Page 29 of The Christmas Cover Rule
But fuck me.
CHAPTER 16
stella
“Jonas?”
There's the smallest shake of his head before he turns his shiny green eyes on me. “All good, Stell.” He hits me with that radiant smile that I’ve come to love.Like. Come tolikeso much.
I watch him run the backs of his fingers over the scruff of his beard, and in a move that I’ve seen be so sexy before, he now looks somewhat defeated. It’s taken me all of four days to learn that this is the most full-of-life man I’ve ever met. I don’t know why it’s so difficult for me to see him like this, but just as he’s helped me through every situation here, I not only want to return the favor but feel an undying need to.
I look out over the endless ocean, illuminated by only a handful of soft lights trickling down the beach from the wedding.
“Let’s do something fun,” I say.
He spins, looking around at the empty beach, and then back to me. “What’d you have in mind?”
“Take your clothes off.”
One perfect eyebrow arches, and Idouble down, sliding the straps of my dress until the fabric pools at the bottom of my feet. I’m left standing in just my sheer pink bra and matching thong.
Jonas’s eyes turn from their normal sea green to an almost black, stormy ocean. He takes two steps, closing the distance between us, and I have to crane my neck back to look up at him.
“I’ve spent the last four days thinking of all the ways I wanted to take you. Are you trying to addin the sandto that list?”
I can’t breathe. Between the way he towers over me and the words he so bluntly delivers, my body is an inferno, and the heat is traveling at a rapid pace, now pooling below my stomach.
“Last one in has to do whatever the winner says,” I breathe out.
“After you, then.”
I take off running into the water. Sting ray shuffle, be damned. I dive under a low wave, letting the salt water cool me down. I swim out far enough that I either have to tread water or bounce on my tiptoes, but when I pop back up, Jonas is already by my side.
“What is the winner going to demand?” he asks, his voice is so deep it’s almost unrecognizable.
I cock my head to the side. “You said you’ve imagined…us. What have you thought about?”
He smiles with a satisfied hmm. “I’ve thought about you, underneath me, moaning—screaming—my name. I’ve thought about burying my face between your legs and fucking you with my tongue until the sun rises and you’re begging me to stop.”
Good Lord.
Jonas wades closer to me, water droplets falling over his pecs and rolling down into the water.
I dunk back under the water, holding my breath, but my heart is too erratic even for the ocean to calm me down. If I tried hard enough, I could have ignored the almost kiss when we woke up tangled from our nap, but the almost kiss on the dance floor shook me. He brushed my lips but I felt him deep within my core. I felt him in ways that I could’t see or explain.
I pop back up, breathing in a lungful of air, and Jonas remains steady beside me. All of the heat, the desire, and the hunger from earlier returned to his face.
“Should we go back to the room?”
I can’t speak, so I just nod and turn toward the shore.
The humid air hits my skin as I look around in the sand for my dress. “Can you see your clothes anywhere?” I ask.
When Jonas doesn’t respond, I look over and find his thick, muscled body in nothing but his black briefs. Briefs that are fighting against every single strand to hold all of him in there.
“Penny for your thoughts, Stell?” he teases.
“I—” I shake my head when no thoughts form.
