“I didn’t see any gators back there,” he said. “But I did go past a…, well it’s better to be safe then to stick around and find out there is a gator hanging about.”
His thumb gently stroked her back and she suppressed an urge to sink back into his shoulder. He was making her feel good. Too good. Plus he’s obviously seen something and decided not to embarrass her with it. If he told her that she had run away screaming from a chipmunk, she’d have hopped from his arms and gone full business-only on him. Either politeness came naturally to him, or he held back to flatter her and make a score. It bothered her that the latter was more likely and she didn’t care.
“I’m glad I moved quick enough to catch you. It’d been a nasty fall if I hadn’t,” he said, then he stepped back to kick some protruding tree branches in the ground.
She made a quick look down and winced. Tree branches stuck up from the ground at awkward angles. If she had hit one, it could have broken her back. At the very least, he saved her from some major bruising. She considered the difficulties in getting any type of ambulance to this location, and one hand around his neck started weaving her fingers into his hair. He tensed and relaxed, and then she realized what she was doing and pulled her hands away from his neck until they rested between her chest and his.
“Is your name Erica?” he asked.
She nodded her head and marveled how he made the simple act of asking her name sound sexy. The rise and fall of his chest moved against her breasts, hardening her nipples. Her breasts sensitivity increased with each exhale, and she knew that if she didn’t get away from him, she’d do something she’d regret in the morning. This man, whatever drug he was, tempted her like no other.
She pushed her hands against his chest in a signal to let her go. The beat of his heart felt good through his shirt and a tremble tore through her. “You should probably put me down. I must be heavy,” she said. She didn’t believe a word of it. Except for the moment when he caught her, he hadn’t so much as flinched under the task of holding her weight. Gary and any other man she had ever been with would have collapsed by now under the strain, but she could sense the strength in his arms.
He adjusted his hold on her slightly. His muscles tensed and flexed underneath her as he dipped her feet toward the ground and gently let her down. She leaned back into his grip as her feet found their footing. Her body craved every second of his touch. His hand slid from her leg to her back before he took it off her. However rough he seemed, she noted that he didn’t take the opportunity to get a quick squeeze of her ass when his hand passed over. Another man might have copped a feel, but he had treated her with respect, and it impressed her.
She needed to gain control of herself around him before she started asking him if he had a girlfriend or was married. Her time with him meant work. A job needed to be done and that didn’t include romance. Besides what would any man, with such intense sex appeal, want with a girl like her? Local women probably beat their way to his door for dates.
Why wouldn’t they? She knew from his ability to catch and hold her that he was built. But now that she could look at him face to face, she realized how much she underestimated him. His rugged face could go on any ad and have the women fawning. The muscles in his corded arms and legs matched any Olympian. Only the dirt on his shirt seemed out of place.
Then she looked down at herself. “My new clothes,” she gasped. Dirt, sap, and moss stained her outfit. She held up her hands and saw the same.
Her checks flushed. “I’m so sorry. This has never happened before. I got your clothes messy.” She tried to brush some of the dirt off his shirt and wondered if she intended to help him get cleaner or if she just wanted to touch him again.
He laughed deeper this time and the bass rumbled around in her chest. She heated up again when he took her hands in his. “It’s nothing to worry about. But your clothes are going to need more cleaning than mine are anyway.”
He let her hands go. “I’m not sure how we’re going to shoot any video until we get you something else to wear,” he said.
She looked over the mess she made of herself again. Wearing the drab clothes she brought with her was out of the question. She wanted to make a statement with her wardrobe in this report and had no intention of changing her mind about it.
“Do you have anything else to wear in your car?” he asked.
Going back to her hotel or a store would take time, but she didn’t see what alternative she had. “No,” she said and made her decision. “I’m sorry again, but I’m going to have to head back to the city to get something more to wear. Will we still have time to do this today or do we need to reschedule?” she asked. Plus, the faster she got away from him, the less likely she would act on the naughty images racing through her head.
Chapter 4
She excited him even more, face to face, than when he saw her running. The bayou had put her in a new environment, and momentarily frightened her, but an unmistakable core of strength had shown clearly through her eyes. She took his breath away, and all the talk of needing to change tested his will. He wanted to be the one to help her out of her dirty clothes and into… nothing. Every impulse in his body screamed for him to simply throw her down on the path and take her there.
He resisted. Something about Erica told him that she wasn’t like the typical big-city girls he’d met in the past. Usually he bumped into them when they came down for Mardi Gras, and invariably, they were three drinks past being ready for any man to take them where they stood. He avoided every woman like that. If a woman was willing to have any man, then he had no interest in them.
Erica wouldn’t be like that— A woman who would sleep with just anyone. He needed to move with more finesse and real tenderness with her. Erica came across as a woman who needed far more than a superficial physical connection. It surprised him that his revelation about her character made him want her even more. He couldn’t let her get out of his sight. “You might not have to go back to the city,” he said.
