Sizzle (St. Martin Family Saga): Emergency Responders (16 page)

Time disappeared. Only pleasure remained. Exquisite pounding, pulsing pleasure.

Moments later, eons later, when he regained a sense of self, of time and place, he realized he held Eve by the waist and was using her as his very own rag doll, roughly driving her up and down his cock and bellowing expletives into her face. He abruptly released her, then grabbed her again when she swayed. He squeezed his eyes shut. Rain pelted the metal roof of the truck and glass of the windshield, competing with their gasping breaths. He opened his eyes, needing to see what he’d done to her in his lust.

He wiped at his sweaty face before reaching to pull her close.

“God, Eve, are you okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Did I hurt you? I’m sorry, I guess I blacked out for a second.”

When he saw the marks that marred her perfect alabaster skin, his own flesh begin to burn.

“Look what I’ve done.”

His fingers lightly traced the marks left by his brutal grasp. He sat up with her still straddling him and drew her close while his hands delicately rubbed her back. When they were cheek to cheek he whispered, “Why didn’t you stop me?” He stroked her hair & kissed her forehead.

“I didn’t want to stop you. I want to give you what you need.”

“No, goddammit, Eve.” He looked into her eyes as her brows furrowed. “I can’t ever lose control with you. Not ever.”

She cupped his cheeks and kissed his lips. “I sense you needing something more whenever we make love. I want to be what you need.”

“You’re that and so much more.”

A tap on the window had them scrambling.

“Fuck.” Thank God the windows were fogged over. Clay reached for a blanket he kept in the back seat and covered her with it. He leaned back to buckle his pants and threw his T-shirt over his head. “Stay here and dress while I speak with the park ranger.” He kissed her chastely on the lips.

*

She closed her eyes, remembering,
reliving
, the moment Clay lost control. She’d never been so overwhelmed, so satisfied. She wished he’d allow himself to let go more often. It not only fulfilled a need of his, it pleased her beyond measure. She wasn’t about to let him hold back now that she knew what pleasure he was capable of.

She understood his fears. That he would hurt her, but she wasn’t a tulip and he needed to understand that. Sometimes she felt he held back because of the abuse she’d endured in her past. The thing he failed to realize was that she trusted him completely. She hadn’t even known trust was possible after what she’d been through but it was and she did. And now when she thought of her past it seemed as if she were viewing someone else’s life instead of her own. The memories were strange because before, when she’d remember, she’d also feel. She’d feel the burn on her skin, the stings on her face, the kicks to her side, but all that had diminished and now she remembered as an onlooker instead of an active participant.

She could hear him talking and laughing with the park ranger.

Clay had given her a precious gift. She’d pinpointed when her painful memories had become weakened. It was after they’d made love that first time, during the storm.

His smoky baritone voice lulled her in to a state of perfect calm.

*

The ranger was a buddy of his and to Clay’s relief, knew better than to make any suggestive comments. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold it together after what just happened. After what Eve had said.

She’d sensed his need. She wanted to meet that need.

He didn’t know what to do with her admission.

When he hopped back into the truck, she was innocently staring at him, her gray eyes wide. “Are we in trouble?”

Her question elicited a laugh from him. He cupped her cheek in his hand. “No, babe, he’s an old buddy of mine. Just told him we were taking a break before hitting the road.”

“Taking a break?”

She folded her arms across her chest and pushed back deep into the passenger seat.

“You want me to tell him you were fucking me blind?”

“Of course not.”

“All right then, why are you pouting?”

“I’m not pouting.”

“You are if it’s my perception you are.” He put the truck in reverse.

“Oh?” Her brow rose. “I guess you’re an ass then.”

He put the truck in park and pulled her to his lap despite her struggling protests. He leaned in and kissed her swollen lips. “Is this our first argument?” He pushed the hair away from her face so he could look at her. So he could see into her soul.

“What I wanted to tell him but couldn’t is that you satisfy me completely. The things you do with your little body bring me as close to heaven as I’ll ever be. It’s never been anyone but you, Eve.”

