“This isn’t as hard as I thought.” She made the grave mistake of looking up at me as she spoke. Her balance was thrown off. She swayed backward and then overcompensated too far and fell forward. She was half in the water by the time I stopped her fall.
“Shit, this water’s cold.” She draped herself over the log and glanced up at me. “I just sent this log reeling backward and forward, and yet, there you are still standing on top of it as if you have some secret key to gravity.”
I lifted up one foot to remind her of the short spikes on my boots. Then I did a quick dance on top of the log.
“Showoff. As much fun as that was, I’m now freezing my butt off.” She reached up to me. “Let’s get out of here.”
I lowered my hand and popped her back up onto the log and onto her feet. “Bet you’ve never been kissed standing on a log before.” I wrapped my arms around her. The cold water from her clothing seeped through my shirt as I kissed her. A shiver went through her, which was probably from the cold but I decided to let myself believe it was the kiss. I balanced on the log as I swept her into my arms. “I can officially say that you are the best damn thing I’ve ever caught on a river.”
She looked down at the water. “Jeez, you really must have found some magic key to manipulating gravity.”
I rolled the log to move us closer to the shore and hopped onto the bank.
Her chin was trembling.
I put her down and turned my back to her. “Hop on, I’ll give you a ride to the locker room. I need to change my shoes, and I might have one flannel shirt stuck in the dark, forgotten corner of my locker. It won’t be laundry fresh, but it’ll be dry.”
She hopped on my back, and I jogged her back to the office. By the time we reached the locker room, her whole body trembled with cold.
“I guess I didn’t really think this out,” she said through chattering teeth.
I opened my locker and dug out the flannel shirt. I held it out but then yanked it back. I motioned for her to take off her shirt. “This was all part of the deal, right?”
She smiled and pressed her hand against her face. “Oh my gosh, I think my face muscles are frozen. And that last sentence, coupled with the way you are hungrily staring at me right now, should be making me blush.” She patted her cheeks. “Nothing. Too cold to produce a respectable blush.”
“Woodstock, you’re stalling for time, and in the meantime, your lips are turning blue.”
“All right.” She reached for the hem of her shirt and looked up at me. “Turn around.”
I shook my head. “Not going to happen.”
She lifted her shirt, revealing the lacy, pink bra beneath. I held the flannel shirt up out of reach. She huffed and reached back to unhook the bra. Her blue eyes gazed back at me. The round swells of her incredible breasts rose and fell with each breath as she slid the bra off.
“Fucking hell.” The words came out without me thinking about them. I stepped in front of her. “There’s that blush, darlin’.” Her nipples tightened as I stared down at her. She pushed her breasts up toward me, begging me silently to touch her, and I wanted to badly. “Not here. I want to take you home with me tonight. If you’ll come. I leave it up to you. But if I touch you right now, I won’t be able to stop, and I don’t want it to be here in this shitty locker room.”
It seemed that she held her breath as I reached around with the shirt. Her gaze stayed on my face as she pushed her arms through the sleeves. My thumb grazed her naked breast as I pulled the panels of the shirt shut. She sucked in a breath, a sound that nearly made me change my mind and take her then and there up against the cold plaster wall of the room. I held it together and wasn’t completely sure how.
She buttoned the shirt as I changed my shoes. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Even soaking wet, she was fucking breathtaking.
Her nose twisted to the side as she finished the last button.
“Told you it wouldn’t be too fresh.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s warm though. I actually like it. It smells like pine and river water and—and man.” She pressed the collar to her nose. “Oh wow.”
I laughed. “Too much man?”
“Actually no, it smells like stale pot.”
I finished tying my boots. “Yeah, guess that might be on there too. How does a pure and natural girl like you know what stale weed smells like?”
“Perhaps you weren’t listening when I mentioned my upbringing in the commune. I think some of our neighbors were breathing weed more than oxygen.”
