Riding the Storm

by Joanne Rock

  “Remember how committed I was to decorating a boat? I risked travel sickness and stumbled through a strange marina at midnight to land that job.” Carefully, she stepped backward to descend the stairs. “You can’t imagine how much perseverance I have to offer this new program of enforced leisure.”

  His body promptly forgot he was working on just a few hours of sleep. His skin buzzed with a vibration so strong it was as if someone plugged a tuning fork directly into his nervous system.

  Following her down the stairs into the main salon, he moved with her as they slowly made their way to the bow of the boat.

  “I’m very good at alleviating stress.” He watched as she stepped into the queen berth.

  He’d replaced the trundle-bed mattress earlier, while he’d been cooking their late-night dinner. All the candles had been extinguished, so the space was dark except for a small hurricane lamp he’d left burning on the nightstand.

  “What can you do for tension?” She batted her eyelashes and feigned innocence. “I’ve had this knot of coiled tension deep inside.”

  Stopping at the bed, she threw off the blanket she’d been using on deck. Now she wore a filmy purple top she’d bought at the boutique back on Nantucket.

  “That sounds serious.” Backing her up against the bed, he stepped between her legs, nudging apart her feet, which were clad in the leather moccasins he’d purchased for her. “I’m going to need you to be very specific about the location of this tension so we can address it.”

  She bit her lip. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  Fire licked up his spine. “Try me.”

  “It’s a female problem.” She arched that eyebrow meaningfully. “It’s a bit awkward to explain, really.”

  “Hmm.” His gaze roamed slowly over her as he savored the moment. Savored the sight of her with the golden lamplight flickering on her skin. “I’d better take a look.”

  He’d never been one for role-playing games, but then, he’d never met a woman who could fall into a character so easily and have so much fun with it.

  “May I?” His hands went to the buttons on her blouse, ready to slide the first fastening open. He couldn’t wait to see more.

  “Of course.” She lifted her chin. “I’m willing to sacrifice modesty if you can cure me.”

  She helped him pull off the blouse while it was still half-buttoned, her impatience clear despite her turn as an ailing Victorian maiden. He felt more than a little impatient himself, his mouth watering for a taste of her.

  “I see the first problem.” Eyeing the soft swell of her breasts above the edge of a black lace bra, he skimmed a fingertip across one creamy mound.

  She arched toward his touch. “I hope you won’t keep me in suspense,” she urged, her hips brushing his in a twisting move to get closer.

  He hooked a finger in the underwire of the bra, his knuckle pressing into her flesh. “I’d recommend you free these.” Jiggling the lace gently, he enjoyed the show. “Lie back and I’ll show you.”

  Breathing fast, she eased down onto the bed, her skin a pale contrast to the dark blue quilted spread. She looked so good, so ready for more, that he was tempted to simply pull off the rest of their clothes and sink deep inside her. But her game had gotten them ramped up in a hurry, and it didn’t seem fair to stop just yet. Who knew how much hotter it might get before all was said and done?

  Besides, if he could have a starring role in her future fantasies…he’d like that a whole lot.

  Stretching out next to her, he freed the front clasp and pushed the lace cups aside. The tight rosebud nipples strained toward him and he captured one with his lips to draw on the tip. She sucked in a gasp and moved restlessly working her hips as if against an unseen lover.

  “See? Doesn’t that feel better already?” Keith asked, licking a path from one breast to the other.

  “Yes and no,” she whispered urgently, spearing her fingers through his hair to guide him to the other taut peak. “It feels good here, but it makes the other tension worse.”

  The tea rose scent of her skin and the way she moved worked on him like aphrodisiacs. The need to touch her was killing him, even though he’d had her twice in the last four hours.

  “Show me,” he said, placing his hand on her bare stomach right above the waistband of the jeans she’d tugged on before dinner. “Show me where and I’ll take such good care of you.”

  Covering his hand with hers, she steered him lower. Then stopped.

