“Because we’re talking. Isn’t that what happens at sleepovers?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Why do you still dive?” Penny pressed. She slid around to face him. Her palms to his chest, she gently pushed him under the water. She pumped shampoo into her hands and reached up around his neck. Standing on her tiptoes, her fingers speared into his hair. While she worked the lather, she grazed her breasts against his chest.

  “You’re distracting,” he breathed. “What?”

  “Why do you still dive? What do you like about it?” she asked.

  “It’s like sex, darlin’. Until you do it, you don’t know how good it can be and once you do it, you don’t ever want to stop.”

  “Hmm…sounds pretty great.” Penny laughed. “How about college? Where’d you go?”

  “MIT.”

  “And?” Her voice sang as she soaped underneath his arms and down the flank of his sides.

  “Short version. I got my doctorate. Filed a few scientific patents.”

  “Patents, huh?”

  “Yeah, they’re important for protecting intellectual property.”

  “I hear that’s true,” she joked. “You didn’t tell me where you worked…”

  “No I didn’t, but I didn’t think we were talking about work, remember?”

  “Thank you for reminding me, sir. Duly noted.” Penny’s eyes met his and she smiled. Her fingers trailed down his body, tracing the v cut of his abs. Delving between his legs, her pinkies grazed the sides of his testicles. She gripped his erection, stroking it clean.

  “Penny…”

  “Hmm…something wrong, Dr. Abbott? Just returning the favor.” Penny fisted him with one hand and cupped his balls with the other. She held his dick up into the spray, rinsing him clean. Her courage rose as she knelt before him and slowly licked its plump head.

  “What are you doing, darlin’?” he asked.

  She raised her gaze to his, the fire in his eyes burning hot. The quiet moment between them lingered as his crown passed through her lips, but as she took him all the way into her throat, his loud cry reverberated throughout the stone enclosure. His fingers plowed into her wet locks, and his head lolled back against the granite tiles. She dug her fingernails into his hardened glutes, allowing him to guide her as he fucked her mouth.

  “Penny,” he breathed, increasing his pace as he plunged into her.

  “Hmm…”

  “No, Penny…aw, shit. I’m gonna come…I don’t want to…”

  She heard his protest, aware that he’d grown concerned, but the urge to take him whole, to pleasure him the way he’d done to her, drove her. Sucking hard, Penny gripped his shaft, pumping him into her warmth. She dropped a hand between his legs, applying pressure to the soft stretch of nerves under his balls.

  “I can’t stop,” she heard him cry as he spilled his seed into her mouth. He grunted, grasping her hair, heaving for breath. His briny essence rushed down over her tongue, and she suckled his cock, milking his spasms.

  As she released him, he clasped her wrists, bringing her into his embrace. She smiled, satisfied with her task, elated to have given him the ecstasy he’d brought her.

  “You’re incredible,” he whispered, still breathless from his orgasm.

  “I love being with you.” As she said the words, she thought perhaps she should restate her sentiment. But there was something refreshing about the brutal honesty of her statement that both cut and soothed her heart. It had been such a long time since she’d felt anything for any man, felt happy, and she meant what she’d said.

  “Penny…I…”

  “You don’t need to say anything.”

  “I wasn’t expecting…”

  “Chase, it’s okay. I’m not sure what it is…when I’m around you…” Her gaze fell to the floor, then returned to meet his. “I just feel like a different person.”

  “It’s a good thing?” he asked with a small grin.

  “I think it’s a rare thing…my work.” Her expression went flat. “I’m so busy. And…I was hurt.”

  “Hey,” Chase said softly. He cupped her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “No. It’s okay. It’s just…you have to know when I say I’m not usually like this, I really mean it. I’m kind of closed. I work a lot. But when I’m down here?” She paused, a sad smile crossing her face, “I can forget it all. Asshole exes. Bullshit bosses. Working a million hours to try to advance my career.”

  “We all have baggage. Stuff that holds us down.”

