Free Beyond Me by Jennifer Probst

if he had to apologize for his lifestyle all the time. It was a different way to look at it. I’d longed for money many times, but never thought of the way it could take away your freedom. I always believed it gave more options and choices. Evidently, not for James. At least, not in the past.
    “What about now? You’re over twenty-one. You can make your own way now, right?”
    “Sure. I do what I want, when I want. I have the perfect life.”
    Lie. He refused to look at me. My stomach clenched with the need to make him face me, but he definitely didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart. Whatever. This was about sex, not confessions. In a few days, I’d be back on a plane to Chicago and he’d be only a memory. I needed to make sure it was a good one.
    “Sorry,” I muttered. “See? I get pushy. Issues.”
    His face softened and a smile tugged at his lips. God, when he smiled my insides melted like goo and an ache twitched between my thighs. “I like that about you. You look cool and collected on the surface, but there’s this fire when you look deeper.”
    “So you’re saying I’m hot?”
    He laughed and so did I. “Hell, yeah,” he said softly. “Hotter than Hades, baby.”
    I refused to blush and concentrated on cleaning up the remains of our lunch. We repacked the basket, and left out the champagne. “What’s next?” I blurted out.
    A wolfish grin transformed his mouth. Fascinated, I watched as he grabbed the neckline of my tank and tugged me toward him. His gaze focused on my mouth, and I had the urge to bite my lip, which was so fucking cliché I hated it, but it was a childhood habit I’d never gotten over.
    “The only thing left to do,” he drawled. “Strip.”

 
    T HE LAUGHTER died in my throat. Her eyes widened and a shocked gasp dropped from her lips, but the sudden image of Quinn naked in front of me wiped out the joke. My voice felt rusty. “We’re gonna swim, right?”
    Recognition hit. She scrunched up her nose and gave me a halfhearted punch on my arm. “Very funny.”
    “Mind in the gutter much?” She blushed and I pressed a hard kiss against her soft lips. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it. I like when you get embarrassed.”
    “I’m not! I don’t!”
    “’K.” I ran a finger down her heated cheek, and she jerked her head with a muttered curse. She tipped the last drops of her champagne, set it aside, and began wiggling out of her tank top.
    And that’s when I realized the joke was on me.
    Fuck. The black cotton tank eased over her head and got dropped to the sand. With a wicked glance from under her lashes, she flicked open the button on her khaki shorts, dragged down the zipper, and slid the material down her legs.
    My dick wept for mercy. Every muscle tightened as I fought for control. The red bikini should have been illegal. The top was just two tiny squares covering her breasts, and the bottom had a sexy string on each hip that made me fantasize about slowly unlooping it to see what was hidden beneath. Her skin was pale and flawless, stretched like a gift across toned muscle and endless legs. The swing of her ponytail was pure sass as she grinned at me. “This good?”
    “Witch,” I muttered. “How am I supposed to concentrate?” I looked down at my demanding erection. “Thank God there’s no audience. You officially got me back.”
    She stuck out her tongue and bounded toward the water.
    Her full ass was barely covered as she dove in and surfaced, shaking off the water and gasping for breath. “It’s so warm. Come on in.”
    My hands paused on my belt buckle. Shit. I had planned to change on the boat but got distracted. I longed to just get naked and skinny-dip, but I didn’t want to shock her. I pulled out my bathing suit from beneath the towel and held it up. “I still have to change. Turn around.”
    Her delighted laugh echoed in the water. She swam closer. “Hmm, this is an interesting dilemma. Be good and give you privacy? Or be bad and get a