“What about you?” I ask her. “I hear you get to travel around the world, writing and experiencing all the things you always talked about doing.”
“I do,” she says, her face lighting up in the dark. There’s only the warm fairy lights Quin had hung around the yacht to light the deck now that the sun has completely set. It gives her skin a warm golden glow that I wish I could bottle and take with me. “I’m here visiting Mom’s side of the family right now. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone, see the family and get to see Quin get married. After this, I’m going to Morocco to see Dad’s side. He’s meeting me there, so I’m excited to see him as well.”
“It looks good on you, you know,” I tell her. “Doing what you love. You seem happy.”
“I am.” She nods, smiling up at me before looking down and taking my hand in hers. My scarred and tattooed hands look ridiculous next to her soft skin. Her thumb traces the scar that runs from my wrist to my thumbnail.
“I brought my fists to a knife fight,” I tell her, laughing when she looks up at me in shock. “Risks of the business.” I shrug and let her continue to trace her fingertips across scars and old tattoos that I regret.
“What did you tell your uncle you wanted to do?” she asks me after a moment of silence.
“That doesn’t matter,” I answer, trying to brush her off.
“It matters to me.” Her voice is soft and sad. She always had a way of breaking through any barrier I put in front of her, so it shouldn’t surprise me that the walls I built because of her are so easily broken down.
“I told him I was going to travel with you,” I say, keeping my face forward, staring at the city lights behind the shore. I can feel her staring at me, her eyes are boring into my fucking soul and it makes me fidget.
“You were going to come with me?” she asks, her voice small and distant.
“I was.” I nod.
Her hand squeezes mine a bit tighter, and I look down at where they’re joined before looking back at her. She still looks like my Zo?, but the years have made her more of a woman and less of a girl. She’s seen things, been places, and created a life for herself. I take in everything about her now, from how her eyes crinkle at the corners to the freckles I never noticed before scattered around her cheekbones and nose like constellations.
“There’s a pool on this level, you know,” she says, drawing my attention back to her eyes. “Maybe we could go for a swim, catch up some more.”
“That’s all you want to do, Zo??” I ask her, leaning over her more and pushing her hair out of her face. My hand goes to where her legs are crossed and pushes her thighs apart. “You wouldn’t be tricking me into finishing what I started earlier?” I cup her and shove a finger underneath her panties to tease her hot opening. She gasps, and her nails dig into my forearm. I tilt my head and smile at the reactions I pull from her.
“Maybe I have ulterior motives,” she breathes. “But it would be nice to be on more of an even playing field,” she says, her hand leaving my arm to rub against my groin. “We’d both have to take off our clothes,” she whispers into my ear as we both continue moving our hands. She kisses her way down my throat, and I groan and push my hips into her hand.
“How about this,” I say, my free hand grabbing her throat and pushing her away from my body, putting the control back in my hands. “We’ll have a little race.” Her breaths come harder and faster as I pump my finger in and out of her sweet cunt. “If you win, I’ll drop this little secret you’re keeping from me.”
She nods and rolls her hips to meet my thrusts. I can tell she’s close, and I want her to come for me. I want to see what she looks like when it’s me pulling the pleasure from her body. I find that little spot inside of her and press the pad of my finger against it over and over again, watching her mouth fall open and her eyes begin to roll back.
“But if I win,” I say, taking her mouth with mine. “You have to tell me.” I keep pushing in and out of her as her moans get louder and her breaths come more quickly. Our tongues fight for dominance as we kiss and move together. “Deal?” I ask her, breaking the kiss and moving down her neck.
“Deal,” she whimpers. “Whatever you want, just let me come, Wes, please.”
“Fuck me, Little Doe. I love it when you beg.” I move faster inside of her, pulsing right where she needs it. “Come for me,” I command as I bite and lick that same tender spot on her shoulder. I claim her in that moment, marking her as mine. I want everyone at this fucking wedding to see the marks, to hear her as she comes with my name on her lips. She isn’t going to get away from me this time around.
“Fuck, Wesley!” she cries out, clinging to me like a life preserver as the waves of her orgasm crash over her. I feel her flood her panties and clench around my finger. The palm of my hand gently rubs against her clit as she comes, drawing out her pleasure for as long as she can stand it.
As she catches her breath, I pull free of her cunt and her panties, licking up the mess she made. I’ll never get tired of the way she tastes, and my cock hardens even more at the thought of those soft thighs squeezing the life out of my skull as I feast on her like a dying man.
“Better collect yourself,” I tell her, my thumb playing with the angry bite mark I left on her skin. “You get a five-second head start, and then the chase is on, Little Doe.”
“Nari,” she swears in Arabic, standing on wobbly legs. I laugh as I watch her fumble.
“Five,” I count. Her eyes go wide, and she takes a step back.
“Four.”
“Motherfucker,” she says. “Your plan was to make me weak before the chase? Seems a bit unfair.”
“Three.”
She swears again and kicks off her heels before taking off across the deck and down another set of stairs.
“Two!” I shout after her. “One!”
Let the chase begin.
CHAPTER FOUR