She smacked her lips. “You go ahead. I’m going to crash at my place. Byeeee!”

Diya had already spun on her heels and closed the door behind her before I could protest.

I let out a grunt, casting a glance at Sunny. He draped an arm over the back of the couch and watched the door, unbothered. He asked, his voice rugged, “Did she really leave for the night?”

“Yeah.”

His chest rose with each deep breath as he dragged those dark eyes to me. His lips twitched. The brooding intensity lingering on his face, his breaths as ragged as my own, well, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume that he wanted to keep going. After all, Diya’s departure shouldn’t be wasted. Her sacrifice of time, of having to drive through island traffic on one-lane streets to get to her condo, the bonding time lost between sisters…shouldn’t go to waste.

I drew my lips between my teeth, and Sunny’s focus immediately dropped to my mouth. I liked to think that I was forward enough. I went for what I wanted. Degrees and grades and jobs and projects and promotions. Those were typically things I needed. And sure, maybe I needed this more than I cared to admit, but men were a different nature.

And Sunny? Well, having known him for almost a year, he didn’t seem like the type of guy who just went for things like this, either. He could talk his way through presentations, charm the pants off clients and bosses alike, and code like it was his breath of life. He seemed more like the kind of guy to bicker with me than the type who’d throw me into bed.

I prepared to resign the heated anticipation of going any further with him when he said, “Then we shouldn’t waste the night.”

My breath hitched. His gaze was scorching and his voice…damn that Denzel voice…had me squeezing my thighs together. Nerdy, grumpy, not-so-sunny Sunny had me tingling in all the right places and he knew it.

“Unless you don’t…” he began, but his intensity never waned. He wasn’t seriously questioning himself or this situation because he knew. He’d always known.

In case he wasn’t clear, he added, “If you’d like. Or we can take a walk on the beach, and you can call Diya back.”

“Do you want me?” I found myself asking.

He swallowed, leaning toward me, his hands practically balled into fists, the knuckles digging into the couch. “What kind of question is that?”

He pushed away the pillow, took my hand, and guided me to the very clear, hard answer. I wrapped my hand around the length of him, my breathing escalating, my body quivering as he leaned his head back and sucked in a breath.

“I don’t have protection. Do you?” I asked.

“No. Don’t need it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean…” He settled a knee in between my thighs, gently pushing me back. “I want to make you feel good. Don’t worry about me.”

“Oh?” My skin flushed hot. I was not expecting this side to him. “Um. Just to be clear…”

Sunny slid his palm down my stomach, relishing, appreciating every inch, and undid the button of my shorts. “To be clear: I want you to enjoy yourself.”

He unzipped my shorts, splaying open the waist and exposing the top of my black-lace-hemmed panties. Thank goodness I’d only brought brand-new underwear.

“To be clear,” he continued, “I’m only using my mouth.”

The room tilted on its axis and all I could see was Sunny watching me as he lowered himself over me with a raw desire sparking his eyes. He kissed my neck at the same time he swiped a finger under the hem of my panties.

He was definitely teasing. He knew damn well that there was no way he could be that close to the right spot and still be so far off.

He nibbled on my collarbone, gliding his tongue down to my top and kissing lower to the loose, undone edge of my bra. “Maybe my hands, too.”

He flattened one large palm over the top of my shorts and slid down, underneath the fabric of my panties. Exploring, teasing, undoing.

I held my breath for fear of combusting. How could he feel this good when he’d barely just begun?

“To be perfectly clear,” he added, treading kisses over my breast, “I’ve been dying to taste you for days, Bane.”

I grabbed a fistful of his hair and nudged him lower. “Then taste me.”

“Fuck…” he muttered.

“Language…”

“In about two minutes, I’m going to have you screaming worse than that.” He nipped at my breast and I let out a lewd sound.

“Is there a word worse than that?”

I pressed a hand against his stomach, beneath his shirt, unprepared to feel the hard flatness of a toned body. My hands greedily felt every inch of smooth, warm skin of his chest and back and shoulders as he said, “Let’s find out.”

I didn’t want him to move, but he took my hand and walked me to our room, stripping me down on the way. Before we even made it to the bed, Sunny had dropped to his knees in front of me.

I had never unraveled faster. I had utterly come undone.

We lay heaving and sweaty, the pillow fortress demolished, the sheets to Sunny’s waist and my chest. He drew me into him as we stared at the ceiling fan, which couldn’t possibly churn air fast enough to cool us off.

“Guess there isn’t a word worse than that, huh?” he asked.

“Guess not.”

He bit my ear. “Now who has a filthy mouth?”

Heat crept across my face. I’d never used the F-word. Just wasn’t my thing. But apparently that had been the only coherent word coming out of my mouth.

Part of my brain sparked to life, pushing around the obvious questions of: What did this mean for us when we returned? How were we supposed to work together? What would we be? Did we need a label? Was this just a fling? Did it all end once we left the island?

Sunny drew languid figure eights on my back to my stomach and down to my inner thighs…promptly shutting down my brain.

Eh. It wouldn’t hurt to just enjoy this for tonight. Right? The wedding was tomorrow, and Sunny would leave the day after. Suddenly, our end was too soon.

As he slipped the sheet from my body and his mouth slowly followed the trail of figure eights, my breath caught, my eyes fluttered closed, my fists clenched his hair…and no thought was left in my head except how incomprehensibly amazing this man had me feeling.

Oh, boy. I was going to be in trouble when this fantasy ended, wasn’t I?

Twenty-six Sunny

Waking up next to Bane was like waking up to a new day. No lingering pain or worry, just contentment. I was well aware that it wouldn’t last. We’d be back to reality in two days, bickering at work, vying for the same position, and depending on who got the promotion, one of us might be the other’s boss soon enough.

I looked at her as she slept snuggled into my side. I gently pushed back hair from over her face, gliding my thumb down to her lips. Damn, she was so fucking beautiful. It was going to hurt later, but I couldn’t stop myself. Seeing her, knowing that we’d never be together because why would she want someone as messed up as me? She always said she didn’t want drama, and drama had somehow become synonymous with my personal life.