Exposed (Tropical Nights) (11 page)

Rachel felt her face flood with heat when she heard Leo’s rumbling laughter and realized she had spoken the last sentence out loud.

“I think it’s a shame to keep this hidden, too,” Leo said as he brought a hand to her waist. He moved her skirt down past her hips and Rachel stepped out of it, leaving her standing self-consciously in her bikini. “So beautiful,” Leo said in a low voice as he reached for her.

He kissed her as his hands explored her body.
His fingers ran along her arm, grasping her lightly by the wrist and draping her arm around his shoulders. She clung to him as she kissed him back, feeling so light-headed from his touch she would have fallen without his support. He traced a line down her side, moved his hands to her backside and cupped her there, pulling her into him until their bodies were molded to each other. His lips were on hers, and then they were burning a hot trail down her neck, across her chest, over the tops of her breasts. Rachel moaned as her nipples tightened, and she arched her back to allow him greater access.

She was so caught up in the sensations coursing through her body that she was barely aware of Leo untying the strings of her bikini top until she felt the cool air touching her bare breasts. Then the coolness was replaced by the heat of Leo’s
hands as he cupped her breasts, rubbing his thumbs gently over each nipple. “Oh, God,” Rachel said mindlessly as Leo replaced his thumbs with his mouth. He sucked and nipped at her, and Rachel drew in her breath at the exquisite pleasure tinged with just the right amount of pain.

Rachel’s hands roamed his chest, felt his nipples harden when her fingers brushed them, felt the muscles of his stomach jump and flex as h
er hands went lower. She fumbled with the waistband of his pants, no longer able to bear the fabric that stood as a barrier between their bodies. She undid his fly and pushed his pants off his hips, running her fingers along the hard lines of his muscled thighs, smiling as Leo groaned.

Their
hands moved faster over each other’s bodies, more insistently, until they were almost frenzied with mutual desire. Leo yanked her bikini bottom down and threw it across the bathroom, as if personally offended at how it covered her body from him. Their hands were everywhere, touching, caressing, rubbing; their lips followed, kissing and nipping and licking every inch of each other.

The water
running from the shower had turned hot and the bathroom was filled with steam, heating and dampening their skin. “I think it’s warm enough now,” Leo said. “Let’s get in.”

Leo reached for the shower door but then stopped, as if remembering something. He turned back to where his pants lay in a heap on the floor and fumbled through the pockets, frowning. Relief flooded his face as he pulled out a condom and put it on.
Rachel had the hazy thought that she was glad he remembered it, because she was in no condition to be thinking about the practical things.

Leo
picked Rachel up and walked into the shower, never taking his lips from her neck. He set her down gently and let the water warm them. She watched as the water hit him and ran in rivulets down his body, running along the lines and angles of his muscles. He truly was beautifully made. She followed the water with her fingers, starting at his shoulder and moving down, until she reached where the water was spraying off his hardness. She curled her fingers around him, feeling him stiffen even more, and he made a sort of strangled groan in the back of his throat.

“You’re killing me,” he said gruffly as he captured her hand. He threaded his fingers through hers and lifted her arm above her head, pressing it against the smooth tile of the shower wall. He held it there as he pressed kisses along her neck, her chest, her breasts. His other hand moved down her body until it was between her legs, causing Rachel to gasp at the explosion of sensation she felt there. “Killing me,” Leo
said again.

He moved his fingers slowly, exploring her, and then faster, more insistent. Rachel’s legs weakened and she began to breathe heavily, her pulse quickening. “Leo, please,” she begged, the nails of her free hand digging into his back. “Please
…now…I need you.” She was barely aware of what she was saying; she only knew she had an aching void she needed him to fill.

“Are you ready for me?” Leo asked as he slid a finger inside her.

Rachel moaned and moved against his hand. “Yes,” she said, her voice strangled. “Yes…please…”

Leo removed his hand and Rachel whimpered at the loss. He put her legs around his waist, lifting her up and pressing her back against the shower wall. He kissed her, his lips consuming hers, his tongue sweeping through her mouth, and then he pushed himself inside her.
She cried out and rocked her hips against him, meeting his every thrust.