“Sounds like a fun place to grow up.” I took her hand. “Let’s blow this joint. Did you catch my play on words there?” I led her to the door and stopped. I looked questioningly at her.
She hopped on her toes and kissed me. Her long lashes fluttered open as she dropped back to her feet. “I want to go home, Jem . . . with you.”
Chapter 19
Tashlyn
The ride home was a blur. Not a terrible blur like this morning but a good, giddy blur. I’d even, for the time being, managed to dismiss the threatening note as a benign warning, a prank of some kind. I’d decided not to worry Jem about it yet. If there was one thing that could keep my mind from dwelling on depressing, confusing stuff, it was the man sitting next to me. And something about wearing his shirt on my bare skin on the ride home made me nearly breathless with a need for him to touch me.
The neon sign above Milly’s Diner lit up the tiny weed riddled front yard as Jem, feeling the same urgency as me, hit the driveway fast enough to make the tires chirp. I knew he lived in the back house, and his dad and brother lived in the front. I kept my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t run into Alcott Wolfe.
I opened the door. Jem came around to my side of the car and grabbed my hand to lead me through the side gate and across the backyard.
“I’ve got to warn you, I’m a total slob.”
“Just like I didn’t picture you with a bird watching guide, I don’t picture you dusting furniture and mopping floors.”
He pushed open the door.
“Or picking up dirty clothes . . . or empty chip bags . . . or beer cans,” I added once I stepped inside. “Yep, you’re a slob.”
“Damn right, but I’ve got awesome fucking taste in women.” He slammed the door shut and pulled me into his arms. His mouth covered mine as his hands got busy unbuttoning the flannel shirt. He had it off my shoulders and me completely naked from the waist up in seconds.
His mouth slid down my neck as one hand cupped my breast and the other smoothed down my back below the waist of my jeans. “I need more fucking hands,” he groaned in frustration and began working the buttons on my jeans. He slid his mouth to my shoulder and bit it lightly. “And maybe an extra mouth. I can’t get enough of you, baby. I’ve got to taste and touch every fucking inch of you.” He pushed my jeans down to my thighs, not an easy task with wet denim. But my panties slid right along with them.
Jem dropped to his knees in front of me and kissed my belly before running his mouth down my pussy. I braced my hands on his strong shoulders as he lifted each foot to pull off my wet shoes.
He wrapped his hand around my foot. “Your skin is still cold.” He rose up on his knees and pressed his mouth against my bare thigh, then peered up with a heated gaze that made me sway on my feet. “This house is small, but believe it or not, I have a shower that can hold three people.”
I held back a grin. “I guess I won’t ask why you know that.”
He stood up. “Yeah, you don’t want to know, but it did involve an entire bottle of tequila so I’m standing by that as my excuse.” He reached up and tugged my nipple just hard enough to make me gasp in delight. “What do you say, Woodstock? Should we take this into the shower?”
“Well, I am still cold and I’m covered with pond water.”
>
He pushed my pants all the way off and I stepped out of them. He stood back to look at me, and instinctively, I crossed my arms to cover my completely naked body.
He shook his head. “No way, darlin’.” He grabbed my hands and held them out to the sides. “I’m going to look at you, all of you.” He took his time surveying every bare inch of me and a frisson of delight went through me as if his gaze was touching me. Then, he released one hand and held the other up to turn me around as if we were on the dance floor. I was facing away from him, but I could still feel the heat of his gaze on me. “God, Tashlyn, you’re fucking unreal.” His voice was deep and ragged, and the urgent sound of it made moist heat surge in my pussy.
He twirled me back to face him and led me down a short, dark hallway. He had, it seemed, every intention of leading me into the bathroom and shower but stopped short. The fevered glaze in his eyes made them shine almost gold in the light streaming in through the dusty windows. “I’ve got to have you now, baby. I can’t wait for the damn shower to heat up. Can’t even make it the ten steps to the bedroom. I’ve been thinking about being buried deep inside your beautiful pussy all day.” He reached back and pulled off his shirt.
