Make Me Desperate (4 page)

It took her a moment to regain her wits after witnessing that unguarded, boyish smile. It had been in such stark contrast to the sober, contained, utterly in control man she’d grown used to.

And so bizarrely . . .

. . . Familiar.

She blinked, realizing he held out a board for her. He handed her a paddle and they both went to the shore. They shoved their boards out into the water.

After they’d waded in, Jacob instructed her to come up on her knees as a first step. After Harper had balanced herself on the board with effort, they began to paddle around in the cool, calm water. It was very peaceful. Because of Tahoe’s pristine waters, she could look all the way down to the bottom of the bright blue lake, seeing smooth, round stones and schools of silvery fish.

She looked over at Jacob and saw he was watching her as he paddled. She smiled.

“It’s so beautiful,” she said.

“Yeah. You ready for the hard part?”

“Standing?” she asked doubtfully. The board had wobbled quite a bit, even when she’d gone to her knees on it.

“Yeah. You can do it,” he said. He put his hands flat down on the board and pushed himself up in one movement, his grace singular to witness given his tall, muscular body.

“You can’t expect me to do that!” she called to him when he began to paddle in the stand-up position.

“You can do it,” he repeated, his steadfastness amazing her a little.

Maybe he knew she was self-conscious, because he kept his back to her as he paddled. She envied his smooth glide across the water. She eyed the board speculatively.
If he can do it, I can.

Grinning like a kid, she placed her hands on the board. Her eyes went wide when she tried to shift her feet under her, and the board dipped and rocked alarmingly in the water. Crap. Jacob had made it look so easy. She tried to hoist herself up again, but the board teetered, and then heaved. The next thing she knew, she was going face-first into the cold water.

When she surfaced, sputtering and grasping for her board, she saw him standing above her in godlike supremacy, balancing effortlessly even with all the rough chop she’d made in the water. Again, she saw that small, boyish smile on his lips.

“Show-off,” she muttered, casting him a condemning glare before she hauled her upper body onto the board.

“Everybody falls off the first time,” he said, using his paddle backward in the water to come to a standstill next to her.

“You could have told me that,” she accused, wiping her wet hair out of her eyes. She hauled a leg up onto the board, pausing to gasp for air. Her breasts had nearly busted loose at that point, but she couldn’t have cared less. She’d seen that sparkle of humor in Jacob’s eyes . . . the glitter of a dare.

“There it is,” he said very softly.

“There’s
what
?”

“The look,” he said, but she was too busy concentrating on proving she could get up on that damn board to pay much attention to his remarks. A minute later, she succeeded, coming to a very shaky standing position on the quivering board.

“There you go. Bend your knees some. Now use the paddle. It’ll help you find your balance.”

Half a minute later, she gave a victorious laugh as she glided next to him across the calm water. It was a lovely rush.

“See, I told you that you could do it,” he said once they’d turned and headed back toward shore.

“I love it,” she said, grinning. A lake breeze whipped past them. She shivered. Lake Tahoe was very deep, and its water remained chilly year-round. Jacob maneuvered his board up next to hers. He reached and touched her shoulder, joining them, his hand feeling warm on her cool skin. They bobbed next to each other and came to a relative standstill.

“You’re cold?” he murmured.

“A little.”

“Throw your paddle in the water,” he directed calmly.

“What? Why?”

“It’ll float to shore. Just do it,” he said, his expression serious as he kept them steady.

What the hell?
She did what he said, despite her doubt, tossing her paddle into the sun-dappled water.

Jacob’s hand lowered to her elbow. “Now . . . transfer over onto my board.”

“Are you
nuts
?” she exclaimed, because he was applying pressure on her elbow, urging her to move her feet onto his board, and her board was starting to shake beneath her. There was no way they could keep their balance. “We’re going to fall.”

“No we won’t. I hate going in when I don’t intend to, so believe me when I say it’ll work. Do it quickly,” he insisted. “I can keep my board steady, but you can’t hesitate. One foot on my board, find your balance, then shift your weight all at once. You can do it,” he said very quietly.

