Slow Hand (6 page)

“You had me at first sight, marching down the dock in those ridiculous shoes, with your fine tight ass and the fire blazing in your eyes.”

She made a face of total disbelief. “You were napping.”

“Like hell I was. My dick jumped to life and my mouth went dry when you turned around to get your luggage over that rope Jean-Paul left out.”

Her brows knit. “Oh, you saw me? I thought you were asleep.” She smiled into his chest, the movement of her lips tickling the hair there.

He smiled too and held her closer, content to sit with this tiny, perfect woman in his arms. “You owe me a nap,” he said.

“How can a person owe a nap?”

“I’d just settled in for one when you showed up. I haven’t been able to sleep without you in my arms since.”

“You slept that first night in your cabin.”

“No sleep. I tossed and turned.”

The smile on her face was pure female satisfaction.

“Take the free end up through the eye, around the standing part and back where it came from.” Jared watched as Teri’s tongue came out as she concentrated. The things she could do with that tongue amazed him. “There, you did it.
A perfect bowline knot. It’ll never slip or jam if you make it right.”

He grinned at her pleased she was such a willing student. Teri was willing to learn and competent enough to follow through on her own. The past five days had been incredible.

They were dressed in swimsuits this morning because a sixty-footer had joined them in the cove at sunset the night before. The
Sally-Rose
dwarfed the
SandJack
.

Jared couldn’t take his eyes off her. “She’s got great lines,” he said.

“She’s very pretty. I like the maroon awnings.” Teri stretched out on a lounge chair with a bowl of fruit and yogurt for breakfast. He’d watched her dip slices of melon into the yogurt and lick the creamy stuff off with that mischievous tongue until he’d wanted to dash the bowl to the deck and take her mouth.

They’d hailed the
Sally-Rose
the night before and spoken to the captain, a newcomer to the Caribbean.

The yacht was for sale and an old urge had come to life as soon as he’d heard. Since leaving the rat race, he’d been content to drift for months at a time, living easy.

But his bent for profit-and-loss statements had kicked in at first sight of the yacht.

“What’s going through your mind? You’re distracted this morning.” Teri asked, with a shift of her legs on the lounge chair. He grinned, smoothed a palm from her knee to her groin.

“Don’t try to change the subject,” she said tartly. “I see you eying the
Sally-Rose
with the same kind of lust you’ve had for me. What’s up?”

“The honeymoon charter idea for the
SandJack
took off like gangbusters. Now that I’ve got a website, I’ve got charters booked solid.”

Her eyes flared interest and she leaned forward at attention. She set her fruit aside. “But you could do more with the
Sally-Rose
. Corporate stuff. Bigger events.”

“Exactly.”
Their eyes met in mutual understanding. He could see her mind skipping around, turned on by something other than sex.

And that turned him on.

“You know how some corporations send teams out to the wilderness for camps to develop team spirit?”

“You make me so hot,” he blurted, as crazy for the way her mind worked as he was for her tight little rocket of a body. “We could take them diving.”

“Or to swim with sharks.”

“And there’s cave-diving.”

“Isn’t that really dangerous?”

“And swimming with sharks isn’t?”

She laughed, then sobered. “You said we.”

“What?” But his mind was racing with possibilities and he was even happier to know she understood and that her mind was in synch with his.

“Never mind,” she said. “Come here and kiss me.”

“I like when you’re bossy.” He picked her up off the lounge chair and kissed her deeply. The spark between them snapped harder than ever, but they both welcomed it now, knowing the only thing to mellow it was deep touching.

For the rest of the early morning Jared taught her more knots. Then they killed another hour by taking a swim off the swim grid.

The
Sally-Rose
seemed slow to come to life but eventually they saw signs that the crew was awake and preparing to weigh anchor. Jared nodded toward the yacht, one hand grasping the rail of the swim grid. “They’ll be gone soon. I was going to suggest we head out to sea, but now that they’re leaving we can stay here if you’d like.”

“I’d like. There’s no need to go anywhere else. I have everything I want and need right here.”

They climbed aboard and dried off, then stretched out to cover each other with sun block. Long teasing drizzles of lotion led to long teasing kisses.

Jared carried her below and stretched out under her on the leather sofa. No longer afraid of hurting her with his size, he delighted in lifting Teri to straddle him. He pumped into her like a piston. It was fast, hard and immediate.

She was always ready, always wet, always welcoming.

Her small hands dug into his
pecs, her nails grazing him as she worked his cock. Her breasts bounced, her pussy slid in maddening circles around his stiff pole as she did figure eights on his lap. Her tongue came out as she got close and when she came her mouth opened on a guttural cry. She exploded around his cock, her inner walls contracting and squeezing him. He spurted deep into her, taken over the edge of sanity.

