PluckingthePearl (5 page)

The secret is in the first cut…then she’s easy to spread
open…wet and tasty…just waiting to be plucked.

His choice of words wasn’t lost on her. If only she could
feel his body pressed behind hers again it would make this dreary day pass so
much faster. She tackled her first oyster, amazed at how accurately and quickly
she shucked it. Encouraged by her progress, she grabbed another and then
another. Before she knew it, it was time to take pails full of meat to the
processing window.

When she returned to her post, she moved her hands without
conscious thought. Shucking had almost become as automatic as breathing. While
she worked, she relived every moment of last night—the oyster he slipped into
her mouth, his hot tongue exploring the folds of her ear and his lips dipping
to the swell of her breasts. It was as if her body floated, suspended in
another time.

This day was certainly different from her first. Now that
she was more relaxed she noticed more camaraderie among the workers. Two men on
the other side of Leroy had an informal contest on who could shuck the most
oysters in the next half hour. Behind her, Wilma gossiped with another woman.

The strains of a spiritual hymn drifted to her from the
other end of the plant and got louder as other people joined in. She didn’t
recognize it but found herself humming along. The music reminded her of
Annabelle’s piano. Looking down at her fingers encrusted with oyster juice, she
wished she could still play.

The lunch break passed but she still hadn’t seen Caleb at
all. Was he here today? And then she heard his voice near the unloading dock.
The knife dropped from her hand as she turned to look. Her heart stuttered when
she saw him. Just the sight of him and sound of his voice made her feel his
mouth on hers again.

Her gaze clung to his pale eyes and the moustache that had
brushed her face. He shook hands with one of the watermen delivering oysters
and then slapped him on the back. It was easy to see who was in charge, but his
posture and voice were so easygoing everyone must like him. They came her way
so they must be headed to his office. Pearl froze, daring not to even breathe
until they passed.

Would he look at her? Speak to her? Introduce her to the
other man as his lady? Pearl squeezed the oyster shell in her hand. Where in
the world had such a ridiculous idea come from? She would never be Caleb
Rockfield’s
lady
. Imagining such foolishness would only distract her
from her work and the money that needed to be made. Uncle Charlie was sick and
Aunt Wilma needed her help.

As they passed by, Pearl pretended to look down at her work
while watching Caleb’s face. He glanced at her so briefly she almost missed it.
His expression was too blank to read anything from it.

She watched his retreating back as he talked with the other
man. He’d looked at her as if she were a piece of furniture, nothing more.
Couldn’t he have at least smiled at her, if not greeted her by name? Even a
little sparkle in his eye would have acknowledged what they’d shared last
night. By letting him be the first man to kiss her, she had given him a little
piece of herself. One she could never get back.

Now she felt like a complete fool for worrying about
fighting off his advances during their future work together. He obviously
regretted what they’d done and wasn’t interested in her. It was just as well,
she repeated to herself.

She tossed down her knife. Last night
was
a dream.
This was reality. Here he was important and she was a faceless nobody. The
sooner she accepted that the better.

When someone grabbed her arm, she gasped. His name was on
her lips but she knew better. He and the other man had gone upstairs.

“Don’t get frustrated now. It’s only your second day.” It
was Jimmy Clark.

“I-I’m not frustrated,” she said, trying to gather her wits.

When he let go of her arm, she barely noticed. Why didn’t
his touch crackle with electricity as Caleb’s had? She expected to feel that
same surge of heat flowing through her body like high tide in a storm. Instead,
her blood felt as if it were a stagnant pool of water on a calm day.

“I’ve seen you take your pails to the window several times
today,” the other man said. “You’re doing much better.”

“The practice is helping.”

Jimmy grinned and touched her arm again. “If you need any
help, you just holler, all right?”

Pearl sighed as she grabbed her next oyster. This morning
she’d convinced herself Jimmy was just being nice to her. Now it was obvious he
was sweet on her.
Not now
, she thought. The man was perfect for her but
she couldn’t stop thinking about Mr. Rockfield.

She had to get that man out of her mind before her thoughts
ruined what might be her only chance at a decent future. In the meantime, she
would be pleasant to Jimmy without overly encouraging him. If his interest in
her developed slowly, it might give her the time she needed.

She summoned the warmest smile she could. “Thank you, Jimmy.
I’ll be sure to do that.”

* * * * *

Caleb’s face looked serious and cold when Pearl reported to
his office after work. His office didn’t even look as messy as it had
yesterday. Did she still have a job? She wished she hadn’t told Wilma about it
because now her aunt would expect the extra money.

