by Tina Folsom
“We expect you to get onto the next Jitney and come home instantly.” The fourth message was from this morning, and it was again her father, who’d left it. But before he’d disconnected the call, words spoken by her mother could be heard clearly on the recording. “How can she do this to me? And to get mixed up in the Gilberts’ scandal by pulling that drunkard out of the pool. How could she!”
Other parents would have been proud of her heroic act, but no, her parents saw it as an affront. As if she’d saved the guy simply to annoy them.
Tara ground her teeth and listened to the last message. Surely another idle threat made by her parents.
“Hey Tara,” her sister’s voice chimed through the phone. “If you’re still in the Hamptons, let me know. Adam and I are staying in Southampton for a few days to hang out with some of his friends, so I thought you and I could go shopping together. Call me.”
The message sounded casual and light. Had Veronica not heard from their parents yet, or had she been asked to set a trap? Truth be told, Tara wouldn’t put it past her mother to use Veronica to lure her home. And her older sister was just the kind of dutiful daughter who would do anything her mother asked her to.
Giving her sister the benefit of the doubt, she decided to reply to her. But she would be careful. A text message would suffice to test the waters.
When were you thinking of going shopping? Tara pressed send.
She had to wait almost five minutes before she got a reply.
Monday we’re golfing all day, then big dinner at the Ryans. Tuesday okay for you?
Relieved that her sister wasn’t pushing to meet her immediately, Tara let out a breath. If her mother had put her up to this, Veronica would have insisted on going shopping on Monday morning. So it appeared that her sister didn’t know yet that her parents were looking for Tara.
Cool. See you Tuesday. I’ll let you know where and when to meet.
See you then, came Veronica’s reply a moment later.
A sound from above alerted her that she wasn’t alone anymore. Tara turned off her cell phone and put it back into her bag, then walked to the steps that led up to the main cabin. The smell of fresh pizza wafted to her, and she suddenly felt hungry.
She ran upstairs, happy that Jay was back. Despite the fact that they’d spent practically the entire night and day in each other’s company, she wasn’t bored. Spending time with Jay was as much fun as it was relaxing. She loved that she could be herself with him.
“Jay, mmm, that smells good,” she said as she entered the galley. He’d placed the pizza on the large island and was opening a hanging cabinet to pull two plates from it.
“Hope you’re hungry, I got an extra large.” Jay turned halfway and placed the plates next to the pizza box, then turned back again to retrieve cutlery.
“I don’t need a fork. I’ll eat with my fingers.”
She felt him hesitate, before he turned fully to her, his head tilted down. But there was no disguising the discoloring on his face.
“Oh my God! What happened to you?” Tara rushed around the island and reached out to him, but he shrank back.
“It’s nothing.” He avoided her eyes. “Let’s eat.”
Before he could open the lid of the pizza box, she clamped her hand over his wrist. “Did you get beaten up?”
He turned his face, clearly not wanting her to examine him too closely. “Don’t worry, the other guy looks worse.”
She let go of his hand and instead captured his chin between thumb and forefinger, forcing him to turn his face to her.
He winced. “It’s nothing.”
Tara shook her head. “How can you say it’s nothing? Who did this to you? Did somebody try to rob you?”
Jay shook his head, freeing himself of her grip. “Don’t make such a big deal out of it. I’m fine.”
“You have to go to the police! You can’t just let some guy get away with attacking you on your way to get takeout.”
“I wasn’t attacked.”
“What? But you…” She stopped herself, trying to digest his words. “But if you…” She looked at his knuckles, which appeared red, several abrasions marring his strong hands. “What did you do?”
“He deserved it,” Jay bit out. “He’s a married man, for chrissake! He has no right…” He stopped as if he’d said too much already.
“Whom did you beat up?”
Defiance shone from Jay’s eyes. “He made a pass at you.”
Tara sucked in an audible breath of air and slammed her hand over her mouth in disbelief. “Oh my God! You beat up Quentin?”
