Chapter Eleven
Sand scratched at Jody’s knees, and salt water pinched her skin. The heat of the sun on the beach burned her shins, but that was nothing compared to the heat sweeping through the rest of her body. She gulped again but the feeling didn’t go away, and neither did the raging fantasies.
“Put your hands under your breasts and push up a little,” the photographer said.
On any other day, she would have walked out on the spot. That or she would have grabbed the camera out of Guy’s hands and swung it at Richard, who was leering again. Nothing was worth posing for shots like that. But with Cruz there, looking at her with glowing eyes and slightly swollen lips, her hands fell into position right away.
There, Cruz, she imagined herself having the nerve to say. For you. Do you like what you see?
A bead of sweat rolled slowly down his temple, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Yeah, he liked it, all right.
Of course, it was crazy to lust after a man who’d admitted to having her in his gun sights at one point. But all she’d ever witnessed was Cruz’s fierce, protective behavior. He’d shielded her from a bullet and let her stay in his home. He’d proven a dozen times that for all his gruffness and hostility toward the world, he cared. Deep down, he cared. About her. About Keiki. About his friends.
So, yes — she’d let herself lust after a man like that.
The camera clicked away, but she barely heard it. The photographer murmured instructions. She obeyed while the rest of her brain outlined a dozen ways she and Cruz could consummate the desire that had been building inside her over the past few days.
“Tilt your head,” Guy said.
Her eyelids drooped as she pictured touching — tasting — licking Cruz.
“Push back your hair…”
She imagined Cruz’s hands doing that for her then holding her in place as his hips moved.
“Push the left strap of your bikini off your shoulder…”
Thunder rolled over the upper slopes of the mountains. Were the mountain gods angry, or did they approve?
She pictured Cruz slipping the bikini strap aside then touching her bare skin — and stopped just short of giving the photographer more than he’d asked for. God, what was coming over her?
She rocked back on her heels. Yes, she’d fantasized about guys before. And yes, she’d acted on those fantasies, too. But those were all fun, flirty flings. No man had ever made her feel like she’d die if he didn’t touch her. No one had ever made her forget where she was and what she was doing except loving him.
No one but Cruz. He stood directly over the photographer’s shoulder, staring back at her. His hands were clenched into fists, his body angled to hide the erection his cargo pants barely concealed.
God, she wanted him. And he wanted her, too.
Thunder rumbled, closer this time — a long, low grumble that unrolled over the slopes of Haleakala. Just enough of a warning to make her check her sanity. Cruz had admitted to wanting to kill her at one point. Why on earth should she trust him?
The temperature cooled, and goose bumps rose on her skin as the heat in her body raged on.
“Shit. We’re losing the light,” Richard said.
Jody glanced at Cruz. The sky might be growing dim, but his eyes flashed at her in a mix of promise and desire.
Guy flapped his hand. “Just a couple of more shots. Tilt your head back, honey. Way back.”
Jody arched, and the photographer clucked in delight.
“Perfect. Tilt your head this way. George, give me all the light you can. Jesus, Elements is going to love these shots. Keep it up, honey.”
Purplish-black clouds swirled above, chasing away the blue part of the sky. Any second now, those clouds would burst and soak her to the bone. Energy crackled and swirled around her like a prowling beast. Cruz was just like that — hard and edgy. Always on the brink.
“Now, look up. Right at the camera. Keep that expression,” the photographer called.
She looked past the camera to Cruz with his smoldering eyes. A one-man storm cloud focusing all its energy on her.
I want you, she whispered in her mind. I need you.
It didn’t matter whether he heard the words or not. He would understand her body language, all right.
Cruz’s body stiffened. Watch what you wish for, his eyes flashed.
Oh, she’d watch it, all right. She’d watch him peel his clothes off, followed by hers — if only he’d give her the chance.
“Shit. It’s starting to rain,” George said.
“Last few shots,” Guy insisted, clicking away.
Jody was amazed the droplets that hit her bare skin didn’t sizzle and evaporate.
