Bermuda Nights - The Boxed Set (9 page)

“You just try to stop me, you Mick. We should never have let you come out of those ditches and slums. Think you’re good enough for decent women now.” He gave a barking laugh. “We’ll see what she thinks of you when you’re groveling on the ground, mewling like a kicked puppy.”

Evan took another step forward, creating space between me and him. “Jeff, you want to stop before someone gets hurt.”

Jeff waved the bottle before him with a bright laugh. “I’ll have you know, I’ll be a black belt in Shotokan karate in a year or two. So when you’re picking your teeth up off the ground, you’ll know what excuse to give all your friends.”

He crept toward Evan, crouching, his eyes glowing.

Then he lunged.

Evan spun to the side, grabbed Jeff’s wrist, and gave it a sharp twist. Jeff screamed in agony, dropping to one knee.

His voice was high with fury. “He broke my fucking wrist! Get him!”

The other two men charged in hard. Evan grabbed the arm of the one on the right, spun with his momentum, and slammed him head-first into the stone wall of the building. He then continued turning, bringing his outside foot around in a roundhouse kick, driving it hard into the other man’s groin.

Both men groaned, collapsing to the ground.

Evan balanced on the balls of his feet, alert, watching all three.

For a long moment the only sound was the groaning wheeze of the man whose nuts were newly relocated.

Then Jeff gave himself a shake, drawing himself to standing. He cradled his hand against his body, glaring at Evan with fury. “You fucking Paddy. I’ll make you pay – and then Amanda will wish she never slummed with you. She’ll see what happens when a woman cheats on her man.”

I found my voice and stepped up beside Evan. “
You
broke up with
me
,” I reminded Jeff, my throat tight. “By text! And you cleared out your stuff!”

“That was just temporary,” he snapped back. “Now the company has laid me off. Said I didn’t fit well with their group. Fucking assholes. So I’m back in Boston, rooming with these two guys.”

“I really don’t care! You’re out of my life. You need to stay there!”

He spit on the ground. “This musician of yours probably makes pennies a day,” he continued. “You need a guy who can treat you right. Me and my friends, we’re in investment banking now. We’ve already got a number of these rich old farts on the cruise interested in signing up with us. Just like Mikey promised.” He nudged his head at the man leaning against the wall.

I gave a snort. Jeff had barely passed his classes, and I was surprised he’d graduated. I wouldn’t let the man anywhere near my bank accounts.

I raked my gaze over Jeff. “Treating me right has nothing to do with money,” I shot back. “Something you would never understand.”

Mikey staggered to his feet, blearily blinking his eyes. “Hey, man, I thought you said this girl was all over you. That she’d come crawling back to your door.”

Jeff’s eyes shot daggers. “Yeah, well, she’s stupid. She’ll just take some smartening up.”

The other man slowly righted himself, his face green. “I’m not interested in finding those whores any more. I don’t care how cheap they are. I’m going back to the ship.”

He started staggering in that direction. Mikey took one last look at Jeff, then joined his friend.

Jeff looked after the two in furious frustration, then turned back to Evan. “You haven’t heard the last of this,” he snarled. “I wonder if this ship of yours has a brig. Let’s see if you can fuck her through the bars.” Then he turned and strode off into the darkness.

I swallowed hard, my heart beating against my ribs as the enormity of what just happened sunk in. “Oh, God, Evan, I’m so sorry. I should have –”

He turned, shaking his head, reaching out a hand to me. “You’re doing it again.”

I blinked in confusion. “Doing what?”

He pulled me in against him. “Apologizing for him. For what he does.”

“But this is all my fault,” I insisted. “If only –”

“If only what?” he interrupted. “You can’t go back in time. You can’t undo your relationship with him. We were walking down a public street, and you didn’t do anything wrong.” His eyes shadowed. “I’m just glad I was here with you. If he had caught you alone, who knows what he might have done.”

I looked up at him in concern. “But what if he causes trouble for you on the ship?”

His mouth quirked up in a smile. “You let me worry about that. I have no regrets at all about tonight.” He traced my face with his fingers. “You deserve someone to watch over you.”

I twined my fingers into his hair. “You’re my knight in shining armor.”

His voice thickened. “And you’re my –”

He dropped his head and nuzzled his lips against my neck. For a long moment he just held me there, his breath coming in long draws, as if he were breathing in my scent. Then his mouth opened against the soft skin of my throat. His tongue darted out, tracing a path, and he pressed his lips harder, sucking in.

A shaft of pleasure coursed through me at the sensation, and I melted against him, groaning.

A shudder went through him, as if some internal restraint was slipped loose. He turned me in his arms, pressing my back against the stone wall, his mouth moving to my lips. His kiss deepened, lengthened, and my hands twined deeper into his thick hair.