“And I don’t regret it one bit. No man has the right to touch a woman when she’s saying no.”
Her heart stopped. She had trouble taking another breath. Jay had defended her honor. Nobody had ever done anything even remotely as sweet.
“You beat him up. For me?”
Jay clenched his jaw. “Are you trying to tell me I was wrong? Did I just beat up an innocent man?”
Tara shook her head slowly. “No. You didn’t. Quentin did make a pass at me. And his attention wasn’t welcome. I told him so, but he didn’t want to listen.”
She stepped closer and brought her hand toward his face. He eased back, but she placed her hand on his cheek nevertheless.
“Nobody’s ever done anything like that for me.” She lifted herself on her tiptoes and brought her lips close to his. “Do you think it’s crazy that I suddenly feel utterly turned on?”
“Do you think it’s crazy that I’d like to bend you over the kitchen island right now and fuck you senseless?” Jay asked in response.
She felt her lips curve into a smile. “I’d be offended if you didn’t.”
13
Jay had never had sex with anybody in the galley of his boat. And not only because the boat was new. He’d never had sex in the galley of any of his boats before, now that he thought of it. But apparently there was a first time for everything.
Tara still wore the sarong she’d wrapped around her bikini, and Jay was glad for it now, because it meant he didn’t have to waste time undressing her. While he captured her lips and kissed her, ignoring his throbbing chin, his hands were already busy untying her bikini top. It fell to the floor, exposing her beautiful breasts.
He was hungry for her now. Having to watch Zach shamelessly flirt with her all day had caused his need for her to grow. And making it clear to Quentin that the bastard couldn’t touch her had fueled his desire even more.
Tara’s hands were already sliding under his shirt, roaming over his chest, while her hips ground against him. She moaned into his mouth, her tongue dancing with his, her lips demanding his full attention. When she tugged on his T-shirt, sliding it higher, he released her lips and let her pull it over his head.
She looked at him with open desire, and that look made him groan. Groan, because she looked at him like she wanted to eat him alive. Him, the man she thought to be some poor waiter. She saw only him, not his money or status.
Impatiently, he slipped his hand underneath her sarong and captured the strings that held her bikini bottom up. He pulled, releasing the bow. A moment later, the tiny panties fell to the floor.
Tara hooked her thumbs underneath the waistband of his shorts and pushed them down. He helped her and stepped out of them quickly. Like he often did, he didn’t wear anything underneath.
His cock was already hard and hung heavy between his legs. When he saw her look at it and pull her lower lip between her teeth, he stifled a moan.
“Fuck, Tara, you’re gonna make me spill if you do that.”
Innocently, she met his eyes. “Do what?”
“Look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“As if you didn’t know,” he growled and spun her around, bending her over the kitchen island. Luckily there was enough space that he didn’t have to toss the pizza to the floor.
“Now be a good girl and let me fuck you,” he demanded, and pulled the sarong up to he
r waist, exposing her creamy bottom.
“You mean be a bad girl and let you fuck me,” Tara corrected him.
Jay chuckled. “Yes, be as bad as you want to.”
He noticed that her ass cheeks were almost the same tan color as the rest of her body, and although he’d seen her naked the night before, his brain only now registered what this meant.
He bent over her, suggestively caressing her soft flesh. “You like to sunbathe naked, don’t you?”
“Occasionally.”
“That doesn’t look like an occasional suntan, darlin’. It’s a shame we had a guest on the boat today, otherwise I might have had the pleasure of rubbing suntan lotion over your pretty ass and your gorgeous breasts.”
He palmed her ass and slid his hand to the juncture of her thighs, bathing his fingers in her dew.
Her breath hitched. “Maybe next time.”
“Yeah, next time.” He slipped a finger into her channel and felt her muscles contract around him. “And then maybe next time I’ll fuck you out there on the deck. Would you like that?”
