Chapter 7
Riley spent the rest of her day hiding in her room, reading books and watching old crime investigation shows. She also treated herself to room service along with a nap, but none of it helped. She was hiding. From Gray, from life, from herself, from everything.
“I should just go home.” The words came out of her mouth later that evening as she huddled up on the sofa, utterly depressed by the day’s events or lack thereof. The doors were open and she could hear the ocean below, slapping against the shore. A sadness crept over with the sound of that splashy lullaby, burdening her even more. Maybe I’m just not cut out for a grand adventure. Or adventure of any kind, she reasoned. Nothing in her life had prepared her for one, and there was no reason to think she would be granted such an experience anyway. Wild times were for girls like Megan and Lorna, and Riley was just not one of them. This wasn’t a wild vacation, and even this low-key place felt bigger than her.
She stood and looked out the balcony. What was she doing in her room? She had a few days. Why not at least enjoy the view?
Restless, and annoyed with herself, she got up and headed out to the beach. The sky was a perfect arc of ebony, and the white sand gleamed like exposed bone as she walked along the sugar-fine drifts of it, warm bits occasionally squeezing between her toes over her sandals. The sea turtle habitats were roped off, and the sea oats whispered and waved in the silky breeze wafting up off the water.
“Hi.”
Her entire body stiffened at the sound of the very familiar voice coming from behind her. She turned, wary, with real, genuine anger rising within her. There stood Gray, the object of her disappointed affection, with his feet solidly planted in the foaming tide. “Hi,” she parroted, her tone guarded. The last thing she wanted to do was engage in a verbal sparring match with him, as she had no idea which of his personalities he was donning that night.
He approached swiftly. “Hey, I owe you an apology.”
“For what?” She didn’t want his sorry. In fact, she didn’t want anything from him, not anymore.
“I was a real douche bag to you earlier, and that was uncalled for. I just…had a lot on my mind.”
Like getting laid by that skank? She didn’t ask that question and only stared at him suspiciously.
He lifted his shoulders and dropped them. “Riley, I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have been cold and mean. I wasn’t in the mood to work. It was so hot, and… Well, it’s my job to make the guests happy and I treated you poorly. I guess I’m just more than a little frustrated these days, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
“That’s no excuse.” She swallowed as her eyebrows pressed together. “It’s not my fault it’s hot. Maybe you were pissed I interrupted something—” She cut herself off before embarrassing herself again. “I’m not going to do this. Excuse me please.” She tried to move past him, but he shot a hand out and took hold of her upper arm, sending a jolt of little electric tingles through her body.
“Wait,” Gray pleaded. “Don’t just… I swear I’m not usually such a dickhead. Can’t you give me a chance to prove it?”
“Really? So you’re nice at night and a dick by the bar? I mean, you weren’t so bad last night, so at very best you’re an ass with an occasional dick-free moment,” she said, instantly regretting the words she didn’t mean to say out loud. She certainly didn’t mean to sound like such a witch, either, but it was too late to take that back, just like it was way too late for him to apologize. “Look, I’ve gotta go.”
“Okay.” He let her arm go. “I deserve that but, again, I really am sorry.”
She peered into his face. Everything in her brain told her to keep walking, to just pack her stuff and head home, to forget all about that place with its wonderful ocean views, the long vistas of water and sand, and that hot bartender with the bad attitude and a personality as cold and hot as a bottle of Fire and Ice schnapps. “Okay then,” she stuttered, not sure what else she could possibly say to him.
“Would it be okay if I walk with you for a while?” he asked as she stepped past him.
Yes, I mind. I mind a whole damn lot. She wanted to tell him that, but instead something else tumbled out of her silly, snarky mouth: “It’s a public beach. You’re free to do whatever you like.” What the…? Vexed and irritated by her inability to just tell him to fuck right off Riley stormed away from the resort, her feet sinking deep into the sand.
“It’s easier to walk on the wet sand,” Gray suggested quietly.
She glared at him. “I know that.” She took a few steps sideways to maneuver herself to the darker sand, and it infuriated her that he was right. “I’ve never seen sand this soft before.”
“I know. I’ve been to Daytona a few times, and it always shocks me how hard the sand is there. I don’t see how people can stand it.”
“The beaches on the East Coast can be rocky.”
He nodded. “Yeah, not my favorite thing at all.”
“You travel a lot?”
He shook his head. “Not as much as I’d like. You?”
