Page 107 of Away We Go

“Nicky, put me down,” I protest so weakly we both ignore me.

“Almost there,” he grunts, lowering me from his shoulder to the ground once we reach my cabin.

“I could have walked,” I point out, smoothing down my hair I just know resembles a bird’s nest right about now. In between the salt water and Nicky’s insistent hands, my hair has been in knots all week.

“What’s the fun in that?” He winks at me. I’m wearing my sexy white bikini again and from the way he’s drinking me in with eyes blazing, I can tell he likes what he sees.

I decide to press my advantage. Standing on my tippy toes, I place my lips on his, brushing his mouth ever so softly with mine. He groans and I move in closer, brushing my body ever so gently against his, in time with my lips.

“Cherry.” He sounds pained.

I flutter my eyelashes as I peer up at him. “Yes?”

His eyes narrow, his hands stroking up and down my back. I shudder.

“You know what you’re doing.”

I kiss him again, tugging on his bottom lip with my teeth, andfinallyhis control snaps. He gently pushes me up against my door, like he had that first night, and crushes his lips against mine. His hands angle my jaw so he can deepen the kiss and my knees buckle. My hands fly to the back of his head, pulling on his hair at the nape of his neck and with a groan, he presses his body harder against mine. We kiss like this, all teeth and lips and tongue, until we’re panting, coming up for air only to get lost in each other’s mouth again.

“Are you sure?” He pulls away at last, tracing a finger over my lips.

I walk backwards away from him, never breaking eye contact. Reaching behind me, I turn the handle on his cabin door and open it.

“I’ve never been surer about anything.”

He’s in front of me in two quick steps, his mouth fusing to mine again. We stumble into his bedroom, my legs only just keeping me upright they’re shaking so violently.

“Once we do this, Cherry. There’s no going back,” he says like a man who never wants to go back.

“Good.” I turn away from him and walk back to close the door. “This is right where I want to be.”

His lips stretch into a sexy grin, his eyes sweeping over me as he crooks a finger at me. “Come here,” he commands.

My body simmers with anticipation. I follow his lead, stepping into him until we’re standing mere inches apart, staring at each other as the air crackles with tension. I feel it thrumming through my veins, like my blood is on fire. Like I’ll die if I can’t be with him right now.

I look around, my eyes tripping over to the wall next to us. “Just one more thing.” I lean over and flick the light switch, leaving the room bathed in the glow of the afternoon sunlight. “It’s lights out…”

His mouth curls with recognition and he pulls me against him.

And away we go…

• • • • •

If I had thought the first week sailing the French Riviera with Nicky was something out of a dream, then the second week is something beyond my wildest imagination.

After our night together, I know I’m head over heels in love with Nicky. This is not the crush I’ve nurtured over the years; theway my heart beats now, it beats just for him. And I don’t know if it’s wishful thinking or my romantic soul taking over, but I’m sensing maybe he could feel the same way about me. It’s in the way he holds me, like he wants to burrow under my skin. It’s in the way he looks at me, like he never wants to stop looking. It’s in the way his heart beats in his chest when we’re kissing, like it’s thumping in beat with mine. We’re in such a delicious bubble of sun-soaked days and long passionate nights that there’s little room to worry about what’s going to happen next.

“What should we do tomorrow?” Nicky asks from his sun-lounger next to mine. He’s wearing a pair of white, red and navy-blue swimming shorts and a bright smile. After all this time in the Mediterranean sun, his skin is a deep golden colour and looking as he does now, he could walk straight off this yacht and onto a magazine cover, no problem. Me, on the other hand? I’m still pasty white, with just a few thousand more freckles to add to my collection.

I roll onto my front and lay my head on my crossed arms under me. Today we’ve managed breakfast and the short stroll to the sundeck, where we’ve dozed off in the morning light, content to lounge in comfortable silence.

“Don’t care,” I mumble with my eyes closed.

“We could stop somewhere and go out for dinner?”

Hmm, that would involve getting dressed and sharing him with other people.

“Veto.”

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