stopped in her tracks and looked up at him.
Elias took out his phone and snapped a picture of her.
“What the hell!”
“I had to get a picture of your face. It was priceless. You’re gullible.”
“You’re a great liar. Let me see the picture.”
“No.” He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “You might delete it.”
“Is it that bad?”
“No. It’s cute.” He wrapped his arm around her as they continued to walk. It was nice. His body was so large and hard, and for once in her life she felt petite and protected and liked for who she was. “No kids, wife or girlfriend. I’m single. My sister is a newlywed, and there is nothing worse in the world than being stuck hanging out with two people who are in love.”
“I could think of a couple worse things.”
Elias sighed. “I really like my sister’s husband. He’s exactly who I would have picked for her.”
“But?”
“We’re twins. We went to the same college. We lived next door to each other until she sold her town house. She used to call me every day. We were close.”
“You’re not anymore?”
“We are, but it’s different. Her husband comes first, which he should. But I kind of miss being the first person she tells all her stupid crap to. It used to annoy the hell out of me when she called me just to chat, but it was a part of my day. Now it feels like something is missing.”
She smoothed her hand down his back, and he looked down at her with a sheepish grin.
“If you ever tell anyone I said that, I might be forced to kill you.”
“Got it. Men break out in hives whenever they think someone might know they have a feeling.”
“I’m a manly man,” he said, deepening his already-deep voice. “I snapped my wrist and went in to work the next day with duct tape wrapped around it.”
“You didn’t.”
“No. It hurt like hell. I’m pretty sure I started crying and passed out.”
She laughed. “I don’t believe that, either.”
“I just remember my brother cursing and saying something about our mother flying to the States to kill him.”
“Your mother doesn’t live here?”
“Costa Rica. She moved there after my father passed away.”
“Oh.” She went quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s been many years now.”
They continued to walk on in silence until they came up to a set of houses that were directly on the beach. “My house is right up there.”
“Is it?” He looked at the house and then back at her. “It’s nice.”
“It is nice. Would you like to see it?” She was inviting him inside. She didn’t want this night to end. It had been surreal and comfortable and wonderful, and it wasn’t even 8:00 p.m. yet.
“Yes, I very much would.”
Her heart beat faster as they walked quietly up the path that led to her beachfront home. She had never done this before. She had never met a man who she was this attracted to, who she wanted to spend so much time with. First dates had always been horrible for her. Awkward. Panic inducing. But she had met Elias by chance. There was no time for her to get worked up, to overthink, and tonight she wasn’t allowing herself to think at all. She was living in the moment. Doing what made her feel good.
“Whoa,” he said when she let them in.
Her home was beautiful, a gift from her parents, but Cricket really knew it had been her father’s idea to give her this house when she finished her second doctorate. It was an overly generous present, but her father adored her and knew how much she loved this island and cherished the summers she had spent there as a child. It was nothing to him to give her this gift, even though her mother was against it.
Cricket, after all, was the heiress to one of the largest tech fortunes in the world.
“I know it’s a little sparse right now. I haven’t spent much time here until recently.”
“Where were you?” he asked, looking around.
“My lab was based in Boston, but I traveled a great deal.”
“I heard you say something about research. What kind of research do you do?”
She hesitated for a moment. There was nothing romantic or sexy about her job, but she was proud of her work. Her mother told her she should never be embarrassed of showing off her brain. But the older she got, the more she realized that men didn’t necessarily want to date a woman with a bunch of fancy letters after her name. “I’m a medical scientist.”
“A PhD?” he asked, stepping closer.
“Yes, I’m afraid I have two of them.”
A devastatingly sexy smile crossed his lips. He then grabbed her bag and tossed it aside before he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again. His lips were open, his mouth wet, his tongue warm. She immediately went slack, and he brought her body closer to his. Large, hard, hot. Those were the only words she could think of to describe him. He smelled so good, like ocean air and aftershave and soft-serve vanilla ice cream. She could get drunk off his scent.
“Tell me to go home,” he said into her mouth. “Right now. Tell me to leave.”
“I can’t. You leaving is the very last thing I want.”
“I was hoping you would say that.” He pulled her cardigan off and kissed that little curve that connected her shoulder to her neck.
A moan escaped her as his hands slipped up her dress to skim the backs of her thighs. “You’re so beautiful,” he told her as he hooked his thumbs into her underwear and slid them down. “I want you so damn much.”
She sought his mouth again, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him with a heat that she had never experienced before. She felt his erection against her belly, and it caused her to grow wetter, even more aroused than she was when he had started all of this. She’d had only one serious boyfriend, one sweet, lovely man whom she would have happily spent the rest of her life with, but he’d never made her feel this way. He never wanted her with as much hunger as Elias possessed.
“Take me to your bedroom.”
She took his hand without thinking, and he winced.
“I’m sorry!”
“Don’t be. You can kiss it better.” He lightly pressed his lips to hers.
“When’s the last time you took anything for your hand?”
“This morning. But I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“I am worried. I need you to touch me all over my body, and for that to happen I need to know you’re not in pain.”
“If you take me to bed, I promise you the only kind of pain I’ll be in is the good kind.”
She smiled at him and took his other hand, leading him into her en suite bathroom. It was a luxurious bathroom by anyone’s standards, with a huge jetted tub and a rainfall shower. There was a view of the ocean from the window.
“This bathroom is bigger than my bedroom,” he said to her in a low voice. “I would like to spend some time in here if we can.”
“We can.” She went to her medicine cabinet and opened it up in search for a bottle of pain reliever. Some of the contents came spilling out, including her birth control.