Meeting his hips with hers, she answered his question with a question. “Is it what you want, August?”
He slowed the pace of his thrusts, sliding in and out of her easily. “I want to fuck you until I can’t fuck anymore. I want to bury my cock so far in your cunt, you’ll never want another again. You’re so wet and tight, like no one I’ve ever experienced. I want to lick you unt il you beg me to stop, watch your luscious lips on my cock and drag my fingers through the sweet juice of your pussy. ” His gaze pierced hers, smoldering, on fire.
Those words, crudely honest, utterly carnal, were her undoing.
Gulping for air, she grabbed his wrist at her throat and eyed his reflection, big and intimidating behind her, “Oh, August…” she gasped as her heart tightened in her chest. “Don’t make me wait then, do it, do it now. Fuck me until I scream, until you come hard and fast, buried between my legs, take me with you. ”
And it was over, he lost control, ramming into her as she rolled her body into his. His hand, no longer around her waist, thrust between her thighs, stroking her aching, swollen clit. The distant slap of flesh excited her as the y crashed together.
Her eyes, half closed, took in the sight before her. August’s darker skin, a dark contrast against hers; their bodies joined, tightly woven in a dance of lust. She was more fulfilled than she’d ever been before. His cock inside of her brought her a sense of completion, the slick slide of him was right.
With that thought, she let go of his waist and cupped her breasts, circling her nipples. Burning with the need for release, she arched into him for the last time, coming with a fierce howl. He pumped hard into her, keeping his hand between her legs as his big body shuddered. He nearly lifted her off her feet with the impact as he finished stroking, and she clenched him tightly with her inner walls.
Tara heard his struggle for breath, the rasping intake of his gulps for air. She shook from head to toe and leaned forward to rest against the vanity.
Withdrawing from her, he discarded the condom and quickly washed up at the sink.
Tara wobbled, breathless, speechless. He scooped her up and carried her to the bed, setting her down gently. Keeping her close, he kissed her eyelids, her nose, lingering on her lips.
“Oh, August … I … I’ve never…”
He climbed in beside her, pulling the covers up over them and snuggling her to him.
“Me either,” he mumbled into her hair.
“You have very little to say for yourself, Mr. Guthrie,” she chided, smiling against his chest. “Especially for a man who had so much to say in there.”
The deep rumble of laughter vibrated against her cheek. “You taunted me, teased me, made me do unspeakable things, Ms. Douglas.” He mocked the indignity of it all.
“I made you? ” Tara rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s rich. ”
“You did, I never talk dirty like that. I’m a small town boy. ”
Resting her chin on her hands, she giggled. “Well, I’m a small town girl, August Guthrie and where I come from, we don’t talk like that.”
Kissing her forehead, he guffawed, “Sure could have fooled me, potty mouth. ”
“Like you should talk? You of the one-word sentences, all loose lipped and free.”
“Yep.”
“August?”
“Yep?”
“What are we going to do? It’s just not right for you to keep competing, but we don’t have a choice. Not only could we get in serious trouble, but we could end up hurting Kelsey in the process.” That shouldn’t matter to her, but the outlandish part of Tara who wanted to see Kelsey hurt for the torture she’d put her through had to stop living in the past. She’d made lemonade out of lemons, Tara was better for the cruelties she’d suffered in high school, she was in shape and happier because of it. Kelsey was still small, self centered and selfish. Nothing much had changed about Kelsey and pointing that out to her on national television was only going to make Tara just like her.
Whoa … well, wasn’t that the revelation of the millennium? It happened with rapid-fire discovery, and maybe a little because she was feeling generous now that she’d found August. In a way, that was enough justice unto itself.
For the first time since she’d begun this stupid vendetta against Kelsey, she was thinking clearly and it replaced the jumbled, freaked-out mess her head had been in since she started this journey. Not to mention her stomach.
But then there was August…
Ick. If August didn’t like Kelsey’s behavior, how would he feel about her own? It mirrored Kelsey’s to a degree that now made Tara squirm with distaste. She had to tell August…
August snorted, “I don’t think Kelsey can be hurt. She’s a mean, pushy diva. Did you hear the way she screamed at the doctor and the makeup people?”
