I hear my camera snapping to life and Luke’s breathing has changed.
“Finished with those?” I ask.
“Yes,” he whispers. I turn back to face him and jump up on the rail, sitting.
“Careful!”
“I’m fine, I won’t fall in.” I scoot so I’m sitting at an angle and pull my right foot up to rest on the railing. My tattoo is exposed. “Snap away.”
He zooms in on my foot and presses the shutter about ten times.
“I hate to disappoint you,” I mutter dryly, “But the last tattoo will have to just remain our little secret.”
His eyes darken as he steps back and takes more photos of me.
“So no one else has seen these tattoos?” he asks, the camera still up at his face.
“Most of them.”
“What does that mean?” He lowers the camera and glares at me.
Crap.
“The one on my pubis is the newest one, and no one but you and the artist have seen it. The one on my back can sometimes be seen when I’m wearing a certain style of top or dress, but no one’s ever asked me what it means. In fact, no one but you knows what any of them mean.”
“And your side and leg?” he asks.
I shrug. “I wasn’t a virgin when I met you.”
He frowns and looks down and I’m desperate to lift this mood.
“Hey.” I hop off the rail and close the gap between us. “The past is over, Luke. For both of us.”
“I know.” He swallows and looks at me with those blue eyes. “It just makes me a little crazy that other men have touched you.”
“Honey,” I smile and run my fingers down his face. “Your touch is the only one that’s ever mattered. You’ve introduced me to feelings I didn’t know existed. Don’t worry about before. You are all I see. Besides,” I take the camera back from him and put the lens cap back on. “You, my love, were certainly no virgin either.”
“How do you know? Maybe I was.”
He chuckles.
“There is no way that you can be as good as you are in bed and be a virgin.”
“Oh? How good am I?” He winks at me and pulls me into his arms, running his hands down my mostly-naked back.
“Hmm… you’re fair.” He laughs as he bends down and places feather-soft kisses at the side of my mouth.
“Fair, huh?”
“Yeah, I endure it. For your sake.”
“You just endure it?” He continues to move those skilled, soft lips across my jaw and over to my ear.
“It’s a real hardship, but somehow I find the willpower.”
He chuckles and cups my face gently in his hands, sweeping his lips over mine, back and forth lightly, then sinks down into me and kisses me deeply, but still softly. Lovingly. Like we have all day. I hold onto his hips, lacing my middle fingers through the belt loops, half of my hand on the fabric and half on his bare skin.
God, my man can kiss.
He pulls back and, still holding my face, gazes into my eyes.
“Wow.” I murmur and his face lights up with humor.
“Did you endure that okay?”
“You are really good at that.”
“So are you. Did you bring a dress?”
I blink at the change of subject.
“Yeah, why?”
“I have something planned for dinner.”
“Oh. I was going to take sunset pictures.”
“You still can. Bring the camera along.”
“Okay. When are we leaving?”
“In a half hour.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“It’s a surprise, birthday girl.” He smiles and runs his thumb across my lower lip.
“My birthday is over.”
“This is your birthday vacation, so you’re still the birthday girl.” He kisses me chastely, then links my hand with his and leads me inside.
Our hut, although hut is really the wrong word for it, is absolutely breathtaking. It’s really a bungalow over the water. No little hotel hut would be sufficient for my man.
Our space is large, sporting two bedrooms, a large common area and two bathrooms. The bigger of the two bathrooms has a two person tub that sits right out in the open on a deck, with open views of the ocean. In fact, most of the rooms are open to the outside air with beautiful floaty curtains to pull for a little privacy. The floors are dark wood, but there are glass openings in most of the rooms so you can look down at the fish below.
The furnishings are plush, expensive and inviting. The master bed is large with soft white sheets, duvet and pillows. The common area has plenty of color; oranges, yellows and reds. It’s truly beautiful.
“Have you been here before?” I ask as I pull out my dress and heels.
“No, first time. You won’t need the heels.”
“Oh, okay. Flip flops?”
“Yeah.”
“Are we going somewhere in the sand?”
He smiles and winks. Okay, not gonna tell me.
“Are you going to change?”
He pulls on a white short sleeved button down shirt and leaves it unbuttoned. “There, all changed.”
I laugh and reach behind me to pull the strings on my bikini, letting it fall in my hands. Looking down, I do the same to the bottoms. I walk naked to the dresser and reach in for a thong.
“No underwear.” I turn and gape at him. His eyes are smoldering.
“But…”
“No. Underwear.”
Jeez. He’s so bossy. And I like it.
Weird.
“Okay.” I pull the black tank dress over my head and smooth it in place and slip my feet in my black flip flops. I run my brush through my hair vigorously then tie it in a simple braid down the left side so it rests over my left breast. I brush on a light coat of mascara and turn around to find Luke watching me, his expression unreadable.
“I’m ready.”
He shakes his head as if pulling his thoughts together and smiles at me tenderly. “Let’s go.”
***
“So what has been your favorite part of our trip so far?” I ask Luke as I take a bite of my steak. He’s surprised me with dinner, in the water on a private tiny island. The resort boated us over, where the small table was already set with our meals and drinks, the table and chairs sitting in the shallow, perfectly clear water on pure white sand.
This almost rivals the vineyard on the romance scale.
“Snorkeling today was fun.” He takes a sip of wine and shrugs. “My favorite part is being here with you.”
I shake my head and smile.