Page 59 of Try Me

Not Much of a Punishment

Declan

Pearl slidher hands down Declan’s chest, exploring. Her fingers trailed over every ridge and dip of his abdomen. She smiled up at him, and Declan felt his world tilt. When Pearl smiled, it wasn’t only with her mouth. Her entire face lit up. Her eyes sparkled. A pink blush spread over her golden tan. A dimple in her cheek winked.

Her smile enticed Declan to let down his guard. To give in to temptation. They were in the middle of nowhere. No cameras. No witnesses. Only the two of them.

Declan grabbed Pearl’s hand and stilled her exploration of his chest.

“What about tomorrow?” he asked.

She blinked, and a smile sparked in her eyes. “We go surfing.”

He shook his head once, bending to kiss her palm and then slide his lips to her wrist where her pulse raced.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” he said. “What happens in Oahu?”

Even if she stretched up on tiptoe, Pearl still couldn’t meet his lips. Declan would have to bend to accept her kiss. But he didn’t want to, not until she acknowledged what pulsed between them.

“This is now,” she said, wrapping her leg around his thigh, threading her fingers through his hair.

If he bent his head, they would be kissing. And once Declan kissed Pearl, there was no way he could stop. They would have to finish this one way or another. Against the wall, on the narrow bed, on the hard floor for all he cared.

And sex between them would change everything.

“This is dangerous,” he said.

Pearl released a breath full of frustration. “Why are you talking?” There was true puzzlement in her voice. “I hardly get two words outta you all day,” she complained, “and now you want to talk? There are so many other things you could do wit’ your mouf, eh?”

Declan laughed. He loved the way she lost her fussy cultured accent and reverted to Hawaiian Pidgin when she got fired up.

A better man would have resisted her. But Declan wasn’t a better man. He was weak, and he was hungry. For her. He slid his hands over Pearl’s damp skin.

Touching her was a mistake, because now he couldn’t stop.

Declan grabbed her hips and backed her against the lattice wall. She felt the strain of his erection against her belly and gasped. Her eyes flew to his. They were hot and heavy-lidded. A flame of desire licked through Declan’s chest, scorching the walls he’d built to ash.

He couldn’t think of a good reason he shouldn’t be kissing Pearl. Not one.

He lowered his mouth to hers, and she stretched even higher on her toes, meeting him halfway.

As soon as their lips touched, a fire exploded in his chest. Kissing her felt so good, almost too good. He was on fire from her touch, and the only way to douse the flames was to kiss her harder. He plunged his tongue past her lips, tasting the rich flavors of her mouth.

Pearl. Her name echoed through his mind. She was his for now. For the night. It would have to be enough.

Pressing his knee between her thighs, he pinned her to the wall. She arched against him, yanking his mouth back to hers impatiently when he dared to come up for air.

Every stroke of her tongue, every moan of pleasure from her throat built the heat inside him until Declan was so hot he thought would burst into flames. And Pearl was the only one who could extinguish the fire.

He shivered as her hands dipped under the hem of his shirt to stroke the skin above the waistband of his shorts.

“Did you know I watched you in the shower?” she asked, her voice a hot, silky thread that wove a spell around him.

“Yes,” he said. “I saw the curtain move. That was very bad of you.” He touched his lips to her throat. Her skin was petal soft, and she smelled like the mango soap he’d swiped from the hotel. “I should punish you.”

She shivered, goosebumps breaking out over her heated skin. “How?”

“Hmm,” he said, tasting the spot behind her ear. “I should make you my sex slave,” he said. “I’m not letting you out of that bed for the entire night.”

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