ALLIE BARELY WAITED for the man to leave their covered food before she yanked the lids off. “I’m starving.” If she’d spent any time wondering if she’d be active enough while on vacation, she needn’t have worried. Swimming and paddleboarding had left a pleasant soreness in her muscles and an equally pleasant tiredness.
Also, she’d been ready to wade into the ocean and try to catch her own fish if dinner hadn’t shown up when it did.
Becka laughed and bumped Allie with her hip. “They also brought vodka. Your priorities are suspect.”
“Food always trumps vodka.” She speared a glazed shrimp with her fork and then grabbed a chair. “I’m glad to see that you and vodka are back on speaking terms.”
“We’re taking it slow.” Becka pulled up a second chair and sank into it. “My shoulders are killing me. I obviously need to add more push-ups to my routine.”
Allie laughed. “The girls will love that.” Her friend had a reputation for being a brutal fitness instructor—a reputation she’d more than earned—and this would only cement it. One of the biggest draws Transcend offered was high-energy spin classes with combined exercises that worked the entire body. She reached for the pitcher of cucumber water in the middle of the table and froze. “What is that?”
Becka reacted first and snatched up the little folded note. She read it and frowned. “What the hell is it?” She turned it around, and Allie’s heart skipped a beat.
Yes.
The word had been scrawled with a careless masculine hand, and even though it wasn’t signed, she had no doubt who had written it. He accepted my terms. A flush spread over her skin, and even though she tried to fight it, Becka saw.
Because of course she did. She dropped the note and pointed a finger at Allie. “It’s from Roman. You sly fox, I thought you were calling the whole thing off.”
Allie pushed her food around the plate with her fork. “I told him if he could keep from badgering me about business—or even talking about it—then we could spend more time together.”
“That was the tamest euphemism for banging your brains out that I’ve ever heard.” Her friend slouched back into her chair and laughed. “Vacation has done wonders for your stress level. I told you so.”
“The guy trying to convince me to sell the gym that I worked my entire adult life to get started and keep running followed me to another country to pitch his sale, and you call this trip a success.”
Becka shrugged, completely unrepentant. “You took care of that by removing business from the equation. Now there’s only the hot monkey sex to worry about, and I think you two have proved that you’re more than capable of keeping your eye on the prize.” She made an obscene gesture.
Allie spit out the sip of water she’d just taken. “Oh. My. God.”
“Just calling it like I see it.” Becka winked. “But seriously—if he’s willing to shelve that big black mark against him, are you going for it?”
There was no reason to think he was telling the truth. He could be trying to pull a bait and switch to get her alone. But that didn’t make sense. He could have found a different way. Roman had more than proved how capable he was in tracking her down. He had no reason to agree if he wasn’t interested in exactly the same thing she was—sex.
Her body clenched at the thought. Allie set her fork down. “I think so.”
“Woot!” Becka gave a little wiggle. “That’s my girl. In that case, I’m bringing that delightful bartender, Luke, back here for some of said hot monkey sex.”
She shot her friend a look. “You wouldn’t, by chance, be throwing me at Roman so you can hook up with Luke?”
“Oh, please. We both know that I’m more than capable of finding a suitable place to get under that uniform if I have to.” Becka sobered. “But I don’t want to get him into trouble, so the villa is a better option.” She held her straight face for all of two seconds. “What are you waiting for? Go! Get your...” Becka stopped short, her expression turning wicked. “He’s stacked, isn’t he? You can just tell by how he carries himself that the man is packing serious heat.”
“Becka.” Allie laughed, which broke the tension that had been building from the moment she realized Roman had changed his mind. She sat back in her chair. “You did that on purpose.”
“You’re stressing, which is the opposite of what you’re supposed to do here.” Becka popped a strawberry into her mouth. “I helped.”
“Yes, you did.” She looked at the food, but her stomach was tied in too many knots to think about eating right now. Allie pushed back her chair and stood. “I guess I should...change?”
