Page 64 of XOXO, Valentina

I missed him already. He seemed to feel the same because his hand sought mine and latched on. He brought my fingers to his lips and kissed each knuckle. His beard was soft against my skin. He pressed a kiss to my palm, making me tingle with pleasure.

“You must be starving,” he said, rolling to face me.

My stomach chimed in, rumbling loudly.

Joey rolled off the bed. “Get dressed,” he said, pulling on his shorts. “I have a place to show you that will blow your mind.”

I couldn’t move. My legs felt heavy, and my eyelids drifted shut. I wanted to bask in the heat of Costa Rica and Joey’s attention for a little longer.

Joey snagged my ankle and tugged me to the edge of the bed. “As much as I enjoy looking at you like that, clothing is not optional where we are going.”

I raised up on my elbow and watched him get dressed. With little effort, he looked camera ready. His tousled hair and casual shirt were perfect for the relaxed atmosphere of Costa Rica. He looked good enough to eat.

Me? I was a hot, humid mess.

“I might need a shower,” I said.

Joey scooped me up and set me on my feet. “Later,” he promised, nibbling my jaw. “We will take a very long shower after the sun goes down.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I smell like sex.”

“Hm.” He nuzzled my neck. “You smell delicious.”

I trembled, looping my arms around his neck. My appetite had nothing on my newly awakened sex drive. “I’m not that hungry,” I said. “Couldn’t we just order in?”

“Nope,” he said. “They only do breakfast here. We have to go out for dinner. You’ll be glad we did.” He kissed me. “I promise, you’re going to love it.”

There was that L-word again. It had been popping up like crazy. My jet-lagged, sex-addled brain kept getting hung up on it. I reminded myself this was sex and nothing more.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t tidy up a little?”

Joey swatted my butt. “Get dressed, baby.”

We took a tuk-tuk, a yellow golf cart taxi, to the next beach town over. Even though Mossy Oak was hardly a bustling metropolis, it was like NYC compared to the sleepy beach town of Nosara. As darkness settled over the tangle of dirt roads winding through lush jungle, I wondered how the town survived. Howler monkeys and tropical birds were more plentiful than people. As we bumped along the road, the driver conversed with Joey in a friendly tone of Spanish dialect I had no hopes of translating.

Joey laughed and stretched his arm over my shoulders along the back seat. “He thinks we are newlyweds,” he said, fiddling with the strap of my dress.

My heart pounded fast. The thought of being married to anyone, especially a known playboy like Joey, shouldn’t get my pulse racing as if I’d been running a sprint, but it did.

Joey shifted to face me and put his hand on my knee. “If you were my new wife, I wouldn’t let you out of our room for at least a week.” His touch was feather-light, inching up my thigh. “I would keep you so satisfied you wouldn’t want to move from the bed.” The hot pads of his fingers scorched a path under the hem of my dress, and his mouth moved closer to my ear. “I would feast on your body.” He parted my thighs, tracing the lace edge of my panties. “I would start right here, and I wouldn’t stop until you begged.” His thumb flicked my clit through my panties, and a moan escaped my clenched jaw. “‘Screw me brainless, Joey,’” he teased, nibbling my ear.

I felt the smile on his lips as he trailed kisses along the sensitive shell of my ear. “I’m never going to live that down,” I said, too far gone with what his hand was doing under my skirt to be annoyed.

His low laugh sounded in my ear. “I love it when you beg me,” he said.

The tuk-tuk slowed to a crawl, and a group of pedestrians crossed the street in front of us. We’d reached what must be the center of town. A small concentration of shops and restaurants lined both sides of the street.

My panties were soaked. I shifted my hips up and wiggled out of them as discreetly as possible.

“You ruined my panties.”

“Next time don’t wear any.” He grabbed my panties and pushed them into his pocket.

The taxi turned down a narrow street and stopped in what looked like the middle of nowhere. Joey paid the driver, who said something in Spanish that made Joey chuckle heartily.

“What did he say?” I asked as the taxi pulled away.

Joey took my hand and led me along a stone path lit by tiki torches. “He told me the secret to keeping a woman happy.”

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