Island Affair (Keys to Love #1)(86)

Luis had taken his job seriously. Tube of SPF 50 lotion in one hand, he’d rubbed the white substance over every gorgeous inch not covered by her sexy black bikini. And wound up trying to hide the hard-on tenting his suit. Sara’s promise to help him take care of it back in their room hadn’t helped his predicament. The little minx.

“Yeah, they’re definitely enjoying this,” Sara mused. “My mother looks so happy. Thank you for this.”

Craning her neck to gaze up at him, she smiled her pleasure. Of course, it felt only natural for him to dip his head for a kiss.

She opened her mouth for him, her tongue brushing against his. A hint of the lime seltzer water she preferred teased him, along with the heady sweetness that was hers alone.

Her slender fingers clung to his nape, urging their kiss deeper. Lust flamed through him. Blood surged low in his body, swift and ready. He ached to cup her breasts in his palms, dip his hand into her bathing suit bottom, and bring her the delicious satisfaction he knew he could give her.

Over the past three nights they’d each wantonly discovered the erogenous zones that drove the other wild. He loved the way her eyes dilated, his name on her lips as she reached the pinnacle and dived over the cliff, her hands and mouth and tongue luring him over the edge with her.

“Hey, are you two gonna sit there and make out all day or come join us?”

Luis chuckled against Sara’s lips. His eyes drifted open in time to catch her giving her brother the finger.

“Geez, the guy’s taking this bratty older brother routine to the extreme,” Sara grumbled, collapsing back against Luis’s chest.

“Ah, I’d venture to guess that you actually like his attention.” Luis gave her right temple a chaste peck before whispering in her ear. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Brothers needle the ones they love the most.”

“That’s because you’re obviously warped.”

He threw back his head and laughed, enjoying the feel of Sara’s body shaking as she joined him. He patted her right hip, a signal for her to stand up so he could, too.

“But you love my warped, depraved mind, don’t you?”

For the smallest fraction of time Sara’s hands stilled in the act of adjusting her bathing suit bottom. Long enough for him to catch it and regret his slip-of-the-tongue use of the l word.

“Oh, your depraved mind is only one of the many facets I find attractive, but I won’t list them.” She padded to the seat in front of the boat helm where she snagged her wide-brimmed straw beach hat. “No need for your head to get any bigger than it already is.”

With a saucy wink, she blew him a kiss and flounced toward the dive door on the port side of the boat’s deck.

“Smartass,” he called.

The cheeky woman reached back to give herself a pat on the butt.

Amusement laced with an emotion he wasn’t prepared to name spread through his chest. Ever since Monday evening when he’d taken her home for familia dinner, something inside him had changed.

Seeing her at ease with his loud, meddling family.

Receiving the me encanta text from his mami—to which he truthfully responded: Sí, I like her, too.

Reading Carlos’s: Hermano, you lucked out with this one. Gina and I approve.

They were consecutive one-two-three sledgehammer blows to the foundation of the guarded reserve protecting his heart. A foundation Sara’s charm, fun-loving spirit, and vulnerability rattled the longer he spent in her company.

Yesterday, the rain had them all lazing around the house. Luis and Sara spending a good chunk of the afternoon in their room. Him, reading a biography of Jacques Cousteau from the rental’s living room bookshelf. Her, answering emails, talking to her agent, and reading over a contract that, if it worked out, would see Sara spending more time in Miami working on her clothing line.

They hadn’t done anything extraordinary, but to him it had felt like an extraordinary day. Because of her.

With her family waiting for them, Luis followed Sara to the boat’s deck where she turned to climb down the removable ladder. Halfway into the water, she paused, squinting up at him.

“I’m going to head to the beach.” She turned toward the large sandbar’s shore.

Luis did the same and found Robin, sitting by herself, the calm ocean lapping at her pale legs. Her parents and Edward strolled along the shore about thirty feet away. Behind them, the sandbar’s dense vegetation awaited those willing to brave a hike through the mass of mangroves teeming with tiny ecosystems.

“Wish me luck.” Sara let go of the handrail and sank up to her shoulders in the crystal green water.

He watched her swim away, marveling at her inner strength. A trait she questioned about herself at times. Yet here she was, taking that uncomfortable first step toward her sister.

While, had the situation been reversed and his prickly brother been waiting on the sand, the timing and situation ripe for a frank conversation . . . Luis would probably still be where he was right now. Standing on his boat. Alone.

*

Sara swam toward the shore, lamely batting away a stiff-arm-induced wave of water from her brother as she neared him.

“Leave her alone,” Carolyn chided. The couple stooped shoulder deep in the warm water, Carolyn’s arms around Jonathan’s neck. “We’re trying to have adult time here, remember?”