Like in all things, she found herself responding wholesale to the sound of his voice. She put her right foot on his board cautiously, finding a very precarious balance.

“Now,” he said.

He pulled on her arm and she shifted her weight onto his board. Her heart jumped into her throat. The board heaved, and she thought for a split second they’d spill over for sure. Then Jacob shifted back slightly on the surface, and she sensed the subtle, sure force of him balancing the board with his strong body. She felt herself aligning with his power.

“I can’t believe we did that,” she muttered in anxious pleasure a few seconds later.

His chuckle behind her was delicious. So was his touch on her pebbled skin when he spread his hand on her left hip. His other hand came in front of her, holding the paddle.

“Take it. We need the momentum,” he said.

Cautiously, she took the paddle and began to dip it into the water. They zoomed forward. She laughed, ebullient at the sensation at their smooth glide. Until Jacob put his other hand on her hip and shifted forward slightly on the board, that is.

“Jac . . . Jacob,
don’t,”
she squealed, snorting with laughter as they jiggled around in the water.

“Keep paddling. It’s okay. Trust me,” he murmured from just behind her.

And indeed, his exquisite balance and strength had steadied them again within seconds. He’d drawn her against him. She felt his thighs pressing against her buttocks and his full groin resting at the small of her back. His hands tightened on her hips, bringing her even closer against him. She paddled, her heart fluttering. She leaned back cautiously, a feeling of wonder going through her at the exquisite sensation of his solid, warm body behind her. For a few amazing seconds, they glided across the serene blue water, their bodies joined. But more than just their bodies, it seemed to her. It was like an ephemeral thread joined them. Every movement she made with the paddle was somehow counterbalanced by him, so that they glided in a still, subtle dance of invisible give-and-take.

She guided them around the still little cove for several minutes. She’d never been more mentally or sexually attuned to another human being as she was with Jacob in those sweet, sun-drenched moments. His hands moved on her skin as they skimmed over the surface of the crystal clear water. He caressed her hips and belly until her goose bumps disappeared and her skin smoothed beneath his fingertips. His big, sun-warmed hands radiated heat, chasing away her chill. She was intensely focused on the sensation of his cock growing heavier and longer where it pressed at the top of her ass cheeks and lower back. He brought her back against him tighter, sandwiching his erection even more snugly between them. She was so distracted by the sensation, she made the board wobble.

“Shhh,” he soothed very quietly, as though he were speaking to both her and the board itself. They smoothed in the serene water. A powerful longing rose up in her. She threw the paddle in the water.

“Hey, what the—”

“Trust me,” she interrupted. Using his solid weight to brace her from behind, she slowly, very cautiously shifted her feet on the board. She turned around in his arms. The board vibrated alarmingly beneath them, but soon she faced him as he held her elbows and forearms. She gave him a wide grin. He returned it. He urged her with his hands, and soon her front was pressed tight against his. She hugged him around the waist. She felt a tremor go through him when she crushed her breasts against his ribs. His skin rough against hers.

“That was risky,” he said, his gaze stuck on the tops of her damp breasts. “But well worth it.”

“What’s life without a little risk sometimes?” she murmured, her chin tilted up toward him. His arousal was obvious. Wonderful. Their smiles lingered on their lips as they both bobbed and balanced at the top of the water and their bodies pressed tight. The flutters in her stomach amplified when he slowly began to dip his head to kiss her.

Her heart jumped.

She heaved mightily toward the right. He gave a yell of surprise and they both crashed into the lake. When Harper surfaced, she was already grinning widely. Then she saw his expression as he surfaced. She immediately dove for the shore, snorting with laughter. He caught her ankle ten feet from shore in shallow water and jerked her backward. He hauled her against him, his sliding, poking fingertips on her ribs making her laugh even more hysterically.

“You should have seen the look on your face,” she panted between jags of laughter as they stood.

“I told you I don’t like it when I go in without meaning to,” he said with fake sternness, his smile breaking free as she squirmed and tried to get away from his tickling fingers.

