“Because he’s Charlie and is too noble for his own good. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t help but shake the feeling that something horrible is about to happen to him, and he knows it.”
“Mackenzie, look at me,” Tyler said and I pulled my head out of his chest to see a look of concern on his face. “I may not have always been the biggest Charlie supporter…even now, I’m still not certain of his motives…but I promise to do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to him. I’ll have my guys work harder at finding him and try to figure out what he knows. We’ll do everything we can to uncover the truth here. That way, no one else gets hurt. Okay?”
“Okay,” I whispered, the intensity in his gaze burning into me as the sound of early morning on the shore echoed around us. The wind was calm, the waves light, and we welcomed our first day as a married couple.
Safe and secure in Tyler’s arms, despite the unease I couldn’t shake from my phone call with Charlie, I turned around to watch the sun peek over the horizon. Wasn’t that what love was supposed to do? Help you forget your problems? Make you feel that everything would work out? Shelter you from the heartache? Uplift you when you were at your lowest?
Splaying his hands across my stomach, he inhaled deeply. “Mmmm…,” he groaned, the huskiness in his voice making me want to melt into him, our two bodies to become one and never separate again. “Cinnamon.” He gently pushed against me and I could feel how aroused he was.
“You’re a fiend, Mr. Burnham.”
“Only for you, Mrs. Burnham.”
My heart warmed at the sound of that rolling off his tongue and I spun around, wrapping my arms around him as he pinned me to the railing of the balcony, his devilish eyes causing a burning excitement to stir in my stomach. “I like the sound of that,” I whispered, tilting my head toward his, desperate to feel his lips on mine. But every time I drew closer to his mouth, he pulled back, keeping me on edge.
“As do I. Want to know why?”
Biting my lower lip, I nodded, keeping my eyes on his, the green vibrant on that chilly November morning.
“Because it means I belong to you, and you to me.”
Running my fingers through his hair, trying with everything in me to pull his lips against mine, I said, “How very Neanderthal of you.”
“I’ve never heard you complain about my caveman tactics before. In fact, if I remember correctly, you get turned on when I go all, and I quote, ‘protective ape man’ on you.”
“That was months ago.” I smirked. “I may have changed my mind since then.”
“Oh, really?” He raised his eyebrows in a flirtatious manner.
“Yes, really.”
“We’ll see about that,” he growled, grabbing my hips and hoisting me onto the balcony railing. Looking over my shoulder, I was thankful the railing was quite wide, at least several feet, making it nearly impossible for anyone to lose their balance.
I yanked at his boxer briefs, pulling him toward me. Wrapping my legs around him, I locked him in place. His eyes grew even more hooded, his chest heaving, his stare carnal and full of lust.
“Kiss me.” I closed my eyes, desperate to feel his lips on mine. Since that first kiss all those months ago, I had grown addicted to them, each kiss different and unexpected.
“Not yet.”
“Why?” I whined playfully, loosening the grip my legs had around him. This was all part of his game and I loved every exhilarating moment. The anticipation was almost as fulfilling as the catch. The longer we waited, the more I burned for him, and he knew it. My body gave me away by the way it reacted to his nearness, my nipples alert, my skin flush, my breathing uneven.
“Because I want my lips on other parts of your body first,” he explained, yanking at the tie around my robe, allowing it to fall open.
I shrugged the robe off my shoulders, leaving me totally exposed. Tyler’s eyes remained fixed and calm as he surveyed my body. He took his time, raking over me as if trying to memorize every dimple and curve. Without warning, he grabbed my hair, forcing my head back as he ran his tongue down my neck. My skin flamed, despite the chilly temperature.
“Do you like that we’re outside where anyone could walk by and see us?”
“Yes,” I said quickly, feeling as if I was about to fall over the metaphorical edge the second he touched me. It didn’t matter that he had given me too many orgasms to count throughout the night as we made love over and over again. This was different. Another unexpected side of Tyler.
“Do you remember the night we met?” he whispered, his tongue traveling down my body.
I nodded, not uttering a sound.
“Do you remember what you told me? How you tried to convince me that your body was flushed because you had been drinking?”
A finger trailed over my protruding stomach, finding its way to the spot I needed him to touch.
“I was able to read your body that night, Mackenzie. You wanted me. God, you wanted me so fucking bad, but you refused to admit it.”
Kneeling in front of me, his hands clutched onto my thighs, spreading them, and the warmth of his breath between my legs made my chest rise and fall. The promise of what was about to happen would be my undoing.
“Do you want to know what I thought about all night long?”
“Yes,” I responded, although I knew it was a rhetorical question.
“Your pink lips and how they would taste.”
I moaned as his breath grew closer to my center.
“And I thought about doing this to you all night long, how much I wanted to hear you scream my name.”
Finally, his mouth was on me, his tongue circling me, exploring as if it were the first time.
“But you played hard to get,” he said, pulling away. I cried in frustration and opened my eyes to see a frisky smirk on Tyler’s face. “There was a moment when I considered throwing in the towel, thinking no woman was worth this amount of effort, mission be damned.”
Grabbing onto the balcony railing, he slithered up my body, his tongue roaming over every dip and crevice as he stepped out of his boxer briefs.
“I tried to stay away,” he admitted, his lips hovering over mine. His eyes burned into me, his formerly lascivious gaze replaced by one of yearning and idolization. “I didn’t want to do anything to hurt you and I knew being with me would destroy you. But I couldn’t stop thinking about you. We had barely spoken ten words to each other, Serafina, but the thought of letting you walk away crushed me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t exist. So I let down my walls. I let you see the real Tyler. I wanted you to fall in love with the real me, not the person I was supposed to be for my job, not the person I had been for years. You brought the real Tyler back. You breathed life into this dead heart with your kiss…”
Pressing his lips to mine, he caressed my tongue with his. I wrapped my legs around his waist, the space between us too much. He was a part of me and I never wanted to be separated from him again.
“With your touch…” He traced the outline of my neck, his tongue following, lighting me on fire.
“With your love…” His voice was serene as he pushed into me, filling me and withdrawing in quick forceful movements. His motions were at odds with his calm voice and gentle eyes. I tried to hold back my screams, but was unable, both of our voices rebounding in the air on that perfect November morning.
I grasped his hips as they continued their relentless motion, my fingernails digging into his skin. His rhythm grew more frenzied and punishing, a guttural moan escaping his lips as sweat dotted his forehead.
“Harder,” I murmured, a surge of electricity running from my toes and everywhere in between. My mind was blank, all my decisions motivated by that unmistakable sensation of euphoria and bliss only Tyler Burnham could give me.
He grabbed my hair, forcing my head back once more and clamped onto my neck, causing me to yelp and moan, the pain only heightening the pleasure coursing through me. I had never felt as alive as I did at that moment, Tyler’s teeth digging into my skin, forcing an orgasm to ravage through my body. He picked up his pace even more, finally letting out a low grunt, signaling his own release.