“Not as much as I’d like,” she mimicked, wondering why she was even talking to him. Sure, he was being nice at the moment, but she was just waiting for him to go all Sybil on her any minute. “What are you doing after the summer?”
“Working. Same as always.”
She scrunched up her brow as she looked at him; his answer was just as vague as it had been the night before.
He shrugged and continued, “It’s one of those things I’ve been putting off thinking about, to be honest. I don’t mind the job I’m taking on, but I really wish I could do something else.”
That feeling certainly resonated with Riley, and their shared misery helped convince her anger to slide away. “I get that. I really don’t want the job I have either.”
“What would you do if you could do something else?”
She sighed. “I’ve never really thought about it. I mean, my parents sort of planned my life out for me, and time got away from me before I even knew I had a chance to say no, if that makes any sense.”
His chuckle was rueful. “Same here…well, in terms of my dad anyway. Mom died when I was a kid, and he hasn’t remarried.”
Her heart softened slightly. He lost his mom? “He must have loved her a lot.”
Gray hesitated. “Yeah, maybe that’s it,” he said, but there was a noticeable pain in his voice.
Riley surveyed his face for a moment, turning her head so she could see his profile. The sliver of moon was obscured by clouds and the shadows cast by the swaying palm trees that dotted the grounds of the many resorts set back from the beach. “What about you? I bet you miss her.”
“I was too young and really didn’t even know. I was only four when she died, so I don’t remember very much about her at all.”
Sympathy filled her. She still had both of her parents, alive and well, but she had been raised by nannies, maids, and housekeepers. In fact, the only time her parents really interacted with her was when she needed to appear as part of the family unit for good PR in a photo op or public appearance. For that reason, in some ways she knew exactly how disconnected he must have felt. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. My brother was ten, so he remembers more about her than I do. He talks about Mom sometimes.”
She found it odd that he didn’t mention his dad talking about her, and she couldn’t help feeling even more compassion for him in that moment.
They kept walking as the tide ebbed and flowed. Her feet got wet, and she stopped for a moment to take off her sandals. They’d wandered far from the resort already and were putting more and more distance between themselves and it with every passing moment.
“Hey, where are your friends?” Gray asked suddenly.
“Oh, they decided to go to Miami to hang out with some people they met.” She didn’t say too much, as she didn’t want to give anything away. As far as she knew he had no idea who she really was, and she wanted to keep it that way. She never could tell if people liked her for her or if they only tolerated her because of who her father was.
“Hmm. It was pretty shitty of them to just ditch you like that.”
“No, they invited me but I didn’t want to go. I don’t really party like they do, and they don’t really like the same stuff I like. We went to school together all our lives. That’s the only reason we’re friends. I mean, I think if we had just met each other randomly somewhere else, we probably wouldn’t be friends at all.” Riley gulped, a bit surprised at herself, as she’d never admitted that bitter truth to anyone before, as true as it was. She did not have any real friends, people to hang out with simply because she liked them. Like everything else in her life, her friends were just part of the plan. “To be honest, my folks really want me to stop hanging out with them. They’ve always been a little wild, but they’ve gotten really crazy over the last year.”
“Legal drinking age, huh?”
Yes, and they also came into massive trust funds, she thought, but she only nodded and answered, “Pretty much.”
“My friends changed a lot after I went away to college. Before I went I knew lots of guys here, but when I came back in the summer I had to work a lot, and all those guys were either busy at college or doing whatever people who don’t go to college do—you know, working and getting married and all.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Getting married? Seems too young to me.”
Gray flashed that sexy smile at her. “I know. Me, too. I figure that before I commit my whole life to someone, I need to know for sure that she’s the one I want to stay with forever. Plus, it’d be nice to have enough money to make sure we can live comfortably.”
She wasn’t sure if Gray was actually a chauvinist or if he was just a nice guy, a gentleman who wanted to do well by a woman he loved. She decided to go with the latter but asked, “You don’t think your wife could help with that?”
“I hope so. I like independent women. I really do. I just can’t stand it when men take advantage of girls like that and expect them to pay for everything. It’s a partnership, the way I see it.”
Riley smiled, glad he wasn’t a chauvinist at all. “Yeah, I hate that too. I don’t mind to pay my share, and when I do get into a relationship I want it to be…equitable, with both of us working toward the same goals.”
