They were dressed in khaki shorts and shades; aviators for Grey, Heath in a sleek blue- lens pair. Heath’s torso was draped in a plain cotton T-shirt, Grey’s in a sexy navy blue polo with the little alligator on his chest. Toni wanted them in the bedroom, not out here in the sun, in front of this swarthy, wrinkled old man holding the two huge horses. But the men wanted to see land, so they would see land. And she, well, she would be checking out some nice, innovative hotel logos.
Striding across the sand in a pair of soft terry cloth capris and a ribbed white tank top she’d changed into, she sidled up next to Grey, cautious to maintain a good distance from the two large animals; she had developed a healthy respect for those beasts.
She’d dreamed of riding a horse on the beach ever since she was a girl. Naturally, Grey had made her dream come true. He’d asked if she could trot, and in her stubbornly determined, I-can-do-anything- you-can role,Toni had insisted, But of course!
She’d bounced like a Ping- Pong ball on the saddle, panicked, and pulled back the reins so hard the horse reared and went bronco on her. In the space of a second, she’d been tossed onto her ass in the sand, precisely a second before the horse planted a hoof a hairsbreadth away from her ringing right ear.
In those seconds of horror and shock and fear—of the hoof falling on her face, the horse trampling her—the only positive thing she could remember was Grey bounding off his horse, checking her for injuries, clutching her face, growling like a bear, demanding things while she was too stunned to speak. Are you hurt? Damn it, are you hurt? Toni, answer me!
Still, she hated to admit she was a coward and swallowed back her protest when she was swept up to the large chestnut mare by Grey’s powerful arms. “Up you go, Miss Kearny,” he said before he swung up behind her.
Of
course, Grey knew she would be too cowardly to ride one by herself; he hadn’t rented three horses, after all.
“Juicy.”
His teeth gleamed white behind his smile when she swiveled her head and shot him a puzzled glance. “What?”
He peered down at her bosom and ran a finger across the logo arching up like a rainbow over her breasts. “Your shirt says Juicy.”
Her eyes fell on her top, then returned to him. “You like it?”
A smile still curving his lips, he gave a slight inclination of his head.
She grinned. “You bought it for me,” she reminded him.
Their ears almost brushed as he bowed his head.“Did I get you this, too?” His fingers played with the tinkling charm bracelet on her wrist, where he thumbed each of the charms as she twirled it around.
“You did. And some slippers and a bathrobe and a necklace and a sexy velour tracksuit in flashy neon pink. Don’t you remember? You whipped out your black credit card, and I clearly remember the saleslady being as delighted as I was.” She was smiling to herself, their heads bent as both their fingers investigated the enameled charms. “We have a purse here,” she told him, aware that he had become distracted by a spot behind her ear he was brushing his lips up against, “and a lipstick and a bathing suit, a dog and a . . . a diamond ring.”
Suddenly pensive, Toni fingered the tiny ring charm, the small zircon sparkling prettily in the sunlight. An awful pressure gathered in her chest at the realization that might be the only diamond ring she’d ever see from Grey.
“All right, kidlets, we’re set to go.”
Dispatching the Mexican man with a slap on his shoulder and an adios, Heath bounded up on the black gelding. The horse made to go, but Heath expertly yanked at the reins and shushed him, running a tanned, calming hand down the side of its gleaming black neck.
The instant Grey clucked the horse forward,Toni went ramrod straight in her seat, her clammy hands grasping at the pommel. He tightened his arm around her waist. “Relax. I’ve got you. I’m not trotting this baby—I’ll just walk her, all right?” Her hesitation made him add meaningfully in her ear, “I won’t let you fall,Toni, I promise you.”
She nodded, and as the horses headed down the beach at the very edge of the ocean, precisely where the sea foam crawled up to the sand, she began to relax. The blue horizon was dotted with yachts. The chestnut’s head swung easily, almost lazily, sideways, its ears resting behind its head. Toni’s body rocked along with Grey’s, and she was surprised to find how erotic that soothing motion felt.
Grey held the reins in one hand; the other was splayed under her top, flat against her navel. Her thoughts weren’t so peaceful, though. She couldn’t banish Heath’s words from her mind.
She wants to fuck your man. . . .
She scowled at the memory as Heath, who had bounded out ahead, turned the glossy-coated black horse back toward them, smiling one of his Die, girls smiles. He looked one with the horse, and he looked damned, damned good riding. But it was still no wonder Heath didn’t have any friends. Didn’t he trust anybody? Louisa was her friend!
She was also very pretty. Prettier than Toni, or at least sexier. Blond and blue-eyed, with a flirty Marilyn Monroe voice and very ample boobs.What if Grey noticed? Damn.
Was this what Grey had felt when she admitted she found Heath attractive?
Now she quietly decided it would be best to plead a headache tonight and not go through with any more wicked threesomes. She could pull out a board game or . . . suggest cards . . . or just say flat out, No, guys. Thank you, anyway.
Because it felt horrible. She felt horrible to have admitted this to Grey.To even consider he might want or think of someone else was torture.
She shuddered at the mere possibility, and quietly, so that Heath wouldn’t overhear, asked, “Would you ever want to do this the other way? With a woman?”
Immediately, she wished she could bite back the words. There was just no way on this earth that she could watch Grey touch a woman’s—