Chapter Twenty-Three

Fiona

I came to, feeling warm and dry as I stretched my limbs gingerly. I was crusted with sand and salt but, otherwise, I felt much better.

Cracking open an eye, I surveyed my surroundings. We were still on the beach, with Shane propped up on one elbow next to me, watching me closely. There was no one around as far as the eye could see.

I felt his skin burning into mine and realized that we were both naked and wrapped in a blanket. His arm was draped over my stomach, and I suddenly felt even warmer. Heat spread from every inch of contact between us and lit a fire in my core.

“How are you feeling?” His eyes were as dark and deep as the water that had almost killed us. And they were tight with concern.

“Better.”

My teeth sank into my lower lip, and desire tingled over me. I stared up at his chiseled jaw and the stubble growing there, imagining the feel of it between my thighs. I was sure that I shouldn’t be thinking about that, given our earlier experience, but I felt fine and couldn’t help myself.

My heart swelled as I drank in the full effect of him in the fading sunlight. Shane’s muscles stood out in hard lines. His chestnut hair stood up in messy spikes, and he looked at me like I was the only woman in the world, the only thing in existence. As if everything else had faded for him, and he could only see me.

He brought up a hand to trace my cheek and jawline, and he leaned down to press a soft kiss to my lips. It was over before it even really began, succeeding only in increasing my hunger for him and letting loose the butterflies in my stomach.

He chuckled softly. “Only you would be thinking about that right now.”

I flushed. I swear it was like he could read my damned mind. “What? It’s not only me. I wasn’t naked when I fell asleep. Which brings me to my next question: Why are we naked?”

“Are you objecting?” He arched an eyebrow and flashed me a knowing smirk as he brushed the back of his hand across my hardened nipple on his way back to its resting place on my stomach. I sucked in a deep breath, electrified by that one, tiny touch.

“Never,” I gasped. “But why?”

“I had to get us out of our wet clothes so that you could dry off.” The lust that had been creeping into his eyes by our easy banter flickered out, completely replaced by concern.

“What have you been doing all the time I was out?” I wanted to get him to say whatever he wanted to before doing my best to bring the lusty, passionate look back.

“Watching you rest,” he said simply. “You’re beautiful. I thought I should tell you again.”

I swore I could feel my heart fluttering at his words, no matter how many times he said them. “So are you.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again, his eyes running over every inch of me. It was more like he was checking me for injuries than checking me out but it made me feel hot all over.

“I’m sure,” I said.

I placed my hand on his and guided it slowly down my stomach and between my legs.

Shane groaned when he found me swollen and ready. “God, Fiona, how are you this wet?”

“You touched me,” I breathed, feeling him lengthening and hardening against my thigh.

“Barely,” he said.

He slid his fingers into my slit, his breathing growing heavy as he rubbed up and down. I couldn’t believe how much better it felt when he did it. My eyes fluttered closed as spasms of pleasure rolled through me from his simple touch.

I swallowed a low moan and repeated his earlier words back to him. “Are you objecting?”

“Never,” he groaned, lowering his lips to mine and kissing me breathless. His fingers pushed into my hot center, fucking me slowly, leisurely.

He increased his pace at exactly the right time, reading my body and its needs like the open book it seemed to be. I writhed underneath his touch, arching into him, desperate for every bit of sensation I could get from him.

Shane dragged the rough pad of his thumb over my most sensitive bundle of nerves, and I cried out, moaning into his mouth as I thrashed against him. He brushed my clit again and again, until I was ready to come to pieces around his fingers.

Then he stopped with a low growl and positioned himself over me. His tip straining at my entrance was too much. I needed him. I rolled my hips, and he smiled against my mouth as he sank into me.

I moaned in relief, finally feeling full and whole for what felt like the first time since we’d last been together. In that moment, it dawned on me that I was not only in love with the man but deeply, madly, out of my mind in love with him.

The words jumped to the tip of my tongue but were replaced by a moan when he hit just the right spot deep inside me. Then they flew from my mind when he rubbed against it again. His movements took me higher and higher, closer to the edge with every delicious thrust of his hips.

