“Good girl.” He skimmed his hands over the sides of her breasts.
His touch was light, but the water amplified everything, the wake of his fingers following with its own caress. Cupping her breasts, he ran his thumbs over the tight peaks of her nipples and her breath went out in a rush. Watching her, gauging her response the way he always did when he pushed her, he pinched. Hard. Her head fell back and she arched her back, offering herself to him. It had been a long time since he used his hands to demand her body’s response, and she’d missed it.
“That’s it,” he said, tugging and rolling her aching nipples between his fingers. “You are so fucking gorgeous. When I get you home and get my mouth on you, I’m going to keep you pinned to the bed until I make you come with just my lips wrapped around your nipples.”
The breath caught in her throat at his words. He knew exactly how to talk to her to take her closer and closer to the edge. Keeping one hand on her breast, his thumb stroking back and forth over her pebbled flesh, he slid the other hand between them again and back into her swimsuit. His fingertips skimmed over her clit and then he was inside her again, curling his fingers and moving inside her body with a rhythm that drew her climax relentlessly closer. He pressed his palm to her sex, grinding against her the way she needed him to, and her orgasm wound tighter, finally crashing over her in waves of pleasure.
Her body tightened and pulsed around his fingers. Covering her mouth with his, he caught the sounds of her climax while he held her in place, drawing out every last bit of her orgasm.
“I love you,” she murmured against his lips when she could breathe again.
“I love you, too,” he said. “More than I even knew was possible.” He tucked her body into his, pressing her still sensitive breasts to his chest and kissing the top of her head.
There had been a time not so long ago when he couldn’t say the words. Now every time he spoke them, it was as if he was giving her his most precious gift and one only she could hold.
“I love you, too, Claire.”
Five
LUKE WOKE UP ALONE IN bed. After their afternoon on the water, they’d come home and made love for hours. Claire had been beautiful and so responsive, giving herself to him effortlessly. When they’d finally collapsed, exhausted and sated, they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms, curled around each other the way they had from the very beginning of their relationship. So where the hell was she?
He listened for the sound of running water or noises from the kitchen. When he heard neither, he threw back the covers and climbed reluctantly out of the bed that still smelled like Claire and sex. He was supposed to be waking up inside her, not alone. Grumbling to himself, he pulled on jeans and a T-shirt and went searching for his wife.
He didn’t find her in the house and a thin thread of worry started to creep in. Standing on the balcony, he searched the stretch of beach below them. He was just about to give up when he saw her sitting on the rocks. It was too far for him to see her face, but by the way she was curled in on herself, he was afraid she’d been crying.
Shoving his feet into shoes, he grabbed his windbreaker—more for her than for him—and set off for the beach. The previous day had been perfect. He’d loved walking through the building with her and seeing it through her eyes. He trusted her vision. Assuming they finalized the deal, he’d get the architects to design it, but he’d give them Claire’s input. Starting with the Triad building where they first met, everything she’d helped him with had turned out better than he’d planned. He wouldn’t add pressure to what she was obviously still feeling, but in addition to English Electric handling the electrical contract, he wanted her to be as involved with his projects as she wanted.
Seeing the look in her eyes as she walked through the building, he’d assumed they were on the same page. And then she spent all that time talking to the agent. He’d stepped back to give them their space, but it had seemed, at least from the outside, that talking to the other woman helped his wife. They’d spent the rest of the day eating, soaking up the sun and making love. What the fuck had happened between last night and this morning?