And the Winner Gets...Married!

by Metsy Hingle

  Slowly she pulled back, stared up at him out of blue-green eyes shimmering with desire and Justin lost the last of his control. He no longer cared where they were or who saw them. He no longer cared that he’d told himself just last night that this wasn’t a good idea. All that mattered now was Kim and the way she was looking at him—as if she wanted him and needed him as much as he wanted and needed her.

  Angling his head, he took her mouth again. This time he gave in to the desire that had been driving him mad for weeks. This time he kissed her deeply, thoroughly, with all the hunger inside him that he’d fought to deny. And she kissed him back. Never before had anything felt so right, Justin thought. Never before had he wanted a woman so much. As though sensing his thoughts, she made some mewling sound and pressed herself closer to him.

  Justin took the kiss even deeper. He drank in her gasps, mated with her tongue, showed her with his mouth what he wanted to do to her with his body. What he wanted her to do to him with hers. He slid his hands down her back, around her waist, then cupped her breasts.

  She tore her mouth free and arched her back, giving him access. While he kissed her neck, he kneaded her breasts. He moved his mouth lower, tasting her collarbone. Then he closed his mouth over one breast, suckled her through her T-shirt and bra. When he closed his teeth on her nipple, she gasped.

  “Justin, I—”

  The blare from a boat horn drowned out her words as Justin blocked her from view with his body. He glared at the waving passengers on the pleasure craft as they sped by, causing Calypso to rock in its wake.

  When he looked at Kim again, her cheeks were pink and her eyes were wide with what he suspected was shock. “You okay?” he asked, more gruffly than he’d intended. He still couldn’t believe he’d subjected her to the speculation of the idiots in the other boats.

  “I’m fine,” she told him.

  Noting her blouse was still damp from his mouth, he frowned. Evidently she caught the direction of his gaze and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry,” he told her.

  “Nothing to be sorry about,” she said brightly.

  Too brightly, Justin thought, as she stood up and began clearing away the remains of their lunch. “Here, let me give you a hand with that,” he offered.

  “No need,” she informed him, looking everywhere but at him. “You mentioned something earlier about taking a swim. Why don’t you go ahead while I take care of this?”

  Justin hesitated a moment. He could see that she was upset. What he didn’t know was if she was upset because of what had almost happened between them or because he’d subjected her to the jeers of the idiots in the passing boat. Unsure what to do or say, Justin decided that maybe taking a swim wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

  The swim had been every bit as effective as a cold shower, Kim decided more than an hour later after she’d changed back into her shorts and top and rejoined Justin on deck. Each time she thought of how close she’d come to pleading with Justin to make love to her, she was torn between wanting to curse or thanking the boatload of revelers who’d interrupted them. There was no longer any question in her mind that Justin had wanted her. Still wanted her if she could believe that smoldering look in his eyes when she’d changed into her suit and joined him in the water.

  But the scowl on his face following the other boaters’ departure had confused her. So had his gruff inquiry of her. And while Justin may have kissed her like he wanted to swallow her whole a short time ago, the swim seemed to have taken the edge off his desire for her. In fact, given his relaxed appearance behind the wheel of the boat now, she could almost believe that she’d imagined those passionate kisses.

  “The wind’s starting to kick up a bit,” Justin said. “What do you say we run up the sails and I show you what it’s like to race with the wind?”

  “That was absolutely incredible,” Kim told him several hours later while she helped him secure the mainsail. “I felt like I was flying.”

  “You were,” Justin informed her as he expertly knotted the ropes. “You were just doing it on top of the water.”

  The awkwardness following their earlier kisses had vanished sometime during those hours they’d spent zipping along the crystal-blue waters of Lake Geneva. With a patience that astonished her, Justin had kept his promise and taught her how to hoist the sails. They’d both laughed when he’d saved her from being knocked over by the boom. He’d stood beside her in the cockpit when she’d taken a turn at the wheel. And he hadn’t even flinched when she’d come dangerously close to sending them onto the shore of Big Foot Beach.

  “I can understand now why you love this,” she told him. “What I don’t know is how you could have stayed away so long.”

  “Right now I’m asking myself that same question,” he said, his smile slipping a notch as he stared up at the sky.

  She followed the direction of his gaze, noted that the sun was already beginning to set. A wave of disappointment rolled over her as she realized the day was nearly over.

  “Looks like a storm’s headed this way. A big one.”

  Kim yanked her attention back to the weather. “That’s not a problem, is it? I mean, we’re already heading back to the harbor, and those dark clouds look pretty far off.”

  “They’re just moving faster than I’d like. Can you take the wheel a minute? I’m going to drop the jib, then motor us in. The last thing I want is for your first sailing experience to end with you caught in a storm.”

  Kim took the wheel and kept Calypso steady while Justin dispatched the jib. But even with the sails down, the increased wind whistled loudly across the deck.

  Justin joined her in the cockpit and started up the engine. And when Kim would have moved away to give him more room, he put his arm around her shoulders and kept her close. “What do you say we try to outrun that storm?”

  Kim glanced back at the swiftly darkening sky and noted that the ugly black clouds were now much closer than they had been a few minutes ago. “You think we can beat it?”