Erica cocked her eyebrow and gestured to herself. “Well I can’t really go on camera looking like this,” she said.
“No, and I wouldn’t let you. A few months ago I had some other reporters come down for a story. One of them left a bag. Her clothes should fit you, and it’s closer than a round trip back to New Orleans.”
He watched her think through her options. “I’m not sure,” she said. “They probably won’t be my style…”
He smiled. “They are very fashionable. The only reason I still have them is because she never sent me an address to ship them back.” He paused a moment and went for the finisher. “Come on, we can be there in only twenty minutes.” Then he gestured down the path.
“All right,” she said, and started walking back to the lot with him. “And where exactly in the middle of the bayou do you store fashionable women’s clothing?” she asked, picking up her phone from the ground when they passed it.
The path wasn’t wide enough to walk side by side, so he followed two steps behind her. “I’m in the bayou so frequently that I have a small cottage that I can stay at or bring media to rest and wash up.”
Erica looked back at him incredulously. “I can’t believe the government would let you build a cottage or any structure. Most of the area is protected, isn’t it?”
She impressed him. Most people never bothered challenging him on his little getaway. They just assumed all southerners were hicks who did whatever they wanted or that this was how he really lived day to day. “It’s more like an RV on water. Not permanent.”
They cleared the path into the lot and he moved next to her, his arm brushing against hers. Electricity passed between them when they touched, and he heard her inhale sharply. He turned to face her. “Do you need anything from your car? We won’t be back for a while.”
She looked around, her eyes avoiding contact with his, before finally walking to the car. “Just my laptop and purse,” she said.
He waited while she collected her things
and then placed his hand on her back to guide her to the dock. She stiffened for an instant, and then relaxed into his touch. He walked her over to the boat and hopped in. With one hand he held onto the post he tied the boat to, and with the other, he took her hand. With a firm grip, she stepped into the boat.
His boat wasn’t luxurious, but it traversed the waterways of the bayou perfectly. Plus, since he frequently had to chaperone paying clients around, he had outfitted it with comfortable seats and he always kept a cooler stocked with water. Better boats existed, but they weren’t his and that’s all that mattered. Mist had settled on most of the seats, so he took a towel and dried off a place for Erica to sit close to him.
He untied the boat, pushed off, and started the engine. As Erica settled down into her seat and he guided the boat away from the dock, he looked down at her gazing at the bayou and realized that today was the best day he’d had in a long time.
It might be movable like an RV, but his place really was a cottage on water. She didn’t notice it until he started slowing the motor and they were practically on top of it. The entire structure and supporting pontoons had been painted in natural colors so from a distance it blended into the surrounds. A small ladder extended from the base down where he tied the boat. She walked around the exterior. From the outside she imagined that it enclosed a similar space to a small studio apartment except in a more rectangular shape.
“What’s it made of?” she asked, her fingers running along the exterior wall.
“It’s a lightweight biodegradable plastic. The walls are strong enough to keep the elements away, but completely useless in a big storm. I have to store it when the weather gets too rough, but I can pull it well enough with my boat.”
She nodded and looked around some more. “You could hide out here and never be found. How do you get power?”
He opened the door for her. “It is private. But I minimize the impact on the local wildlife by keeping it blended in the way I do. As for electricity, there is a small generator for emergencies, but the real power comes from the solar panels and battery system on the roof,” he said. “There’s even hot water.”
The cottage had a very sparse amount of furniture, just enough to be functional and little else. A futon sofa against one wall, a single chair and desk, a small kitchen area, and then a bathroom with a shower. Family pictures hung on the wall and none of them showed anyone that might be a girlfriend or wife. That the few furnishing and decor matched signaled that he’d put some effort into selecting what he did have and it wasn’t thrown together as an afterthought. The attention to detail was obvious and she wondered what other surprises this man had inside him. It really was a little hideaway in the bayou. He could move it anywhere he wanted and never be found. The intimate potential of this very private location dawned on her and she involuntarily heated up. Maybe she shouldn’t have come here with him. He could do anything he wanted to her and no one would hear or come to help. As quickly as she thought of all the things that could go wrong, another part of her hoped he would reach out and take her.
She’d always been the good girl. Even when she started sleeping with Gary, it was out of a sense of real affection that she had for him, and that she assumed, he had for her. It never occurred to her that the other women at her station had reached their positions because of their willingness to engage in Gary’s kink. Now she wondered what it would be like to just cut loose and let herself fall into a day and night of uncommitted sex. That’s what it would be too. Justin would never be interested in anything more, so she shouldn’t delude herself into thinking about it. However she’d grown up, she was a city girl now. Justin lived in the south, far away from the big media markets that had the jobs she wanted to pursue.
She knew what she wanted and turned to face him. Her body felt alive when he touched her. More than any man before. He must have felt it too, because he stood less than a foot in front of her. Watching her.
