Breaking Even (11 page)

Lindsey knew Ric
wanted more than she did at the moment, but she wasn't far behind him. How
would she ever go back home to Clemson without missing him so much it would
hurt? It didn
’t
help that Jacquetta was waiting on the island to fulfill his every need,
whether he knew it or not.

Dinner was casual, by the pool. Lindsey
threw a teal maxi-dress over her bathing suit. He traded out his bathing trunks
for board shorts and slipped on a Hawaiian shirt. He insisted on propping
Lindsey up with pillows on one of the lounge chairs so they could talk while he
grilled.

The ambiance was all for her. Candles
inside hurricane lamps and the pool lights cast a romantic glow over the pool
deck. He served a merlot with the steak. Lindsey didn’t like it as much as the
wine he had shared on her first trip, but it still tasted better than beer.

Ric definitely outdid himself with dinner.
She gave him free reign over the chopped salad, except she told him she didn’t
want the artichoke hearts. The final salad included black beans, small tortilla
strips, roasted corn kernels, and spinach.

The fluffy baked potato complimented the
steak perfectly. To go with it, Etienne had provided honeyed butter with a loaf
of his artisan French bread.

When Ric kissed her after dinner, she
thought the wine tasted better on his lips.

“I have dessert for later,” he suggested.

“I am so full, I can’t hold another
thing," she warned.

He offered her his hand. “I feel like I’m
covered in chlorine. Let’s go shower.”

He pulled her into a master bath bigger
than her bedroom at home. An antique clawfoot tub took up one corner and a
shower big enough for two took up the other side.

“Enough water?” she asked, thinking of her
small shower-tub combination at home. He must have laughed when he had showered
in her house. Three showerheads provided water from every direction imaginable.

He laughed. “My architect kept harassing
me for details, and I told him to design a bathroom he would be happy with.
This is what I got.”

“Uh-huh. Spoiled rotten.”

“Maybe.” He pulled her into his arms.
“Plenty of room for two, though.” He pressed a button and water started flowing
from the three main shower heads.

“Wait a minute—you want me to get in here
with you?” She pulled back, adding space between them.

“Why wouldn’t you?”

She had been pushing Ric to become more
intimate, but the idea of showering with him took her by surprise.

“I don’t know that I’m ready.”

He eased her back into his arms. “Do you
trust me?”

“Of course,” she said immediately.

“Would I hurt you?”

She didn’t have to think about her answer.
“No.”

“We can stop at any time. I promise.”

She thought about turning him down, but
she never did anything fun. Instead, she reached over to the dimmer switch and
lowered the lights. In the semi-darkness, Lindsey could relax more. She pulled
off her dress and hung it on one of the hooks. She still had on her bathing
suit.

“I'll try it, but you'd better be on your
best behavior.”

“
Siempre
,” he added, and Lindsey
grinned. Always. Wasn't that the truth?

She presented her back to him and felt the
lightest touch of his fingers before the small piece of fabric fell. The sound
of the water in the shower was hypnotic. He reached around her and cupped both
of her breasts, squeezing. Lindsey's hands held his in place.

He backed her into the large tile
enclosure. Lindsey almost fell into a trance listening to the sound of the
water hitting the tile. The water felt wonderful as different sprays hit both
of them. His touch absorbed some of her nervous energy.

Still behind her, he pushed her hair out
of the way and kissed the back of her neck. When he nibbled that sensitive
spot, she leaned back into him. Somehow she thought that wasn't what people
meant when they said “Bite me,” but she would take it. Is this what all the
vampire heroins swooned about?

She had never felt so desired. His hands
slipped off her breasts and down her hips, settling on the bathing suit bottom
that she still wore. With one pull, the suit fell to the shower floor. She
vaguely noticed him kicking it outside the shower.

Lindsey tilted her head back. The water hitting
her from all sides felt so good. Ric massaged the shampoo into her scalp and
hair and worked up a lather. By the time he ran conditioner through her hair,
she thought she would go crazy with need.

When he finished with her hair, she turned
and faced him. She rubbed the soap first in her hands and then across his
chest. She soaped up his chest hair and then stood back so he could rinse.

His sculpted muscles reminded her of her
own inadequacies. He was so much more fit, so much more beautiful, than anyone
in her circle. Why was he even with her? He could have anyone he wanted.

She pushed the thought away. Who said she
even wanted to get married? She was young. Nothing said she couldn’t have a
little bit of fun. She just had to get past her hangups and phobias.

He pulled her closer and his hands
explored everywhere, even places that had never felt hands. He washed her back,
and then turned her so he could circle her breasts with his hands covered in
soap. He moved lower, running his soapy hands across her hips and down her
bottom.

Lindsey tried to return the favor. She
glanced at his manhood standing proud and wanting attention. She soaped her
hand and rubbed the length of him. He gasped and took her hand, showing her how
to move.

“God, what you do to me,” he said,
somewhere between a growl and a groan. “If you don’t stop, I’ll come right
here.”

“Show me,” she whispered, intrigued by her
hand’s effect on him.

He stiffened, and she felt warmth in her
hand. She gave him a final squeeze, pleased with herself. He leaned his head
back against the tile. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know. I don’t have to do anything.
Maybe I wanted to.”

“You’re too good for me, Lindsey,” he
whispered. He washed again, and then turned off the water. “Come, let’s go lie
down.”

Lindsey let him dry her off, amused by the
deliberate way he rubbed her with the towel. She expected his touch to turn
sensual, but he was careful to stay casual, letting her keep her space.

