From the corner of her eye, Sadie could see Jasper watching her as he poured yet another glass of champagne for Jacklyn Simmons. Her new diamond pendant sparkling up from the sharp ridge of her clavicle, Jacklyn was doing her level best to keep Jasper’s attention on her. Or her ample cleavage, depending on the angle. But Jasper was having none of it. Which would have been a pleasant surprise to Sadie if he wasn’t staring at her. And hadn’t been all night.

“I don’t know what you are up to, Jasper,” Sadie muttered under her breath, “but don’t for one second think that anything you see here is for you.” Glancing about, she wondered if Grace was around and up for keeping her company. At the very least, Jasper would then be able to cast heated glances at the one person on the island who actually deserved them.

Clicking through her phone, Sadie was about to call Grace when the device jumped in her hand, vibrations notifying her of an incoming call.

“Hello?” Sadie kept her tone light, despite the tremor of electricity running through her. She hadn’t heard from Jack all day. Not after her tortuous conversation with Lizzie. Not after Janine responded to an email confirming that, regardless of D&A business, Jack would be staying on the island for the weekend. And not after the Board of Director’s vote. Now, finally, more than twelve hours since their fraught exchange next to the forsaken bacon, it seemed that Jack wanted to talk.

“Sadie.” Her name fell like a prayer between them, like Jack couldn’t believe that they were actually speaking.

“Yes,” was the only response Sadie could muster, her heart hammering wildly.

“Will you come?”

“Come…?” Forget reverent. It sounded like Jack was less than cogent.    

“To my room. Come to my room.” Gone was the request. This time, his voice forceful, Jack was making a demand.

“When?”

“Now. As soon as you can.”

“But the party….”

“They don’t need you anymore. The hotel will handle it. I need you to come here. Now.”

“Jack, it doesn’t work like that. It’s my job….”

But Jack cut her off, his voice flat, “Sadie, enough. I’m not asking as your client, or as the EVP of D&A International. I’m asking you as…,” Jack’s voice faded away and Sadie’s lungs burned as she held her breath, waiting to hear what he was going to say. “They don’t need you, Sadie. I do.” His tone, still stern, took on a fervent edge. “Please. Just come up. As quickly as you can.”

“Jack…,” Sadie was stalling and she didn’t know why. Or, really, there were too many reasons to choose from. Jack was either still an executive at D&A International, or he wasn’t. He either was about to keep trying to convince her that their relationship wasn’t a mistake, or he was going to concede that she was right. And Sadie was either going to end an affair that could destroy her career. Or she was going to chance risking her professional integrity for a man she only recently realized she might not want to live without. Regardless of how she looked at it, meeting Jack in his villa was going to be eventful. To say the least.

“Sadie, please.” The request was weighted by a hint of sadness and Sadie couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Yes. I’m coming. I’m on my way.”

Without another word Jack hung up.

***

Sadie hadn’t stepped foot into the Sunset Villa since her first visit to the hotel more than a year before. But that didn’t seem to matter. Giving herself a chance to catch her breath after the hike up the hill, Sadie stared at the front door and visions of what lay beyond flashed through her memory. The expansive sofa made for lazy afternoon naps. The soaking tub in the master suite with more than enough space for two. The canopied bed with a view clear down to the ocean. The infinity pool tucked into the ledge of the cliff, protecting its occupants from prying eyes. And, her pulse refusing to calm, Sadie knew exactly how Jack would look in every one of those spots. 

You better know what you’re doing, Sadie Carter, was her last thought before she knocked on the door.

When Jack didn’t open the door immediately, or even within the first few minutes, Sadie got nervous. This was the right place. And Jack had been clear that he wanted her to come up right away. But it was still several moments before Jack opened the door to his villa and gestured her in without a word.

Jack didn’t even wait for Sadie to cross the threshold before disappearing into the unlit room beyond. Feeling uneasy, Sadie quietly closed the door behind her before forcing her feet to follow. Without any lights on, it took Sadie a moment to locate Jack in the large sitting room. His back was to her as he stood at one of the picture windows, his attention fixed on the view beyond. 

Despite her growing nervousness, Sadie managed to make her mouth work. “At least you’re consistent.”

Jack stayed silent but Sadie saw him turn towards her, the moon casting one half of his face into sharp relief.