  “Yeah, but the way you live life on a daily basis, it doesn’t seem different than vacation. Doing what you want. Even the sex. And this between us…I’m terrified, because it’s not something I do. Letting go. What I just did.” She felt her cheeks heat and she put her hand to her forehead, coming to terms with the fact that she’d just given him a blow job without even thinking twice. “And it feels good. I just…”

  “Penny, it’s going to be all right. All of this. I swear it.”

  Her chest constricted as he lightly kissed her lips. Never making an attempt to deepen it, he hugged her to his chest.

  “I don’t know where things are going between us but you don’t need to be afraid.” He pulled away, his eyes locking onto hers. “Let’s have fun tonight. This is our second date, after all.”

  “I guess.” She gave a soft laugh.

  “How about we continue our sleepover? Get to know each other? Nothing you say or do is wrong. You don’t need to be ashamed. I will never judge you.” He kissed her forehead and met her eyes. “How are you feeling? Like you’re a little out of control?”

  Penny nodded.

  “Maybe it’s life letting you know that whatever you were doing in New York was maybe not as great as you thought it was. Sometimes we have to push way outside our comfort zone before we realize what’s really important. Listen, I don’t know what we’ll discover this week, but I promise you we’re going to have a helluva vacation. I have plans for you, mermaid.” He smiled.

  “You do?”

  “Yes, I do. I think the food is here, so let’s get on with our slumber party. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  Penny barely registered the water dribbling to an end. He wrapped a warm towel around her, gently dabbing the water from her face and hair. She turned as he held out a robe, and she pressed her arms into the sleeves. Dressing her, he tied it closed.

  Falling, falling, falling, Penny thought as she fell into Chase’s arms. Like a ball of tightly wound string, she was coming apart. With each small experience, she began to wonder what she was doing with her life. How could she be so incredibly happy in a matter of a day, all from meeting a stranger? But the bigger question, she knew, was how could she return to her bland life, going back to the grind, never feeling this way again?

  Chapter 8

  “Truth or dare,” Chase suggested.

  “You’re crazy, you know that.” Penny rested back into the bed and crossed her legs. Chase sat on a chair, next to the rolling dining table. An enormous silver tray of crudité and caviar sat chilling on its surface.

  “We could move directly to spin the bottle?” He raised a devious eyebrow at her, and picked up the champagne bottle.

  “Truth or dare it is,” she laughed. “You do have a persuasive way about you. Maybe you should have been a lawyer.”

  “Perhaps. Maybe a second career? Open,” he instructed, holding food to her lips.

  She did as he said, smiling as she accepted the cream cheese and caviar. She accepted a flute and took a sip of the bubbly treat.

  “Rules are…no talking about work. Anything else is fair game. Also, let’s change this game up, I don’t remember exactly how this is played, but let’s ask the questions first this time. Then you can decide whether or not to answer….go for the dare.”

  “Fair enough,” she agreed. “As much as I like games, I want to get to know you.”

  “Exactly.” He winked. “You go first. Go ahead. Ask me anything.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yep.”

  “Do you have a girlfriend? And have you ever been in love?” Penny shouldn’t have asked, she knew. But something drove her to find out more about the man who was causing her to rethink her entire life.

  Chase coughed on his champagne, nearly spitting it out, and held up his hand.

  “Dr. Abbott doesn’t like being questioned? Remember you said I could ask anything, and I am a professional.” She smiled.

  “Well, first of all, that’s two questions but yeah, I should have known better than to play this game with someone who questions people for a living.”

  “I’m not sure we’re even playing right. We can quit,” she suggested.

  “Oh no, darlin’. You’re not getting out of this so easily.”

  “Me? I asked the question.”

  “But my turn is next. So before you give me an out, I’ll answer you.” Chase picked up a carrot and held it in the air. “Have I been in love? Yes. With Megan Price in seventh grade. I had a huge crush. She broke my heart. It was devastating.”