Leo took her hand again and kissed it, putting it to his chest as he watched her face. “Amazing,” he breathed against her ear, and then he could say no more.

They rocked together, the hot water running over their skin, the steam curling around them, their bodies molded to each other. Being in Leo’s arms felt like returning to a familiar and beloved place, like she was exactly where she was meant to be. It was perfect,
right
, like every particle of life had only existed to make sure this moment happened, like it had all been building to this. Every fear she had, every doubt she harbored, every worry that kept her up at night had ceased to exist the moment he had pushed inside her. The only things she knew, all she had ever known and ever would, was Leo’s hands holding her up, his lips on her skin, his hardness inside her making her explode with sensation, his groans in her ear mingling with her cries.

The pres
sure within in her was building and she teetered on the edge of explosion. For once, she didn’t try to keep her body in check, didn’t try to maintain some level of control over its responses. For once, she didn’t want to. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to even if she had possessed the desire. She panted and moaned and clutched at him, not caring at how wild she was.

“Leo,” she gasped.

“Come with me, baby,” he groaned.

“Yes
…”

They moved faster, harder, more desperately. Rachel
arched her back and cried out as her orgasm rocked through her body, driving out every other thought or feeling. It rolled through her in waves, each one as strong as the one before it. Leo buried his head against her shoulder and Rachel felt him pulse inside her as he made an animalistic, primal sound—a growling deep in his chest. They rode the ecstasy together for seconds, minutes, days—it seemed at once like forever and the briefest instant, like time was no longer moving in a single orderly direction. Finally, Rachel’s orgasm ebbed and Leo’s movements slowed, and they clung to each other, gasping for breath, Leo still holding her in his arms as they tried to come back to the present.

S
lowly, Leo set her on her feet but he didn’t let her go. Rachel knew he could feel how shaky and weak she was, her strength gone. She looked up at him and saw he was smiling, his face lit up with that universal expression of a man satisfied knowing he had pleased his woman. She also saw he was still breathing heavily and the arm around her waist trembled slightly, and she knew that for all his male cockiness, he had been just as affected by her.

Leo brought a hand up and cupped her face, leaning down to kiss her lips softly.
He leaned back and looked at her, and Rachel saw so much swirling in his eyes. There were just as many thoughts and emotions churning in her, but she was content for the moment to leave it unsaid, to just
be
with Leo, to touch and feel instead of think and talk.

Leo let her go and stuck his head under the showerhead and let the water run over him for a moment
. He stepped out of the water stream and shook his head like a dog, spraying Rachel with water and making his short hair stick up in spikes.

“Hey,” Rachel said, laughing.

“Come here.” He took her arm and turned her around so her back was to him. He squirted some shampoo into his hand and lathered her hair, working the shampoo to the ends of her curls and then massaging her scalp. He put an arm around her shoulders and leaned her back until the water hit her head, and then he rinsed the shampoo from her hair. Rachel closed her eyes and relaxed into him, letting him support her weight, reveling in how good it felt.

When he was done with her hair, Leo grabbed the bar of soap and worked it between his hands. He proceeded to wash her, letting his slick hands slide over her body, leaving a sudsy trail on her skin as he massaged her arms and back,
driving out the tension she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying in her knotted muscles. He ignored no part of her body, exploring everywhere, feeling and touching every line and curve. There was a reverence in his touch, a look of wonder and awe mingled with lust and desire in his face, and Rachel knew it mirrored her own expression.

Rachel grabbed the soap, needing to touch him, too. She moved her hands slowly over him, taking time to
feel and gaze upon every part him. Before, she had been too caught up in the frenzy of lust and need to fully appreciate him. She wanted to make up for that mistake now. He kept reaching for her, as though he needed his hands on her like he needed to breathe, but Rachel pushed him against the shower wall and told him with a look that he was not to move. His eyes flashed at her boldness, encouraging her to take control.

