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Marcus was a true Dom, assuming all within range of his fingers were subject to his fondling, but she wasn't complaining. He would have made a good sheik, she'd warrant. She liked the feel of his long fingers stroking her hair. She ran her knuckles along the ridge of Josh's shoulder, drew a circle on his pectoral, idly traced his jugular. It pleased her when he raised his chin to give her better access. She kept up the motion, all the while looking up at the world above them. It was a world that existed without self-analysis, falling into a natural pattern without question of that pattern, of the wrong and right of it. It was much how this felt, the three of them together, part of it, and at least for the moment, Lauren knew peace.
Chapter 12
Isabel eventually decided to turn and head down from the higher elevations of the island. Lauren sat up at Josh's urging when they reached a clear spot, in order to see the panorama of ocean stretching out below them, the sun glittering off the waves.
Lauren slid her hands around him and scooted up close, outlining his hips and thighs with the lengths of her own. She was gratified when he laid his hands over hers on his chest and tugged her a bit closer, so her breasts were shelved against his bare back.
"Wow," she said, of the view before them.
His fingers tightened over hers and he nodded.
The ocean stretched below them, the perfect blue of postcards but even more vibrant. Its white foam was the same crystal sparkle as snow. As her eyes traveled to the horizon, the green-blue glass darkened into turquoise, sparkling in a dazzling tapestry of light, paying homage to the sun. It was perfection in the way only Nature could pull it off. The air brought her the smell of brine and seaweed, contributing to the view's arresting impact.
"Makes you wish they had never eaten that damned apple, doesn't it?" Josh murmured.
She pressed her chin to the point of his shoulder. "Do you believe that story?" she asked.
He lifted her head with a shrug.
"Sounds just like us," he said.
Lauren couldn't help but agree. Unable to accept Eden, man had to delve into its one place of darkness and try to prove his mastery.
She spent a great deal of time analyzing the art forms of power. She had learned that domination could and did sculpt the factors within one's control for pleasure, but mutual pleasure was the ultimate prize. If done right, the Master or Mistress reached a point where he or she could let go, and magic took over.
Then there was no more need for games or thinking, just simple existence. That had been the miracle God gave Adam and Eve in Eden, dominion as a gift, not a tool.
"It makes a person feel. . . so small," she said. He brushed her cheek with his jaw.
"But in a good way," he echoed her feelings. "Like there's nothing you've done that can't be fixed. "
"Or forgiven. "
"Or healed," Marcus suggested. Lauren twisted to see him sitting up, his arms braced against Isabel's rump to prop him while he watched their interplay with as much aesthetic appreciation as Lauren had displayed when gazing at the view before her. "I brought sand buckets, by the way. "
He had the face of an angel and the mind of Lucifer, she decided, with a quick grin. "Plastic shovels too, I hope. "
"Of course. No trip to the beach is complete without them. "
Lauren turned back and squeezed Josh to her, pressing her palms over his rock hard abdomen. He worked his fingers around one of her hands to lift it and surprised her with a tender nip on her knuckles.
The moment needed nothing more.
Isabel raised her head and trumpeted as they gained the beach, like a bus driver announcing a stop.
Marcus slid off first and Lauren slid down into his grasp, holding onto Josh's forearm and bringing her knee back over the elephant's back. Once having her, however, Marcus did not put her down, instead tossing her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry with surprising strength. He clasped his arms over her thighs to keep her struggling body in place as he backpedaled.
"Got to catch me to get her back, Josh," he cheerfully challenged the man still up on the elephant.
He pivoted and took off, more bloody quick on his feet than a New York art dealer had the right to be, proving he hadn't lost his Iowa farm boy roots, though an Iowa farm boy would have given her an advantage by wearing underwear. She could have caught the elastic under the loose, twisting waistband of his jeans and yanked the fabric up to constrict his balls and make it a more uncomfortable run.
Even without her sabotage attempt, Josh's long legs and athletic build, and the extra weight Marcus was carrying, were eating up the ground between them. Rescue was imminent; though she was laughing so hard she was afraid that would do her in first. Then Marcus feinted right and heaved her into the air.
Lauren had time for a short scream before she landed with a resounding splash in a crashing breaker. The two men dived under it on either side of her.
She surfaced, snorting water and chuckles, and pounced on Marcus as he emerged, shoving him back under. His hands gripped at her swimsuit and she shrieked and twisted away, but not before he got hold of the back of her and, in a deft move, unhooked the fastening.
Lauren spun away from him, and backed into Josh. He caught her about the waist, not realizing her predicament, and his knuckles beneath the water grazed the bare undercurves of her breasts. His touch stilled and Lauren stopped breathing, stopped moving, waiting to see what he would do.
