Sophia held her breath. So beautiful! It was an island paradise that rivaled the beauty of Costa Rica. A wave of homesickness hit her and then she heard the sound of water rushing over rocks. A sound she heard every day of her life except for the year she lived in California with her aunt’s family.
A waterfall.
The noise drew her deeper into the forest. Maybe Gibb had come into the jungle looking for food, heard the waterfall and decided to make for fresh water.
And even if he hadn’t, a quick shower in the cool water sounded heavenly, especially since her hair and clothes smelled like smoke from their campfire.
She trudged through the thick undergrowth. Living in Cordillera of Tilarán, she was accustomed to the humidity, but the altitude of her volcanic mountain home kept the heat at bay. Here, already, it was at least eighty degrees and the day had only just begun. She longed for the ocean breeze that couldn’t reach this far into the dense tropical landscape. But the island wasn’t that big. She had to come upon the waterfall soon.
She paused to take a break, plucked a ripe banana from a tree and ate it for energy. Sweat beaded her forehead and she swiped it off with the back of her hand. She resumed her walk, the increasing sound of the waterfall drawing her nearer.
She skirted a strangler tree, pushed through a clump of ferns taller than she was and there it was.
The waterfall.
With a very naked Gibb Martin standing beneath it.
Sophia’s mouth dropped open. A punch of pure animal lust hit her low in the belly. He was more magnificent than she’d ever imagined.
His back was to her.
Unbidden, her gaze slid down the full length of his body, starting at the top of his dark head and slipping over the sharp angles and honed muscles of his exquisite frame. His shoulders were broad, his waist lean.
And his butt was so impressive she bit back a whimper of desire. She crouched, not wanting him to see her. She wanted to feast her eyes on him to her heart’s content.
She scrutinized the hard planes of his back only slightly obscured by the curtain of falling water. He made a quarter turn, giving her a view of his fine rib cage. Her heart thundered, galloped faster.
He was so athletic and his muscles bespoke hours upon hours spent at the gym. There was nothing soft about him. He was a rock, strong and stalwart, unmoved by the blasting force of the water.
She shuddered and the most feminine part of her softened, moistened.
He leaned forward, braced his arms on the rock face in front of him, ducked his head and allowed the water to sluice down his exquisite back. The water darkened his sandy-blond hair to the color of refined honey. The glistening strands were plastered sleekly to his head.
Torn between lust and guilt over spying on the guy, Sophia pulled her bottom lip up between her teeth and let out a long, slow sigh. Her blood raced hotly through her veins and the sweat was back on her forehead, but this time it wasn’t from the heat.
Her stomach dipped and she took a deep breath. She’d never felt so out of control and she loved the sensation.
And when he turned just a little bit more, giving her a side shot of his rock hard abs, she gasped. She’d never felt pure joy before from looking at a man. She wanted to kiss him from head to toe.
He was wet and smooth and, frankly, beautiful. A work of art.
Compelled by a force that she could not resist, Sophia crept closer, tiptoeing through the thicket of greenery, her pulse pounding through her veins. She trod a thin path along the spongy ground.
The gurgling water churned her erratic thoughts.
Wanna touch him. Wanna stroke him. Wanna taste him. Want him to touch and stroke and taste me.
The uncontrollable urge to see more of him consumed her. She edged into a small clearing where a beam of sunlight managed to trickle through the treetops. She spied his clothes lying neatly folded on a large rock. She resisted the impish temptation to steal his clothes, but oh, boy, just thinking about it had her fanning herself.
His muscles flexed as he washed himself and she simply could not look away.
At last! She had seen him without his suit on. It had definitely been worth the wait.
Head thrown back, face turned up to catch the water flow, eyes tightly closed, he moved and Sophia saw every inch of him in all his naked glory.
And he was totally erect. The man had a lot to be proud of.
Perspiration sweltered on her upper lip. Sophia pressed a palm to her mouth, her breath coming out in short, shallow pants. It was crazy to be this overwhelmed, but she could not pry her eyes off him. A dangerous heat pooled low in her body, spread outward to her limbs in a languid tingle.
