Page 172 of I Dreamt That You Loved Me

“Maybe you should just go back to busking,” I teased.

He sighed longingly. “If only that were an option.”

I laughed. Sometimes he was ridiculous.

A mix of chaos and beauty. I’d never known anyone with such a beautiful soul.

After scoring the flesh of the mango, he pushed it upward, turning it inside out and knelt before me, holding the fruit to my lips like it was a precious gift. The breeze off the ocean lifted the ends of his hair and the semi-darkness cast his face in shadows, hollowing out his cheekbones.

My lips parted and I sucked on the mango, moaning like a porn star, mostly to torture him.

“You play dirty,” he said with a pained look.

I gave him a flirtatious smile. “Two can play this game.”

“I was really onto something with the fruit.” Juice dribbled down my chin and he trailed his tongue over it then licked his lips. “Mm. So sweet. Who knew a mango could be so seductive?”

It wasn’t the mango. It was him.

After eating my fill, I sat up and grabbed the other half of the mango. “Lie down,” I ordered.

“Are you going to take advantage of me?” he asked, reclining on his side with his head propped on his elbow.

“Wouldn’t you be so lucky?”

“The luckiest man in the world,” he said, his voice low, eyes at half-mast as I guided the mango to his lips. “I’m suddenly ravenous.”

I was suddenly ravenous too, but not for food.

He sank his teeth into the fruit. Sticky juice ran down my arm. I leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth. A tactical error. Three things happened simultaneously. His hands gripped my waist, he rolled onto his back and lifted me on top of himself. My thighs landed on either side of his waist.

“What are you doing?”

“Admiring the view.” Gabriel tucked his hand under his head and smiled, baring his teeth as his free hand coasted up my thigh.

I leaned forward so my breasts brushed his chest and smashed the mango into his face, laughing. He tossed it across the sand. “You think that’s funny?”

I didn’t have a chance to respond because his lightning-quick reflexes kicked in and I found myself on my back with him hovering above me, holding his weight on one forearm. Gabriel had a mischievous smile on his face and a glint in his eye, so it took me a minute to realize that I could feel him—all of him—pressing against my stomach.

I almost made a quip about being happy to see me, but I wasn’t twelve so instead, I pulled his head down to mine and kissed him. There was mango pulp on his cheekbone.

His tongue parted the seam of my lips and stroked the roof of my mouth with intent. My legs wrapped around his waist. My hips swiveled, grinding against him, seeking friction. He groaned into my mouth and sucked my lip between his teeth, biting on it.

That only got me more worked up.

I pulled his hair. Hard.

His hand gripped my hip, fingers biting into the soft skin just above the waistband of my shorts.

“You tease and taunt me, Cleopatra.” He trailed a finger down my neck. “Do you enjoy torturing me?”

“I live for it,” I panted, digging the balls of my feet into the blanket and thrusting my hips. “I take so much joy from it.”

“You’re an evil temptress.” He kissed my lips hard then rolled off me and sat up, taking his warmth with him. “Let’s take a swim.”

“What?” I sat up, trying to clear my head. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. “You want to swim now? In the dark?”

“Sure. Why not? I want to kiss you in the ocean and taste the salt on your lips.”