I opened my eyes to watch his muscles bunch and release, to see the power that I could feel beneath the surface. His throat worked, his lips parted, and his eyes, heavy and half-lidded, burned into me with outrageous intensity.

Out of all the sensations he caused me to feel, it was that one look that sent me toppling over the edge. I flew like a cannonball, the weight of Shane’s body the only thing keeping me anchored to the ground.

Pulses of pleasure flowed from my center to the very tips of my fingers and toes. Little white lights exploded in my vision as I struggled to keep my eyes open. I didn’t want to miss one moment with him, not even to let my eyes close as I rode wave after wave of pleasure.

Shane kept his rhythm steady, riding me through my orgasm. He didn’t let up when the pleasure started subsiding. He kept up the same mind-blowing rocking of his hips. A low moan rippled through my chest when he reached down and pressed a finger to my clit, drawing circles around it that became tighter and smaller as his thighs started shaking.

He was close. Very, very close. I moaned.

“Come with me,” he rasped.

He increased the speed of his hips and the pressure of his finger. As soon as I felt the first twitch of his cock deep inside me and saw the look of pure bliss on his face, I followed him straight over the edge again.

Somehow, that orgasm was more powerful than the one that came before it. It ripped through me like lightning. I cried out, and Shane’s deep moans of pleasure mixed with mine until we both collapsed, limbs intertwined and hearts beating fast against one another’s chests.

My heart was still beating rapidly when Shane rolled away and brought me to his chest in what was fast becoming my favorite position after sex. I rested my head over his heart and listened to it as it calmed down.

“There’s something I should tell you,” he said softly.

My stomach dropped, and I stopped tracing the lines that I had been making with my fingertips on his abdomen.

“You want to do this now?” I asked, pain already threatening to rip through me. I wasn’t ready to brace myself for bad news just yet.

“Hey, I promise it’s not anything bad,” he soothed. “It’s just that, when I said earlier that I’d made my choice, I didn’t mean that I had quit.”

I lifted my head, frowning as I tried to figure out how that wasn’t bad news. “If you didn’t quit, what did you choose?”

“You,” I replied immediately. “I chose you.”

“So, what are you going to do then?” I didn’t understand.

“I’ll make it work. It’s my company. I can work remotely, and I’ll travel as little as humanly possible. I promise.” He lifted my hand and kissed the palm, sincerity in his eyes under the pale moonlight.

I paused. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“I’m not asking you to. Of course, if and when you want to come to Houston, or wherever I need to be—” he started but he misunderstood me.

“I mean that I’m not the type of person who can hold someone back. So I don’t know if I can let you do this.” I wanted to be with him, but I couldn’t ask him to give up everything for me.

“You won’t be holding me back,” he argued, tightening the grip that he had around my waist.

“I know how much commitment your job takes. It’s not going to be that easy,” I said, dread washing over me. I was caught between a rock and hard place. As much as I wanted him, I didn’t want him to give up the most important thing in his life for me.

“It will be. I’m mostly a figurehead, anyway,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood. “I can attend meetings via Skype, set up a proper home office with all the toys that I need, and do most of my job from here. Easily. The shareholders summit is only a few weeks in December, and I might have to fly out for a few weeks during the quarterly review, but I won’t be gone for too long. And you could always come with me.”

The dread that had washed over me settled squarely in my stomach. He was definitely not just a figurehead. Running his company was obviously an all-consuming, full-time job. Wouldn’t a quarterly review be at least four times a year? And gone for Christmas?

“That doesn’t sound easy at all,” I protested, pointing out the obvious.

He planted a soft kiss on my forehead, wrapping a strong hand around the nape of my neck and drawing me to him. “If you’re ready to be with me, Fiona, there is nothing I won’t do to make this work. Please don’t overthink it.”

Lowering his head for a sweet kiss, I offered my lips to him, and he claimed them hungrily, despite the fact that we’d barely caught our breath. I couldn’t shake my lingering worry, though. I loved seeing Shane, but I just wasn’t sure that our relationship could last.

I gave myself over to his eager kisses, praying that they wouldn’t be the last.