  “There’s only one way to find out.” He opened the engine’s throttle, and Calypso shot forward, sending them racing toward the harbor with the wind and thunder at their backs.

  Fifteen minutes later when Justin guided Calypso into the boat slip, fat raindrops had begun to fall. Darkness had come quickly, and the harbor, abuzz with activity and people when they’d arrived earlier that morning, now resembled a deserted graveyard of boats.

  After securing the boat’s lines and double-checking the cleats, Justin helped Kim from the boat. “Here, I’ll take that,” he told her and took her tote bag, along with the picnic basket. “Ready to make a run for the Jeep?”

  “Ready,” she called out to make herself heard above the shriek of the wind.

  “Okay, let’s go,” he said. Holding hands they ran from the dock to the parking lot where Justin’s Jeep now sat alone.

  By the time they reached the Jeep, Kim was soaked to the skin. So was Justin. “You all right?” he asked as he started up the vehicle.

  “A little wet,” she said, and laughed at the understatement.

  “I don’t suppose you’re interested in a slightly wet towel, are you?” he asked, referring to the fact that he had dropped her tote bag in a puddle while crossing the parking lot.

  “Thanks. But I think I’ll pass.”

  “We’ve got an hour-and-a-half drive back to Chicago. Do you want me to stop by my place at the lake and see about getting you some dry clothes? My sisters are always leaving things at my place or the main cottage. I’m sure Tara or Alexandra wouldn’t mind if you borrowed something of theirs.”

  Kim was tempted. Not because she minded the wet clothes, but because she hated to see this day end. Still, even though earlier on the boat Justin had kissed her like a man possessed and had watched her hungrily throughout the rest of the day, he’d made no move to kiss her again. “That’s okay. I’m sure I’ll dry out in no time.”

  “All right,” he said, and Kim allowed her
self to believe that the disappointment she heard in his voice was because he didn’t want the day to end, either.

  Lost in thought, Kim didn’t realize that something was wrong for several minutes, until Justin pulled the car off the road. “I need to check the wipers,” he told her, and stepped out into the now driving rain.

  Kim watched him through the windshield as he lifted, fiddled with and reset the wiper blades. When he got back inside the car, his face was pulled into a frown, and rain streamed down his hair and neck. “What’s wrong?”

  “The windshield wipers are shot.” As if to show her, he flipped on the switch, and Kim noted the sluggish movement of the blade on the driver’s side of the car while the blade on the passenger’s side sat unmoving in the middle of the windshield. He looked at her then, his expression solemn. “I can’t drive in this downpour with the wipers like this. It wouldn’t be safe.”

  “No, it wouldn’t.” She bit her lower lip. “What are we going to do?”

  “We can sit out the storm here in the Jeep until the worst of it is over, then I can try to find a service station and see if they can fix it.”

  “Is that what you think we should do?” Kim asked, and then nearly jumped out of her skin as a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the interior of the car. Thunder crashed a second later, causing her to jump again.

  Justin said nothing for a moment, simply stared out into the night before shifting his gaze to her. His eyes met hers, held. “No. I think it would be dangerous to stay here.”

  “Then what do you recommend?”

  “That we go to my place on the lake and wait out the storm.”

  Kim’s heart raced as she looked into his eyes. The sexual tension that had been like a living thing between them all day seemed to snap and sizzle as he watched her and waited. “Then let’s go to your place.”

  Justin’s place was only a few minutes away. A small cottage, it was located on the large stretch of Connelly land that boasted a horse stable, several apartments and the family’s lake cottage, an architectural gem designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Kim had seen pictures of the Connellys’ lake cottage featured in several architectural journals. Even in the rain the cottage looked wonderful. So did Justin’s smaller version, she thought as he pulled up in front of the place and shut off the engine.

  They dashed from the Jeep to the front door of the cottage, which Justin unlocked before ushering her inside.

  “Damn,” he muttered as he flipped the light switches and the room remained in darkness. He went to the window and looked out across the neighboring grounds that showed no signs of life or light. “It looks like the storm took out a power line.” He came back to where she stood just inside the front door and looked down at her. “Will you be okay while I go see about lighting some candles?”

  “I’ll be fine,” she told him.

  “Good. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  She didn’t move. Instead she stood at the windows and took advantage of the floor-to-ceiling glass to watch the fireworks display being conducted by the lightning storm over the lake. Rain battered against the windowpanes, and Kim pressed her fingers against the glass. There was a savage beauty to the storm, she thought, transfixed by the power of the jagged bolts of light that sliced through the dark sky like a sword. There was something elemental and inevitable about the storm that struck some chord inside her.

  “You’re shivering,” Justin said from behind her.

  As she turned to face him, only then did Kim realize that she was indeed shivering. He draped a towel around her, pulled the ends together under her chin. “Better?” he asked.

  She looked up into his hazel eyes. “Yes,” she murmured. But her shaking off the chill had less to do with the dry towel and more to do with the way Justin was looking at her.

  “Kim, don’t look at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you want me.”

  “And if I told you that I do?” she asked, surprising herself as much as him by her boldness.

