Forever's Embrace (Forever In Luck Series Book 2) (16 page)

“Something
scary’s on this. It’s like, really pulling and yanking on the line,” she said,
trying not to lose control of the wheel while peering down the hole. She
waited. Nothing. “Jake, I can’t do this. Are you coming?” she asked, as she
reached for the line, then jumped back when it snapped with energy. Looking
over her shoulder, she saw Jake facing away from her, his hands braced on the
doorjamb and his head looking down. He was breathing hard. “Jake! What’s wrong?
Jake? Talk to me!”

His
head came up, and she could just barely see his jaw clenching. He looked like
he was in pain somehow.

“Jake?”
She waited. “I’m calling Linnie.” Letting go of the wheel, it rattled away as
she headed for her phone. Stepping towards her purse, he turned quick and
stopped her with one hand, while grabbing the wheel with the other.

“I’m…okay.”
Deep breaths. He pulled her close and buried his face in her hair. “I
was…praying.” More deep breaths.

She
tried to pull back to look at him, but he wouldn’t let go. “What?” she asked
confused, as she wrapped her arms around him.

“Jules,
you…you’re…so beautiful. I needed to pray for strength, to be the gentleman I
was raised to be.”

She
urgently pushed herself back and looked down at herself, bra, camisole top,
long underwear bottoms, and socks all accounted for. All that was showing were
her shoulders, the rest was imaginary. Relieved, she was about to look up, when
she saw his bulging erection. She looked up at him, and smiled a little,
feeling contrite. Stepping up, she gave him a peck on the cheek. “We need to
take care of that line.”

Letting
go of her arm, he turned and focused. “Yep, you’ve got a whopper. Surprising,
considering the lure we’re using, but its there. Come on, let’s do this.”

She
wheeled, as he knelt and helped coax the line in. The fish pulled and tugged,
snapping to and fro, fighting them with a vengeance. “Goodness, what is it?”
she asked, feeling a little scared.

“Probably
a northern or a muskie”

“Is
that good or bad?”

“Depends.”

They
worked at it for some time, then Jake put his hand in the water, struggling to
get a hold of the fish as she tempted the line in closer. Jules jumped back,
nearly knocking Jake over, when his hand emerged holding a behemoth of a fish
by the gills. Jules eyes went wide. The thing was monstrous. Were those teeth?
“Whawhawhat is it?” she stuttered.

“A
muskie.” Leaning over and grabbing a stick, he laid it next to the beast.
“Forty-two inches. Nice, very nice.”

“Do
you eat it?”

“You
could,” he said, as he focused on removing the hook, “but at this size, most
throw it back or mount it. Kris could mount it for you if you want, he does
some taxidermy.”

“Really?
You mean I could have it forever, a memory of today, of being here with you?”

His
head snapped up, and he paused as he looked at her, then he nodded.

Looking
into his eyes, she said with all her heart, “I want it. I want this. I never
ever want to forget us. Ever.”

He
cleared his throat. “What are you saying?”

“That
I think you’re the kindest, most handsome man I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending
time with, and that I’m quite fond of you too.”

Grabbing
the fish, he laid it in the cooler, baited the hook, and set the line.
Standing, he washed and dried his hands, while holding her stare. Tossing the
towel aside, he put his hands on his hips as he let out a deep sigh. “Help me
out here. I don’t want to screw this up. Tell me where we’re at in all this.”

“What
I’m wearing stays on, but if you show me what to do, we could work on my
prereqs, and possibly take care of that little problem of yours.
Well...actually… not so little, from what I can tell.”

“Thank
God! I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” He kicked off his boots
and pulled off his shirt. “I need you. Now!”

CHAPTER 9

“Really?
Now? That bad?” she asked, feeling a little heady.

“Ahhh,
yeah, that bad,” he said with emphasis, garnering no misunderstanding, “From
the moment I saw you at the airport.” He scooped her up and carried her to the
bed.

She
thought about it. “Jake that was like, five weeks ago.”

“Try
more like five weeks and three days, thirty-eight looong and tortuous days,” he
said, as he lay her on the bed, following her down. “But then who’s counting?”
He started kissing her neck, then stopped abruptly. “And just so you know, I’m
not stopping for some dumb fish.”

She
laughed as she put her arms around his neck. “Ever since the airport? Truly?”

He
pulled back and looked down at her. “Oh, yeah, definitely. Jules, I’ve had a
thing for you ever since seeing you in Chicago.”

“But,
that was…like…years ago,” she said perplexed, as she began massaging his
shoulders.

He
nibbled on her earlobe. “Mmmhmm. You’re sexy when you do mental math.”

She
laughed. “What? You’re being silly.” She threaded her fingers through his hair
and he moaned. “You just moaned.”

“Men
don’t moan,” he said, as he kissed and nibbled on her shoulder.

She
smiled. “You do.”

“No,
I groan.”

She
laughed. “So I should stop what I’m doing, is that what you’re saying?”

His
head snapped up and he looked at her with alarm, “Ahh, no,” he said, shaking
his head.

