Love at First Light (Lost Harbor, Alaska Book 6)

by Jennifer Bernard

  “Yeah. Sorry, you probably want my real ID.” He tried to hand her that instead but she didn’t release the first one.

  “What kind of private investigator?”

  “A retired kind. I’m just here on vacation with my sweetie.” He slung an arm over Jessica’s shoulder.

  She narrowed her eyes at him from behind her horn-rimmed glasses. “That would explain the bickering.”

  “Everyone says we’re like an old married couple.”

  Jessica snorted next to him. “Do you need anything else from us? We’re literally about to collapse, and my sweetie here could really use a shower.”

  She still looked suspicious. “That must be tough, living so far away from each other.”

  “You have no idea. But it works because we’re just so perfect for each other. When you find your soulmate, it doesn’t matter how far away they live.” Jessica beamed at Kelsey, radiating that bright angelic innocence that no human could resist. Ethan suppressed a laugh.“How about you? Are you married?”

  But Kelsey seemed to have no interest in sharing any of her own personal details. She handed back their IDs and left them on their own, with the instructions that breakfast began at six and ended at nine.

  And then…finally…bed.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Why did I even bother to try to change things up?” Jessica often talked to herself in the shower. Technically, she usually talked to her favorite rubber ducky, but he wasn’t available out here in the wilderness. “So far, nothing’s different. Still not having sex, not even the unromantic kind. I should have just stuck to the old Jessica.”

  She tilted her head under the showerhead and let the delicious water flow through her hair. She’d turned both of the showers on, so water came at her from two directions. Blissful, especially when she lathered herself with the luxury jasmine-scented soap the lodge provided.

  A hot shower might not be the same as sex, but right now it felt pretty darn orgasmic.

  Ethan hadn’t so much as moved a muscle since he’d landed on the bed. He hadn’t even gotten under the covers. She’d removed his hiking boots and socks, wrinkling her nose at the stench. Then she’d rolled him from side to side to get his jacket off. The entire time, she kept glancing up at him, checking to see if he was waking up.

  They had a date, after all. Next time we’re anywhere near a bed. That was a bed in there, a very luxurious bed with an oyster goose-down comforter and a solid mahogany headboard.

  And an unconscious man splayed across it.

  Oh well. More time to think about the fact that her recipe for walnut-cinnamon rolls was paying their way. She hadn’t realized her pastries were practically famous all the way across the bay. That gave her quite a confidence boost, and opened up a world of possibilities. Could she expand the business and yet stay true to the quirky Sweet Harbor style?

  Or should she sell it and try something new?

  Ugh, decisions.

  Squinting her eyes closed, she let the water flow across her face. Her thoughts inevitably came back to Ethan. She should have known their flirting wouldn’t actually lead to anything.

  “I am who I am,” she murmured out loud. Anyone looking for a fling or a hot night wasn’t going to want her. “Deal with it.”

  “Deal with what?” On the other side of the shower curtain, Ethan knocked on the tiled shower stall. The curtain was made of a shimmery fabric through which she could see the lines of his body. He was completely naked. Just like her.

  Her hands flew to cover her breasts and private parts. “You can’t come in here.”

  “But we had a date.”

  “For a bed, not a shower.”

  “You really want me to skip the shower before we get into a bed together?”

  “No, but…” She hesitated. Team Romance Jessica would probably wait for a better moment for him to see her naked. Low lighting, a touch of incense. So maybe she should do the opposite of that. She should invite him to share the shower with her, despite the fact that…

  “You can come in, but I don’t want you to be disappointed, so you might as well know that my thighs are not perfect.”

  “Neither are mine,” he said gravely. “I have a scar.”

  “Also, there’s a botched tattoo on my ribs. It was supposed to be a jellyfish but it ended up being more of a…cupcake.”

  “I like cupcakes. But I don’t have any tattoos. Had enough of needles by the time I was twelve.”

  “I don’t like my elbows.”

