“We don’t say thank you enough for what you’ve sacrificed.”
“Manny and I were lucky. We know many of our brothers who sacrificed a lot more than we did.”
“Still,” she said, placing her hand on top of his and bringing his eyes to meet hers. “It’s OK to mourn your innocence.”
He looked at her then as if she’d torn off his mask and held it high in her hand for all to see.
She bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get so personal.”
He was silent, and Rebecca had a hard time reading his expression. He eased his hand up her forearm to her shoulder, sliding to her neck. Finally, the slightest quirk of his lip bloomed at the corner of his mouth. “That was pretty damn personal.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“I feel downright…what’s the word? Snared.”
Rebecca smiled, the warm-and-fuzzies taking over. “Not cornered, I hope.”
“More like held captive…captivated,” he said. A dimple appeared in his cheek, and Rebecca coveted it.
“You Wiki’d my name.”
“You started in on the whole Rebecca Hunter twist. I needed to see if it fit like you said.”
His thumb brushed at the scar just under her collarbone. For once, she didn’t feel the need to shrink away. He’d touched it like it connected them somehow—her scar and his—but only hers could be seen.
“What happened here?” he whispered to her, dipping to kiss the spot.
Rebecca opened her mouth, and the familiar impulse to run from the pitiful truth was there with her. If there was one thing she’d never tolerated, it was pity. The quick, innocent lie she’d told since she was a kid was poised on her lips. She’d told that lie so many times that it had started to have a life of its own, like truth could be born of an immaculate conception if you tried hard enough.
But she hadn’t really fallen off her bike as a young girl on her way home from the playground, and lying to Kyle just didn’t seem like an option. “I broke my collarbone when I was eight.”
“Ouch.” He pressed soft lips to it again and looked up at her. “How?”
She inhaled deeply and knew that sharing this part of herself was about more than just opening her mouth. It was about being vulnerable. Nothing scared her more.
“We’d just moved into the house in Aurora. It’s a split-level ranch with a short staircase, only about eight steps. For two days straight I tried to work up the courage to jump from the top. I thought it would be so thrilling, such a daring thing to do. My cousins always teased me for being a squirt, too little and afraid to do anything. Every time I got ready to jump, I just couldn’t do it.”
Kyle nodded and she continued. “That third morning, my dad was at the bottom sorting through the mail, and I asked him to catch me.” Rebecca could feel her heart begin to race, almost as if she was back on those steps, summoning the courage to try to fly. “I closed my eyes and counted to three, then I threw myself into the air.” Rebecca felt the air rush out of her lungs when she said that and her voice squeaked on the last word. She inhaled again, determined to keep from sounding any more pathetic. “But he didn’t catch me. I landed on the tile floor like a sack of bricks, and when I opened my eyes he was gone.”
Kyle cupped her cheek, the look of horror marring his gorgeous eyes. “Aw, honey, that’s awful. How could he not be there to catch you?”
“It wasn’t his fault. I found out later that he’d never heard me ask him. The phone had been ringing and the 'Sure, sweetie' I’d heard him say was directed at my mom when she asked him to answer it.” She shuddered, and he pulled her closer. “I had to stay in bed the whole summer. And let me tell you, starting a new school with a big ugly brace wasn’t the best way to fit in.” She sighed through a light chuckle, but it felt like lead in her throat.
“Sounds lonely.”
“I had my books.” She lifted her eyes to meet his. “They were good company then.”
He nodded. “I feel like it all makes sense now.” He kissed her softly up the side of her neck. “I want to be there to catch you. Will you let me?”
She grabbed his big broad shoulders and held on tight, searching out his lips with her own. He slipped his hands under her shirt and massaged both breasts in a slow caress that matched the dance of their tongues. Rebecca felt every inch of her body melt against him in complete surrender, and the idea of flying seemed real.
Then a pang of guilt struck her like an axe. “When’s Manny getting here?”
“Around eight.” Kyle cut a sideways glance at her. “Do you wish he was here now?”
“Don’t you?”
Kyle paused before answering, and Rebecca got the feeling he was weighing his response. “Yes and no. I miss him, but I kind of like spending time with you alone.”