“You mean like a house and all that?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Good. I mean, no offense, but I don’t see how two people could live in a tiny studio. I haven’t been to New York, but if the studios there are like the studios here it seems like it would be too cramped.”
She giggled, happy he remembered she wanted a studio apartment and that he was teasing her. “Well, I don’t see myself getting married for a long time, and when I do… Well, by then I’ll probably have outgrown that place anyway.”
She wondered if that was true, and that question nagged at her as they reached the long stretch of the pier and turned around to head back toward the resort. There was nobody else on the sand, and for just a moment she felt the joyous sensation that it was theirs, all theirs, that they owned the entire beach and the whole wonderful display of stars, moon, waves, and hissing sand. It felt like it all belonged to them, that it had been created just for them. It was such a delicious thought. The whole world seemed like a romantic backdrop for whatever was happening between them. Riley didn’t know what that was, but she knew Gray was back to being the guy she had met the night before, and she liked that guy a whole lot.
“What about you? Where do you want to live?” Riley asked.
His eyes went toward the resort, illuminated and standing tall against the night sky. “Anywhere but there,” he said.
She sighed. “I can see that. So they give you a room as part of your pay?”
He said nothing and just shuffled his feet in the sand, looking uncomfortable.
“Sorry,” she said, realizing she’d crossed a line. “I didn’t mean to… Oh, shit, that sounded awful, like I’m digging into your earning potential or something.”
He chuckled and shrugged. “So why here? I mean, why did you choose to vacation here?” He purposely changed the topic and she suddenly wasn’t sure how to answer.
Her feet stilled, and his did, too. Riley grappled for words. “I came here because I figured it’s a great place to have an adventure. So far, though, I haven’t seemed to be able to… Well, I guess it’s my fault really. I mean, in real life I’m just so busy with school and family and everything else that I never really learned to have fun. I was hoping I might find out what I really like, but I haven’t managed to get past all that other stuff. I’m all worried about what’s gonna happen when this vacation is over, and that’s keeping me from enjoying anything. It’s like I’m stuck or something. We’ve never been to this place before, so I wanted to try something different. Now that Megan and Lorna are gone, I’m really on my own. I guess that’s pretty exciting, but it’s new to me. I just… Gosh, I’m babbling, huh? Sorry.”
“So you’re pretty sheltered back home, huh?” Gray asked.
“More like…cloistered.”
They started walking again. With every step she took, Riley knew she wanted him. If there was an adventure to be had, it would be with Gray. More than anything else, she wanted him and whatever would come from that.
When they reached the resort and climbed the low boardwalk steps, he offered, “I’ll walk you to your room.”
She knew she should say no, since he could likely get in trouble for fraternizing. She knew he knew it, too, and the fact that he was willing to risk it made her heart pound hard and fast. “Okay.”
They boarded the elevator, and the doors closed with a soft clatter. As the steel box rode upward, their bodies touched and bumped into one another and more squiggles of sexual tension raced across her flesh. When the door opened to a long interior hallway, she led the way down to her room.
“This is me,” Riley said, pausing in front of her door. Her mouth was dry and her nipples stiff and aching. Juices filled her panties and flowed into the fabric, making it sticky and damp. She took a deep breath and found her courage. “Would you like to come in?”
Gray nodded. “I would, Riley, but, uh… I’ve gotta tell you—”
“Tell me later, okay?” she interrupted, her eyes pleading for understanding. Whatever it was, it could wait. It had to wait. She could not stand it to be any other way just then; she knew her tiny mustard seed of courage would evaporate like dew if she did not go through with it right then and there. Her brain would analyze every little thing, and she would drown in her own insecurities and ask him to go if he waited even a moment longer.
After they stepped inside the room, Riley softly closed the door behind her.
Gray turned to face her, and in an instant she was in his arms, his mouth planted firmly on hers. His body pressed against hers, and she felt the prodding of his dick against her lower belly. Gray let his hands wander up her legs, stroking and caressing the soft flesh of her inner thighs. He grabbed her hair and tugged it, his lips grazing over her neck and ear. She moaned at the delicious touch and gasped for breath. In the next moment he was guiding her face back to his. His tongue met hers, thrust around it, and wrapped it in a slippery, wet embrace before pulling away again. When his tongue returned it took her senses along for the ride, wetting her everywhere and making her insides ache with desire.
