Page 97 of She’ll Steal Your Heart
“I didn’t say I couldn’t handle them. I just prefer solitude, that’s all.”
“And here I had you pegged as a social butterfly.”
Fiona turned her head, meeting Nicole’s gaze in the near darkness. “Is that how you had me pegged?”
“Among other things.” Nicole licked her lips, and they glistened in the moonlight, driving Fiona to distraction.
“Good, because I’m many things.”
“Tell me a few of them. What do you do for work?”
“I’m an artist.” Fiona watched the lights bobbing on the horizon, twinkling like fallen stars.
“Oh, really? What kind of art? Do you paint?”
“Digital mostly, but yes, I do paint.” She slid her gaze to Nicole, who was watching her intently. They stood close enough that Fiona could inch her elbow to the right and bump Nicole’s. Could have, but she didn’t. Not yet, anyway. “Graphic design pays the bills. I paint mostly for myself, although I sell some locally.”
“Landscapes or people?”
“Both.” She let her gaze drop from Nicole’s face to her body, endless curves highlighted by her formfitting dress. Brown hair, hazel eyes, olive-tinted skin. Earth tones. She’d look so much more vibrant in a mossy-green dress than this gray one. “I could paint you, but I’d use brighter colors.”
“Like Jack draws Rose inTitanic?” Nicole’s voice had dropped an octave or two, into the timbre of Fiona’s lusty daydreams.
She scoffed. “Hardly. That’s a rubbish movie. The ship sinks, and they all die, even poor Jack because Rose’s too selfish to share her bit of wood with him.”
“Why, Fiona, are you a romantic at heart?” Nicole asked, shifting subtly closer.
“I can be romantic.” She lifted her right hand from the railing and brushed it against the curve of Nicole’s waist, lingering for a moment there. An innocent enough gesture if Nicole didn’t want this to happen, but Fiona had pretty good radar about these things, and she was confident she hadn’t read her wrong. Nicole wanted her as badly as she wanted Nicole.
She sucked in a breath at the contact, her eyes finding Fiona’s in the dark. Fiona was fairly sure Nicole’s interest had more to do with avoiding memories of her ex-husband than Fiona herself, but she didn’t mind. She was only looking for a distraction, someone to pass a lonely night or two with here on the ship. It had been months since she’d had sex, too many months, and she was ridiculously horny, an itch she’d been counting on Dimitris to scratch. But now, she found herself even more excited by the prospect of it being Nicole.
In the distance, another boat motored in their direction, engine rumbling in the night. Fiona reached out, sweeping the dark curtain of Nicole’s hair over her shoulder. Her fingers brushed Nicole’s neck, and she felt goose bumps rise beneath her touch. Fiona leaned in, her pulse going haywire the closer her lips got to Nicole’s. They met in a rush of hot breath, noses bumping as their lips pressed together. Nicole let out a hum of pleasure, her eyes sliding shut as Fiona pressed a light kiss against her cheek before bringing their mouths back into alignment.
This time, Nicole opened to her, and Fiona slipped her tongue into her mouth, tasting the same wine she herself had been drinking. Somehow, it tasted sweeter in the hidden pleasure of Nicole’s kiss, heady and lush as the Italian countryside they’d left behind that morning. Fiona slid her free hand to the hollow of Nicole’s back, pressing her closer, kissing her deeper, drinking her in, suddenly certain this kiss was a hundred times better than anything she would have shared with Dimitris this week.
“Whoa,” Nicole whispered as she lifted her head.
“Is that a good thing?” she asked, feathering a hand through Nicole’s hair.
She nodded, her face bobbing in Fiona’s vision as a shy smile played around her lips. “Better than good.”
“I thought so too.” Fiona brushed her fingers over the soft fabric of Nicole’s dress, smoothing it over the dip of her waist. “In fact, I’m very glad to have been stood up.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” There was something hesitant in Nicole’s voice now.
Fiona was a lot of things, but she wasn’t a cheat, and she wouldn’t have Nicole feeling any guilt over Dimitris. “No. He’s my… Even lover is too familiar a term. He’s a businessman who travels almost exclusively. Occasionally, maybe once or twice a year, if he’s in town and we’re both currently unattached, we’ll get together for a few nights. It’s just sex, and in this case, he was called away on business last minute, so I wound up all alone on this lovely boat.”
“That’s…” Nicole’s brow furrowed. “I was married for so long, I don’t have any experience with an arrangement like that.”
“It’s the only kind of relationship I have experience with,” Fiona said, a warning in case Nicole wasn’t interested in a night of casual sex.
“Oh,” she said quietly.
“Your divorce is recent?” Fiona asked.
“Three months. I’m supposed to be using this trip to figure things out by myself.”
Fiona sipped her wine, feeling slightly desperate at the thought of having to let her go. She so rarely experienced such an instant connection with someone, let alone this kind of sizzling chemistry. “Would you like me to leave you to it, then?”
