Feel the Heat: A Contemporary Romance Anthology

He straddled me and picked up a tube of lotion I'd brought, too. "I do my best work by hand."

It's usual to feel a person's body heat. But since he'd just come out of the water, I felt the coolness of the water evaporating off him. He was slick with seawater, which glistened and highlighted his sculpted muscles almost as effectively as oil.

He squirted a dab of lotion onto his hands and rubbed it between his palms. He grinned as he hefted my breasts in his hands and lifted one to his mouth as he rubbed lotion with one hand into the other.

I arched my neck and took a deep breath. He was good with his hands and his tongue. So good I was ready for him almost immediately. But he took his time lotioning my breasts, teasing me with his touch. I closed my eyes, breathing in the scent of him and tropical coconut lotion, letting him arouse me.

"You're hot," he said in a tone full of lust. His dick bumped up against my stomach and his kisses travelled up my neck.

"Is that a statement of fact? Or a compliment?" I opened my eyes in time to see him grin.

"What do you think?" He leaned down and kissed me slowly. Softly. His wet lips were cool on mine. He took my face in his hands.

I fell onto my back and ran my fingers through his damp hair, letting my heart revel and think he was mine. At least for the moment.

He covered me with his wet, cool, naked body. "You're more than hot. You're scorching," he whispered in my ear as he reached for his nearby shorts and produced a condom.

"Prepared again," I whispered in his ear, and ran my fingers through his damp hair. "It's almost like you planned this."

"Is it?" His grin was so sexy. "You give me too much credit. I'm a completely spontaneous guy. I never miss a chance to seize an opportunity. It's the secret to my success."

"Is it?" I bent my knees, dug my toes into the sand, and ran my fingernails lightly over his back. "I've never made love on an open beach." I kissed him, grazing his lips with my teeth.

"It's illegal most places. But this is a private island." He kissed my neck. "We make the rules."

I took the candy-colored condom from him.

"Tell me having sex on the beach isn't on your bucket list." He sucked my shoulder and bit it gently. His damp beard caressed my skin.

"I'm adding it right now." It was hard to think straight with him naked on top of me. I wanted him, but I wanted all of him, body and heart.

He laughed. "Are you giving me permission to cross another item off your list?"

The cool kiss of his skin on mine was simply irresistible. I rubbed the condom between my thumb and finger and gave in to temptation. "Yes." My voice was deep with desire. "But I want it on top."

He rolled off me onto his back next to me and pulled me on top of him. "Anyway you want it." He grinned. "But I think you just want me to get sand up my ass."

I laughed and slid the condom on him. "Am I that transparent?"

He just flashed that sexy grin up at me.

I slipped out of my bikini bottom and onto him, taking him by surprise with the suddenness of my move. I leaned down until we were nose to nose. "Brace yourself. I like a wild ride. I'm going to ride you hard and fast."

He arched up like a bucking bronco beneath me. "I'm ready. Give it to me, baby. Rock my world."

I laughed. Our gazes locked. He reached up and pulled my hair out of its bun. And then I rode him just like I promised I would. With all the passion I felt, holding his gaze the entire time. Daring him, just daring him to look away. Something about making love with eyes wide open was extremely intimate. We were right there with each other every minute.

My knees ground into the sand. The wind gently blew my hair. My breasts bounced. His hands scorched against my hips where he held me, pulling me onto him. The pleasure built rapidly. When I came, it broke over me as wild and raw as the waves crashing on the beach. I arched and let out a joyful cry of pleasure.

Seconds later, I felt his release and collapsed into him.

He held me close, my head on his chest, my knees on either side of him, almost in a fetal position. My long hair fell over us as I listened to that reassuring heartbeat again and swore it beat in time with mine. What was happening to me? I wasn't supposed to be falling in love.

As I lay in his arms, he wrapped the tail of the towel around us. "I don't want that lovely ass of yours to get sunburnt."

I looked up at him. We grinned at each other like we'd just done something special. Like the sex and connection was so powerful it was something very few people were capable of.

We lay wrapped together in the towel, drowsy with the release of sex, until a pair of seagulls woke us with their noisy cackling. When we got up, the towel was bunched beneath us. His shoulders and the backs of his legs were covered with sand that had dried on, as were my knees.

"Turn around," I ordered. "Let me dust you off." I took great delight in knocking the sand off. And got a little carried away, playfully dusting his butt in the process.

Evelyn Adams, Christine Bell, Rhian Cahill, Mari Carr, Margo Bond Collins, Jennifer Dawson, Cathryn Fox, Allison Gatta, Molly McLain, Cari Quinn's books