  “Be serious.”

  “I assure you I am. She had the most gorgeous thick red hair. But for some reason she liked my friend, Matt, more than me.”

  “Do I need to redirect?”

  “Okay, okay,” he chuckled. “Have I been in love with an adult? I suppose. I do have an ex. We lived together. Never been married, though.”

  “Are you still in love?”

  “Would I be here with you? Of course not.”

  “But you were in love?”

  “Honestly, looking back on things? I’m not sure it was love. Did I tell her I loved her? Yeah, but it didn’t seem that way. I’m not sure if I believe in soulmates, but if that’s real, I know I haven’t ever had that. You know…someone who you wake up thinking, ‘I can’t live without this person in my life.’ When Raine and I broke up, I just think I should have felt more than I did.”

  “How did you feel?”

  “Part of the reason we broke up is because I travel a lot and she likes staying in one place. It was more than just traveling, though. It was a philosophical difference. I enjoy traveling, immersing myself in different cultures, learning new things. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t plant roots. I’ve lived in California most of my adult life. I’ve got a condo on the beach, and when I’m there, I wake up and look at that beautiful ocean, and it’s amazing. But I don’t necessarily feel the need to be there all the time in order to maintain my friendships. When I have kids…”

  “Kids?” Penny hadn’t meant to sound so surprised. She hadn’t asked his age, but guessed he was in his mid-thirties. At twenty-eight, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t heard her own biological clock tick every now and then. But whenever the sucker sounded, without a husband, she’d smacked it down and thrown it across the room.

  “Sure. Not now, but someday I want kids. We’ll travel places on vacation together. I want to teach them to appreciate other parts of the world, not just our tiny slice.” Chase averted his gaze and rimmed his glass as if he’d said too much. “How about you? Have you been in love?”

  “Someone cheated on me.” She sighed, debating how much to tell him. “I guess I was like you in that I don’t think I loved him, but when it happened, I was shocked, angry. He basically called me out on how I’m not available. So I guess even though I wasn’t that sorry to see him go, I was still hurt. And it just made me realize that maybe I have to choose.”

  “Choose?”

  “Yeah, I chose work over him. My ex is a jerk, but he was right that I just wasn’t around. I’ve always felt like what happened was my fault.”

  “No way, Penny. There’s no excuse for cheating. He sounds like an asshole to me.”

  “Can’t argue with that.” She gave a small laugh.

  “I’m very sorry you were hurt, but his loss is my gain.” Chase took a sip of his drink and eyed Penny thoughtfully. “My turn. You ready?”

  “I’m ready.”

  “Tonight on the beach…you seemed intent on letting me know that you don’t do this. Almost as if you were embarrassed.” He held up a piece of cantaloupe to his mouth and sucked off the dripping juice. She smiled and opened her mouth, accepting it. “Tell, me, Penny…do you enjoy indulging outside of vanilla? Because even though I could see you might not have ever been to a nude beach or made love in public, you seemed to enjoy it every bit as much as I did. So that leads me to think you might want to take things a little further.”

  “Truth?”

  “Unless you want a dare?” He smiled.

  “No, okay. Truth? I don’t know. Tonight, I felt like a teenager or something.”

  “Except we aren’t.”

  “It was exciting.” Penny looked at her fingers, uncomfortable with her thoughts. “I’ve never been super-adventurous in bed with anyone. I’m the kind of person who’s always in control. In my defense, I have to be. It’s not like I have room to screw up with what I do. Being down here…with you…it’s like a switch has gone off. Somehow it was okay to just let go…but only with…”

  “What?” He grinned.

  “It’s stupid. We’ve only known each other for a day.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I’ve never met anyone like you. It seems like even though you have this important job, which reminds me, you still haven’t told me where you work…”

  “I haven’t, but that’s only because I’m doing work that requires clearances.”

