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His gaze wanders down my body. "Let's keep up the illusion that you're not naked. For my sake."
"Okay." I give him a quick kiss. "Guess my willpower is stronger than yours."
"I'll order a gold medal for you."
He picks me up and races into the water up to his knees, then he tosses me in.
I shriek while water splashes up around me and I sink beneath the gentle waves. When I surface, I'm completely soaked. "Oh, you'll pay for that, Rick."
"Looking forward to it." He belly-flops into the water, spraying it over me. Shaking his drenched head, he grins. "Let's race to that rock over there."
He points toward a boulder that sits half-submerged maybe fifty feet from the shore.
"You're on," I say, and I start swimming.
Every time I think I've got him pegged, Richard Hunter reveals another hidden facet to his personality. The sensual lover, the sweetheart who came back for me, the businessman who fears he'll lose his company, the caring man who worries about making me sore, and now the playful Brit who wants to swim with me.
We race to the boulder, and I get there first. Hoisting myself up onto the rock, I cheer Richard on while he catches up to me. We're both breathing hard, yet I feel exhilarated.
"You cheated," he says. "Took off before I could get started."
"We can do it again, and I'll let you win this time."
"My ego isn't that fragile." He plants his hands on the rock and levers himself out of the water, holding his body in that position. "You've earned a prize. I don't have a medal for you, so I'll improvise."
He covers my mouth with his own, sliding his tongue between my lips, teasing me with light flicks until I moan and my body slackens. He glides his tongue around mine and sucks on the tip. Then he pulls away, though he's still propped up with his powerful arms, his biceps bulging from the effort.
Flashing me a sexy smile, he dives back into the water.
And I dive in too, swimming in his wake all the way back to the shore. We sprawl on the sand, half in the water, and lie there while we catch our breath. The sky stretches out above us in every direction, a blanket of unblemished blue, and the waves lap against our bodies like a thousand butterfly kisses on our skin. So what if I'm jumbling up my metaphors? This moment feels so…perfect.
I've never believed in love at first sight. Still don't. But this guy makes me consider the answer to a question I never dreamed I'd ask myself. Could I fall for a guy in two weeks?
Guess I'm about to find out.
Chapter Ten
Richard
Madeleine Solberg is the most incredible woman on earth. Hyperbole has never been a weakness of mine, but she makes me want to spout overblown statements every five seconds. When I tossed her into the water, she screamed and grinned. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. But I seem to say that a lot since I met Maddie. Everything she does is the most wonderful, everything she says is the most enchanting, and everything about her is the most alluring.
What's happening to me? I don't care. If anyone tries to explain it to me, I will seal their mouths with the strongest tape available. I don't want to hear how barmy this is, taking up with a woman I've just met and shagging her so many times that I've made her sore. I loved taking her body again and again, but no one would believe I'm capable of sleeping with a stranger, much less spending two weeks in the Caribbean without thinking about work. But that's what I want to do.
The solicitors need time to sort the lawsuit nonsense and find common ground for a settlement, which means my company will survive until I get home. After that, I don't know. What I do know is that I might have a nervous breakdown if I don't relax.
Something about Maddie inspires me to behave like a randy college boy. That's appropriate, though, isn't it? We're about to embark on a frivolous holiday, after all.
And it feels fucking fantastic.
For the rest of the day, we explore the nature preserve—and somehow, I restrain myself and do not ravage her body. I've stopped counting minutes and hours. I left my watch in my suite, and I don't look at the clock on my mobile. I kept it with me in case of emergency. Never know, a flock of parrots might assault us in a tropical version of that Hitchcock film. After a good while of strolling through the wilderness, we take a break to sit beside a stream while birds I've never seen before sing lovely songs all around us.
Before we left the resort, Maddie had exchanged her jeans and blouse for a bikini and skimpy shorts, and she tied her hair up in a ponytail. Before that, she'd swapped her ensemble from last night for the jeans. How many times will she switch her outfits today? Not that I mind. She does look beautiful in her shorts and bikini and as edible as ever. Still, I find myself admiring her face instead of her breasts and thinking about how much I love holding her in my arms rather than the things I'd love to do to her naked body. I don't know what it means, the fact I'm thinking up bad poetry about her eyes instead of seducing her. I don't care. For two weeks, I'm ordering myself to stop thinking.
That's right. No more thoughts. I'll be a brainless idiot, but at least I'll have a bloody good time.
After our leisurely exploration of the natural wonders this island has to offer, we wander back to the resort hand in hand. It feels comfortable, and somehow right. Maybe I feel this way because I'm far from home, on an island where no one knows me, with a woman who doesn't know me.
Except she does know me a little. I've told her things I haven't told anyone else.