Fuck, she was getting him so hot. He’d never been much into dirty talk, but when he was with Tara, he couldn’t stop himself. He wanted to draw her out of her shell and get her to the point where she was begging him to take her.
“What if somebody sees us?” she murmured.
Jay pressed a kiss to her neck and pumped his finger in and out of her. “That’s the risk you take when you’re a bad girl.”
Tara moaned. “Don’t play with me, Jay! Are you gonna fuck me or not?”
“All in good time,” he stalled, looking around, trying to remember whether he’d stashed condoms anywhere in the galley, but drew a blank. The closest he had any condoms was in a drawer in the main cabin.
Reluctantly he pulled his finger from her. “Stay here. Don’t move.”
She turned her head and gave him an inquisitive look. “Where are you going?”
He had to grin at her disappointed expression. “Getting a condom.”
It took him all of fifteen seconds to find a condom and slip it on. When he returned to the galley, Tara was still bending over the kitchen island, her left cheek resting on the smooth surface, her ass pointing at him like an offering.
His cock twitched at the sight. He’d never been so eager, so impatient. When he reached her, he captured her hips with his hands and held her immobile. Then, without preamble, he drove his cock into her warm and wet cave, submerging himself in one continuous thrust.
Tara let out a choked moan. “Oh God!”
“Too hard?” he asked, stopping for a moment.
She shook her head and pushed her ass back at him, taking him deeper. Now it was his time to moan.
“Damn it, you feel good,” he ground out, clenching his teeth in an effort to fight back the urge to come.
How could this woman have such a devastating effect on his control? He’d always been in control of himself, had always known his limits. But Tara constantly took him by surprise. Was it because she looked so innocent, or because she was so direct? Was her lack of pretense getting under his skin and chipping away at the wall he’d built to protect himself from calculating women?
Jay fell into an easy rhythm, careful not to thrust too hard or too fast, even though he knew they both wanted it. But if he gave into his desires too quickly, this pleasurable encounter would be over too fast. Tara bent over the island, her naked torso pressed against the smooth surface, while his cock slid in and out of her, was something he couldn’t take his eyes off.
“I’ve never seen anything sexier than you spread out like this before me,” he murmured.
She turned her face, looking back at him. Her lips were parted, her pupils dilated. With one hand he reached for her face, traced her lips with his finger. She sucked it into her mouth as if she wanted to suck his cock instead.
“Darlin’, you’re killing me.” He wrenched his finger from her mouth.
“Fuck me harder, Jay. You know you want to.”
“And you? Do you want it, too?” Jay coaxed, though he knew the answer. It was written all over her face and amplified in the way she rocked her hips back to urge him to go deeper.
“Please!”
“I love it when you beg for it.” It made him even hotter. With both hands on her hips again, he pulled her toward him, at the same time slamming his cock forward.
All air seemed to rush out of her lungs, and a groan ripped from her throat. Music to his ears. His balls were burning now, eager to release the seed inside them. If he weren’t wearing a condom, he would have spilled minutes ago. But the latex provided a strong enough barrier to add a few precious minutes to his quickly fading stamina. Whereas he’d always been someone who could last a long time in bed, with Tara he could barely last a few minutes.
Feeling her sweet pussy wrapped around his cock, her muscles squeezing him, was better than anything else he’d ever felt. How any man could have ever thought that sex with Tara was boring, he couldn’t fathom. But right now he was glad for it. Because it meant that Tara had no other man in her life. She was free to be with him.
Knowing he wouldn’t last much longer, Jay let go of one hip and slid his hand around to her front.
“I need you to come with me, darlin’.”
“So close.”
He rubbed his finger over her clit, keeping his touch light but steady, while he continued to thrust into her from behind. “You’re so amazing,” he let her know. “So goddamn perfect! I could fuck you all day and all night.”
“Oh God, yes!”