“Unlike the rest of civilization, you still haven’t learned how to say hi.” She wasn’t sure but Sadie thought Jack smiled.

“Obviously your lessons haven’t stuck.” He left the window and came to stand in front of her where she’d stalled in the center of the room. “I guess you’ll just have to work harder.”

Tipping her chin up, Sadie skimmed Jack’s face. They were still close enough to the windows that she could make out the severe planes in the moonlight. His jaw was tight, a slight ticking visible beneath the deep cut of his cheekbone. The muscles near his eyes were tense. And Sadie swore that the line indenting his brow was a recent development. But, damn, his eyes. Lids hooded, lashes lush, Sadie’s body hummed at the wild intensity and blatant carnality that burned in those green-brown swirls. Licking her lips, watching those eyes track the slip and slide of her tongue, one part of Sadie’s mind wondered how it was possible that one look from Jack could cause her soul to sigh in relief even as her blood pounded with sheer, desperate need. 

“Work harder at what?” she whispered.

“At civilizing me.”

Sadie almost reached for him, her hands seeking an anchor as her legs threatened to falter. But she couldn’t touch him. Not yet. Because once she did, Sadie knew she wouldn’t be able to stop.

Jack’s voice rumbled across her mouth and Sadie forced herself to keep her eyes open. “Do you want to, Sadie?”

“Do I want to…?”

“Civilize me?”

“Jack…,” his name died on her lips as he closed the distance between them, his crisp, clean scent sinking deep into her lungs. Sadie tried to keep her breaths from getting greedy. She failed.

“I’m starting to think you are the only one who can.”

Sadie’s lids fell shut and she couldn’t hold back the soft moan that escaped. She could feel Jack hovering inches above her face. The heat of his gaze was as palpable as the caress of his breath against her sensitive skin. Staying still, Sadie waited for Jack to make his next move. Because she knew that, despite what he said, Jack was very much in charge.

Sadie was desperate to know what had happened with the board. To know if there was any chance that she and Jack might be free of the constraints of their work relationship. But she didn’t dare ask. Not when she could feel his feral hunger consuming the sliver of air between them.

Whatever had happened earlier that night, it had caused something to shift in Jack. Harden. Solidify. He was a powerful man. Even when his words teased and his eyes begged, Sadie had never forgotten exactly who Jack Avery was: a man who had built his success and fortune from scratch, through determination, intelligence, and sheer will power. That underneath all his charm and devastating good looks, he was lethal about getting what he wanted. Which was one of the things that called to her, deep down, because Sadie was the same. Once she decided she wanted something, there was no doubt she’d do everything necessary to get it. And she could tell from the energy pulsating through Jack’s body that he’d made his decision: one that had the potential to completely alter not only his life, but hers too.

In the charged moments it took Sadie’s brain to process the implications of Jack’s mood, her lips had hovered open, her mouth expecting his to crash down any minute. But the kiss never came. Instead, Sadie felt the tip of Jack’s finger dance down her spine as his lips teased the curve of her ear.

“I have to make a phone call. It will take me a few minutes. When I get back, I want you to be naked. In there.”

Sadie forced her eyes open, expecting to follow Jack’s finger in the direction of the master suite. In the darkness, however, it took her a moment to realize he was pointing somewhere else entirely.

“It’s your decision, Sadie. Take a moment to consider. But be certain. Once you do, there is no going back.” She barely had a chance to swallow before Jack broke away from her, his parting words lingering in her ear.

***

Sadie shivered at the first brush of warm water against her toes. Glancing around, she gave a fleeting thought to if the patio really was as private as the hotel claimed. But since the only sources of light were the stars and moon above, she figured she was safe. With one backward glance at her clothes carefully folded on a chaise, Sadie descended the steps and moved languidly through the infinity pool, her leisurely movements at odds with her surging pulse.

Bringing herself flush to the edge, Sadie stood and draped her arms over the infinity lip of the pool, the perpetual flow of water breaking against her elbows. Jack’s villa was the highest at the resort. Perched at the upper part of the long-dormant volcano, the Seven Winds stretched out far beneath it. From her vantage point in the pool, Sadie could see the crest of Mark’s villa amongst the thick palm trees before another stretch of lush greenery gave way to the main buildings of the resort, the beach and, finally, the ocean. It was late and almost all of the activity at the hotel had died down. A few lanterns still burned down where the party for D&A International had just broken up. Beyond the pier, Sadie could see the yacht that had docked earlier that day. Monstrous, white, and sleek, it looked like a ghostly island bobbing out on its own in the midnight water.  