Get out of here before he catches you watching him!
Except she could not make herself move and then he did something that sent her over the edge.
Gibb touched himself where Sophia ached to touch him.
Desire claimed her then. Total and complete, and with a force so strong it shoved every other thought, idea, dream and image from her mind. She would not—could not—leave this spot, even if her life depended on it.
8
U
NDERNEATH
THE
SOOTHING
fall of water, Gibb gritted his teeth and struggled against what his body was urging him to do. He hadn’t slept a wink last night. Lying next to Sophia, it had been impossible to sleep. Her body was so lush and tempting, all he wanted to do was touch her, kiss her and make love to her on the sand.
Finally, when he could stand it no longer, he’d risen just before dawn and wandered into the jungle. That’s when he’d heard the rushing water and decided to investigate. Maybe exploration would distract him from these ever-present thoughts of Sophia.
After he saw the waterfall, he figured why not use the cold-shower cure? Except that it didn’t seem to be working. In fact, all he could think about was what it would be like to have Sophia underneath the waterfall. He shuddered hard as he imagined exactly what it would be like to sink into her sweet body.
He thought about how she’d tasted last night as his lips had claimed hers. How firm her breasts had felt pressed against his chest. How soft her skin had been beneath his palms. How her dark eyes had lit with a hungry fire that matched his own.
She’d captured his imagination in a way no other woman ever had. He was spellbound.
His erect shaft throbbed painfully. If he made love to her, he would cross a line that he’d never before crossed—starting a new relationship before he’d finished an old one. He might be something of a player, but he’d never been a cheater. His stepfather might not have known how to show him love, but he’d drilled honor and integrity into Gibb’s head.
Then there was the fact that his head was not in the right place. He was upset over losing Scott as a partner. His need for Sophia might be nothing more than an urge to feel close to someone at a time when everything seemed to be falling apart.
Except deep down, he knew that wasn’t true. He would have been attracted to her anytime, any place, anywhere. He found her that compelling.
And that sexy.
She was what he’d been searching for all his life but never dared articulate. If he dared to let himself care for her, she would change him in a hundred different ways.
All of them good.
So what was he afraid of?
Love.
That word. He had no idea what it really meant. But whenever he looked at Sophia, his heart squeezed and he starting thinking
what if?
You don’t know her.
But he wanted to know more. He wanted to know everything about her.
He touched himself, but in his fantasy, it was Sophia’s delicate hand rubbing his shaft. Every nerve ending in his body sizzled as he imagined cupping her breasts as the water drenched them.
A groan slipped from his lips.
In his mind’s eye, he pressed a tongue to the hot pulse of her throat and tasted honey. He brushed his lips against her nipples, felt the pink peaks stiffen. He pressed a hand to her chest, felt the dash of her pulse. He was out of control and he knew it, but he didn’t care.
His imagination was so vivid, so real that he could almost hear the sound of her soft moans. “Take me, Gibb. Take me now.”
He squirmed, arched his back. His hand moved harder, faster, his thoughts of her, only her, his raven-haired, brown-eyed goddess.
His breath came in short gasps and his brain cried out, “Sophia. Sophia. Sophia.”
* * *
O
H
,
MY
.
Sophia resisted the urge to step forward as she watched Gibb pleasure himself. It was rude, it was voyeuristic, but she found it impossible to look away because it was so incredibly arousing.
Not only did she not look away or leave, but her own hand strayed naughtily to the waistband of her shorts.
What are you doing, Sophia Maria Cruz?
She touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip and smiled. She was making herself feel better. Scratching an itch. Taking care of this crazy desire in exactly the same way Gibb was.
Once they relieved the pressure, then they could concentrate solely on getting off this island, and they would do it without the messy complication of actually having sex with each other. It was a win-win scenario, particularly when Gibb didn’t know that she was in on it with him.
She unsnapped her denim shorts and slid down the zipper. She drew in deep breaths of the thick, humid air and licked her lips.
Gibb rubbed the end of his erection.
