Chapter 5

The heat of the bonfire had finally begun to settle into a comfortable, glowing warmth, but the air around us was electric, charged with a tension that had nothing to do with the crackling driftwood and everything to do with the way his eyes were devouring me. We had slipped away from the raucous energy of the party, the laughter of friends and the strumming of guitars fading into the rhythmic, hypnotic crash of the ocean waves behind us. We were in a secluded cove, a small pocket of sand nestled between towering dunes, private enough that the light from the fire only reached us in golden, flickering patches, leaving the rest of the world in shadow. He pulled me closer, his hand sliding up the bare skin of my thigh, his thumb tracing the curve of my hip with possessive certainty. I was wearing a thin, silk slip dress that had ridden up during our dance, leaving me vulnerable to the cool night breeze and his heated gaze. He didn’t speak, just stared at my lips, his breathing deep and slow, like the tide coming in. "Come here, baby girl," he murmured, his voice a low rumble that vibrated