Her resolve to make a move on him started to crumble. What if he didn’t feel the same? If she tried to kiss him and he didn’t kiss her back then she’d be humiliated further. This entire idea of unleashing her wild side smacked of desperation. She didn’t want to give in to Gary, didn’t want to ever see him again preferably, but she felt trapped in a corner at work. Was her crazy idea for a bout of wild sex with Justin only a form of anesthesia, to numb herself so much that she’d sell out her integrity, and submit to Gary’s sex games?
Her body shook and a flicker of recognition shot though Justin’s eyes.
“Are you looking for this,” he said, and then his mouth was on hers. The heat from his mouth seared her and she raised her arms up to his shoulders to push him away, but instead pulled him in closer. His mouth left her mouth to kiss down her cheek to her neck. A groan left her. “Yes,” she said, scarcely recognizing the sound of her own voice and the intense need it dripped with.
Her arms stroked his back as his mouth continued its slow caress of her skin. The sensations surged through her and she needed to taste more of him than the brief kiss he had given. Her hands went to his head and gently turned his face back to hers. He knew what she wanted and his lips were back together with hers in an instant. His tongue parted her lips and she matched every move as their tongues intertwined and danced around each other.
She felt his hands move from her back to her stomach and a tug of fabric as he pulled her shirt out from inside her skirt. He pulled up higher, and her hands rose over her head as he pulled her shirt off. Then he undid her bra, dropping it to the floor.
The rush of cool air washed over her nipples, tightening them. She stood facing Justin. The hunger in his eyes sent sparks down through her stomach into the vee between her legs. The growing moisture seeped through her panties onto her leg.
Justin reached a hand out and cupped a breast. His thumb and forefinger rolled the nipple around until he tipped his head down to take it fully into his mouth. She gasped and arched her back, bringing her breast into his mouth. His hands moved down her hips to the edges of her skirt. Shame welled up in her as she realized that she didn’t want his gentle touches or warm lovemaking. She wanted him and every inch of his manhood to take her without regard to anything except his own need. If this encounter was to be her last with him, she wanted every ounce of his raw masculinity.
Her hand moved down to rest on the growing bulge under his pants, and she pulled at his zipper until she could slip her hand inside. He brushed her hand away and picked her up. Her legs wrapped around him as he carried her over to the table.
Her voice became raspy and deep. “Justin, please…”
She watched him unbutton his jeans and push them to the floor. He quickly unwrapped a condom in his hand and rolled it on before stepping up to her again. She raised her legs into the air. Her panties were halfway off when he helped ease them past her legs and onto the floor.
She pulled him in for another kiss and felt his weight shifting onto her. Heavy and firm, his body felt good, and her hand traced the muscles in his back until he repositioned his hips. He took a nipple into his mouth for another kiss. She moaned softly and braced herself for what she knew was coming. What she needed more than anything right now.
She scarcely recognized herself as a person. Instead she’d become some being that existed to the extent that she needed sex. Justin pushed up on his arms until he hovered a few inches above her. The compassionate and concerned face that he had when he first caught her in the bayou was gone. In its place she saw unbridled desire. He wanted her just as desperately as she needed him. She raised her legs on either side of him and spread wider.
A silent understanding passed between them. His first thrust left her breathless. He moved in and out of her like a thirsty man who’d been denied water for too long. She cried out as each thrust drove deeper into her. No inhibition. No attempts to muffle her sound. Just the pure amazing pleasure he was giving her. A low, deep growl sounded in his throat and started holding his thrusts in her longer before pul
ling out to dive into her again.
His hands held her hips in place and she bucked into him with each thrust. A growing tremor built low in her belly. Then she felt the rapid pulsing of his cock inside her and she broke under him. A primal scream roared in the room from both of them, and she knew they each desperately needed what had just happened.
He slumped onto the table next to her. His strong arms pulled her closer and wrapped her in a blanket of warmth where she felt completely safe. In her entire life she’d never come so powerfully. She also never slept with a man less than an hour after meeting him. The twin revelations, of her newfound wild side, and her orgasmic potential, shook her to her core. Justin was more than anything she could have ever expected. Sweat trickled down her forehead onto her cheek and she concentrated on steadying her breathing.
All her life she’d found herself settling and limiting her potential. Her past lovers, for the most part, cared about her, but they didn’t truly love her. None of them came close to pleasuring her like Justin had showed her was possible. Even with her career, she strived for achievement, but ended up settling for what came her way. Just like she had settled for Gary and the fake promotions.
She needed to aim higher, but first she had to figure out what to shoot for. Certainly she could never go back to mediocre lovers. Justin held her like he could never let her go, which she knew he would at the end of their business today. Whatever feelings he had for her would disappear once the rush of his orgasm induced high faded. One day, some lucky woman would land him for life, but it wouldn’t be her. He’d never make the changes to his life that her life would demand.
Cajun Vacation Page 3
