The Carrero Effect - Falling for the Boss (Billionaire CEO)
Chapter 61

We are entwined in seconds because he doesn't hesitate. Our tongues are most certainly replaceing pleasure at meeting once again as he slides his hands into my hair and around my throat, softly holding me still. I'm rejoicing in the feel of his muscular body on top of mine, a little wave of smug pride and deep desire. It's right in every kind of way; male hardness and soft feminine curves entangling.

This is good, too good, and the fact he's just as into this as I am, has me ravenous, losing any inhibitions. Panting as my heart pounds from my chest, lost in the perfection of it. I should really listen to him more when he says let go.

His fingers replace mine and he presses them against the mattress beside my head, pulling away to catch his breath momentarily, his eyes dark with dilated pupils, so close.

Don't stop please, don't stop.

He regards me for a millisecond, his face in shadow so I can't read his expression clearly, pondering what we're doing, then drops to kiss me intensely. Breathing hard and fast, this could go one of two ways. Right now, that giddy head is throwing the sensible option off the boat.

I don't care about the consequences; I want him more than I've ever wanted anyone in my life. Doubts gone, mind fuzzy with alcohol, for once just following instinct and ignoring my brain. He pulls away, changes angle, and kisses me again, this time, sucking my bottom lip passionately. I almost lose all control right then. His hands back around my face, he's putting all effort into seducing me, and caressing my tongue with a fire that could wipe out cities.

Jake knows how to kiss; he does it like a guy who has learned the art of making a woman pliable under his skilled attentions. I am no different; body and soul screaming for more, heightened and buzzing with longing. He tastes like alcohol and tropical juice, mouth soft yet agonizingly sensual. I can't help but tremble with every movement he's making. Every slight tensing of his muscles, and lines of his body against mine, is beyond sensual. My hands exploring his upper torso, those hard, taut muscles, turning me on.

I'm probably the most inexperienced girl he's ever had under him, but he makes me crave him. His mouth on mine drowns out every good thing I've ever known as a pale second. His taste, his caress, his smell; it's intoxicating, the best kind of drug. He's making love to my mouth, pulling me further into erotica, my body aching for more while I'm clinging to him and trying to pull him further into me.

He responds with equal fervor; his hands move to skim the side of my breast and I softly moan in pleasure. Holding his weight up so he can shift against me, bringing his groin to my pelvis and parting my legs, never breaking contact with his mouth. His body is all over me in the most satisfying way. I'm almost on fire with the longing in every cell of my being; I'm so ready to let him take me that I am almost rubbing up against his crotch. We just fit so perfectly, everything coming together easily and in unison.

There's a mass bang in the hall behind us that sends a startling shockwave through the room. Pulling our mouths apart as fright hits me in the chest and he seems to instinctively shield me slightly. He jerks up to look to where we left the door wide open. There's lots of hysterical screaming in the distance as the door fills with the dark looming figure of a man and Jake turns his head to him.

"What the f-?" Jake's shocked, yet angry, maybe like me he's not so happy about the interruption when what we were doing was mind blowing. He's still on top of me, braced on his arms, our bodies still entangled, and I lay here panting, clinging to him, my body buzzing with pulsing heat.

"Jake? Jake?" The voice at the door sounds hysterical. I think it's one of the twins.

"What is it?" He snaps.

"It's Daniel... He fell off the boat ... We can't replace him."

***

I'm grasping the rail with white knuckles and leaning over, scanning the dark sea frantically. The ship's crew are out on small boats searching the water and Jake's already dove in and swam back twice. I'm hysterical about the fact he's this drunk and yet swimming to replace his friend in an almost pitch-black ocean. Watching the water with fear gripping my throat, holding my breath with every dive he takes and willing them to replace him so Jake will get out of the water. I've never been so terrified in my life that I can barely move.

"He's here, Mr. Carrero." Yells one of the crew from the lifeboat; I spin to them, flashlights illuminating the hauling of a lifeless body into it under the moonlight.

Oh my god.

I'm sitting in my room and I'm tired and cold, I haven't slept. Last night was hell, Daniel was airlifted to a hospital on the mainland, he's okay but it gave all of us a huge scare and the atmosphere left behind is silent and tense.

Jake has been gone most of the night and I'm left reeling from what happened, churning it over and over.

Daniel being given CPR by Jake, then his coughing up tons of water and coming around. The drama at thinking Jake was going to drown every time he dove under; all I could think was how drunk he was. How terrified I was of losing him, counting the seconds until I would see him surface again, and the terror whenever he went back down.

The craziness when he left in a flurry of paramedics, and helicopter turbulence hovering over the yacht; I barely got to say two words to him, or even check how he was, and it was agony.

Finally, what we were doing when Vincent raised the alarm that Hunter was in the water. What Jake and I had been doing! Where that had been leading, and just how far down that road to having sex with him had been. I can't bear thinking about it. How stupid I was.

I'm sobering up, and it's hard to digest how close I came to ruining all of this.

How could I contemplate even doing it?

I need to get off this boat and put some distance between us. I need to claw some perspective back and sort my head out. This is getting ridiculous, my inability to separate my hormones from rational thought when he is in proximity. I did this! I'm the one who made a move and kissed him when we were both clearly drunk, but I'm the one who initiated it. Hunter maybe did a dumb thing and almost got himself killed, but he inadvertently stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life. Jake doesn't look at sex as any big deal, but I do. I've only slept with two people in my life and that was years ago when I was pushed into it.

He would have been able to brush it off to a drunken night, but would I?

I have a feeling that would have killed me more than being fired.

What's wrong with me?

I get up and head to the boat deck in a bid to stop torturing myself. In the early morning sun, it's warm but not overly so, and I'm still wearing last night's dress. I like the fact it still smells of him, soothing me and right now I need it while I miss him so much. I can't stop obsessing over him, how he is, when he's coming back. This is exactly why I need to get my head together, this kind of stupid thinking. I'm seriously losing it over my boss. It was that inability to touch him, stop him, and check he was okay that has left me pacing and restless.

I lay down on the double sun lounger on deck, sinking into the softness of the cushioned mattress; the sun has warmed it enough to give me some much-needed heat. I'm beyond exhausted, fatigue washing over me while leaving me detached and cast adrift.

Why haven't I slept?

I know why. Jake left with Daniel, wet with ruffled hair, in sweats and a T-shirt, a towel around his shoulders. He looked - primal. Devastated. I never really understood the bond between him and Daniel Hunter, but it exists. They're like oil and vinegar, yet they really are best friends. I guess, in his past, he was more like Hunter than I want to admit but I'm glad Jake is nothing like him now.

I doze, finally, warmed by the rising sun, listening to the noise of a boat returning across the soft lapping waves and it pushes me glance up. Startling me from the first stages of slumber as my heart rate elevates.

Is it? Oh my god, it's them... He's coming back.

My heart lurches painfully and I'm suddenly shy and afraid, despite my longing to see him back and safe.

We kissed last night. I mean properly kissed, a two-way, no objections, and taking it further than just a moment of madness, kind of kiss. A real make-out session.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