“Want me to make your ass sore too?”
She shattered at the mere thought, moaning as ecstasy rippled through her. He slapped her ass, which made her tighten around his cock, and he followed her over the edge.
“Later,” he promised as he held himself deep inside her, fingers digging hard into her hips. Her inner muscles gripped the hard length of him in seemingly endless waves as she drew his orgasm into hers.
After a long moment, he collapsed onto his side and drew her close, spooning her back tightly to his chest.
“It’s only going to get better between us,” he murmured close to her ear.
She wasn’t sure how that was possible, but she was looking forward to finding out if he was right.
*~*~*
After an outdoor shower that used water from an overhead reservoir of collected rainwater, they picked ripe tropical fruit off the trees for their breakfast.
“You’re going to get sick of fruit,” Steve said as he handed her a papaya. “There’s not much food stored here that you can eat. We usually fish for our supper, if we aren’t too drunk.”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted, spotting an avocado tree on the edge of the clearing around the little beach house. “Better than fine.” She loved avocados, especially with eggs. “Dare needs to get some chickens.”
“Then you’d prefer his island to my farm.”
“I prefer being with you,” she said as she tried to figure out which avocados were ripe, “wherever that happens to be.”
Steve drew in a deep breath, his bare chest broadening. “How do you feel about obnoxiously large mansions in Los Angeles?”
“I’d prefer someplace a little cozier, but—”
“Good. Dare’s the one with the ungodly huge mansion. I live in a tiny cottage in Venice Beach.”
She wasn’t sure why he thought he was in competition with Dare, but she recognized a male ego in need of stroking when she saw one. “I can’t wait to see it,” she said, before realizing she was getting ahead of herself. There had to be a reason why he’d brought her to Dare’s island for their weekend together rather than to his own house. “I mean if you ever want me to visit.”
“Probably not a good idea,” he said, reaching over to place a hand on her bare back. “I’d probably do something stupid like ask you to move in with me.”
She laughed off his admission, partly because she figured she’d probably say yes, and that would be ridiculous. They scarcely knew each other. At least other people would see it that way. She felt like she’d always known him.
A loud squawk made her jump. Roux spotted numerous colorful birds in the jungle behind the little beach house, but no monkeys. There probably weren’t any. It was unlikely that they’d be able to reach the island from the mainland, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to explore.
“Can we check out the jungle after breakfast?” she asked, squinting into the dim interior of the thick undergrowth.
“I was hoping you’d want to check out my body.”
“I can multitask.” She turned toward the house carrying several papayas and avocados, and a bright purple fruit she didn’t recognize but that Steve had insisted was edible.
The only thing more delightful and delicious than the fruit was the company. Steve had an endless stream of humorous tales about Logan’s ceaseless search for a new adrenaline rush and how he somehow always convinced Steve to join him.
“So he’s dangling from the top of the tree with one hand, throwing these coconuts down at me with his other like projectile missiles, when he decides we can use the tree as a springboard to jump over this little cliff into the ocean.”
Roux covered her eyes with both hands. “Please tell me you didn’t agree to try it.”
“He dared me.”
She shook her head. Boys!
“So I shinny up the tree, and the dang thing bows all the way to the ground under our weight. Logan pushes me off onto the beach, and the trunk pops up and sends him flying.”
She tried not to laugh, because someone probably got hurt, but Logan Schmidt flying off the end of a tree had to have been a sight to behold.
“Dare’s just standing there with his finger on speed dial for emergency medical transport.”
“And Max?”
“Max is yelling that he hopes we break our stupid necks.”
“It sounds like you guys have a lot of fun together,” she said.
A crease formed between Steve’s brows. “Yeah, we used to,” he said. “But now we spend most of our time arguing.”
“What about?” She was expecting the usual “creative differences” response. That was what most bands argued over. Especially one as successful and long-lived as Exodus End.
“Sam Fucking Baily.”
