Spring Equinox: Celestial Seductions, Book 2
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
About the Author
Look for these titles by Eden Bradley
Once upon a time, two young lovers vowed to reunite…
Celestial Seductions, Book 2
After a bitter divorce, Isabel Asher returns to Isla de Margarita to find the only man she’s ever truly loved. Twelve years ago, on her eighteenth birthday, they made a pact to meet…if they both were free. Now she waits, wondering if Rafael Cruz will be her every fantasy come to life…or just a foolish dream.
Rafael never forgot their summer of love all those years ago. Since then, no other woman has measured up to the memory of Isabel in his arms. Their chemistry is still stunning, the sex is sizzling. The power of their memories is overwhelming. Yet it’s too soon to tell if she wants to be with him as much as he wants her.
As her time on the island grows short, their sensual play heats up, and includes a night with Rafael’s best friend. But they must decide if their passionate reunion is simply a celebration of the past…or a new beginning for lasting love.
Warning: Hot sex on the beach, hot sex in bed, two gorgeous Latin lovers, a little anal action, a little vibrator action, and a lot of orgasms!
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520
Macon GA 31201
Spring Equinox
Copyright © 2010 by Eden Bradley
ISBN: 978-1-60504-935-9
Edited by Bethany Morgan
Cover by Angela Waters
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: March 2010
www.samhainpublishing.com
Spring Equinox
Eden Bradley
Dedication
This one is for my editor, Bethany Morgan, for loving the romance as much as the smutty stuff.
Chapter One
She could hardly believe she was there, that she’d been brave enough—or foolish enough—to come. Isabel Asher’s gaze swept across the fine white sand of Playa de la Luna, the beautiful beach that had haunted her dreams for twelve years. This beach, the entire island of Isla de Margarita off the coast of Venezuela and everything that had happened there so many years earlier. In the distance, the waves splashed against the shore in brilliant turquoise and jade, carrying the salty scent of the sea. That Caribbean scent was all around her, rippling the leaves of the date and coconut palms dotting the long crescent of beach, flowing through her long brown hair. Everything in this place carried the scent of the ocean, the brilliant sun, and the sensual and heartbreaking memories Isla de Margarita held for her.
The sun was beginning to lower in the sky, wispy ribbons of cloud crossing the crystal clear blue. It would make for a spectacular sunset. But this particular sunset meant so much more to her than the breathtaking colors that would grace the horizon before the sun dipped into the ocean to rest for the night.
It was March twenty-first, the spring equinox, a time for new beginnings. Was she pinning too much hope on that pagan concept? It was also her thirtieth birthday, but that in itself was not the important part, other than it marked the designated time for her to come back to this beach. To follow a dream she’d held onto for too long, perhaps.
If only she knew whether or not he would come.
Did he still think of her? Had he ever married, had children, moved away? She had no way of knowing. She knew nothing about what his life had been since she’d last seen him, and he’d known nothing of hers. That had been their agreement.
She understood how foolish it was not to contact him first, find out what she could. But she wouldn’t break her promise to him. Maybe some part of her had been afraid to know.
Her sister, Samantha, had pointed these things out to her, over and over again, since Isabel had told her she was coming back to this tiny island to find him. To see if he remembered their vow, made when they were both too young to understand what life might hold for them, how much things could change. She was a different person now. More experienced, perhaps more jaded. Her life with her ex-husband hadn’t helped. But that was over, and she’d been free to come here. To hope.
Isabel scanned the beach again, catching her long hair as it whipped in the ocean breeze. Would she even recognize him? It had been twelve years. He could have changed…but no, she knew in her heart she would know him anywhere.
Rafael Cruz. The first, and greatest, love of her life.
She remembered the smoky tone of his voice, his lightly accented English. She remembered the deep golden brown of his skin, the silky feel of it against her palms as she’d made those first nearly innocent explorations of his young, lanky body. His lips had been so soft, so sweet and lush, his kisses sometimes gentle, sometimes so hungry she had begged him to take her virginity. But he’d refused to do it until she turned eighteen. It had to do with honor, he’d said, even though he was only a month older. She’d turned eighteen two days before leaving the island, and on that night she had given her innocence to him. Only one night, but it had been something to hang onto over the years. The lovely, sensual memories of her spring vacation with Rafael, and the one experience that had sealed her heart to him forever.
They’d spent the entire month together on this very beach. If she let her gaze travel to the tip of the cove she could see where the craggy rocks came down to meet the sea, and she knew that just on the other side was a small cave, their private hideaway. The things they had done together there, in the heat of the day, in the sultry tropical nights, had fed her fantasies her entire adult life. His golden skin, the long, lean muscles of his body, the way he felt pressed up against her. His scent, like fresh earth and sea. She shivered, remembering, her body yearning for his touch, as it always had.
