Secret Fantasy(28)
Author: Carly Phillips

“Well, for one thing, I want more of those soul-deep kisses you’re so good at.” Her lashes fluttered as she spoke, modesty rearing its endearing head.

That did it. He grasped her waist and pulled her into the pool. She yelped in surprise and toppled into his waiting arms.

“No fair,” she said, sputtering, but she wasn’t angry. She was smiling. Laughing, too. His arms remained around her waist as her feet found the bottom of the pool. She pushed down on her dress hem which insisted on floating up around her at the surface.

He chuckled. “Maybe not, but I’ve finally got you where I want you. You’re in my arms and I’ve cooled you off. Which of those things is a problem for you?”

She splashed a handful of water at him. “Neither, and you know it. It’s just your methods that are a little unorthodox.”

He splayed his hands in front of him as if fending her off and grinned. “You said yourself you wanted to experience everything. I’m just helping you along. Besides…” his voice dropped in direct proportion to his deepening feelings, “I want to be with you, too, and right now we’re all alone here.”

She looped her arms around his neck and leaned against him, bringing them together in a teasing, tempting way. His body, never relaxed when she was around, grew hard with wanting. He’d started this by dunking her, now he could live with the consequences.

“How can a girl argue with a man who’ll go to such extremes to get her in his arms?” she asked.

“She can’t.” He extended his hand, easing her back so he got a full-bodied view. Her light-green cotton dress clung in all the right places and had turned sheer enough to reveal her puckered ni**les through the wet fabric. Suddenly those soul-deep kisses she mentioned held tremendous appeal.

“Is this what you meant?” He grasped her face in his hands and feathered a light kiss across her damp lips.

She purred in response. Juliette arched her back until she felt his rigid arousal against her thigh, but his lips lingered and teased not letting her any closer. Nowhere near the heavenly kisses she knew he could give. “Not even close,” she murmured.

His laugh rumbled deep in his chest and settled heavily inside hers. “How about this?”

His tongue traced the seam of her lips with languorous strokes. A delicious fluttering arose in her stomach, accompanied by a wave of longing so strong her knees nearly buckled. As his hands threaded through her hair and tugged at her scalp, an erotic rush of sensation and emotion washed over her, then eased away. Much like the water surrounding her now, the carnal stirring beckoned to pull her deeper, yet it remained steadfastly out of her reach. A prelude to the indulgences they could share if only he weren’t torturing her with slow and seductive moves.

Since meeting Doug, the wanting and yearning inside her had built to epidemic proportions. Not only did she want to experience the full range of desire, she yearned to do it with Doug—the man who’d given her back both her confidence and belief in herself and relationships.

If she had to stoop low to get him to cave, she had no problem doing so. After all, they’d both benefit.

“Well?” His lips vibrated against hers.

No man could resist a challenge, especially one to his sexual prowess. She felt herself smile as she spoke. “You can do better.”

“You have no idea.” He grasped her around the waist and hauled her close.

He held her head steady with his hands. His tongue slipped inside her mouth and the explosive fireworks in her body began as he devoured her with a completely masterful, seductive kiss. The kind she’d sought and needed. The kind that left no doubt as to how he felt, no doubt they both desired the same thing.

He splashed his hands into the water, shifting and moving her wet dress until he held her waist in his palms, giving him easy access, enabling him to ease his long fingers upward, to tease the underside of her br**sts.

An urgent pull began between her legs, a steady pulsing that resulted in damp heat she recognized despite being surrounded by water. “Oh, my.”

He groaned in response. “Are you satisfied yet?” he asked, even as he left a damp trail with his mouth, from her lips, across her cheek until he reached her neck and nuzzled insistently.

She’d never be completely sated, not until he was joined deep inside her. “Satisfied with the kiss?” she asked. “Yes. Satisfied, satisfied? No way.” Between kisses, she sucked in a ragged breath. “How about you?”

“Satisfied means you’ve had enough and I’ll never have enough of you.” As he echoed her earlier thoughts, the rough timbre of his voice touched her soul. His words touched her heart.

In response, she reached for the waistband of his trunks and slid her fingertips deep inside, until she touched the coarse line of hair on his stomach and the smooth, wet tip of his penis.

“Aah, Juliette.”

No man had ever said her name with such passion or reverence. And she’d never needed another man as much as she needed this one. She needed him deep inside her, filling her, easing the ache and emptiness. She pressed her palm down more firmly, then cupped his rigid shaft in her hand, learning his hardness and length, his velvety softness.

Behind her, she heard a distinct rustling of bushes, a sound that brought her out of the desirous haze that had surrounded them. Her surroundings became clear, from the empty pool to the shifting of leaves, a similar sound to the one she’d heard earlier. She jerked her hand free and stepped back quickly.

Doug ducked under the water, cooling himself off, she assumed, while hiding from view. A couple passed the outskirts of the pool, hands held tightly, and neither looked Juliette and Doug’s way.

He surfaced and she braced her hands on his shoulders. “That was close,” she said.

“We were closer.”

She inclined her head. “And does that bother you?”

He ran a frustrated hand through his wet hair but didn’t answer.

“Us being intimate and your fantasy…Do they have to be mutually exclusive?” she asked.

He looked into her eyes, his deep blue gaze unwavering. “I’m not sure.”

“But I am. You said you needed to see you could put a woman’s needs before your own. You’ve done that with me. Physically, you walked away when your body would rather have stayed. Emotionally too. You’ve listened to my stories and half answers about my ex-fiancé and my family without ever pushing for more.”

He let out a harsh laugh. “It’s not like I’ve bared all to you either.”