Chapter Five: Ellie

Chapter Five: Ellie

“You’re shy and obviously innocent as hell despite your little tough experienced girl act. Are you a sub, little Dove? Do you have an owner waiting for you,” I was caught between the question and him moving like a predator.

“Hell no,” I managed not to stutter on that one and quickly backed my ass out of the bathroom, he still has no trouble following me though.

“Calm down. I’m not trying to freak you out. I’d just like to get to know you better.”

“Why,” the disbelief in my chocked voice laid out every insecurity in myself I ever tried to hide, and that harder half ensured I stopped it then and there, locking my feet in place, and stiffening my spine as best as I could manage.

“You are an enigma, and a gorgeous one at that. So no games, no tricks, just us. What do you say?” There was as much sincerity in the comment as there was the question. The long pause in which I consider it, didn’t seem to sway him one bit.

“I’d be retarded to turn you down, and I’d be stupid to accept,” I managed to start breathing again. “My taste in men speaks for itself, and I’m in a pretty fucked up place right now.”

“I’m right there with you, Dove, though I don’t think you’ve met a man yet,” he smiled with that same knowing confidence. Like I was a for drawn conclusion, or someone that was just used to getting his way.

“Get dressed, I’m taking you snorkeling. Bathing suits are optional.”

“Excuse me?” I wrestle with the attractiveness of his boldness versus what I should see in such a domineering statement.

“I planned to ask you last night before you ran off. I have two tickets for an extended tour, it starts at eleven, and since you are the skittish type, I figured a command is easier for you to follow than to request.”

“Wow,” he hit that nail fright on the head. After another too long second of considering it. Considering him and when the last time I dealt with someone who knew exactly what they wanted and was bold enough to go after it.

It could be the pause itself that let that boyish grin creep further up his face. I mean, if I didn’t turn him down flat, it meant that I was thinking about it, and the hesitation itself was enough to tell us booth that I was going to put on my big girl pants.

If a hot guy wanted to take me snorkeling while on a once-in-a-lifetime getaway, who was I to say no?

The trip was supposed to be about forgetting my problems for a bit, wasn’t it?

I went with the swimsuit option, boy shorts and a halter top that covered me pretty well. DJ didn’t seem to mind, in fact, it seemed to pique his interest even more. It was also strange.

A good strange, how he was right there, but not overbearing. Always looking, but not leering. Regardless of him being a decade younger than I was most likely, his comment of my never having met a real man did weigh in that easy confidence.

I won’t call it cockiness. DJ was completely down to earth, and I was shocked at how easy the conversation was. The respect of my personal boundaries included. Whenever we’d veer off safe topics, like hobbies or work, he’d immediately pull back.

Finding out we had so much in common was a catch twenty-two to say the least. It wasn’t like I set out looking for a bad time, I just didn’t expect it to be that great. It also didn’t hurt that he was so easy to look at, and I was a lot less discrete in checking his shirtless figure out all day.

Not that I intended to use him for sex. I didn’t feel like I was being used in that regard, either. It really was just meant to be fantasy candy. A little spark or extra umf to my one-on-one sessions.

The day spent was making that impossible though. He wasn’t just a twenty-something hunk of meat on a stick, but a funny, charismatic, and intelligent businessman. I usually feel odd with strangers. If not aware or defensive in some way. Always on defense as a single mom and a spurned woman.

This guy put me at complete ease, like we were the best of friends at some point or other. Calm, courteous, so…………

Oh Ellie. What have you gotten yourself into?

After a day mostly in the water, with generous applications of sunscreen, by the time dinner came around, and we watched the sunset, the whole not going there thing went out the window completely.

The sun was going down, and it was time to check out this cavern he’d been on about. It was a cove he’d discovered years back that you had to swim to.

Just like the movies, once we surfaced, there were pumice stones with small falls and more shallow areas. The water was blue and clear, making the bright coral stand out, but the real breath taker was the ceiling.

Glow-worms that were so tiny they looked like thousands of shimmering stars over head. DJ and all his muscles lifted me like I was nothing more than a feather to him, for a perched view on a taller boulder, around the lagoon.

I failed to notice it was right at eye level with him despite our height difference, unable to take my eyes away from the site. I’d always wanted to see this. It was everything I’d ever imagined it would be and more.

“It’s stunning,” I managed to tear my eyes away to see him a breath from my face.

“Took the word right out of my mouth, Dove,” even with the breathlessness in his deeper voice, I still couldn’t look back or acknowledge that he was complimenting me rather than our surroundings. “Absolutely stunning.”

After another long minute, I felt his hand on my chin, returning my attention to his handsome face. The light, but still firm grip kept me from turning away in the immediate blush.

Embarrassment turned hypnosis with a simple slide of his fingers on the back of my neck, and my breath suddenly became as heavy as the moment his deep brown eyes dropped to my lips.

Between the magical setting and the honey gold of his eyes melting over me with desire… I was utterly lost in it. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone looked at me like that.

That smoldering stare that makes you wonder if your heart is caught in your throat when it beats so loudly in your ears.

When you can’t hear anything else but that.

A true slow motion moment when DJ leaned in. Giving me every opportunity to turn away, to stop him, and I found myself leaping to close the distance instead.

His lips were so darned luscious and full. The type you wonder about how and why God would ever bless someone that much, if not for a need to worship that kind of beauty.

They didn’t disappoint either. Every bit as hot as the man beneath, and hungry as his stare had been since the prior evening. I found myself utterly lost with this man.

The middle of nowhere with a stranger, opening my body and whimpering in desperation as I drew his bottom lip in my teeth.

The three to six month rule out the window with six hours, and the full knowledge that there was no way I’d ever stop at just a kiss with the demigod of an Italian.