She felt a rush of anticipation race through her veins. She reached for a bottle of wine. “How about a drink?” The alcohol might soothe her and take the edge off her jumpiness.
All day she had been surrounded by people on edge about the storm. Would it destroy homes and businesses? How long would the island be shut down? The locals knew the drill, but it didn’t make the potential impact any less stressful. Right now, she knew exactly how she wanted to release all of the building tension.
“A drink sounds good.” He took the bottle from her and fastened the corkscrew to the top while she pulled out two glasses from the cabinet.
He filled them over halfway and handed one to her. “To my first hurricane.” He winked.
The gesture sent a rush of excitement coursing through her body. She had to force herself to drink the wine and stop staring at his face. A face that looked perfect and symmetrical. He had a deeper tan than when he first started working, and his eyes looked relaxed. She wanted to reach up and run her fingers through his hair, but she kept her hands on the wine glass.
“To your first hurricane.” She smiled and took a bigger sip.
The wine tingled the back of her throat just like the awareness racing in her veins. They were utterly alone, and Haven knew what happened when they were alone—what always happened.
The wind shook the house and the lights flickered to darkness. The only glow came from the two candles she had just lit.
“I guess that’s what you mean by a strong wind,” Jay teased and stepped to the side of the island. He placed his glass on the counter. His eyes flared in the candlelight, and she recognized the look. It was the same one she was wearing.
She nodded, studying his expression. Each time the flame flickered, her heart pounded louder in her chest. She willed it to quiet, but under his stare, she couldn’t control how she reacted to him.
There was nothing she wanted more than his lips on hers. He was so close that she could almost taste them. She had been waiting for another kiss since the last time he had touched her. It was almost all she could think about when he was around, and now he was here, with her, locked in the dark with a wicked hurricane descending on them.
It was almost a whisper, but she called his name as his hand reached forward and cupped her cheek. His mouth was on hers, hungry and strong, bringing her against his chest. She clutched at his back, feeling the tightness of his muscles through his shirt. In the distance, she thought she heard a roll of thunder, but her thoughts were clouded with lust—the house might be collapsing—she didn’t know. There was another crash, but this time she knew it was their wine glasses as Jay picked her up and sat her on the counter.
It was reckless and commanding, but also hot and powerful how he took control. His mouth trailed from her lips, along her jawline, and behind her ear, where she felt the heat of his tongue. It sent a shudder along her spine, instantly lighting a fire throughout her body. She gripped at his neck, gliding her hands along his back, unable to settle on one location. She needed to touch him everywhere. He had to feel the same desperate ache she had. They needed to know each other this way. Enough about music and lyrics and small town stories; this was what they wanted. Skin slid against skin until their world was tipped upside down like a swirling hurricane.
He parted her knee to the side and slid his free hand against her thigh. His tongue lapped at the base of her throat, while his hand cradled her neck. The jolt from the contact burned somewhere deep inside, like a blistering warmth that smoldered hotter with each second that passed. His fingers pressed into the soft flesh, inching their way to the hem of her shorts.
“Mmm.” She exhaled as he pressed her knee wider. “Oh.”
His fingers gripped the fabric on her panties and tugged them to the side. Haven tensed under his control. Her thighs flexed and twinged from the position he had her in. As if he could read her hesitation, his lips kissed her mouth, slowly at first, and then deeper and harder as his fingers slipped inside, working in and out until she was panting at the strokes.
“Does that feel good?” His gaze was intense and held her suspended in that place of heavy want. Her knee kept drifting back to center, as if the burning feeling taking over would cool. He pushed it to the side again with command, leaving her untouched and feeling empty where his fingers had been.
Haven nodded and bit hard on her bottom lip. Everything between her legs throbbed. She wanted him to keep going, but she had to be willing to open up to him. Everywhere he touched her felt fiery and electric. She was afraid she couldn’t handle the scorching strokes even though she needed them.
“Darlin’, you have to tell me what you want.” He nuzzled her neck. Her head tilted back, and everything was spinning inside her. His fingers toyed with her panties until he had worked them to the side, but it was so intense, she pulled her leg back, keeping him from the spot he wanted.
He growled and shifted on his feet, taking his fingers away and resting them on the top of her leg. He was giving her control, but somehow she felt like he was the one in charge. She reached forward, twisting her hands against his neck to kiss him as she let her leg swing against the counter, the way he wanted it.
She smiled as she felt the heat spread through her body when his fingers dipped back inside. He added another and she bit into his neck from the pressure. She tightened around him, reveling in their exchange. The storm raged around them as the thunder shook the chandelier overhead.
“Tell me,” he growled.
“What do you want to hear?” She ran her tongue along his neck, as if she could drink in part of him this way. She wanted to taste him and distract him.
“Tell me what you want me to do to you.” He pushed inside her and started a new motion with his thumb that Haven knew would lead to toe-curling screams in a few minutes if he didn’t stop. She gasped at the sensation, her breath ragged.
