Affair on the Beach

Chapter 10

His words sent tingles all the way to the pads of my feet. I wanted him, I wanted him badly. The ache between my legs agreed. Despite the blush on my cheeks, I felt the rest of the blood in my body travel south. I’d never been so aware of the place between my legs more than in that moment. I didn’t need to think twice about it. If I were to sleep with someone, I wanted it to be Xavier. He was a virtual stranger to me, but Rony knew him enough. That was all the vetting I needed to make my decision. Plus, the less I knew about him the cleaner the break. What happened in Maverick Bay would stay in Maverick Bay once I got on that bus after the Invitational.

Xavier waited for my answer expectantly.

I gave him a quick kiss and nodded once, looking up at him through my eyelashes. I hoped it was more than enough to make him understand what I needed. I was afraid that if I actually articulated my answer, I would chicken out, or worse, sound scared, which on some level I was. Who wouldn’t be nervous? Everything I knew about s*x I read from a book. This—what was about to happen between Xavier and myself—could be really good or could bomb big time, and I was already overthinking things more than I should. This was supposed to be spontaneous, dammit!

Thankfully, Xavier got my intent and took my hand, leading me down the street.

We walked in silence all the way to his house, which was at the end of the same row as Hudson’s. Xavier had a more Mediterranean style to his house—bougainvillea everywhere, antique wooden double doors for an entrance, and tiles. I wanted to explore the way he lived, but the nerves in my stomach wouldn’t let me.

He tugged me gently down a hallway and stopped in front of the door at the end. He faced me and tipped my chin up with his index finger so he could look into my eyes. We stood there like that for about ten seconds.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but …” He paused.

“But?” I urged. The word sounded more breath than actual speech to my ears.

“How drunk are you exactly?”

It took me a couple of seconds to process his question since I was staring at his lips instead of actually listening to what he was saying. I blinked then laughed, dissipating the tension that floated between us. Obviously, we were standing outside his bedroom and he wanted to make sure I was willing and not impaired in my decision to sleep with him. It was hilarious, no matter how sincere he looked. I know I shouldn’t be laughing.

“I’m sorry,” I said between giggles. “It’s just, of all the things you could have asked me, I didn’t think you’d asked how drunk I was.”

Annoyance flitted over his face. Apparently, he was more serious than I’d initially thought. I sobered immediately and shook my head.

“I’m not drunk, Xavier. After what happened with Zander on the dance floor, you saving my virtue from him, and your revelation that he used to date my best friend, I’m pretty sober.”

He regarded me sceptically.

I rolled my eyes and stepped back then I touched my nose first with my right index finger and then with my left. “Would you like me to take a breathalyser test too? Maybe recite the alphabet backwards? Walk in a straight line?”

“This isn’t a joking matter, Tamara,” he said, his eyes deathly serious.

I met him stare for stare. “I’m an adult of sound mind and body who can make my own decisions. I’m here. I’m ready. It seems to me that you’re the one who’s not sure about this. If that is the case, I’m going home because I don’t want you to stopping on me at the middle of things and leave me frustrated like the last time.”

Heat enflamed his blue eyes even in the dim light of the hallway. “Did I leave you wanting more?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

In one swift tug, I was in his arms and experiencing a kiss so devastating, the world around me disappeared. I no longer heard the crashing waves on the surf or smelled the lemon wax used on the wood panelling. The ground disappeared beneath my feet. I wrapped my arms around Xavier’s neck and surrendered myself to the touch of his tongue on mine.

He hooked one arm on my waist and crushed me to him, my breasts on his chest. He groaned at the feel of my body flushed against his, and I felt a thrill go through me. The growing bulge pressing against my hip excited me. I aroused him. He wanted me. And I found that thought so empowering. A man like Xavier Solomon wanted me.

Through the desire, I heard the door click open and then Xavier was moving back, taking me with him. My feet no longer touched the ground. He used the arm he had around my waist to lift me up. I loved that he was strong enough to heft me like I weighed like a feather. It was exhilarating, just like when we were surfing that morning.

Without breaking the kiss, Xavier turned us around and in seconds I was lying on the softest mattress I’d ever been on, my legs over the edge. It was like lying on a cloud. I moaned when he kissed his way down the column of my throat. He nipped at the base, causing me to gasp and jerk up against him.

“You’re sensitive here,” he said, licking the place where his teeth had been. “I wonder where else you’re sensitive.” The look in his eyes was absolutely roguish as it burn its way over my skin. I stared at him through hooded eyes and took a fistful of his hair, pulling him up until his gorgeous lips were on mine again. I’d read a heroine doing that and I’d always wanted to try it. Now I was in a position to experience everything I’d only read about before. The thought excited me further, culminating at the pulsing heat between my thighs.