Tara nodded, casting her eyes downward. “The jury was all abuzz about it and Ms. Mary and I had a little taste of it. Look, I know firsthand what a bitch she can be, but what we’re doing isn’t much better.”
August tilted her chin upward. “I’d like to hear about this firsthand thing sometime when yo u’re ready. I get the feeling it was really cruel and one of the reasons you’re on the show to begin with. ”
Tara cringed. If he only knew… How could he not know? Tara shrugged and chose to bite the bullet. “Where the hell were you all of your senior year? We did graduate from the same class, didn’t we?”
Entwining his fingers with Tara’s, he stroked her hand with his thumb. “I graduated early. I finished up what was left of my credits and left in March. Told ya I was a geek.”
That explained it. August had graduated before the locker room incident. Tara wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad one. Opting for the glass-half-full theory, she shut up. She wasn’t ready to tell him yet, not when she’d only just begun to accept what happened as something she could never change, no matter how much humiliation she heaped on Kelsey. “Still, what we’re doing is wrong. ”
August sighed. “We didn’t expect to meet each other, and if it wasn’t for the fact that you were here, looking the way you do, I’d have forfeited the dates week one, but I just couldn’t stay away. Winning some of those dates was strictly to impress you with my He-man abilities. I have a hard time turning down a challenge. I really think Kelsey’s interests will change once she has a date with someone other than me.”
Tara’s heart skipped a beat. “You still have to be voted out if we’re going to keep suspicion off of us.”
He sighed again. “That’s true and I won’t deny I hope it’s not until much later in the game. I don’t want to leave the island and miss all this dirty talk.” Tara’s face flushed. “But that also means I have to try and stick around, which is cheating.”
There was a smaller solution to this bigger problem. “Will you hate my guts if I stop voting for you? I won’t say a word to the others, but I warn you, they really like you with Kelsey. They probably will even if you do lose a competition. ” Tara hated that. The jury members thought August was better than sliced bread and every session they had to vote she wanted to scream, He’s mine, damn you! Keep that slut away from him! But she couldn’t and now she was in deeper than she ever dreamed she’d be. She was omitting information about her history with Kelsey, not just to the jury and the people on the show, but to August too. Now she regretted ever doing this stupid show. She was going to have to come clean. No one really had to know her motives for being here, but she knew, in her head. It was more guilt than she could take and August deserved to know she’d come here hell-bent on revenge and now, she just wanted to forget it ever happened. Showing Kelsey Little the new Tara Douglas wasn’t as important as what she hoped to create with August.
However, August was pretty competitive and if he won just one more date with that tramp…
“I think I’ve made myself pretty clear here, Tara. I don’t want to be with Kelsey. ”
“Oh, yeah… Judging from the video tape we saw of your little lava pit rendezvous,
I’d certainly say it didn’t look like you were too terribly upset about it.” Well, now she was pouting, it was unattractive and silly and even worse, it made her look jealous, but she didn’t give a crap, because she was.
“Listen, girlie, let me tell you a little something about the magic of television. First, I’d lay bets they edit it before you guys ever see it. It is one of the camera crew that hands you the tape isn’t it?” Tara nodded. “They encouraged us to sit together and Kelsey kept pushing to lay one on me. I kept saying no, and she kept asking anyway. ”
Tara felt smug momentarily. “You said no?”
August twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. “Well, yeah. I told her it was only our first date and I don’t do that on the first date.”
Tara really began to giggle now, “Good thing she doesn’t know what you really do on your first date with slutty girls from small towns, huh? ”
Shrugging his shoulders, he grinned at her. “Well, that was different. You talk dirty and it kind of wasn’t a date.”