His lips left her mouth and grazed her neck again. Shivers shot down her spine and she clawed at his back, sliding her fingers under his shirt to touch his bare skin. He was all heat and muscle, soft skin and flexing bones. Her legs spread wider, her ass jerking and thrusting as she humped at his lower body, desperate to impale herself on his stiff member. It reminded her of the girl at the tiki hut today, but she didn’t care.
Gray growled something into her hair and captured her mouth again, his tongue demanding hers. She arched her back, and her breasts flattened against his chest. They walked, still completely entangled, to the bedroom. Gray dropped her on the mattress and he followed her down with a low growl. He shrugged out of his clothes, shucking them so quickly that she had little time to appreciate his body as it came into view.
Her nipples rubbed against the fabric of her dress and his warm body. They ached for his touch, for the feel of his tongue on their hard, pebbled surfaces. She wanted to feel his mouth there, to feel his fingers twisting and tweaking them.
The dress finally lifted over her head, exposing her skin to his gaze. His pupils dilated as if he’d just caught a whiff of some potent drug. Then, as if he could read the wishes wafting through her mind, his teeth teased her nipples, biting down and pulling. She cried out as her legs instinctively bolted up in the air and her hands clutched desperately at his chest.
His fingers stroked her panties, rubbing against her center as her aroused clit throbbed, moving her toward climax. He continued to torture her with experienced motions and touched her wetness. He pinched her labia together, making her clit throb in anguished need.
“Please…” she whispered. “Please, fuck me.”
Gray muttered, “I have a condom in my shorts.” He levered himself off her for a moment and reached around on the floor. He hooked the shorts with a single finger and dropped them on the bed. He thrust a hand into a pocket and came up with a wallet. He opened it, and found a condom before tossing the wallet to the dresser and tearing the wrapper open.
Riley whimpered, digging her heels into the mattress as he unrolled the condom along his thick, throbbing erection. She’d never wanted anything so bad. Gray seemed just as eager. He ripped her panties off, yanking them down without any pretense of wanting to go slow. He thrust inside her, not bothering to be gentle. Their mouths collided again as he withdrew, then entered her again, driving hard and fast within her. Her slippery walls closed and opened, and her breath rasped in and out just as quickly. His cock sank deeper, bringing both of them to the brink once more.
His hard member rubbed against her wet, swollen lips as he teased her, holding himself just outside her body for a long moment.
Riley groaned, thrusting against him harder and faster, using her own body to mime what she wanted him to do to her. She wanted him to do it, to fill her with his throbbing, thick erection. She wanted to feel him in there, stretching her.
When he began to enter her, she sucked in a deep breath and clutched his arms with her nails, tearing away flesh in long scratches that he seemed too excited to even feel.
He thrust hard and fast inside her, his hand slipping down to tease her clit, taking her over the edge and into a world she could not control.
She rode the waves of her orgasm; every thrust inside her took her back to the quivering, shuddering climax she had experienced in the beginning. Her words were lost in an inarticulate cry, and her hips lifted higher, giving him a better angle of penetration.
“Oh, fuck, you feel so good,” he whispered as his dick began to throb and pulse, deeply buried within her tight, slick tunnel.
His fingers furiously worked her clit as his cock remained inside her and his nasty words filled her ear, sexy endearments that made her quiver and throb, taking her over the edge again.
The aftershocks were equally intense and mind-blowing. Riley couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care. Gray’s body drove hers back into the bed, pressing her deeper into the mattress. Her inner thighs were stretched and aching, but she didn’t mind in the least; it was all part of the adventure.
Riley was rendered speechless, with her eyelids stuck at half-mast and her body still tingling and pulsing. Her pussy ached in a pleasant way, and her toes kept curling as Gray lay beside her, his chest heaving with exertion.
They lay there, lost in the moment, Riley thinking that had been the best adventure ever.
When her stomach growled, she slapped a hand to her taut midriff, utterly embarrassed. “Oh!” she squealed.
Gray laughed. “It’s okay. I was just about to say I’m starving.”
“I had half a salad for dinner,” Riley admitted, shifting so she could look into his eyes. “My offer of dinner still stands, by the way…and I insist on paying this time.” She didn’t want to be insulting or push the independent woman issue, but she knew he could not be making much at his summer job, and he didn’t seem to have any solid plans for working after the summer. She knew tourist towns like that one often folded after the season was over, and if the jobs dried up the income had to dry up as well. She didn’t want him spending his hard-earned money to feed her again.
