The next morning, Kallie rose early and showered before Sasha had so much as opened his eyes.

When she got out, she saw to her surprise that Sasha was not only up, but had loaded a long-playing sound effect video on her laptop of ocean waves crashing. He’d stripped the bed down to the sheet and laid out the two of the largest towels in the place on top of the mattress, and was on the phone ordering champagne and strawberries if they had any.

“What are you up to? It’s ten a.m.,” she reminded him. “Don’t you have somewhere you should be sitting?”

She was teasing, and he took it that way. Sasha smiled. “I don’t care, do you? I felt like going to the beach,” he said, with the receiver pinned between his ear and shoulder. “You wanna come with me?” He broke out the tiny tube of body lotion from the bathroom which was, as his good luck usually had it, coconut-scented. The smell of it filled the room nicely.

“Are we going somewhere?” she asked confused.

“We don’t have to go anywhere,” he replied with another warm smile. He sniffed the lotion. “I have to take this as some kind of sign,” he said. “Take off your clothes.”

Kallie still wasn’t catching on.

“We’re at the beach,” he explained. “I have our beach towels on. We got the sound of the ocean. Some lovely coconut. We are about to have a picnic breakfast of champagne and strawberries. Maybe I should have made that Piña coladas. I’m on hold. I can change that.”

“Make them virgin Piña coladas and I’ll join you,” she said. Her stomach rumbled from the alcohol and soda she’d slammed in the middle of the night. She needed to eat.

“Perfect,” he said. “By lunch, they should have what I want for sure.” He changed their order to virgin drinks.

They actually sounded really good. She sat on the edge of the bed, draped in her bath towel. She had been naked in front of him so many times, and she couldn’t recall being bashful, and yet she was. He was always so bold and commanding, not the least bit self-conscious. She liked that about him. His splendid form rose from the bed like that of god.

Sasha was so cut, so buffed, and yet for all her jogging, yoga, and skipping rope, working out was the one thing they didn’t do together. Yet he had to be doing something right, for he looked chiseled as if from stone.

As she admired him, he put the moment on pause. He scurried out of bed and threw on his pants and shirt. He grabbed his wallet. “Be right back,” he said, grinning at her from over his shoulder as he reached for the doorknob. “There are a couple of things missing. Put a robe on. I don’t want you to get naked without me.”

“Call the concierge...” She suddenly felt abandoned, to have him leaving her like this.

“On second thought...” He dashed back from the door, leaning down to her and kissing her sensually. His hand found hers and placed it strategically between her thighs, encouraging her to give herself pleasure. “Don’t finish without me, though,” he murmured against her lips. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

How he could leave a room and still be so much a presence there was a mystery to her. Whatever his random errand was, it no longer mattered. He’d given her a job to do, and she intended to do it. Laughing, she lay back on the bed and proceeded to quite slowly drive herself insane...right up until a knock sounded on the door with an announcement of room service.

Utterly frustrated, Kallie scrambled for the robe hanging in the cabinet. She held the door as the waiter rolled a cart in stocked with strawberries, chilled champagne, and a couple of Piña coladas. Either the hotel had gotten their wires crossed, or Sasha decided to have all of it sent up at once.

Just as she tipped the man, Sasha stumbled across the threshold with a bouquet of roses in his hands.

It was too perfect. Too utterly perfect. With tears in her eyes she accepted the flowers as the waiter pocketed his tip and quickly withdrew, closing the door firmly behind him.

They were finally alone, hopefully with no further interruptions.

“Where were we?” He grinned down at her, tugging at the belt on her robe.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“At the beach,” he answered softly.

Their eyes locked on to each other.

“The flowers...” he said, unable to take his eyes off of her. “There’s a card.”

“Okay,” she replied, though she made no move to open it. She was too caught up in his eyes.

Here she was, on one of the rare occasions where she actually got flowers from a gorgeous man, and she wasn’t really all that interested in them. She’d much rather have the man.

