Page 35 of Pure Temptation

“Yes,” she cried. “Please, yes.”

The orgasm came fast and hard, red-hot pleasure crashing through her body in wave after wave, spurred on by Daxon’s deep, guttural moan.

“Kendall,” he bit out, his voice heavy with satisfaction, as he buried his face in her neck. Breathless gasps slowed into dreamy kisses...

A car door slammed. Daxon pulled away. “I’d love to stay here like this for the rest of the day. But I’m pretty sure we’re about to be discovered, naked, with my cock in you.” He nodded up the slope.

Right. She shifted out from under him, despite every protest from her body. She grabbed a towel out of one of the bags and wrapped it around her. When she glanced back at Daxon, he hadn’t moved. He was still lying naked on the blanket, watching her.

“You gonna do something about that?” She gestured to his half-hard, fully exposed cock. Voices traveled down the slope. Soon they’d be in sight.

“Am I making you nervous?”

Kendall threw him his shorts. “I should have known you’d have an exhibitionist streak.”

He shook his head as he leisurely put a foot into his board shorts, like he had all the time in the world. “Not particularly. But I definitely have a test-Kendall’s-limits streak.”

The convertible’s top was down, and the wind was blowing everywhere as they headed north along the winding highway on the island’s eastern coast, making conversation a challenge. But Kendall had insisted on the open-air drive, and hopefully that meant she was just making the most of the experience.

The quiet between them left Daxon with his thoughts. He had said some intense things back on the beach. Like telling her that he loved being the best at everything, especially when it came to her.I want you to come so long and hard and good that you never forget what it’s like when we’re together. This was supposed to be a fling, but the silver lining in the dark cloud of a restless week of recovery was turning into something else. Something he wasn’t in any position to think further about...unless she was willing to wait out the next six months of training and travel and guest appearances.

Yes, waiting would be shitty for both of them, but they could work that out, couldn’t they?

His ideas about the future had always been about exploring, pushing himself further. Before today, he hadn’t consciously considered a future with Kendall—with anyone—and yet the moment this thought crossed his mind, the images came, fully formed, as if they had been lurking in his brain all this time, just waiting to be acknowledged. The images weren’t all horizontal, though most of them eventually involved sex at some point. But there were others, too, like sitting on a beach with her, much like they had today, but on the banks of Lake Powell. They’d take the trailer he lived out of at climbing sites and go off on their own, just the two of them, with no one else around. And he could visit her in Hawaii, maybe buy a place here? In that scenario, Kendall was leaning back against him on an outdoor sofa...yeah, that one definitely ended horizontally.

He glanced over at her, in the passenger seat next to him, her chin propped on her hand, staring out at the ocean. Damn. Riding along the beautiful coastline, just the two of them, felt so right. The whole day did. He wanted a thousand more days just like this. But how the hell did he fit that into reality, where he was getting on the plane soon to prepare for his live free solo climb up Moonlight Buttress? Kendall had made it clear that this kind of high-consequence adventure was pretty much her worst nightmare. Which meant any talk beyond this week brought them to an impasse. What the hell was he supposed to do next?

The sun was setting as they reached the north end of the island, and Mauna Kea glowed in oranges and reds. Kendall pointed to a drive along the Kalani’s entrance, and he turned in. The string of wooden, no-frills cabins didn’t have the same high-end vibe as the one he was staying in. But they looked welcoming, at least from the outside. Lush green trees cast long shadows on the narrow road, and the little groups of cabins were mostly unlit.

Kendall pointed to a cabin tucked back from the road, closer to the beach, and he pulled up on the sandy shoulder.

“It’s dark here,” he said, looking around.

Kendall shrugged. “I didn’t leave the front porch light on. I thought we’d be back earlier.”

It looked peaceful enough, but that wasn’t a guarantee. How often did she come home alone? Had she taken self-defense courses? Did she carry Mace? The risk of attack was probably low, but the consequence was high. He frowned. His rationale about risks versus consequences sounded a lot more reasonable when it was about his free climbs. It didn’t sit nearly as well with him when applied to Kendall’s safety.

None of these safety questions were any of his business anyway. Kendall had a life here in Hawaii, and she’d go on living it just the same way she had before he’d come. The thought unsettled him, but what could he do about it? Unless he came up with a brilliant solution, in a few days, he would leave, going back to Zion to prepare for the big climb. And Kendall would go back to walking on the beach with Alana and physical therapy appointments with her clients. Her male clients. Daxon clenched his teeth.

They still had time. That’s what he should be focusing on, not all the things that wouldn’t change. Where was that live-for-the-moment wisdom he had spouted in that interview years earlier?

He climbed out of the car and followed her up the path to her cabin, his hand on the small of her back. She turned to him, silent in the darkness. The sounds of the trees and the waves whispered in the background, but all he was thinking about was Kendall. Her hair was mussed and her cheeks were pink from the sun. She looked happy. And so lovely.

“So...” She smiled a little at him. “Here we are.”

“Here we are,” Daxon whispered, smoothing the salty strands of hair out of her face.

She didn’t look away, and neither did he, just stared, letting his gaze wander down to her mouth. He thought about how red her lips were, how good it felt to spend time just kissing her, feeling her. The longer they stayed in this silent purgatory of desire, the more the intensity built inside him.

Finally, he leaned forward and kissed her, brushing his lips against hers. The hunger for her should have gone by now after a full day of touching and kissing and laughing and sex, but it hadn’t. He was ready for more, ready to lie down beside her, to take his time. He could—

“I’m tempted to ask you in, but part of me thinks it’s not a good idea.”

The words cut into his little fantasy. “Why not?”

He waited for an answer, but she didn’t speak. She just shook her head slowly, and there was a hint of sadness in her smile. He opened his mouth to protest, but the look on her face stopped him. He was supposed to be giving her the best day of her life, and that probably included listening when she said stop.

“Maybe tomorrow night instead?”