Page 65 of The Best Wrong Move

I lean back and drain my glass, then set it down thoughtfully, enjoying what I’m seeing already.

I laugh. “Don’t tempt me with a good time. I’m perfectly content with my current view.” I let my eyes wash down his body, suddenly hungry for dessert.

“This isn’t a temptation, as much as it’s a promise.”

Then he takes off, sprinting toward the crashing waves in the distance.

* * *

“I’ve never been skinny-dipping.” I’m standing breathless at the water’s edge. The sand beneath my bare feet still feels warm from a day spent baking in the sun.

I have yet to pull my kaftan off, still fairly unconvinced that we’re actually going into that dark water.

“How is that possible?”

“No one is exactly stripping down to jump in the Hudson River these days.” I giggle nervously. “At least no one that I know.”

He’s standing just inches away, looking down at me with a stark white grin, all the whiter in the near darkness of the moonlight. Heat from his body pushes through the thin fabric I’m still wearing, making my entire body pulse harder, screaming at me to get in the water if it means having another go with him. I wish he’d sling me over his shoulder and dive under the waves with me, just to get it all over with.

He bends down to kiss me, gently at first, then hungry for more.

Adrenaline courses through my veins. I’m unable to ignore the fresh wave of desire rushing through me, filling me to my core.

“You ready?” he whispers.

I pull the kaftan over my head in one swooshing motion, just as Dom tosses his board shorts aside.

Chapter 41

He spins around toward the water’s edge, letting out a whoop, before running away from me in a flash.

My feet stay planted as time instantly stands still.

Remember every detail, I tell myself, knowing this moment will be a favorite to look back on long after it’s done. A memory I never knew I needed to have until it’s unfolding right here in front of me.

Watching the hardened muscles in each of his legs lengthen as he runs, propelling his lithe body toward a horizon of glistening waves. His tight ass disappearing into the dark. Thousands of miles away from anything that makes sense, from anything I ever thought I wanted.How did I get here?Running naked into the sea, with this unbelievably sexy, complicated man, under a moonlit sky.

Knowing simply, and with all my heart, that there is nowhere else in the world that I’d rather be. And no one else I’d rather be with.

When he dives head first into an oncoming wave, I take off next. Sprinting down the sand in his wake, my footprints smaller than his. The humidity in the air dampens my skin, making each nipple tighten up toward the stars as my breasts move freely while I run. Sand sinking beneath my feet with every step, arms pumping at my sides. I shriek into the midnight sky, the wildness in my own voice catching me by surprise.

Dom surfaces from under the water before I can make it past the blanket of waves. Spinning around, instantly taking me in. I catch his eyes grazing beneath my belly button, then shoot upward toward my breasts, before finally grinning, eyes locked into mine. Falling backward — like he can’t stand another second — into another oncoming wave.

I dive in head first just like I watched him do a moment ago, quieting the butterflies that quickly storm my stomach when the water shocks my skin. It’s all I can focus on. I gasp at the surface and shoot out of the wake, both feet sinking into the waterlogged sand beneath me.

Hopping back and forth, feeling weightless in the sea, I draw my knees up to warm my body, suspending my limbs beneath me in the salty water. Then I tilt, floating up on my back, and push my belly button up toward the sky filled with diamonds. Just like I was taught to do as a little girl. Filling my lungs with air, I close my eyes before letting them adjust to the familiar sting of the ocean. I don’t even care that I’m exposed, floating above the surface under such a perfectly beautiful sky. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters across the world, this far from home. Splaying my arms out to each side, like a starfish unfurling, I’m home. Untethered and free.

The gurgle of gentle waves rolls beneath me, tickling my ears on the surface of the water. It washes out the air, the sound. Just the muffled sea, and me.

“My God, you’re beautiful,” Dom says gently, over the sound of the ocean filling my ears.

I hadn’t noticed him come closer, but now I peek over at him with just one eye, watching him take me in. Feeling bold, and sexy. Uncharacteristically unmoored.

Dom makes me feel like few people ever have.

Like being beside him is the greatest adrenaline rush in the calmest moment.

It’s too soon, and maybe foolish to say, but I already can’t imagine another soul giving me that combination as long as I live. Safe yet unhinged, perfectly cradled, yet falling desperately into something new and exciting.

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