“No, you have to open it,” he insisted.

Reluctantly, Kallie did as he asked. He helped her fish out the tiny envelope. Her whole body was shaking before her mind fully registered what it was she was receiving, that there was something hard and lumpy hidden in the paper. Her fingers trembled to the point of uselessness and he had to help her tear open the envelope.

He tipped the pouch to her palm and out tumbled a sparkling piece of jewelry. A pendant on a glittery chain. It was a serious-looking piece of jewelry. Kallie had no way to tell if it was real or not. But to her mind, Sasha was a real diamond kind of guy. Hardly a fake, then.

He took hold of the chain, pinching the parts of the clasp in his fingers sure and steady, and clipped it around her neck. The pendant dangled between her breasts.

They both looked down and admired it.

“Nice,” he remarked. “And the rock ain’t bad either.”

Kallie leaned against him, forcing him to support her. The neckline of her robe draped open, exposing her more. She was not the least bit self-conscious.

“I know we have our challenges, but I want you to know where I stand with you. I’m committed to you,” he said, bending his head to kiss her tenderly.

This was perfect for her. The words soothed her, calmed her doubts. This wasn’t a premature declaration of matrimony to her. She’d met him on the rebound of a failed engagement. It wouldn’t feel right to jump into another one so fast.

But she loved the idea of a commitment phase. There wasn’t anyone else she could imagine more perfect than him, even with the doubts that still nagged at the back of her mind. Maybe in time, he would stop all of that. She could make a go of their business, so it would be enough for the two of them.

“I know you want to have hot, wild sex right now,” he said with a sweet smile on his lips. “But can we please toast to us?”

Kallie got hung up on his choice of words. Hot. Wild. Sex. Oh yes, definitely. She could hardly speak. “Yeah,” she said softly, licking her suddenly-dry lips.

“If we open the champagne now,” he began. “It might go flat.” He handed her a hurricane glass topped with whipped cream and garnished with fruit. “Hmm,” he whispered against her ear, his breath hot on her neck, “I should have asked him to send up the can of whipped cream.”

Kallie blushed.

He guided her arm through his, helping her to link their arms the way a couple would at their wedding reception. “To us,” he murmured, his voice tight with emotion, though there was a look of absolute mischief in his eyes.

“To us,” she seconded. She hadn’t said she loved him back. He didn’t push. She played with the icy sweetness of the creamy drink on her tongue. If she plunged her tongue inside his mouth at that moment, he would melt away the cold.

She leaned forward and did just that. She set her drink down and cupped the back of her giant man’s neck, pinning him so she could kiss him.

Sasha slipped the robe from her shoulders until she was naked except for the necklace. Her body, still pink from the hot shower, was revealed.

He was aroused. She could tell it when he held her, and the knowledge of it made her shudder in anticipation and delight. He hoisted her quickly and lowered her to the bed. Laying her back, he removed the straw which had a spoon at the end and scooped it into her navel.

Kallie shivered. It was one of the most erotic sensations she’d ever experienced. “Oh, my gosh,” she said breathily. “Whipped cream is intense.”

“Like that?” he asked her.

“I do.” Her answer came out as a long moan that made him laugh as he dipped his head to her body to taste her.

“You’re delicious,” he said quietly. Sasha lifted his drink and took a bigger swallow before wrapping his lips on her nipple.

The shock of the cold on her sensitive, soft flesh caused her whole body to draw up as she cried out in agonized delight.

“No?” He drew back.

“No...yes...” Kallie arched her back so as to offer herself to him.

He drank again, chilling his tongue so he could paint her with it. The cold sent electric tingles through her and made her clench.

“You’re going to have to take another bath. I’m going to make you sticky,” he said.

Kallie felt wicked. “You’ve made me sticky before,” she replied.

“I have,” he agreed, drawing circles on her stomach with whipped cream, then bending his head to lick them off.

