Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 157491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 630(@250wpm)___ 525(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 630(@250wpm)___ 525(@300wpm)
“Stay where you are,” I retort, sending him a quelling glance. “My children do not need corrupting.”
“Milaya, come over here.” With a provocative glance, he moves back on the sunbed, sliding his thighs over the sides.
“No.”
“Please.” He pats the space between his legs. “Come a closer.”
“Said the spider to the fly,” I mutter almost under my breath.
“That’s a good analogy because I do want to eat you.” I open my mouth to tell him off—probably—when he begins to chuckle. “Don’t look so scandalized. I’m not going to, not in front of the children. I’m not a complete degenerate.”
“You’re sure you don’t just hide that side of you beneath a well-tailored suit?”
“I’m not wearing a suit now. Look.”
I don’t mean to look, but I do, the sight only increasing this tide of want building inside me. “And you have the audacity to complain about my bikini.”
“That wasn’t a complaint, but you can examine the cut of my shorts better from over here.”
“Niko, they’re so tight, I could see more than just the fabric’s cut from the other side of the pool!”
His smile signals a change of tack. “Come over here, my darling wife. We have serious matters to discuss.”
“Such as?”
“How much I want you.”
“Hmph. Very serious.” Yet I find myself sliding my legs to stand. My gaze slides to the pool, to where Hugh is dragging Archie around on a large inflatable crocodile.
“Look, Mummy!” he calls, noticing me. “I’m calling him Snappy!”
“Lovely, darling. Where did that come from?” I ask, turning back to Van.
“A toy shop.” His answer isn’t terse, but it is short as his gaze coasts over me like I’m a sandwich in front of a starving man. “Come.” His hands cradle my hips, turning me to face him as I draw closer. Catching my balance on his shoulder, I step over the bed, seating myself to face him.
I muffle a shriek when he hooks his hands under my knees, pulling my closer, laying my thighs over his. “That’s better.”
“But not very dignified. And the boys…” I send a worried glance over my shoulder.
“You look after me, and I’ll look after them.”
“And who’ll look after me in this scenario?”
“I think you already know the answer to that,” he whispers as his finger feathers down my chest. “But I think we need a code word.”
“For?”
“To protect their innocence. Perhaps we should instigate a policy that, when the bedroom door is closed, they’ll only burst in if there’s an emergency.” He slides his hands up my thighs, light and shade dapples his body in sharp spikes, thanks to the way the sun falls through the fronds of a nearby date palm. “Because I’d only just made it to the door this morning before the pair burst in.”
“I hope you had clothes on,” I say with a girlish sounding giggle.
“I had my hands and nothing else.” Hands that tighten on my thighs causing a bloom of sensation to burst through me. “And you had the sheet wrapped around your ankles and nothing else.”
“Oh dear.” Pressing my fingers to my mouth does not effectually muffle my amusement.
“They didn’t see. Well.” Amusement flickers across his brow. “They didn’t see you. And Archie’s compliment was the highlight of my morning. At least until you’d peeled off your sarong,” he adds, his gaze turning hot.
“He didn’t…”
“Didn’t what?” Smug. His expression looks smug.
“My child didn’t say whatever it is you’re about to say.” I hope. Nice penis, Uncle Niko? The mind boggles.
“He just mentioned that his father doesn’t need to use both hands.”
“You get compliments, yet I get told I have a big bottom.”
“You have a delicious—”
“Anyway, it’s far too big for this tiny bikini. I feel like I’m spilling out of it.”
“That’s exactly why your body was made for this bikini.”
“I don’t need to be flattered, Niko. I know what I see.”
“That’s just it. You don’t. You’re like your brother in that regard. Too stubborn to see what’s sitting at the end of your nose.” I don’t think we’re talking about my bikini now.
“Ask me, Isla. I dare you to.”
His sigh is short and sharp. “I’m going to buy Holland the biggest bouquet for seeing all that you refuse to.”
“She—” The rest goes unsaid as he hooks his finger into the fabric of my bikini top, sliding the triangle to expose my nipple. “Niko.” His name was meant as a warning, yet it sounds like an encouragement.
“Relax. No one can see.” My gaze lifts to the terrace and he’s right. We’re shielded from view of the house, and the boys can only see my back. All is well, as long as I keep my bikini on. All is deliciously well because I’m deeply flawed. “I want to see you in the sunlight, your body stretched out before me.”
Deeply flawed and turned on. “When the children go back to school.”