Private 02 - Private Paradise

mouth and hands were going to blow all of her rules to hell.
    “ I'm not having sex with you,” she blurted out shakily.
    Sam's hand froze on her breast. “Uh, okay.”
    Carla scooted up on her elbows. “I mean, I just don't want there to be any misunderstandings or disappointment on your part. I know you fool around with girls all the time, and you're used to getting...” She trailed off, embarrassment flooding through her as she realized how stupid she sounded.
    Sam rolled away, sat up, and raked a hand through his hair. “Right. I'm a total man slut.”
    If the shoe fits... “That's not what I meant,” Carla snapped, her body feeling the chill of the night air more acutely without the heat of Sam's skin keeping her warm. “I thought you should know that's not in the cards for us.”
    “ You're a virgin, aren't you?” he said in the same tone as someone who's encountered a particularly rare and reclusive species.
    Carla felt her face heat as tears of humiliation stung her eyes. “Yeah, I am.” She stood on shaky legs and started across the plateau. “So now you know and you can go find someone else to give you what you want and stop wasting your time with me.”
    Sam caught her before she'd taken three steps and pulled her back against him. When she wouldn't look at him he caught her chin in his fingers and tipped it up. Without saying a word he kissed her again, his hand sliding from her chin to cradle the back of her head.
    “ I'm not wasting my time Carla. I don't want sex with some other girl. I want to be with you.”
    Even knowing his reputation, knowing what a player Sam was, any question Carla might have formed melted away at his words.
    That night they'd stayed on that blanket under the stars well into the night, but Sam, shockingly respectful of her wishes, didn't push Carla to go farther than drugging and kisses and touches that left them both aching and unsatisfied. She'd snuck back into her dorm room flushed and vibrating with energy, every nerve pulled so tight with frustrated desire she could barely sleep that night.
    Still, Carla had always been a smart girl and pragmatic too. Sam might have been willing to put up with her prudishness for a night but he would no doubt move on to better, or at least more satisfying prospects. She'd felt a pinch in her chest at the thought but had shoved it away. She knew better than to get all moony and hopeful over someone like Sam.
    Now, as Carla stood looking sightlessly over the balcony at the Caribbean shimmering darkly in the moonlight, she wished, not for the first time, that she had kept that in mind as the next six weeks unfolded.
    To her shock and no small measure of delight, the morning after their night under the stars, Sam found her after her breakfast shift, snuck a kiss, gave her a smoldering look, and said, “See you later,” in a way that left no room for argument. That night, and every night after they snuck off to their special spot under the stars. Soon, kisses and above the waist touches weren't enough.
    Sam, though, was still okay with Carla's decision not to have sex.
    Well, not intercourse anyway. In the weeks that followed he taught her that there were a lot of ways for them to make each other come without actually inserting tab A into slot B.
    Heat shimmered through her at the memory of his skillful hands and mouth, sucking, kissing his way down her body to bury his head between her legs. His fingers sliding into her as his tongue licked and stroking her clit until she didn't care that they were out in the open where anyone could find them if they just walked up the hill. Until all she cared about was Sam and the way he was making her feel.
    It wasn't all one sided – Carla wasn't cruel. She was an eager student as Sam coached her on how to stroke, lick, and suck him to satisfaction.
    At least, she thought with a stab of hurt that was still razor sharp even so many years after, she thought she had satisfied him.
    But it hadn't been all about the sex, for Carla at least. A lot of those nights, they did a lot of talking along with fooling around. She'd gotten to know Sam beyond the bad boy he showed the world and discovered someone who was surprisingly thoughtful and as she'd suspected, wickedly smart despite his lack of academic prowess.
    In those whispered conversations under the star-soaked sky, they shared their plans and dreams for the future. She told Sam about her scholarship to University of Arizona and her dream of