Page 22 of Their Last Resort

I was the one who’d suggested skinny-dipping, and now I was being left in the dust. I had no choice but to follow him or keep standing near the shore mostly naked, looking like an idiot.

I’m a strong swimmer, but I still couldn’t keep up with Cole. He sliced through the water like he trained in this ocean twice a day, every day. He made it out to an underwater sandbar and then stood up and turned around to watch me, swiping his wet hair back off his face like he was being filmed for an Armani ad. I couldn’t get distracted, though. The waves were picking up out here, and my lungs were starting to burn. The sandbar was farther than it seemed.

I was almost there when he leaned down and hauled me up so I stood in waist-deep water.

“I was going to make it just fine,” I huffed. In reality, I was glad for the rescue. I could barely catch my breath.

His hands were still on my arms, hotter than a thousand degrees, when he shrugged. “I thought I saw a shark coming for you.”

“Cole.”

I shoved him playfully, not falling for it. I’m not scared of creatures that lurk in the deep. I know what lives in these waters: tuna, reef sharks, barracuda, boned fish, stingrays. They sound scary, but they just want to be left alone.

But just then, IswearI felt something slither against the bottom of my right calf, and I let out a bloodcurdling scream before jumping toward Cole.

He laughed as he caught me in his arms, steadying us so we didn’t go tumbling back into the water. His grip tightened on my biceps reassuringly. “It’s nothing. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have teased you.”

“Apologizing?That’s a first.”

I laughed and went to pull back, to stand on my own two feet, but Cole didn’t let me. Those hands grasped my arms like I would be in mortal peril if he were to let go.

Did he know what he was doing?

Had he forgotten who he was holding?

Me, of all people?

Slowly, I cocked my head back just enough to look up at him, and when our gazes locked, slow recognition set in, forming like a hot, heavy need in the pit of my belly. We were skin to skin, pressed together as tightly as two lovers. His chest expanded with each heavy breath, pushing against mine like a dare to come a little closer. I couldn’t if I tried. We were already too close. A dangerous tangle of limbs.

I swallowed, and my gaze lowered to his lips, to that little salty tear resting on the edge of his mouth. I wanted to lick it away.

I shifted, turning my body only slightly, but enough that we were aligned now, chest to chest. More importantly,hip to hip. I felt him hardening, but I pretended not to, pretended this was all innocent fun, a PG exploration of each other’s bodies. My hands slid higher over his pectorals, closer to his broad shoulders. It was exhilarating when it should have been terrifying. Relinquishing my arms, he grabbed around my waist, tightening his grip in fierce possession as a fissure of awareness spread like wildfire through my body.

We were equally to blame from that moment forward. Neither of us was stepping back, regaining sense. As my hand wrapped around the side of his neck, my thumb brushing against his pulse point, one of his hands traveled up along the side of my chest, toying with the frilly edge of my bra. We were falling into madness together.

It felt like we were circling an inevitable end, around and around and around. I grew impatient in those distended seconds, like the thing I wanted most was being dangled just over my head, out of reach.

Give it to me.

My fingers dug into his shoulder, and then, all at once, as though I had been given no warning at all, Cole bent down to kiss me. The sensation was too heady to grasp all at once, like suddenly everything burst to life inside me. Black and white swallowed by blinding color. I kissed him back with a frenzy I didn’t recognize. I lifted up onto my toes as he pulled me into him. The moan that slipped past my lips sounded wanton and seductive, and I barely recognized this version of myself, this woman practically crawling up Cole like he was a palm tree. He must have sensed what I wanted—me, you, climb, yes—because he wasted no time hauling me up and winding my legs around his waist. Our bodies met just below the surface of the water. His rigid abs teased the inside of my thighs as we broke apart for no more than a millisecond, realigned our mouths, and started kissing again. This time, with tongues. Oh hell. I was lost. His hands were in my hair, tangled in the wet strands, as our lips pressed together harder, demanding more. It felt like a fever consuming me until I felt sick with need,crazedwith it.

I was shredding his skin, tearing at him like there was something he still wasn’t giving me.

I felt a spreading warmth, a hot jolt of desire when his hands left my hair so they could wrap around my upper thighs. He repositioned me around his hips, and I felt him—hard as steel—as he rubbed against me. All that delicious pressure still wasn’t enough. I wanted more. I tried rolling my hips, chasing that feeling with everything I had, as his mouth slanted over mine, and we kissed like thegovernment was about to decree that kissing was banned for life.These two mouths shall never touch again.

He was so fucking passionate.

I didnotpeg him to be like that. Cole is always so restrained, working his tidy little desk job, quiet and severe. But this version of Cole? This version was peeling me apart. Mr. Suit and Tie with his rough hands and sexy mouth. My bra strap slipped down my shoulder, and Cole helped it along, covering my wet skin with his warm palm, taking the weight of my breast in his hand like he owned it. My eyes pinched tight, and I leaned my head back, feeling the arousal thrumming between my legs. His thumb rolled over the tip of my breast, toying with me, and my legs clenched around him. He released a visceral groan, and then—like he couldn’t hold off for one more second—he bent to take my breast in his mouth. His tongue lapped over me, and I gasped, losing control when he began to slowlysuck.

Panic seized me so swiftly that I didn’t think. I broke away and pushed him,hard. I scrambled back and caught myself, adjusting my bra strap, regaining my footing so I didn’t fall back in the dark water.

We stood across from each other on the sandbar as the ocean waves lapped against us. We were breathing like we’d just held our breath underwater past the point of pain, gasping with desperation. My breath hitched as it mixed with a repressed sob. I shook my head, staring at him.

His eyes were still full of arousal, but it was dimming by the second, shifting,dying.

What did we just do?!I screamed in my head.

WHAT DID WE JUST DO?!

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