by Ward, Alice
“Okay.” He pressed another kiss on my flesh. “What about tomorrow?”
“My employees are off…”
“Call one in.” This was firm, commanding. I looked up at him, and his gaze was as menacing as a tiger on the hunt. Another shiver claimed me. “I’ll give up tonight with you, but I’m stealing you tomorrow.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “All right. I’ll call someone in. What are we doing?”
Rather than answering, he winked, planted a light peck on my mouth, and left. I stood motionless, watching him striding confidently out of sight, as my body buzzed all over.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Cash
The day couldn’t have been more beautiful if I’d crafted it myself. The sun was shining, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Gentle rippling waves rocked the catamaran I’d rented like a mother softly rocking her child to sleep, and the water beneath us was crystal clear. A light breeze wafted through the air, bringing the chill of the upcoming winter on its breath.
There weren’t many other boats out on the water, even though it was the weekend. I didn’t mind. I actually preferred it that way. It felt like we had all of Lake Michigan to ourselves. On the occasion that we happened to pass an idle fisherman or a speedboat full of drinking thirty-somethings, we waved and called out greetings before moving on to a place with more privacy.
When I picked her up shortly before noon, she was practically foaming at the mouth to find out what we were doing. She’d texted me earlier in the morning to find out what she should wear, but I would only tell her she needed to dress in layers for a day outside. I was pleased to see she was dressed appropriately for sailing in a pair of warm leggings and a sweater that unfortunately covered her butt. Over her arm was a jacket, scarf, and wool hat. She also carried a pair of sneakers in addition to a pair of boots. She was ready for just about anything.
She didn’t realize I was making good on my promise to take her sailing one day until we pulled up to the marina, and the excitement that lit in her eyes was enough to make me feel like I’d felt the very first day I’d taken out my own boat. Blissful.
Just like I had when I’d found her at the beach, I brought a packed lunch with us. Actually, a deli had packed it for me, but I now knew what she liked to eat and ordered accordingly. Truth be told, I had a bit of nerves over being alone with her again. The last time I had seen her before I went back to Oklahoma, our argument had been unexpected and over the top. It had ended with sex, sure, but the disagreement still lingered in the back of my mind. The only person I had ever fought like that with was my father, and God knew that relationship had hardly been a good one. I didn’t want the argument Gretchen and I had had to be the same kind of damper between us.
So far, it didn’t seem to be. There was perhaps a slight note of awkwardness when our eyes met or when our conversation lagged, but overall, things seemed as easy and fluid as usual. She was pointing out local landmarks as we slowly glided past — mostly rock formations and defunct lighthouses — and she filled me in on some of the local folklore about the bay and the lake itself. I, on the other hand, was delighted to find out that she was eager to learn anything I could teach her about sailing. She was a natural at it too. Within an hour, she was the Mr. Smee to my Captain Hook, though a much smarter and sexier version.
“Hey.” We were floating lazily in the middle of the lake, stretched out on the floor of the boat with our sandwiches, chips, and sodas in front of us. Gretchen looked at me over her eggplant sub. “I want to ask you something.”
“Go for it.”
“I don’t want to make a big deal out of nothing, and I don’t want to make an awesome day uncomfortable...” she fidgeted with her bread a little nervously, “but it’s been weighing on my mind. Did you mean what you said about me being an incompetent business owner?”
I paused just before taking a bite, my teeth poised clumsily above and below my sandwich. It was a question I should have seen coming, but I’d hoped it would never be asked. Too late. Lowering my sandwich back down onto the wrapper, I considered the best way to respond.
“Yes and no.” She eyed me, and I fought with myself over being truthful and being tactful. Thus far in our relationship, we had always been truthful with each other. I didn’t want to taint that now. “I don’t think you’re making a smart decision to keep Auras when I’ve made you the kind of offer I have. Do I think that makes you an incompetent business owner, though? No. That was something I said in the heat of the moment.”
“It was an awfully heated moment.”
