“I’m not crying!” she yelled. “I’m mad at you!”

“Yeah, got that message, baby.”

She pushed me away and grabbed the wine bottle, taking another long slug. Then she threw herself on the bed, piled the pillows behind her and tipped another large quantity of wine into her mouth, scrubbing the back of her hand across her face to catch the drips.

“Are you going to share that?” I asked carefully.

“No. You drink too much.”

“You’re just going to sit there and finish the whole bottle by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t like drinking,” I pointed out reasonably.

“I do tonight.”

“It’ll make you sick.”

“I’m being reckless. You do it all the time.”

Ah, shit.

“Caro,” I said, rubbing my forehead, “come on, that’s enough.”

I hated seeing her like this. I knew it was hypocritical, but her getting wasted wasn’t going to solve our problems. I pulled the bottle out of her hands and put it on the other side of the bed.

“Give me my goddamn wine, Sebastian,” she snapped.

“No,” I said, sitting next to her.

She tried to reach over me to get it, but I blocked her.

“Fine!”

She leapt off the bed and stormed out of the room. I hoped she’d come to her senses and turn around, but she didn’t. This relationship crap was hard.

Sighing, I picked up the bottle of wine and followed her.

I could see her silhouette on the beach, her arms pulled around her knees, shivering slightly, but too stubborn to go inside. I saw her tense when she heard my footsteps, but she didn’t pull away as I wrapped my jacket around her shoulders. She didn’t look at me either.

“Want some wine?” I asked. “It tastes great straight from the bottle.”

I was trying for a smile, but instead she sighed and leaned against my shoulder.

“Sebastian, promise me you won’t be reckless. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you now.”

“Caro, I’m never reckless when I’m working,” I said seriously. “Well, maybe some of the off duty stuff, but not when I’m working, I promise. I’d never have gotten promoted if I was a complete fuck-up. Don’t worry about me. Besides, I’ve got a reason to come home now, okay?”

“I will worry,” she whispered.

“And I’ll worry about you, too. You’ve still got a chance to go home where I know you’ll be safe, Caro. Please?”

She sat up stiffly.

“Don’t even think about screwing up my papers again, Hunter!”

“Whoa! Slow down!” I wrapped my arms around her, trying to calm her with my body. “I promised I wouldn’t, Caro, even though I really fucking want to.” I felt her relax slightly. “So, have you finished stomping all over me with your boots?”

“For now, unless you ask me to, nicely,” she grumbled, making me laugh.

“I’ll bear that in mind. Can I kiss you, or am I risking serious injury?”

She didn’t reply, instead pushing me flat onto the sand and situating herself across my chest. I shivered when she ran the tip of her finger along my cheeks and nose and chin, then leaned down to kiss me softly.

“This brings back memories,” she said, her voice calm.

I smiled up at her. “Yeah! Sex on the beach was one of those things that everyone at school used to brag about, and then I got to do it with you. That first time, that was one of the best nights of my life.”

“The first time we ever spent a whole night together.”

“You want to relive good times, Caro?” I suggested, shifting my hips into her.

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I left our one and only condom in the room.”

Crap.

“Besides,” she continued, “I’ve kind of got a thing for beds these days. Call me old-fashioned.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Couldn’t argue with comfort when you were fucking your woman, although... “I really liked having sex in your car. That was hot.”

“Oh my God, yes!” she laughed, her eyes widening. “But I’d have to say that sex in that closet at the country club was pretty amazing, too. No, wait, the hotel in Little Italy. That room looked like a wild animal had rampaged through it by the time you’d finished!”

“Wild animal, huh?” I commented, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, well, I think I can improve on that now, baby.”

“Oh, you do, do you?” she replied, her voice sarcastic. “Because I’ve got to tell you, Sebastian, you never ran out of condoms when you were 17.”

“Ouch! Low blow, Ms. Venzi.”

She laughed. “True, though.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll fix that tomorrow and then you won’t be getting any sleep, woman.”

“Heard it all before, Marine, but it ain’t happened yet.”

She lay back down, her fingers roaming across my chest, an innocent action that was turning me on.

“So, who was your first woman, after me, I mean?”

Fuck, what?

“Why do you want to know that?” I asked cagily.

“Just curious.”

“I don’t really want to go there, Caro. It was … a bad time for me.”

She paused, her fingers continuing their soft stroking.

“Okay, I’m sorry. You don’t have to.”

We lay there in silence for several minutes before either of us spoke.

“Will you tell Ches that we’re … back together?” she asked softly.

“Of course I will, Caro. Ches is my brother.”

“He’ll be surprised.”

“Fuck, yes!”

“Do you think he’ll be okay about it? I mean, I’m sure my name would have been dirt with him.”

I could hear the anxiety in her voice. I hadn’t realized how much she cared what Ches would think—and I wasn’t sure why.

“Ches isn’t like that. He was pretty shocked by everything that went down that day at your place, but he knew that what we had was real. He’s my buddy: he’ll be pleased.”

“When are you going to tell him?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. When are you going to tell your friends about me?”

“Are you kidding?” she laughed. “After your little stunt with Nicole it’ll be hot news in NYC by now. Your photograph will be on screensavers everywhere.”

I couldn’t deny it—hearing that her friends would be talking about me was reassuring.

“Yeah?”

“Oh, don’t be all coy with me, Hunter. You know you’re cute.”

I grinned up at her. “Just as long as you think so.”

“I think you’re devilishly handsome, with the emphasis on ‘devil’.”

“Yeah, well as it happens, Ms. Venzi, I think you’ve got some devil inside you, too.”

“Oh, I’d really like to have some devil inside me right now, Sebastian.”

She was killing me! I sat quickly, pulling her up with me.

“Let’s go.”

She stood and brushed some of the sand from my clothes while I picked up my jacket and the bottle of wine, discreetly rearranging my junk at the same time.

We strolled back to our room, and every now and then I couldn’t resist kissing her hand gently.

But once I’d closed the door to the cabin, I didn’t hold back. Pushing her against the wall, I kissed her hard, one hand roaming across her full, heavy tits, the other working down into her jeans.

“Where’s that fucking condom?” I muttered, my lips against her throat.

“Bedside table,” she gasped.

I strode over and snatched it up, ripping off the foil and unzipping my pants. I’d been hard for the last half an hour and it was getting fucking painful.

“Sebastian, the bed?” she hinted.

“No, here.”

My dick was begging to join the party, weeping with relief when I shoved my jeans over the curve of my ass and rolled the rubber on, wincing when I snapped the latex at the end.

Caro’s zipper went the same way and I lifted her up, my cock rubbing against her.

“Wrap your legs around me, baby,” I said tightly.

“How?” she gasped, pointing at her jeans trapped around her knees.

“Ah, fuck it!”

I tugged hard but they were caught on her boots. I wasn’t going to wait for her to stop and unlace them, so I stepped over the denim, ignoring the trailing material and rammed into her so hard she cried out. I needed her now, and I knew the way her body was responding she felt the same. My breath was becoming labored as I thrust faster and faster, her fingers gripping into my shoulders, and I was about four seconds from coming so hard that...