His hand found its way inside my blouse and traversed my torso until he reached my breast. He pinched my already puckered n****e over the lace of my bra, sending an electric shock directly to my groin. I bucked against the thigh he had between my legs. Then his weight left my overheated body, causing me to open my eyes wide.

Smiling that sexy half-smile of his, he reached for the hem of his shirt and removed the garment, tossing it to the floor. I gasped as my eyes feasted on the expanse of tanned, toned skin. My mouth watered. Boldly, I sat up and touched his chest. He stared down at me, daring me with his smoldering eyes. I moved my hand down his chest to feel the ridges his abs created. I marvelled at the feel of his muscles beneath my palm, hard and supple at the same time, smooth and very, very hot, like he’d just come in from a day under the sun. But before I could reach the waistband of his pants, he took my hand in his and shook his head, kissing my palm.

As punishment for not letting me do as I pleased, I moved forward and took his n****e between my teeth and tugged just like he’d done to me on the beach the other night. He sucked in a sharp breath, his blue eyes becoming molten mercury. I licked my lips like I’d just eaten something delectable. I may be inexperienced, but I wasn’t afraid to try my book smarts on him. I wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. I wanted him too much to be afraid.

Like with what he did with his shirt, he took the hem of my blouse in his hands and tugged up. I raised my arms willingly. My blouse soon followed his on the floor. I leaned back on my hands and gave him a full view of my curves. I used my eyes to tell him “this is me, all size fourteen of me, take it or leave it.” And as if reading my thoughts, he raked his gaze over my body, the hunger in his stare untamed.

“Do you know how beautiful you are?” he asked under his breath. The kind of reverent tone someone used while in a place of worship.

I gasped, feeling my blush spread from my face down to my body. I was still in my jeans and bra, but from the way he looked at me, I might as well have been naked.

“Show me,” I said, not knowing where the courage that prompted me to challenge him came from.

Xavier dropped to his knees and took my left foot in his hands. He removed my shoe and pressed his thumbs at the center of the underside of my foot. I groaned, tilting my head back at how good the pressure felt. Then he took my other foot and did the same, eliciting another ecstasy wrapped groan from my throat.

One thing I was discovering through this process, every touch Xavier gave me, whether with his lips or his hands or his body, I felt it all the way to my groin. It was like every nerve ending in my body was hardwired there. The sensations were more than I could have imagined. The books had nothing on what I was feeling in that moment.

Xavier ran his hands up my legs until his fingers reached the button of my jeans. I held my breath, but he stopped, staring up at me.

“What do you want me to do, Tamara?” he asked in that sultry voice of his.

My flush intensified. Now who was challenging who?

“Take them off,” I said.

He unbuttoned my jeans and pealed the material off excruciatingly slow, using the tips of his fingers to caress every inch of flesh he exposed as his hands went down my legs.

Something inarticulate escaped my throat. Watching him undress me was so erotic. I wanted his body on mine now. I wanted to feel his skin on mine. His heat mingling with mine. But before I could ask him to remove his pants, he was already kissing his way up one of my legs. My breath hitched in anticipation when he reached the pulsing ache between my legs. I frowned, moaning my frustration at him when he skipped the most sensitive part of my body in favor of kissing his way down my other leg, his day’s worth of stubble scrapping deliciously against my skin.

“Patience is a virtue, Tamara,” he said to the side of my knee.

“Not when you’re feeling the way I do,” I said between my teeth.

He had the gall to chuckle at me. Mischief returning to his blue eyes. “Let me worship your body, Tamara. I’ve wanted to do this from the time I saw you on the beach wearing that tent of yours.”

I shivered so hard, I thought I was going to pass out. How could freakin’ words feel like a touch? I swear I could listen to him talk to me all day.

“Not tent,” I breathed out.

His ministrations had reduced me to monosyllabic words.

Then without my expecting it, he spread my legs and ran the tip of his nose over my cleft. I lost the last of my coherent thoughts. I collapsed on my back and closed my eyes, savouring the shocks running through my body. How much of this could I take before I exploded?

Xavier pressed his lips against my s*x and said, “I love the way you smell, Tamara. Sweeter than any perfume in the world. A scent all your own.” Then his tongue followed the same path his nose did. I bucked up to meet his touch. He hooked his thumbs over the waistband of my panties and pulled it down. Then he used his fingers to spread the folds of my s*x and kissed the pulse at its apex. My limbs melted. Then he used his tongue, flicking and twirling, teasing me. Rony was right, feeling it was better than reading about it. My back arched off the bed. I threaded my fingers through his hair to keep him where he was. Then he inserted one finger in me to the hilt and froze.

