Chapter 8
Grant
“I’m not tired,” Grant said as he looked over at Nikki. Her eyes were closed, but he could tell she was having about as much luck sleeping as he was. The bed was average at best in terms of comfort. After they’d gotten back to the room, they’d made love a second time, which should have put him out like a baby, but it hadn’t.
There was silence in response to his statement. Maybe he’d been wrong, and she was sleeping. Turning in the bed, he picked his mobile phone from the bedside nightstand and was about to start playing a game when her stunning blue eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him, a soft smile beginning to emerge on her lips.
Turning onto his side and propping his head up onto one hand, he took a moment to stare down at her. Her dark hair was fanned out over the white pillow. She was stunning. His angel. She’d gained a few pounds since she’d given birth and it suited her, giving her curves in all the right places. He knew how much she hated her figure now. She felt she was fat. She was crazy. She was far from fat. Why did women always have to think they’re fat when they’re stunning. Why did so many women tie self-worth to the number on a scale? It baffled him.
He realized then that he didn’t compliment her as much as he used to and that was a crime. What in the fuck could be so important that he couldn’t find a few minutes each day to devote to making the goddess he’d married feel beautiful, loved, special?
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Like what?” He knew what…
With a laugh, she shook her head. “It’s not important. Why can’t you sleep?”
“Not tired yet.”
“I see. What do you propose we do about that?” Her hand began to slide up his outer thigh to his hip. He knew where it was going next. He groaned inwardly, another round was so tempting. But there was a pool outside that was beckoning. Rolling away from her grasp, he laughed seeing her jut out her lusty, lower lip in a pout.
“Let’s go give the pool a try. I know you were anxious for a swim.”
It appeared she was considering for a moment and then nodded her head, a grin slowly forming on her lips. “That sounds like a pretty good alternative to my idea.” She slid out of bed and as his dick jerked at the sight of her naked body as the blankets slipped away, he held back his desire. Attempted to at least.
Her eyes dipped to his groin and zeroed in on his cock. Running her tongue along her lower lip, she looked back up at him, catching his gaze. Their eyes locked for a moment before she turned from him and began rummaging through their suitcase, producing a pair of swim trunks for him and a one-piece bathing suit for herself.
Passing him his trunks, she quickly stepped into her suit and began to do a little bounce as she did. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her breasts as they jiggled up and down. They’d gone up a size since giving birth to Jasmine and never went back. They were amazing before, they were a different amazing now. Again, his dick jerked.
Clearing his throat, he grabbed his trunks and began to pull them on, feeling like a teenaged boy getting a hard-on just by the sight of a woman’s body. But in his defense, this wasn’t just any woman, it was Nikki. She was the only woman who could make him lose control; years of military training couldn’t prepare him for the opposition, which was his love and desire for Nikki.
~*~ TT ~*~
Nikki
The night was just as warm and clear as it had been hours before when they first stepped foot on the ship, despite it being close to 1am. She was half-way expecting to see the pool flooded with people, but relieved to see that there was only one couple left in the hot tub and it looked as though they were preparing to leave themselves.
Stepping up to the pool, she dipped a toe into the water expecting it to be cool, but delighted that it was heated. “This is how the better half lives, huh,” she teased, looking over her shoulder and watching Grant as he stepped to her side.
“It would seem so. I’m not all that experienced when it comes to luxury living.”
She laughed as she moved her foot back and forth in the water.
“Are you planning on standing there testing the water all night, or going to swim?” he didn’t wait for an answer, but jumped in cannonball style, causing the water to splash up and slap her in the face.
Laughing harder, she spit out the bit of water that had gotten into her mouth. She didn’t even want to think about the amount of people who must have peed in that very water. Yeah, okay, sure there was chlorine in the water, but it didn’t get rid of the grossness factor.
Looking down into the water, she could see Grant beneath, about 5 feet below the surface. He seemed to be down there for a peculiar amount of time. “Grant?” She crouched down at the edge of the pool and attempted to get a better view of him. Even though there were lights in the pool, the darkness was still making it hard to determine exactly what he was doing. “Grant?”
Panic began to rush through her and she prepared herself to dive in after him. He emerged, breaking the surface and startling her as he leapt from the water, grabbed her around the waist and pulled them both back and into the pool.
Screaming, Nikki plugged her nose with her right hand and waited for the water to greet her. She clung tightly to Grant with her free hand as she became fully submerged under the water. As soon as she went under, she released her husband and began to frantically swim her way to the top. It felt as though they were twenty feet below the surface as she swam. She was a decent swimmer, not great, but decent, but one of the things that freaked her out was losing control in the water. That’s part of the reason why she both loved and hated waterslides; the thrill of doing down them was amazing, but the plunge afterwards always killed the experience for her.
Breaking the surface, she released her nose and took a deep breath of air, treading water while pushing a lock of wet hair from her face. She wasn’t sure if she was angry with him or if she wanted to laugh along with him as he sprung up next to her, grinning from ear to ear. She decided to do a little of both. Laughing, she gave him a swat on the shoulder and then forced a scowl onto her face.
