A Beauty Uncovered (Secrets of Eden 2)

Seeing the lights of the house shining on the landscape around them made her bolder. She let her tongue swirl up the side of his neck to the sensitive skin just below his earlobe. She flicked it and then gently bit at him. She could feel Brody shiver and tighten his grip on her.

They climbed the steps to the deck with the pool and walked through the open sliding glass door. Brody continued up the stairs to the master loft without putting her down, but she could feel the gentle tug of his fingertips at the tie of her bikini top. Easing back from her grip on him, she let the tiny white fabric slide down and fall to the ground, exposing her breasts and the tight pink tips.

Brody allowed his gaze to dip down for a moment, then tore it away so he didn’t trip on the stairs. Sam pressed her breasts into his bare chest, eliciting a sharp hiss in her ear.

At the top of the stairs, he went directly to the bed, dropping her onto the mattress and immediately covering her body with his own. Sam was grateful for the heat of him over her. The cooler air of the house combined with her still damp hair and skin drew goose bumps across her flesh and made her nipples even more painfully tight. Brody captured one in his mouth, and the sharp pleasure of it sent her head flying back with a gasp.

It was then that she saw that they’d brought the blanket of stars back to the house with them. The skylight over the bed showed a perfect snapshot of the inky black night with its shimmering sea of twinkling stars overhead. It was awe-inspiring, and combined with the pleasure of Brody’s hands gliding over her skin, she was very nearly overwhelmed by the moment.

Everything about the past few days had been perfect. Like a dream she never even dared to imagine. Even Brody’s confession about his childhood, while tragic, had breached one of the last barriers between them. She’d never felt closer to another man in her life. He was amazing in so many different ways and he didn’t even know it.

She wished she knew of a way to tell him that he would believe. Words were easily brushed off. She would have to show him how much he meant to her. How much she…loved him.

Sam tried to take a deep breath and focus on the stars overhead as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. Her chest was painfully tight, even as her stomach fluttered with excitement and nerves.

“Sam, is something wrong?”

She shifted her gaze from the skylight to Brody’s concerned face. He was hovering over her, his strong arms pressed into the mattress beside her. His damp hair was curling slightly as it dried, and his eyes were black in the dim light but still just as penetrating. He was worried that he’d done something wrong, when in fact, he’d done everything right.

At that exact moment, the first tear rolled down the side of her face. With a slight shake of her head and a soft smile, she reached out and pulled him back down to her. She closed her eyes as their lips met and another tear escaped. She wasn’t certain if most men understood tears of emotions other than pain and sadness. Sam could cry through any number of emotions, including joy and contentedness. And she was anything but sad right now. Being with Brody here on this beautiful island felt so perfectly right.

When he eased forward and filled her, she could only cling to him and bite her bottom lip to keep from telling him how she felt. It would be so easy to whisper it into his ear or to cry it out to the night when she came undone. But she was afraid to. There was no way to know how he would react, and she didn’t dare ruin this moment. There would be time later, and maybe then, she might get the response she wanted to hear.

Instead, she turned off her thoughts and tried to focus on loving him. It wasn’t long before she was swept up in the pleasure he coaxed from her, drunk on the warm musk of his skin. When her powerful climax came, she didn’t cry out. She buried her face in his neck, gasping his name as he filled her again and again.

* * *

Brody was tossing the last of his things in his suitcase when his cell phone rang. It was Wade’s ringtone, “Opportunities” by the Pet Shop Boys. The song was upbeat, but for some reason, it made his stomach ache with dread. Wade knew he was at the island with Sam. He would only call if it was really important.

Deborah Wilder.

He checked to make sure Sam was still in the shower before he answered the phone. “Hello?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt your trip,” Wade began, but Brody could tell exactly where this was going. “You told me to call the minute I heard something.”

Brody sank down onto the bed and let Wade talk without interruption.

“Deborah is in Cornwall. She was at the Wet Hen last night asking around for anyone that knew her brother.”