#

Back in the
bedroom, he pulled back the cover and fluffed up the pillows. Traveling had
blurred her sense of time. It wasn
’t even midnight, but felt much later to
her.

“Traveling wipes me out,” she said. That
had to be the only explanation for the sudden lethargy that had invaded her
arms and legs. Lindsey climbed in bed and pulled up the cover.

With one click of a remote, classical
Spanish guitar music filled the room. Ric turned on on a column lamp in the
corner, bathing everything in soft light. He edged into the bed beside her,
leaving the cover up over his hips.

Lindsey waited to see what he would do
next. She didn’t know what he wanted, or what she wanted him to do.

In the past, her thoughts about sex had
been clinical. Since sex hadn’t been an option, there hadn’t been much of an
issue.

Her mother had never said much about sex,
except Lindsey would know when the time was right. She knew she didn’t have to
wait until marriage, but still she stalled. She cared for Ric. She enjoyed
being around him, but did she love him? If she weren’t a virgin, she could just
have sex with him to test the waters, but she didn’t want to do that just yet.

He leaned up on one elbow and studied her.
“You seem nervous.”

“No, I’m just tired. You know, I’ve never…
done much of anything in this department.”

“I had guessed,” he said. She expected to
find his eyes mocking her, but saw only compassion and interest. “Whatever you
want to do, it’s okay. We don’t have to do anything as far as that goes. I’d
like you to stay in here—I’ve missed sharing a bed with you—but if you’d
rather, you can sleep in the other room.”

“If you wanted me to stay in here, why did
you ask Xavier to put my things in the other room?”

“First, I didn’t want you to feel
pressured. Second, it’s not Xavier’s business where you sleep.”

Lindsey lay on her side. She traced the
line of his chest muscles, the smattering of hair she found there. “It’s not
that I don’t want to…”

“Yes, I know, return on investment,” he
said, grinning at her.

“You don’t forget a thing, do you?”

“Not when it comes to you.”

Lindsey laughed. “Not sure if that makes
me happy or scares me.”

“I remember everything. That’s the only
thing that helps when you’re not here.”

“When you stole me away to your tower?”

“Yes, when I captured you and threw you in
the tower. When you were so sure you had gotten away, only for Xavier to bring
you back.”

“You didn’t even bother chasing me!”

His grin broadened. “No, I didn’t need to.”

“Most people would wonder why I didn’t
hate you. But I wasn’t scared. I could look in your eyes and tell you wouldn’t
hurt me.”

“There are people connected to me who
would. I don’t want you to be a target.”

Lindsey’s heart snagged on the word
engaged, but she ignored the loaded word. “Why would I be a target?”

“Because I would do anything to protect
you.”

Lindsey didn’t like the direction of his
speech, so she leaned forward and kissed him. His hand fell across her hip, and
he pulled her closer.

His lips made everything right. His kiss
set her on fire. She wanted things she had never thought of before. Romance.
Affection. A life together. It would be so easy to just give him what he
wanted. But would he make her happy in the long term? She didn’t know. He was
so sophisticated. She was just a girl from the suburbs. He had grown up in a
castle on an island and now he ran a whole island resort. What could she offer
him?

His hand made maddening circles on her
back, and she pulled him closer. He raised up so that he was half above her,
one hand supporting him and the other free. She didn’t noticed he had moved
until his hand squeezed her breast. When he palmed her nipple, tingles worked
their way lower. Lindsey moaned.

“Maybe I’m tired of being a virgin.” She
whispered the words against his collarbone and followed them with a little
lick.

“Qué? … What?”

“I said, maybe I’m tired of being a
virgin.”

“Sweetie, don’t say that. You should wait
for your husband.”

“I don’t know anyone waiting for marriage
these days. None of my friends have waited this long. What if I don’t ever
marry?”

“You will. You’re young yet.” He kissed
her neck, and she felt his tongue moving in circles. “There’s other things we
can do. In fact, there’s other things we should do. Especially after your
performance in the shower.”

Lindsey’s heart started beating faster.
She knew she was blushing and she could feel the extra heat in her face. “I
wasn’t performing. I just wanted to see what it felt like, to make you come
apart in my hands.”

He touched his forehead to hers. “You
never cease to amaze me.”

“I don’t know why I’ve been so free around
you. You’re the only one who has seen me naked.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that!” he said.

Lindsey heard the possessive tone in his
voice and decided she didn’t mind.

He slid his pinkie under the sheet,
lifting it slightly. She grinned and kept the sheet taut.

“What do we have here?”

“Why don’t you come see?” She let go, and
he eased one edge of the sheet down.

“Look what I found.” Lindsey gasped when
he circled her nipple with his tongue.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“We used to call them party hats,” he
said.

Lindsey giggled. “I like that. Party hats.
My party hats are happy to see you.”

“Are they now?”

He squeezed and pinched one at the same
time that he kissed the other. She wriggled, seeking more. Or less. Seeking
something.

The sensation built, and she grabbed the
back of his head. “Yes. Happy.”

He slid one finger along her side, down to
her waist, circling around her navel. She giggled, and he skimmed still lower,
edging between her slick center.

Lindsey arched her hips and cooed at the
feeling that pulsed from her core. “I didn’t shave down there,” she whispered,
wondering what he preferred. She had heard that shaving was more popular now.

“You’re perfect the way you are,” he
whispered, his fingers not stopping their movement. Lindsey took his hand and
shifted it to give her the pressure she wanted. First one finger, then two—she felt
close to an ending, but didn't know how to get there.