Page 154 of Strange Seduction
“Aw. I’m sorry,Amore mio.”
“It’s not funny! My hair is already curling up,” she pouted.
I pulled her closer. “Add it to my reimbursement tab.”
She looked down at the water as I held her, terrified. “Is there sharks in here?”
“No, baby. Sharks are saltwater fish, and this is freshwater.”
That did not calm her. “What about piranhas? Jellyfish? Crocodiles? Stingrays? You know Black people don’t fuck with stingray since Steve Ir—”
I cut her off with a kiss. It was light at first, but deepened as her body relaxed. When drenched in cool water, she was still warm against me, still soft.
“Sweetness,” I said against her lips. “Nothing in here is gonna hurt you. I swear. Nothing will ever hurt you when you’re with me.”
?????
Later that evening, after spending hours just playing around in the lake before finally having a very late lunch, we settled back into our room on the yacht.
The bedroom doors stood open, letting in the golden spill of sunset over the lake. Carmen stood on the balcony, arms resting lightly on the railing, her silhouette bathed in orange and rose-gold light.
“It’s so beautiful,” she said softly, not turning around.
“It is,” I murmured, coming up behind her and resting my hands on her hips. “It brings a calm to me that only you do.”
I pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder, then another just beneath her ear. She leaned back slightly into me.
“You know this doesn’t excuse everything that happened, right?” Her voice was steady, but her breath hitched.
“I know.”
“And I love that you did this,” she continued, “but you can’t just pull out all the stops whenever I’m upset and expect it to fix things.”
I slid the straps of her dress down her arms, the silk slipping past her skin like water. She didn’t stop me.
“I know that too, baby.”
“And also, you—” She started to say something else, but I turned her gently toward me, brushing her hair behind her shoulder, eyes locked on hers.
“Carmen,” I said, my voice low, rough, “I love you. So fucking much. But please. Shut up and let me taste you. I’ve been waiting for this all day.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but I was already lifting her into my arms.
“You—you can’t just tell me to shut up,” she gasped.
I grinned.
“Shut up,” I repeated, landing a quick smack to her ass. She yelped, startled, as I carried her inside and tossed her gently onto the bed.
My fingers traced the ink of the tattoo I gave her softly.
Mine.
She was marked with my initials.
She obeys me.
“Open your legs.”