“Apparently not even—oh,
stop
it—Jacob Latimer can control
everything
.”

He lifted her entire body suddenly against him and captured her mouth with his. His tongue pierced her. His mouth was hot. At first taste of him, she stopped her struggling, craning toward him, sliding her arms around his neck. Within seconds, she was melting against him.

When he broke their kiss a minute later and slowly lowered her back to her feet, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t
have
to. His kiss had said it all. He controlled a lot of things all too easily, her response to him being one of them.

The paddles and boards had washed to shore. They retrieved them and stacked the boards on the rack without speaking. Harper wondered if he was as attuned to her as she was to him at that moment. She thought he was, but one thing was for certain. He was aroused. His erection didn’t dissipate after they’d left the water. The clingy material of his swim trunks made that fact excitingly obvious.

He took her hand and they started up the first flight of terrace stairs. Harper’s assumption was that he’d lead her to his bedroom, which was fine by her. More than fine. Something about their fragile togetherness, and then their playfulness out there on the calm, blue water had moved her. Aroused her. She experienced a strange feeling of exhilaration, a swelling happiness that she’d been given the opportunity to be with such an attractive, exciting man.

Nothing and no one could stand in the way of them being together, if it’s what the two of them chose. Why did that fact feel so liberating and precious?

She was surprised when instead of taking the next flight of steps, he led her over to one of the many circular, partially covered couch enclosures that faced the lake. He lifted the hand that held hers, urging her to enter the snug little haven of cushions. Harper crawled into the shadowed divan, turning so that she was propped up on some colorful pillows. The cupped couch offered her shade on her upper body, but her legs remained in the warm sun. Jacob crawled swiftly in after her. She smiled up at him when he relaxed next to her on the pillows, his arm going around her. She shivered as she cuddled up closer to his warmth. The view of the sun-drenched lake was stunning.

“This is nice,” she murmured, turning her face into his chest. She loved the feeling of his crinkly hair and his smooth, wet skin. He smelled good, like clean water and lingering spice. She pressed a kiss against a solid pectoral. His hand cupped the back of her head. Her lips moved, charting his chest, seeking new, delightful sensations. His hand ran down her shoulder and arm, and she shivered.

“Here,” he murmured. She lifted her head when he shifted slightly. He reached for an afghan that had been folded in the enclosure. He opened it and drew it around her shoulders.

“Only I’d get cold when it’s seventy-five degrees out,” she muttered when he relaxed back on the pillows and put his arm around her.

“The water is cold and there’s a breeze.” His hand went between the opening of the afghan and slid to her back. She felt him pull on the tie of the bikini top. A moment later, he lifted the piece of fabric over her head and tossed it to the far side of the cushioned enclosure. His hand snaked again beneath the blanket.

“Jacob, no,” she murmured when he calmly started to remove the bikini briefs.

His brows went up. “Why?”

“I’m not going to lie here naked. It’s broad daylight. Your staff will see me.”

He glanced behind them in the direction of the house. The wicker back of the circular couch enclosed them. It was the shape of a cupped hand that had been tilted back slightly. The edge of the back came down several inches above their heads. “No one can see from that direction,” he reasoned.

“What about the view from the lake from a boat?”

He looked vaguely exasperated. “Fine. But I’m still going to do what I set out to do.”

“What’d you set out to do?” she asked, watching him in amazement as he slid his long body further down the cushion, lowering his head to her chest.

“Warm you up a little,” he said, before he nuzzled the bare skin at the opening of the blanket. She watched him as he ran his nose and lips over the skin between her breasts. He twisted his head, his mouth trailing across a pale globe. She tingled beneath his warm lips.

“
That
was your intent in bringing me here?” she asked amusedly.

He glanced up at her briefly, his eyes smoldering. “Actually, my primary intent was to accept the invitation of these”—he glanced down at her breasts—“after all that flaunting you were doing out there.”

She gave a bark of laughter and slapped his damp back playfully. “I wasn’t flaunting anything. It’s the only swimsuit that fit me. Is it my fault you made me crawl around on that damn board and make a fool of myself?”