He was right, and my body was betraying me.  When he kissed me it felt so natural and so right.  I didn’t want the kiss to end but I knew that it had to so I reluctantly pushed him away.  He didn’t want to hear it when I told him we were not a good idea, and I didn’t really believe my own words, but it was the right thing to say.  Then he licked my ear and everything I said went out the window.

 

I couldn’t hold back and I didn’t want to.  I was on vacation hundreds of miles away from our parents, we were alone on the beach, I was giving in to temptation, and it felt so good.  I wrapped my arms around Declan’s neck pulling his mouth down to mine.  He kissed me deeply, gently sucking on my lower lip, and I wanted to drop my panties right there on the beach.  I didn’t care that our parents were getting married, I didn’t care that he was forbidden and I didn’t care that I would probably regret my decision in the morning.  I was living in the moment and feeling his hands caress my bare skin turned me on more than anything I had ever done.  Just his touch had me soaking my panties and I didn’t want it to stop.

 

I ran my hands over his taut arms and abs, savoring every second of what we were doing, not questioning any of it.  My fingers trailed their way up to his hair and I raked my fingers through, sliding my tongue over his, pressing my body even closer.  I wanted him to know that I wasn’t going to stop and I wasn’t going to push him away.  I wanted him and there were no games about it.  I didn’t normally have sex with someone I barely knew.  When I thought about it, I had only seen Declan a handful of times after our parents got engaged.  My mom tried to arrange ‘family’ get-togethers but I’d had no interest in doing that, and I thought it was best if I spent as little time around Declan as possible.  But there?  On the beach in Mexico?  There was nowhere else I wanted to be.

 

I knew it had to be close to the time for me to meet Sophie and the guys, but as Declan ran his tongue along my neck I thought, ‘Andrew who?’  Sophie wouldn’t care that I didn’t meet her because I knew she would be happy to hang with Paul all night.  I was pretty sure that Eric would tell Paul what happened and Sophie would know that I was with Declan.

 

I pushed all of that out of my mind as I ran my hands along Declan’s biceps, his smooth skin pulled tight over his taut muscles.  I wrapped my arms around him pulling him closer, my fingers raking through his thick hair, opening my mouth to take his tongue deeper as my wetness began to moisten my inner thighs.  I was in a haze of ecstasy, ready to give myself to Declan right there on the beach when I felt him sharply pull away from me, sucking in air as if he was taking his first breath.

 

“We can’t do this here, Brielle.”

 

I was totally confused.  Declan basically came to my rescue and all of a sudden he was a different guy in my mind.  In that moment he wasn’t the cocky asshole I had presumed him to be, he was my knight in shining armor defending my honor.  I did not even want to think about what could have happened to me if Declan had not shown up when he did.  The way he made that jerk Eric apologize to me, turned me on and I totally did not expect that.  And there I was, ready to let him have me right there with the waves crashing against the shore, and he was turning me down.  I felt embarrassed and mortified.  Shit.

 

“Why not?”  I could barely focus with my sensitive bud pulsating between my legs.

 

“Our first time together can’t be like this.  Not here on the beach like this.”  He took a step toward me and placed a finger under my chin, gently raising my eyes to his, a slight smile touching the corner of his mouth.  “You deserve better than that.”

 

The reality of what we were doing there began to sink in and I felt like I was yanked out of a drunken haze.  I took a big step away from Declan as I put my hand over my swollen lips, looking at him as if I was seeing him for the first time.  What was I doing? It was a beautifully warm night, we were alone on the beach in an exotic location under the moonlight, and he basically rescued me from harm, so why wouldn’t I just give in to the feelings all of that could cause?

 

“I should not have let that happen, Declan.  I think I was too caught up in everything that just happened.  You’re right, we shouldn’t be doing this.”

 

“I didn’t say we shouldn’t be doing this, I said we can’t do this here on the beach.  We definitely should be doing this Brielle, it is going to happen,” he said, his eyes searching mine.

 

I ran my hands through my hair and did my best to be nice about letting him down easy.  I felt like I had led him on and that was not my intention.  I had no idea my emotions would take over the way they did and I would lose my entire logical thought process.  The problem was that is what happened to me when I was around Declan.  I couldn’t make sound decisions because all I wanted to do was be with him.  But he was bad news and the situation just would not work.  Our parents were getting married in less than two months and there was no way around the fact that we were going to be family.  So whatever lust I had churning down in my sacred place for him, had to be suppressed.  I had to accept that it was not going to happen with us, it just was not possible.

 

“Look Declan, there is no way we can do this.  Our parents are getting married and aside from the fact that they told us to keep our hands off of each other, it just would not be right.  We never should have let things get as far as they did tonight.”

 

He took a step toward me and I could barely breathe.  He gently lifted my chin so that I had to look at him.

 

“Yes, we should have.  Just not here.  Look, I can see that you’re a little confused so I will back off for now, but will you please do a favor for me?”

 

I was afraid of what he was going to ask me because I knew it was going to be hard for me to say no to him again, but I decided to hear him out.

 

“It depends.”

 

“Okay, come watch me work out tomorrow.”

 

The thought of watching him prepare to violently fight another man did not appeal to me.  As much as I hated to admit it, I couldn’t wait until the fight was over so I could stop worrying about him.

 

“Um, no thanks.”

 

“Brielle, I really want you to be there.  I could tell the first night we met at the restaurant that what I do bothers you, and I want you to see that I know how to protect myself so that I don’t get hurt.”

 

“Declan, Sophie loves that world and she has told me how brutal the fights are and how beaten the guys are afterwards.  I really don’t want to watch that happen to you.”

 

A tiny twinkle glimmered in his eye.  “So, you care about me.”

 

I felt my cheeks getting warm and I could have kicked myself for letting that slip out.  He was cocky enough and I didn’t want to inflate his ego bigger than it already was.  I did my best to change the subject, or at least I thought did.

 

“Declan, I wouldn’t want to see anyone getting beat up, it’s just not my thing, so don’t go reading more into what I said.”

 

“Okay fine, I’ll let it go for now but just know that I know…”  He winked at me and I wanted to melt into the sand.  He was so damned sexy and it really pissed me off how attracted I was to him.

 

“I should probably get back to my room because I’m sure Sophie is looking for me.”

 

“Okay, but please think about coming to my workout tomorrow.  I want you to see that there is no need to worry about me getting hurt.”

 

“We’ll see.”  It was the fastest way for me to end the conversation but I had no intention of going to watch him get ready for a fight.

 

When we got back to my room my heart was pounding as we stood in the hall, and I was wondering if he was going to kiss me.  Declan looked at me, a slight smirk touching the corner of his mouth.  I felt like I was missing something so I cocked my head to the side and gave him a curious look.

 

“What?”

 

“Life is funny sometimes.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean some things are just meant to be.”  He took my key from my hand, opened my door for me, leaned down and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek.  “I hope I see you tomorrow, Brielle.  I’ll be at the gym all day.”  With that, he pulled his room key from his pocket and entered the room directly across from mine. 

 

I stood in my doorway, staring at him, and my mouth dropped to the floor.

 

No way.