Despite the comfortable temperature of the pool, Sadie felt her skin tightening, her entire being vulnerable to the night air and the warm water and the fervent want growing as each minute ticked by. She had decided, just as Jack had asked. And now her body was desperate for satisfaction, her lower muscles already fluttering, vainly trying to fill the yawning emptiness.

Moisture slicking her hairline, Sadie was almost feverish when a ripple of water rose against her back.

“Breathtaking.”

“Hmm?” Sadie’s head, awash with lust, fell backwards as Jack murmured just behind her.

“The view,” his voice was deep and smooth against her temple. “Exactly as I knew it would be.”

Jack wasn’t talking about the island. Or the beach. Or the ocean. And Sadie felt her body melt in response, her desire mixing with the currents of the water that wove around her legs as Jack came to stand behind her.

“I am going to take you, Sadie. Here. Now.” Jack laced his strong fingers through hers and stretched her arms so that they were spread along the edge of the pool, the lip a rough anchor under her palms. Slipping his fingers from her, Jack whispered, “you are going to need to hold on.”

Then his hands were skimming across her. Her shoulders, her back, droplets clinging to her exposed flesh in the wake of his movements. When his hands dropped beneath the water, Sadie’s skin was suddenly parched, craving him when all she could feel was the light caress of the water around her. Her fingers flexing against the edge of the pool, Sadie hauled in a breath and tried to ease herself back from the brink of desperation. Her tingling stomach, the curve of her hip, the delicate slope inside her thighs, the pulsing depth between them – she needed Jack to be there. Anywhere. But all she could feel was the hint of him, the subtle undulation of the water teasing her where Jack’s hands glanced by but never touched. And it was. Driving. Her. Mad.   

Sadie arched her back and whimpered when Jack’s fingers grazed the underside of one breast. He formed little semi-circles, tracing the heavy curve just a hairsbreadth from where her nipple was hard and pleading.

“Please…” Sadie didn’t recognize the voice but knew it must be hers. She sounded wanton, desperate.

Jack responded with a dark chuckle and shifted up, up…but just to the arc of her areola, ringing the rosy flesh over and over and over. As he lazily reached the top of the circle a drop of water fell from the pad of his finger and slowly slid across Sadie’s entreating peak. The sensation – the hint of a caress but not nearly enough – almost broke her.

“Jack, Jack,” Sadie gasped his name as she rocked her head against his shoulder and she squeezed the ledge of the pool. Near mindless with want, Sadie tried to move her hands, to seek Jack out, find some purchase on him, some way to drive him as crazy as he was making her. But before she could convince her fingers to move, Jack’s hands were on top of hers. Keeping her still.

“Uh-uh. No moving, Sadie. Don’t let go of this wall,” he spoke just above her ear, his lips feather-light, his exhale an echo of the torture he was administering further down. “You will let me do this, Sadie. You will let me have you. Like this.” Jack didn’t bother to ask the question; Sadie’s body was already screaming the answer, loud and clear.

But even though his dark words promised Sadie release, Jack was holding back. He was using his breath, the air around them, the water slipping between them as the most excruciating form of torment, bending each to his will to tease her. Always just a whisper of contact, but never enough. Sadie could feel the longing low down escalate to unbearable levels, the slickness between her thighs slipping down to the depths by their feet. She tried to brush her legs together, find some friction that would do anything – anything – to relieve the ache threatening to consume her. But Jack slipped one muscular thigh between her own, keeping her spread wide.

“Oh, no, no. Sadie, love,” he rasped behind her. “Not yet.”

Despite the authority of his words, Sadie knew Jack was just as desperate as she was. The movement brought his hips tight against her back and his erection – heavy, thick, and throbbing – was now cradled in the crevice between her cheeks. It felt divine and Sadie almost cried at the skin-on-skin contact.

“Jack, please…I need…,’ Sadie swallowed her plea as Jack rocked himself against her.

