“Aw, were you scared?” Emerson asked. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you on the way back.”
I’d certainly earned her teasing, having acted like a frightened child during the ride. At one point, we’d turned a corner so fast, the bus felt as if it had tipped to one side, and I grabbed on to her leg so hard I feared I may have left bruises on her beautiful, milky white thigh.
“Enough of that,” I warned. “If you insist on making fun, I’ll have to take you over my knee when we get back to the ship.”
“And that’s going to discourage me how?”
My gaze snapped to her, and the heat in her eyes warred with the innocent look she tried to give me. A growl escaped my throat, and I pulled her into me again.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” I groaned.
“Not today,” she assured me. “Come on. I want to see some turtles.”
And we certainly did see turtles. The farm had small pools with baby turtles we were allowed to hold as we were told all about them. There was an option to swim with the larger sea turtles, which we declined, but they were so beautiful, that even Emerson had been willing to go ankle deep into the water to be nearer to them.
As we walked through the sanctuary, it seemed that at every turn there was something new and amazing to see. Lizards ran free throughout, occasionally startling us as they darted across the path in front of us. Gorgeous tropical birds swooped low, practically dive bombing the tourists in search of free food.
Emerson allowed me to leave her momentarily to wander out into the sea to witness the beauty of a shark in its natural habitat. I didn’t stay long, wanting to be with her as much as possible, but I appreciated the opportunity to see something so majestic.
When I came back to her, she had an odd look on her face. It wasn’t worry or fear, but I couldn’t decipher it.
“What is it?” I asked, taking her hand and bringing it to my lips, kissing softly over her knuckles.
“There’s a butterfly on your shoulder,” she whispered. “You have to make a wish.”
“I don’t need one,” I said. “I have everything I could ever want standing in front of me. You take my wish.”
She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply before letting out the breath on a soft sigh. I watched as the butterfly took flight, and Emerson smiled softly, her gaze locked on me.
“What did you wish for?” I asked.
“Oh, I can’t tell you that,” she insisted. “Otherwise, it won’t come true.”
“Baby, I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure every dream you could imagine will come true. I don’t need a bug to do that for you.”
She laughed before hooking her arm through mine. She steered us back to the baby turtles, saying she wanted to hold them once more before it was time to leave. I was able to snap a few pictures of her as she cooed over one particularly tiny specimen. She looked so happy, and again, I was struck by how lucky I was to have this beautiful woman as mine.
“Are you ready?” she asked as the guide announced it was time to head back to the bus.
“Not in the slightest,” I admitted.
“Well, I’ll just have to keep you distracted for the ride back to the ship.”
“And how exactly do you plan to do that?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
“By telling you all the things I’d like to do once we get back to our room,” she whispered, before her vixen tongue ran over my earlobe.
“You are itching for that spanking, aren’t you, Ms. Blake?”
“Well, that was the first thing I was going to talk about,” she said, before turning and leading me toward the crowd getting on the bus.
Chapter Twelve
~ Chase ~
“You little minx,” I said as the door to our cabin clicked closed behind us. “I cannot believe the mouth on you.”
She looked as if she couldn’t believe it, either. She’d been quite a tease the entire way back to the ship, as if being in a crowd had kept her safe from me acting on the delicious things she said. It was almost as if she’d conveniently forgotten I’d have her alone in the room afterward.
“Now, Chase,” she said, backing toward the bedroom. “I was just trying to distract you from the scary bus ride. And it worked, didn’t it?”
I stalked after her, unbuttoning my shirt as I went. It had worked so well, in fact, that for a moment, I’d actually forgotten we were surrounded by people, and I’d tried to slide my fingers up her shorts.
“Take your shirt off,” I ordered as I threw mine to the floor.
She complied immediately, kicking off her sandals, as well. Her calves bumped into the mattress, and she froze, her eyes wide but full of heat as she stared at me.
I reached out and pulled the string of her bikini top, allowing it to fall away before lowering to my knees in front of her. In a flash, I’d unbuttoned her shorts, pulling them down along with the swimsuit bottoms, before urging her to step out of them, so I could toss them aside.
“Emerson,” I whispered, staring up her body to meet her gaze. “Fuck, baby, I can smell how wet you are. I wasn’t the only one being turned on by your naughty words, was I?”
I slid a hand up her thigh, brushing my thumb against her soaked slit and drawing a shuddered moan from her full lips.
“Hmm,” I said. “Not quite wet enough, though.”
I stood, turning us so I could sit on the bed before pulling her over my knee. “Shall we go in order then? First, was… Oh, yes. I remember what you talked about first.”
I