She purred, snuggling into his arms. “I forgot what we were talking about. Mmm, you smell good.”

Her eyes were glassy, and he appreciated the immediacy of her need for him. He laughed again. “We better go before he comes back.” She slid next to him and buckled her belt. After about thirty minutes she fell asleep on his shoulder, her soft sighs comforting him.

Comfort from a sleeping woman? He would’ve called them a liar if anyone had told him he’d ever feel that way. But now that he’d found her—the woman perfect for him—he never wanted to live without her.

Clay pulled into another shopping complex and gently maneuvered his shoulder out from under her. He left her sleeping as he went inside. He hadn’t been joking about the straw hat. Her skin was fair and she was blond, so he’d get a strong sunblock for her too and some other provisions. When he returned to the truck, she was just waking from her nap and she greeted him with a sleepy smile. He reached into one of the bags and removed an oversized floppy straw hat and placed it on her head.

“Hey!” She positioned the hat to her liking and smiled wide, giving him an impish wink from under the brim. “Thanks.”

“I got you a pair of sunglasses too.” He handed those over and she tried them on. With the accessories covering half her face, she looked like a movie star. Except she was way too fresh with her innocent smile. She was so young and she’d said she’d never been anywhere. He wanted to give her everything she should have been given or expected in life and love. He just needed to be sure he didn’t fall short.

***

They reached the cabin around two o’clock. He’d called ahead and the rental company had opened all the windows and the fresh ocean breeze moved through the house disturbing the long billowy white curtains. Secluded on the beach, the cabin was ideal and when the tide crawled up close to the house the rush of water was soothing to the ear.

Seated on the couch, Clay couldn’t wait to set his eyes on Eve in the bikini he’d bought.

Damn, his libido was crushed when she emerged from the bathroom in the same clothes she’d been wearing.

“Didn’t the bikini work out?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know if I would call it a success, but I’m wearing it.”

Walking toward her he saw the white strap peeking out from beneath her tank top. He tugged at it. “Aren’t you going to show it to me?”

She blushed and lowered her chin, her long lashes creating shadows across her face. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t fit very well, so my jiggly parts are hanging out. It needs to be a few sizes larger, and that makes me feel fat.”

He rubbed the velvet skin of her earlobe. “I’m sorry. Except for Clara, I’ve never bought clothes for a woman before. Let me take you into town and we’ll get you something else.”

Of course, he knew it was too small, but he’d chosen the size on purpose. Yet he’d never expected her to feel bad. Until now she’d been pretty indifferent about her nakedness and God, had she let him see every part of her. He bent low and softly touched his lips to hers. “You are aware that I’ve seen every bare inch of your beauty, right?”

“I know, but clothes are supposed to fit a certain way. If not, they accentuate my ugly wiggly parts.”

“You don’t have any ugly wiggly parts.”

“But I do. A doctor showed them to me, drew marks all over my skin. There are a lot.”

She was serious; she believed she was flawed. But every time he saw her naked he’d thought he was in the presence of something divine, spiritual even, that had come from another world.

“Why were you seeing a doctor? What doctor?”

“He was a plastic surgeon Nicolas sent me to so I could look better in the dresses he bought for me. It was part of the reason I left when I did. I was due to have the surgeries the following week.”

Anger burrowed through his body like a bullet. He stopped breathing and reached for her, folding her into his arms to carry her somewhere, anywhere, to reassure her it would have been the eighth deadly sin to change her in any way. He strode to the couch with her in his arms and folded himself into the plush leather. Pulling her upper body to rest at his chest, he whispered into her ear. “You do understand that was all about power and control? It had nothing to do with your body or your looks.”

“But the surgeon found so many flaws with a black marker.”

He pulled her into his chest to stop her lips from moving.

“It’s bullshit, baby. Why would you believe anything that came from that sack of shit and his buddies? You need to let that go. You don’t have to wear the suit, but I need you to hear me, trust me, believe me, take my words into your heart. Forget your past, it was all deception. This is real.” He pulled her hand to his heart and laid it flush against his chest. “Looking at your soft curves has fast become my favorite pastime. Your body haunts me—I can’t get it out of my mind. Say you won’t ever take that away from me.”