“Yeah. I apologize for that.”
She nodded, and I smiled. She returned it. I felt a little relieved because it appeared that she accepted my apology and we could move on. To change the tone of the conversation, I stepped sideways onto a related topic. “Out of curiosity, is there anywhere else in Fawn you would like to have a shop?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She rocked her head from side to side, considering the question. “It’s not something I’ve ever really thought about. I never intended to own a metaphysical store in the first place, you know? It was one of those things where the pieces just sort of fell into place.”
That surprised me. “I thought you were into all the metaphysical stuff.”
She nodded. “I am, but it’s not like I ever had childhood dreams of owning a store like this. It just so happened that I got a job working in the same place where my grandma’s bakery used to be, and then it turned out that Madam Adam wanted to sell. It was meant to be.”
“I see what you’re saying.” I lopped off a chunk of sandwich. “Do you ever regret it?”
“Never.”
She said it with such conviction that I didn’t doubt her for a second. In that instant, I wondered if any effort I made to get her to sign the sale papers was in vain. She was so devoted to that shop, and she talked about it with such reverence, that it seemed unlikely she would ever voluntarily part ways with it, even if I had a new spot completely lined up for her and ready to go.
I was damn sure going to try, though.
“All right, that’s enough.” Without warning, she dropped her sandwich and hopped up on her feet. “Come on, let’s go.”
I stared at her. “Go where? We’re on a boat.”
“Get up.” She held out her hands to help me up, which I took, though I clambered to my feet myself because I doubted this tiny waif of a woman had the capability of pulling me to my feet.
“Okay. I’m up. Now what?”
“Now, we’re going to stop being weird with each other. I think we both need to relax. I know I’ve been stressed, and I imagine you have been too.”
I grinned, unable to stop it. “If you’re talking about the kind of stress relief I’m thinking, I’m all in. Although, we might be putting on a show for anyone else who felt the urge to take their boat out today.”
She looked at me blankly for a minute, then comprehension dawned on her face. She smacked my arm half-heartedly, and rolled her eyes all the way around. “Oh, please. Pervert. We’re going to do yoga.”
“Uh, I’m not so sure we are.”
Her hands were held out again, and she didn’t reply. She just looked at me expectantly.
“How about you do yoga, and I watch?”
She still said nothing, but she flexed her fingers to indicate she wanted me to take them.
“Darlin’, I’m an open-minded guy and all. The whole yoga trend is great.” I pointed at myself. “But if you think this body is going to bend six ways to Sunday on a moving boat, I think you’ve done gone and lost your mind.”
“Why don’t you open that mind a little further and close your mouth, Man of Many Protests?” I raised my eyebrows at her, and she laughed that soft, joyous sound that made me smile back. “Now, let’s go. We’re stretching.”
I sighed heavily and took her hands. She closed her eyes, tilted her face to the sky, and breathed in deeply. I just watched her, admiring the way her skin seemed to sparkle
in the sunlight, and her expression took on a look of pure peacefulness. Her shoulders rose and fell, and her chest expanded and deflated. My gaze drifted down to the two round, supple mounds easing up and down under the sweater.
“Hey!” In my awe of her beautiful body, I hadn’t noticed her eyes open again. “You’re supposed to be stretching.”
I was honestly confused. “Since when is breathing stretching?”
“We’re stretching our souls, our energy.” I snickered, and she gave me a look that could have made the biggest, strongest guy in the world cower. “I’m serious. Close your eyes, picture something pleasant and calm, and breathe in and out slowly.”
I sighed again, but I obliged her. The sun was so bright that, even with my eyes closed, I could see its golden glow. Its warmth contrasted against the chill in the air, and the feeling of her hands in mine was delightful enough to make it easy for me to find the sense of peacefulness she was talking about. I inhaled slowly, held it for a second, and let it out. I did it again. To my surprise, my muscles were starting to relax, and any stress I’d been carrying with me started to filter from the forefront of my mind to the back.
