I had no real answers for why I was in such an intimate position with a man I barely knew, but it felt good, and at that moment, I really didn’t feel like I needed more reason than that. At thirty years old, divorced, and in a beautiful place as close to paradise as I’d ever been, I would damn well do what I pleased.
Rafael had never held me like this, making me feel this safe, and content, and— “Wait a minute, what are you doing?” I grumbled, disappointed at the removal of one of Avery’s arms from my waist.
Avery laughed as he tucked my hair over one shoulder. “Relax, girl. Nobody is going anywhere, I was just trying to get your hair out of my face.”
“Oh!” I pulled the simple, black ‘emergency’ ponytail holder from my wrist where I’d placed it when I changed after the wedding, and twisted my hair up into a messy bun. “Better?”
“Much.” He placed a kiss against my exposed shoulder blades, allowing his lips to linger for a few seconds. The touch of his lips sent a tingle up my spine and I froze, holding my breath. When I glanced back at him, he looked as surprised by the kiss as I was.
He took a hard swallow, then lowered his gaze. “You’re shivering… wanna go back inside?”
“Maybe in a minute.” My shivering had nothing to do with the temperature, but I didn’t complain when he began unbuttoning his shirt — he’d left the jacket to his casual linen suit in his room— and took it off to place around my shoulders. It gave me an unobstructed view of the hills and valleys of his abs, a sight I quickly turned away from. What was I really doing here with him?
My relationship with Rafael had been doomed from the start. I knew he had a reputation as a playboy, because he was constantly in the media, hopping from starlet to pop princess to socialite, but for some reason, I had naively thought it was just rumors. However, when the sex tapes kept coming, and pictures didn’t stop, I couldn’t sit around and take it. I stopped letting him touch me, and once that happened, he stopped bothering to come home. Des didn’t know that either. It was embarrassing!
Rafael swore it was who he was, he loved women too much to stick to one, but that didn’t change the fact that it made me feel unwanted, and unattractive to see him betraying our vows with other women. I would never put myself in a position to feel that again, but I hadn’t been touched in months. My desire for sexual contact had been flipped off for months, but that simple little kiss Avery planted on my shoulder blade had turned it all the way on.
He caressed my cheek, and I positioned myself so I was sideways in his lap, locking his gaze with mine as he lowered his mouth to kiss me. Our lips barely brushed at first, testing the waters, but then he pulled me closer and my lips parted. Avery’s kisses were unhurried, intoxicating kisses, designed to melt away any possible resistance with every little suck, nibble, or probe of his tongue.
With one hand buried in my hair, he used the other to cup my breast through the skimpy fabric of my dress. Avery dragged his thumb over my nipple, teasing it into a peak before his let his hand travel lower, down to my thighs, which I parted willingly when he found his way underneath my hem. He let a ragged groan when his fingers made contact with my hot, bare skin, slickened by arousal. “No panties, huh?” he breathed into my ear, then pulled my earlobe into his mouth. Before I could respond, his fingers were inside of me, massaging me into a sensual haze. I opened my legs wider, arching into him as he brought his thumb into the equation, strumming with skill and precision that made my legs quiver.
“I wish you could see how sexy you look right now,” he murmured, biting his lip as our eyes met again, his filled with a lust so raw and hungry that for a second, I did imagine how I looked, wantonly gyrating on the fingers of a man I’d just freaking met.
What the hell am I doing?
“Avery… stop.” His fingers immediately stilled, and his expression change to confusion. I pulled myself away from him, and he dropped his gaze almost guiltily to the ground.