and calves. She stared at the pesky mole near her knee that she’d hated since grade school. Had she been smart, she would’ve had it removed while she still had health insurance.
“You’ve been out of law school for eight years now?” she asked, turning to meet his eyes. She was pretty sure he was thirty-three, past the age a lot of guys started getting married. No way she’d bring that up.
“Yep. It feels like twenty.” His brows drew together to form a slight crease. “You have the greenest eyes. I used to wonder if you wore contacts to get them that color.”
“Maybe I do.”
He shook his head.
“How do you know?”
“I’ve had almost three years to figure it out.”
She snorted. “You barely spared me a glance.”
“Think so?” A slow, sly smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he looked so deeply into her eyes that her entire body flushed. He leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, then touched the corner with the tip of his tongue.
“Oh, God, I still have clown lips, don’t I?”
David stopped her inane muttering by kissing her again, this time coaxing her lips apart and kissing her long and hard and deep. She felt herself start to slip backward, and his arm was suddenly behind her, guiding her back until their kiss broke and she was lying supine on the mat and staring up into his warm brown eyes.
“No one’s coming,” he whispered as he trailed a finger from her chin down between her breasts, his touch so light she couldn’t be sure she hadn’t imagined it.
He kissed her eyes, kissed her nose, brushed his lips leisurely across hers. Then he touched her breast. She automatically arched up, filling his hand. Her nipples tightened, communicating their need. He found one through the fabric of her top and circled it with the pad of his thumb.
“We shouldn’t have stopped,” he whispered huskily. “We should’ve gone straight to the hotel.”
“You said no one’s coming,” she reminded him in a weak voice.
He groaned, and pushed aside one triangle of her top. For a second he just stared at her bared breast, his eyes dark and hungry, and then he put his hot mouth on her puckered flesh. His moist heat bathed her skin, and she shivered, squeezing her eyes closed when his teeth scraped her hard nipple.
She blindly reached for him, found his hip and slid her hand around to cup his firm, round ass, urging him closer until his erection pressed her thigh. She moved her leg so that she rubbed him just right, smiled when she heard his soft groan, groaned herself when he sucked hard at her nipple.
He cupped her other breast, inched the fabric over until he’d exposed the other nipple. He rolled his tongue over the crown, stopping briefly to nip at the hard tip. But when he simply breathed on it, Mia shivered.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do this?” David whispered. “How much I want to kiss you everywhere.” He kissed the spot between her breasts, and then moved to the heated skin between her ribs. When he got to her navel, she experienced momentary panic and tensed.
She didn’t know why. No one was around. But the mood had definitely shifted.
He sighed, and she felt his withdrawal even before he planted a final kiss on her belly. “Come on,” he said, his breathing irregular. “I know where we can get some great room service.”
PEOPLE CROWDED INTO the hotel elevator behind them, and Mia found herself pushed to the opposite corner of the car from David. But with David at six-two and her at five-nine, they could still see each other over most other people’s heads.
Or maybe it wasn’t such a good thing. All the way through the lobby he’d tried to convince her to go straight to his suite with him. She’d resisted, too hot and sticky and desperately wanting a shower. But had they been alone in the elevator, she had a feeling he might have pulled out all the stops in trying to win his argument.
God, merely thinking about how he touched her with the perfect amount of pressure, kissed her in all the right places, nuzzled her neck exactly where she liked it, was enough to make her give in. Her only viable wall of defense was Lindsey and Shelby. It was almost five, and she’d feel like crap if she didn’t at least check in with them.
The elevator dinged, signaling that it was about to stop at the seventh floor and her gaze locked with his.
“One hour,” David mouthed, over the head of a short, white-haired lady. “No more.”
“Or?” she mouthed with an arched brow.
“I’m coming for you,” he said aloud, ignoring the inquisitive looks shooting at him.
Mia pressed her lips together to keep from giggling like a little girl, and hurried off when the elevator doors slid open.
The second she opened the door to her room, her heady rush crashed and burned. Shelby was lounging on the shady balcony, alone, an open book sitting on her lap. It looked as if she might have dozed off because she jerked slightly and then swung her unfocused gaze toward Mia.
“Hi.” She straightened and rubbed an eye. “Wow, it’s gotten warm out here.” She closed the book, rose and stretched. Then she stepped into the room and closed the balcony door behind her. “Mind if I turn up the A/C?”
“Of course not.” Mia dropped her small bag and sunglasses on the bamboo secretary, her heart heavy with the possibility that Shelby had spent the day alone. “What did you do today?”
“I went to the beach, walked forever, swam in the pool, found this adorable bikini and matching wrap in the shop next door. Wanna see it?”
“Sure.” Mia watched her friend disappear through the open adjoining door, and then slid a peek around the connecting room. “Where’s Lindsey?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her.” Shelby reappeared with a bag. Before she opened it, she grinned at Mia. “How was your day with that tall, gorgeous hunk?”
“Great. I wish you’d come with us,” Mia said breezily. “It’s like a whole different island once you get past Diamond Head. Totally awesome.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What?”
Amusement danced in Shelby’s hazel eyes. “You seriously think I wanted the ‘G’ version?”
“Sorry.” Mia shrugged, feeling unexpectedly defensive. They weren’t kids anymore. She was not going to discuss the intimate details between her and David. “I don’t have anything juicy for you.”
Shelby’s gaze narrowed speculatively, but she wisely dropped the subject. “Check this out,” she said, dumping the contents of the bag onto the bed.
There wasn’t much to the hot pink bikini. The back consisted of a thong, the legs were cut high and the front dipped into an indecently deep V bordered by a narrow ruffle. The top was a mere token. Of the three of them, Shelby was the only one who could get away with wearing something like that, or for that matter, even consider it.
Shelby arranged the two pieces on the bed and then held up the brief pareau cover-up apparently meant to be wrapped low around the hips. “What do you think?”
“You’ll probably get arrested.”
She laughed. “Hope it’s by a male cop.”
“You always did like a guy in uniform.”
“Hey, you know…I’ve never dated a police officer.”
Mia chuckled, and shook her head in mock disapproval. Since they’d considered the possibility that other guys might