Sophia closed her eyes for a second, imagined putting his mouth right where she was touching, drawing moans from her now parched lips. How erotic this was....
She pretended her fingers were Gibb’s fingers moving lightly over her skin. Her body ached for him as she continued watching him. He slowed his pace, lengthened the strokes. Mimicking his movements, she pleasured herself long and slow, savoring the damp heat of her body, touching the tender place where she’d imagined he was touching.
“Gibb,” she breathed his name on a sigh.
She had hid behind a bush in case he did open his eyes. She didn’t want him to get a sudden surprise if he should finish before she did.
It felt so good. She’d never done such an audacious thing, making love to herself in broad daylight out in the open and it felt shockingly free. And yet why not? There was no one to see her, only Gibb.
What would he say if he knew? Would he think it was sexy? Be embarrassed or alarmed at her outrageous behavior. Then again, he had no room to argue, standing up there on that outcropping of rocks underneath the waterfall.
He was her most vivid fantasy come to life.
He quickened his pace, his movements growing frantic.
Sophia followed suit and slipped a caressing finger inside of her hot, wet femininity and a shuddering moan passed over her lips.
Velvet.
A second finger followed the first and she wanted to believe it was Gibb inside her, but no matter how hard she tried, fingers could not approximate a man’s taut body. She whimpered. This wasn’t working the way she thought it would. It only made her want him more.
She closed her eyes and kept them closed as she thought of his big body over hers. His warm breath on her face and neck. His teasing touch everywhere.
Her entire body tensed. She pinched one of her nipples with her left hand, envisioned Gibb’s teeth lightly nipping at her. She arched her back and thrust her hips upward.
Yes, Gibb, yes.
The release was on her, quicker than she anticipated, rocking her body.
Suddenly chagrinned, she grabbed her loose clothing. Her face felt flushed. Her heart rate bounded at a speeding clip. What had she done? Instead of sating herself, her climax only seemed to fuel her desire. She wanted Gibb and nothing short of having him would stop this burning need.
She willed herself to calm down and darted a glance back to the waterfall just in time to see Gibb obtain his own release.
Too bad she hadn’t been there to share it with him.
“Sophia,” he cried out.
Startled, she jumped, thinking he’d caught her. That he knew exactly everything she’d just done. Anxiety mixed with excitement as she scrambled to explain herself.
She opened her mouth to tell him she hadn’t seen anything, but he sank down on his knees below the rushing water, his eyes still tightly closed.
It dawned on her that he hadn’t seen her at all. He’d simply called out her name at his moment of release. While he pleasured himself, Gibb had been fantasizing about her, just as she’d been fantasizing about him.
Emotionally moved, she wanted to go to him, plant kisses all over his face, tell him how excited and honored she was that she was the one that had affected him so. It was humbling and awe inspiring and it made her even more aroused than she’d been before. But she dared not do that.
Instead, Sophia moved away as quietly as she could, praying he did not open his eyes before she disappeared.
* * *
F
EELING
LESS
RELIEF
than he thought he would, Gibb returned to the beach. He found Sophia working on the rudder at the back of the plane, tools strung out on the ground around her.
“Morning!” he called.
She jumped and looked up, a guilty expression on her face. “Morning,” she mumbled, not meeting his gaze.
Good. He didn’t really want to look her in the eyes, either. He was still feeling unsettled over what he’d done under that waterfall.
She was breathing fast, too, as if she’d just sprinted a mile in under four minutes, her breasts rising and falling with each accelerated breath. She walked around the left side of the plane.
He followed.
What was she so unnerved about?
Gibb couldn’t keep his gaze off her, which was a serious problem. He had to get off this island for so many reasons. He needed to stop Scott from making a mistake. His endeavor back at Bosque de Los Dioses was wide open to corporate spies without him there. But most of all, this attraction to Sophia was getting absolutely out of control. If he stayed around her much longer, he didn’t think he could stop himself from seducing her. She was that irresistible.
“I was out scouting for breakfast,” he said.
“Oh?”