“Good.” Her voice was low, soft, just like those women who led yoga sessions in new age studios.
The sound of the rippling water reminded me of the soundtrack Gretchen played in her store, and I was brought back to the first time we had been intimate. With the thunder outside, the lightning cracking, we had fallen prey to the stereotypical stranded scenario, but it had been one of the best nights of my life. In fact, I couldn’t imagine a more amazing thing to think about while trying to relax.
“Good,” she said again. “Open your eyes.”
I did as she asked me, and I glanced down. There was a massive bulge in the crotch of my tacky palm tree-patterned swim trunks that I’d picked up at a local gift shop.
“Damn!” I looked back up at her, authentically surprised. “Instead of being relaxed, I’m fucking hard!”
“I know.” She said it like I’d just told her it was a Wednesday, like it was a piece of idle conversation, and didn’t let go of my hands. Her eyes didn’t even drift down. “It’s not uncommon.”
“What, guys popping boners like preteen boys by doing nothing but breathing?” I tried to make light of the situation, but frankly, I was embarrassed.
“Yes.” She didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest. “Now, we sit.”
Together, we sank down to the floor of the boat. She crossed her legs over each other, propping her feet up onto her thighs, and she gestured with her chin for me to do the same. I tried, but I wasn’t as flexible as she was, and I could only manage to get my feet almost to my knees. “I think that’s as good as it’s going to get, darlin’.”
“This is where we find our center.” She clasped her hands together in a prayer pose and closed her eyes once more. “Meditate. Go deep within yourself. Root your soul.”
The way I was feeling, I would have much preferred to go deep within her. This was all a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me, but any excuse to hide my raging erection was an excuse I was willing to use. I plunked my hands together, mirroring hers, and let my lids fall to hide my vision. Again, I was flooded with the image of her naked body beneath mine on the store floor, and my dick twitched. This wasn’t going in my favor.
After what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes, she spoke again in that rhythmic tone. “Join hands with mine.” I opened my eyes to find her holding her hands out.
I took them.
She started pulling on me, and my legs started uncrossing of their own accord. I tried to keep them in place, but she shook her head.
“No, like this.” She unwove her legs from each other and stretched one to either side in a wide V. I did as she indicated, and the soles of our feet pressed together. She nodded and began pulling on me again. The muscles in my upper thighs and lower back started to protest as I was tugged forward inch by inch, my chest lowering to the boat floor, but I kept my complaints to myself. If this was what she wanted to do, this was what we were going to do. As I fell forward, she went back, and I watched her chest lifting to the sky and her back arching in a way I had made her do before.
I was so hard now that it hurt.
“Now, pull me.”
I started sitting up, taking her hands with me. Just like I had, she started to bend forward. She was able to bend much closer to the ground than I was, obviously, but it didn’t register with me just what that meant until her face shrouded my crotch. She was so close that her mouth was probably a centimeter from my throbbing arousal. I groaned despite myself.
“Again.” I could barely hear her.
I was inched forward toward her, but this time I didn’t give in to the protest of my muscles. I continued bending down, down, down until my mouth was only inches from her cotton-covered pussy. She jiggled her hands to let me know silently that she wanted me to pull her back, to continue our yoga session, but I was too tempted. Changing positions, I went down until I circled my mouth around the fabric blanketing her groin and exhaled warm breath.
The gasp she emitted was so sharp it took me by surprise, but I loved it. Without her instruction, I released her hands and used mine to push her back slowly until her spine was flat against the boat floor. When she didn’t protest, I hooked my fingers into the waistband of her skin-hugging leggings and pulled them down over the meat of her thighs. With the sun cascading onto her now-naked Eden, I was sure I was looking into Heaven’s window.
Damn. The woman was even making me think poetic thoughts.
My tongue flicked out, stroking her folds so delicately that she shivered. Her fingers knitted into my hair, and her legs quivered. I repeated the motion, then changed it up with a couple swirls and circles. She shuddered. This was much better than yoga.
“What if someone sees us?” she whispered.