I can handle you, mister, she let her shoulders tell Cruz.
His lips formed a tight line. Most likely, he had one of those dark knight complexes that made him think he’d seen and done too many terrible things to deserve a fair maiden like her.
She nearly chuckled out loud. Some maiden she was.
“Hang on to that vixen look. Hang on,” the photographer begged, shifting around for a different angle.
She ignored him completely and arched an eyebrow at Cruz. Her, a vixen? Ha.
Cruz’s nostrils flared. Okay, so maybe the vixen thing worked. And hell, it was working for her, too. Another few minutes of this and she’d come to a screaming orgasm just from the look in the man’s eyes.
But she wanted more. She wanted the real thing.
“Guy,” George murmured as the droplets turned to rain.
Guy jogged around her. “Just a few more shots with the clear part of the sky…”
The sky was about as clear as her thoughts were, but Jody didn’t care.
“Richard?” the hair lady called. “That call you were waiting for has just come through. I have them on the line.”
Richard hurried away, and good riddance, too.
“Can you stretch up and spread your arms?” the photographer asked. “Yes, like that. Just like that.”
Jody threw back her head as rain tapped over her chest. Boy, did it feel good. Cleansing, as if the sins she’d committed by thinking dirty thoughts were forgiven. Like those weren’t sins so much as perfectly natural desires.
A clap of thunder shook the sky, and the drops intensified to a deluge. Guy covered his camera with his shirt. “Okay, it’s a wrap. Run for it, everyone. Run for it.”
The sky exploded, pouring buckets of water down. Jody found herself running and laughing with the sheer joy of it. All that power in the sky. All that desire in her body.
A hand closed around hers, and though she knew without looking it was Cruz, she peeked anyway. His hair was matted down with rain, his shirt stuck to his chest, and he looked at her like…like…
“What?” she shouted over the drumming of rain.
He opened his mouth then closed it again, and she wanted to shake the words right out of him. But then Cruz did something totally, utterly surprising. Something much, much better than telling her what was on his mind.
He smiled.
A huge, open smile like that of a kid on a roller coaster out on the greatest adventure of his life. A real smile, from the heart. From his most hidden, secret territory, in other words. A pity she wasn’t a photographer, because that would have been the shot of the day.
But, hell. She could do better than a photo. She could kiss him.
So she did.
She pulled up short and kissed him full on the lips while the thunder rolled and waves crashed over the beach. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Visions of snaking her legs around his waist danced through her mind, and it was all she could do to pull back and give a very surprised Cruz her best vixen look.
“Just a sec,” she yelled, ducking into the trailer for her things.
She nearly ran into Richard, who stood with a hand stuck up in a stop sign, holding a phone to his ear. “Great news. We can get the gem for tomorrow.”
Paying no attention, she darted back out, grabbed Cruz’s hand again, and ran. Every hurried step splattered her bare legs with mud, but she’d never had so much fun. The dirt track leading to the beach was already awash with brown torrents rushing downhill.
“Wait, Jody. We can get that jewel, after all,” Richard yelled from the trailer door.
“No way,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m done.”
Actually, she was just starting — starting on every dirty act she wanted to share with Cruz. But as far as modeling was concerned, she was through.
“We could do a bonus session,” Richard yelled. “I’ll pay you extra. Just think…”
She squeezed Cruz’s hand tighter and splashed onward. There was only one thing she could think about and that was getting intimate with him. But, hell. How was she going to hold out until they got back to his place? Even the quarter mile to where the Lamborghini was parked seemed too long to wait.
“You going to let me drive in peace this time?” Cruz yelled over the sound of the rain.
Jody laughed. She was going to let him do a whole lot more than that.
They split at the last possible second, each diving into opposite sides of the car and out of the rain. For one frozen moment after the doors slammed shut, neither of them moved or spoke. But the second their eyes met…
Jody leaned over — make that, practically leaped over the gearshift — and covered Cruz’s mouth with hers. A heartbeat later, the rest of her body caught up, and she straddled him. Rain hammered on the roof, not quite covering her greedy whimpers or Cruz’s heavy breaths. Her hips gyrated over his, and she moaned out loud.