He pulled fruit from the pockets of his jacket that was still damp from the waterfall spray. “Bananas, mangoes, passion fruit, this place is crazy with passion...” Why did he hesitate after he said the word passion? “...fruit.”
“Um, thanks.” She dusted off her palms on the seat of her shorts and ducked her head, but not before he saw that her cheeks were bright pink. Was she embarrassed about something?
He thrust a banana at her.
She seemed caught off guard, but accepted the offering.
A steady silence stretched between them as they munched on the fruit. It was not one of those comfortable silences that couples who have been together a long time fall into easily. No, this was one of those edge-of-your seats, sexual tension type silences that seemed to go on forever.
Dammit.
He knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. That was the central problem. If these feelings were one-sided, then he could have ignored them and the self-pleasuring under the waterfall would have sufficed. But he and Sophia were like two pieces of flint sparking off each other. Sooner or later, they were bound to ignite. All the more reason to get off this island as soon as possible.
“So,” they said in unison.
“You go first.” He swept a hand at her.
“No, no, what were you going to say?”
“It’s not important. What’s on your mind?”
“I had nothing of consequence to say, either.”
There it was again, that pesky silence.
“I was just...” they said in the same breath.
Gibb laughed. “Okay, one of us is going to have to say what we’re thinking.”
Sophia looked so alarmed by that comment he had to wonder just what it was that she had been thinking.
“You,” she said, “you tell me what you were thinking.”
Um, well, he wasn’t going
there.
“I was just wondering if you have a better handle on what it will take to repair your plane.”
She grimaced. “The cable could be jerry-rigged enough to get us to Island de Providencia, if I could find something to substitute for a ferrule.”
“What’s a ferrule?”
“It’s a cylindrical joint that can be slipped over a cable and crimped to secure it. A thimble would help mightily, too.”
Gibb scratched his head. “You mean like a sewing thimble?”
Sophia laughed. “You’re not the least bit mechanically minded, are you?”
He raised a palm. “Guilty as charged. Mechanical as a bumblebee.”
“A thimble is a metal sleeve that protects a loop from wear. We could do without the thimble since we’re not trying to go far.”
“Is there anything on the plane that you can use to fashion into a ferrule?”
“I can’t come up with anything I can use as a stand-in. I was about to rummage through the back of the plane and see if that would inspire some creative thinking.”
Slowly, she began to unpeel the banana.
His gaze was glued to her fingers. Her movements were so languid and gentle he couldn’t help wondering what they would feel like if—
Knock it off, Martin. Stop looking at her hands.
Her lips closed down over the tip of the banana.
To distract himself from the vision, he picked up a plump mango, dried the fruit against the sleeve of his suit and took a bite. The sweet juices filled his mouth, ran down his chin.
Sophia quickly removed a napkin from her hip pocket. She leaned over to dab the juice from his face.
The gesture was so intimate, so unexpected that Gibb’s body started to react all over again. How could he get hard again so soon after having an orgasm? Sophia magic. That’s all there was to it.
“Thanks,” he said gruffly.
She handed him the crumpled napkin and took a step back.
A third elongated silence filled the space between them.
“Would you like to see the broken cable?” she said at last.
As if he could offer any kind of useful input. But it would be something to do besides stand here and feel foolish. “Yeah, sure.”
She led him to the rear of the plane and pointed to the rudder. “See here?”
Sure enough, the metal cable had been sheared clean in two. He could not even begin to imagine how she would jerry-rig that. Any lingering hopes he’d had of flying out of here today evaporated.
Don’t panic, Scott’s wedding isn’t until Saturday. It’s only Thursday morning. There’s still a chance.
Slim, but the chance was there. He’d hold on to that hope.
Gibb shook his head. “I can’t imagine how you would repair this.”
“Let me show you.” She found a stick and drew a picture in the sand to illustrate how, if she could find a metal ring of some kind, she could loop it around the cable to secure it in place. “But the trick is that it has to be a piece of metal that I could crimp with pliers or a hammer, while at the same time being sturdy enough to hold the cable closed.” She frowned. “I don’t think I have anything like that on the plane.”