Justin took a while to return, but when he did she’d gotten herself so mentally worked up that she had a hard time coming down.

Chill out, she told herself. Save yourself for the cabin.

As the door eased shut, the sound of waves frothed from the music speakers. The sheet slithered down her back, her masseur resting it just at the curve of her butt. She felt a little naughty doing this, as if she was were an artist’s model seductively flashing a room. She could hear him stepping away to rub oil over his hands, then approach the table again, silent.

But that was fine. A chatty massage didn’t sound appealing. All she wanted to do was wilt, free her mind.

When he skimmed the warm oil over her back, she sighed. His hands were big, strong, slightly callused. He worked the slickness in, spreading it over her like cream to be licked off later.

Over her shoulder blades, up to her neck, down, down, near her waist, over the small of her back, to the top of her butt…

With the power of his downward stroke, he pushed away the sheet, palms molding her butt, his thumbs sweeping lower, down inside her inner thighs.

Whoa…

Erin jerked her head off the cushion, looking over her shoulder. And there, with an arrogant grin, stood the anti-Justin. Wes.

Automatically, she reached for the sheet and covered most of her body. It was different with Wes-she didn’t know why-but she felt exposed now. “You’ve taken up massage in your spare time?”

Wes, who’d shed his leather jacket somewhere along the line, stood back and folded his arms across a wide, T-shirted chest. A dark lock of hair covered his brow, making him a nasty boy.

“I followed you up here and…struck a deal with little Justin, that’s all.”

“A deal.”

“I’m a regular wheeler dealer.” He grinned. “It’s my talent in life.”

Wes didn’t add that it was also the bane of his existence. He’d always been blessed with a silver tongue, but that was part of the reason people never took him seriously. With as few words as possible, he’d always created his own reputation before anyone else could label him to their satisfaction. Problem was, at some point, he’d started to believe all the things he’d made himself out to be, and he’d dreaded the day when someone would call him on it.

Yet that was the thing about Erin. She’d probably be the one to do it. He both looked forward to it and feared it. Just wanted it to be over and know that she didn’t think any less of him for the truth-that his polish would wear off all too easily if tested.

As he drank in the sight of her on the table, candlelight licking her skin, he thought she definitely was worth risking his ego. The sheet didn’t cover much: most of one ripe breast was exposed, as well as her ass. Damn, the curves of those bared cheeks, smooth and firm, had felt so good. He was dying to get back to work again.

“You’re gonna get Justin fired,” Erin said, but she didn’t seem displeased.

“That’s not what he said when I handed him that wad of cash and told him to take a break.” Wes cocked his head. “Well, okay, he did say something about getting into big trouble if his boss ever found out, but he was convinced once I added a bit more incentive to the pile.”

Erin shook her head. “You devil.”

Wes unfolded his arms from across his chest. Lust was spearing his gut, thrusting with every passing second. “Turn back over, Erin. Give me my money’s worth.”

“Hey, you say that like I’m a-”

“You’re not.” He hadn’t meant to put it in those terms. He would never treat her that way; it stung that she thought he might, mostly because he knew his previous encounters with women were no better than meaningless transactions, anyway.

Voice low, he said, “Let me make you feel good, Erin.”

For a moment, she didn’t move. That same shift clicked the colors of her eyes into a different mode. There was something going on here, and he had no idea what it was. But he wanted to bring back the twinkle in her eyes, the delight she always wore when they bantered or simply relaxed around each other. He wanted that more than just about anything.

She must’ve seen that, because she did turn over, inviting him to continue.

He hesitated, but then, driven to his limits-and what guy wouldn’t be with his dream girl naked in front of him?-he rubbed more oil on his hands. Carefully, he stroked up her back again, shaping his fingers to her like air over dunes, traveling and mapping.

As he worked the tenseness out of her muscles, he grew hard, anticipating what the foreplay could eventually lead to. A meeting of their bodies…maybe more.

She moaned as he used his thumbs to knead the back of her neck.

“You put in too many hours at the shop,” he said.

“Shh.”

He laughed quietly, retaliating by coasting his hands beneath her body and cupping her breasts. Soft, erotically swollen. She arched her back in response, allowing him room to slip her nipples between his fingers.

She gasped. The sound jabbed into him.

He smoothed down lower, over her flat belly, feeling a thatch of hair wisp against his fingertips.

“I thought…” she said, voice breaking apart “…I’d get…hot stones with this…massage…”

“Saucy,” he said roughly, slipping his hands up and over her waist, then her back, then down to palm her ass again. Moving lower, he spread apart her legs, then ran his thumbs into the wet cleft there.

She rocked upward. “Oh-”

He pressed harder, separating her folds, hunger stoked at the sight of her glistening pink sex under candlelight.

Careful, he thought. Slow.

Finding her clit, he circled it. She echoed his movements, clutching the table and bunching the bottom sheet.

He worked her, harder but not faster, drawing out her groans until they grew higher in pitch. All the while, his own libido was expanding, pulsing, nagging him to take this further.

“Wes,” she said against the table. “Oh, Wes…”

As she moaned his name, Wes’s chest tightened.

There was a knock at the door.

He froze in utter disbelief.

Erin jerked away from him, sheened with sweat. It made her skin gold, hazed with a glow.

An erection ruling him once again, Wes covered her with the sheet, cussing under his breath. She’d been saying his name, as if she’d wanted more than just the physical from him…

“One second,” he bit out.

