Her Moonlit Gamble (5 page)

The plankton, bigger than she expected, moved as one, gliding this way and that. The giant ray, which looked like it could swallow her whole, pursued, mouth open, showing what she would have thought were its ribs had Dean not told them they were the gills. The ray scooped the plankton into its mouth and the others scattered.

Andrew tapped her arm and pointed. Two more rays were swimming to join their companion. She held her breath, certain the first would be territorial, but no, it allowed the others to join its dance. The creatures looked like they were flying through the spotlights, their big bodies slicing through the water like it was nothing. Joslyn had never imagined anything could be so beautiful. She edged a little closer to Andrew and he linked his fingers through hers.
 

Suddenly a current stirred the back of her head and she looked up to see another giant swimming only inches above her, startling a laugh out of her. Bubbles rose in front of her, blurring her vision for a minute as the newcomer joined the others.
 

The giant creatures showed no fear of the humans, of the lights, of each other, and came closer than Joslyn would have expected a time or two. She had to fold her hand into a fist to resist the urge to touch them, which was against the rules.
 

She was stunned when John motioned that it was time to ascend. Forty-five minutes had passed already? But as she started toward the surface, she could feel the tightness in the back of her neck, where she'd craned it to watch the show. Still, excitement bubbled along her skin as they swam past the gentle animals. She boarded, stripped off her mask and released her regulator--damn, her jaw ached, too--then popped to her feet and ditched her tank, waiting for Andrew to do the same. When he stood there, just in his wetsuit, dripping and looking good enough to eat, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and planted a kiss on his lips.

She wasn't sure why she did it, only that she was so happy and he was the reason she was here, and she started to pull back, but he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close, slanting his mouth over hers.
 

His lips and skin were cool from being in the water, but warmed up quickly as she answered his kiss, as he held her against his chest, as his tongue teased, just a little, the seam of her lips before retreating.

When he lifted his head to look down at her, his eyes twinkled. Embarrassed, she slipped out of his hold and walked over to where Dean had laid out a snack for the divers to enjoy before heading down for their second round.

"I thought you said you were just friends?" Maureen asked, popping a grape in her mouth.
 

Joslyn didn't say anything, but she was pretty sure that was about to change. She'd taken a lot of risks with Andrew. Now she was ready to take a risk for him.

***

After the second dive, the divers were instructed to take turns below to change into dry, warm clothes. Joslyn and Andrew agreed tacitly to allow the older people to change first, then Joslyn went down. She'd forgotten what a pain it was to get out of her wetsuit by herself. She wriggled and tugged the stretchy fabric, bending back a nail in the process. Suddenly, another pair of hands were there, big hands, closing around the fabric and peeling it down. Shaking from the cold and nerves, she didn't turn around to acknowledge him, not even when he wrapped his bare arms around her--he'd stripped the top of his wetsuit off, at least--and pressed his face to the side of her neck, breathing her in. She let herself relax against him, skin to skin, and her nipples grew hard, beyond being chilled. She knew he could see them through her bathing suit top, and wondered if he was growing hard beneath his suit. Getting the suit off would be a bitch, if he was.
 

Then his hands were on her waist and he turned her in his arms. He looked down at her a long, breath-holding moment before lowering his mouth to hers. Despite the crick in her neck from the dive, she stretched to meet him.
 

This kiss was different, darker, demanding, his lips firm, his tongue sweeping deeply, and she got the feeling he was asking her something, asking her if she meant the earlier kiss, asking her to go to bed with him. She didn't know how to answer except with her body, letting her breasts rub against his chest until he moaned, deep in his throat, and glided one hand from her waist to cup her breast.
 

She gasped into his mouth when his thumb circled her nipple through the fabric of her bathing suit, groaned when he slipped beneath the material to touch her bare flesh. Heat rushed between her legs as his cool callused thumb circled her hard nipple, but she stopped herself from rubbing against him. Not here, not when they had a perfectly good hotel room what suddenly seemed like a planet away.
 

