Carter nods and then walks to me. “We need to follow this path down to the beach,” he explains as we head over to where the driver was pointing.
Sure enough, the break in the rocks is actually a thin path that leads to a beach down below that has sand in a vibrant red color.
The sun is just starting to fall below the line where the sea meets the horizon, and the sky is awash with a watercolor of pinks, purples, and oranges. We both flip off our sandals once we get to the sand, and then Carter leads me a little farther down the beach before setting down the picnic basket and pulling out a white blanket that he spreads out on the sand.
“They thought of everything, didn’t they?” I say in amazement as he pulls out two plates and silverware, chicken kabobs, lemon rice, and some flat pitas. The restaurant even included Tzatziki sauce to go with the chicken.
We both get comfortable on the blanket, not really saying anything as we dig into the delicious food. There’s no one around, so it feels like we’re in our own little world. I savor the sound of the water crashing against the beach, the wind softly caressing my face, and the fact that somehow, I got the chance to do this with the beautiful man sitting across from me.
When I’m too stuffed to eat another bite, I move my plate and lay down on the blanket, closing my eyes as I continue to savor this little moment of perfection.
How is it that in ten years, I never experienced anything close to this simple moment?
“What are you thinking about?” Carter asks. My eyes fly open, and I see that he’s watching me.
“Just wondering how a single moment in time can somehow be better than ten years’ worth of moments in time,” I admit, surprising myself with my honesty.
“I’ve been thinking about that. We’re almost thirty fucking years old, and the sum of what I want for the rest of my life can be found in this current blip in time. It sure makes you evaluate what you’ve done, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” I agree softly. I sit up and hug my knees. I hope when they look back and see my lies, they can still see the moments of truth among the lies as well.
My truth that I have never loved anything or anyone the way that I love them. My heart has died every day away from them, it’s just the cruelty of life that my body is going to die now that I’ve found them.
“Are you ready for the second part of the date?” he asks, standing up and holding out his hand for me.
Eager to escape the melancholy of the moment, I gratefully nod and take his hand. When we stand up, he lets go of me and suddenly strips off his shirt.
I look at him quizzically, and then I blush when his swim shorts quickly follow.
“What if someone sees?” I ask, glancing around with my cheeks still ablaze.
Like the other two, Carter is a god. His abdomen ripples with dips and shadows, and I want to lick each of them. A small smattering of hair frames his erection. I swallow the lump in my throat when I take a good look at it. He’s perfect everywhere.
Need rushes between my thighs, and he watches me squirm as he wickedly strokes his hard length as I take in my fill.
Carter knows what he’s working with.
“I breathe you,” he whispers to me as he slowly slides one strap of my bikini down, and then the other. I know what he means, this idea that he means so much to me that he’s the very oxygen I breathe. I’ve been with him before, memorized how his skin felt against mine. But this just seems like more. So much more.
He leaves me like that, winking before walking away bare ass naked to the water. He launches himself into it, and I’m still staring after him open-mouthed. My chest heaves from how turned on I am.
I look around once more, fully expecting a bus of tourists to suddenly appear at the top of the hill we came down earlier. When I still don’t see anyone, I take a deep breath and quickly strip. I go fast, not aiming to be seductive, but I can feel Carter’s eyes on me from the water. My clit is throbbing from his gaze, and I’m wet, so wet, and panting with anticipation.
I dart quickly to the water, where he’s waiting for me with a sexy grin. He meets me at the edge of the ocean and spins me around before walking us deeper into the water until my shoulders are submerged.
We’re skin against skin…and it’s everything.
Enfolding me closer in his arms, he worships my mouth with his, and my body heats under his touch as he caresses every whispered shadow. He captures my groan, taking it in to mix with his. I whimper as he kisses across my cheek to my ear and down my neck, nibbling at the hollow above my collarbone. My hands move, they’re everywhere—his shoulders, arms, running over the hard lines of his back. Everything he does taunts the wicked pulse between my thighs.
“Valentina,” he says, my name a prayer on his lips. His name falls from my lips in a whisper. I pull away from him so I can look at him. The sky is almost dark now, and a million stars are peeking through the dark purple tapestry behind him. I probably should be afraid that we’re going to get eaten by sharks, but here in his arms, it doesn’t feel like anything bad could ever touch me.
His hair is slicked back away from his face. The shadows from the encroaching night outline the rugged angles of his face. His eyes are black in this dim light. They’re not soulless or lifeless though like you would think. They’re like twin stones of onyx, a reflection of the endless stretch of midnight sky building around us. His eyes are mysterious and deep, holding secrets that I wish I had the time to discover.
I stroke his face. I love this man so fucking much. My lies are going to ruin our story. I know it was the wrong thing to do. I’m going to break this man’s heart. Break all their hearts.
One day at a time.
The mantra begins in my head and plays on repeat. I love him today, I want him tonight. I want him forever.
The water licks at my chin as I wrap my legs around him. My hands fist in his hair as my lips crash against his. He groans when I slide my tongue in his mouth, forcing him to respond. He breaks away, panting and hungry. Barely bound control punches off him as he reaches for my breast, a rough clench of his fingers, a soft palm to soothe, and my clit throbs a heavy, aching beat. Under the weight of his stare, it becomes more insistent, but it’s not my pleasure I’m seeking—it’s his. I need to possess him, make him mine, so whoever comes after me can’t ever erase the fact that he was once mine. That he’ll always be mine.
I palm his erection between us, rough swipes of my hand up and down. His eyes flare. “Valentina,” he growls, and it inflames me further.
He begins to walk us out of the water. I shiver in his arms when the cooler air hits my skin as inch by inch of me is exposed.
He lays me down where the sand meets the sea. I continue to fist him, and his lips curl as he takes my hair, tugging me up to his mouth for a kiss that I feel all the way to my soul. After a few minutes of feverish kisses, he moves away from me until he’s on his knees, his hard length jutting out from his perfect body.
I take him in hand at the base, and our eyes meet when I look up through my lashes. “Don’t hold back,” I whisper down his shaft. “I want to taste all of you.” Drawing my tongue from base to tip, I flick tiny sweeps of my tongue along his corded length and around the strained crown. I glance up to find storm clouds brewing in his eyes, pulling me into the raging depths of black.