The Sapphire Affair (Jewel #1)

Badly.

Despite all the reasons he was supposed to stay away from complications, he was having a hell of a time walking away. Maybe it was foolish, maybe it was risky, but this second, being with her felt only right.

“Incredibly well,” she whispered, running her thumb in a circle across his chest.

“Steph,” he said in a warning.

“Jake,” she said, like she was pushing back. “I thought we agreed . . .”

“We did.” He guided her hand across his chest and down to his stomach.

She inhaled sharply as she traced his stomach, her touch like a torch, setting his nerves aflame. He tried so damn hard to be practical, to be focused, to refuse to give in. He had a job. He had responsibilities. But he didn’t know if he’d last any longer holding out. “You have sand here,” he said, pointing to her ear. His voice came out like dust.

She ran her finger over it. But missed.

“No. Right there,” he said, reaching for her ear and brushing off the grains, and then catching a faint whiff of that coconut smell again. Drove him wild. He let his fingers drift into her hair. Looped them farther, cupping the back of her head. “What is it about you that I can’t resist? Your kisses are my kryptonite.”

He wrapped his hands in her hair, grasping the back of her skull as he kissed her on the beach by the lifeguard stand. Her lips were delicious, all cherry sweet from the Popsicle. As he deepened the kiss, she murmured against his lips, kissing back with all she had. It was a kiss you’d write home about or watch on a movie screen. He couldn’t even pinpoint what made it so damn good. He couldn’t deconstruct the kiss and say it was the shape of her lips, or the softness of her tongue, or the depth of the kissing.

It was something else entirely.

Something unknown. Something that drove him on. She kissed with such passion, such vulnerability, as if his kisses were the only ones she wanted, the only ones that would ever make her feel this way. She held nothing back as she melted into his arms and pressed her body to his in a full-body kiss—lips, tongue, hands, hips. Every part of her aligned with every part of him.

Even though they were fully clothed on the beach, she started rubbing against him, her crotch grinding into his erection. His body thrummed with lust. Whatever reasons he’d had not to touch her again seemed woefully unimportant compared to the rush of heat in his veins from her closeness.

“You taste so good,” he whispered hotly as he broke the kiss.

She flashed him the sexiest grin. “So do you.” She ran her fingers along his jawline, tracing his stubble and brushing her thumb across his face. Even that small touch turned him on fiercely. This was risky, but yet, his brain was urging him to roll the dice.

Or maybe it was his dick calling the shots.

He cupped her ass and tugged her closer, and soon, she was practically riding him vertically by the lifeguard stand. She moaned into his mouth, and his erection knocked against his shorts. He broke the kiss, grabbed her hand, and climbed up the lifeguard stand.

“Jake,” she whispered with a naughty grin.

“What? The view’s better up here. I can see the water perfectly,” he said as he sat down on the weatherworn white wood and held her hand as she reached the last rung. “Climb on top.”

They were far enough away from the bar that they weren’t making a spectacle of themselves, and the dark of the night shielded them the rest of the way. He tugged her on top of him, so she straddled him, her knees pressing into the wood.

“Ride me,” he said in a low voice.

She arched an eyebrow, asking an unspoken question.

No, he didn’t expect her to fuck him like this, though the image sent blood to all the right places. But he wanted her close, wanted to answer the call he felt in her body. Her need. Her desires.

“Like this?”

“Yes.”

Like high school. Like college. Like dry humping. Which could be pretty fucking awesome when you wanted a woman with this kind of intensity. She lifted her skirt and pressed against his hard-on through his shorts.

He wrapped his hands around her rear and squeezed, then pulled her closer, guiding her moves. She parted her lips, a sexy sigh escaping as she rocked against him, the full length of his erection against her wet panties. She swiveled her hips and jammed down hard on him.

“I’ve been picturing this,” he said as she rocked back and forth against his hard-on.

“Just like this? Clothes on?”