Snippet Sunday: COMMAND PERFORMANCE

I took a little three-day getaway to Daytona Beach Shores with my kids this past week. (Ivan, my husband, had to work.) It was wonderfully sunny, calm, and uncrowded, even with Tropical Storm Chantal bearing down. Beaches and romance seem to go together, but as far as I can remember, I’ve only had one couple take a trip to the beach so far, and that was Mason and Miri in Command Performance.

One of my favorite things about Command Performance is the tension between Mason and Miri due to her virginity, and Mason’s desire to make her first time really special. Even though he’s a big movie star with glitzy properties all over the planet, he chooses to take her to a small bungalow on a private island when it’s time to do the deed:

     Miri dropped his hand and leaned to pick up a shell. She held the battered conch to her ear and gave him one of her silly looks. “I can hear the ocean.”

     “Oh, can you?” He grabbed her, slung her over his shoulder and ran toward the water. “You can feel the ocean too. It’s right here.”

     She shrieked as he galloped into the waves. When he was chest deep he tumbled her into the water. She came up out of the azure depths sputtering and laughing. “Now my clothes are all wet.”

     “Take them off,” he said. “We’re alone here.” He gazed down at her gauzy tank top, now rendered completely see-through. Her nipples were tight beneath the cotton material. Well, it was early spring. The water was a little cool.

     Her laughing expression turned shy, then sultry as she pulled the sopping wet top over her head. Jesus, she was beautiful. Slight curve to her waist, rounded hips, and perfect-sized, natural breasts. He strode back to the shore and flung off his shirt, took off his canvas shorts. They walked up the beach to spread their wet clothes on some rocks and faced each other, naked and free in the warmth of the sunny day.

      “We’re like savages.” She laughed, looking around.

     Savages…she had no idea. He took deep breaths, in, out, in, out. They were comfortable by this point with each other’s nudity, but her beauty still caught him in the gut. The sun, the waves, the breeze in her hair and the glow of her pearlescent skin. She didn’t do tanning. No plastic surgery…he’d know if she’d had plastic surgery. He remembered the location of all Jessamine’s scars, but Miri didn’t have them. She was a natural woman, a savage female staring out at the waves. She turned back, her gaze caught by his burgeoning erection. She gave him a speculative look.

     “Now that we’re naked…”

     “No, not yet.” No, he wasn’t ready yet. Well, he was ready, but… “Let’s swim for a while. Enjoy the waves and water before it gets dark.”

     “Cool. I never swam naked before.” She headed for the water, kicking up sand as she sashayed across the beach. My God, her ass. Assfucking wasn’t on the menu for the weekend but…oh God. He couldn’t wait until he took that virginity too. He realized he was busily making plans for three, four, five months down the line.

     “Come on.” She turned in the eddies and beckoned him. “Come swim with me.” He walked down the beach, entranced by her smile. She ran ahead of him, barging into the water, diving under and then coming up for air. He grabbed her and embraced her there in the surf, burying his face in her neck.

     “You smell like a savage,” he murmured. He grasped her ass, pulling her forward against his cock. Again, he felt the wild impulse to simply drive into her. They were here. They were ready. What was he waiting for?

Well, if you’ve read the book, you know what he was waiting for, and you also know this beach getaway takes a chilling, miserable turn before it’s all over, but don’t worry, there’s a happy-ever-after for Mason and Miri by the end of the novel.

Command Performance was the fourth and final book in my Comfort series, after Comfort Object, Caressa’s Knees, and Odalisque.  I suppose in that way, Mason had the longest journey to happiness, but what a hot and sexy journey it was. If you haven’t read Command Performance, click the link below to read a blurb and find buy links.