When She Was Bad...

She studied him. “I’ve never thought about it much, but that’s true about me too.”

“Yes.” He might have said something more, but just then the sail began to flap.

“A little to the left, now,” he said.

The boat gathered speed again, and for a time, they concentrated on keeping it on course.

This time when they reached the other side of the cove, he let her bring the boat around by herself. Then as she was about to cut across the wind again, he stilled her hand on the tiller.

“What?” she asked.

He lifted his sunglasses and frowned as he ran a finger down her nose and along her collarbone. “You’re turning pink. We’d better take a break and put some sunscreen on. The sun in the tropics can be dangerous.”

But instead of heading toward shore, he helped her sail the boat around the point at one end of the cove. The wind was brisker here, the waves a bit rougher. He took over the tiller and began to tack toward the land. Eventually, he turned the boat into a lagoon.

Water and wind stilled at nearly the same time. Cole let the boat drift a while before he lowered the sails, secured the boom, and dropped an anchor over the side. Here in the late afternoon, sun slanted through the palms, and the water was a deeper blue, but it was still crystal clear.

“This is lovely,” Pepper said. “I think I saw this lagoon from the plane as we came in. How did you find it?”

“I did a little exploring after I arrived yesterday, and I thought of bringing you here.”

She stared at him. “You did? I mean…that was before I told you about Aunt Irene and we made our deal. You still thought that I was a thief.”

He unzipped her duffel and pulled out the sunscreen he’d bought at the hotel gift shop. “I thought you might enjoy it. Turn around. I’ll do your back first.”

But she didn’t turn. Instead, she reached out to grab his wrist. Then she used her other hand to remove his sunglasses. “Why? Why would you have thought of bringing me here when you were certain that I took that Monet and when you suspected I might have done it to score some points off you?”

He regarded her for a moment. “Because I want you. I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you in your father’s kitchen. Do you remember?”

She swallowed, then moistened her lips. “Yes.”

“When you arrived, you were wearing a white linen dress, and there were pearls at your throat and in your ears.” With one finger he traced a line around her throat where the pearls had lain.

“I remember,” she said. “The Friday before, Matt and Luke had told me that they’d hired you. They were so full of praise, so happy that you’d finally agreed to accept a job. I was so annoyed at you and so jealous, and when I saw you with them at the party, I was more jealous than ever.”

His brows drew together. “Why?”

“You seemed to fit in so well with them. You were standing with Luke and Matt and you were so relaxed and at home.”

He smiled. “I wasn’t relaxed. I was thinking of how quickly I could get you out of that dress and wondering if I’d ever have the chance to do it.”

“I was thinking that I would never be able to compete with you, either at work or with my family. I wanted to hate you. But I wanted you too.”

“Pepper—”

“That’s why I left Evan and went into the kitchen. I needed a moment to gather my thoughts and compose myself.”

“I followed you into the kitchen because I couldn’t help myself, and the moment that I looked into your eyes, I couldn’t think at all.”

“Me, too. I couldn’t understand how I could feel the things I was feeling about you. When you took the sliver of glass out of my hand, I nearly kissed you. I was feeling the same way when I kissed you in the Atwells’ suite. I could have stalled and kept you outside long enough for my aunt to get away with the painting. But I’d been wanting to kiss you for so long. I don’t understand it.”

Her words had him feeling an ache deep down that stunned him. Her eyes were huge, and he was close enough to see the brown flecks in that deep golden color. Her hair stood up in spikes from the spray and the wind. Once again, he thought she looked like some kind of sprite that would exist only in an enchanted place.

No woman had ever made him think in such a fanciful way. No woman had ever made him ache like this. He didn’t understand it either, and he wanted her so much that he didn’t dare to touch her. If he did, he would take her quickly—and he wanted to do more for her, for them both. Setting the sunscreen down, he pulled a towel out of the duffel and spread it on the bow of the boat.

“Do you suppose that Adam and Elena ever met in a place like this?”

He turned back to her. She was asking if he wanted to slip into the fantasy again. Maybe if he did, he’d be able to keep a better hold on his control. Taking her hand, he raised it to his lips. “I think they came here every chance they got. It was far too dangerous to keep meeting in his rooms. The word might spread to his parents that he was favoring one slave over another.”

“Even when they met here, they wouldn’t have long,” Pepper said. “She would be missed in the fields.”

“He’d have to get back to the plantation. So they’d meet on the beach or here where they couldn’t be interrupted.” He took her hand and drew her toward him. “Turn around and stretch out on the bow of the boat.”

PEPPER MANAGED TO do what he asked though she wasn’t sure how. She felt so weak and the feeling in her body only grew as he began to rub the sunscreen into her shoulders and the back of her neck. At first the shade provided by the overhead palms had provided relief from the sun, but here in the lagoon there was no breeze.

The cream felt cool, but his hands were warm as he began to rub them over her. Sensations streamed through her. The bow of the boat was hot from the sun, but it was nothing compared to the heat that was beginning to build inside her.

“I’ve been thinking about touching you like this,” Cole said as he moved his hands in long, gentle strokes down her back.

He wasn’t giving her a massage exactly. He wasn’t concerned with her muscles—only the skin, and he wasn’t missing an inch of it. His hands were so light, moving down her arms to her fingers and back up again. Far away, she caught the faint sound of the sea pushing into the shore. Overhead, a seagull called, and palm leaves whispered in the wind.

Had Adam been this gentle with Elena? Could she have lain here just like this, floating on a cloud of pleasure?

The slow, patient brush of his hands, the steady repetition of the pattern mesmerized her, sensitized her. Then he pressed only his fingers down the length of her spine, and the arrow of heat that shot through her made her gasp.

“You’re so sensitive,” he murmured. “It’s addictive.”

“Don’t stop.” Her voice was shaky.

He drew his hands down one of her arms and began to slowly spread the sunscreen between her fingers. “I’m not going to stop until I’ve touched every single inch of you. Do you understand?”

“Mmm,” she murmured. Was he thinking of Elena now or of her?

He began to stroke the backs of her thighs, her calves, her ankles, and the heat grew more intense. When he began to rub sunscreen over the soles of her feet and between her toes, she didn’t think she could stand it any more. “Please,” she murmured. And she wasn’t sure whether she wanted him to stop or go on. “Please.”

“Soon,” he promised.

Trapped between pleasure and torture, her eyes drifted shut and her world narrowed to this one man and his touch.

WHEN HE COULD NO longer resist, Cole turned her over and began to rub sunscreen on her shoulders and chest. She wore a simple one-piece tank suit of some thin, stretchy material that he could see her nipples through. They were already erect and hard. It took all of his control not to touch them. Instead, he tortured them both by merely using his fingers to spread the cream down her throat and along the material that rode low across her breasts and high on her thighs. By the time he got to her inner thighs, his intention to go slowly was fading and his control was beginning to slip. Her body was already arching toward him. At some point, he’d lost the thread of the fantasy he’d been weaving, and he wanted her out of it too. Setting aside the sunscreen, he wiped his hands on the edge of the towel she was lying on and then stretched out beside her.

“Pepper?” he murmured. “Open your eyes.”

When she did, he saw that they were wide and misted with desire. “Say my name.”

“Cole.”

He had to strap down on his control. Then he said, “I’m going to touch you inside now.” He slipped a finger beneath the edge of her suit and into her. When the soft wet heat tightened around his finger, he nearly lost it. “I’m touching you just the way you touched yourself in the bedroom. Do you have any idea how much I wanted to do this?”

She arched high against his hand and he held her as the orgasm moved through her.