Cruz tasted so good. He smelled good. He felt good. Overwhelmingly good. His hands on her hips communicated how badly he wanted her. The heat radiating from the broad chest that heaved under hers did, too, not to mention the unmistakable prod of his erection between her legs.
Rivers of rainwater trailed from her body to his, and she became aware of the mess they would make in the car. She broke off the kiss and reached for the towel she’d grabbed — a towel not much drier than her body after that sprint through the rain — but Cruz growled and pulled her back, slamming his mouth over hers.
I want you here, the gesture told her. I need you here.
“The car…” she murmured between desperate kisses. If it were the decade-old Chevy she drove at home, she wouldn’t have hesitated.
Cruz didn’t slow one bit. His tongue swept over hers in bold, possessive strokes, and his eyes flashed with barely controlled desire. The windows fogged up within a minute, sealing them away from the world.
“God, Cruz…”
There was so much she wanted to say, and no way she could get it out right. Her body was doing a pretty good job getting the message across, though, what with the way she stroked her lower body against his and surged against him with her chest. She was a one-woman storm, a lot like the one raging outside, unleashing all its pent-up energy at once.
Then Cruz nudged her back and looked at her. Just looked at her.
Jody held her breath, wondering what he’d do next. Push her away? Insist on finding a better place? Tell her he had come to his senses and changed his mind?
His eyes flashed as he slid a finger under her bikini strap and pushed it slowly down her shoulder.
Mine, his eyes seemed to announce. You are all mine.
Yes, she wanted to cry out. Yes, yes, yes.
The wet fabric of her bikini clung stubbornly to her skin until Cruz got the strap all the way past her elbow, when it finally rolled to the side. And just like before, he waited — a brief hesitation like the pause before a clap of thunder. An inhale. A ready…set…
One second, her eyes were locked on Cruz’s yellow-green orbs. The next, she tipped her head back and cried out as his mouth closed over her nipple.
“Yes…” she moaned.
The man moved fast as a cat, and she danced in place as he consumed her. He sucked the nipple into his mouth and nibbled it with his lips — a hard, insistent nip that had her seeing stars. One big hand closed over her breast, working her willing flesh, while he slid his other hand around her hips and pressed her against his erection.
She moaned unintelligibly, because he had her everywhere at once. Or nearly almost, because her body cried out for one more point of contact.
“Inside. I need you inside.”
She wiggled over his cock, wishing he were wearing as little as she was. Wishing she could work down his fly and let their bodies connect.
“Soon,” he murmured in a rough, uneven voice that made her toes curl. Then he went right back to her breast, circling and kneading with his fingers and tongue.
It was so good — and damn, they were moving fast, like a train barreling down the tracks. A different kind of fast than the giggly, groping fun she might have engaged in with any other man. And it wasn’t fun so much as intense. Her heart was beating halfway out of her chest. Her body was melting down, her nerves firing a dozen messages at the same time.
More. Need more.
Good. So good.
Right there. Harder. Closer…
She really ought to think this over before she went too far, but she didn’t want to.
Sometimes it’s better not to think, her dad had said in those first surfing lessons he’d given her, so long ago. Just do.
She stifled a naughty giggle. She was pretty sure her dad hadn’t been encouraging something like this.
Cruz moved to her left breast, not bothering to move the scrap of fabric aside.
“Oh, yes…”
The more he suckled and bit, the more control she lost. The friction of the bikini only heightened the pleasure, and she leaned so far back, her head bumped the roof.
“Mmm,” he murmured. “Salty.”
“Salty comes with the package,” she managed, arching to give him better access.
“Taste test,” he said, finally pushing the fabric aside. “Without…”
His lips closed over her nipple and squeezed. Hard, as if he put as much time training that set of muscles as the rest. Then he let go long enough to drag the fabric back and forth over her sensitive flesh, driving her wild.
“Now with,” he whispered, in a deep, hungry voice, covering her with the bikini and tasting her again.
