unzipped his pants and freed his arousal. Clasping him in her fist, she stroked once, and again, her thumb working over his head with each glide. His eyes slammed shut.
Her other hand slipped into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. A light crackle sounded as she tore into the packet. Her deft fingers rolled the sheath down the length of him with torturous precision.
“Now,” she demanded softly against his neck. “Here. On the stepstool or against the door, I don’t care as long as you’re inside me.”
Gnawing need chewed through the last of his restraint. She wanted this. He craved her. No more waiting. Tony backed her against the solid panel of the door, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, his back, lower as she tucked her hand inside his jeans and boxers.
Arching, urging, she hooked her leg around his, opening for him. Her shoe clattered to the floor but she didn’t seem to notice or care. He nudged at her core, so damp and ready for him. He throbbed—and thrust.
Velvet heat clamped around him, drew him deeper, sent sparks shooting behind his eyelids. In the darkened room, the pure essence of Shannon went beyond anything he’d experienced. And the importance of that expanded inside him, threatening to drive him to his knees.
So he focused on her, searching with his hands and mouth, moving inside and stroking outside to make sure she was every bit as encompassed by the mind-numbing ecstasy. She rocked faster against him. Her sighs came quicker, her moans of pleasure higher and louder until he captured the sound, kissing her and thrusting with his tongue and body. He explored the soft inside of her mouth, savoring the soft clamp of her gripping him with spasms he knew signaled her approaching orgasm.
Teeth gritted, he held back his own finish. Her face pressed to his neck. Her chants of yes, yes, yes synced with his pulse and pounding. Still, he held back, determined to take her there once more. She bowed away from the door, into him, again and again until her teeth sunk into his shoulder on a stifled cry of pleasure.
The scent of her, of slick sex and them mixed with the already earthy air.
Finally—finally—he could let go. The wave of pleasure pulsing through him built higher, roaring louder in his ears. He’d been too long without her. The wave crested. Release crashed over him. Rippling through him. Shifting the ground under his feet until his forehead thumped against the door.
Hauling her against his chest, heart still galloping, as they both came back down to earth in the pantry.
The pantry, for God’s sake?
His chances of staying away from Shannon again were slim. That path didn’t work for either of them. But if they were going to be together, he would make sure their next encounter was total fantasy material.
* * *
Sun glinting along the crystal clear pool, Shannon tugged Kolby’s T-shirt over his head and slid his feet into tiny Italian leather sandals. She’d spent the morning splashing with her son and Tony’s sister, and she wasn’t close to working off pent-up energy. Even the soothing ripple of the heated waters down the fountain rock wall hadn’t stilled the jangling inside her.
After making love in the pantry, she and Tony had locked themselves in her room where he’d made intense and thorough love to her. Her skin remembered the rasp of his beard against her breasts, her stomach, the insides of her thighs. How could she still crave even more from him? She should be in search of a good nap rather than wondering when she could get Tony alone again.
Of course she would have to find him first.
He’d left via her balcony just as the morning sun peeked over the horizon. Now that big orange glow was directly overhead and no word from him. She deflated her son’s water wings. The hissing air and the maternal ritual reminded her of Tony’s revelations just before they’d ended up in the closet.
Could he be avoiding her to dodge talking further? He’d made no secret of using sex to skirt the painful topic. She couldn’t even blame him when she’d been guilty of the same during their affair. What did this do to their deadline to return home?
Kolby yanked the hem of her cover-up. “Want another movie.”
“We’ll see, sweetie.” Kolby was entranced by the large home theater, but then what child wouldn’t be?
Tony’s half sister shaded her eyes in the lounger next to them, an open paperback in her other hand. “I can take him in if you want to stay outside. Truly, I don’t mind.” She toyed with her silver shell necklace, straightening the conch charm.
“But you’re reading. And aren’t you leaving this afternoon? I don’t want to keep you from your packing.”
“Do you honestly think any guest of Enrique Medina is bothered by packing their own suitcases? Get real.” She snorted lightly. “I have plenty of time. Besides, I’ve been wanting to check out the new Disney movie for my library’s collection.”
She’d learned Eloisa was a librarian, which explained the satchel of books she’d brought along. Her husband was an architect who specialized in restoring historic landmarks. They were an unpretentious couple caught up in a maelstrom. “What if the screening room doesn’t have the movie you w—” She stopped short. “Of course they have whatever you’re looking for on file.”
“A bit intimidating, isn’t it?” Eloisa pulled on her wraparound cover-up, tugging her silver necklace out so the conch charm was visible. “I didn’t grow up with all of this and I suspect you didn’t, either.”
Shannon rubbed her arms, shivering in spite of the eighty-degree day. “How do you keep from letting it overwhelm you?”
“I wish I could offer you reassurance or answers, but honestly I’m still figuring out how to deal with all of this myself. I had only begun to get to know my birth father a few months ago.” She looked back at the mission-style mansion, her eyebrows pinching together. “Now the whole royal angle has gone public. They haven’t figured out about me. Yet. That’s why we’re here this week, to talk with Enrique and his attorneys, to set up some preemptive strikes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Thank God Eloisa had the support of her husband. And Tony had been there for her. Who was there for him? Even his brothers hadn’t shown up beyond sterile conference calls.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Shannon. I’m only saying it’s okay to feel overwhelmed. Cut yourself some slack and do what you can to stay level. Let me watch a movie with your son while you swim or enjoy a bubble bath or take a nap. It’s okay.”
Indecision warred inside her. These past couple of weeks she’d had more help with Kolby than since he was born. Guilt tweaked her maternal instincts.
“Please, Mama?” Kolby sidled closer to Eloisa. “I like Leesa.”
Ah, and just like that, her maternal guilt worried in another direction, making her fret that she hadn’t given her son enough play dates or socialization. Funny how a mother worried no matter what.
Shannon nodded to Tony’s sister. “If you’re absolutely sure.”
“He’s a cutie, and I’m guessing he will be asleep before the halfway point. Enjoy the pool a while longer. It’ll
