Page 25

I sink into Nick’s kiss. I forgot how electric it is, how Nick always makes me feel when he touches me. How he’s never shy about showing me how much he wants me.

The fact that he held back all day, taught me to surf, cheered for me when I succeeded, and checked me over when I fell…I have no question that he wants me for me. That my personality is a big part of his attraction to me.

Maybe I’m bringing baggage from the week with me, but Nick soothes too many of those fresh and old wounds for me to care.

I drag my fingers through his hair and kiss him harder. His small hum of pleasure and the squeeze of his hand high on my thigh have me nipping him.

His arm tightens around my waist as our mouths separate an inch. The way he grins at me blooms one across my mouth in return.

“Does this mean you’ve forgiven me?”

I pout my lip a little. He has made this a good date. And he was a good sport about Shawna and Ty coming along. Although to be honest, I forgave him a while ago. Almost immediately after hearing Ruby describe their home life and the obvious connections of Nick fighting to make it better.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so nice at dinner, but it’s in the past, and I don’t ever have to do that again.

Besides, Nick’s been working on my forgiveness all week at lunch while still trying to give me space. And he’s more than proven how badly he wants to make it up to me.

“Yes. I forgive you.”

His smile is blinding. God, he is a beautiful man. Usually, that would turn me away, but I drag him down completely onto his back and snuggle into his side with a laugh. The sun is heading toward the horizon, but it’s still warm and comforting.

Nick’s fingers fiddle with the back of my top, the straps and hook, but he’s not trying to take it off me. It’s like he’s tracing the texture difference between it and my skin. A lazy exploration that brings more comfort and familiarity.

My touch brushes up his side as I press my face into the crook of his shoulder and chest. Occasionally, my hand wanders across his stomach or up his throat to fiddle with the stubble there.

In varying increments, he shifts and pulls me into a series of kisses. Ones that can’t go too far here in public, although I was sure earlier that he would have taken me in the water if Shawna hadn’t been here.

Is Nick an exhibitionist? It wouldn’t surprise me.

His mouth is on mine again, and the heat of his body paired with the heat of the sun has this kiss working me up more quickly than the others.

Hunger fills me. My hands grip him as our bodies slide together and his kisses descend down my neck to find that spot he knows I like.

I muffle a moan against his shoulder, which makes him tighten his hold on me and nip my skin.

“God, Nick …”

“Mmm,” his voice vibrates against my throat before his teeth sink more solidly in my neck.

My back arches me against him harder as I struggle to catch my breath.

Maybe I’m a bit of an exhibitionist too, because I want his hand to slide between my legs to ease the tension he’s been steadily building all afternoon.

But after a moment, we break apart, breathing heavily and staring at each other for a few heated beats before he steals one more lingering kiss.

“I brought something else for you.” Nick’s dark blue eyes twinkle at me. I can’t tell if it’s the setting sun or just him.

“What kind of something else?”

I’m a little sad when the heat of his body leaves mine, but maybe a cooldown is a good idea.

He opens his cooler and pulls out a small box with an oversized, double chocolate cake. I light up a little. I love cake. I love chocolate. And when he only brandishes one fork, I laugh.

“Come here.” Nick sits up and gestures me between his knees.

I settle with my back against him and he spears a sliver of the cake, hovering it before me. Oh my God, is he going to feed me?

When I take the bite he’s proffered, I moan and sink back into him a little more. It’s heavenly. A deep, rich chocolate cake and a creamy, fudgy frosting. I don’t mean to moan, but I do.

Nick laughs against my back as he takes his own bite with the same fork. It’s strangely intimate in a way I’ve never experienced before. I enjoy it.

He takes his time, and I swear he enjoys feeding me as much as I’m realizing I like having him do it. Halfway through, I turn and straddle his hips, making this experience even more intimate.

It leads to small chocolate-flavored kisses between bites. And I can tell it’s turning him on as much as it is me. He presses his hard-on against me, rocking my hips just enough to cause friction.

By the time the cake is gone, my hand is back in his hair, and I’m ravenous for more of him .

“Fuck, Liv. Maybe we should take this someplace a little more private because you are testing my sanity.”

I laugh, head tipping back from the pure joy of that admission. His mouth seals itself against the base of my throat, turning my laugh into a gasp. I tease him with an almost kiss.

“Then, let’s pack up and find someplace where we can be naughtier.”

His hands spasm in the meat of my ass before he grabs one more kiss and lets me go. Heat creeps over my cheeks as I climb off of him.

He grabs the cooler as I grab the blanket and towels. Easy peasy since he put the boards away a while ago. But when Nick spreads the blanket over the turned-down back seat, I bite my lip, knowing his intentions.