  “Okay, well, it’s the reason you’re here though. The fact that you risk your life, diving down to the depths you do…it’s not like everyone does that. You’re not just adventurous, you seen like an adventurer. My idea of adventure is riding the subway at night.”

  “Perhaps I need to be a little more specific with my question.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Sex, Penny. You seemed to get turned on, knowing someone could watch us.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Would you like to watch another couple? Or do you just like being watched?”

  “Why do you ask such hard questions?”

  “Just want to get to know what you like, is all.” Chase held a strawberry to her lips.

  “Not sure if I want to watch, but the idea of being watched was exciting.” She accepted the fruit into her mouth, licking his fingertip. “But it may have just been the idea of it. If it actually happened, I’m not sure. I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”

  “Do you like to play with toys?”

  “Do I own a vibrator? Why yes I do, Dr. Abbott. It’s not like I haven’t been to an adult store with my girlfriends. But never with a boyfriend. And it’s not like I’ve tried anything crazy.” Penny’s cheeks heated as she confessed.

  “Would you like me to use a toy on you?” He winked.

  “Chase…oh my God.” She sighed and laughed. “Well, let me say that I’d be open to it. Not sure what you have in mind. But you make me want to try new things…I want to do them with you.”

  Chase gave a broad smile as if he’d been given a gift, and she wondered if she’d opened Pandora’s Box. But it hadn’t been a lie.

  “I’m looking forward to exploring with you. Let’s see what you enjoy.” Chase trailed his fingers over her calf.

  “My turn.” She quickly changed the subject. His hands on her skin was all it took to arouse her, and she was afraid she wouldn’t make it through another round.

  “Besides sex, what do you do for fun?”

  “I love being at the beach, but I think we established that.” He laughed. “When I’m not there? I’m in a club of sorts, Altura. There’s a group of us. We do all kinds of things. Skydiving, climbing. Love skiing too. I like being outdoors.”

  “And doing dangerous things, apparently.”

  “It’s not like I’m intentionally trying to put myself in danger. But there’s a rush you get. Like going on a roller coaster.”

  “An amusement park is slightly different than skydiving or scuba diving. I could never do it,” she replied.

  “Have you ever tried it? Skydiving? Scuba diving?” he challenged.

  “Well, no, but I don’t think…”

  “Did you think you’d be having sex on a beach? A nude beach?”

  “Well, no, but it hardly compares.”

  “It’s the same kind of thing. Maybe not exactly but when I dive…yeah, there’s a risk, but take scuba diving, for example. I’m seeing part of this world that not many people get to see. It’s not taboo, like what we did, but that adrenaline you felt on the beach? That’s what I feel when I dive or skydive. It’s pretty awesome. Never say never.” He winked

  “Have you ever been to New York?” Penny changed the subject but as the question slipped from her lips, she wished she could retract it. Penny wanted more of Chase, and not just for a few days.

  “I have,” he answered with an amused lilt in his voice.

  “And?”

  He laughed. “I’ve been mostly on business. But if you’re asking me what I think of the city? I love visiting.”

  Penny grabbed a cracker and shoved it in her mouth before she asked him anything else. Of course he’d never move there. Embarrassed, she waited on him to go next.

  “Would you ever considering living somewhere else besides New York?” he asked.

  Penny grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth. Her eyes met his and she considered what she should tell him. Was he asking her if she’d move to California? There is no way he’s asking me to move there. Penny tried to rein in her infatuation. She knew she’d say yes, probably scaring the man to the hills. Don’t answer. Don’t answer. Don’t answer.

  “Dare,” she responded, her lips tight.

  “Dare, huh? All right.” He laughed and stood from his chair.

  Penny’s heart raced as he moved to the end of the bed and wrapped his hands around her ankles. A small smile formed as he spread her legs, climbing onto the mattress. His hands fell to the ties of her robe.

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Don’t I have to do the dare now?”

  “I’m changing the rules. I have immediate plans for you that can no longer wait.” He gave her a devious grin.