I wanted him. He had fought for me, protected me, and I wanted …

He groaned as I pressed my breasts hard into his body, and his voice was tight with effort. “Amanda, I think –”

“Don’t think,” I urged, my heart pounding, my blood pumping. “I need you … Please, Evan …”

His groan was deeper this time, and he glanced quickly in both directions before driving his body hard against mine, his mouth pinning mine in place, his kiss wrenching me into another dimension. His hands slid my dress up to my waist, then with one quick motion stripped my panties down to the ground.

I gasped at the brisk air on my sex, the moisture sending bursts of sensation through me, aching, craving more than I’d wanted anything before in my life.

His mouth pressed me to the wall, while his hands flew to his buckle, his zipper. His jeans slid down his legs, then his briefs followed. There was the sound of foil ripping, a motion –

His shaft drove, hard and quick, deep into my core.

I gasped with pleasure and shock and desire, arching against him. I didn’t care we were on a public street. I didn’t care about anything beyond him and me and this need which was building like a volcano.

He eased out of me, his eyes glowing with dark heat. “Tell me you want me,” he murmured. “Tell me you want me to take you like this, take you now.” His cock throbbed against my opening, nearly sending me over the edge.

I groaned, deep within me, nearly beyond words. My voice was a guttural cry. “Take me,” I pleaded. “I need you … I need …”

His hands came around my ass, lifting me up higher. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he came in again, harder this time, slamming me back against the wall, and my moan was deeper, shaking me to my core.

His breath was hot and heavy in my ear, his exhales groaning with desire. “God, Amanda, I would do anything for you. I would …” He slammed in again, shuddering, and I craved him, needed him …

He pulled out, balancing right at the edge, and it was more than I could bear.

I twined my fingers into his hair. My voice was a plea. “Fuck me.”

His groan was deep, his muscles rippling, and he drove into me. “Ask me again.”

My voice grew richer, rougher. “Fuck me.”

His hip rocked again, his solid legs driving him forward, his breath coming in thick gasps. “Again.”

“Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me …”

He cried out, a groan of triumph and desire and longing, and he slammed into me, and his burst blew away all thoughts, all emotions, all sensations into a blinding white light, one that stretched my skin out until I encompassed the universe. I was the sun, and he was the streaming rainbow, and we were colliding, intermingling, and coalescing into something new and wondrous.

At long last I blinked my eyes open. His eyes held mine, shining, and it took my breath away.

A cool breeze tickled across us, and it sent shivers from the sweat glistening over every inch of my body. We separated, and I bent over to pull my panties back up. I smoothed my dress down into place.

Evan was just buckling his buckle up when there was the sound of an engine. A middle-aged cop on a scooter came casually around the corner. He slowed as he approached us.

“You two ok?”

Evan nodded. “Yes, officer. Just heading back to the ship.”

The cop smiled genially. “All right then. Just be careful around here. There’s broken glass.”

Evan’s face didn’t flinch. “Thank you, sir. We’ll keep an eye out.”

The cop waved and drove on out of sight.

Evan slid his arm around my waist. “Let’s get you back to your room, before you can use those vixen charms on me a third time in one night.”

My eyes glowed with heat. “Three times in one night?”

He turned to look at me, his eyes went distant, and he shook his head. “How could Jeff have ever let you go?”

I slid my fingers up through his hair. My voice grew hoarse. “He did it so I could become yours.”

He closed his eyes, leant his forehead against mine, and the world fell away.

Chapter 9

I walked back and forth across the beach at Snorkel Park, glancing at my watch, trying to fight down the stream of chaotic thoughts which roiled around me.

He wasn’t coming. He had been thrown in the brig. He had decided I was too much trouble to deal with. He’d had his fun with me, and he’d moved on to another eager young groupie. He’d run into Jeff again, and this time he’d been outnumbered six to one. He’d –

There were footsteps, I looked up, and he was there.

I ran to him, relief coursing through me, and he drew me in, wrapping his arms around me. I found I was shaking, and couldn’t bring myself to stop.

My voice came out in a tremble. “I thought … I thought you weren’t going to come.”

He drew back, sliding a hand down my hair, his eyes shining. “I will always come for you,” he promised. “You deserve someone in your life you can rely on.”

“But last night with Jeff,” I countered. “They could report you to your captain, get you thrown off the ship, or worse!”

“They threw the first punch,” he pointed out, “and the second. But in any case, they don’t seem to have reported anything. My guess is they’re embarrassed about getting beaten up in a three-on-one fight. Maybe they’ll let it go.”

My voice dropped with worry. “Jeff isn’t the kind to let it go. He’s the kind to find some more friends and a dark alley.”

His mouth quirked into a smile. “I’ll be ready for them,” he promised. He reached into a pocket, bringing out a baggie of fish food. “In the meantime, are you ready for our swim?”

The silver porgies were as enthusiastic as the first time we played with them, the parrot fish crunched away on their coral, and the little sergeant-majors zipped around us, aglow with bright curiosity. This time it was nearly two hours before hunger drove me to reluctantly come up out of the shimmering depths of my Eden.