  This time it was Justin who shivered. He squeezed his eyes shut, and for a moment she feared he was going to reject her. But when he opened his eyes again, the desire she saw reflected in them stole her breath. Gripping the edges of the towel, he brought her closer until her mouth was only a breath from his own.

  Impatient, afraid he might change his mind yet again, Kim lifted up onto her toes and pressed her lips against his. The touch of her mouth seemed to unleash something inside him, because suddenly Justin was kissing her. Deeply. Passionately. Hungrily. When he tore his mouth free, his eyes were wild, almost savage. He didn’t speak. He simply picked her up and began to carry her deeper into the house.

  Thunder sounded outside, echoing the wild pounding of her heart as Justin brought her into the great room. She was vaguely aware of candles flickering about the room—on a table in front of a couch, atop the fireplace mantel, on a countertop. Flames glinted off glass vases and picture frames scattered about the room, reflected off the polished wooden floor. More flames licked from inside the fireplace where a row of candles in various shapes and sizes burned and gave the illusion of firelight.

  Justin lowered her to the rug in front of the fireplace, then he knelt beside her. He removed the towel from around her shoulders and smoothed her hair. “You have the most beautiful hair,” he told her as he combed his fingers into her damp tresses. “Ever since last night— No, ever since that night at the office when I saw you stretching, I’ve been dreaming of doing this.”

  “But that night at the office, and today on the boat after we’d kissed…I thought you were angry.”

  “I was angry,” he explained. “With myself.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I was angry because I wanted you, Kim. That night. Last night. Today. Now.”

  Pleasure shot through her at his admission. “And is wanting me so wrong?”

  “Maybe not wrong, but I didn’t think it was fair to you. We work together. I’m your boss. You’re my assistant.”

  “I’m also a woman,” she reminded him.

  He grinned at that. “I’m well aware of that fact. I have been for some time. The number of cold showers I’ve taken lately are certainly proof of that. Not that it seems to have done me much good,” he said as he sieved his fingers through her hair. “Because I still want you.”

  Emboldened by his confession, Kim asked, “Does that mean you’re going to take another cold shower?”

  “Hardly. I doubt it would do any good.”

  “I’m glad,” she whispered. She touched his jaw, aware of the coarse stubble against her palm. She met his eyes. “Because I want you to make love to me, Justin. I have for a long time.” Because I’ve loved you for a long time, she added in silence, as she slid her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  She kissed him as deeply as he had kissed her. This time she pierced the seam of his lips and mated her tongue with his, trying to tell him with her mouth of the love she’d held in her heart for him all these months. She pulled at his shirt, eager to feel his skin. Justin ripped the shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Then she was kissing his neck, his mouth, tracing his nipple with her tongue while her hands roamed his chest, his back, memorized the feel of him.

  “Kim,” he gasped as he caught her questing fingers.

  Still dazed and driven by this burning inside her for more of him, she needed a minute to focus. When she did, her courage faltered at his fierce expression. “Did I do something wrong?”

  Justin groaned, squeezed his eyes shut a moment and dragged in a breath. “Sweetheart, the only one who’s done anything wrong is me. I’m about to go up in flames and we’ve hardly started.”

  She eyed him warily, not sure how to respond.

  His expression softened. “We’re going to make love, Kim. Make no mistake about that. I’m just slowing things down a bit and giving you a chance to catch up with me.”

  And before she could tell him that
she didn’t need to catch up, that she already wanted him, he began to kiss her again. Slowly. Tenderly. Lovingly. He kissed her eyes, her mouth, her jaw. He kissed a spot just below her ear that made her shiver. Then, taking his time, he went on to her throat and planted kisses on the slope of her shoulder where her T-shirt started.

  The blood sluiced through her veins, heated with each kiss until she was churning inside again and feeling as restless as the storm outside. She sought his mouth, tried to convey to him with her kiss that she didn’t want to go slow. When he pulled his mouth free, Kim tried to take satisfaction in the fact that his breathing was far from steady.

  He reached for the hem of her T-shirt, removed it. Excited and anxious, she was suddenly grateful for the storm and the shadowed light. As though sensing her nervousness, Justin resumed the slow kisses, pressing his moist, hot mouth to her collarbone, to the swells of her breasts. He released the catch at the front of her bra, peeled away the silky fabric, exposing her. His eyes darkened, and Kim trembled beneath the heat of his gaze, felt it like a caress.

  “So beautiful. So perfect,” he whispered as he filled his palms with her breasts.

  Kim gasped as he stroked her nipples with his thumbs. Instinctively she arched her back. In answer, Justin lowered his head, laving first one nipple, then the next. When his teeth grazed the sensitive tip, Kim cried out, “Justin!”

  “It’s all right. Let me love you,” he soothed, and gentled her with another kiss as he eased her down to the pillows scattered on the rug.

  Kim was sure she was on fire when Justin resumed trailing kisses down her stomach, to the waistband of her shorts. With a familiarity that would have disturbed her had she not been so awash in sensations, he removed her shorts and stripped away her panties. Then his mouth was on her again, his tongue tracing her navel, his teeth nipping her hip, the inside of her thigh.