It was time for me to gaze with appreciation. He had a smattering of black ink tattoos placed seductively over the imposing hard muscles of his arms and chest. I smoothed my palms over his skin as he unbuttoned his fly. His gaze never left my face, it was a face of concentration, a man with one thing on his mind and that one thing was me.
Before he could do it himself, I shoved his jeans down below his hips. His thick, hard erection sprang free. The fleshy tip was glistening with moisture, like the hot, misty dew filling my pussy. I wrapped my fingers around him. His head dropped back as his eyes closed. I stroked my fingers along him, luxuriating in the silky, hard feel of it. As badly as he seemed to want me, I wanted him just as much, or more.
“Jem, do you have protection?”
It took him a second to hear my question past the feel of my hand on his cock. He opened his eyes, took a deep, jagged breath and reached down to the pocket of his pants. He fished out his wallet, pulled out a condom and tossed the wallet on the hallway floor.
He took an almost rough hold of my wrist, prompting me to release him. My arms went around his neck. His mouth covered mine as his strong arms lifted me. My back pressed against the cool plaster wall of the hallway, and I wrapped my legs around him. He leaned his head back to watch me as he slid every delicious inch of his cock inside of me.
My eyes drifted shut, as I felt him entering me, filling me with just what I needed to relieve the ache in my pussy. His hands slid beneath my bottom. He gripped me as if I might slip away, but I was there . . . in his arms . . . the man I’d been warned about as trouble. I wondered how it was possible—if Jem Wolfe was so wrong, then how could this all feel so damn right.
The hallway floor creaked beneath Jem’s feet as he rocked against me, dragging his hips low before rolling them up to fill me again. I was nearly crushed between his hard body and the even less forgiving wall as he thrust into me deep and fast.
He kissed me. “Fuck, baby,” he growled against my mouth, “it’s like everything I fucking needed walked into town in a beautiful package, a long legged package with the finest fucking pussy in this whole goddamned world.”
He moved faster. My legs tightened as my pussy gripped him firmly, wanting more of him each time.
“Jem.” His named came out on a long, whisper.
“Tell me you’re mine, darlin’. Fucking tell me you’re mine.”
My arms tightened as my pussy clenched around him. “I’m yours, Jem. Don’t ever let me go.”
“Never,” he groaned. “Never, Tash. Never fucking letting go.”
I cried out as my pussy pulsed with the ecstasy of having him fill me over and over. All the while, my body shuddered with waves of pleasure.
The wall vibrated behind me as he pushed faster, causing a sweet ache inside me with each thrust. “Fuck yeah,” he growled from deep in his chest. His hands gripped me tightly as he came.
He pressed his forehead against mine as our breathing slowed. “Damn, Woodstock, no fucking way I deserved something like this.”
“Funny, Jem Wolfe, I was just thinking the same thing.” My throat tightened as I realized how quickly this man had taken complete control of me, body and soul . . . and heart. I lowered my feet to the ground but stayed tucked securely against him. I reached my hand up and pressed it against the side of his face.
“I’ve never felt as safe as I feel in your arms.” My voice sounded small in the empty hallway. “I’m putting my heart in your hands, Jem. Please don’t break it.”
His mouth tilted slightly. “Damn, baby, just standing here looking at you is breaking mine. You’ve got me so fucking twisted up inside, I don’t think I’ll ever straighten it out.”
Chapter 20
Jem
I hung up the phone, put it on the nightstand and yanked the laundry off the bed. I shoved it in the closet and looked around. The pigsty theme that started in the front room flowed uninterrupted into my bedroom. It hadn’t ever bothered me until now, but there was no sense pretending. And Tashlyn didn’t seem to mind too much.
Warm, soapy steam from the shower drifted down the hall, reminding me that the most incredible woman was naked and wet in my shower. I walked down the hallway and pushed open the slightly ajar door. It took me a few moments to recover as I watched the perfect silhouette behind the shower door erotically rubbing soap over her round tits.