Jody closed her eyes and pulsed against his body. His free hand pulled and released her in a slight pumping motion, setting the pace.
I am in charge here, the motion proclaimed. I control your pleasure.
Jody whimpered, ceding all control. Instinctively recognizing that with Cruz, there was no other way. And given what a master he was…no hardship there.
“What do you like better?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Her muddled brain tried to make sense of that. Did he mean the bikini — with or without?
She stroked her hands over his chest and took hold of his shirt, rolling it upward before he could protest. “Without. Definitely without.”
He grinned — an honest-to-God, you’re funny and I love this grin — and helped. A damn good thing, because the soaked cloth was a bitch to get off, and the vee of his chest didn’t make it any easier. Jody laughed as she finally plucked the shirt off and tossed it aside.
“What a mess you are.”
His eyebrow arched. “What a mess I am?”
“Yes. You’re all wet and sticky.”
His eyes flashed with renewed desire. “Wet and sticky, huh?”
“You have a dirty mind,” she scolded, hunkering to lower her breast toward his mouth.
“Right. I’m the one with a dirty mind.” He lapped at her nipple, flicking his tongue like a kid with a melting ice cream.
The clever comeback she’d had poised on the tip of her tongue evaporated the second he touched her breast. She was going to explode from ecstasy. Christ, the car was going to be a mess. She was already a mess, and Cruz hadn’t even—
She moaned as his left hand advanced between her legs. She shuddered, and every muscle in her body melted, clenched, and melted all over again.
“I think you like my dirty mind,” she whispered.
“I like more than your dirty mind.”
Rain pounded on the roof like a set of Polynesian drums, driving her crazy with desire.
“So good…”
He traced her folds then dragged a knuckle over her clit, making her cry out.
“Yes…”
The hem of her thong moved with his hand, and her body ached all over.
“Please…more…”
“More here?” he teased, circling her clit. “Or here?” He slid farther back toward her entrance.
“Trick question?”
He chuckled and rocked his hand beneath her, giving her a little of both before finally sliding a finger inside.
Jody let her head flop back. God, that felt good. So good…
Cruz circled then slipped a second finger in, muttering to himself. “You’re so beautiful. So tight…”
She didn’t feel tight. She felt absolutely ready for the monster erection pushing against her thigh. He could swell to twice that considerable size, and she’d still have space for more. Then she gulped, because something told her, in reality, accommodating him might be a stretch, indeed. Just imagining the sweet burn made her moan out loud.
“Good?” he whispered.
“Real good.”
“Gonna make it better.”
“Be my guest,” she muttered, gyrating over his hand. Driving his fingers deeper. Deeper…
He curved his fingers inside her, making her cry out. She leaned forward, and his mouth closed over the skin of her neck.
“I am going to make you come so hard,” he murmured into her skin.
She wanted to come up with a smart aleck retort. Something like Not as hard as I’ll make you come, maybe, or Wanna bet? But damn, he was right, and she knew it. And though her lips moved, the only sounds she could produce were desperate moans.
The aching need built higher and higher, driving her in an upward spiral. Every muscle in her body coiled while she fought her release. The downpour outside was a roar in her ears. Cruz’s sure motions drove her further and further past her limits until she cried out once more.
“Just like that…” Cruz whispered, pushing deep, deep inside her as she shuddered and came.
Ecstasy swept over her like a wave — a huge, winter wave that tumbled her off her surfboard and laughed in her face. Like nature, reminding her who was boss — or rather, Cruz, reminding her he was a man of his word.
I am going to make you come so hard…
The man hadn’t been kidding — she really was putty in his hands. Just as her muscles slowly gave in to the heat wave melting her from the inside, an aftershock hit her, and she arched, crying out. Cruz pumped twice more before letting her glide gently back to earth.
She slumped over his body, panting into his neck.
“Good?” The word rumbled from his chest, and the sound wave vibrated through her body.
She kissed his neck. “Pretty good.”
“Pretty good?”
She laughed out loud. “How much do you want me to stoke your ego?”