A voice from the other side said, “My boss came in, sir. I’ve gotta-”

“One minute.”

Erin had already jumped off the table, heading for her clothes, which were hanging on a wall hook. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was that curse.”

Wes helped her into her jeans. “I’m starting to know better. I think you need to fully explain this curse to me, Erin.”

Knock, knock, knock.

She tugged her T-shirt over her head, nipples beading against the thin white material. With a jolt, Wes snagged her sweater and wrapped it around her before Justin came in. He didn’t give a crap if the guy saw naked women every day, this was Erin, and Wes wasn’t about to allow some random man the satisfaction.

Justin’s voice filtered in again. “Excuse me, but-”

“One minute!” they both said in stereo.

“The room,” Wes said, pained. “Tell me we’re going to our room.”

Another click of her eye colors-a combination lock securing her thoughts away into a vault.

“Erin? What is it?”

After a beat, she smiled, looking as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. “It’s nothing.” She touched his arm. “Let’s just go back…”

Justin had obviously waited long enough because he jammed open the door. The candle flames waved and angled with the breeze.

“Sorry,” he said, “but my boss showed up and asked me why I wasn’t with my scheduled appointment.”

“That’s okay,” Erin said, tugging Wes away by the hand. “Thanks for trying.”

And they continued on to their cabin, where Wes hoped they could prove that there really wasn’t any damned curse.

5

THAT WAS CLOSE, ERIN thought as she and Wes bolted into their cabin. Close to getting caught, close to actually getting somewhere. Even now, her skin was still slick with oil, buzzing with the imprint of Wes’s practiced hands sliding over her, under her…

At the reminder, she felt a jolt in her sex. She was still primed for him, beating with a plump reminder of what could’ve been.

As Wes shut the door, the ship’s intercom sounded a bell, and the purser’s voice came on. “We’d like you all to join us on deck as we depart-”

“No,” Wes said, stalking over and guiding her toward the bed. “Hell, no.”

She clasped his arms and turned their bodies so that his back was to the mattress. “Exactly. No more interruptions.”

With verve, she pushed him onto the bed, where the edge of it caught the backs of his knees to take him down. Propping himself up on his elbows, he reclined, obviously entertained by her take-charge attitude.

They both laughed. Then her gaze caught his and-

Ja-joom.

Her heart pistoned, jarred to life by his sitting there, just watching her with such casual, frank interest. Black hair slouching over his brow, eyes liquid with dark yearning, his T-shirt straining over his tight abs while the white material skimmed every cut muscle. He was more than she could handle and, for a flailing minute, she didn’t know what to do or how to do it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the ship pulling away from the dock, taking them out to sea. Stranding her with the decision she’d made to get intimate with this gorgeous, hot man who sent tremors to her core.

Not wanting to dwell on what those tremors might signify, Erin pushed all her doubts to the wayside, purposefully moving to the vanity counter, where she’d set down her lollipop earlier.

Shaking with anticipation, she picked it up, making a show of inspecting it: cherry candy, heart-shaped and innocent.

“Do me a favor?” she asked quietly.

Ja-joom. Oh, man, she was really going to do this. Sleep with Wes. Ignore that they had no future and just go for it. Expose herself to a prediction that scared her half to death.

“Name it,” he said, tone low and gristled.

Slowly, she began to undo the candy’s clear wrapper. “Take it all off.”

He slid a curious look at the lollipop, then cocked an eyebrow, clearly up for any request. Rising, he tugged off his shirt, tossing it away to the corner.

Through the window, the harbor glided by: a swollen sky met by wind-ruffled water.

Stomach going goofy-from the thought of sailing, or from nerves?-she went to the window. With a decisive jerk, she closed the curtains, then turned back to Wes.

There. The room was dimmer now, less intimidating. It was a shadowed alcove where she could act out her fantasies without feeling fully revealed or losing her courage under too much illumination.

Tracking her with predatory eyes, Wes had also taken off his shoes and socks while still sitting on the bed. His olive skin looked darker with the lack of light. Exotic, smooth, so masculine.

“And?” he asked, voice edged with the same sexy amusement.

She went hot again, pulse throbbing in a countdown to contact. Instinctively, she ran the lollipop over her lips.

His smile grew.

Moving closer to him, Erin lolled the candy away from her mouth. Screw all the cautious cells bumping against each other in her body in their attempt to get her to reconsider, to take this slower. She was ready to go.

“Your jeans aren’t going to do us much good,” she said.

As he stood and eased them off, she went back to the lollipop, tilting her head and licking the sweet cherry, knowing Wes was taking it all in.

He tossed the denim away, the heavy material hitting the wall with a bunched slap. And there he stood: tall, athletic, his penis half-erect from her preshow.

Erin took the entire sucker into her mouth, then drew it out. “Mmm…”

“Erin…” Wes said. It was as if his voice had been sliced open and was bleeding raw desire.

Infused with the confidence of knowing how much he wanted her, she forgot everything else, moving forward and giving him another slight push to get him back down on that mattress, then tossing him a pillow so he could prop up his head. She knew he’d want to watch; she needed him to do it, too, needed to feel naughty and rebellious.

He understood her intentions, shoving the pillow under his head as she put the lollipop back into her mouth with one hand and pressed one of his legs open with the other.

As she pulled out the sucker, she felt the floor roll beneath her feet. Her head swam.