Page 10 of Six Nights in Paradise

“I ran out to the little cafe we passed on the way in and grabbed some pastries.” I hadn’t realized I’d been holed up in the bathroom that long. I lost track of time standing in the shower, letting the hot water pour over me in an attempt to loosen my tightly wound muscles.

He placed several chunks of fruit on two plates and added a danish to each. We sat on the covered patio facing the ocean and ate our breakfast in silence. Maybe now that I knew without a doubt where I stood with him, firmly in the friendzone, I could stop feeling so tense around him. I just had to keep telling myself that.

Dalton

I am an idiot.

Why did I think I could share a bed with Taylor andnothave my hands all over her? Her body felt fucking amazing. Her skin was smooth as silk and smelled like vanilla. Her breasts were full and heavy, her body responsive and needy when I touched her. I haven’t seen her nipples, but I could tell how perfect they were just from feeling them.

“Fuck,” I grumbled to myself as I leaned my head against the shower wall, the hot water stinging the already tender skin on my back. I didn’t know if I could share that bed with her again. We had five nights left. Five more nights of painful restraint and torture. What would happen tomorrow morning? Would I slide my hands down instead of up next time? Would my fingers slip inside her panties and find her wet and ready? Shit, I had to stop thinking about her like that. She was going to catch me with a hard-on I wouldn’t be able to explain away. Next time, I wouldn’t be able to lie and make her believe I was dreaming about someone else.

Taylor was already in the ocean when I returned to the bedroom. She was wading around, skimming her hands over the water, with her face tilted toward the sun. I took a moment to just watch her. She looked so serene, her honeyed hair hanging down her back and dipping into the water. She wore a coral bikini this time, the bright color accentuating her deepening tan. I knew from years of experience that her freckles would become more prominent the more bronzed her skin became. I wanted to join her, but I already had a slight sunburn and didn’t have any sunblock. I turned to head for the kitchen and caught sight of a tall, bright yellow can. Taylor had left her spray-on sunscreen sitting on her nightstand. I figured it was still pretty early in the day and since the sun hadn’t reached its peak, I could go out this morning as long as I liberally coated myself with the white mist. Just for good measure, I threw on a light-colored tee shirt to give my back and shoulders extra protection.

Sunscreen in hand, I gathered up a couple beach towels and headed out the sliding doors. It took Taylor several minutes to realize I had joined her, but she immediately got out of the water when she saw me.

“Hey,” she greeted breathlessly, wringing the saltwater from her hair.

“Hey. Did you need this?” I held up her sunscreen and she shook her head.

“I put some on already. I should be good for a little while longer. How’s your back?”

“Still a little pink,” I admitted. “I’m not going to stay out here long, and I’ll keep my shirt on while I’m in the sun.” Her lips pulled into a pout, aggrieved at my refusal to bare my torso, and I grinned. That shouldn’t have made me so happy.

“Okay.” She plopped down into the beach lounger. “I’m just going to read my book for a bit while I soak up some sun.”

I settled into the chair next to her, taking in the scenery as I tried to relax. This place was beautiful. Crystal blue waters, lush palm trees, stuccoed villas with roofs that mimicked the tops of straw huts. It was stunning. I tried my best to look at everything but Taylor. As gorgeous as our surroundings were, none of it could hold a candle to her.

It wasn’t long before the heat started to become unbearable, so I stood and walked to the water. I spent several minutes in the shallows, enjoying the coolness of the waves lapping around my hips before saying “screw it” and submerging my whole body. I came back up and rubbed my hands over my face and scalp before shaking the excess water from my hair. The dip was refreshing and the wet material clinging to my body helped cool me down. I looked up as my feet hit the dry sand and my step nearly faltered. Taylor was staring at me with her lips slightly parted and one hand pressed lightly against her chest, just under her throat. She looked at me like I was a tall glass of water and she was a woman dying of thirst.

She quickly shook herself from her reverie and picked her book back up. Her cheeks were red, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the temperature or from embarrassment. “You look hot.”

Her head snapped up. “What?” she gasped, and I almost felt bad for the double meaning.

“Your face is red. You should get back in the water and cool down,” I instructed.

“Oh,” she replied, tucking a damp strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, I probably should.” She wedged her bookmark between the pages she’d been pretending to read and left the paperback in her seat. I stayed until she’d had enough of the water and returned, her face back to its normal shade.

“It’s starting to get really hot. I’m going to head back in for now.”

“Okay.”

I went inside, changed out of my wet clothes, and hung them in the bathroom to dry. Settling in with my laptop, I was determined to get a little work done while I was cooped up inside.

Fifteen minutes later, I was knee-deep in my response to a colleague’s email when movement from outside the window caught my eye. I lifted my gaze. Taylor stood and adjusted her beach chair so it was nearly flat. Hesitantly, she glanced from side to side and I sat up a little straighter. What was she looking for? There was no one around. She was alone on our little private section of beach.When she reached behind her back and started to pull the strings to her bikini top, I realized what she was about to do. She was going to sunbathe topless.

Holy shit.

The strings gave way easily and she moved to the ties behind her neck. I cursed, sat my laptop aside, and walked to the door, prepared to stop her. But what would I say? She’d be bare by the time I got to her. I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but those luscious breasts, the rosy tips pulling into tight peaks from the breeze off the ocean.

I couldn’t just walk out there and demand she cover up, could I? It wasn’t my place, but I knew Aiden would want me to do something. He’d want me to protect her and keep her in line. Then again, she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions. No one had the right to tell her what to do. So I waited, wavering between inaction and instinct.

Her top dropped to the seat I’d recently vacated and she settled back into hers. Her head was raised just enough that I couldn’t see anything, and I felt like a fucking creep for trying to. I turned away, unwilling to be the type of guy who peeped at a half-naked girl without her knowledge. Returning to my abandoned computer, I attempted to focus on my work, my eyes frequently searching her out, ensuring she was still there. God help me if she ventured off somewhere. I would have to go after her then.

Several minutes later, I looked up to find a small group of guys, three college aged punks, walking toward her on the beach. They were looking at her, elbowing each other and smiling, their greedy eyes roaming lustily over her form, and I sprang into action. Before I could make it to the door, she must’ve noticed them too, because she sat up and grabbed her beach towel, haphazardly spreading it across her chest in her haste.

No one heard me open the door over the sound of the waves, and they didn’t notice me as I approached. I came within earshot just in time to hear one of them taunt, “Come on, girl, show us what you got. You can’t pretend to be shy now that you’ve gone topless.”

“I didn’t think anybody else was out here.”

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