“Yes, love. Tell me what you need.”

“More, oh, god. Jack. Please, more…,” Sadie begged. Her entire body was raw, vibrating. She was caged against him, her hands locked around the pool’s edge, her back pressed to his chest, her ass cradling his hard cock, and every inch of her sensitive skin, from nipples to clit, screaming for Jack. Like a rubber band stretched to its limit, Sadie was about to break. And she knew that when it came, the pain would be glorious.

Jack must have reached the end of his own restraint because he released one of her hands and brought his to her breast, massaging the swollen flesh with his strong fingers. Biting down hard on her lower lip, Sadie arched forward, pressing herself into his calloused skin.

“Is that want you want?”

“Yes, yes… just, please. More.” Sadie was almost sobbing, her legs instinctively clutching Jack’s thigh where it was wedged between them.

“My beautiful, beautiful Sadie,” Jack sounded like he was in pain, the words breaking free from his throat. “I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?”

Sadie could barely hear him through the pulsing in her ears but she managed to gasp “yes” when he pulled sharply on her nipple.

“I’m going to take you, Sadie,” Jack rocked his hips again, his erection sliding against her wet flesh. “Soon, so soon, I’m going to be inside you. Bare. I need you to tell me you understand. I’m clean. I’m not going to finish … but I need...fuck,” his voice was guttural, “I need this, Sadie. To feel you break apart around me, with nothing between us. Tell me you understand.” His voice softer, the raw edge of his nerves exposed, “tell me you trust me.”

Sadie didn’t think she could be any more aroused, her inner muscles already rippling at his dark promises. But Jack’s words seared her, the fissure in her heart breaking wide open, the resulting flash of light blinding her brain and triggering a ravenous wave across her lower body. Every part of her was demanding to be filled, consumed by Jack.

Not trusting her voice, Sadie nodded. Once.

Then he was there.

Jack pushed his thigh outward, lifting Sadie’s and opening her wider. In a simultaneous spark of movement, Jack penetrated her with one hard thrust at the same time his thumb came down against her clit.

Sadie split apart, her body breaking under Jack’s complete possession. Swallowing a keening cry, Sadie squeezed her eyes shut and held on for dear life as Jack rocked himself deeper and deeper inside of her, never giving her orgasm a chance to subside.

“That’s it, love,” Jack encouraged roughly, his hips rising in long, deliberate thrusts, “come for me, Sadie. Keep coming.”

Even as the waves of her first climax reached the tips of her toes, Sadie felt the next one building. The water around them was rippling with every stroke, the constant ebb and flow catching Sadie’s nipples in a tortured caress. Jack kept brushing her clit lightly as he released her breast, raising his other hand to gently clasp his fingers around her throat. Bowing under his touch, Sadie pressed the back of her head against his tense shoulder, relishing his pants as they fanned her neck.

She was utterly possessed. By Jack. By the pleasure he was raining down on her, by the emotions he was stoking deep within. And through the thick desire blanketing her brain, Sadie’s only thought was that she didn’t want it any other way.

“You are so close, love,” Jack brushed the words against her neck, his large body pushing her forward with his hands and his hips. “So close for me, Sadie. Come. Again.”

Sadie trembled violently.

Jack licked a trickle of sweat off her neck before sinking his teeth lightly into her delicate flesh.

And she was there, her second climax overtaking the first by miles, every sensation coalescing into a warring explosion, Sadie’s body trying to fly apart while her heart was greedily pulling in every part of Jack Avery it could reach. Jack’s hand slipped from her throat to her mouth, holding in her scream, while she shook and clutched his rock-hard erection still buried deep inside her.

Slowly, as Sadie’s pleasure began to melt away, Jack loosened his grasp on her. The warm pool water suddenly felt cold against her over-heated skin and Sadie tried to suppress a shiver even as Jack’s arms banded around her waist.

“Cold?”

Too sated to speak, Sadie just bobbed her head.

“Then let’s warm you up.” Sadie’s lips pulled upwards at the teasing lilt to his voice, but she was otherwise a boneless mess of limbs. Jack carefully removed her fingers from where she’d been gripping the pool and, sliding out of her, turned her to face him.

