“If this is some kind of ploy,” I continue, looking into his eyes, “it won’t work. I’m not even attracted to you.”

If at all possible, his grin spreads wider, making him look wolfish. His eyes flit down the front of me, and before I can prepare myself, he reaches out and flicks my nipple gently. “Not attracted?”

Pleasure shoots in a direct line down to my pussy—so fierce I go all limp and almost lose my footing. I clamp an arm over my chest and laugh, because seriously, I cannot believe this asshole did that. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“Believe it, baby.” Again, that smug smirk. “I don’t think you minded. In fact,” he says slowly, leaning so close his lips brush me near my ear, “I think you liked it.”

Before I can deny this, his arms are going around my waist, moving me in front of him, turning me toward the boat’s nose. I wait, lightheaded, for him to press my ass against his huge erection, and am dizzily disappointed when he simply places my hands on the wheel and wraps his hands around them.

He moves my sweaty fingers to a position that looks like nine and three. “Hold it here,” he purrs into my ear. He holds up one finger and disappears, moving toward the back of the boat.

I look into a little rear view mirror and see him pushing a button on the side of one of the motors. A few seconds later, their overpowering roar quiets a few notches. I look over my shoulder; the wind whips my hair across my face.

“What did you do?” I ask as he comes back to me.

“Shifted the motors to a different setting. Kind of like shifting down a gear.”

Now the loudest thing in my ears is the whipping wind. He stands so close to me we’re practically hip to hip, and then he wraps an arm around my back.

“Are you cold?” he asks. “You’re shivering a little.”

Omigod, I’m not shivering. I’m trembling. With lust.

I swallow. Shake my head. I try to step away from him, I swear I do, but my legs are frozen. He’s got me entranced. Not him. His delectable body.

“Quit acting like you care if I’m cold.”

I tighten my hands around the wheel, and for a second I swear I can feel his hardness against my butt. The sensation is gone as quickly as I notice it, but I’m so fired up now I can barely remember my own name, feeling sweaty and shaky and flushed.

His hand comes down beside mine on the wheel, tugging it slightly right. “Hold it there for a few minutes,” he says. The boat veers right a foot or two, and the current ripples around us.

For the next five minutes, the only sound is that of the motors, the splash of water under us, and the whipping wind. The sailboat never quite goes fast enough to completely level off, so the nose of the boat, where we’re standing, rides just a little higher than the back.

Little droplets of water fly into my face. We pass a large boat, flat and slow-moving, like a barge. Overhead, the sky darkens, threatening to spill.

We pass a group of three small, tree-covered islands on our left, and my heart pounds, wondering if one of them is Gertrude’s. Race doesn’t move, though, so I shift my eyes ahead, where I can already see something else in the water. Another half mile or so reveals an even larger island: this one sporting dozens of tall pines.

“Beautiful,” I murmur.

“Perhaps it could be yours,” he says with a funny little half-smile. “I can see if it’s for sale.”

“No thanks. If I need one, I’ll take yours.”

We zip over the ocean’s surface, rushing the gray sky that seems to hang low over the water; Race’s arm brushes mine, and I can feel us lose a little momentum.

And then I see it: the widest island so far, covered with so many trees, it looks like someone took a swatch of luscious southern forest and plunked it down in the middle of the ocean. I frown at all the trees inside the dark sand border: pines, oaks, cypresses.

“Gorgeous,” I whisper.

And then he rocks against my ass. I feel the hardness of his cock. I hang onto the wheel as my knees tremble.

WOLFE

I press my dick against her.

Reckless.

Instinctive.

Necessary.

I can almost scent her wet cunt; I’ve been with enough women to recognize the glazed eyes, unsteady feet, flushed cheeks, hard nipples. She wants me. She may not like me, but she fucking wants me just like I want her. She confirms this with a wiggle of her ass against my swollen, aching cock. My balls fist up.

I grit my teeth to avoid moaning. I wrap one arm over her shoulder, folding her against my chest because my cock needs to feel that round ass.

We near the shore; I flip a switch to pull the motors up.

As the wind dies down I hear her panting.

“Oh my God, you’re such a fucking asshole.”

I rock against her and groan my words: “Bad first impression, baby.”

She rubs her ass against my cock. “I’m not…your baby.”

I reach around and unfasten her jeans button, yank the zipper down, reach inside. I place my hand over her mound. I’m so jacked up I can barely see straight but I have to take this slow. Can’t just dip inside.

“I want you.”

“This is crazy,” she says.

I clasp her hip with my left hand and curl the pointer finger of my right hand, dragging over her soft, hot, panty-covered flesh just to see how she responds.

The waves knock the boat into gentle rocking as we creep toward the shore. My finger slides down toward her slit. She gasps.

I can feel her wetness through cotton.

“I want to slip inside you. Not my dick. My finger.”

I hear her exhale in a rush and I lift the elastic of her panties. I slide my hand inside—palm rough against her velvet skin. My finger strokes over her puffy flesh, glides into the silky moisture of her slit. She sags against me.

“Hate you…”

I glide my fingertip through the wetness, stroking down toward her core. She rocks against me, gasping. I cup her, placing my thumb over her clit, urging my middle finger down, inside.

“Oh, fuck.”

“Fuck,” she echoes.

I curl my finger brushing her G-spot; I gently rub my thumb over her clit. “I want to taste you. I would love to taste you.”

“I’d…hate that!”

“I want to see you hate it. Turn around. Like this.” I drag my hand out of her, guide her hips so she’s facing me. Her mouth hangs slightly open as I work her jeans and panties to her knees; I’m thrilled to find her just as brilliant red as I had hoped.

“So beautiful.”

I run my finger over her tight curls. I part her lips with reverence, inhaling deeply her sweet scent. I touch my mouth down on her as my finger finds its way inside. She sinks onto me. I balance her on my arm and guide her to the boat’s floor, where it’s damp with sea spray.

I move my finger in and out. With the tip of my tongue, I trace her up and down.

“Oh fuck! Oh God!”

“Come for me. Take your time, but you will come for me.”

I slide a second finger in. She’s lying down now, face toward the sky, legs spread. She tastes sweet, and I devour her like island fruit.

“Oh God… Oh no… Yes. Oh…fuck… Oh yes.”

Her hips rock up to meet my mouth. My tongue rolls gently, softly over her.

“That feels so good.”

I push my fingers in as far as they will go.

“So full…” she gasps.

I’m not surprised at all when she jerks her hips up off the floor and comes with a guttural shriek.

But I’m shocked that I come with her.

RED

I fall back to earth in pieces, with the rain. Cold, hard rain. Stinging rain. He pulls my pants and underwear up and lifts me underneath my ass and back, putting me over his shoulder like one might a child. I open my bleary eyes and realize that we’re touching sand. The boat sits sideways on the shore, knocked here by the tide.