“You
moaned then,” she said, smugly.

Continuing
to shake his head, he said, “Women moan, men groan.”

She
laughed at him. “Gender has nothing to do with it! But apparently male pride
does. Moan with pleasure, groan with pain, just saying.”

“You
know, as teacher of this prerequisite, I’ve decided you’re talking too much in
class. You need to get back to work.”

She
put a quick kiss on his lips. “Doing what? You haven’t given me any
assignment.”

He
took a deep breath and let it out slow. “Touch me,” he answered, as he quickly
went back to exploring her shoulder.

Bringing
her hands down and around his waist, she trailed them up and down his back.
“Where? Here?”

“Are
you going to be one of those problem students who talks all the time during
class?” he asked, as he slid the straps from her bra and camisole over one
shoulder, leaving them to dangle around her upper arm.

She
smiled. “Are you going to be one of those teachers who don’t like it when their
students ask for assistance?” She massaged and teased his upper arms. “Here
maybe…I bet you want me to touch you here?”

“Lower,”
he growled, as he kissed her shoulder.

“Oooooh,
that helps.” She moved her hands to his wrists and rubbed the insides with her thumbs,
then tried desperately to hold back her laugh.

“You’re
talking too much and not listening enough. Now focus, I said lower.”

“It’s
okay,” she said, teasing. “With proper direction, I’m an expert multitasker,
and I did go lower, upper arm to lower arm, see.” She moved her hands back and
forth along his arms.

Snapping
a wrist out of her hold, he grabbed her hand and brought it down to his
erection. “How’s that for direction?”

“Perfect.
Show me what to do, and I’ll try and take care of this for you.” She gently
slid her hand up a little, rubbing with her thumb.

He
moaned, and she stopped, their eyes locking onto one another. She smiled when
she started to release him and his hand clamped onto hers, holding it to him,
shaping it to him. He tried helping her with the action but his jeans proved to
be a bother. Leaning to his ear, she said softly, “Lose the jeans if you want.”

“Hell
yeah! Now you’re talking.”

Rolling
onto his back, he was out of his pants in a flash. Pulling her close, he had
her on him in a snap. Using her hand, he molded it to himself, as he showed her
what to do. She worked at it, testing things out, trying new techniques. She
listened, took notes, all the while studying and cataloging his reactions. It
wasn’t long before his erection had worked its way free of his briefs, and she
decided it was time to do a little applied research based on the data she’d
garnered from the sample study.

Taking
matters into her own hand, she came into full contact with him and he “
groaned”
as he called it. She paused and
slowed a bit for reflection.

Shaking
his head, he lay there with his eyes closed. “Don’t stop, keep going,” he
encouraged, then put his hand on hers, helping her to pick up the pace.

Being
truly naughty, she said, “Since you don’t moan, how am I supposed to qualify a
good groan from a bad groan?”

“With
you, all groans are good groans.”

She
bit back her smile. “Conjecture. Statistically improbable, the data used for
that assertion is flawed.”

“No
arguing with the teacher.”

“Just
pointing out the obvious.”

“Are
you playing with my mind again?”

“Among
other things.”

He
moaned.

She
smiled.

Teasing
a little more, she continued. “Now, if that’d been a moan, it would’ve told me
to keep going, do more. But since it was a groan, I’m not so sure. Guess you’ll
need to help me out.”

“You’re
killing me here, you know that?”

“Really?
Scientifically speaking, you don’t look like you’re dying. In fact, I’m holding
evidence to the contrary. Therefore, I refute your thesis based on hard proof.
And, if I may be so bold as to render my professional opinion, I’d say you look
and feel very much alive.”

“God,
you’re sexy.”

“Man,
you’re big.”

“Oh
God……I love your mind.”

“I
love your moans.”

“Oh
God…”

“Harder?”

“Ooh
God…”

 
“Better?”

 
“Ooh God…”

“Faster?”

“Ooooh
God…”

“Stonger?”

“Oooooh
God!”

“All
of it then?”

“…
Oh
,
God, JULES!
…”

“
Now
, Jake?
NOW
?”

“OOOH……GOOD
GOD IN HEAVEN!”

*****

 
Jake lie there stunned and dazed after having
internally combusted. His body jerked as another spasm rolled through him. With
his muscles stripped of their ability to function, he struggled to breathe.
Holy hell, now he knew what a fish felt like when out of water. If she took
instruction any better, he’d never survive phase two of the tutorial.

“…but Jules is
wicked smart.”

Ahh,
yeah, and try precise for that matter. She’d whittled that lesson down to a
science. Damn!

The
best part, he’d survived to tell about it, the bad part, he couldn’t tell any
of the guys. Hell, they’d just accuse him of barking like a dog and telling fish
stories anyways. He needed to take inventory, eyes crossed and seeing double,
ears buzzing like electrical lines, throat parched and coated with sawdust,
lungs compromised, heart pounding like a jackhammer, arms dead weight, waist on
down nonexistent.