“I hope you’re all right with pepperoni pizza,” I called through the glass as I yanked off the jeans I’d just pulled on. I popped open the shower door.
Her long black lashes were spiked in clumps. She blinked innocently at me as if she was shocked that I would do something like this. Then she stretched her arms up to wipe water back from her hair, but, it seemed, her real motive was to invite me in. Invitation accepted.
I stepped under the spray of water, and my arm went around her waist. Her soapy, wet skin felt like silk in my hands as I ran my palms over her back and perfect, round ass. Warm water poured over our heads and backs as I leaned in to kiss her. My hard cock nudged at her flat belly.
“What I’m wondering, Woodstock,” I muttered between kisses, “is just how many times I can make you come before the pizza arrives.”
Her laugh echoed off the tiles. “Does that mean if I’m in the middle of a screaming orgasm and the doorbell rings, you’re going to leave me in the throes of ecstasy for some pizza?”
“Uh, you did hear me mention the pepperoni, right? Now, my fantasy shower mate, let’s not waste any time.”
She squealed with surprise as I spun her around. Her back was against my chest. I reached down and took hold of her wrists.
I lowered my mouth to her ear. “Now if I was a bettin’ man, which I just happen to be, I’d bet a week’s wages that I can make you come twice before I can even smell that pepperoni coming up the driveway.”
“Impossible,” she said in a taunting tone.
“Perfect. I love a challenge.” I lifted her hands up and pressed them against the tile. Warm steam filled the shower stall, and the water trickled over her flawless, ivory skin. I knelt down on the tile and pushed her feet apart. I could hear her breathing through the pounding of the water.
She gasped as I lightly bit her ass.
“Relax, darlin’.” I ran my tongue over her ass and down the crack to her pussy. I reached around and pushed her ass toward me exposing her pussy to my probing tongue. Her soft mewls echoed off the shower walls, a sound that caused my cock to throb. My fingers teased her clit as I devoured her pussy, lapping up her sweetness with my tongue.
“Oh, Jem,” she said on a delirious whisper. Her legs trembled as I moved my mouth hard against her, determine
d to taste every bit of her. She rocked against my mouth and my hand, assuring me that she was getting close to the edge. Her hands stuttered down the tile wall as I pulled her ass out farther, wanting to drive my tongue deeper.
I ran the finger of my free hand along the crack of her ass and impaled the tight puckered hole. She sucked in a stunned breath but then yielded to the pressure of my finger. She braced her hands against the wall and pushed harder against my mouth and finger as she squeezed her thighs shut around the hand I had on her clit.
“Jem!” she cried out as her pussy melted like hot honey around my mouth.
She trembled as I stood and wrapped my arms around her. I shut off the water and led her out of the shower, grabbing a towel as we walked out of the bathroom. She floated behind me in a daze as I led her to my bedroom. We stopped next to the bed, and I wrapped the towel around her to dry her skin.
“Stretch out on the bed, baby. I never like to lose a bet.”
She sat down and scooted back. I reached down and took the towel away. I grabbed a condom from my nightstand as she leaned back on the pillow. She was like some amazing erotic sculpture I’d created in my mind. Every line and curve of her body was pure sex.
I knelt down between her thighs. Her skin was still flushed from the orgasm in the shower. Her blue eyes were like pools of water. I pushed her legs farther apart and stared at the mound of crisp blonde hair and the folds of her pussy, still pink from my mouth and tongue. “If ever there was a body that was made for sin, it’s yours, darlin’. I don’t think my cock is ever going to be soft again knowing a fucking piece of perfection like you is walking this earth. I just have to think of you, of your voice, your fragrance, the way you taste, and I get hard. I fucking ache with wanting you.”
She reached for my hand. “Then let me ease your torment, Mr. Wolfe.” She spread her legs wider.