A soft swat on my ass has me climbing in, watching as the sun sets into a pretty orange and pink before Nick closes the back hatch behind us. Then, he has all of my attention.

The expanse of his bare skin is much more intense now that we’re closed in relative privacy. Parked in the far corner of the lot, we’re not likely to have anyone pass us by, especially since the beach is nearly empty.

Nick must see my trepidation and my desire warring with each other because he makes the slow move of smoothing his big hands down the outsides of my thighs as he kneels between them.

I bite my lip as I look up at him, knowing how long he likes to draw things out, tease things until I’m all twisted up inside before punishing me with pleasure. I can’t fucking wait for it.

His thumbs trace up my center, stoking the fire already burning inside of me. “I wish there was room in here for me to take you with my mouth again.”

I laugh, which quickly falls off as he rubs me with a firm hand. Leaning over me, he braces himself on his free arm, and I have the perfect view of how his eyes darken with lust.

I’m drenched from his overt sexuality and how he can’t hide the way his erection bends the front of his swimming trunks. Fondling him over the fabric has him sucking in a breath through his teeth.

His fingers slip under the tight elastic of my suit bottoms to touch my sensitive flesh, splaying me open with two strokes before he slides a finger inside of me.

I arch to meet him, and the silence in the Jeep is broken by our ragged breaths. Wanting him is like throwing accelerant on a flame.

Another finger joins the first, and a small cry escapes me. Nick swears in response, soft and taunting us both.

I try to get my hand around him but fail. Still, his muscles shake above me, and a gasp whooshes out of him when I drag my touch up his stomach, playing with the trail of hair that brings my attention back down to his trunks.

Snapping the waistband against his pelvis earns me a guttural groan.

“ Nick .” My voice is almost pleading.

He drops down to his elbow and takes my mouth in a drawn-out tease meant to rile me up further, his fingers twisting and tapping until he finds a spot that freezes the motion of my hips. My mouth falls open as pleasure builds and spikes.

Nose bumping mine, he laughs softly. “So responsive. So ready to come for me.”

I whimper at him. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s able to send me flying with only a little prodding. Like he’s been given a map of my body and instructions on how it works so he can pluck and press all of the right strings.

My moan eggs him on. His thrusting fingers are restricted by my bottoms, but he finds a way to power them into me until I’m quivering and quaking and falling apart.

“You’re fucking addictive, Liv.” He smooths his palm over my sex, slowly letting me come down before retreating and taking my bikini bottom with him.

“Yours too.”

The flash of his grin has me rubbing my thighs together as he shoves his shorts down. His cock springs free, and I want him inside of me.

He spreads my knees apart and climbs over me again, this time, his hot skin is a sinful temptation. When the length of him glides against me, I grip his shoulders and rub myself against him until he groans against the shell of my ear.

“You’re going to be the end of me. Everything about you is utterly perfect.” His hips grind us together until he’s slick from my orgasm.

God, when he finally rears back to slide inside of me, I can’t contain the loud moan. He stretches me delectably, hitting every sensitive spot as he works himself to the hilt. The strong muscles of his pelvis tap against my sensitive nub until I’m shaking.

His touch explores my features, and the look on his face has my heart skipping. Our kiss turns into something that threatens to obliterate me in places I’m not quite ready to give him full access to, but I’m unable to stop it.

I dig my hand back into his hair and bite his lower lip. “Nick…fuck me. Please.”

The low noise that falls out of him breaks through the last of my barriers, and when we start to move together, I’m consumed by how much his presence soothes and overwhelms me.

But fuck, when he starts to thrust in earnest, I’m reminded of the power of his body and all of that carefully honed muscle and strength.

Nick’s hand cascades down my body, lifting my hips against him, finding a new angle that has me crying against his mouth. My eyelids fall to half-mast, and my world contracts to him, those blue eyes peering down at me with such earnestness that my control over myself slips through my grasp.

Every little move he makes, every little touch and kiss, it all adds up to an overpowered shove off the cliff, and I’m writhing in ecstasy.

He’s still pumping into me, riding that wave like the skilled surfer he is. His words drop into the haze I’m hovering in. “God, Liv. I love the way it feels to have you break apart around me.”

I’m a babbling mess, too far gone to respond with anything other than my nails in his back. My core pulses, unwilling to let the pleasure ebb too far, not with the way his cock hits the very ends of me.

“More,” Nick demands. “I want more. I’m never going to get enough of you.”

Somehow, my body obeys, and all of that shaky pleasure twists into a new climb. A higher peak. One where he’s groaning and out of control, finally meeting me in a place where we can crash together.

The funny thing is, when my body finally starts to settle under his, it’s his kiss that completely shatters me.