He broke the kiss to stroke his lips along her cheek, across her jaw, taking her earlobe between his teeth for a moment before nuzzling the sensitive spot below her ear. She dug her nails into the slope of his shoulders for a minute before finding the discipline to break their embrace. She didn't want their first time to be a quickie on a dive boat, with a half-dozen people overhead.

She put a few inches between them, struggling to control her breathing, struggling even more not to throw herself back in his arms and let him finish what he started. Instead, she shoved her wetsuit the rest of the way down her shaking legs, then straightened.

He hadn't moved, just watched her with a warmth in his green eyes.
 

"I think we're not friends anymore." he said.

CHAPTER FIVE

Joslyn was shaking when Andrew opened the door to the suite. On the ride back from the dock, sparks had pinged between them, and every muscle in her body was tight with anxiety and anticipation. But as she walked past him, breathed in his scent, she reaffirmed her decision.
 

Everything was about to change. She was about to throw away security with both hands, just to have him in her bed. God, she was really an idiot, wasn't she?
 

When they stepped through the door, he turned to her, his hand sliding behind her waist, pulling her close. He didn't kiss her right away, just looked into her eyes, giving her a chance to back away. Though she quivered with nerves, she stood her ground, and he bent his head to kiss her.
 

Not at all what she expected. Instead of hunger, there was reverence. Instead of desire, there was tenderness. His thumb brushed her cheek as his lips molded hers, as his tongue traced her mouth, tapping against the tip of her own before retreating.
 

God, why hadn't she known he could kiss like this, so thorough, building the heat slowly, from her lips to her fingertips, her nipples, between her legs. His heart thundered beneath her palm, his stubble rasped her chin when he deepened the kiss, his tongue more aggressive, stroking along hers. She pressed closer, her breasts against his chest, her belly against his erection.
 

Wow.

She wanted to move against him. Every part of her wanted to speed this along, to experience everything all at once, but she liked the pace he was setting. Still, her body ached to feel him against her, the heat of his skin, his hand on her breast, his mouth...

He broke the kiss and eased back. Before she knew what he was doing, he scooped her into his arms and carried her toward his room.

"Why your room?" she asked, trying to insert some levity in a situation that was scaring the shit out of her.

"Condoms."

The one word at once made her stomach drop like riding that zip-line and made her horny, like when he'd talking about fucking the other night at the pool. Condoms and Andrew... God, he was going to be inside her in a few minutes. Inside her and over her, touching her and kissing her and seeing her.

"Stop thinking," he ordered, and lowered her to the bed.

She never would have thought that would be easy, but when he stretched out over her, his foot between her ankles, his weight braced on his arms, she found all thoughts fled her mind, everything but how beautiful he was, how wonderful he made her feel.
 

He kissed her for what seemed like an eternity, alternating between teasing and tender, keeping her off balance so all she could do was hold on, her arms around his neck one moment, trailing down the contours of his arms the next. She slid her hands between them to caress his chest through his t-shirt, then reached beneath the hem.
 

She'd barely curved her hands over those incredible abs when he straightened, kneeling over her, his erection tenting his cargo shorts impressively, as he ripped the shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Suddenly she wanted to lick every inch of his skin, to feel him against her tongue, the smoothness of his pecs, the roughness of his nipple. She wanted to scrape her teeth along the edge of his ribs, play her lips over the roller coaster of his abs.

"Let's do away with yours, too," he said, his voice husky, before she worked up the nerve to do any of those things.
 

She wriggled out of her shirt, tugging it off. His nostrils flared as he looked at her breasts, which, she admitted, were a nice size considering she was on the petite side.
 

"How about we spend the rest of the week with you topless?"

"I'm not sure how the good people of Hawaii would react to that."

"Oh, I didn't say we'd leave the room," he said with a chuckle, lightly tracing the outside of her breasts with his fingertips, making her nipples so hard they hurt.
 

