Four Weddings. Fiona Lowe

her core to fever pitch, driving her higher and higher and higher until pleasure morphed with pain and the temptation of release taunted her.

      Shuddering, she clenched against his fingers as his thumb circled her.

      Reality receded. Sensation consumed her.

      Colours exploded in her head as a cry of release left her throat.

      A deliciously languid feeling rolled through her as her mind slowly came back to the present. Strong arms cradled her to a broad chest and she laid her head on Tom’s shoulders. ‘Thank you.’

      His eyes, thick with desire, stared down at her. ‘You’re welcome.’

      ‘That was incredible. I had no idea it could feel like that.’ She trailed her forefinger across his chest, enjoying the dips and rises of toned muscle, and slowly snaked a path downward. ‘I think I could perhaps return the favour on the beach.’

      He gripped her harder. ‘If you want me to walk to the beach, you’d better stop your hand’s adventures right now.’ His voice rasped.

      She laughed, overjoyed that her touch could wield so much influence. Reluctantly she moved away from him. ‘I’ll race you to shore. This time I might just win.’

      She ducked under the water in a shallow dive and swam the short distance until the length between her and the sand was only a few centimetres. She ran out of the water toward the picnic rug all set out for them. She bent down, quickly grabbing the rug, and ran toward a secluded area, surrounded by trees.

      ‘Gotcha.’ Tom’s hand gently closed around her upper arm.

      She turned straight into his arms, melding her mouth to his. Together they fell to the rug. Hands tore at bathers until they were skin on skin. Need meeting need.

      ‘I need you now,’ his hoarse voice implored.

      She gloried in his words. ‘I need you, too.’ Cupping his jaw with her hands, keeping her gaze riveted to his, she lowered herself over him. Glorifying in the fire of the stretch as she filled herself with him. Moulding herself to him. Claiming him as hers.

      Ecstasy played across his face as she rose with him. With gazes fused, they drove each other closer and closer toward the precipice. Together they dived into the glorious vortex, shattering simultaneously, re-forming as one.

       CHAPTER NINE

      ‘HEY!’ TOM DUCKED as Bec cracked open a cooked crab and fluid sprayed down his arm.

      ‘Sorry. Crabs are a lot of effort for little return, aren’t they?’ She was nestled between his legs and together they were eating their way through an enormous seafood meal.

      She turned her head slightly and flicked out her tongue, trailing a line along his biceps, licking the errant moisture from his skin. ‘Oh, you taste all salty.’ She giggled, leaning back against him and looking up into his face.

      Heat slammed him. ‘I imagine you do, too. Perhaps I should find out.’ He leaned down and kissed her, unable to resist the touch and taste of those tempting lips. He felt cocooned in time. Cocooned in Halong Bay, as if they were the only two people who existed in the world.

      He released her mouth. ‘Just as I thought—salty. But I might have to do some more research.’

      She laughed and leaned forward toward the food, this time shelling the most enormous prawns he’d ever seen.

      For three hours they’d had this tiny beach to themselves. They’d spent their time swimming, eating and just enjoying being together. And the best sex you’ve ever had in your life.

      Their lovemaking had been exhilarating and intense. He thought his frantic, consuming need to possess her would have been sated after they’d made love, but it hadn’t gone away. Instead, it had evolved into something different, less wild, more defined, more real. He longed to make love to her slowly, to fully explore her in the comfort of a bed. He wanted to know what stirred her, what would cause her to yearn for his touch, and what made her reach for him.

      He’d never experienced anything like it with any other woman. The craving to constantly touch her burned strongly—a hand on her shoulder, an arm around her waist, his lips on her hair—and he’d kept her close to him ever since they’d fallen back on the picnic rug, exhausted but replete.

      ‘Tom, look over there.’ Bec pointed to the sky.

      Black clouds bore down on the white fluffy ones that scudded across the sky. ‘Rain coming. We better head back. Do you want to swim or go in the basket boat?’

      She gave a wry smile. ‘It’s a moot point whether a trip in the basket boat is really more like a swim. Besides, I’ve eaten so much, I think I could do with the exercise.’ She stood up, stretched and rubbed her belly.

      His desire for her, always simmering inside him, boiled over at the sight of her fingers splayed against her rounded belly. He pulled her to him. ‘I’ve got an idea of how we could exercise.’

      Her eyes deepened to a purple hue. ‘Is that so?’

      ‘Mmm.’ He dipped his head to her neck, kissing her, sucking her skin into his mouth as the overpowering urge to mark her as his hit him. ‘After all, it’s going to be raining.’

      A wicked grin danced across her face. ‘So we’d need to exercise indoors.’

      ‘I was thinking behind closed doors. My cabin door.’ He extended his kisses as she tilted her head back. ‘After I’ve washed all that salt water off you in the shower.’

      He heard her moan, the sound thrilling him to his marrow.

      She spun out of his arms and jogged to the water’s edge calling over her shoulder, ‘Don’t be too long or I’ll have used all the hot water.’ She splashed into the water and dived in.

      He followed, chasing a promise.

      She outswam him and five minutes later he hauled himself up the steep steps into the stern of the boat. He strode up the long, narrow corridor, water streaming off him. Pushing open his cabin door, he expected to be greeted by the sound of running water.

      Silence.

      The bed lay empty and so did the bathroom. Confused, he turned and headed back out into the corridor. He met Bec fully clothed again in her Vietnamese gear, her brow creased in concern. She clutched the medical backpack. The transformation from siren to nurse was startling. The only hint of their time on the beach was her wet hair.

      Disappointment slugged him.

      ‘The cook has sliced his hand badly with the carving knife. I’ve bound it but we need your stitching prowess.’

      He stared at her, his brain slowly computing as his libido receded.

      She smiled at him like he was a child. ‘You might want to grab a towel and meet me up on deck.’

      Everything fell into place. ‘Right. Yes, of course. I’ll be up there in a minute.’ He watched her walk along the corridor. He imagined he had X-ray vision, seeing straight through the utilitarian cotton to the shapely buttocks moving seductively underneath. Right now, his imagination was as close as he was going to get.

      He quickly shucked his board shorts, towelled himself dry and pulled on his clothes. Taking three steps at a time, he bounded up to the top deck. In the main living area he found the six crew members all hovering around Bec and a young man whose pale face told him he was the patient. He was almost as white as the bandage around his hand.

      Bec glanced up at him as he walked in, her welcoming smile lighting up her face. The same smile she’d given him each time she’d seen him, the same smile she’d bestowed on him for the past few weeks. Today it looked the same, but it felt very different.

      He watched her as she unwrapped the bandage. Her aura of competence and friendliness