“I love it that you like it fast.”

She fell to his chest, curled her fingers around his head and nodded. “Yes, I love it fast. I love it slow. I love it with you.”

He pulled his head back to try to see her face, but her eyes closed on a sated sigh. He kissed the tip of her nose and bit back what he wanted to say.

After they showered he went back up on deck to see if the yacht had left yet, but the
Sally-Rose
was still in the cove. He considered her carefully. With a salon and three bedrooms and room for a small crew, she’d make a great complement to the
SandJack
.

While the
SandJack
was perfect for the kind of intimacy he enjoyed with Teri, the
Sally-Rose
could handle larger parties.

Jared extended an awning for shade and set up a board game. He had already lost several times to Teri’s better skill at a crossword game.

For payback he planned to beat her into the ground on real estate. He set up the game’s bank and counted out their share of money to start the game while she brought up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. If the snap and crackle between them wasn’t enough to make him love her then her habit of baking for fun and relaxation would.

The unique womanly scent of Teri drifted past his nose. She smelled of soap and fresh salty air and chocolate. She aimed a chocolate chip cookie at his mouth. He bit it, chewed slowly, savoring the still
-warm flavor. “These are fantastic.” He licked his lips to get all of the chocolate flavor.

She grinned. “I’m glad you like them. You look like a little boy when you do that. Makes me see the hellion you must have been.”

“I believe I heard that word a time or two. But only when my Mom didn’t know I was within earshot and always spoken under her breath.”

The game began and Jared focused intently, surprised at the competitive edge he brought to the game. He hadn’t felt this way in a couple years but he couldn’t help himself.

Finally, the
Sally-Rose
weighed anchor and they stood to wave them off. When they sat down again, she laughed. “Whose roll is it?”

“Mine.”

“Why is it always your turn when we forget?”

“It’s my game.” His stash of board games had caught her eye earlier that morning when she’d gone looking in the storage bunks under the sofas for cookie sheets. He rolled a six and moved his game piece. “Aha! I get to buy this to complete my set. I want to put a house on the property.”

“Showoff.” She laughed and passed him a plastic house.

He looked at it closely. “Look, there’s a door and windows.”

“Most houses have them.”

“And a yard, with kids and a dog,” he said when he set it down on his square of property. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Did you want that?”

“Not last week. Last week I wanted a bigger Manhattan apartment with dreams of a nice co-op in my future. In white, of course, with a splash of ivory for color.” She mimicked a voice he could only think was Philip’s.

She looked wistful. “But now, maybe a house will come along some day.
And kids, too.”

“And your promotion?”

“Will hopefully lead to more. But the market’s tough. It can break people stronger than me.”

“Going back to that kind of pressure turns your crank?”

She frowned. “Of course.” Her frown deepened. “Maybe.”

He let her stew a moment and she continued to think.
After a moment she spoke again. “I’m not sure I know how to answer. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve been there. Did the whole corporate ladder climb and walked away.”

“Why?”

“So I could play sea captain and take naps.” He picked up the die.
“My turn.”

“Anyone who looked at the
Sally-Rose
with the kind of lust I saw in your eyes this morning is way beyond playing sea captain and taking naps. No, you’re more ambitious than that.”

“I’d need a first mate, someone I could depend on.
A partner.”

“Anyone come to mind?”

He had to look away in case she saw the way his mind had turned. He had to be careful, let her come to her own conclusion. Forcing the issue might frighten her off. “It’s my turn to roll.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s mine.” She reached to take the die from his hand. He snagged her wrist and pulled her close. Her smiling face came within kissing range so he did, putting an end to the conversation. She didn’t need to hear why he’d packed it in, but she sure as hell needed to think about why she should.

And this kiss was only one of many reasons.

Teri wasn’t fooled by the kiss. Jared wanted to change the subject. She was tempted to let him think he’d got away with it, but the competitive spirit she’d nurtured in her career climb wouldn’t let her. She pulled out of his arms. “Not so fast lover boy. What happened? How did you end up on the SandJack?”

“I’m not going to whine about my divorce. We were not compatible. Our life goals changed after a while.”

She glanced around at the thirty-five feet of absurd luxury. “What, did she want to live in a regular house with you at a regular job?”

“Being in a marriage should mean being able to be yourself. Compromise is important, but it’s a two way street. She couldn’t handle that I wanted more freedom.” He opened his arms to indicate the boat. “She was after the big house, the high-end cars, and all the stuff I used to think I wanted. When I changed my mind, she left.” Jared looked out across the bay toward the open water, followed the wake of the
Sally-Rose
for a moment in silence.

He tugged Teri onto her back, and she went willingly. Denying Jared anything was hard to do. She craved his touch far more than she could have imagined. The electricity between them seduced her as much as the man himself. The hum of it, the stroke of heat that sizzled to her loins was a drug she was beginning to think she couldn’t live without.