Her heart yearned for him, as well. Even after all these years.
Was she being as foolish as Samantha said she was? How could she possibly think he would want her now, if he was even still on the island? If he remembered the promise they’d made to each other.
Impossible, she was sure of it. But she’d had to come.
The sky was beginning to glow with the first colors of sunset, amber, pink and orange streaking across the darkening blue. The sun would soon fall into the distant horizon, as though into the arms of a lover. Just as she wanted to.
Rafael.
Her stomach tightened as her gaze roved the nearly empty beach. There were a few scattered couples, a family with three small children. Only she stood there alone, in one of the most beautiful and romantic spots on earth, wishing, hoping, for what was probably hopeless. Unobtainable.
Why had she come?
Her sister was right. He wouldn’t be there. Too many years had passed. He probably had his own life by now, leaving their adolescent love affair far behind.
This was crazy. What had she been thinking?<
br />
Ridiculous to have come here. To have hoped.
She was pathetic.
Sighing, she pushed her hair over her shoulder and turned to make the short walk back to her hotel. She kept her gaze on her bare feet scudding in the fine, warm sand. She didn’t want to watch the glory of the sunset. The idea of it had meant too much for her, and now she was faced with the stark reality of a broken dream. A foolish dream. But still…
“Is it you?”
Startled, she looked up, found an intense hazel gaze fixed on hers. Her pulse pounded through her veins. Could it be…?
He reached out, laid a tentative hand on her arm. Immediately she felt the heat of his touch.
“Rafael?” Even though this was what she’d dreamed of, she couldn’t believe he was really there. She was dizzy, her mind a tumble of incomprehensible thoughts.
I wasn’t crazy. Or maybe he is too.
It doesn’t matter. We’re here. Here!
“You remembered,” she said, her breath catching in her throat as he slid his hand into hers.
It felt like the most natural thing in the world. The heat of him, his smooth palm against hers, made her go warm and liquid all over. The old chemistry was still there, no doubt about it.
He smiled, that dazzling flash of strong white teeth, the one that had melted her heart the first moment she’d met him. “Of course I remembered. I’ve never forgotten you. Did you truly think I would?”
His accent was smoother, more American, his voice a little deeper. But she would have known it anywhere.
“God, I can’t believe it’s you.” She blinked, hard. She was trembling.
“And I can hardly believe it’s you, even though a part of me was always certain you would come.”
She pulled in a deep lungful of the tropical air, trying to get her brain to function, her heart rate to calm. She shook her head. “I’ve thought of this for such a long time, but now that it’s happening, I don’t know what to say.”
“Come to the hotel with me. We can have a drink, some time to comprehend that this is happening.”
She laughed. “That’s so grown up, isn’t it? Us having a drink together.”
“We’ve grown up these last twelve years. So much has happened to us, I’m certain. We have so much to talk about. I oversee the hotels now. My mother moved back to Miami when we lost my father. I lived there full time for a while, went to school there.”
“I’m so sorry about your father.” She put a hand on his shoulder, felt the taut curve of muscle there.
“I miss him. But come, let’s talk of other things.”
He slid an arm around her waist, and it felt odd and completely natural at the same time. She realized he’d grown several inches since she’d last seen him. And he’d broadened, become more solidly muscled than he’d been at eighteen. But he still had that same scent—sea and earth and something sensual, musky that was purely male.
They were quiet on the walk up the beach as if by silent, mutual agreement, turning to smile at each other now and then as the sky grew darker. There was something companionable about it, even with the desire shimmering through her body in tiny waves.
They made their way to the Playa de la Luna Resort at the north end of the beach, one of the hotels owned by Rafael’s family. The same hotel Isabel had stayed at with her family twelve years earlier.
The place was as beautiful as ever. Spanish architecture was graced with intricate black ironwork, and the stucco walls were draped in flowering vines. Ground lamps lit the tall palms that shaded the maze of courtyards, dotted here and there with mosaic-tiled fountains and ironwork benches. She felt as though she were walking through a dream, the final glow of the setting sun adding to the surreal quality of the evening. His hand was on her waist, warm, reassuring, and making every nerve in her body light up with need. How long had she craved his touch?
He led her into the bar, and then to a table set before a wide expanse of windows overlooking the beach. The bar was mostly empty. It was the end of the tourist season in the Caribbean, the weather beginning to grow too warm for most people. She was glad for the sense of privacy.
Rafael held a chair for her and she slid in, already missing his hand at the small of her back. She could not quite believe that she was here with him.
