Chapter 19

Oh, yes. Yes, we can!

Evie reached for Adam—she’d persuade him with her mouth, her body—but he slipped through her fingers, leaving her to burn on the very rocks he’d just thrust her against.

Back turned, he hung his head. “Fuck,” he said, the word an ice-cold bucket of rejection that left her gasping, dripping with the dregs of desire, and clueless as to what to do next.

Humiliation sliced through her. This was awful. It had been a stupid, stupid idea to pretend she was scared of bats, but after pondering her past and dreading a future of internet dating, she’d grabbed the opportunity to throw herself at him.

But she’d only hoped for—expected—flirting. Perhaps another near kiss to cement suspicions of an attraction between them. Evie hadn’t expected to be lifted off her feet, his hands gripping her bum. And she hadn’t thought he’d treat her to another bone-melting stare, a stare she swore would be enough to make her come if only he held it long enough. Which just went to show how desperate she was. Desperate and frustrated, stewing in the heat with no release. She hadn’t been able to resist. What had she been thinking?

Evie squeezed her eyes shut, the prickle of tears like spiteful little pokes at her confidence. She was crap at kissing. Awful at sex. Absolutely terrible at anything to do with procreation.

“Evie.”

Adam’s stern voice cut through her self-crucifixion. She opened her eyes and pushed herself off the rock, the spiteful little pokes turning into jabs of anger. “You wanted that as much as I did.”

“It was a mistake.”

“No, Adam. It wasn’t.” He’d been hard against her, his hands on her body, his mouth on hers. She hadn’t imagined his desire! “Tell me why you stopped.”

He looked tortured. She could see it now. He wasn’t embarrassed or repulsed, no sign of disgust on his face.

Frustrated, the urge to make him feel guilty took hold. “Am I not good enough for you? Not pretty enough? Not sexy enough like your fucking gym bunnies?”

“Don’t you dare start thinking like that.”

Evie was surprised to realize she wasn’t. Not really. Not now he was looking so sad and lonely. She’d been wrong to assume this was about her. Whatever had made him stop was his problem, not hers. “I asked you the other night if there was someone else.”

“There isn’t.”

“That crazy year of yours. Did it involve a woman?”

“Yes. But not in the way you’re thinking.”

“Were you sexually involved?”

“No. God, no. It was a horrible business venture. And it’s over.” Adam blew out a harsh breath and dropped his head. There was a long pause. “But sex. I’m . . .”

Oh no. Was he about to tell her he had an STD? HIV? Fuck.

“I’m rusty. I’m clumsy.”

”What?” Evie studied him, more confused than ever before. His face glowed orange with the setting sun, the shadows emphasizing the lines on his face. Was this Adonis of a man telling her he was nervous? “You were neither clumsy nor rusty just now.”

Finally, he looked her in the eye. “It’s been a long time for me.”

“And you think I do this sort of thing every day of the week?” Adam stepped toward her, standing so close she could feel the tips of his toes against hers. Evie looked down at their feet, then noticed the bulge in his shorts. He was still aroused. Very much so. What was going on? Did he want her or not? “I’ve only ever been with Zac.” And everything had been simple and easy with him. “Zac and I, we—”

Adam placed a finger on her lips. “This is one time I really, really don’t want to hear about him.”

She tried to smile but was too scared, wondering if she could handle what she’d just started. “So what happens now?”

He took his time to answer, then slowly, leaned in and kissed her. “We get back to camp before we change our minds.”

This was happening. Evie sat on the bonnet of the truck.

“Take off your T-shirt,” she said. The night was quiet, clouds covered the moon and stars. The campground was still empty and they’d parked far away from the entrance, secluded and private. Adam whipped his top over his head and threw it somewhere on the truck’s roof. She ran her hands along the curve of his pecs, having waited long enough to explore. “You’re so hard.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I mean your body. It’s a masterpiece.” She circled his flat nipples with the tips of her fingers. “You must need to work out every day.”

“Um . . . pretty much.”

She slipped a hand along the middle crevice of his chest, molding her fingers into the grooves of his eight-pack abs. “Have you always been in this shape?”

“Uh-huh.”

She splayed both hands against his chest. “Do you—?”

“Evie,” he hissed. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me right now?”

Her lips parted. She’d been too busy exploring him to think about it. “It’s just . . . your chest . . . it’s—”

“My turn.” He hooked a finger in the collar of her vest. “This can come off now, too.”

Evie arched her back as she removed her top and sports bra, her rosy nipples brushing his chest.

Adam smoothed away her fuzzy hair, the messy bun sagging to the nape of her neck as he tilted her face up to his. “You’re beautiful. That day in the shower . . . I didn’t think so at first. It was just dirty clothes, big eyes and ugly hair.”

She should have been offended but instead she laughed. “You have a way with words.”

