Chapter 1

1

The wet sand formed a hard bed beneath Nick’s shoulders, but he barely noticed. The splash of cold waves against his feet, not to mention the solid body on top of his, was too much of a distraction. He shivered every time the water ran down his legs in long, playful caresses, even though the thermometer was crawling higher and his skin was flushed from sun and arousal. The lips pressed to his were salty and demanding, like a force of nature that couldn’t be ignored or denied. Those long kisses, more than the ocean and the heat and the sand, made Nick’s head spin. At that moment, he couldn’t think of anything except tasting more of the man’s mouth.

“What’s your name?”

Nick shook his head. They weren’t going to worry about names. On the island, they didn’t need names. They were unwelcome reminders of the world outside the tiny tropical paradise. Anchors tied around necks. If you gave your first name, you might as well give over your last name as well. And from there, the floodgates of information would open. Address and emails and phone numbers. Then maybe they would both talk a little bit about their jobs, their hobbies, and why they were on the island in the first place. That wasn’t what he wanted and certainly not what he’d paid for.

His new lover didn’t repeat the question. Either he didn’t really care about the answer, or he correctly interpreted Nick’s silence. Instead, he dragged his tongue across Nick’s neck, gathering up the small beads of moisture he found there—a mix of salt and seawater.

Nick had been standing in the waves when he saw the stranger wandering down the beach and, even from a distance, the sight of the man’s body made him hard. He had doubted whether he would take advantage of allthe perks he had paid for, but as soon as he saw the stranger, his doubts had fled.

The man’s body was perfect. Definitely the stuff of dreams and fantasies. He was tall. Well over six feet. And his shoulders were broad, his arms and legs thickly corded with muscle. Silver hair covered his chest and tapered down his flat stomach. He had black hair, except for the matching streaks of silver at his temple. Nick usually didn’t go for older models, but he usually never met anybody this gorgeous either. He had flagged the other man down immediately, smiling as he diverted into the waves without hesitation.

They had stumbled out of the ocean together, fingers entwined as their mouths crashed together for the first time. Nick hadn’t even realized how much he needed that very thing until he was caught in some stranger’s embrace and the sun and the air and the water. It felt like every single inch of his body was being caressed—what the stranger didn’t touch, Mother Nature did.

The man’s mouth moved lower on Nick’s chest, his wide tongue sliding over every bit of skin he could reach. The sand didn’t seem to bother him. Neither did the taste of salt, or the thick hair that covered most of Nick’s body. The stranger’s tongue brushed along the side of Nick’s nipple, and his stomach and groin tightened in response. He jerked his hips off the ground, letting his cock slide across the man’s stomach. They both moaned at that, and it occurred to Nick that he wasn’t sure if the man would fuck him or not. It also occurred to him that they didn’t have condoms and that seemed like it might be a problem.

Until the man wrapped five long fingers around Nick’s shaft. Then he forgot all about condoms and everything else that wasn’t directly related to the rough hand on his cock. He pumped his wrist in hard strokes, spreading sand and water and pre-come up and down Nick’s shaft. Nick grasped the back of the man’s head, his fingers threading through the thick hair, and pulled him up until their mouths met again. At the first moment of contact, the man’s fingers flexed, tightening to the point of pain. Nick gasped against the man’s mouth, torn between screaming and moaning and begging for more. He pumped his hips frantically, fucking the stranger’s hand, wishing for his mouth, or his ass, and wishing it would never have to stop.

There was a buzzing in his ears and it grew louder by the second. His brain tried to filter it out, dismissing it as nothing more than the ocean encroaching on the beach, reaching higher and higher. Nick had no intention of lifting his head until they were completely under water, and even then, he would have a hard time pulling himself away from the stranger’s addicting mouth.

He didn’t want to lose his control too soon. He was more than a little afraid that if he climaxed, the stranger would leave, considering it a job well done. On the other hand, Nick was desperate for the release. He wanted to paint the stranger’s tan skin. He wanted to watch his thick come roll down the ridges of his sculpted stomach and get caught on the edge of his hip. He wanted to turn the man onto his back and lick him clean, and taste his own spunk and it mingle with the salt on his lover’s skin.