  “I’ve already seen your elbows.” Amusement ran through his voice. “They’re spectacular.”

  “Nobody’s elbows are spectacular. That’s ridiculous.”

  “Would I lie about elbows? They’re much too important for that. If you let me come in I’ll prove how much I like yours.”

  The funny thing was that he could simply part the shower curtain and step inside whenever he wanted. But this was kind of sexy, talking to each other through a flimsy layer of translucent fabric.

  “When did you even notice my elbows?”

  “When we were talking to S.G. at the peony farm. You were wearing a green t-shirt that showed off your elbows perfectly.”

  “Teal,” she corrected.

  “Teal. Right. It’s getting a little chilled out here. Now that we’ve settled the elbow issue, any chance—”

  “My butt is not exactly petite.”

  “Woman! You’re going to be in big trouble if you don’t stop bashing on yourself. Believe me, after all that time on the trail staring at your ass, I know its exact dimensions and I can’t wait to get my hands around it. Did that sound weird? I’m very tired.”

  He was also very adorable, and the idea of him ogling her ass all the way up and down the trail got her kinda hot.

  So she reached for the shower curtain and slid it open. She took his hand and tugged him inside. He closed the curtain behind himself and there they were, alone in the steamy world of the most luxurious shower she’d ever encountered.

  As the water cascaded over his body, he groaned in bliss. When she tried to move to her own showerhead, he braceleted her wrist with one hand. “Don’t leave me,” he murmured. “I might drown on my own.”

  With a laugh, she stepped back to his side. At such close quarters, it was hard to fully take in his body. His naked physical presence overwhelmed her. He was lean and hard and extremely fit, not in a musclebound way, but in a “just right” way. As if his muscles were all there for a purpose and knew exactly what they would be needed for.

  Her heart hammered in time with the water buffeting her body from the other shower head. She wanted him with such fierceness that it almost scared her. She sure hoped Team Sex Jessica knew what she was doing getting naked in the shower with Ethan James.

  She glanced down his body and saw that he was half-aroused already, his penis rising from a soft nest of dark brown hair.

  “That’s what happens when you get me thinking about your ass,” he murmured. “And your thighs. And your very odd-looking tattoo.”

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “You didn’t warn me. Not even close.” He reached for her and clamped his hand on her ass. “You didn’t warn me about how fucking sexy you are.” That last bit ended up as a growl somewhere over her head. Pleasure shot through her—at his words, the way his hand felt on her, his long body hard against hers.

  “Same,” she managed through the din of excitement flooding her. “Same, city boy.”

  “Take that back, Tasty Cakes. Don’t I get a little respect for all that wilderness trekking I just did?”

  “Pffft. We call that a gentle stroll here in Alaska.”

  She gasped as he squeezed one of her butt cheeks. Heat pooled between her legs. Her skin was flushed and extra sensitive from the shower steam. God, she wanted him to touch her everywhere. Especially between her legs, where her clit throbbed with anticipation. Every nerve in her body pulsed with the same cry—touch me. Feel me. Tease me. />
  Venturing a hand onto his body, she took the same position as him—her hand on his ass. The firm hard flesh slid against her palm. His muscles flexed as he shifted position, putting a tiny bit of space between them.

  He bent her backwards so the water sluiced over her chest. Her already sensitized nipples hardened under the barrage of water droplets. Biting her lip, she wrestled with the intense sensation until she finally gave in to it—just in time for him to chase it away with his mouth. Warm and commanding, it engulfed her nipple. A sizzle of pleasure snaked through her body on a direct line to her sex.

  He set a slow and luxurious pace as he suckled her nipples. As if they had all night, as if they hadn’t been sleep-deprived for the past two days. He toyed with her breasts until the rest of her body was one long throb of desire.

  God, was he ever going to touch her?

  Needing it now, she took his hand and planted it between her legs. Ah God … just what she craved, those strong fingers touching the heart of her arousal.

  His muffled chuckle vibrated through the tip of her breast. “I see what’s going on here. You’re in a hurry because you want to get into that fancy bed out there.”