“It’s probably best if we don’t chance you walking. Don’t want you to slip and fall on these,” Jack wrapped her pliant legs around his waist, his breath catching as her liquid core brushed against his erection. His voice was strained even as he tried to tease, “That’s a workman’s comp suit that I would definitely lose.”

Sadie wanted to giggle but her body refused to comply. Instead, she looped her arms around Jack’s neck, rested her forehead against his chest and let him carry her out of the pool.

***

Jack let his feet guide them to the bedroom on autopilot. He had the vague impression that he needed to tell Sadie something. Something important. But, for the life of him, he couldn’t pick a salient thought from his muddled brain.

He was obsessed. That was the only way to describe it. Jack was, without a doubt, completely and utterly under Sadie’s spell. He couldn’t get enough of her, from the way she laughed, to the hum she made in the back of her throat when he entered her, to the solace she brought him just by being close by. He loved her wit, her sass, the way her mind worked, the way her body felt, the curve of the smile that she saved just for him.

Biting back a groan as her wet heat brushed against him, Jack tightened his arms around Sadie and willed his body to be patient for just a few more minutes. And since his mind refused to wander far from its favorite subject, Jack allowed himself to be distracted by the conversation he and Mark had had earlier about Sadie.

Jack hadn’t exaggerated. Everything with Sadie was different. What he felt for her was beyond anything he’d experienced before. Setting all else aside, Jack’s current predicament at D&A International was proof of that. Standing with Mark just minutes before the board vote, Jack had known with absolute certainty which he would choose if he was forced to pick between his job and Sadie. No hesitation, no second thoughts.

Toeing open the door to the villa’s master bedroom, Jack tried to pace his breaths with Sadie’s. In and out, in and out. Their chests rising and falling in tandem, Jack was able to calm the clamoring in his blood long enough to place Sadie on the bed and unwind her arms from his neck.

A hypnotically satisfied smile on her lips, Sadie relaxed backwards into the smooth bedspread and sighed as Jack unclasped her legs from around his waist. Jack’s heart faltered as he absorbed the sight of her on his bed. God, she was stunning. And his. For the first time Jack felt the possessive beast inside of him stop pacing. It wasn’t ready to curl up quietly just yet, but Jack sensed he was so close to having her completely. Possibly forever. Which, he was accepting, deep down, was all he’d wanted since the first time he’d seen her.     

Jack caught a slight movement on the bed and saw that Sadie wasn’t as relaxed as he’d thought. Her eyes were hot and heavy, and eating up the view of him staring down at her. Her tongue danced across her lower lip as her eyes dropped down to his crotch and Jack followed her gaze to where he was lazily stroking himself. Sadie was transfixed and Jack had to hold back a growl when she opened her thighs at the sight of him palming his erection.

“Hold that thought.” Jack shot Sadie a cocky grin and padded over to where his clothes were in a heap in the corner of the room. Standing up, condom in hand, Jack turned to find that Sadie was no longer on the bed. Instead, she was inches from him, her face tilted up to meet his, her attention fixed on his lips. Jack felt every nerve ending jump to life. He hadn’t kissed Sadie since he’d had her pressed up against the wall of her room earlier that morning. And now he was ravenous.

Dropping the condom, Jack slipped his hands along Sadie’s jaw and tugged her up at the same time he brought his mouth down. As their lips met, Jack felt the sigh she released to his very depths. And though his hands were gentle as he cradled Sadie’s face, Jack poured every ounce of desire he felt for her into the kiss. Lips opening, teeth tugging, tongues sliding; the longer it lasted, the more punishing it became. Jack felt like he was trying to consume her, to pull everything she was giving him down inside so it – so she – could never escape.

For those smoldering moments they only touched with lips and hands, sighs and breaths. Jack was able to keep his urgency at bay, allowing them the simple indulgence of making love with their mouths. But then Sadie slipped her hand lower and Jack growled, his fingers flexing painfully against her scalp as she wrapped her small hand around his engorged cock.    

“No more waiting,” Jack gave Sadie’s own words back to her as he dragged them to the loveseat beside them. In a matter of seconds Jack was sitting with Sadie spread above his thighs. Unable to hold himself back, Jack looked urgently for the discarded condom, cursing himself for dropping it in the first place.