  “Will you help me with this?” She guided his palm to the zipper. “The place I’m taking you is well hidden.”

  The zipper pretty much went up in flames at his touch, the jeans vanishing in his haste. He left in place the black lace panties with a red satin heart, an act of restraint that damn near killed him.

  “It’s here.” She guided his fingers lower, right over the red satin appliqué. Carefully separating his fingers, she directed two digits to the warmth between her thighs. “Right here.”

  Her voice broke on a ragged breath as he stroked her. She was so hot. So very responsive.

  Slowly dragging his fingers up the lace-covered cleft, Keith could see her body flush with heat, her cheeks and breasts warm with color. Eyelashes fluttering, she turned her head this way and that, warring with the need that must have bitten her hard.

  He could take this higher. Hotter. He knew that now, as her release hovered so close. But she’d been the one to make up this game, and she’d edged him to the brink.

  Now it was her turn to benefit from a little sensual playtime.

  “KEITH?”

  Josie’s eyes opened the moment his touch disappeared. Her heart was beating frantically, her breath a scarce commodity after being held for long stretches. How could a man make her forget to breathe?

  “Right here,” he assured her, shifting lower on the bed.

  Lower still.

  She blinked, a little confused, but not entirely surprised when his elbow wound up beside her knee. Heat flared inside her from some deep, sweet source. That position on the mattress could only mean…

  “I’m already so close,” she protested, not sure why he’d give her that kind of gift—was there any other term for oral sex?—when he already had her teetering on the brink.

  “I know.” He smoothed his palm over one hip, fingers dipping beneath the lace of her panties. “That’s why I thought I’d better slow things down, to make sure you got every moment of pleasure you deserved.”

  The lace edged down her thigh, tickled her knees and then was gone. Utterly naked, she felt all the more bare because of her affinity with clothes. Fashion imparted a certain power. Identity. Even if nothing more than a snazzy pair of undies, clothes made a statement. Without hers, she couldn’t work up the nerve to play a role or adopt a fun accent.

  At her most vulnerable moment, Keith Murphy had the grace to stare at her body as if that alone had rendered him speechless. Touched, she gave herself over to the man and the moment, reclining on the mound of pillows piled at one end of the bed. Her eyelids drifted closed, the whirlwind of sensations spinning through her so fast she couldn’t begin to comprehend them all.

  His lips on her thigh startled her, the warm kiss a thrill that sent shivers up her spine. She peeked at him again, just for a moment, and melted to see the gentle reverence he used as he lavished attention on her there. His dark lashes fanned out above high cheekbones, his focus solely on her. Broad hands spanned her legs just above the knee, ready to shift or hold them as needed. Yet for now, he simply kissed her.

  With that image emblazoned in her mind, she shut her eyes once more, to savor it. Josie dug her fingers into the bedcovers, wanting to have a hold on something as his mouth traveled upward in a serpentine path that veered inside her thigh and then back to the top of leg, landing on her bikini line.

  Breathe, she reminded herself, stunned by the pleasure that shimmered beneath the surface of her skin. It held her enthralled, a magical spell making her body captive
to Keith’s touch.

  His hands came alive then, shifting over her with restless caresses. They stirred the need in her, driving the sensations from pleasure to hunger as his fingers skimmed up the backs of her thighs to cup her bottom, urging her closer to his kiss.

  A feline purr rumbled in her throat and she couldn’t help the roll of her hips toward him, giving him access to what they both wanted. He answered with a tongue stroke up the center of her, a lightning strike to her very core. Whatever magic he was casting, they were bound by it now.

  Melting against him, she swallowed another needy moan while the heat of his kiss seared her. The raw scrape of his evening stubble against her delicate thigh was a welcome contrast to the sweet slide of carnal kisses. Fingers twisting in the sheets, she knotted the bed linens, holding on for dear life while tension coiled inside her.