Cruz’s breath tickled her ear. “Maybe just a little bit.”
His tone was light, but his arms tightened around her. She thought of his tree house, hidden way in the woods. The dark, warning looks he flashed to anyone who dared approach his personal space. The way he’d cuddled Keiki.
Maybe her bodyguard had spent a little too much time alone. Maybe he really did need a few bolstering words. Or even more than words. Maybe he needed love.
She pulled her head back and looked deep into his eyes. Her hair was a cascading mess but it curtained the outside world away, and that was good. She cupped his face with both hands and let her lips play over his.
“That was more than good. That was great.”
His yellow-green eyes seemed to glow, and his hands tightened over her waist.
“So good, I might just be purring,” she added.
He grinned then pressed his ear to her chest. “I don’t hear anything.”
She snorted because he had to hear her heart hammering away. “Okay, maybe not purring purring, but purring inside. Like a cat.”
He pushed closer until she couldn’t see his face, then murmured, “Like a tiger.”
She laughed. “You said tigers don’t purr.”
He looked up at her again, dead serious. “They do inside.”
She nodded slowly, trying to figure out how to tell him just how good he made her feel. How secure. How at home.
But words were only one way to communicate all the emotions welling up inside — and not always the best way. So she dropped tiny kisses across his lips, his nose, and the sharp line of his cheekbones. All the places that had been off-limits until now.
Cruz held her silently, seriously, and closed his eyes.
She pressed closer and snuggled her nose against his, hoping the gesture wasn’t too intimate for him. A different kind of intimate than his hand against her skin or his mouth over her breast. More intimate, in some ways. That was flesh, parts of a body. This snuggle, though, was more.
She moved her nose slowly, tipping her head this way and that. Cruz mirrored her movements, pushing harder then backing off and snuggling at a whole new angle. Her cheeks stretched into a smile so broad, it hurt. Maybe Dark Eyes didn’t want to keep himself shuttered off from the world. Maybe he just needed the right woman to open the door to his unlocked cell.
“Hey,” she whispered. Not a question or a demand. Just a placeholder for other words she was tempted to try out sometime. Words like, I love you. She wondered how long it had taken her mom and dad to get those words out in the open. Not too long, from what she’d heard, because there really was such a thing as love at first sight.
How long would it be until she dared utter those words to Cruz?
“Hey,” he murmured, tipping his head against hers.
Outside, the rain slowed to a cheery tap over the roof of the car as the worst of the storm swept out to sea.
She and Cruz held each other in silence. It was a tipping point, she realized. A time to transition to whatever came next. Like a lot more sex, hopefully.
“Oh,” he murmured, stirring at last. He popped the button on his pants pocket and pulled out her bracelets. “These are yours.”
As if her heart weren’t already close to bursting.
“Thanks,” she said, slipping them back on. He watched her, and she gulped away the lump that filled her throat. “I won’t be as easy on you next time,” she added, going for a lighter mood.
Cruz smiled. “Next time, huh?”
“The sooner, the better,” she admitted, snaking her hand down his chest. All that time, he’d been taking care of her. Now it was time to take care of him.
But Cruz closed his fingers over hers — gently, yet firmly — and shook his head. “Not here. Not until I get you to a bed.”
She made a sad puppy face. “Soon?”
“Soon.” He laughed and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.
She heaved a theatrical sigh and retreated slowly from his lap, making sure to bump and grind a few more times. She left him with a long, sloppy kiss.
“You’re torturing me,” he growled.
“Gotta keep your eyes on the prize.” She yanked on her bundled up T-shirt and pointed to the ignition. “Warp speed, Captain.”
Cruz arched his eyebrow. “Warp speed?”
She tapped his thigh, enjoying the rare, lighthearted feeling of the moment. “Come on, already. Vroom, vroom.”
He started the engine with a roar and wiped a narrow path across the condensation on the windshield. He was chuckling, though, and looking like he hadn’t had this much fun in years.
“Vroom, vroom,” he murmured, hiding a grin. Then he sped off, making the tires squeal.