He winced as Sadie gave him a firm stroke and his vision blurred as she dragged her thumb across his slit, spreading the drip of moisture across his skin. Helpless against it, Jack’s hips jerked upwards, his spine tingling at the delicious friction.

“Sadie, love,” he ground out. “Stop. Please. I won’t last. And,” his eyes rolled back as she repeated the move, “I don’t want to come like this. I want, I wa… oh, fuck…,” Jack almost bit his tongue when Sadie angled his cock so it slipped between her fevered folds. Gripping her hips painfully, Jack tried to push Sadie back before it was too late. “Condom. Now.” He forced the words out when Sadie squinted in confusion.

“No,” Sadie shook her head as she pushed up on her knees, one hand guiding him to her entrance. “No, Jack. I want you inside of me. I want to feel you come apart, filling me. Without anything between us.”

Between her whispered words and the sensation of her wanton skin pressed against his, Jack thought he was going to black out. Dragging his eyes to hers, Jack stared at Sadie. Watching to see if she was hiding any uncertainty in her emerald depths.

Sadie mistook his hesitation for something else. “I’m clean, Jack. I wouldn’t have let you do what you did in the pool if I wasn’t. And I’m on birth control. But if you want to use the condom, that’s fine too.” She ducked her head, a light flush of embarrassment visible even in the moonlit room.

Jack removed one hand from her hip and threaded it through Sadie’s hair, capturing her lips in an explicit kiss. “No, no. Sadie, love. I trust you.” His eyes level with hers, Jack murmured against her lips as he pressed himself into her slick softness. “Take me, Sadie. Please.”

Life-altering. That was the only way Jack could describe it, the sensation of Sadie taking him into her body, her soft skin enveloping his heavy length at an aching, deliberately slow pace. It had been different in the pool. Still exquisite, but the water had muted some of the sensation. Now, in the cool darkness of his room, the heat he felt spreading around him was like being welcomed into heaven. Bewitching and comforting, heart-pounding and soul-soothing all at the same time. As he thrust his hips up, driving himself as deep into her as he possibly could, Jack wasn’t sure what he’d done in his life to deserve something – someone – so utterly perfect.

“Sadie, love,” Jack couldn’t stop himself. As Sadie began to rock against him, to ride him with her luscious body, he kept repeating those two words over and over again. Her name. And all she meant to him.

Their eyes locked, Jack watched as Sadie’s began to fog with need, deep and desperate.

“Jack,” she brushed against his lips. “Harder.”

One arm banded around her waist, Jack tightened his grip on her hips as he slammed his own up. Her fingers digging into his shoulders, Sadie angled her pelvis and pressed her chest to his. As they moved, rolling, rocking against one another, Jack’s chest brushed Sadie’s nipples and the base of his cock rubbed against the place she throbbed the most.

“Sweet, sweet, Sadie,” Jack’s words disappeared into her mouth as his lips took hers, their rhythm reaching a reckless pace.

“Jack, I’m close, so…close….” As she struggled with the words, Jack watched Sadie’s brow tighten in concentration, her lids heavy under the onslaught.

Jack felt the tell-tale tingle begin to race up his spine, his balls tightening as his own release threatened to crash down. Sadie was shaking in his arms, her fingernails creating half-moon indents in his back.

“Sadie, love. Now. Come, now,” Jack panted against her open mouth, his hips hammering up furiously as she ground hers down, the resulting friction enough to send them both hurtling over the edge. Jack felt himself explode within Sadie’s body as the ripples of her own climax tugged at him, drawing everything he had deeper and deeper within her. Foreheads pressed together, eyes shut, their mouths made tangled cries to each other before they collapsed against the back of the loveseat.

“Sadie…,” Jack couldn’t hold back the emotion in his voice. It was deep, heady. And unmistakable.

Sadie’s eyes fluttered open and Jack stopped breathing when he saw the same thing reflected in her somnolent gaze. He wanted to say something. Say everything. To make sure that Sadie knew exactly what this meant. What she meant to him. But as her lips formed a delirious smile, her lids dropped and her head lolled against his shoulder. From the shadows of his chest, Jack heard her say, “Take me to bed.”

He had time. More of it than he’d ever imagined. So, Jack held back everything he wanted to say and did as she instructed.

He took Sadie to bed.