“Good evening, Pearl. I’ve made the same arrangements with
Leroy as yesterday to take you home.” He didn’t even look at her while he
spoke. His face was nearly buried in the clipboard he held.

“I want you to clean the room we were in last time,” he
continued. “There’s a long-handled broom down there. Try to get rid of all the
cobwebs.”

“Yes, sir.”

She hoped he didn’t hear the disappointment in her voice.
What did she expect, another private oyster-shucking lesson? This was for the
best. They were supposed to act this way. If only she hadn’t kissed him
yesterday. As she headed down the stairs, her chest felt like an oyster with
its shell pried open.

Going to the small shucking room, she left the door open.
Being in the same room alone was strange. Instead of small and cozy, it felt
cold and empty. She’d gotten halfway through the cleaning when the door opened.
Her heart pounded against her ribs as she turned around to see who it was,
hoping it was him.

It was. The pale blue glance that had barely skimmed her
earlier today burned with an intensity that nearly stole her breath. This time
there was no doubt he was looking at her. No doubt, either, about what he was
thinking. Her previous concerns about his lack of interest evaporated.

Without a word, he reached behind him and pushed the door
closed. Locked it.

Pearl swallowed hard. “I thought you were going to stay
away.”

His voice sounded just as strangled as hers. “I tried.”

As soon as the latch clicked, Caleb knew he’d surrendered
the control he’d hung onto all evening. Something tightened around his chest,
restricting his breathing as he gazed at the woman he couldn’t get out of his
mind. The woman who could destroy everything he’d built.

He dropped the basket of oysters, ham and potato salad,
which he’d retrieved from the plant’s refrigerated walk-in cold box, on the
shucking table. Being temporarily immersed in the cold temperature hadn’t
chilled his lust as he’d hoped.

“Come here,” he whispered.

Pearl’s hand shook as she leaned the broom against the
oyster table opposite him. It fell with a crash. As if in slow motion, she
stepped forward and slid her arms around his waist. He locked his around her
before she could change her mind and lowered his head to claim her mouth.

A groan rumbled in the back of his throat as her soft lips
yielded under his. Everything he’d held back today burst free like a boat torn
from its anchor. All the sensible decisions he’d made about her went down the
drain in the floor near his feet.

He should stop. Surely he was bruising her mouth. Instead,
her fingers dug into his back, spurring him on. His hands moved over her back
too, pulling the gray fabric of her dress taut, wanting to tear the ugly thing
off. It was much too plain to cover her tempting body.

Even though he hadn’t had nearly enough of her sweet mouth
yet, he pulled his face away to gulp some badly needed oxygen. Regaining the
slightest bit of control, he buried his face against her soft hair. She smelled
earthy and musky-sweet like flowers growing in the shade.

“I’ve thought about you all day,” he said.

When she looked up at him, the hurt in her eyes was
impossible to miss. “I have too but when you didn’t notice me earlier, I
thought—”

“Oh, I noticed you, all right.”

He remembered all too well how hard it was to keep his
distance while he watched her work. How impossibly damn hard it was to
constantly remind himself who he was and who she was and how they had to act in
public.

Her hands moved to his chest. The heat of them penetrated
his shirt, hardening his cock.

“You didn’t speak,” she said. “You didn’t even look at me.”

He touched her cheek, losing himself in the depths of her
dark eyes. “I couldn’t. I was afraid if I so much as looked at you, I’d lose
control. We both have our roles to play during the day.”

She nodded. “Of course. I feel silly.”

“I think people would talk if I’d kissed you and ripped your
dress off in front of everyone, don’t you?”

“Is that what you wanted to do when you saw me?” she asked,
giggling like a young girl.

He held her closer, unable to resist grinding his penis
against her soft pelvis. “You have no idea.”

“I told myself it was just as well if you’d lost interest in
me,” she said. “We shouldn’t be here…doing this.”

He kissed her brow, savoring the smooth, coffee-hued skin.
“I know but here we are.”

When she traced a finger over his moustache, a dozen flames
lit inside his body. Oh how he wanted her. All of her. He felt the knowledge in
his gut, just as he could sometimes predict the weather at sea or the oyster
harvest.

He would have her. It wasn’t a matter of
if
anymore
but
when
.

God, he’d wanted to do it today when he’d seen her working
so hard. He’d wanted to tell the whole world she belonged to him and then take
her from behind. Lift her dress, grip that sweet, curvy ass and plunge deep
inside.