She pulled him from the wall and walked around him, the huge shower allowing her the room to admire him from every angle. She ran her soapy hands along his back, starting at his wide shoulders and following down to where his waist tapered, and then lower, to his firm buttocks. She couldn’t stop herself from giving him a quick squeeze, and she heard him exhale sharply. She circled
around to stand in front of him. She let her gaze slide slowly over his chest and abs and farther down. She smiled in satisfaction when he hardened under her gaze. She reached out and touched him lightly, tracing a line along his length.

Leo growled
as he exploded in motion. He turned off the shower and then turned to Rachel. She gave an involuntary yelp as he scooped her up and stalked out of the bathroom. He tossed her gently on the suite’s king-sized bed and stared down at her, his expression like that of a successful predator about to enjoy the spoils of his hunt. Rachel looked up at him, feeling powerful and sultry and so, so ready for him.

“Damn,” he said, and Rachel heard everything in that one word: wanting and desire and promise and plea. “I want to take it slow. I want to spend all night
discovering every inch of you. But then I see you looking at me like that and I can’t control myself. I have to have you.”

“Take me,” Rachel said, glad that she wasn’t the only one who was struggling with self
-restraint.

Leo joined her on the bed and they rolled into each other, skin and hands and lips and tongues touching everywhere. Rachel sighed and closed her eyes, giving herself up to the long night of ecstasy.

Chapter Six

Leo opened his eyes and blinked, trying to clear his head. It took him a moment to awaken fully and remember where he was
. Then he noticed Rachel in his arm, curled up against him with her head on his chest, and it all came back to him. He smiled and gently kissed her hair, not wanting to wake her. He breathed in her scent and took a moment to relish the feel of her bare skin against his, of having her sleeping body cradled in his arms.

He usually hated the entanglements and expectations that came with sex
. He was careful to be up front with women that he was not interested in a committed relationship and what he was after was very limited in scope. But this—waking up with Rachel in his arms, the memories of the night before still warming him—it felt perfect, like she was a part of him that had been missing for most of his life and he was only now complete. It made him wonder how he had ever functioned without her.

It scared him, the intensity of his feelings for Rachel, the need he had felt for her last night and the contentment he felt this morning. Sex with her had been
so much
more
than just the physical act, and he thought he might be finally coming to understand why people called it “making love.”

He felt a stab of panic
slice through him. He hadn’t been looking for this. In fact, he had spent his adult life actively avoiding love or attachment or strong feelings in general and he wasn’t sure he could handle this. He knew he was getting himself too worked up, but just then Rachel sighed and moved against him in her sleep, and Leo was hit with such an overwhelming feeling of contented tenderness toward her that he forgot whatever it was that had been bothering him.

God, she was beautiful. Her hair fell in tangled curls around her face and shoulders, its tousled state evidence of the previous night’s activities. Her dark lashes were resting against her cheeks, her full mouth relaxed in sleep. His gaze traveled along her naked body, admiring the long lines and lean muscle and gentle curves of it. Ev
erything about her was perfect—the way she molded to his body and fit him perfectly, how she responded to his touch and cried out when he brought her to release. And her effect on him—how she drove him to distraction and made him forget about everything but her, how she made him lose himself in her—Leo had never experienced anything like it.

He heated at the memories of the previous
night, hardening as he remembered how she looked in the throes of their passion. They had been up half the night partaking of each other’s bodies, trying to slake the thirst they had for each other, but evidently, half the night hadn’t been enough. He wanted her still, as fiercely as he had the first time, and he didn’t think his need for her would ever abate.

Leo
was contemplating waking her—and enjoying the thoughts of exactly how he should do it—when he heard his phone ring somewhere in the suite. He let out a frustrated sigh. He wanted to let it go to voicemail but he knew he had to answer it in case it was Harry calling about an issue with the Bondell deal. He looked at Rachel, giving himself just a few more seconds to drink in the sight of her sleeping next to him, and then he slowly eased his arm out from underneath her. Moving carefully and quietly so he didn’t wake her, Leo crept out of the bed and across the room, trying to remember where his phone was. He found it in the pocket of his trousers, still crumpled on the bathroom floor, and he glanced at the caller ID as he stepped into his pants.