She sighed. “I don’t want to. I’m glad you like me.”

“No like about it. I fucking love and worship every inch of you.”

She smiled and kissed him on the side of his mouth. She whispered, “Close your eyes.”

He complied and felt the weight lift off him as she took herself from his lap. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t peek.” Her fingertips brushed across his eyes. He heard the rustle of clothes. “Okay, open.”

The sight before him had his throat going dry and his cock straining against the zipper of his shorts. The string bikini he’d bought covered the crucial parts, but that was it. The triangles covered one third of each breast, and he doubted the back covered much more because he could see the ties extremely low on her hips. He didn’t normally act like a caveman, but he had to reach his hand into his shorts to adjust his erection. Only, his hand started to stroke his painfully engorged cock.%

“Fuck, I’m sorry, but you’re the most erotic vision I’ve ever seen.” He unzipped his pants and pumped his hot flesh in his hand. “I’m going to come from just looking at you. Turn around, let me see the back.” His voice sounded strange. Strained.

She turned and he could see the top of what made up the cleft of her backside. The bottom of her full cheeks were exposed as the cloth could only cover a small portion of her generous curves. She posed with one hip higher than the other and looked coyly over her shoulder.

“Shit, Eve, I’m going to come.” His voice was strangled. Then she knelt between his legs, and he immediately squirted thick streams of seed violently into her mouth. He let out a tortured groan.

“God, seeing all your curves with the most important parts hidden just consumed me with lust. I haven’t come that quickly since I was twelve years old.”

She licked her lips and exhaled a satisfied sigh, the sound colored by her smile. Now he’d whacked off in front of her? There were definitely a lot of firsts with her. He didn’t see the masturbation as such an embarrassing thing—not with Eve. She needed to see how crazed she made him.

“I like it when you lose control.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because it’s true.”

But she couldn’t mean it. She didn’t know what she was saying. What she was tempting out of him.

“You’re so beautiful.” He cupped her cheek and rubbed her soft, soft skin. “I need to touch you all the time. I don’t know what I’m going to do from now on.”

“Maybe you never stop touching me.”

*

Clay told Eve the beach was for the most part secluded, and he’d been right. The water was aqua, just like all the pictures she’d seen. The breeze peppered her cheeks with sea spray, and the smell of wet sand and sea foam would be burned into her memory for a lifetime. She’d found a piece of battered plastic on the shore and teased a crab with it. It had come close to pinching her toe until Clay grabbed it and threw it in the water. They played in the water with inner tubes, and Clay pretended to be a shark and attacked her, though she knew he just wanted to fondle her ass.

When they grew tired, Clay brought lounge chairs down to their private beach, and they spent the afternoon lazily napping, reading, talking, and shelling.

Eventually three guys from the house about one hundred yards away came out to play football. They were all barefoot and sand kicked up from their feet when they ran after the ball. As the game progressed, it carried the men closer to where she and Clay were lounging, and she sensed him getting tense.

After about thirty minutes, he said, “Why don’t you go on in; I’ll get the chairs. I’d like to get you a towel, but there’s no way I’m leaving you here alone while I run inside.”

She nodded and stood. He’d reacted so positively to her attire she’d forgotten a cover-up.

Just then the football came sailing through the air and slapped her hard in the thigh before landing on the beach between them. She rubbed at the spot.

Clay was at her side instantly to inspect her leg. “Fuck, are you okay?” He rubbed her leg, even more gingerly than she had.

“Yeah, it just stings a little.”

A shadow fell across the sand, and they looked up at the same time to see one of the young guys staring at her. Big-time staring, like in the cartoons where the eyes pop from the wolf’s head and roll along the ground. Clay stood to his full six feet five, and Eve saw his fists clench as he stepped in front of her.

“Get your fucking eyes off her!” He reached down, picked up the football, and flung it so far into the ocean, she could no longer see it.

The kid just stood frozen in place. Clay yanked off his Wayfarers and glared at him.