“You know how much I hate when you do that!”
“Do what?” He wiped the water from his face and feigned a look of innocence.
“Pull me under. I hate when you do that.” Being a strong swimmer, he didn’t get how someone could be freaked out over being under water for a few seconds. Dammit, why did he always have to be so good at everything?
“I’m sorry, baby.” He swam to her, but with a few movements of her arms she drifted out of his reach.
“You just can’t say sorry and expect me to just forgive you.” She kept swimming backwards, here gaze locked to his until her feet found the bottom of the pool. She then allowed him to close the distance between them and pull her into his strong embrace.
“But, I’m sorry.” He looked down at her, a twinkle in his grey eyes.
“You are not!” Sliding her arms up his broad chest and lacing her fingers behind his neck she grinned up at him. “You wouldn’t be smiling like you are if you were truly regretful.”
He lowered his lips to her and, in anticipation of his kiss, her eyes closed and she waited for a contact that didn’t happen. Her eyes fluttered open just as his lips grazed her jawline.
She moaned as his lips made their way along her jaw to her earlobe. Pressing herself against him, she wanted to let go in his arms. But not yet.
“Come on now.” She slid her hands back down to his chest and gently, pushed him backwards. “How are we ever going to get any time in swimming if we start that. Besides - ” she jerked her head towards the hot tub couple. Lowered her voice she continued, “we’re not the only people out here.”
Wiggling his eyebrows at her he responded, “That only makes it more exciting.” Despite his words, he didn’t attempt to gather her back into his arms. Instead he began swimming across the pool. She watched him swim, using long, powerful strokes. Once to the edge of the pool, he grabbed a beach ball and then spun around with it in his hands.
Tossing it up in the air, he hit it, sending it sailing towards her. The ball was coming in a little high, making her jump from the water in order to return the serve. “You realize that you’re taking on the captain of my high school volleyball team?”
He effortlessly returned it.
His eyes lowered to her chest as she jumped up and managed to return it again. She didn’t miss the drop of his gaze. She jumped once more and then snickered when his eyes lost sight of the ball as they focused back onto her chest. The ball made a soft flop noise as it hit the water. One good thing about the weight gain was how easily she could distract him with a low-cut shirt or revealing top.
“You might be able to hit the ball better if you kept your focus on it rather than on my boobs, Babe.”
Chuckling, he shrugged. “It’s not my fault you’re cheating.”
“I’m not cheating!”
“You are intentionally shaking your boobs to distract me. I know your games, Missy.”
Cocking her brow up at him, she shook her head. “Not sure what you’re talking about.”
“You do realize that I’m trained to detect a lie from a thousand paces.”
“You’ve also been trained to not allow yourself to be distracted, but all it took was for me to give my boobs a little shake and you can’t even return a perfectly hit ball. It’s got me a little concerned that maybe you’re losing your edge. What if you come across a woman with a nice rack while on a job?” She meant the comment to be funny. He had been joking, but by the time the last word of the sentence was said, they had both stopped smiling.
“Nik…”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I was joking, really.”
He dropped the ball into the water and swam over to her. “Are you concerned I’ve lost my edge?”
“No. Of course not!” That certainly wasn’t what she meant.
“I haven’t. It’s going to be all right.” He grasped her upper arms in his hands. The concern in his expression started to make her concerned.
Had she done anything to make him think that way? She didn’t think so. For as long as she could remember, he had always been her hero. HER HERO. She’d grown up worshipping him, and as she’d gotten older the worship had turned into something more. He was the only man she’d ever desired and she couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else. He’d saved her life. In her mind there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. Had he lost his edge? Hell no!
“Are you concerned?”
Why would I be concerned, she asked herself.
“Do you think this mission is going to be trickier than others in the past?” While there wasn’t concern before, there was concern now. Of course, there was always the fear something would happen to him, especially now that they were married and had a family, but deep down she knew he’d be coming home.
He hesitated. Why in the hell was he hesitating! Ohmygod, was there something he wasn’t telling her?
“No.” His hands slid from her arms to frame her face. He stared down at her, the love was so evident in his eyes that it made her melt inside. “I’ll always be coming home to you. Always. You do know that, don’t you?”
Tears began to well up into her eyes. Why did their perfect night have to be fucked up by this conversation? She gulped down her need to let the tears fall. “I do. You’d never let anyone take you away from me.”
“They’ve tried before, but did they succeed?”
Smiling, she shook her head. “I know you’d never let anyone or anything tear us apart.”
“Nothing.” He lowered his mouth to hers, claiming her lips with his own.
When he pulled back, she looked over at the hot tub. She wasn’t sure when the other couple left, but they were no where to be seen and it gave her some naughty ideas. Looking back to her husband she could see he was thinking the same thing she was.
“Time for round three?” As she asked the question, her hand slid between them and rubbed the length of his shaft. It was flaccid, at first, but quickly began to thicken under her hand.