New Title 1 (34 page)

I slammed out of the room and walked down to the beach without a coat. It was a lot cooler now
that it was night time. Oh well, I’d wanted to see the stars.

I sat down on the sand and
moodily wrapped my arms around my knees. A light breeze was blowing off the sea, and moonlight glimmered on the water. The surf had almost completely dropped away. Sebastian was right: it would be as flat as glass tomorrow.

I buried my
boots into the still-warm sand and listened to the tide lapping against the shoreline, as regular as breathing.

I was irritated with myself for my tantrum, but I was more
than annoyed with Sebastian for nearly getting himself arrested – and for not appearing to think anything of it. But at the heart of it was my fear that his recklessness would lead him to doing something really stupid when he was…
out there
. I didn’t even want to think about where he was going – where we were going.

It wasn
’t long before I heard his quiet footsteps in the sand. I pulled my arms around my knees more tightly as Sebastian sat down next to me, gently placing his old, leather jacket around my shoulders.

“Want some wine?” he said. “It tastes great straight from the bottle.”

I leaned against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around me.

“Sebastian, promise me you won
’t be reckless. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you now.”

“Caro, I
’m never reckless when I’m working. Well, maybe some of the off duty stuff, but not when I’m working, I promise. I’d never have gotten promoted if I was a complete fuck-up. Don’t worry about me. Besides, I’ve got a reason to come home now, okay?”

“I will worry.”

“And I’ll worry about you, too. You’ve still got a chance to go home where I know you’ll be safe, Caro. Please?”

I sat up stiffly.

“Don’t even think about screwing up my papers again, Hunter!”

“
Whoa! Slow down!”

He held out his hands defensively
.

“
I promised I wouldn’t, Caro, even though I really fucking want to.” He paused. “So, have you finished stomping all over me with your boots?”

I sighed. “For now, unless you ask me to
, nicely.”

He laughed gently.
“I’ll bear that in mind. Can I kiss you, or am I risking serious injury?”

I pushed him back onto the sand and made myself comfortable lying across his chest.

Under the moonlight his skin was pale and silvery, every hint of tan bleached away. I traced his profile with my finger, and then tilted his face towards me, kissing him lightly on the lips.

“This brings back memories,” I said
, feeling soothed.

He smiled up at me. “Yeah! Sex on the beach was one of those things that everyone at school used to brag about, and then I got to do it with you. That first time, that was one of the best nights of my life.”

“The first time we ever spent a whole night together.”

“You want to relive good times, Caro?”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I left our one and only condom in the room.”

He sighed and closed his eyes.

“Besides,” I continued, “I’ve kind of got a thing for beds these days. Call me old-fashioned.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he said wistfully. “I really liked having sex in your car though. That was hot.”

“Oh my God, yes! Although I’d have to say that sex in that closet at the country club was pretty amazing, too. No, wait, the hotel in Little Italy. That room looked like a wild animal had rampaged through it by the time you’d finished!”

“Wild animal, huh?” he said, looking pleased with himself. “Yeah, well, I think I can improve on that now, baby.”

“Oh, you do, do you? Because I’ve got to tell you, Sebastian, you never ran out of condoms when you were 17.”

“Ouch! Low blow,
Ms. Venzi.”

I laughed. “True
, though.”

“Yeah, well, I
’ll fix that tomorrow and then you won’t be getting
any
sleep, woman.”

“Heard it all before, Chief, but it
ain’t happened yet.”

I lay
back down on his chest, and drew pictures on his T-shirt with my finger.

“So, who was your first woman, after me, I mean?”

I felt his arms tense.

“Why do you want to know that?”

“Just curious.”

He sighed. “I don
’t really want to go there, Caro. It was… a bad time for me.”

“Ok
ay, I’m sorry. You don’t have to.”

We lay there in silence for some minutes.

“Will you tell Ches that we’re… back together?”

“Of course I will, Caro. Ches is my brother,” he said, simply.

“He’ll be surprised.”

“Fuck, yes!”

“Do you think he’ll be okay about it? I mean, I’m sure my name would have been dirt with him.”

“Ches isn
’t like that. He was pretty shocked by everything that went down that day at your place, but he knew that what we had was real. He’s my buddy: he’ll be pleased.”

“When are you going to tell him?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. When are you going to tell your friends about me?”

“Are you kidding?” I laughed. “After your little stunt with Nicole it
’ll be hot news in NYC by now. Your photograph will be on screensavers everywhere.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, don’t be all coy with me, Hunter. You know you’re cute.”

He grinned up at me. “Just
as long as you think so.”

“I think you
’re devilishly handsome, with the emphasis on ‘devil’.”

“Yeah, well as it happens,
Ms. Venzi, I think you’ve got some devil inside you, too.”

“Oh, I
’d really like to have some devil inside me right now, Sebastian.”

He sat up, pulling me with him.

“Let’s go,” he said.

It wasn
’t a request.

I stood up and brushed some of the sand off my pants,
while Sebastian retrieved the bottle of wine that he’d stashed in the dunes.

We strolled back to our room, and every now and then, Sebastian would pull my hand to his lips and kiss
my fingers gently.

But once we were in the room it was a different story. It was as if someone had flicked a switch in his body: gone was sweet, gentle Sebastian; in his place was a man on a mission who knew what he wanted, and
he wanted it now.

No sooner had we closed the door than he pushed me up against it and start
ed kissing me hard, one hand molding my breasts, the other pushing down inside my jeans.

“Where
’s that fucking condom?” he muttered.

“Bedside table,” I gasped.

He strode over and snatched up the condom, and had already ripped the foil off before he got back to me.

“Sebastian, the bed?” I said, doubtfully.

“No, here.”

He unzipped his pants and expertly rolled the condom down his erection with one hand. Then he yanked down my zipper and lifted me up by
my hips.

“Wrap your legs around me, baby,” he said, the tension evident in his voice.

“How?” I gasped, pointing at my jeans that were trapped around my knees.

He swore and
yanked them further down, but found they were caught by my boots. Instead of waiting the 30 seconds it would take for me to kick them off, he stepped over the denim and ignored the trailing material.

He rammed into me and I cried out. His face was buried in my neck, his breath coming in loud gasps as his body worked faster and faster. I held onto his shoulders while he pounded me into the door. It was so raw and urgent, so completely unexpected, I thought I could see stars.

And then his phone rang.

“Oh, fuck!”

“What? Don’t stop, Sebastian!”

He carried me over to the bed, still joined together, and pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket.

“Sebastian,” I whimpered.

“Just a minute, baby, I
’ve got to take this call. It’s my CO’s ringtone.”

What?!

“Hunter, sir.”

Then there was a long pause and I shifted uncomfortably, and he frowned at me.

Fuck you, Hunter! You’re answering the phone during rampant sex, and you’re frowning at me?

He r
aised one eyebrow, smirked, then started moving again in a way that should not be permitted while carrying on a phone conversation.

Thrust.

“Yes, sir.”

Thrust.

“No, Italy, sir.”

Thrust, thrust, thrust.

I gasped and bit back a moan.

Thrust, thrust, hip roll, thrust.

“Um… I’ve just been out for a run.”

Thrust, thrust.

“Yes, sir.”

Hip roll, thrust, thrust.

“Yes, sir.”

Pound, pound, pound
, thrust, thrust, thrust.

“
I’ll be there.”

Then he threw the phone in the corn
er, dropped me onto the bed, angling his hips in a way that made me gasp, and I threw my head back. He fastened his mouth over my nipple so I could feel his teeth through my bra and T-shirt.