Becka picked through the food and added more to her plate. “You want my advice?”
“As if saying no would stop you from giving it to me.” She snagged one of the bright red strawberries and took a bite.
“Wear that.” Becka waved a fork at her.
Allie looked down at her muscle tank top and sleep shorts. “This is not sexy.”
“Lose the bra and whatever you’re wearing under the shorts.” She grinned. “If he doesn’t take you right there on the floor, I’ll give you twenty bucks.”
* * *
Allie walked across the warm sand to Roman’s brightly lit villa. Soft music emerged, and though she couldn’t quite place the lyrics, the lilting melody drew her in. She made her way up the porch stairs and stopped just outside the ring of light from the foremost lamp.
“You’re teasing me.”
She jumped and then silently cursed herself for jumping. Allie searched the spot where his voice had come from, only making him out of the shadows when he moved closer. “How long were you lurking there, waiting to make your grand entrance?”
“Would you believe me if I said I went for a swim to burn off some energy and just got back?”
She started to call his bluff, but he walked into the light and, sure enough, he wore wet swim trunks and his hair dripped tiny rivers down his shoulders and chest. It took more effort than it should have to drag her gaze to his face. “Swimming in the ocean at night is stupid.”
“I survived.” He held out his hand, as imperious as a king. “Come here.”
Allie had never been one to make an entrance, but she found herself wanting to prove Becka right. She threw her shoulders back and put a little extra hip into her walk, knowing it would make her breasts sway more than normal.
Sure enough, as soon as she breached the circle of light, her chest was exactly what held Roman’s attention. His hazel eyes went wide and then hooded. “AC/DC.”
“I’m a fan.” She looked down and pulled at the hem of her shirt, which drew the fabric forward and revealed a bit more side cleavage. “They’re classic.”
“How attached are you to that shirt?”
The question brought her head up. She found him closer than before and stopped. “I’ve had this shirt since I was thirteen.”
“Mmm.” He circled her, and she didn’t bother to try to keep him in sight. Allie already knew what he’d see. The tiny sleep shorts that her ass filled out, the slits in the side teasing even more skin. The carefully ripped sides of the shirt that showed her breasts and part of her side. She normally wore the shirt for sleeping or working out—with a bra. It was practically indecent without one.
Which was the point.
Roman stopped in front of her, closer than before. He reached out and ran his hands slowly down her arms, his thumbs caressing the sides of her breasts. “I’ll show the required restraint not to rip it off you right this fucking second.”
Allie shivered. “If you did, we’d have a problem.”
“Noted.” His hands moved back up her arms, thumbs again making the movement a tease. “Were you wearing this when you got the note?”
“I might have made a few alterations.” Thanks for the tip, Becka.
“Mmm.” The sound was somewhere between a purr and a growl. Roman released her arms and hooked his fingers into her shorts. A swift yank and they hit the deck. “No panties. Allie, I think you’re going to fucking kill me.”
She started to pull her shirt off, but he stopped her. “Keep it on. It’s just as much a tease as you are.”
“If anyone is a tease, it’s you.”
“Is that so?” Roman undid the ties at the front of his suit and slid it off without taking his eyes from her. “You came earlier, Allie. I suffered.”
She smacked his hands away when he reached for her again. “Don’t pull that shit with me. You said you’d jerk yourself. If you didn’t, that’s your problem, not mine.” She tried to make herself believe the words. She wasn’t some idiot teenager who thought blue balls meant she owed a guy something, but the thought of Roman suffering didn’t sit well with her, even if he was the enemy outside of this island.
“If you think my hand can compare to your pussy, you’re sadly mistaken.” He went to his knees right there in front of her and lifted her shirt to bare her completely from the waist down. “It’s been hours, Allie. Fucking hours that I’ve wanted you and haven’t been able to do a goddamn thing about it.” Roman dragged his mouth from one hip to the other, just below her belly button. He inhaled deeply. “I crave you. What are you doing to me?”