Rebecca had to admit she had had a wonderful day spending time with Kyle…alone. “Is it wrong if I say that I like having alone time with you too?”
“Does it feel wrong?”
“Yes and no.”
He’d leaned in and kissed her then, snaking his arms around her and taking her mouth the way she’d come to expect. Kyle’s kiss turned hungry, and she knew what he wanted. She also knew what she wanted.
She felt the pull on her bikini strings behind her neck as the bow tore loose. Her top slipped away. “You do know how stunning you are, right?” Kyle said. Those eyes shimmered as clear and cool as the Caribbean waters a few yards away.
Rebecca watched as he raised his hand to her neck. He let his fingers fall upon her skin like feathers and sweep down between her breasts. It caused her to arch her back, and he smiled.
“I love to see you react to me.”
“I don’t seem to have a choice,” Rebecca whispered, and she wet her lips. She already missed having her mouth on him. “I want you.”
She slid into the pool, slicing through the sun-warmed water to the bottom. When she surfaced, the water lapped at her shoulders and her hands worked at the strings on his board shorts. He helped her, lifting enough to slide them free to his thighs. Rebecca took him into both of her hands and pressed his shaft to her lips. She lifted her eyes to meet his. “You’re the one who’s stunning.”
When she enclosed him in her mouth, she was treated to a shuddering sigh. He grew harder as she sucked him, and his fingers found their way into her hair, tightening in her curls. She instinctually stilled, and he pulled her gently away. “Baby, that feels amazing, but I would love it if you would get your sexy ass up here where I can show you how much I want you too.” He smiled down at her. “Don’t keep that delicious pussy from me.”
She swiped her tongue against her bottom lip. “I suppose that would be unusually cruel.”
He helped her out of the pool with one strong tug. One effortless sweep of his arms under her body and she was in the air and headed to the white canvas lounger. Goose bumps overwhelmed her in the fading light as he laid her down. Ridding himself of his board shorts, he shielded her from the steady tropical breeze with his entire body.
She had his cock back in her hands as fast as she could manage, guiding it between her lips. He rolled his hips as she sucked him in, silk draped over steel filling her mouth once again. Another simple tug on the bikini string at her hip and the cooling evening air licked at her bare pussy.
Kyle licked her next. She moaned against his shaft as the warmth of his tongue flooded her. The sweeping rasps of his taste buds overwhelmed her, and her skin tingled with goose bumps all over again. He sank his fingertips into the flesh of her ass, pinning her cunt to his mouth while the thrusts of his hips sent his cock shuttling to the back of her throat. A single finger and then another dipped deep inside to slide against her walls, and Rebecca felt taken whole by Kyle and all he did to her. Then he withdrew his fingers, only to place them against her tightest threshold. He swirled his tongue into her pussy and pressed his slickened finger into her ass.
Rebecca took him in. His body seemed to consume her from all angles. “I want to fuck you here,” he said, and Rebecca knew that he would. “Do you want me to?”
“I’ve never done it before.”
He withdrew then, righting himself on the lounger to find her gaze with his own. “Aw, baby, let me make this good for you,” he said and swept his lips past hers on his way to her neck. Then his head popped back up, concern flickering in his eyes. “Unless you’re afraid to try.”
Rebecca shook her head. “No, I’m not afraid. Not anymore.”
He grinned at her and swiped a condom from a pile on the table next to their lounger. Rebecca wondered when he’d put them there. He hurried it on, and the lube too, but there was nothing rushed about the way he slid his hand under her back and flipped her over onto her knees.
Kyle draped his body behind her, curving himself against her until his chin rested on her shoulder and his cock nestled in the crease of her ass.
“Hold onto the top of the lounger, sweetheart.” He lifted away, and his hand skated across the underside of her torso, finally finding her clit. Slow, slow circles wound round and round her swollen bud until she was begging. He gave her a finger and rocked it back and forth. “Take it easy baby, a little at a time.”
Rebecca began to push back against his hand, craving more. He gave her two fingers, scissoring and stretching her tender walls until a dull, needful throb took over. Minutes, hours—it could have been eons—passed while Kyle worked his fingers inside her, warring methodically with her natural tendency to tense around them. She felt fondled, handled as she stilled herself like a good girl and let him blaze an easy path through any residual trepidation her body held on to. Bodies had a way of working on instinct. Rebecca’s instincts had always been to protect herself.