“…you need to
make it really, really good for her.”

Aha,
right, she’d paralyzed him for Christ’s sake. One of those rattles go off now
and they were screwed. That’s what you get for letting a chemist play with a
loaded stick of dynamite and a couple packets of explosives, you dumb shit.
Damn! She ought to come with a warning label, or she was bound to kill a guy.
The lucky SOB.

Where
was that towel? Letting his arm flop over the side of the bed, he hunted blind,
praying it was within arm’s reach. Catching a corner, he dragged it over and
pulled it up, doing his best to wipe himself off and stuff himself back in his
shorts. Which was pretty damn amazing, considering he had no control of his
large muscle groups. Noting that his legs were starting to tingle, he wiggled
his toes, excellent, almost back to normal. Chances were good he was coming out
of this with nothing more than a permanent lisp.

Was
there such a thing as normal anymore? Hell, she’d managed to single handedly
raise the bar on normal when she blew his paltry excuse of a sex life right out
of the water. Seriously, why should a man settle for ground round when there’s
prime rib waiting right in front of him? He sure the hell wasn’t stupid. He
wanted prime rib! He deserved prime rib!

She
was being awful quiet. Most women liked to talk after, apparently not her. But
she sure the hell liked to talking during. Boy did she. Note to self, let her
talk all she wants. Finally able to take a deep breath, he gathered his
faculties and turned to look at her. God she was beautiful. She was lying on
her side, facing him, with her hands held at her chest, and her hair pulled
over one shoulder. She was chewing on her bottom lip, but when their eyes met,
she gave him a charming little smile.

“Did
I do okay?” she asked softly. “I tried.”

She
sure the hell had. He nodded.

“You
sure? You’re so quiet.”

Licking
his lips, he said, “Def-ly.” Damn, he’d lost two syllables. He needed an easier
word. Moving his tongue around his mouth and swallowing, he tried again. “Parfett.”
Well, he’d almost got it. Fortunately, the sharp cookie she was must’ve
understood, because she sat up quick and smiled all excited.

“Really,
Jake? Really?” she asked with glee, as she started putting quick little kisses
all over his face. “Really? Oh, thank you!” Big peck on the lips. “Thank you.”
Big smack on the lips. “Thank you for teaching me!” Big smooch on the lips.
“Why didn’t you tell me you spoke French?”

Huh?
What the hell had he said? She was doing it again.

“…you’ve always
been pretty dang lucky…”

Couldn’t
argue with that logic right about now, could he? She’d just thanked him for his
letting her give him a hand job! Hell, all he’d done was tag along for the ride
as she sailed to the head of the class in her quest for excellence.

Stringing
together the only French words his feeble mind could ever remember hearing, he
went for it, “Parlay voo fronsay, ma sherry?”

“Oui,
mon cherie, ja sais parler francais.”

No
way! Get out! It’d worked? She positively beamed. That settled it, on their way
home he was stopping in town and buying a lottery ticket. He didn’t know what
he’d done to deserve this slice of pie, but he needed to throw in the towel,
quick, before his luck ran out. No way was he risking becoming the village
idiot.

“Come
here,” he said as he reached out and pulled her on top of him. Getting her
situated, he reached up and caressed her face as he stared into her blue, blue
eyes. “I don’t know what I just said, but whatever it was, I hope it was
something along the lines of, you were, are, and always will be, phenomenal.
Thank
you
, Juliet Rose, for taking me to places I didn’t even know
existed.” Then gently, he placed her head on his shoulder and held her.

He
knew it’d been the right thing to do, when she cuddled up and let out a long
blissful sigh.

*****

“Okay,
so what is it we’re doing here,” Nik asked.

“Taste
testing,” Jules answered. “Jake and I each cooked a portion of our catch, we’re
having a cook off. The five of you need to decide who the winner is.”

“What’s
the prize?” Kris asked.

“The
winner gets to pick what we do tomorrow.”

Both
Kris and Nik howled with laughter, then Nik gave Jake the thumbs up along with
an optimistic wiggle of the eyebrows.

Jules
shook her head in disgust. “Alright, see, I haven’t been around you guys that
much, but I’ve been around enough to know that that whole exchange was bad.
Shame on you.”

Nik
and Kris fell back against their chairs, unable to stop the hysterics.

“Don’t
mind them, Jules, they’re idiots,” Linnie said, giving them each the eagle eye.
“Who made what?”

“Jake
made a beer battered walleye with fries and coleslaw, and I made almond
encrusted walleye with saged buerre noisette, rice pilaf, and roasted
vegetables.”

“Buerre
noisette?” Nik repeated, with a fork in one hand and a knife in the other.
“Sounds fancy. What is it?”

“It’s
French for brown butter,” Jules answered. “I’m excited to finally be able to
try this recipe out. Well, let’s get started before it gets cold.”

Bowls
and platters went around and the first bites taken. Moans and sighs were heard
all around.

“Oh
my,” Linnie said, as she went for another bite, “is this ever good, Jules.”