He bent closer to her, bringing his lips to her neck, planting open-mouthed kisses on her glistening skin. “I wish I could just chain you to my bed and lick your beautiful, soft pussy whenever I feel like it. Would you like that, Tara? Would you like to be at the mercy of my mouth and my cock?”
Instead of an answer, Tara spasmed violently. Her interior muscles clamped around his cock, milking him instantly as they climaxed together.
Breathing hard, his thrusts ebbed slowly until they both stilled.
“Jay…wow.”
He nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck. “Yeah, wow.” His legs were trembling from the intensity of his orgasm. However, he didn’t want to leave her warm sheath. For long seconds, he just stood there, braced against the kitchen island, his cock still deep inside her.
A grumbling sound suddenly echoed in the silence of the galley.
“Sorry, I guess I need some food,” Tara whispered.
He chuckled. “Consider eating cold pizza your punishment.”
“Punishment for what?” She met his eyes.
“For seducing me.”
Tara rolled her eyes in mock-disgust. “Me seducing you?” She motioned to the position she was in. “The evidence says otherwise. I believe you’re the one pinning me down.”
“Which I believe you thoroughly enjoyed.”
“That’s not the point.”
He laughed and pulled himself out of her, then turned her and drew her against his body. “Tara, making sure you enjoy yourself is the point. And I’ll be happy to drive that fact home again later if you need another demonstration.”
14
Jay groaned when he saw the number of emails awaiting him in his inbox. Dressed only in a pair of shorts, he was sitting in his office alcove on the boat, a steaming mug of coffee next to him. It was early morning. Tara was still asleep. He’d worn her out the night before, and she hadn’t even stirred when he’d left the bed and quietly walked upstairs.
He was glad for some time alone. Not because he was getting sick of her company, far from it. But he had to run a business, and do so without Tara getting wind of it. She’d turned out to be quite adventurous and without any inhibitions in bed. Just what he liked in a sexual partner. Though somehow those words didn’t seem to fit. She wasn’t just a sexual partner. He wasn’t quite sure what to call what had started developing between them. It was too early to call it a relationship, y
et too late to dismiss it as a one-night stand.
They were still in that awkward stage where nothing had been said about things like exclusivity or where they were heading. Too early to know whether he was making a huge mistake by hiding who he was, or whether it was the best thing he could have ever done.
He sighed and scrolled through the messages, quickly answering those that needed an immediate reply. He made good progress, until he opened an email from Nadine, his interior designer. He’d hired her only six months earlier to work exclusively on the interior design of the new yachts that Hannon Boats, the company he’d built from scratch, was due to start selling in the fall. He took a sip of his coffee and read, eager to find out what great concepts she’d come up with.
His eyes flew over the short text. Blinking, he read the message again.
…regret to inform you… an offer from Bluestar Yachting I couldn’t refuse… immediate effect…
“God damn it!” he cursed.
How could this have happened? He’d given Nadine a more than generous compensation package, and she was thanking him by quitting without notice? And to work for Bluestar Yachting of all places—his biggest competitor, who’d tried numerous times to get spies into Hannon Boats so they could copy Jay’s proprietary designs?
Jay slammed his fist onto the desk. But he wouldn’t be where he was today if he let such a setback get to him. Not even gracing Nadine’s email with a reply, he fired off an email to his assistant, Karina, advising her of the news and instructing her to cut off Nadine’s access to company records and wade through the list of possible candidates she kept on hand. An email to the company lawyers was next, advising them to send a letter to Nadine to remind her of her confidentiality agreement and that a violation thereof would be costly for her.
But he was still not satisfied. He needed to replace her immediately if he wanted to remain on schedule with production of the new yachts. He wasn’t confident that the pool of applicants they kept on file would yield a suitable candidate. He needed more recommendations. Without hesitation he composed an email, laying out all requirements for the job and fired it off to his friends. Zach was on top of the list, so were Daniel and Xavier, but he also sent the same email to Paul, Hunter, and the others, in fact to all the members of the Eternal Bachelors Club.