“I’m distracted.” He lowered his hands to play with her breasts, slowly strumming her with his thumbs. “I’m so turned on I can’t think straight.” He cupped her breasts, gently rolling her nipples between index finger and thumb. Finally, he went in for the kill and sucked her left nipple into his mouth. She melted into him, a lush pool of basic human desire, and the next time Evie became aware of anything other than his mouth on her, she was completely naked, lying on the truck’s bonnet with him standing between her thighs.

“I don’t want to assume anything here.” Adam pulled back, breathless. “But I don’t have any condoms.”

Evie pushed herself up onto her elbows, charmed by the agony in his voice. “I’ve got some.” She liked the way he wasn’t expecting this, with her or anyone else, and hoped she didn’t give him the impression that she had. “They were handing them out like sweets in a club in Airlie Beach.”

She hopped off the truck and rummaged in her bag, then noticed her hand was shaking. This wasn’t a fantasy. This was real. Evelyn Blake was about to have sex. Sex with a man she’d known for six days. Sex with a man who wasn’t Zac.

What was she doing?

The night was stifling but she froze, holding a three-pack of condoms like she didn’t know what they were, let alone what they were used for.

Adam came up behind her. “This is a bad idea, eh?”

“Really bad.”

His hands were on her hips now, hot and firm. His hard-on pressed against her bum. “Our Kimberley tour . . .”

“This could ruin it.”

“If we let it.” He bent his head and nuzzled her neck, and she remembered how he’d held her hand walking back to the truck looking nervous and excited. “I want you to know I don’t sleep around. I’m not like my father.”

Realizing it’s what she’d been waiting to hear, Evie turned toward him and they started to kiss again, slow and tender. He gathered her, set her on the bonnet and picked up from where they’d left off. She handed him the condom. A few seconds later, he was on her again, taking her nipple into his mouth, gently teasing it between his teeth as he sucked. She kissed him when he released her, her body taut and ready like his. I want this now. I want him. She gripped his hips. He eased himself into her, thrusting, driving—seeking out the pleasure spots that would send them both spiraling.

Later, once they’d showered and eaten the simple pasta meal Evie had cooked, they lay on the double mattress looking at the cloud covered sky.

“I’m told clouds only mean one thing at this time of year,” Evie said.

But it didn’t look like it would rain, and so they’d sleep out in the open, next to each other, not on opposite sides of the truck.

Adam hadn’t considered sharing a bed with Evie, hadn’t considered her occupying his space. But before he could properly assess what this meant, Evie’s hand began to wander across his chest and down to his navel, and he was again powerless to resist. Unearthed and exposed.

Soon, she straddled him, and he became incapable of thinking about anything other than how she looked coming on top of him, riding him—driving him—until he exploded inside her.

Afterward, breathless and sweaty, they lay side by side neither saying a word. Adam eventually got up to deal with the condom.

When he returned, Evie was sitting with her back to him, staring out into the darkness. The silence stretched out between them. He should ask her if she was okay, tell her the sex was great. Tell her he wanted more. A lot more. But instead, he pulled on his shorts. He wasn’t any good at speaking to a woman, let alone to a woman’s bare back. He rubbed his face. He was an idiot. He didn’t need this entanglement. The sex had been a bad idea. But there’d been that first kiss, the way she’d looked so hurt and rejected when he’d pulled away. He couldn’t have left her like that. He was—

Fooling himself.

Adam could pretend he’d had sex with Evie only for her benefit as much as he liked, but he knew the truth. He’d been unable to stop himself. For all of his sexually challenged ways, he’d wanted her.

Evie lay back on the mattress, her bare breasts reflecting what little light there was. She covered her face with one arm. “Is it going to be awkward between us in the morning?”

He sat on the corner of the mattress. “I don’t want it to be.”

“Neither do I.” She moved quickly to sit behind him. “So what do you want?”

Ah. The big question. Wasn’t that what he’d been trying to figure out since he’d retired? He gazed at the sky, dark clouds shifting over a blanket of stars. “I want a vacation. I want a break.”

There was a pause. “Alone?”

“No.”

“With me?”

“Yes.”

Evie slipped her arms around him, her breasts skimming his back. He leaned into her. So what now? Did he have to tell her his real name? Did he have to tell her they were going to have one of those no-strings attached affairs that carefree men had with carefree women?

But as they lay down next to each other, he listened to her making plans for their day tomorrow and was reminded of how grounded and realistic she was. There would be no need to point out that they were just two sexually starved people getting it out of their system, that this was little more than a holiday romance. That whatever they’d started tonight couldn’t exist in the real world.

Evie wanted to see the Kimberleys. Adam wanted time out of his life. It seemed to him that over the next four weeks, they’d both get what they wanted, and so, by the time she’d fallen asleep, he’d convinced himself that there was only one thing to do.

Sit back and enjoy it.