As she lay there, being made love to by her magnificent man, she felt the weight of the pendant against her breast. It was incredible how a pebble-sized gem—small, really, compared to other things, but large for a piece of jewelry—could feel so comfortingly heavy there.

Sasha entered her. His stride graceful and smooth. He was courting her, wooing her with his body. His pace was slow and even. Kallie’s heart warmed.

Before, she’d wondered if she was falling in love with him or whether she was enjoying a strong, animal reaction to his utter perfection. And then he threw in words of love for her. Was it manipulative? Maybe that was part of his charm.

But lying beneath him, as her body rose up to meet his, as her heart beat in a ridiculous rhythm, and her breath came in short gasps, Kallie knew. She was in love with him. Yet the sentiment got caught in her throat. She couldn’t tell him. She pressed her palm to his face and smiled up at him with such adoration that she hoped, somehow, he would know. She was overwhelmed, emotion bringing tears trickling from her eyes, and yet she couldn’t say the words.

Sasha picked up the necklace with his teeth. Her nipples pebbled instantly, pointing straight from the softness of her breasts. His hand lazily grasped her slight waist, reached upward, and found them. He pressed a rosy tip, sparking her erotically. Her chest tightened as she breathed out in a shaky gasp. She let herself be at his total command, and he took it.

Her fingers raked through his luscious, rebellious hair as his hands moved over her. She needed all of him so urgently. The pendant cut into her for seconds as she danced into him. She was now aware of the fragile chain that held it. She worried it might break in their passion. But that thought was brushed from her head as his tongue found the inside of her ear.

This move made Kallie growl. She couldn’t hold back. The sound erupted from her with such force. He lifted her easily, so she was astride his lap. Her thighs braced his hips. She rode him wild, unrestrained. She lifted and lowered easily, her body so wet that the movements came easily. Her body glided down on his hardness until he was completely engulfed within her.

The moment in which they were totally connected always brought tears of sweetness to her eyes. It was such perfection that she couldn’t swallow around the sudden lump in her throat. Her heart swelled, making her chest ache with a sweet pain that she’d never known before him. She kissed him through the waves that overtook her. She rocked her hips upwards toward him, in soft erotic bucks.

Sasha’s chest rumbled like a big cat’s. He leaned back on his elbows and watched as Kallie worked. She rolled her spine like a belly dancer, moving her body with slow strokes for his visual pleasure. She held his eyes in a smoky gaze, pouted her lips, touching them suggestively with the tip of her tongue, inviting him to kiss her.

His lips curled, pleased with what he saw. He touched her, joining in, flaring her arousal and throwing her off her concentration. It was tough to be so cool when the most expert lover that Kallie had ever been with was literally pushing her buttons.

He was merciless when he put his full concentration on her. He pressed between her legs with the pad of his thumb. She ground against him, finding her own rhythm as he waited and let it happen, watching as ecstasy wound up tight within in her; waiting until she was at the summit of eternal pleasure before gripping her hips and thrusting into her.

He didn’t let up, jackhammering into her in unending strokes until she came apart. She couldn’t hold on in the face of such a powerful, sensuous attack. He continued pumping into her while wave after wave rolled from deep within her belly, throughout her very core.

Her flesh rippled against his, tightening and releasing, tightening and releasing. Her cries filled the hotel room as Sasha fought against his own release.

He pushed her backward, sending her hard onto the mattress, and drew her legs up over his shoulders. He drove into her, blissfully returning her erotic punishment. He pushed her way beyond any limits she had ever crossed before. Kallie, helpless, dissolved into the orgasm, a brilliant splash of colors exploding just behind her closed eyes. She threw her head back and came and came and came as she felt his muscles tense under her grip. His iron will faltered, his entire body jerking once, then twice in a powerful storm, shaking and crying out in his own wondrous climax.

He’s magnificent when he comes.

Later she would pause throughout the day to recall this moment. Sasha, so powerful and all animal. Graceful in his own beauty. Such a sexy, hot man. What a powerful beast he was.