  That wasn’t it, but it didn’t matter as long as he kept going with what he was doing. He stroked her sex with a mix of delicacy and strength that drove her wild. Sometimes he brushed his thumb against her clit, other times he used the heel of his hand. Wherever he touched, she lit up.

  With his other hand, he gripped her hip to hold her steady as her body began to hum and vibrate. Then he released her and slid his hand up her body, along each curve of her torso, all the way to her breasts. He seemed to have more hands than one human normally possessed—or at least she lost track of his hands. He was touching every part of her and there was no part that didn’t want it.

  She slipped her hand between his legs and found him fully aroused. Wrapping her hand around that thick shaft, she felt him pulse with the same drumbeat that sounded through her veins.

  “Did someone say something about a bed?” she murmured. Water ran down her lips as she spoke.

  “Mm-hmm.” But he didn’t seem interested in the bed. He turned her around so her back was to him and leaned her against his body. Water pelted her entire front. She gave a soft cry of need.

  As if he completely understood, he nudged her legs apart. At first there was only showering water where she wanted a man’s hand—but just as she was about to beg him to come back, there it was. The Hand. Right where she craved it. She looked down at the strong forearm reaching between her legs. Corded muscles moving as he played with her clit. Tanned skin against her paler stomach.

  She closed her eyes against the excitement surging inside her. Spreading her legs farther apart, she urged him on. More. Faster. A little harder. No, too much. Like that. Just like that. She wasn’t sure how she communicated all that to him. He seemed to pick up on every twitch of her over-sensitized body. And he didn’t seem at all worried about himself yet. Even though his erection burned against her lower back, he seemed completely dedicated to making her come.

  “No one can hear you,” he whispered in her ear. “But I want to. I want to hear you scream my name when you come.”

  Oh God, she could feel it, like lightning on the horizon. Any moment now, it would strike her into a sizzling pile of whimpering joy. But she had to get a little joke in first. She just had to.

  “Remind…me…your name?”

  He laughed against her neck and moved a hand to her nipple, which he plucked as if he was playing guitar. As if he knew perfectly well that there was an invisible string connecting nipple and clit, and all he had to do was thrum it, and she’d shatter into a thousand pieces.

  She resisted the sensation, not wanting this pleasure to end. But she had no defense against the fingers toying with her clit. They drew ever wilder sensations from her, pleasure that felt new and feverish—along with sounds she didn’t recognize.

  Since when did she make that noise, that weird sob in her throat? Since when did she grind her pelvis like that? It must be a Team Sex Jessica thing. Or maybe it was an Ethan thing. Maybe she was writhing and moaning like this because he knew how to work a woman into a frenzy of desire. Maybe it was a skill he happened to know.

  Or maybe—the thought occurred just as the first bright explosion burst across her nerve endings—maybe it was a Jessica-and-Ethan thing.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Lust must give a guy superhuman powers. That was the only explanation for how Ethan was able to carry a boneless and satisfied Jessica all the way from the shower to the bed.

  She wrapped her legs around his hips and giggled into his neck as he staggered across the floor. “Bakers aren’t generally known as featherweights,” she pointed out.

  Everything about her felt perfect to him, though he was relieved when he made it to the bed.

  “You can do it, buddy,” he murmured out loud. “Hang in there.”

  He tossed her onto it with a hard grunt of effort.

  She laughed up at him, all flushed and scrumptious. “Were you talking to your leg? Giving it a pep talk?”

  Oops. Busted. “So?”

  “It’s cute, that’s all. Like talking to birds or—“ She broke off with a shriek as he flung himself on top of her. He crouched over her like a beast with its prey.

  Then he paused. Damn it. Protection. He hadn’t packed any. “Do you have—“

  She drew her bottom lip between her teeth. “No. I didn’t bring anything. I didn’t think any of this would be happening.”