“Our manager?”
Steve’s lip curled, and storm clouds built in his gorgeous brown eyes. She hadn’t known a person’s mood could shift so swiftly.
“Should I be worried?” she asked, because she wasn’t experienced enough to know when to worry about having a powerhouse of a manager versus when she should feel grateful for having one.
“I won’t let him hurt your career,” Steve said. He took her hand and squeezed it before pointing to her lips. “You have a little something there.”
She licked at the corner of her mouth but couldn’t find traces of anything unusual. “What?”
He leaned forward and kissed her. “My lips.”
“Mmm,” she said, sliding a hand to the back of his head to keep him from moving away. “I think I’ll keep those there for as long as possible.”
It was near noon when they finally ventured out of the house again. Roux was slathered in sunscreen and bug spray and wearing a semi-transparent cover-up over her green string bikini. The sun had never been kind to her skin. She burned quickly and severely if she wasn’t careful. She envied Steve’s tan and the fact that he could wear nothing but a pair of shorts in the muggy heat.
“Are you sure you want to go into the jungle?” he asked. “It’s a jungle in there.”
She rolled her eyes at his lame joke. “Just for a little while,” she said. “I’ve never been in a jungle before.”
“You were in one last night.”
“I can go by myself if you don’t want to protect me,” she said.
That did the trick. He took her hand. “I’ll always protect you. Do you want to walk or take the quad?”
She wore little tennis shoes and Steve wore sandals. She wasn’t sure how rugged the terrain would be but feared the noisy quad would scare off any wildlife.
“Walk. Is that okay?”
“Whatever you want, Red. This is your adventure.”
She soon discovered that the farther they got from the beach, the hotter and more humid the air became, until she was pretty sure they’d somehow ventured into the steam room at the gym. Steve pointed out several brightly colored birds in the trees, and Roux discovered that cute furry shrews lived in the leaf litter and munched on the many bugs that populated the area. They didn’t find any monkeys.
“I’ve seen a few sea turtles on the beach,” Steve said.
She figured he was less than enthused by their jungle walk and was trying to entice her back to the much cooler beach. Or maybe he knew she loved sea turtles.
“I’m ready to head back,” she said. “Maybe we’ll find more interesting wildlife on the beach.”
A large iridescent green beetle landed on Steve’s shoulder. He shouted, his body jerking as he wildly flailed his arms. Roux laughed and plucked the beetle off his skin before allowing the shiny creature to run over the surface of her hand.
“My hero,” she said.
“It startled me.”
The beetle spread its wings and took flight toward Steve, who ducked and swung a hand at it.
“You’re not afraid of bugs, are you?” Roux asked.
“No. I just don’t like them touching me. Or flying around me.” He grinned. “Or existing.”
r /> “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll protect you.”
He poked her in the ribs, and she yanked away, giggling. She started toward the beach by carefully stepping over a fallen tree, but Steve caught her by the arm. “It’s this way.” He jerked his head in the opposite direction.
“Are you sure?” She wasn’t. Sometime during their walk she’d lost track of direction, and here under the forest canopy, she couldn’t see the sky except in occasional small patches. As she looked up hoping to catch a glimpse of the sun, the branches overhead swayed and rustled with the strong breeze and the interior of the jungle darkened.
“I’m sure,” he said, and she stepped back over the log to stand at his side. “I’m also sure we’re about to get soaked.”
“How—”
A single rumble of thunder announced a sudden downpour. The dense leaves overhead caught the rain, but the load was soon too much, and water drenched them in seconds. The cool rain felt refreshing after the cloying air, so Roux turned her face up and closed her eyes, allowing the water to cascade over her cheeks. She even stuck out her tongue for a taste. She gasped in surprise when she was suddenly gripped by both arms and pressed against a sturdy tree trunk.
“You don’t have any idea how beautiful you are, do you?” Steve asked, cupping her face and rubbing water from her cheek with his thumb.