Chapter 61

We are entwined in seconds because he doesn’t hesitate. Our tongues are most certainly finding
pleasure at meeting once again as he slides his hands into my hair and around my throat, softly holding
me still. I’m rejoicing in the feel of his muscular body on top of mine, a little wave of smug pride and
deep desire. It’s right in every kind of way; male hardness and soft feminine curves entangling.

This is good, too good, and the fact he’s just as into this as I am, has me ravenous, losing any
inhibitions. Panting as my heart pounds from my chest, lost in the perfection of it.

I should really listen to him more when he says let go.

His fingers find mine and he presses them against the mattress beside my head, pulling away to catch
his breath momentarily, his eyes dark with dilated pupils, so close.

Don’t stop please, don’t stop.

He regards me for a millisecond, his face in shadow so I can’t read his expression clearly, pondering
what we’re doing, then drops to kiss me intensely. Breathing hard and fast, this could go one of two
ways. Right now, that giddy head is throwing the sensible option off the boat.

I don’t care about the consequences; I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life. Doubts
gone, mind fuzzy with alcohol, for once just following instinct and ignoring my brain. He pulls away,
changes angle, and kisses me again, this time, sucking my bottom lip passionately. I almost lose all
control right then. His hands back around my face, he’s putting all effort into seducing me, and
caressing my tongue with a fire that could wipe out cities.

Jake knows how to kiss; he does it like a guy who has learned the art of making a woman pliable under
his skilled attentions. I am no different; body and soul screaming for more, heightened and buzzing with
longing. He tastes like alcohol and tropical juice, mouth soft yet agonizingly sensual. I can’t help but
tremble with every movement he’s making. Every slight tensing of his muscles, and lines of his body



against mine, is beyond sensual. My hands exploring his upper torso, those hard, taut muscles, turning
me on.

I’m probably the most inexperienced girl he’s ever had under him, but he makes me crave him. His
mouth on mine drowns out every good thing I’ve ever known as a pale second. His taste, his caress,
his smell; it’s intoxicating, the best kind of drug. He’s making love to my mouth, pulling me further into
erotica, my body aching for more while I’m clinging to him and trying to pull him further into me.

He responds with equal fervor; his hands move to skim the side of my breast and I softly moan in
pleasure. Holding his weight up so he can shift against me, bringing his groin to my pelvis and parting
my legs, never breaking contact with his mouth. His body is all over me in the most satisfying way. I’m
almost on fire with the longing in every cell of my being; I’m so ready to let him take me that I am
almost rubbing up against his crotch. We just fit so perfectly, everything coming together easily and in
unison.

There’s a mass bang in the hall behind us that sends a startling shockwave through the room. Pulling
our mouths apart as fright hits me in the chest and he seems to instinctively shield me slightly. He jerks
up to look to where we left the door wide open. There’s lots of hysterical screaming in the distance as
the door fills with the dark looming figure of a man and Jake turns his head to him.

“What the f—?” Jake’s shocked, yet angry, maybe like me he’s not so happy about the interruption
when what we were doing was mind blowing. He’s still on top of me, braced on his arms, our bodies
still entangled, and I lay here panting, clinging to him, my body buzzing with pulsing heat.

“Jake? Jake?” The voice at the door sounds hysterical. I think it’s one of the twins.

“What is it?” He snaps.

“It’s Daniel … He fell off the boat … We can’t find him.”



***

I’m grasping the rail with white knuckles and leaning over, scanning the dark sea frantically. The ship’s
crew are out on small boats searching the water and Jake’s already dove in and swam back twice. I’m
hysterical about the fact he’s this drunk and yet swimming to find his friend in an almost pitch-black
ocean. Watching the water with fear gripping my throat, holding my breath with every dive he takes and
willing them to find him so Jake will get out of the water. I’ve never been so terrified in my life that I can
barely move.

“He’s here, Mr. Carrero.” Yells one of the crew from the lifeboat; I spin to them, flashlights illuminating
the hauling of a lifeless body into it under the moonlight.

Oh my god.

* * *

I’m sitting in my room and I’m tired and cold, I haven’t slept. Last night was hell, Daniel was airlifted to a
hospital on the mainland, he’s okay but it gave all of us a huge scare and the atmosphere left behind is
silent and tense.

Jake has been gone most of the night and I’m left reeling from what happened, churning it over and
over.

Daniel being given CPR by Jake, then his coughing up tons of water and coming around. The drama at
thinking Jake was going to drown every time he dove under; all I could think was how drunk he was.
How terrified I was of losing him, counting the seconds until I would see him surface again, and the
terror whenever he went back down.

The craziness when he left in a flurry of paramedics, and helicopter turbulence hovering over the yacht;
I barely got to say two words to him, or even check how he was, and it was agony.



Finally, what we were doing when Vincent raised the alarm that Hunter was in the water. What Jake
and I had been doing! Where that had been leading, and just how far down that road to having sex with
him I had been. I can’t bear thinking about it. How stupid I was.

I’m sobering up, and it’s hard to digest how close I came to ruining all of this.

How could I contemplate even doing it?

I need to get off this boat and put some distance between us. I need to claw some perspective back
and sort my head out. This is getting ridiculous, my inability to separate my hormones from rational
thought when he is in proximity. I did this! I’m the one who made a move and kissed him when we were
both clearly drunk, but I’m the one who initiated it. Hunter maybe did a dumb thing and almost got
himself killed, but he inadvertently stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life. Jake doesn’t
look at sex as any big deal, but I do. I’ve only slept with two people in my life and that was years ago
when I was pushed into it.

He would have been able to brush it off to a drunken night, but would I?

I have a feeling that would have killed me more than being fired.

What’s wrong with me?

I get up and head to the boat deck in a bid to stop torturing myself. In the early morning sun, it’s warm
but not overly so, and I’m still wearing last night’s dress. I like the fact it still smells of him, soothing me
and right now I need it while I miss him so much. I can’t stop obsessing over him, how he is, when he’s
coming back. This is exactly why I need to get my head together, this kind of stupid thinking. I’m
seriously losing it over my boss. It was that inability to touch him, stop him, and check he was okay that
has left me pacing and restless.



I lay down on the double sun lounger on deck, sinking into the softness of the cushioned mattress; the
sun has warmed it enough to give me some much-needed heat. I’m beyond exhausted, fatigue
washing over me while leaving me detached and cast adrift.

Why haven’t I slept?

I know why. Jake left with Daniel, wet with ruffled hair, in sweats and a T-shirt, a towel around his
shoulders. He looked — primal. Devastated. I never really understood the bond between him and
Daniel Hunter, but it exists. They’re like oil and vinegar, yet they really are best friends. I guess, in his
past, he was more like Hunter than I want to admit but I’m glad Jake is nothing like him now.

I doze, finally, warmed by the rising sun, listening to the noise of a boat returning across the soft
lapping waves and it pushes me glance up. Startling me from the first stages of slumber as my heart
rate elevates.

Is it? Oh my god, it’s them … He’s coming back.

My heart lurches painfully and I’m suddenly shy and afraid, despite my longing to see him back and
safe.

We kissed last night. I mean properly kissed, a two-way, no objections, and taking it further than just a
moment of madness, kind of kiss. A real make-out session.


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