“I’ll get us something to drink. Do you still drink Coca-Cola?” He grinned at her, his hazel eyes glittering, that mesmerizing blend of gold and silver and a dark mossy green, and she saw a mischievous hint of the teenager he’d been.
“I think I need a real drink. Does your bartender make a mojito?”
“The best on Isla de Margarita. I’ll be right back.”
She watched him as he walked away. He moved with the easy grace of a man entirely comfortable in his own body. He was beautiful, even more than she remembered. His hazel eyes came from his American mother, she knew. But the rest of him was the dark, tall physique of his Venezuelan father—the jet black hair he still wore long enough to nearly brush his shoulders, the golden brown skin, the flashing white teeth. His smile had always brought her to her knees.
Yes, on my knees before him, drinking in his skin, my lips closing around his flesh...
She shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the lustful images that had taunted her all these years. That had become excruciating in the last weeks as she planned this trip. But she had to get a grip on her wandering imagination. They’d only just reconnected, and she knew nothing of his current situation, or even if he would still want her. She felt he did, felt that old chemistry sizzling between them. But she needed more time to assess if that were really true, or if it was simply a product of her own hopes.
She focused on Rafael once more, the man standing a few yards away from her, rather than the one who had inhabited her mind for twelve years. He was talking with the bartender while the man made their drinks. In the dim light of the bar she could see that his jaw line had widened, his high cheekbones looked even more finely sculpted. It was all even better now that he’d grown from a boy into a man.
He had more muscle than he used to—a lot more. His finely tuned body was clearly outlined beneath the cotton shirt he wore, the well-cut linen slacks. He’d been attractive as a teenager. At thirty he was devastating. But the same boy she’d known, had fallen madly in love with, was still there beneath all the muscle, the cool, leonine grace. The warmth of his smile said it all.
As he came back to the table his gaze rested on hers. She’d forgotten how stunning his eyes were, how that luminescent golden-green contrasted with the tone of his skin. She was melting inside already.
But how could she be sure it was really about him, rather than the years of longing and fantasy coming together now, the shock of seeing him? She had to admit she didn’t really know him anymore. He didn’t know her either. She had changed. She had to assume he had too. And she felt confused, overwhelmed.
Calm down. Give it some time.
He smiled as he placed their drinks on the table, took his seat once more. “Now,” he said, “you must tell me everything.”
“Everything?” Where to start? What to include, what to leave out? She sipped her drink, the alcohol warming her chest. “So much has happened. I know we promised each other to meet here on my thirtieth birthday, if we were both free. But we were so young. Neither of us doubted we would want to see each other again. We were so…innocent about life. Yet here we are.” She let out a small laugh. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here with you.”
He reached across the table, took her hand in his, lifted it to his lips. Ah, he was all smooth, Latin charm, just as he’d always been. But more sophisticated. And it was working. When his lips brushed the back of her hand, her whole body turned to molten heat. Her sex went damp, those images of their naked bodies, pressed flesh to flesh, invading her mind once more.
And her heart pounding just as hard, emotion blossoming in the tight knot in her chest.
“Believe this, Isabella. I’m here. I’m
real. This is real. We are together again. We’ll talk, then decide where we go from here. The fact that we both came must mean something. We need some time to figure out what.”
No one but Rafael had ever called her that. Isabella. Lovely, hearing her name that way on his lips.
“Rafael, tell me what’s happened with you. Did you ever marry?”
“Never.” His eyes remained locked on hers, the hazel rimmed in long, dark lashes. He paused, laid her hand gently on the table. “I assume since you’re here that you are also alone, unmarried?”
“I’m divorced.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. I’m only sorry I married him. That I didn’t stay here…”
“No regrets, Isabella. Life happens the way it’s supposed to. Perhaps we had to grow up, experience life, before we could be together. There’s no telling what will become of this meeting. That is, perhaps, part of the beauty of it.”
She wanted that surety. She wanted to know that after coming all the way here their romance would pick up where it had left off, when her parents had taken her back home to the States after their long vacation on Isla de Margarita. She’d dreamed of this for so long.
But his words made sense. They would have to spend a little time together, see if the old connection was as strong as her hopes were. She was still too much in shock at seeing him to know what to do next, to figure out how it was supposed to go.
The one thing she was entirely certain of was that she wanted to be in his arms—and in his bed—as soon as possible.
Chapter Two
Rafael could not believe she was there, on his little beach. At his hotel. Close enough to touch. Finally.
He watched her as she spoke, her lush lips tinged with pink. He remembered the way her lips felt beneath his, his cock stirring at the thought. She’d been all sweetness in those days. She would taste every bit as sweet now, but there would be so much more to her.