“Harry,” he said into the phone.

“Did I wake you?” Harry asked.

“What’s going on? Is there a problem with the deal?”

“No problems. I’m just calling to give you an update. I’m meeting with Bondell in half an hour to read over the contract one more time. We just need to make sure everything we agreed to yesterday is in this copy before we finalize it. Once that’s done, the plane is standing by to fly the papers to Europe for investor signatures. They should be signed and back here by tomorrow morning. I’m just checking to see if you wanted to be present at the meeting.”

Leo walked
back to the bedroom and stood at the edge of the bed, looking down at Rachel. She stirred and opened her eyes, smiling up at him.

His chest tightened.

“No, there’s no need for me to be there,” Leo said to Harry. “I’m just sticking around the island in case a problem comes up that needs my personal attention. As long as things are going smoothly, you can take care of everything.”

“Sounds good,” Harry said, and Leo could hear his surprise that Leo would leave it all up to him. “I’ll call you when Bondell has signed and the contract is on the plane to Europe.”

“Just text me,” Leo said. He had plans for the day, and they were heavy on Rachel and light on numerous, protracted conversations with his lawyer.

“Really? You’re OK with a text on this?” Harry sounded rightfully skeptical. Leo normally wanted to be involved with every detail, however small, on
these types of deals.

“A text is fine. Don’t call unless there’s a problem.
Oh, and give Mark Laniard a call and tell him the deal is done. We’ll need to begin production on light jets meant for our newly acquired rental market right away.” He hung up the phone and threw it in the chair next to the bed. “Good morning,” he said to Rachel.

“Good morning,” she said drowsily, sleep still clinging to her. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, her hair messy, and she couldn’t stop yawning.
Leo found it incredibly sexy.

The caveman in him was roaring, and he fought the urge to
climb into the bed and ravish her.
Give the poor woman a break
, he thought, not without a certain savage pride at how worn out she looked. God, the things she did to him, the primal urges she stirred up and the way she stripped his control.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Famished.”

“How about I head back to my suite to shower and change, you do the same, and I’ll come back and get you for breakfast?” He needed to get her out of the bed and
into some clothes before he surrendered to his baser desires and kept her there for the entire day, naked and sweating beneath him.

“Ok
ay,” Rachel said as she sat up.

Leo knew he should walk away, leave the suite while he still had the willpower, but he couldn’t resist one last kiss. He leaned down and picked her up off the bed, setting her on her feet in front of him. He put a hand under her chin and gently tipped her head back, and then he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist, melting into him.

Damn. He should not have kissed her, not if he wanted to get anything else accomplished that day. He pulled away from her with great effort. “I’ll be back in twenty, okay?” His voice was strained, much like his will.

Rachel nodded, looking a little dazed.
She bit her lower lip in that gesture that drove him wild, and he couldn’t stop himself from kissing her again.

“Go get in the shower,” he instructed, hoping
to convince her to break the embrace and walk away since he seemed unable to do it.

Rachel nodded again and stumbled to the bathroom, naked and beautiful and so very, very enticing. Leo turned to leave her suite when he realized he was wearing pants and nothing else. His shirt was
still in the bathroom. Screw it; he’d get it later. If he went in there now, with Rachel wet and soapy in the shower, he knew he’d never leave. He grabbed his phone and checked his pants pocket for his wallet. His key card was in there, and that was all he needed for now.

It’s not like he couldn’t get his shirt when
he was back in her room that night, his ever-confident caveman pointed out.

Leo carefully steered the jeep along the muddy road, making sure to avoid the worst of the ruts and potholes.
Every so often he had to navigate around a huge boulder sticking up in the dirt or gaping hole where the road was completely washed out. Rachel had decided at breakfast that she wanted to spend the rest of the morning hiking, and Leo was taking her to the perfect spot for it. He slowed the jeep as they came to a metal gate stretched across the road and came to a stop at a metal post topped with a keypad. The top was off the jeep, so Leo could just lean over and punch in the code that made the gate slide open, allowing them access to the rest of the mountain road.

“Are we supposed to be here?” Rachel asked and the gate rolled to a close behind them.