“I can afford dinner,” Gray said.
“I’m sure you can, but I’m independent, remember? You paid last night, so it’s my turn. It’s only fair.”
He paused.
His hesitation made her nervous. She wasn’t sure if he was going to turn her down or not. Does he have something—or someone—else to do? she worried. The jealousy he unearthed in her bothered Riley, as she wasn’t used to such a strong emotion and had no idea how to handle it.
“Deal,” Gray finally said.
As they climbed out of bed, Riley expected to feel awkward and embarrassed, but Gray seemed so totally natural that she relaxed and just went with it, something she never did. They chatted a little while they dressed. Gray told her he was off the next day, and that made her smile.
They wandered across the street, which was still as busy as ever, toward a small seafood restaurant.
“Do you like boats?”
“Um, define like.”
His laugh was infectious. “I mean, do you like them enough to go out on one with me tomorrow?”
Her heart skipped at the thought that he wanted to spend his day off with her. Of course, it sank when she also realized that the next day was her last full day of vacation. “I should warn you. I love to swim, and I love the ocean, but I have a huge, almost pathological fear of swimming in the ocean.”
He took her hand and guided her past some young drunk guys. When they assaulted her with a round of wolf whistles and cat calls, Gray ignored them. She appreciated that he didn’t feel the need to go all macho and hands-off-my-woman with them, but then she wondered why he didn’t bother to say anything. Oh, for Pete’s sake! Why was she acting like they were a couple? After all, they had only hooked up, and he was probably used to that sort of thing. She managed to quell all those thoughts just as Gray spoke again.
“Well, why is that?”
“Huh?” she asked, lost in her thoughts.
“Ocean swimming. Why don’t you like it?”
“I don’t know. I guess I saw too many of those awful shark and sea turtle horror movies when I was a kid.”
After they crossed the street, Gray stopped on the sidewalk. His hand caught hers again, and he swung her around to face him. “Okay, the sharks I get, but sea turtles?”
She fidgeted. “Yeah. I saw this really crazy ancient movie with a killer sea turtle, something about a girl who was a ghost. I don’t recall the name of it, but it turned out that the sea turtle wasn’t just homicidal. It was the actual devil. In the last scene, the thing swam into the sea, like, way below the water, with this guy hooked to its shell.”
Gray’s mouth hung open. “You’re shitting me.”
“Not at all. I’d never joke about that.”
“You do know sea turtles are vegetarians, right?”
“I didn’t say he ate the guy. He just…dragged him down into the ocean. That sea turtle was the devil, so maybe Satan’s a vegetarian,” she said, giggling. It felt good to make a joke, since she was so serious all the time.
Gray grinned. “Now I have to find this movie and check it out.”
“Well, like I said, it’s pretty ancient. I doubt it’s even on DVD.”
As they started walking again, Gray said, “I can’t promise we won’t see dolphins, but I’ve never seen a shark up close, if that makes you feel any better—at least not any big enough to tip the boat over and kill us.”
Riley grew nervous just thinking about it, and she actually shuddered. “Okay, fine. I’ll do it.” As soon as the words left her mouth, her brain went into a panic. What!? Have I just lost my mind? No way do I wanna go out on a boat! She cleared her throat. “I can’t promise I won’t freak out. I think that’s the biggest reason I decided not to go to Miami with my friends—that and because they’re hanging out with some rapper.” Adventure, Riley. That’s what you’re looking for.
His eyebrows lifted. “A rapper?”
She grimaced. “He calls himself Pro Bono.”
“Hmm. Does that mean he raps for free, or is that how he landed his lawyers?”
His swift wit slewed over to her, and she answered without thinking, “I doubt there’s much deep meaning to it. He’s really just another trust fund kid who decided to rebel by spitting rhymes. It’s a stupid name either way.”
Gray laughed. “I’ll give you that. Oh! Here’s the place.”
They walked in, and the succulent aroma of boiling seafood and frying onions and garlic hit their nostrils. The smell was nearly as overwhelming as the din. Riley scanned the crowded dining rooms with some misgiving, but Gray seemed to know the guy at the desk, so they were seated quickly.
“Crab, clams, or shrimp?” he asked.
“I like all of them,” she said, wearing a wide grin. “I prefer some more than others, but it’s all good.”