This wasn’t a time to talk, she thought. This was a time to feel and let things happen. No one had asked her to reveal so much before; it was unchartered territory. Her throat clamped shut and she closed her eyes. Why was he torturing her like this? She wasn’t sure she could unleash her inner vixen like he wanted. All she knew to do was to let her body take over as he gave her pleasure one minute after the next. Wasn’t that enough?
Jay eased his fingers from inside her, and placed both hands on her hips. It was hard not to whimper, and guide his hands back where they were wanted. The breath between them was hot and rapid. He rested his forehead against hers. Haven fought for balance.
“I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to do. Tell me, and I’ll do it.” He kissed her neck, sending shockwaves down her spine. She was quickly losing her search for steadiness. The undoing felt too delicious. “Don’t tell me, and I can find a pack of playing cards and we can play war all night while we wait for the hurricane.”
He nipped at her ear, and her pent up restraint ebbed. This was a test, an incredibly difficult test.
“It’s just us. No one else. There’s no one to hear what you want, except me.” His voice was low and sexy. He held her chin with his thumb and forefinger, driving her wild with thirst for him.
The wind whipped the corner of the shutter, and it caught between the latch. Jay’s eyes sharpened.
She didn’t know if she could say what she wanted him to do, but she knew it would be worse if she let him move one inch away from her without trying. She needed him; she needed this. She couldn’t help it. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, and her heart almost pounded out of her chest.
Like the lightning all around them, her eyes flashed to his. “Take me.”
No sooner were the words from her lips than she felt the shirt ripped from her arms. He grabbed her around the waist. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around him, pulling fistfuls of hair while his tongue explored her mouth.
It was as if a switch had been flipped, and all the slow and easy dance moves they had been stepping for weeks were gone. Everything about this
was primal and raw.
Jay didn’t bother walking to the bed or the small couch. He kneeled on the kitchen floor with one hand securely around her waist. Haven reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head, desperate to feel his chest against hers. She unclasped the hook on her bra and watched Jay’s eyes fill with desire.
“You are so fucking sexy.” He breathed as his mouth claimed one and then the other nipple. Haven rocked back on her heels, ready to give this man anything and everything he asked of her body. He had control, and it felt good to let go and unravel into his arms.
Carefully, he braced her with his hands so that her back was against the floor. With expert skill, he unbuttoned her shorts and nudged them down her legs. Haven watched, her chest rising with heavy breaths, as he released the buckle on his shorts and dropped them from his waist. She had honestly never seen a body like that. It was toned and athletic, and even in the candlelight, she could see where the lines met on his sculpted abs. If it wasn’t for the burning need consuming her, she might lie here all night and study the man inhaling her like his last breath of air.
She exhaled, nervous for the first time that maybe he was more than she could handle. He leaned down and kissed her fully on the mouth before his hand slipped between her legs.
“Oh.” She bowed off the floor, bringing him right against the skin that was burning for him the most. Surely, he could feel that she was throbbing and aching for him.
His fingers circled continuously, while she whimpered softly, trying not to give in to her body’s impulse. All she wanted was to be released from the building pressure in her core, but not until he was inside her. She pulled her knees together as if that would slow things down and calm the need. He had her on her back, but she might as well be on her knees she was so close to begging.
He kissed her stomach and delivered hot breaths along the trail leading between her legs. This was it. She wasn’t turning back. He pulled the ties on her panties until there was nothing but a scrap of fabric between them. He yanked it to the side.
Her breath quickened as he pushed her knees apart, and his tongue began teasing and toying her. She moaned and bit harder on her lip, forbidding herself to lose control like this.
“I want to hear you, baby.” He kissed her stomach, and she felt like she had a chance to regain some balance. What he was doing was pushing her to the tipping point, and if she tipped, she knew she would regret losing control without him. His fingers dug into the inner softness of her thigh and pressed her leg to the floor again. He was determined to drive her crazy, his way.
She moaned again, trying to steady the desire that was claiming her one touch at a time. No more teasing and touching, she wanted him, but did he want her as badly? Because it felt like she would die on her kitchen floor on the brink of a hurricane if he didn’t take her.
The shutters clanged against the windows, and Haven got her answer. He grazed her neck with his teeth and growled in her ear. “I want to be inside you, so damn much.”
She nodded, unable to utter a syllable. Her hips rose as he plunged into her, bowing her off the floor. The next was deeper and more intense; she grasped his back and buried her head in his shoulder, consumed with the blissful swirl of pain and incredible fullness he gave. She arched against him with every thrust, rocking harder and longer, him moving in and out until they both surrendered to the fire they had created. She screamed toward the ceiling as he drove into her one last time, possessing her, claiming her like she had always been his—she just didn’t know it until now. The sensations spiraled through her core until all she could do was hold on to him, and pray she could still breathe when she let go.
She wanted to take it back; none of those other moments made her breathless. This made her breathless. She smiled and ran her fingers along his back.
EVAN ROLLED his neck to the side. He really did pull something when he tied down the campers. He massaged it with his free hand. Haven was tucked under his arm, her auburn hair loose and falling over her shoulder. Damn, she took him by surprise. He watched her exhale shallow breaths. He traced the curve of the small of her back, and over her hips, until his hand rested at her waist.
