She’d given up on the coconut water after that first sip and ended up drinking caipirinha with me.
“Josie, stop. You’re beautiful. If you were any more beautiful, I’d have an even harder time resisting you.”
She lowered her menu, looking straight at me.
“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t notice until today,” I said.
She pointed a finger at me. “Stop this.”
“What?”
“You know what.”
She was calling me out on my flirting. I should take a step back, reevaluate. Instead, I kept pushing.
“You’re my wife. If I want to compliment you, I will.”
“And you said I’m getting more daring. You’re no better.”
“What are you going to do about it, wife?”
She licked her lips, shaking her head. “You just wait. I’ll cook up a revenge plan.”
“Here’s the thing. I don’t think you will.”
“Know me so well, do you? What do you think I want?”
“I think you want me to push and push until you have no choice but to give in.”
Josie exhaled sharply before biting her lower lip.
I wanted her to give me a sign that she wanted this too. That she had just as much trouble navigating this as I did.
When she lowered her eyes back to the menu, I had my answer. I’d asked her last night to keep me in check, to be the responsible one out of the two of us, yet I was already changing the rules.
I didn’t have a chance to keep pushing right now, because a waitress came to take our order. We started small, with appetizers and sparkling water, but before long, it became a food festival.
We spoke about the wedding and about our families.
“Ryker couldn’t believe I was the first one to get married.”
She grinned. “If I were a betting woman, I wouldn’t have bet on you either.”
“Neither would I.”
She tilted her head, studying me. “Why not?”
I frowned, taking a sip of water to buy time. I’d never given this much conscious thought.
“I don’t know. I think it’s just easier. Making that vow, trusting someone, making them happy for their entire life... that’s a lot of expectations.”
And when expectations weren’t met, everything went downhill. My parents had loved each other. I knew that for a fact, because until I was ten, I’d never heard them fight. They were always affectionate with each other.
Yet when Dad’s business went downhill, their relationship suffered. I remember the fighting, until they couldn’t even stand being in the same room.
“Hunter, that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself. Our happiness shouldn’t depend on someone else. Besides, I’ve known you for a long time. You’re a great friend. A great person. Give yourself more credit.”
“Usually you give me shit for giving myself too much credit,” I teased.
“I’m adaptable.”
“I can see that.”
“And if you feed me food that is this delicious, I tend to be nicer. Much, much nicer.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
We ordered only one dessert, but it was large enough for three people. While we ate, I mulled over her words. They made sense, but it had always been in my nature to make the people I cared about happy.
I was certain that if the person next to me was unhappy, I’d feel not only guilty, but responsible for it.
After we left the restaurant, we strolled through the complex web of narrow paths in the greenery separating the main building from the beach and the restaurant area.
“I love the resort,” Josie remarked, stopping to take a picture of an exotic plant. I wondered if she was slowing us down on purpose and if the prospect of sharing a bed had become daunting since we’d last spoken about it.
When we finally entered the suite, she said, “This day was great.”
“Thirteen more to go.”
“Can’t wait.”
Josie took off her shoes, walking barefoot to the bedroom. I followed her. She stood in front of the mirror, fumbling with the clasp of her necklace.
“Let me do that,” I said.
“Thanks. It was so much easier to put it on.”
I unclasped it in no time but couldn’t help myself and let my fingers linger on her soft skin.
“Today has been more fun than I expected. Yesterday too.” I didn’t know why I’d started talking, but now that I had, I wanted to continue. “I kissed you far more than was strictly necessary.”
“Hunter....”
“It’s true.”
Finally, I looked up, meeting her gaze in the mirror. I let my thumb glide from her shoulder down to her arm, felt her shudder. I flipped her around, bringing her flush against me.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I admitted. “Be married to you and not want more than friendship.”
Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. I went on.
“I tried, but you can see I’m not very good at it.”
She chuckled. “No, you’re not. But I’m not doing much better.”
I ran my hand down her exposed back until I reached the fabric, and then even lower, cupping her ass with both hands.
Josie tugged me lower to her the next second, and I kissed her so hard that her knees wobbled, showing her exactly how desperately I wanted her.
I groaned against her mouth. I was already hard. She felt it too, and rocked her hips gently back and forth, demanding more.
Chapter Seventeen
Hunter
I was hungry for her, and even as I desperately pushed the straps of her dress down, tugging at the fabric until it fell to her waist, and then to her feet, I knew that this hunger wasn’t the result of the last few weeks.
It had been there for years, I’d just buried it deep so our friendship wouldn’t suffer. I kissed her jaw, tracing a path to her earlobe, biting the shell a little, enjoying the little gasp she gave, the way she pressed herself against me. I tilted her head, moving my lips on the side of her neck. I didn’t want to leave one single inch of her skin unexplored. I wanted to touch and kiss her everywhere at the same time. I wanted to watch too, to drink her in. I’d seen her in the bikini today, but this was different. This was just for me.
“Hunter...,” she murmured when I twirled my tongue in the nook at the base of her neck. By the way her voice shook on that one word, I knew it was a sweet spot for her. She was already writhing in my arms, and I hadn’t even kissed below her shoulders. But I changed that, lowering my mouth over her chest to the silky strapless bra that was so thin I could feel the shape of her nipple under it.
I twirled my tongue over the fabric once before my hands desperately searched for the clasp at the back. I yanked it open, the bra fell to the floor, and I had free access to kiss and tease her until she’d beg me for more.
I led her to the king-size bed, kissing her all the way, until we reached one of the four posts. I ran my hands over her waist and thighs, wanting to memorize every curve and every shape, then I whirled her around, pushing her hair to one side, kissing the back of her neck and lower down her back, following her spine until I reached the hem of her panties.