They ordered a low country boil and sodas. When the food came out it, it was delivered in a galvanized steel bucket, filled to the brim. They dumped it quite carefully onto the thick layers of newspaper laid across the wide tables and began to eat greedily.
Riley, munching happily on a greasy redskin potato, asked, “I have to ask… Have you ever thought of moving somewhere else?”
Gray shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, I love it here, but winters can be pretty bleak. Then again, I went to college in Wisconsin, and winters really sucked there.”
“Wisconsin?”
“Yeah, on a football scholarship.”
That explains the build. She asked, “You don’t play anymore?”
Gray shrugged. “I was great at the college level, but there’s too much competition for my position in the pros. I know why I wasn’t drafted. In fact, it would’ve shocked me if I had been. There are lots of better players out there. Besides, playing pro was never something I wanted to do. I mean, I wouldn’t have turned it down if they drafted me, but it wasn’t the be-all/end-all reason for me to go to college. My real reason was to get the best education I could on the largest scholarship I could, and I did that.”
“What did you major in?” she asked, suddenly finding him far more interesting.
“Business management. You?”
She giggled. “The same, with a minor in technological psychology.”
His eyebrow lifted again. “Your minor sounds cooler than the major.”
“It was. The intention is to equip students to run a business while spotting valuable workers, through studying them in hierarchical situations. Wow. That makes the whole thing sound really boring, huh?”
“No. It makes you sound incredibly smart.”
She tensed. Usually when guys said that it came off like some sort of insult, with an off-the-cuff sneer. There wasn’t a trace of a smirk on Gray’s gorgeous face, though; in fact, there was actually some admiration there. “I guess. Depends on who you ask. I liked it a lot, so I did well at it. There were things I hated to study, and I didn’t do as well in those.”
“It’s the same for everyone,” he said, and tilted his head. “Why are you so afraid to admit how smart you are?”
His query caught her off-guard, and she wondered why she was so worried about it. “I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “It’s just… Well, usually, when people say that to me, they’re being sarcastic.”
His hand reached across the table and caught her wrist. “Do I seem sarcastic?”
“No.” Her voice caught in her chest.
“That’s because I’m not. Being a smart woman’s a good thing.”
He released her wrist, but she felt the heat of his fingers still, lingering deep down within her veins and bone. She was turned on again, although she had no idea how or why. She had never cum so hard in her life as she had for him, and now she wanted him all over again. That was pretty intense and a little insane. I just met the guy, and he’s already turned me into some kind of sex freak! Wouldn’t Lorna and Megan have a heyday if they heard about this?
Their meal ended with them laughing about a few hijinks Gray had pulled in college as they walked out the door and back into the night. Riley couldn’t stop thinking about what they’d done to each other before dinner, and as they walked his body bumped and touched hers just a little, just enough to convince her how badly she wanted him again.
It also convinced her that she had no idea how to say so.
As it turned out, she didn’t have to. There was an empty storefront next to a small alley on their way to the resort. When they reached it, Gray suddenly turned to her and kissed her. The kiss was hard, long, and slow, and the heat it caused was intense, immediate, and anything but soft. Riley was swept away by the same dizzying inferno she’d felt the last time he touched her. His body met hers, and his cock was already stiff and ready, pressing against her lower regions with real insistence. She had to fight to catch her breath between assaults from his tongue on hers. Those kisses were an assault all their own, attacking her senses and her self-control relentlessly. Her body could not deny him, and she knew it. She knew she should stop it before it went any further, because she did not want to leave any pain behind when her vacation was over—not for him and not for herself. He’s just a bartender, for Pete’s sake. Mom and Dad will never allow me to be with someone like him, she reasoned. There simply was no room for Gray in the neat little life her family had planned for her.
Nevertheless, she kept kissing him back. She was utterly unable to stop herself from doing it. She was wet and slick at her core, and her legs itched with the need to wrap themselves around his lean waist and squeeze hard while he fucked her until she totally surrendered. Surrender was exactly what Gray wanted, and she knew he would not settle for anything less. But how can I do this, then leave him? How can I let him touch me like this? I’ll be lost to him forever if I don’t stop him right now.
Despite all those warnings, she kept kissing him, her body heaving with long breaths she managed to suck in from time to time as the kisses grew longer, deeper, and fierier.
His hands tangled in her hair. He gripped a chunk of it tightly, fisting it and pulling her face to his for a longer, even more demanding kiss, one that left her knees weak and her core soaked and clenching with a fiery need she had no idea how to deny or hide from. His hands slid down her arms, cupped her waist, and then roamed lower.
