Page 31 of Pure Temptation

Kendall didn’t register the splash of Daxon’s strokes until he was right behind her. His hands came to her waist, lifting her. “You okay, sweets? It took a while for you to come up.”

He sounded shaky, worried. She turned around, and he was right there, so close. Another surge of excitement rushed through her.

“It was incredible,” she said. “I’m so glad I did it.”

She leaned forward and kissed him, a giddy, fumbling kiss full of water and joy. The worry in his expression eased a little, and he smiled, kissing her back, harder. “Fuck. I think I’m the one who came closest to a heart attack today.”

He moved closer, their bodies brushing as they treaded water. He touched her cheek, her arms, her waist, like he was checking to make sure she was okay. She treaded water, trying not to kick him, as she stared into the deep pools of his eyes. Maybe it was all the adrenaline pumping through her, but right now, there was nothing else in the world but Daxon, staring right back, his eyes filled with smoldering licks of flames. Finally, he whispered, “Let’s get out and find somewhere more private.”

Oh, Lord, she wanted that right now. She glanced over at the long ladder up the cliff.

“Right after we climb back up those ten meters.”

Kendall’s body was still a rubbery mess. As it turned out, climbing ten meters worth of rickety metal ladder was more frightening than jumping, especially if you kept glancing down to see how high the fall would be. If Daxon hadn’t been right behind her, talking her through it, she’d probably still be at the bottom of that ladder, treading water until the Coast Guard arrived. But she wasn’t. Instead, she was standing on the empty Green Sand Beach, and Daxon was next to her, spreading out a blanket. He ran a hand through his salty, windblown hair, his biceps flexing, but that didn’t do anything to tame it. He was all suntan and messy hair and laid-back, sexy male. He was beautiful.

“I read that this was one of the less visited beaches on the island,” he said. “Of course, that was publicized on the internet, so I’m not sure how accurate that is, but it’s nice so far.”

The empty beach was nestled into a sea-etched cove, surrounded by cliffs. The middle of it sloped down gradually, as if nature had designed its own rocky amphitheater for a perfect view of the ocean. They were sitting in the only shaded, semi-secluded spot, where the cliff jutted out. The sand was coarse, more yellow than green, and the water was a bright, shimmering turquoise.

“I’d like to come back to that spot where we jumped sometime,” he added, scanning the coastline. “Scope it out for a free climb, right over the water.”

“I’m impressed, Dax,” she said, rolling onto her side. “All of this is amazing. The drive, the jump, the beach...”

She was expecting a snappy comeback, but his smile was soft. He took off his sunglasses and looked into her eyes. “The best day of your life, remember?”

The words echoed deep inside, shaking her at her core. It was getting harder and harder not to let this mean anything more. But thinking about anything beyond this week was a reminder that Daxon Miles, an incredible man who created this amazing day just for her, could very well die on the mountainside in a few weeks. He would risk everything in the stupid pursuit of man versus the elements, for everyone to watch, livestreamed. In the end, everyone knew how these battles went. Nature always won. It was only a matter of time, and nature had all the time in the world. Daxon Miles didn’t.

Which meant she needed to be enjoying the hell out of their day together instead of wasting it worrying.

Kendall got up on her knees, facing him, and rested her hand on his cheek. His body was a warm, welcoming wall of muscles. She leaned over so her mouth was close to his, and his gaze wandered over her face, to her lips.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For all of this.”

Then she closed that last distance, pressing her lips against his. His mouth was warm and hungry as he opened it to hers. Kissing Daxon was its own language, each stroke of his tongue a new word, each sigh or moan the punctuation. He strung kisses together into sentences, fresh, like no other one before it. Kendall immersed herself in his dialect of wants and responses while she showed him her own.

This kiss on an empty beach, with the ocean breeze blowing over her skin, this one was all new. The hunger and the desire were there, the undercurrent to everything they did together. It would probably always be that way, even if they kept doing this for hundreds of years. But she felt something else, something like the ache of loneliness, exposed. His? Hers? Maybe both of theirs. He took the kiss deeper, following her lead, unleashing more of that hunger he had been holding back all day. He growled as her tongue swept against his, her heart thumping harder. Then he pulled back, resting his forehead on hers.

“This is supposed to be the best beach for skinny-dipping on the island. Just in case you’re interested.”

Kendall smiled. “Is this best day mine or yours?”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

She pulled back a little, studying him, and raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re making up the skinny-dipping thing.”

“Okay, maybe it’s not known as thatofficially,” he conceded, his eyes alive with mischief. “ButIcertainly think it makes the best beach to get naked.”

She gave him a little shove, and he tumbled to the side. Lazily, she turned and stretched out her legs in front of her, staring out at the ocean, trying hard not to stare at Daxon. He pulled off his shirt, and his sculpted muscles flexed underneath sun-kissed skin. Okay, maybe just a little glance. Oh,Lord, he was incredible. And probably showing off again.

He scooted back onto the blanket and reached for the cooler bag he had pulled from the trunk of the car.

“I had the resort pack up a few things for us. All healthy, of course,” he said, his gray-green eyes crinkling at the corners. His smile for her right now was so different from the one she had watched too many times in his videos. It was relaxed. Intimate. After taking out little dishes of nuts and fruits and a couple canteens of drinks, he unwrapped a baguette sandwich and handed it to her, then unwrapped one for himself.

“Where do you live?” he asked, taking a bite of his sandwich. “You just appear at my place every morning, so either you’re getting up at the crack of dawn to drive in, or you’re not that far.”

“The Kalani has cabins for staff, visiting or long-term. It’s one of the perks, since it’s so expensive to move to the island.”

“By the beach?”