“It’s a beautiful sight to see.”
I took her clit between my teeth and brought it between my lips, suckling on the flavor of her sweetness. She let out a moan, and her back arched. I pressed the flat of my tongue against the surface, titillating those nerves, thrilling with the way her entire body responded. She was already soaking, her arousal coating my chin, and I could feel beads of pre-cum dribbling down my length. I wasn’t going to last long like this. She was too arousing.
When I slipped a finger inside her to simultaneously stimulate with the movements of my tongue, her moans grew louder. The fingers she had in my hair tugged, and my scalp cried out with delicious pain.
“Cash, oh god, I’m close!”
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one turned on. It had taken all of three minutes to get her to the edge, and I was eager to thrust her over, but I was selfish. I wanted to experience her orgasm for myself. Straightening up, I dug into the pocket of my shorts and fished out a condom. Ripping it open with my teeth, I flung the bottoms from my body and dressed my cock. Her thighs were still open, waiting for me. I drilled my entire length inside her.
That one swift movement was enough to claim her, and her moans turned to shrieks. She writhed beneath me with fingers scrabbling along the floor of the boat and knees clamping around me. I gritted my teeth, driving myself into her over and over. Deeper and deeper. Harder and harder.
“Yes, darlin’. Come for me.” She was wrapped around me, clenched and spasming. Unadulterated ecstasy dripped from her lips like irresistible nectar.
Her hips shot up, accepting all of me, and I swirled my pelvis to stroke her G-spot. She unraveled completely. The girlish squeals turned to guttural, unhinged screams of pleasure, but I wasn’t done yet. I dropped my hand between us to square the heel of my hand against her clit, and I started to pulse, rolling my hips faster.
A gush of hot liquid spilled from her folds and splashed my lower belly, and I came.
My body fell forward with the flexibility of a well-trained gymnast, and I was sapped of all strength. Together, we groaned and moaned and clung to each oth
er as her orgasmic fluid coated my lower half and mine filled its protective jacket.
Our lungs heaved in sync, and our mouths found one another. I kissed her, swallowing the tail end of her pleasure, and we floated back down to Earth beneath the soothing rays of the afternoon sun.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Gretchen
My tires crunched as they turned onto the winding gravel driveway, and I watched the silhouette of the massive waterfront mansion growing nearer. The house was exquisite, designed by a French architect flown out especially to design this home, with wrought-iron detail around every window and towering double doors that looked like they’d been ripped right off a medieval castle.
Stones in every spectacular color nature ever made composed the facade, and dark beams lined the edges to give it a chalet look. I didn’t know exact numbers, but I would have wagered that the house was probably somewhere around ten thousand square feet. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the six-tiered fountain in the front courtyard and koi pond would have been plenty to drop my jaw had I never seen the place before.
I put the car in park when I reached the end of the driveway, and I sat for a moment without moving. This was the house of Madam Adam, Auras’ previous owner and my mentor. Seeing him was always a good time, but it also came with its unique set of drawbacks. Madam Adam was somebody who didn’t pull punches, and being a psychic, he would know things and tell me things I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear. But I needed his guidance, and I had come for a reason.
Getting out of the car, I shivered as I slammed the door but didn’t lock it. Fawn was a safe place as it was, but it was exceptionally safe in the gate-protected property. I walked up to the door with my shoes crunching over the fallen leaves and took hold of the head-sized knocker. Its bangs echoed off the surrounding trees, the noise bouncing back and forth off the walls inside the soaring foyer.
When nobody answered after a full minute, I started to wonder if Madam Adam was even home. I hadn’t bothered to call him because he was the type of person who didn’t pick up when you did, but there were no vehicles parked outside or open windows to indicate somebody was there. I knocked again, and I decided that if nobody answered, I’d go back to the car and wait where it was warmer. Unlike yesterday on the lake, it had turned much cooler overnight and was threatening rain. But as bad as the weather was becoming, I didn’t want to leave without some answers.
