My mouth connected with his, my tongue seeking as he positioned me over his hardness. He wasted no time, both of us already frenzied as he guided himself into me in one motion. I was more than ready, my head falling backward as he filled me, a cry of pleasure on my lips.

We both needed this so badly.

As my body arched in ecstasy, his mouth latched onto me, sucking hard. I could feel his need, which matched my own. We’d been apart too long. I rocked forward and backward, building a rhythm, the cool water lapping against us, earning a moan from him. “Jessica,” he whispered, his hands running up to my shoulders and back down. “I can’t be apart from you this long again.”

“I know,” I replied. His hands found their way to my hips and gripped me firmly, rocking us together hard. “But if you keep that up, it’s going to end quicker than I’d like.” I wrapped my hands around his neck and smiled into his lips, resting my forehead against his as my eyes slid shut. “You feel so good.”

“There’s a lot more where this came from.” He slowed to a more languorous rate, which made my toes curl. “You realize we can’t think about getting off this island until morning. Once it’s full dark, it will be impossible.” He growled into my lips, his possession making me shudder with pleasure. “So I’m going to make this night as enjoyable as I can.” He punctuated that statement with a firm thrust.

I answered by covering his mouth with mine and taking him deep, my body responding in kind. I rocked against him, my abs flexing against his with each thrust. I moaned.

“Let go, Jessica,” Rourke whispered, his hands gripping me tightly, increasing the rhythm, pounding against me, each thrust more delicious than the last.

I threw my head back as did exactly that, ceasing to care about anything in the entire universe.

Except for him.

I squinted into the morning sunlight. We were curled up under a palm tree, one of my arms was casually draped over Rourke’s torso. I yawned, turning to nuzzle my face into his neck.

“Um, excuse me, ma’am,” a polite voice interrupted the silence. “I’m sorry to bother you, but we’re about to set this beach up for a wedding. You may want to head back to the main island before more… people arrive. There should be a ferryboat coming in about fifteen minutes. There’s a nude beach on the main island, on the north side.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I shot straight up, shielding my delicate parts with my arms as best I could. I was so surprised by the sudden appearance of what looked to be a very nice waiter, the question had come out much louder and harsher than I’d intended.

The poor worker, who could not have been more than twenty-one, took a surprised step backward at the alarm in my voice. He was dressed all in white, his uniform crisp and formal. “Um… I was telling you about… the ferry…”

Good grief, we had landed in a five-star resort.

Rourke opened a lazy eye next to me, a full grin playing on his lips. He had known this guy was coming up on us and I socked him in the arm for not warning me sooner. He chuckled as he rose to a sitting position. I leaned behind him to further conceal my nudity as he addressed our poor shaken waiter. “Glad you found us. We got a little tipsy last night… after the last ferry ride… and seem to have gotten lost. We decided it was safer to stay here instead of trying to find our way back.”

“It’s no problem at all, sir,” the waiter answered gravely. “I have some linen on my cart and you can use it… to cover up.” He gulped as Rourke flexed his arms to brush the sand off. “I think the tablecloths will be big enough to conceal most of you. But you both should head out before the others start coming. I,” he stammered, “I… don’t want you to be…”

I nodded, trying to swallow and not choke on my tongue from laughter. “It’s no problem, really,” I managed. “We’d be grateful for the linens, and then we’ll be on our way lickety-split. If you could be so kind as to direct us back to the docks, since we got turned around last night, that would help immensely.”

As he scurried away, Rourke let out a bellow of laughter in a delicious deep bass and I slapped him on the shoulder, giggling myself. “That wasn’t funny! I think we scarred that poor boy for life.”

“I’m sure he’s seen worse, especially if there’s a nude beach on the main island.” He chuckled. “I heard the boats this morning, so I knew we weren’t alone. It was only a matter of time.”

“Good grief,” I muttered. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” I scooted back to the base of the palm tree, pulling my knees up tight and wrapping my arms around my legs, making sure everything was covered. At the last minute, I piled some sand around my bottom.

“Because you hadn’t slept in days,” he replied, arching an eye over his shoulder at me. “The only time your body can truly shut down is when you’re with me. Your wolf knows I will protect you. And don’t sit there and tell me you didn’t need it, because that’s bullshit. You slept like the dead, snoring with your mouth open, and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

I couldn’t argue. Just that little bit of sleep had invigorated me. Not to mention all the other relaxing releases I’d had during the night. I actually felt great. “Grab the summoning stone. It’s by your foot. And I don’t snore.” After we’d finished in the ocean, I’d realized the stone had popped out of my mouth upon impact. We’d found it a few yards from where we’d landed. It gave off a wave of otherworldliness, so it hadn’t been hard to find.

Rourke palmed the rock right as a throat was politely cleared beside us. “Um,” the waiter said, approaching slowly. “Here you go.” He held out two nicely folded tablecloths. “If you exit the beach by my cart, just over the rise you’ll hit a path to the ferry dock. It’s about two hundred yards through the vegetation on the other side. The ferry should be there once you arrive.”

I took one of the proffered linens from his outstretched hands and Rourke took the other. “Thank you so much,” I replied. “We’ll head out right away. And we’re so sorry to have bothered you.”

“Really,” the waiter said. “It’s not a problem. You aren’t… even the first I’ve seen here. Overnights… do happen.”