  She wanted to tell him to bury himself deep within her before she lost all control. But she must have waited too long, because she couldn’t catch her breath or pull back from the heady sensations.

  When the tension finally released, she unwound like a spring into lush spasms. Sensual tremors undulated through her like waves, until the only thing keeping her together was Keith. He steadied her hips with his hands, pinned her legs with his body. His kiss urged her to that last high, wringing every last sweet contraction from her.

  At last she stilled, spent beneath him. Only then did he break contact and slide away from her. She tugged her eyes open to see him shed the last of his clothes. He found a condom near the bed and rolled it on before returning to her side. She didn’t want to protest, and yet she didn’t know how much she could contribute to sex with her limbs so limp and heavy.

  But then he covered her, his powerful shoulders bunching and flexing as he moved up the bed, all male strength and virility.

  Something stirred within her again, a warm and receptive feminine need. She wrapped her arms around his neck, arched closer. Her breasts met the hard wall of his chest, molding to him. He tilted her hips, making room for himself between her thighs. When he sank deep inside, she felt a sense of completeness that went beyond the physical connection. The rightness of the moment wrapped around her as surely as his muscular body.

  Her gaze met his. Locked. Called by the need to mate with him on every level, she cradled his face in her hands and kissed him, tasted her passion on his lips.

  The room around them disappeared, her focus narrowed to just this man. The sweet tension began inside her all over again, the same one that he had just released so expertly. Now, the pleasure built once more, surprising her with how swiftly it took her higher, and higher still.

  She was falling deep into his green eyes and into the sensations he sparked throughout her long-dormant body. Gripping his shoulders, she clung to him, matching each thrust of his hips with an answering lift of her own. Too soon, the rhythm of that erotic dance took over. It didn’t matter that she’d had an orgasm ten minutes ago. Another one built, demanded an outlet. Powerless to deny the passion, she worked her hips shamelessly against his, finding the right cadence to please them both until fulfillment rocketed through her.

  Her release was so strong it made her dizzy. Hands splayed on Keith’s back, she swayed with the force of those hungry feminine muscles as they throbbed all along his staff.

  She knew when those contractions got to him. She could feel him stiffen even more, his shoulders going as rigid as the hard length inside her. Wrapping her legs around him, she drew him deeper for the ride, savoring the response he’d held off for her sake.

  Pleasure seemed to carry them far away for long, timeless moments. It took half of forever to float back to consciousness. To take stock of the bed linens tangled around her limbs. At last her heartbeat slowed to a more reasonable rhythm and she realized she still clutched Keith’s shoulders like a woman who never wanted to let go.

  Carefully, she relaxed her hands, discomfited to discover how completely she’d let the moment take over. Her cheeks heated, a ridiculous reaction in light of all they’d just shared. Still, she hid her face against his chest and breathed in the warm, male scent of him.

  If that was her unconscious reaction to sex with Keith, what might her conscious mind do two days from now, when she needed to go back to her real life?

  Flexing her fingers to ease the gentle ache from holding him so tight, Josie decided that if they could spend all their time together in a horizontal position, maybe she’d stand a fighting chance of excising this insane hunger for him by then.

  If not?

  She’d have an incredibly fun time trying.

  7

  GETTING THE SHEETS just right on the sailboat was like putting the pedal to the metal on a sports car.

  Keith howled with exhilaration as he felt the hull practically lift up out of the water to cut cleanly through the sea the next day. He had the vessel running hard and fast now, cruising just ahead of the oncoming storm front on the gusts of warm air.

  And didn’t that feel like an apt metaphor for his relationship with Josie? They were living for the moment, squeezing every bit of momentum out of this window of time before the waters got rough.

  Call him a cynic, but the seas had a way of turning on you when you weren’t expecting it. He just hadn’t realized how much he’d missed walking that kind of tightrope until now. He’d put a lid on that need for adventure when he went to college, determined to prove himself in a way that set him apart from his highly competitive family. No more boat races and no more feats of strength; just focus on his studies and building his business. His relationship with Brooke had probably been a sign that his adventure seeking wasn’t done, that he needed something else to fulfill that side of him, since the business world wasn’t the place for anything but the most carefully calculated risks. But Brooke’s social exploits had only been a diversion for the deeper need.