The last time he woke up on a kitchen floor was when he literally drank himself under the table; this time it was for a whole new reason. A blue-eyed island girl had officially knocked him off his feet. His hand feathered over her skin. He couldn’t stop touching her, wanting her.
The shutters rattled against the windows, letting in cracks of gray light. The wind hadn’t stopped howling, and from the sounds echoing outside, he gathered the rain was pooling on the deck.
He could have caught one of the late night ferries, but who was he kidding? This was where he wanted to end up all along. The minute he heard her voice on the other end of the phone, he knew it was all over. He was crazy about her. After last night, he would be crazy not to be.
They had turned a corner—gone past innocent make out sessions and flirty banter. It felt connected. As if she was his. He liked it—how she felt under him, in his hands, how she tasted—and it was fucking amazing. The look in her eyes when she came was enough to bring any man to his knees.
He knew he had a reputation as the sexy Texas cowboy that women couldn’t wait to get their hands on. He wasn’t going to lie—a lot of women did. But it didn’t feel like that with her. She wanted him. She didn’t care about some concocted brand, and she wasn’t looking for bragging rights that she woke up in his bed.
Haven sighed and her hand slid across his stomach, stirring a recognizable feeling in his chest. He was afraid he might lose his mind if he didn’t wake her up right now, but he remembered the muscles in his back and pain in his knees and knew he couldn’t take another session on the kitchen floor. They had done things to each other last night that— Damn. He closed his eyes. Just thinking about it made him want her even more. That was it.
He propped himself up on his elbows, careful not to let her head fall to the floor. She wiggled in closer, cuddling up under his chin. He sighed. She wasn’t making it any easier. His hand slid over her backside, rubbing in a line along her back, down to her legs. He kissed the top of her head and waited for her to wake as he deepened the touching, coaxing her to respond.
Her eyes fluttered open along his chest, and she turned to him with bright eyes and a smile.
“Good morning.” He winked at her.
She turned from him. “Good morning.”
He eased out from under her, and she rolled to the side. From the corner of his eye, he could see the bed—the place they should have been sleeping all night with a mattress, and pillows, and a soft comforter. He looked at it now as if it was the promised land. Determined she would know his intention, he reached for the back of her head and tangled his fist through her silky hair. She moaned quietly as he brought his mouth down hard on hers, and kissed her while rolling the tips of her breast through his fingers. He smiled, feeling her react under his touch. He broke free and stood.
Her eyes were wide, and for a split second, he considered taking her again on the kitchen floor, but there was a perfectly soft bed twenty feet away.
Without a single word, he motioned to her with his finger. She stood and followed him to the bed. There was one thing he wanted to try last night that hadn’t happened yet.
The sheets were cool. He rolled on his back and raked his eyes over her as she walked toward him. Every part of her was beautiful, from the way her hips fit in his palms, to the tan lines running across the lowest part of her stomach. He could spend hours kissing her right there.
She stopped at the end of the bed, and for a second, he thought she was going to stand and watch him, but she brought one knee down, then the other, and crawled over him. Her hair sweeping his skin as she preyed on him with kisses.
He fought the urge to be inside her right then, pick her up, and show her how hard she made him. There was a hurricane brewing outside, and they had nothing else to do but take their time with each other.
He could practice some restraint. The growling though—that was an involuntary response as she brought her legs to either side of his waist. Seeing her straddle him like this was fucking incredible. She rocked back and forth, her hips rhythmically moving over him, but keeping him from where he wanted to be. She wasn’t making this easy.
“Does that feel good?” she teased, using his words from last night against him.
He laughed, catching her face between his hands and staring straight into those blue eyes. “Yes.”
“Then I’ll just have to keep doing it.” She bit his bottom lip, and he questioned how long he could hold off. She knew exactly what to do to drive him crazy.
The heat built, and he reached for her hips. It might have been a growl or a groan coming from his throat. He wasn’t in control anymore of what she was doing to him. As soon as she arched away from him and came shattering down around him, he gripped the soft skin on her back and squeezed her to his chest, but she wouldn’t let him hold her. All he wanted was to press her against his body so he could feel every tremble and quiver surging through her, but she was strong and playful. A wicked smile spread across her lips as she pushed off his chest and sank deeper on top of him, tightening around him.
He called out her name as she rose up and down, her breasts moving with the rhythm—it was sexy and hot. He reached out to touch the softness of that sensitive skin; he wanted them in his hands. “Don’t stop, baby. Don’t fucking stop.”
She leaned across his chest, and her teeth nipped at his neck. He couldn’t hold back any longer. She was taking him under. He grabbed her waist and pulled her against him as he drove hard into her, filling her with everything he had. He liked being in control in bed, he was used to it, but he didn’t know which way was up as she slid along him, making everything hot and tight. He was so lost in her that he didn’t care about the storm, or that she had taken the reins.
Kissing her deeply, he released himself to her. All the air left his lungs, and he pulled her to his chest. His eyes closed and he drifted back to sleep while the storm moved closer to shore. He slept soundly; his body relaxed, knowing he found exactly what he was looking for.
Finding Haven Page 14