She arched her back in invitation, but he didn't take it, instead lowering himself over her again to kiss her mouth. This time, though, he pressed his hips into hers, his cock riding the ridge of her sex, his chest hot and damp against her nipples. She curled her hand around the back of his neck, wanting to urge him downward, wanting his mouth on her breasts, the heat, the stubble, the suction. Just imagining it made her wet.

Instead, he broke the kiss and pressed his lips to the spot below her ear.

Suddenly his words flooded back.
 
I like one woman, so I can concentrate on her, one inch of skin at a time, usually starting right here.

God help her, she was going to come before he even got to the good part.
 

True to his word, he took his time, kissing his way down her neck to her shoulder, finding every single nerve that was apparently attached to her sex, because each kiss caused a deeper twinge of desire, made her wet, made her squirm, twining one leg around his, opening her to him, offering herself to him. By the time he reached her collarbone and traced light kisses across it, she could smell her own arousal.
 

He hesitated at the hollow of her throat and shifted his weight to one arm so he could tease her nipple with his fingers. She moaned his name and pushed her breast against his hand, but that didn't speed him along. Instead he pressed kisses to the swell of her breast, which, oh, God, was arousing as hell.

Finally, finally, he eased his lips to the tip of her breast, brushed his lips back and forth over it before parting his lips and taking it into the heat of his mouth.

She couldn't stop the cry of pleasure that ripped through her when his tongue touched the sensitive skin, when his lips pulled on it lightly. She tightened her legs about his hips and pressed against his erection, needing him, needing him now, panting as she watched him, his lips hollowed, his eyes closed in pleasure. He released her nipple with a pop and grinned up at her, green eyes glinting. He knew exactly what he was doing, damn him.

"Like that?"

"I hate you," she said, the last word ending on a moan when he turned his attention to her other breast. "I don't want to wait anymore."

"We've waited this long." He blew a cool breath over her nipple, watched it pearl, then kissed the tender skin below it, following the swell of her breast down over her stomach, which tightened as his stubble scraped and tickled. He trailed his lips along her hip to her shorts, then he eased onto his heels to unhook the garment. Keeping his gaze on her face, he hooked his thumbs in the fabric and drew them down her legs. Not changing his position, he bent and pressed a kiss to the slight swell of her belly above her cotton bikini panties.
 

Everything in her zeroed on the heat of his mouth, the softness of his lips, and, God, her panties were drenched. How did he have this control?
 

"Please. Andrew, please."

He dropped tiny kisses on her leg below her panties, down to her knee, kissing along the inside until she was a puddle, mindless with need, and he continued down to her ankle, the top of her foot--who knew that was so sensitive? She felt it all the way to her nipples. Then he ascended her other leg.
 

This time, when he reached her panties, he kissed her cleft through the fabric with a moan of satisfaction in the back of his throat. She bowed off the bed, parting her legs, begging for mercy, her fists curling in the sheets as his mouth moved over the cotton in slow, sensual caresses.
 

Just when she was on the verge of shattering, he lifted his head, peeled the panties down her legs, then shoved his own shorts off. Looking at her best friend naked was both surreal and hot. Not only was he cut, with deep indentations of muscle over his hips, but his cock was thick and curved toward his belly. She realized she hadn't touched him, so absorbed had she been in her own pleasure, but when she reached for him, he moved out of the way, opening the drawer and pulling out a box of condoms.

A big box of condoms.

She couldn't even think of something witty to say. She just needed him in her, over her.

Then he was sheathed and kneeling between her thighs, looking at her in a way she never thought Andrew would look at her, in a place she never thought, and she needed him in a way she never thought she'd need him. She hooked her ankles around his hips as he moved forward, the blunt head of his cock against her entrance. Both of them seemed to be holding their breath, and then he pushed inside, stretching her, until he was fully seated within her, his hands on either side of her shoulders.