  “Okay.” Hauling air into his lungs, he rolled away from her, onto his back, and wrestled his arousal into submission. He hadn’t imagined this happening either. Well, he’d imagined it as in fantasized about it. But he hadn’t anticipated that it would actually happen.

  “Hang on a sec.” Jessica swung her legs off the side of the bed. In the shower, she’d seemed kind of shy about being naked, but maybe a good orgasm had chased that away. She moved freely across the room, not bothering to hide her ass or her thighs or even her elbows. All of which made his mouth water.

  She disappeared briefly into the bathroom, then emerged with an expression of triumph as she brandished a condom in the air. “I knew this was the kind of place that thinks of everything.”

  “Thank you, Kelsey,” he breathed.

  “It was probably Kelsey’s minions.” She ripped the foil wrapper and tossed it over her shoulder, then prowled toward him with the condom. “Stay right where you are. I got this.”

  He spread his arms wide to indicate he had no plans to move. She kneeled over him, one of her luscious thighs on each side of him, and lowered herself down. The sweet contact of her flesh on his thighs sent his senses reeling. His erection had subsided while she’d been gone and he thought they’d hit the end of the road. But as soon as she scooted down his thighs and bent her head to his cock it came roaring back.

  With each swirl of her tongue on him, his cock hardened further until it pulsed against her pretty lips. She kept gathering more of him into her mouth, tugging him deeper and harder. The sight made him absolutely mad with desire. Those rosy lips working up and down his cock—her hands touching his balls, his thighs—her wet hair swinging against his skin—he couldn’t get enough of any of it.

  When the tension became unbearable, and he knew he was about to explode, he tugged her mouth away from him. The innocent way she ran her tongue across her lips nearly ended him right then.

  “Condom?” he managed.

  “Oh yeah. Right.” She shook herself back to attention. He loved the fact that she’d been so lost in the act of sucking him off. That meant that she’d enjoyed it too—though probably not nearly as much as he had.

  She straightened up and plucked the condom from the comforter. “Do you know that I used to practice this on a cucumber so I’d know what I was doing? Maya saw me once and laughed her ass off.”

  “Let me do that.” He plucked it from her hand. �
��I ain’t no cucumber.”

  He quickly rolled it onto his erection.

  “Wow.” She clapped her hands in mock applause. “That’s at least point-six seconds faster than I could do it. We should have a competition some time. A condom-off. See who can—“

  He shut her up by lifting her bodily into the air and shifting her toward his erection. It arrowed toward her, thick and eager and safely covered.

  She followed his lead and poised her entrance over his cock. Her beautiful breasts, swaying so close, tempted him with the fragrance of damp flesh and jasmine soap. He flicked his tongue across her swollen nipple and savored her instant response. He could feast forever on those nipples and take breaks only to lick her pussy. Sounded like a nice life to him.

  He placed both of his hands on her hips to guide her down. The soft give of flesh under his palms added another layer of arousal. Inch by inch, she lowered herself down until she was fully seated on the pole of his erection. Ah God. Tension gathered in his balls. He gritted his teeth to stop from ramming into her before she was completely ready. Her body was so tight around him, her channel still slick from their encounter in the shower. But he wanted to make sure she was completely able to take all of him into her before he unleashed the full force of his need.

  He moved gently at first, sliding into her slick channel until she moaned and arched backwards. He feasted his eyes on the glorious line of her torso, the heavy sway of her breasts, the wine-dark color of her aroused nipples. Too much, too much.

  He reached up and filled his hands with the flesh of her breasts, squeezing her nipples between his fingers. She cried out and he felt liquid well against his cock, lubricating his strokes.

  He pumped his hips in a powerful motion that she met with her own push and pull. At first their movements were at odds with each other. When he wanted to be fully seated inside, she was pulling back. It was maddening. So close and yet tantalizingly out of reach.

  He gritted his teeth and clamped his hands around her hips to still her. Then he moved her to the rhythm that was beating through his body. Up, down, just like that, oh yeah, fuck yes, there it was, the perfect coordination designed to pull his soul from his body.