“I thought last night was a dream. I can’t believe we’re
back here again.”

“Believe it,” he said.

A frown marred her smooth forehead. “But if this is so
wrong, why does it feel so wonderful?”

He looked down at the breasts filling out her dress,
wondering if she’d slap him again if he dared to touch them. They’d decided it
was best to keep their distance from each other. After one taste of her mouth,
it was clear that decision wasn’t going to work.

She squealed softly when he suddenly lifted her and put her
up on the oyster table.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

“I want to look at you,” he said.

“I suppose I can’t object to that,” she replied.

He didn’t know what the rules were anymore and it didn’t
matter. When it came to her, they changed by the minute. One moment she slapped
him and insisted on being a proper lady. The next she clung to him and kissed
him as if the world were ending.

All he knew was how much they wanted each other and he
wasn’t about to waste this precious piece of time they had together. To hell
with tomorrow.

“Will you share an oyster with me again?” he asked. “They’re
aphrodisiacs, you know.”

“An
aphro
-what?” she asked.

He grabbed one from the pile and put it on a cutting block
beside her. “They heighten desire.”

Her lips curved into a shy smile that went straight to his
balls. “I don’t think we need help there.”

He watched her breasts rise and fall, surprised by how fast
she breathed. They would fill his hands perfectly, he realized.

“Take the oyster into your mouth,” he told her. “Then give
it to me with your tongue.”

After he shucked it, he placed it on her outstretched tongue
and shivered, imagining that tongue on the head of his cock instead. Then he
lowered his head, holding out his own tongue. She dropped the oyster, hot and
wet from her mouth, onto his tongue. He swallowed convulsively, too excited to
stop and savor the taste of it.

“Your turn now.” He shucked another oyster and placed it on
his tongue.

He groaned as her lips encircled his tongue, pulling away
the prize. Hot fluid trickled inside his trousers from the tip of his cock. His
entire pelvis ached with such desire he thought he might explode.

“Did you swallow it?” he asked.

She nodded, sticking out her tongue for his inspection. It
was clean but he longed to see droplets of his semen there instead. Dinner was
all but forgotten. The oysters had only made him hunger for one thing—her.

He focused his attention on her legs. Despite her small,
girlish body, every inch of her was all woman. She wore sensible leather shoes
in good condition. His fingers began there and moved to trace circles on her
slim ankles. Then he stroked the lengths of her shapely calves, his fingers
sliding over her silky stockings.

The way her breaths caught and her head lolled told him how
much it affected her.

“Are these silk?” he asked.

“Yes, they’re hand-me-downs from the daughter of the family
my mother and I worked for,” she replied.

“Most women here don’t wear stockings, especially in hot
weather.” And certainly not silk. “They’re probably too easy to nick with all
the oyster shells around.”

She shrugged. “I’ve always worn stockings. I’d feel naked
without them.”

Finding it much too easy to picture her naked, he slid his
hands higher, palming her knees. “I wouldn’t want them to get damaged. Let’s
take them off.”

She clasped her knees together, pinching his thumbs between
them. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

Caleb took a slow, patient breath. The proper side of her
was back. Maybe it had been there all along, temporarily buried under passion.
He had to keep her feeling good every moment so she wouldn’t have time to
think. So he wouldn’t have time to think either…

His stilled his hands on her knees even though it took
everything he had not to pry her legs apart like two halves of an oyster and
finally claim the prize inside.

“As I told you last night,” she began. “We can’t—”

“I know, honey. You’re saving yourself for marriage.” His
fingers inched higher, testing the tops of her thighs just above the knees. “I
just want to touch your legs. Nothing more.”

That was a lie but touching her would be better than
nothing.

She looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head. “It’s wrong.
I shouldn’t.”

“Please, Pearl. It won’t hurt anything. Show me how to take
them off or do it yourself. It’s up to you.”

Her expressive mouth worked as if she fought an inner
battle. After waiting several moments that felt like hours, he gulped when she
slowly lifted the hem of her dress. He watched without breathing as the gray
fabric slid higher and higher up her coffee-colored thighs and stopped just
above her ivory-colored garters.

Caleb’s heart nearly pounded out of his throat as she took
his hands from her knees and pulled them to the tiny fasteners. He made short
work of flicking them open. She even lifted her legs slightly, one at a time,
so he could undo the ones on the bottom. His hands ached to push higher and
explore every private inch of her but that would have to wait.