Leo laughed. “I’m the king, remember? Well, Laine’s actually the king of this mountain. This is his private land.”

“Why all the security?”

“Apparently, the gate was here when Laine bought it. He’s leaving it up until he decides how to allow public access to this area without damaging the ecosystem. He says he wants the land surveyed first, find out what plant and animal species are here and what he can do to protect them, if there’s a way to use the land without destroying it. So much of the island is being gobbled up with development—which Laine and I are admittedly a part of. Laine wants to do what he can to protect some of it. In the meantime, we get to hike through a thousand acres of private, unspoiled land.”

“It’s beautiful,”
Rachel said as she took in the scenery passing by them as the jeep took them higher up the primitive mountain road. The road was bumpy and narrow, with dense tropical vegetation closing in on them from either side. “I’m glad Laine is trying to keep it in its natural state. Has he reached out to the locals for input?”

Leo nodded. “Your economist’s wheels are spinning on this, aren’t they? You’re wondering how this affects
the island economy and how the locals can benefit.”

Rachel looked sheepish
. “You got me,” she said.

“Laine’s set up a planning committee comprised of scientists and local community leaders. He wants everyone to have a say in how this goes.” Leo looked at her, a knowing grin on his face. “How
about I arrange an interview for you with Laine so you can find out the details? This sounds like the perfect article for your blog.”

“
That would be great,” Rachel said enthusiastically. Leo loved it when she got excited about something, and he couldn’t help being especially glad when he got to be the cause of her excitement. “The island really is breathtaking.” Rachel suddenly inhaled sharply. “Oh, no. Stop!”

Leo hit the brakes, bringing the jeep to an abrupt halt. “What’s wrong?”

“Look, the road’s flooded.” Rachel pointed ahead to the stream of water flowing over the rocky dirt. “How are we going to get around it?”

Leo chuckled. “The road isn’t flooded, it just goes through the
river. And we don’t go around it.”

Rachel looked at him, wide-eyed. “You mean
…?”

“Yep.” Leo shifted the jeep into low gear and
pressed the gas pedal, making sure to accelerate slowly and steadily. The huge tires bit into the mud before finding traction, and then they lurched toward the water. The jeep went down the rocky embankment and into the river, spraying them with mud and water. Beside him, Rachel gasped and shrieked, trying to catch her breath through her laughter, and Leo couldn’t help but smile. He had gauged the speed just right, and they climbed the opposite bank smoothly.

Leo drove a little further until the road turned and
swung back to run parallel to the river they had just crossed. Soon, the riverbed flattened and widened and Leo brought the jeep to a stop on the dry rocks. “We can hike from here,” he said as he climbed out of the jeep. He reached into the backseat and grabbed the backpack containing supplies, water, and a lunch he’d had the kitchen staff pack for them. “The trail follows the river and then winds into the forest a bit before coming back near the water. It’ll give you a taste of all the different scenery.”

“It’s amazing,” Rachel said.

She turned around in a slow circle. Leo watched her take it all in, her unabashed amazement making him smile. “You’ve never been to the tropics, have you?” he asked, though the answer was obvious.

“No,” Rachel said somewhat abashedly. “I haven’t really been anywhere.”

“We’ll have to fix that. Rumor has it you know someone now who’s pretty handy at getting people from point A to point B. He can probably hook you up with some exotic trips.” He very much wanted to take her to a thousand places so he could stand next to her and watch this expression of wonderment cross her face again and again.

Rache
l smiled, about to speak, but then something behind him caught her attention. “Oh, Leo,” she whispered, “look.” She grabbed his arm in excitement and Leo felt a jolt go through him at her touch.

He tore his gaze away from her and looked down the river, spying a flock of brilliantly red, long-billed birds wading in the water. “They’re scarlet ibises,” he said.

“They’re gorgeous,” Rachel said in a restrained voice, like she was trying to make sure the birds didn’t hear her. It didn’t work. The ibises suddenly took flight as one unit and flew off, becoming an indistinct flash of red that disappeared around the river’s bend. Rachel watched them go, mesmerized.