I growled. Why did he stop?

Forcing myself up to my elbows, I stared down at him. “What’s the matter,” I managed to say.

His eyes were wide with wonder. “You’re a virgin?”

“Is that a problem?” I asked back.

He considered my question. A furrow on his brow formed. I reached out and touched my finger, smoothening out the knot.

“Don’t over think it. So what if I’m a virgin?” I said, trying to keep the prick of annoyance I felt out of my voice.

“That’s not it,” he finally said.

My brows rose. “Then why are you stopping?”

One side of his mouth quirked up. “I just didn’t expect it.”

“Oh?”

“With a woman like you? I’d have thought I wouldn’t be the first.”

I didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted by what he said.

Deciding not to destroy our evening, I said, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should.” He punctuated his words by hooking the finger he had inside me.

“Yes,” I gasped, my legs quivering.

“Like that, do you?”

I caught the briefest smile on his face before he returned his teasing tongue between my thighs. My eyes rolled back into my head from the pleasure of his finger moving in and out of me. Soon, I was panting, the pleasure building in me. Then he inserted a second finger. My heart lurched to my throat, beating in time with the flicks of his tongue. He twisted his fingers in and out, pushing me further to my breaking point. My moans were louder now and my hips were bucking in welcome to his intruding fingers.

“That’s it, Tamara,” he whispered, his breath tickling my cleft, sending it to a whole new level of sensitivity. “Come for me, baby.”

As if following the command of his voice, I exploded. I cried out his name like it was the last word I was going to say before I died from the pleasure rolling over my body.

He quickly pulled out his fingers and unzipped his pants. Just before I registered what he was doing, he pushed into me. I cried out again, this time from the quick snap of pain follow by a stretching fullness. Then he moved, pulling out slowly then pushing in quickly again. The pain receded by his fourth thrust.

“Feel me, Tamara,” he said through gritted teeth. “Feel me.”

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held on. He glided his hands up my thighs to my waist, lifting my hips to meet his thrusts. He picked up his pace until I felt the pressure building in me again. His lips found mine, swallowing each moan that left my mouth every time he pushed into me.

The pleasure of his thickness filling me was dizzying. I couldn’t take much of it any longer. It felt like every muscle in my body coiled into the tightest spring. Then just when I’d reached my limit, the spring uncoiled.

Xavier gasped, his head tilting back. He thrust two more times before he lost himself inside me. Then he collapsed, his weight crushing me beneath him.

We panted together, each breath almost in time with one another. I moved my hands from his shoulders down his back, feeling his muscles beneath my palms. After catching his breath, he must have remembered he was sprawled on top of me because he supported his weight on his elbows. His gaze met mine, a boyish smile on his lips. I couldn’t resist that smile. I leaned up and kissed him. He responded to my kiss, but before the kiss turned demanding, he pulled back. I pouted up at him and he chucked, causing his chest to rub against my breasts. I bit my lower lip when the muscles in my s*x clenched. He was still in me, heavy and full, stretching my inner walls as far as they would go. He pulled out of me slowly. I winced then felt an emptiness that begged to be filled.

He took my face in his hands and said, “Did I hurt you?”

I smiled, shaking my head. “If that’s how taking someone’s virginity feels like, I want to go again.”

“That good, huh?”

His smirk said he wasn’t expecting a response, but I couldn’t help myself. “Seeing as I don’t have anything to compare it too but what I’ve read from books, I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

His gorgeous face turned solemn. “Are you saying you’ll find someone else to compare?”

I caressed his cheek, the stubble tickling my palm. “I guess I have to work on my post-coital humor. As s*x goes, I believe you rocked my world, sir.”

Xavier’s mood lightened. “And you said my name the way I wanted to hear it.”

I blushed at the memory. If he’d do what he did to me again, I wouldn’t mind saying his name as many times as he wanted.

“Are you okay?” He looked me over.

I took inventory of myself. Besides a little soreness—the good kind—I was okay.

“I’m fine,” I said when it became clear he was waiting for my answer.

“God.” I ran my fingers through his rumpled ash blond locks. “How can you look better all mussed up than you normally do?”

He rubbed the tip of his nose on mine. “You should see yourself right now. Even more delicious all soft and wanton than when we started.” He shifted out of bed and reached his hand out for me. “Come, let’s get cleaned up.”

I eagerly took his hand and winced then smiled. Yup, the good kind of sore.

He hugged me and said softly, “Thank you, Tamara.”

I pushed away from him so I could look up at his face. “For what?”

“For coming home with me tonight.” He smiled shyly, tucking a strand of hair that came loose from one of the countless bobby pins on my head behind my ear.