Kyle dusted kisses over her shoulder and back, his breath hot and ever present.
The word started as a moan, low and throaty. But a moan wasn’t adequate to express Rebecca’s desperation. Her voice emerged gritty and foreign to her ears as her plea made its way to her lips: “Now.”
His fingers retreated, and Rebecca felt his warm palms lie flat along the plain of her butt, spreading her wide. “Yes, Rebecca?”
She twisted to see him, wanting him to see her say the words. “Fuck me, now.”
He pushed against her entry, and she was surprised at the ease with which he penetrated her. “So open for me…fuck, that’s good.”
Kyle curled his arm around her hip and those steady circles resumed on her clit. He laid a kiss between her shoulder blades and pumped her ass with long, patient strokes. Rebecca lifted her torso so she could feel his chest against her back, and her arms linked behind his neck. Kyle shifted his angle, taking her ass from on low. He took advantage of the position and spread her labia with both hands, exposing her clit to the sweetest torture two fingers could deliver.
She splintered and crumbled there on her knees in the purple light of a tropical evening. Kyle’s strokes remained steady, unwavering amidst the erupting orgasm turning her to goo. “Yes, baby…come for me. Nice and easy, baby. Let it out.”
Her body convulsed with it, with a violence she wasn’t familiar with. Kyle’s relentless strokes drew it out, like a string of saltwater taffy, until she was certain she’d break in two. Then, with one last push, his cock pulsed in her depths. Kyle squeezed her tightly to his chest, his slackened mouth dropping to the crook of her neck with heavy breaths.
He slipped away from her for only a heartbeat or two, long enough to rid himself of the condom. They’d clean up soon enough, but Kyle called her back to his arms, and they lay quietly on the lounger and let night take the beach into darkness.
Manny would be there soon.
Rebecca felt a rush of excitement over the idea, yet an undercurrent of worry seeped cold water into her veins. Being with Kyle the entire day had been wonderful, and yet something told her she shouldn’t have enjoyed herself so much without Manny there with them. When did being with one man become less virtuous than being with two? As Kyle nuzzled his lips to her earlobe, Rebecca wondered if she’d ever know right from wrong again.
Chapter Fifteen
Manny found them curled up on the couch in front of the TV. He put the keycard down on the console and dropped his bag on the floor. Kyle pressed his finger to his lips and pointed at Rebecca’s head in his lap. She was fast asleep.
From the moment he entered the room, Manny could see the peaceful bliss that was her resting expression. He walked softly to them, not wanting to wake her. Kyle tracked his approach. Manny slanted his head carefully and took a soulful kiss from him, because regardless of the tug-of-war he’d had with his imagination the entire plane ride, he needed Kyle to know just how glad he was to be there. He dropped a soft kiss to Rebecca’s cheek. Kyle slipped out from under her and placed her head on a pillow. She stirred, but nestled down without awakening.
They headed outside, where torches lit the beach and the music from the resort restaurant floated in the air. Kyle had outdone himself with the swanky digs and the whole sexy getaway idea. No one recognized him here; no one cared that he was the son of a US senator or that he was heir to a US corporate dynasty. No one cared, because he was just another wealthy American tourist. Even Manny felt like the air was a little easier to breathe in Bermuda.
Manny glanced at the four condom packages scattered on the table next to the lounger. Two of them were empty. His stomach ached.
“So, tell me everything,” he said, sitting down. He kicked his shoes off and crossed his legs at the ankles.
Kyle joined him, taking a seat at the edge of the footrest. “What we’re doing with her is completely different from those other times back in college.”
Manny sighed. “Yeah, I know. I tried to tell you that up at the lake.”
Kyle looked out to the sea. He took the moment slowly, choosing his words carefully it seemed. There was a seriousness to the distant squint of his eyes. “I wanted you back in my life, and if that meant Rebecca came along with the package, I figured it wasn’t a bad deal.” Then Manny was treated to a more playful smirk. “She’s sexy as hell and you know I have a thing for the innocent ones.”