Gray fondled and cupped her derrière, kneading it with his hands. His fingers went deeper, probing into muscle, and she sucked in air, little thrills of pain now mingling with the delicious pleasure coursing through her body. Damn! He’s going to kill me with wanton need, she decided. She smiled against his lips. Wanton need. Who used those words these days?
His touch sent hot, tingling jolts rocketing through her, making her entire body feel as if she was going to spontaneously combust. His mouth left hers for a second, just long enough for her to realize her lips were plumped and bruised, but she couldn’t care less about that or anything else. Riley’s whimper was met by Gray’s growl of pleasure as her hands slid down to his lower body to touch the hard staff that was pushing into her lower belly. He was so thick and hard, so ready, and she was, too.
They were in a public place, and Riley knew she was about to do something that could wreck her father’s political aspirations forever, but she suddenly didn’t care. All she cared about was the feel of Grayson’s body near hers, the way his flesh met her legs as she clung to him while he carried her deeper into shadows that she wasn’t sure would hide them from the prying eyes her family feared so very much.
He yanked her panties to one side and rubbed her engorged clit with his thumb while her pelvis pressed against him desperately. Her wetness ran down her thighs, and his fingers slid into her labia and upward, thrusting inside her as his thumb caressed her clit.
Gray’s fingers pulled out of her, and hers fumbled with the buttons of his shorts, eager to free his cock from its fabric prison. When he sprang out, hot and erect, she took him in her hand and pumped the silky flesh gently, then harder as he let out a series of masculine groans. Her glistening fluids coated his fingers, and he used them to oil up the stiff, trembling flesh of his cock. Riley waited, not speaking, although there was much she wanted to say. With every caress of his fingers, her juices spread more thickly across his engorged head and throbbing shaft.
He wasn’t finished yet, though. He fell to his knees on the ground before her, and his tongue parted her sweet flesh, sending flaming desire roaring through her. His fingers joined his tongue to take her to the brink. Her hips arched and thrust toward his face, and her groans became louder and lower, more animalistic. Her eyes rolled back, and her head sagged toward her chest.
Gray stood. Her toes dug into his calves as he rapidly climbed back up her body so he could penetrate her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and her opening loosened and stretched for him. She ground against him, her breath mingling with his as they kissed once more.
After one more thrust, she came. Her cries were muffled by his mouth, but they were hoarse and ringing as his dick throbbed and pulsed inside her tunnel. His breath caught as his pace suddenly quickened and he stiffened, his body trembling as he came.
They clung to each other, frozen in the moment and lost in the rush of pleasure.
Gray groaned again as his dick slowly diminished within her and she let him lower her gently to the ground. Her back met the wall of the building, and she stared at him, shocked by her own daring. She was thoroughly satiated and tired, but there was something more to it than that: She was thrilled with herself for doing what she just done. Maybe I am a little wild after all!
Gray helped her straighten her dress and found her panties before fixing his shorts. Then he just held her, his warm body pressing against hers. Eventually he said, “I have to get back. I’ve got a lot of things to do. I still have to go down and make sure the night guy locked up, and I’ve gotta handle the daily inventory.”
“Oh.” She let herself step out of the circle of his arms. “Well, I don’t want to keep you. You must be really tired by now.”
He smiled. “I am, but it’s not a bad thing.” He held out a hand, which she took.
The two of them headed down the street, to the gates of the resort.
“So…about tomorrow, do you wanna go out on the boat with me or not? I’m not leaving till one or so, because I have things to do first, but after that I’m free for the whole afternoon.”
She knew she should refuse, as she was catching serious feelings for him, and she had to leave soon—not to mention that, as much fun as they’d had, she had no idea whether he’d be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde the next day. “One sounds great,” she finally answered.
He smiled. “Cool. The boat’s tied up at the big dock just to the right of the resort. It’s called Maggie. Can you meet me there?”
“Yep,” she said, darting her eyes to the gates. She didn’t want to get him into trouble, and it was clear he was asking her to meet him away from the resort because he wanted to avoid that. “I’ll see you then.”
“I’ll be there.”
After he walked through the gates, Riley stood outside for a few moments. She then used her keycard to gain entry and dashed toward the elevator, with a happy smile on her face. Even though it was going to end all too soon, she was finally living her adventure, and that felt good.