I batted my eyelashes at him. “I should be the one thanking you.”

“Really?”

I nodded enthusiastically. “You know how to take care of a woman, Xavier Solomon.”

“I’m at your service twenty-four seven, ma’am.” He gave me a two-fingered salute.

“Good to know. I may avail of your services again.”

He rolled his eyes heavenward. “So it starts. I knew you were just using me for my delectable body.”

I caressed his abs. “And what a truly delectable body it is.”

His expression sobered for a moment. “And you don’t have to worry,” he said.

My brows arched. “About what?”

For the first time since I’d known him, Xavier blushed, scratching his cheek thoughtfully. “I…huh…I’m only fertile during the full moon.”

I tilted my head quizzically at him, trying to understand what he’d meant.

Seeing the question on my face, he explained further. “Mermen are only fertile during the full moon.”

My lips formed an O. Then I patted his chest and said, “Good to know. But then again, I’m on the pill anyway.”

“But you’re a virgin.”

“Men.” I shook my head. “Merman or human, you’re all the same.”

He frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“The pill is to regulate my cycle,” I said plainly.

It was his lips’ turn to form an O. “I see. That explains a lot.”

I nodded slowly.

Then he frowned again. “But you should have asked for a condom. Didn’t you learn anything from s*x Ed?”

“Are you saying you have an STD I should worry about?” I teased.

He looked shocked then insulted. “We don’t get STDs.”

I kissed his chest. “Then why bring it up?” I loved the feel of standing and being in his arms. It was a warm cocoon that kept me safe from the worries of the outside world. I had to remind myself to be careful. It was easy to get used to this place in his arms.

“It’s called being responsible, Tamara.”

His words brought me back to the present. “Are we going to stand here all night so you can give me a s*x Ed lecture or are you going to make good on your promise of us getting clean?” I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

He groaned, bending down to bestow the slowest, hottest kiss of the night. I melted in his arms. Then, just when I was getting into the kiss, he carried me over his shoulder. I gasped and burst into another fit of giggles. He smacked my behind and began walking toward what I assumed was the direction of his bathroom.

His footsteps echoed once they hit tiled floor. Seconds later, I heard water splashing. He put me down and I found myself standing waist deep in clear, warm water. I moaned in delight, my muscles relaxing completely. Xavier eased me to a seat at the side of the indoor pool that looked more like a small lagoon than a pool.

“What is this place?” I mumbled, too relaxed to sound coherent. I rested my head over the side of the pool. I glanced at Xavier in his full merman glory, his golden-blue scales catching the glow that seemed to emanate from the bottom of the pool. I inhaled, reaching out to touch him. “I love seeing your scales. They’re so beautiful.”

Xavier caught my hand and placed it at the center of his scaled-chest. His steady heartbeat helped calm me further.

“This is the place I go to recuperate,” he said. “These waters are very healing.”

I tested my sore muscles by clenching them, and sure enough, they no longer protested. I didn’t know whether I liked the soreness to be gone. It was the evidence that I’d given myself to this man standing before me wearing his scales.

He sat beside me and proceeded to remove all the bobby pins holding my hair up. Once all my hair was freed, he massaged my scalp, eliciting my thousandth groan of the night.

“Like that?” he asked.

I heard his humor more than saw it since my eyes closed the moment he started kneading my scalp. “Don’t stop,” I begged.

“I like the color of your hair. I’d never seen this dark a brown before.”

I felt my lips pout. “I think the color is dull.”

He kissed my pout away. “No. It’s such a rich brown. It has a shine to it that I’m sure most women envy.”

Instead of arguing with him, I continued to relish his ministrations.

“Can I wash your hair?”

“Right now, you can do anything to me that you want,” I mumbled, half-asleep already.

One of his hands left my head, presumably to reach for something. I was too relaxed to open my eyes and check. In seconds, something cool dripped on top of my head and Xavier began to lather. Oh, his hands felt so good. I was completely lost to the massaging talents of his fingers.

“Don’t fall asleep on me,” he whispered, kissing the base of my ear.

I opened one eyelid halfway to peek at him. “Good luck with that.”

He chuckled, pouring water on my head using a pitcher I hadn’t noticed until then. I lowered my eyelid again, savoring the warmth of the water cascading down my head. Finishing with my hair, Xavier reached behind my back and unhooked my bra. My eyes flew open. I’d forgotten that I still had it on. He removed the last piece of my clothing and he flicked it over his shoulder. It landed a few yards behind him and proceeded to float away. Then he used those talented hands to knead my breasts and pull at my n*****s.

“Do I have your attention?” he asked slyly.

I nodded once, fully awake now.