She ignored the warnings she heard from her heart and stretched out beneath him, forgetting the board game, forgetting her life in New York, forgetting everything but this man and this moment. The weight of him was welcome, the touch of his skin was welcome, and the nuzzling mouth at her neck did marvelous things right through her body. She couldn’t deny him a thing.

“I can think of a million different things we could talk about instead,” he said.

“Like what?” she said through a smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and reached up to kiss him quickly.

“Like where on your body I could hide some chocolate chips.” He nuzzled her ear, breathing heavily and tickling her with his beard stubble.

She screeched with laughter. “Where? Where?”

“I’ll show you, my pretty,
arrr.” He put on the voice of a wolfish marauder. His eyes lit with wild lust, intent and focused on her. “You’ll just have to wait while I go get them.”

He ran down the hatch to get the bag of chocolate chips. She had all of ten seconds to hide so with a screech of laughter, she leaped to her feet, took off to the far side of the hot tub and crouched there, balancing on the balls of her feet.

She clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the sound of her giggles from reaching him. He reappeared at the hatch, stood and shook the bag in his fist over his head, rattling it like a saber.

Teri rolled her eyes. But a thrill rose through her belly at the idea of being chased, caught and at his mercy.

His head turned from side to side slowly as he pretended to growl with a menace that held an underlying tone of humor. She heard him clear his throat and had to suppress more giggles. Feeling like a playful child, she undid her bra and tossed it across the deck to land on the back of a deck chair.

The pirate turned and picked up the scrap of cloth.
Sniffed it. Growled louder. When he went into a hunter’s crouch she nearly lost it.

If it hadn’t been for the knuckles she wedged into her mouth, she’d have been rolling on the deck in a fit of laughter.

The man was ridiculous fun and it warmed her heart to see the clown he could be.

Something of the noise she was trying to stifle must have reached him, because his gaze zeroed in on the hot tub and he took a menacing step toward her.

With a screech, she bounded from the cover of the hot tub and made a dash for the bow. A loud war whoop goosed her to run faster.

Panting for breath, she turned and faced the ravisher, breasts swinging, feet spread, hair flying in the breeze.

Jared stopped dead, the bag forgotten in his hand. “You are so beautiful,” he said, his voice reverent, all play gone.

She dropped her sarong to the deck and took off; blushing with the realization that he truly felt in his heart that she was beautiful.

He chased her with the bag of chips, growling menacingly again. She dodged around the whole boat, leaving her thong on the wheel. He followed the trail of clothing and laughter, giving her plenty of time to step out of reach.

When she decided to let him catch her, they were both out of breath, but he still held the bag of chips.

And she was deliciously naked. He drew her down to one of the upholstered benches.

“
Oooh, Mr. Pirate, you’re so big and strong, I don’t know how to fight you off.”

She squirmed under his hands, lighting the fire of his arousal. He sprinkled five of the small chocolate buds on her belly and licked them off, one by one. Each swipe of his tongue sent fire to her deepest parts and she quieted a little more until she lay stretched out, waiting for whatever delicious torture he would apply next.

Slick with desire, her pussy open, and her clit needy she was ready when he finally dragged her legs up against his chest and looped her knees over his shoulder. Slowly, one by one he dropped chocolates onto her dewy crotch.

Bending to her he found each softening bit of chocolate with his mouth. He sucked each one up, licking her inner lips each time. Her breathing changed, became more shallow and rapid with each flick of his tongue. Tension built, but still he took his time, pretending more interest in the chocolate than in her. He swirled her clit, sucking it firmly between his lips. She arched, lifting her ass into the air in a futile bid to have him take her over the edge.

The pirate was driving her mad with need. Finally, he slid his tongue into her crevice, letting her juices pool and slide between her ass cheeks to drip on the bunk. She’d never been so turned on, so wet.

His eyes gleamed in a way that spoke of even more delights. He followed the line of her juice, lapping at her while he plunged two wide blunt fingers into her channel. Her inner walls rejoiced with the filling.

Finally, finally he was going to give her what she craved.

“Yes, do it. Take me there.”

She felt his mouth on her again, his tongue dancing on her dewy clit as she came in a wild burst of moisture that drenched his hand and face.

When the final pulses died away, Jared turned her to kneel; her hands braced on the deck railing and took her from behind. In a gesture meant to torture her captor, she reached between her legs and clasped his balls as they swung against her with each plunge.

His cry was instant and she felt the inner gush from his come fill her. His fingers found her again and with a ravenous focus there was no holding back. Jared took everything she had to give and more. Wrenching every last element of satisfaction from her, she was limp by the end, unable to stand.