This seduction reminded him of catching crabs when he was a
boy. Lunge too fast with the net and the scared crab swam away, maybe never to
return. Patience caught crabs. Dip the net so slowly the crab didn’t even
notice until it was completely surrounded. Then bring up the prize.

The tops of the stockings, no longer pulled taut by the
garter, gapped to reveal bare flesh. Still moving as slowly as he could
possibly stand, he hooked his fingers over the edges and pulled them all the
way down.

Goose bumps appeared on her skin in the wake of the
stockings unrolling. By the time he reached her ankles, a small moan came from
her parted mouth. He left the stockings rolled around her ankles and her shoes
on. There were more important things to attend to.

His hands traveled back up to sample all the beautiful bare
skin he’d uncovered on the way down. Her goose bumps disappeared under his
touch and the heat it generated. He could do this all day, every day. To hell
with oysters and Rockfield Oyster House. During all those years he’d wasted his
life living like a monk, he hadn’t known how much he was missing.

“Does that feel good?” he asked.

Her head lolled back as she parted her legs a few inches.
“Yes. Why is it that no one else’s touch makes me feel the way yours does?”

His hands halted on her calves. “Has someone else been
touching you?”

“Jimmy Clark.”

Caleb dropped his hands. Her reply hit him like a punch to
the stomach. Just how many men did she mess around with anyway? Was her
innocent act just that—an act? What made their time together so special was the
belief that he was the only man who shared this passion with her. He wasn’t
about to stand in line.

His jaw tightened to the point of pain. “Jimmy touches
you…like this?”

She lifted her head and smiled at him. “Of course not. He
touched my arm a couple of times today. When you touched my chin yesterday for
the first time, I felt so many things but when he touched me I felt nothing at
all. Why is that?”

Caleb’s taut joints loosened with relief. “Because we have
something special. It sounds as if Jimmy might be a little sweet on you.”

He could kick himself. Talking about anything but them would
break the mood. She’d start thinking too much and put her stockings on again.

“I think he is. Touch me again,” she said, “so I can make
sure you’re really special.”

“Gladly.”

But he had other things planned besides touching. He began
at her ankle, putting his mouth on her. When he dragged his tongue across her
flesh, over the swell of her calf, she gasped and parted her legs a few inches
more.

“Well? Am I special?” he asked.

“Yes.” Her reply came out as a breath.

Once started, he couldn’t stop. He lifted one leg slightly
and licked the sensitive area behind her knee.

“Am I the only man who can make you feel this way?”

“Yes, Caleb. Yes!”

Her words wrapped around his cock, hardening him to stone.
He needed to be her man, her only man. She touched his hair as he moved higher
and kissed her inner thighs halfway between her knees and the loose garter
clasps. He toyed with them as he kissed and licked. The thick scent of her
arousal went to his head, making him dizzy with need and reminding him how
close he was to her hidden wet folds.

Something louder than a moan rewarded him when he nipped the
tender skin of her inner thigh between his teeth. His member ached so hard he
had to clap a hand over the front of his trousers as if to keep it contained
there. Panting and aware his face was slick with sweat, he looked up at her and
ran a finger around the round neckline of her dress.

“I need to taste you here too and I don’t want to get
slapped this time.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

Her hands trembled as she fumbled with the buttons of her
bodice but his impatient hands pushed hers away. The sight of her white bra
blocking his way made him frown.

“You certainly wear a lot of undergarments,” he grumbled.

Before she could reply, he pulled down the straps and then
the cups until what he was after displayed proudly before him. Her nipples were
much darker than her skin, he realized. More importantly, they were long,
succulent and erect. He couldn’t get them into his mouth fast enough.

Not wanting her to close her legs again, he positioned
himself between them and braced his hands behind her on the table. Then he
leaned his mouth to one upturned nipple.

Her breath hissed in the back of her throat when he
hesitated. She must want this as much as he did. Maybe even more. Deciding to
tease her, he dragged his moustache across the tip. He wanted to make her as
hard as his cock.

She gyrated in response, pressing her breast against his
moustache and mouth. Without warning her, he extended his tongue and flicked
the erect tip back and forth until he thought they both might go crazy.

He groaned when she clasped the back of his head and pulled
him closer. Reading her needs, he opened his mouth and took the succulent
nipple inside. He intended to savor her slowly but that was impossible. His
mouth constricted, sucking harder than he intended as his lips clamped down.