  Sailing a reach was more his speed.

  Securing the line on the jib before he took a seat, Keith lifted his face into the wind, his clothes plastered to his skin from the force of it. He’d come topside shortly after sunrise, needing the space to sort out his head after the night before. He hadn’t spent so much one-on-one time with a woman in a long while and it messed with his mind to think how much he’d enjoyed the hours with Josie. Not just the sex, either. Although that had been in a class by itself in his experiences with women.

  No, he’d had a great time shopping with her. His brothers would never let him live it down if he admitted something like that. Hell, he’d probably have to forsake the Murphy name. Of course, the dressing-room antics had elevated the outing from an average trip to the stores. But even when they’d just been strolling around Nantucket or sharing polenta at midnight, he’d had a rocking good time with Josie. Her ambitious nature and dedication to her work impressed him, but a fun-loving streak lurked just beneath the surface.

  He could fall for a woman like that.

  That’s the part that had chased around his brain this morning when he’d been watching her sleep. He’d put the whole dating scene behind him after Brooke had taken him for a ride. Keith had no desire to get caught up in a relationship with anyone who was interested only in his name and family connections. Brooke’s party-girl lifestyle had been carefully crafted to ensure she knew all the right people and got invited to all the right events. His family’s wealth and global ties had been far more attractive to her than he ever had.

  It was enough to sour a guy. But Josie had nothing in common with someone like her. Maybe the time had come to take a risk….

  “Morning!” Josie surprised him as she shouted over the wind.

  He looked up from his reverie and wondered how long he’d been staring vacantly at the horizon, thinking about her. She stood in the shelter of the companionway, holding her hair in one hand. Even though she’d fastened the dark locks back with a scarf, some strands whipped against her face from the speed of the watercraft.

  “Morning?” he called back, his voice carryin
g more easily over the slap of water against the hull and the wind in the sails. He tapped the timepiece on his wrist. “Better check your clock.”

  “Hardly my fault I needed extra sleep after last night.” Climbing up onto the main deck to sit beside him at the helm, she lifted her face to the sunlight. “Although I have to admit that sleeping until noon is my idea of vacation. Thank you for this.”

  She gestured to the water and sky that surrounded them, while he steered to the port side to take best advantage of the shifting wind.

  “It feels great to be out here, doesn’t it?” His gaze moved from the horizon back to her. She wore an aquamarine blouse with jeans, along with the bright scarf tied gypsy-style around her hair.

  “We’re moving so fast today.” She squinted at the dials on the helm. “It feels like flying.”

  “That’s the warm front mixing with a cold front coming from the other direction. We’ve got a few hours before the storm hits. Until then, we’ll be experiencing ideal conditions.”

  “Until then.” She raised an eyebrow. “And how much advance warning will we have before ‘then’ arrives?”

  “Just keep an eye out for clouds.” He pointed overhead to blue sky stretching in every direction. “We’ll see them off the stern before we feel a change in the weather.”

  “Will we have time to head inland?”

  “Probably not. But I’d hate to sail too close to shore, since we’d lose the chance to really experience the thrill of the ride.” It had been too long since he’d hit the open water like this. No way would he hug the shore just because of a few clouds in the distance. “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you.”

  “You’re not one for playing it safe, are you?” She gave a wary glance behind them.

  “No guts, no glory. There was talk of putting it on the Murphy family crest, actually.” In fact, maybe that was his answer for these feelings for Josie. Maybe he needed to take a risk with her.

  It jazzed him no end to think he was starting to know her so well in such a short time. Already he knew how and where she liked to be touched. He wondered how long it would take him to rev her up now, while she sat beside him, unaware of his sensual machinations….