“You are incredible,” she said drowsily. “This whole time is incredible and I’ll never forget it. I would show you my appreciation, but I can’t move.”

“If you really want to show your appreciation, bake more cookies.”

“
Hm, how do you feel about pie?” The feeling was beginning to return to her legs.

“Key lime?”

She grinned. “As soon as I can stand, I’ll make you a key lime pie.”

“I think I love you,” he said, lightheartedly.

“Keep making love to me this way and I’ll begin to believe it,” she responded in kind. Rolling to her feet, she padded off toward the galley. “Next time,” she called back over her shoulder, “we do it in bed. My back can’t take the hard deck anymore.”

The days continued in a wild spree of champagne and great sex and loving afterglow. Jared was attentive, patient and made Teri feel pampered. He treated her like a perfect lady, a perfect lover and a perfect partner. He taught her how to tie more knots, how to pilot the boat, how to weigh anchor and how to make love. He showed her how it could be between two people who respected and truly liked each other. She had never come close to this kind of relationship before in her life.

Her family had been warm enough, but suffocating in their concern. She had hurt them when she left for New York, claiming she was going to get a high-powered job, make a grand success of her life and leave behind the mousy girl they’d raised.

Five years later, she’d done it all. And until recently, she’d felt pretty good about how her life had turned out, but now she was wondering if her success was worth the price.

Half the time she was worried about weight gain, most of the time she was worried about her career, and until Philip had called a halt to their sex life, sex had become an item on her “to do” list. She’d even stopped baking, something that came as natural to her as breathing.

And the wedding had taken on the proportions of a monster threatening to eat Manhattan.

But here, with Jared, none of that mattered. For these few days, she was free, and unconditionally accepted. The sex was intense, fun and experimental. She reveled in the freedom Jared gave her.

Even Teri realized she was blossoming into a freedom loving hedonist, a part of her personality she had always kept under wraps. Knowing these same days spent with her ex would never have produced these changes, she blossomed. She hadn’t laughed this much in all the time she’d been with Philip.

On her last morning, Teri woke, and lay curled on her side, facing Jared. The deep, even breathing she heard reassured and comforted her, while creating a sharp dread.
Not yet! Don’t think about it.

She snuggled close and rested her head on his chest and drank in his early morning scent. Musky, with the leftover scent of wild loving, it made her hot.

Sliding down the warm length of him, Teri found his resting cock and coaxed it to life with her mouth. Jared’s breathing changed and she knew he woke as the blood rushed to fill the hot flesh in her mouth. She felt his fingers in her hair and the tug that indicated he wanted to slide inside her, but she refused to leave her position.

She wanted to take him over the edge this way. She wanted to give to him unselfishly, so he’d never forget the touch of her mouth and this last morning together.

She took him quick and hard, licking him, increasing the tension, the suction and the dance of her fingers across his sac. He exploded in her mouth in a wild buck that pleased her with its suddenness. She’d learned so much about pleasure, so much about pleasing a man, so much about pleasing herself.

Indeed, Teri Branton was a new woman, returning to a brand new life.

She slid up to wrap her arms around his chest. “Thank you for this week, Jared. I can’t tell you how different I feel. Better, stronger, more alive.”

“So do
I. You’ve changed me, too.”

She smiled, pleased. “How much longer do we have?”

“A couple of hours. Normally, I’d have docked in Kingston last night, but I can squeeze my prep time into the afternoon. My next charter clients arrive at four.”

She felt his seeking hand travel south of her waist. She opened her legs, well past the shyness of early acquaintance. “When does your flight leave?” he asked as he slid his fingers into her slickness.

“Tonight.” She arched as his fingers plunged, as quick and hard as she’d been with him. He’d always been gentler than this, but the speed and aggression thrilled her. She responded with a slide of moisture. He made her so hot.

He plunged and retreated several times, quick, quick, hard, bringing her to a tension-filled peak faster than ever before. “I’m ready,” she murmured.
“Now!”

But he slid to cover her. “Not yet, I have to be inside, have to feel you as you clench and come.”

The solid weight of him pressed on her and she sighed with the rightness of it. She ran her hands down his back, folding her legs around his, tucking into him. Feeling the head of his cock at her entrance, she pushed up, opening fully and closing around him. She was full of Jared one last time.

She rocked against him, nipped at his ear, licked the salt from his neck and drank in the scent of fully aroused male. Taken back to primal time, they danced the dance of man and woman.

When Jared strained against her, she felt his pulsing cock and rushed headlong into her own climax, as he bucked into her.

He settled against her neck, cradling her in his arms, and she spoke. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I can promise you, I’ll never be the same again,” she murmured.

He chuckled and she grinned into his chest. Her legs were boneless as she sprawled on the bed. He kissed the tip of her nose and whispered into her ear. “Stay for another week.”