Liam had managed to climb on top of Dragos’s legs. Now he crawled up his father’s torso, his small face determined. As Liam kneed Dragos in the crotch, Dragos jackknifed onto his side, laughing, and they dropped the subject for the evening.
After a while Pia went up to the house to collect snacks and another bottle of wine for dinner, and they stayed out on the beach to watch the sunset. She nursed the baby, who fell asleep on her. She, in turn, curled against Dragos’s chest, while he put his arms around her. When she tilted her head back to smile at him, he covered her mouth with his and kissed her with a slow, leisurely thoroughness that never failed to heat her blood.
Happy, she thought. I’m too happy.
She banished that traitorous thought firmly and eventually fell asleep.
She woke sometime later to movement. Dragos had wrapped her and the baby in the blanket and carried them up the path to the house. She yawned and mumbled, “Stuff on the beach.”
“We’ll get it in the morning,” he said quietly.
He carried them through the shadowed, empty house and laid them gently on the bed. Then he gathered up Liam’s small, sleeping form to carry him to his crib in the other bedroom. Pia yawned again so widely her jaw popped and pushed off the bed to go to the bathroom, wash up and brush her teeth. On the way back to bed, she peeled off her clothes and let them drop to the floor. Those could be picked up in the morning too.
A few minutes later, Dragos joined her. She rolled toward him as he slid under the covers. He was naked too, and she sighed as she came up against his long, muscled body. The comfort of nestling skin to skin with him was indescribable. She needed it as much as she needed air, or food. She rubbed her face against the warm skin of his chest while he ran his hands down the curves of her body and caressed her breasts. He let out a quiet hiss when she stroked his large, hard erection and the tight, full sac underneath.
She gave herself over to languid instinct and slid down the sheets while he rolled onto his back and stroked her hair. By now they knew how this dance would go, but instead of familiarity breeding boredom, it fueled the excitement.
She knew what would happen when she put her mouth on him. She knew what he tasted like, and she craved it. She craved him. It was an incomparably sweet ache that leavened every part of her day. She lived her life in a state of constant questioning.
Where will he be next? When will I see him again? In the living room? In the kitchen? Will we have time to shower together in the morning?
How can I bear to be apart from him for an entire day?
Sometimes they didn’t manage it, and they came together in a heated rush at lunchtime. Then they created a fire that burned so beautifully.
That was how she felt then, as she opened her mouth and took him in. She sucked on the broad head of his penis, swirling her tongue around the small slit at the tip. He swore, a low, rapid stream of unintelligible words, while his body turned rigid.
It hurts, it hurts, she wanted to tell him. But she had lost the capacity for telepathy. A tear slipped down her cheek from the ache of it. She opened her throat and took him all in. He pumped into her mouth, hips flexing. She could not get close enough, could not take him in deeply enough.
When he grasped her head in both hands and pulled her away, she made a needy sound and tried to pull him back to her. He refused, hauled her bodily up the bed and came between her knees. Then she understood what he wanted, and she welcomed him greedily.
“I can’t ever get enough of you,” he whispered against her mouth as he positioned the tip of his cock at her opening.
“Me neither. Hurry.” She gripped the back of his neck.
He pierced her, drew back and pierced her again, and that was the thing she needed, as they came together in the most intimate dance of all. She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts, flexing inside in the way she knew would bring him the most pleasure.
He gasped, shook his head and quickened the rhythm. Then he leaned on one arm and slid a hand between them. She was so ready, she climaxed as soon as he touched her. A high, thin whine came out of her, and she shook all over as the exquisite ripples conquered her body.
He thrust harder and quicker, once, twice, and then he arched his back as his own climax came. She held her breath so that she could feel everything as the hard, thick length of him pulsed inside of her.
There. There. Such sweet, beautiful fire.
Chapter Nine
In the morning, Liam enjoyed a long, lovely cuddle in bed with Mommy and Daddy. Then he grew excited because Mommy and Daddy started getting ready to go somewhere. Often that meant he got to go somewhere too, and he liked exploring this new, sunny place.
They said things to each other like, “Do you have our sat phone?” And: “They’re bringing the boat to the pier on the beach.”