The engine rumbled to life and the boat began to meander out of the marina. I watched the shoreline shrink as we both enjoyed the tidbit, then I took advantage of Marie’s now relaxed demeanor and slipped my hand onto her thigh. She’d stripped to her bikini and hopped into the hot tub so fast that I hadn’t had chance to drink in the sight of her delectable body. So I decided I’d do it by touch instead.

She let out the cutest gasp then looked around. “Someone might see.”

“See what? I’ve got my hand on your leg. It’s hardly pornographic.”

“It’s always pornographic when you touch me.”

I moved my focus to the view out to sea beyond the boat to hide my pleasure at her words, and when she turned her head to look where I was looking, I let a grin spread across my face. I shifted my hand from her leg and slipped it around her shoulders, pulling her into me. She laid her head on my shoulder with a happy sigh.

“Aren’t you bothered that people will think there’s something going on between us?” she asked.

“Nah, not really. I was, but I figure if anyone asks, we just say we’re seeing each other. They’re not exactly going to start pumping us for information about our sex lives. Or at least I hope not.”

He twitched the right side of his mouth into a half-smile. Now he looked like a hunter who’d captured his prey. A trickle of fight or flight seeped into my system. Which would be my best option?

“Now that’s the first rule.” He reached up and undid the clasp holding my hair on the top of my head. It tumbled around my shoulders as the clasp fell to the floor. “Consent.”

“Doesn’t consent require knowing what you’re agreeing to?” Fuck, with him this close and stroking my hair, spreading it out, I’d pretty much agree to anything. Who was I kidding? Fight or flight was not an option, the only thing that shot through my mind was giving myself over to him. Allowing him to do whatever he wanted, control my body, feed it what it needed.

Damn, it had been too long since I’d been with a man. It was making me desperate.

He slotted his other hand over the left side of my head, the sound of him sliding his fingers over the shell of my ear noisy. My breath hitched and I locked my knees to stabilize my stance. I stared up at him, noting the small shafts of black hair sneaking out of his skin on his chin and the way his bottom lip was a little plumper than the top.

“You see, some pain,” he said, gathering my hair up at my crown and tugging to create tension on the roots, “can heighten the awareness of everything else going on in the body.”
He pulled harder, forcing my head to tip back.