“Me?” She didn’t get more than that out before he nudged her legs wider and gave her pussy a long lick. The position didn’t leave her open nearly enough, and she tried to spread her legs farther without toppling over.
Roman hooked the backs of her thighs and lifted her to straddle his face. She blinked down at him, but he was too busy taking advantage of the access. He delved his tongue into her, and pleasure made her stop worrying about if he was going to drop her. She clung to his head and gave herself over to what he did to her, trusting him.
He fucked her with his tongue the same way he fucked her with his fingers and cock. Thoroughly. She could barely shift against him in her current position, though, and frustration warred with desire. “Not enough. I need more.”
His growl vibrated through her and seemed to center on her clit. He shifted and she let loose a cry as he stood and walked them to one of the lounge chairs arranged to look out over the beach. With the light of the villa, the contrasting darkness felt absolute, but Allie didn’t have a chance to think too hard on that before he laid her on the lounge chair and lifted his head. “Not enough.”
“That’s what I said.”
He pushed two fingers into her. One stroke. A second. A third finger joined them. Roman used his other hand to tug her shirt to reveal one breast. He flicked her nipple with his tongue as he plunged his fingers into her again and again. “Is this enough, Allie?”
Yes. No.
She thrashed, shaking her head. “I need you.”
He nipped the underside of her breast. “You missed my cock. You’ve been empty and aching for me since you left. That orgasm earlier only made it worse, didn’t it?”
“Yes,” she sobbed out. It was the truth. Instead of taking the edge off, she’d been acutely aware of what she was missing, rather than what she’d gotten.
“You need me, Allie.” He kept up the punishing rhythm with his fingers. “You need what I can give you.”
“Yes! I need you.” She grabbed his shoulders. “Tell me you have a condom nearby.”
She felt his grin against her skin. “I stashed some earlier.” He reached under the lounge chair and she heard the familiar crinkle of foil. Roman ripped it open and stopped touching her long enough to roll it on. “Up.”
Allie scrambled to obey, already anticipating what came next. He took her place on the lounge chair and guided her to straddle him. “That shirt won’t last much longer.” He cupped her exposed breast and went still as she positioned his cock at her entrance. “That’s it, Allie. Take what you need.”
I need you.
She didn’t say it again. It felt too big, too vulnerable, to give voice to, when she was going out of her mind with what he was doing to her. She sank onto his length, enjoying teasing them both by taking it slow. Only when he was sheathed completely inside her did she breathe out. “Yes. This.”
He pulled her shirt up. “I want to see all of you while you ride me.”
There were no shadows to hide in out here on the patio. Anyone who walked up could see them, but that was the point of paradise—there was no one but them. She liked the thought of being interrupted, though—more than she wanted to admit.
Allie took her shirt off, braced her hands on his chest and began to move. A long slide up, and another down while she rolled her hips. It felt so fucking good, she had a hard time keeping up the rhythm. Roman’s grip on her hips urged her on, her pleasure cresting all too soon. She dug her nails into his perfect chest. “I’m close.”
“I know.”
So damn cocky. It would have been unbearable if not for the way he watched her, as if she was something he wanted. Needed. Allie couldn’t close her eyes, couldn’t look away, couldn’t do anything but ride him with one slow stroke after another, pushing them both toward oblivion.
“I love your body.” He skimmed his hands over her stomach and up to her breasts. A few breathtaking seconds spent plucking her nipples and then he coasted his hands back down to her ass. “Fucking phenomenal.”
“Stop talking.” She had decent self-confidence, but that didn’t mean his showering her with compliments made her comfortable. Allie knew Roman wanted her—he wouldn’t have acted the way he had since meeting her if he didn’t. He sure as hell wouldn’t have compromised his business plans to give them a reprieve. She might not know him well, but she knew that much. But the way he spoke to her—about her—was as worshipful as if he really thought she was Aphrodite.
But she was only a woman, and not one that he’d like all that much outside of paradise.
Allie might not be sure of a lot of things, but she was sure of that.