him.

He shook his head. She knew he wanted to talk, so she ducked to avoid him. He would force her to listen.

Shaye felt the sheet slide down her body and made a mad grab for it. Trace was far quicker and whipped it beyond her reach. He wanted her exposed and vulnerable.

He slid in beside her, drawing her close.

She warmed to his body.

She knew what was coming next. They faced a repeat of the same conversation they’d had the past three days. Her chest squeezed.

“I want you to stay at my place tonight,” he said.

“I’m not ready for that yet.”

He drew a deep, patient breath and said, “Sleeping only at your houseboat shows a lack of commitment on your part.”

“I’m comfortable here.”

“Here is easy,” he said. “I understand your concern, but you’re thinking of your relatives and not us.”

“They wouldn’t be happy.”
Furious
was more like it. She bit down on her lower lip and tried to delay the inevitable one more night. “This is all moving too fast.”

“We’ve been thirty-two years in the making,” he reminded her. “We’ve known each other all our lives.”

“I never liked you until recently.”

He had the nerve to smile. “I took an interest in you at the Snack Shack years ago. Even though you were so prickly and mean to me. You gave me stale candy, and I chipped a tooth.”

“I’d hoped to send you to the dentist.”

“That night was the start of us,” he said. “The way I see it, we need to make up for lost time.”

She pressed her palm to his chest, right over his heart. “Don’t rush me, Trace.”

“I know you, Shaye, and you procrastinate. We’d stay like this forever if I didn’t push you.”

She scrunched her nose. “Is that so bad?”

“It could get a whole lot better.”

She sighed. “There’s no natural course to the future for us. We’re so very different.”

Trace rolled onto his side and raised himself up on his elbow. As he looked down at her, his hair was mussed, and he was in need of a shave. He looked rough-and-tumble and incredibly handsome. The sharp slant of his jaw and thinning of his lips told her that he was serious. Very serious.

“We’re more alike than you think,” he said. “It’s time for a heart-to-heart, Shaye.”

She squirmed against him. “Can’t we at least put on some clothes?”

“Not for this chat.”

“Bare my body, bare my soul?”

“Exactly,” he said, not cutting her any slack.

She ran her hand over his shoulder and down his arm. She took his hand. “We need more than great sex between us.”

He agreed. “Compatibility goes beyond chemistry. It’s what we create together that connects us. We challenge each other, communicate, and negotiate. I’ve met my match in you.”

“I’ve come to trust you,” she could honestly say.

“You’ve stopped being sneaky.”

She bit down on her bottom lip. “But relationships take work, and we’re both so busy.”

“We could set a time to be home each day, stick to it, and unwind together.”

The concept sounded good. “We both love our families,” she went on to say, “but they don’t like each other.”

“We may not be able to change them, but we can respect each other’s commitments to our families.”

“I can be outspoken.”

“No argument there,” he said. “You’re novel, interesting, and totally yourself.”

“We laugh when we’re together.”

“I laugh
with
you, and you laugh
at
me.”

“You’re the mature one.”

“Not when I’m at the amusement park. Then I’m ten again.” He kissed her brow. “You’re competitive, but I don’t mind losing to you. Someday I want a rematch at baseball caps and bumper cars.”

She’d win again. He’d be a good sport. She liked so much about him. “You’re logical,” she said. He offset her tendency to jump into situations feetfirst, then second-guess herself.

“You’re spontaneous, which keeps life interesting.”

“Am I smart enough for you?” she wondered out loud. “You spent four years at Florida State, and I went to a junior college. You took off for New York City, only to return when your father had his accident. Any regrets about living here?”

He shook his head. “I love the way you think,” he assured her. “You’re intuitive and imaginative. You do the daily crossword in ink.”

He ran his thumb lightly over her cheek, then across her lips. His touch was soft and soothing. “Saunders Shores is where I belong. I only have to return to the city every three months for a corporate board meeting. We could travel together. You’d love Coney Island.”

“Money.” She hesitated, then went on to point out the obvious. “You’re loaded, Trace. I fight most days to stay afloat.”

Their finances didn’t seem to concern him. “I want to take care of you, Shaye, but you’re independent as hell. I respect that. I’ll help you budget, and, if necessary, we’ll clip coupons together.”

She couldn’t help herself; she laughed
at
him. “I can’t envision you buying two for the price of one or getting excited over fifty cents off any product.”

“I do what’s necessary at any given time.”

She pulled a face. “You drive a Porsche, and I take pedicabs.”

“We both reach our destination.”

“I go barefoot for days at a time.”

“Haven’t you noticed?” he asked. “I’m wearing shoes less.” He’d kicked off his Sperry Top-Siders when he’d arrived. The pair sat inside the door.

“You like candy corn and jelly beans,” she mused aloud, counting off what they had in common. “And I have a candy store.”

“We both like coconut cream pie.”

His words made Shaye blush as she recalled his scooping the filling off her hip. The incident seemed a lifetime ago.

He nudged her gently. “Hopefully children are in our future.”

She’d love to make babies with this man. “You could take our kids sailing, and I could teach them to paddle a canoe.” Her success in a canoe was minimal, but she didn’t share that fact. She tipped over more than she paddled. Her children would wear life jackets.

“There’s the sandlot league, too.”

His mention of the league reminded her of the all-star challenge. “We’ll soon be seated on opposing bleachers during the July game.”

“I’m hoping to coach your nephew Jeff before the play-off,” he said. “I want to give him a few more pointers.”

Her heart warmed. Trace was a kind, considerate man. “Thank you,” she said. “The rules put him on the field for one inning if he wants to bat. He’ll play third base.”

“I’ll be sure he’s ready.”

She poked him in the chest. “What do you do when you’re not working?”

“I jog, golf, and play the occasional video game.”

She could get on board with all three. “I like scary movies,” she said, “ones where I put a pillow over my face and scream.”

“That made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end,” he said. “I appreciate the warning.”

“TV shows?” She didn’t want to fight him for the remote. “I like
Castle
and
The Mentalist
—you?”

“
NCIS, Criminal Minds,
and
Hawaii Five-O
.”

“Books?” came next. “I prefer spy and psychological thrillers.”

“Biographies and nonfiction business and finance for me.”