17

APRIL

I was drowning. The sunset was beautiful and being in Connor’s arms seemed so right, so natural, and the next step was to have the most magnificent kiss to make this picture complete.

His words made my heart ache for him and I found that there was nothing else I would rather be doing than kissing Connor Haden. He groaned against my lips and I applied pressure to the back of his neck, deepening the kiss until he couldn’t resist any longer. With a growl he teased my lips until I opened my mouth, his tongue sweeping in and changing the entire feel of our kiss from innocent to scorching hot within seconds.

He kissed like he talked; blazing molten lava pouring into me and reigniting that low simmering fire that I’d tried to keep hidden for so long. I moaned and Connor broke the kiss, taking a few steps back as I literally trembled from the connection. Oh my god. It was as exactly as I thought. He exhaled hard before looking at me, a small grin on his handsome face. “I can’t apologize for that one.”

“You shouldn’t,” I said shakily.

Music suddenly filled the air and we both looked over to find the attendant grinning at us, motioning for us to come together and dance. I laughed as Connor plucked my glass out of my hand and set it next to his on the side before he wrapped his arms around my waist. I placed my hands on his shoulders and then laced them around his neck, giving him a grin. “They sure are pushy.”

“Well, it is our honeymoon after all, they want us to be happy,” he said softly, turning us in a slow circle. “And I can’t think of anyone else on this boat that I would rather dance with.”

“Connor, what on earth are we doing?” I knew he understood what I meant. What were we trying to prove by the teasing, the kissing? We weren’t a real couple, not by a long shot!

“We’re dancing,” he replied, ignoring my question. “We’re enjoying ourselves. Stop questioning it, April… I know I’ve stopped.”

He paused and dipped me down, holding me tight in his safe arms as the boat swayed and the music played. He was looking right at me, seeing me. And then again his lips had me.

Standing tall again, our kiss became feverous, my hands clawing at his shirt as his hands explored and slipped down and around my waist.

All of sudden his roaming hands were gone and he stepped back. I brought my fingers to my tender lips. He was going to do it again. He was going to run. Why was he so scared? But the fire in his eyes and the thick outline of his cock, visible in his pants, told me otherwise.

He grinned and turned away. “You,” he pointed to the member of staff standing partially in the shadows. “Leave us. Make sure we are not to be disturbed.”

The man nodded and was gone in a flash.

Just as quickly, Connor was taking me into his arms again, and this time there was no hesitation.

We were doing a different kind of dance now, our tongues performing an unmajestic choreograph while we clawed at each other. Connor gathered up the fabric of my dress and I felt the sizzle of his fingertips as they brushed against the soft skin of my thighs. I’d never been touched like this, not in public and certainly not when I knew there were other people within earshot, but nothing within me could make me tell him to stop. I wanted this. I wanted his hand to explore further, and I moaned when I got my wish.

His breath tickled my ear as he kissed up my neck, and I expelled an unstoppable moan while he simultaneously ran a hand over my panties.

“Oh, god, Connor…” He pulled the material away to the side and I jerked as I felt the first contact of his fingers upon me. His thick fingers slipped between my folds and I was ready for him to be inside me, to make me explode.

“I want to hear you moan my name again, April.”

Dazzled by the pulsing pleasure between my thighs, it took me a moment to realize what he’d said. Again?

“Oh. My. God. You heard me? The other day?” I barely breathed as I held onto him, his fingers slipping against me but not inside yet. I didn’t know if I was appalled, embarrassed or turned on by him hearing me say his name while I made myself orgasm.

Definitely the latter.

“I didn’t just hear you, I saw you,” he replied with a devilish grin on his face. My eyes went wide. “I watched as you slipped your fingers inside your pussy and called out my name until you came…just like I’m going to do now.”

Before I could react, he speared me with one hard thrust, assaulting my channel as I hung onto his neck for dear life. I almost came apart right then.

“You like that don’t you? Having me inside you?”

I nodded and bit my lip, throwing my head back, and he drove his fingers inside me. He kissed my exposed neck, his tongue running wildly over my pressure point.

“Oh, god.”

“Say my name, April,” he demanded as everything around me started to blur.

“Don’t stop…”

“Say it!” he growled, his efforts doubling while my legs began to shake. I moved my hips, meeting his pounding thrusts, and I feared this was to be my undoing. He was going to ruin me.

“Connor, fuck. Connor!” I yelled into the sea breeze as I shattered into a billion pieces under the starry night sky.

We walked back to the hut hand in hand, our bellies full on the best food I’d tasted in my entire life; the chef had been amazing. And he wasn’t the only one, Connor had a lot to answer for the smile upon my face too.

After our dance, Connor had excused himself for a moment then we’d dined together, each hardly knowing what to say. Fumbling over our words the entire night, we were like awkward teenagers. Eventually we’d both relaxed, our conversation meandering on to our favorite things, and we hadn’t dared bring up what we’d just done on the top deck of the yacht.

He’d finger fucked me and had wanted to take it much further, and shit, I almost let him. But somehow, I’d clawed onto the tiny flicker of self-restraint remaining and pushed him away. If I’d let him bend me over the railing and savagely fuck me, I feared I was about to become another one of his conquests. A notch of his well-worn and marked bedpost. And I would not let myself fall into that sordid abyss.

As we ate, trying desperately to be polite, I’d found out that the guy next to me enjoyed a box of doughnuts in the off season, action flicks, and secretly enjoyed dancing, which after tonight’s antics I wasn’t surprised by. He was also an only child, his parents were divorced—which was a topic he skirted over fast—and did not like water chestnuts. It was all normal things, making it easy to see beyond the famous football star; deep down he was just a regular guy.

This side of him put me on edge, had my belly swirling with apprehension. Connor Haden the superstar quarterback was out of my league, untouchable, but the man walking beside me, easy-going, down to earth Connor, was everything I ever dreamed of wanting.

Thinking past the fact that he’d rocked my world, caused me to have a sensational orgasm that would be fucking hard to top, I knew I was starting to fall for him hard. I should bow out now, cut my losses before I got hurt, I thought. But a part of me—a very large part—wanted to see where this went. I wanted to run to the hut, stripping naked as I went and have him take me on the honeymoon bed. I wanted to ignore all of the warning signs, the walls I had built to protect myself from ever getting hurt again and throw all of that out of the window.

“Do you want to go have a drink?” Connor asked as he stopped suddenly, the main outcropping of buildings on our right. But I could see our hut was just around the next bend. “You know, extend this night a little longer?”

“Why don’t we have a drink back at the hut? I was thinking of having an early night,” I said hoping he’d take the hint to perhaps join me, pick up where we left off.

“Oh, well, if you’re tired we can have a drink another night,” he said. I tried to explain that I wasn’t tired, that it was just an excuse to go back to the hut, but he pulled me close and pressed a kiss to my forehead, then quickly stepped back as if I’d burned him. “Sleep tight, April.”

I nodded, bewildered as he turned and started to move away. “Thank you for a wonderful evening Connor. I’ll never forget it,” I called after him.

“Me neither,” he said softly, tucking his hands in his pockets. “Goodnight, April.”

“Goodnight,” I replied before turning toward the hut full of remorse. What had I done wrong? Had it all meant nothing?