“Dirty my eye, you started it.” Sliding over his body, she straddled him. His hands automatically cupped her breasts and his cock began to rise underneath her. “Oh, no, Mr. Guthrie, you have to go.” Leaning over him, she kissed his lips. “I don’t want to take a chance that you might get caught. Your roommate is probably wondering why the heck you don’t sleep in your room. ”
He slipped a nipple into his mouth, rolling his tongue over it. “Can’t I just stay here and sneak back out again in the morning? ”
Tara groaned at his request and pressed his flaxen head to her breast. “You are insatiable. No, August, please let’s not take any chances. I kinda like you being here on the island.” Swinging her legs off him, she jumped off the bed and gathered his clothes, holding them out to him.
She crooked her finger at him. “C’mon, handsome, you have to get dressed.”
His big shoulders slumped and he hung his head. “Okay, I’ll go, but I won’t like it. Somehow I think sleeping with Gordon just won’t be the same.”
Hooking her arm around his neck, she snuggled against him. “Promise me something, August?”
“Well, I’m thinkin’ you can pretty much have whatever you want right now. ”
Tugging at his cock, she smiled, “No dirty talk for Gordon, okay? It’ll make me insanely jealous.”
Chapter Twenty One
Hoo Rah
“She what?” Ms. Mary squawked.
“She fell in the pool,” Diana confirmed, nodding her head. “Can we run the tape again for Ms. Mary, Tara?”
Tara pressed play and turned away from the television. She just couldn’t watch August hold Kelsey in his arms again, because she was going to pick up the damn chair and wing it at the pretty screen. Kelsey’s body molded to August’s enticingly. Tara’s stomach rebelled against the image made larger than life by the big screen. Did the camera crew really edit these? You couldn’t edit Kelsey so close to August a toothpick wouldn’t fit between them…
Taking a deep breath, Tara closed her eyes and rubbed her aching brow. She admitted it was rather funny to see Kelsey soaking wet and her face covered in pus-filled hives. Andy played it over and over, stopping the tape each time Kelsey tipped backwards into the pool. Laughter filled the air, someone’s high-pitched giggle pierced the night, and then the tape went blank.
Ms. Mary shook her head, “Well, she sure was a mess, huh? But do you see the way August looks at her?” Mary’s voice turned dreamy and wistful.
Diana nodded he r head again rapidly, “Yeah, he’s pretty hot for her. He was something else in that race. I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as he did to get over that finish line. That’s chemistry for sure.”
Shut up, shut up, shut up! Tara was hard pressed not to scream it from the top of her lungs. Damn them all, they were going to vote for August again. She could feel it. Even if it meant August would stay around, it also meant Kelsey could quite possibly win another date with him.
It was time for an anonymous vote so she could slink off and not be stoned publicly for ignoring all this chemistry August supposedly had with Kelsey, because it looked that way on tape and he’d better be telling the truth about the tapes being edited to look as though they were hot for each other. Although, she had to admit, it wouldn’t surprise her if they did edit them. So he might get the benefit of the doubt this time—because it beat the green-eyed monster.
“Okay, guys,” Tara interrupted. “It’s time to vote. This round is anonymous, so gr ab your pencils and head off to the voting room. ”
Andy raised his hand as he was wont to do when he was going to ask a question that made Tara wish she could wrap his mouth shut with duct tape. “Why does it have to be an anonymous vote, Tara? We all pretty much agree August is hot for Kelsey, so he’s a keeper and we already decided on the rest of the guys.”
Andy, Andy, Andy. Would you shut up?! I don’t happen to agree that the barracuda has any chemistry with August and what I say goes.
Tara tugged at her shirt uncomfortably. She was wielding her big jury foreman’s sword of power and that wasn’t okay.
Yes, yes she was, because dammit, if she had to watch one more freakin’ tape of
Kelsey Little, pawing her man, she’d rip her tonsils out with her bare hands. He’s not officially your man.
No, that’s true, she admitted mentally. But, if I have anything to say about it, he will be.
Way to get your man, tiger. In the meantime, she’d better chill with the possession is nine tenths of the law thing, cause everyone would catch on and then she would be screwed. Of course, that’s all she’d done for the past few days, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Hell’s bells. She was going to be roped into voting for August again. “I’m sorry, Andy, I lost track. Okay, August it is. Do we have the next five finalists to be eliminated?”
Andy handed her the slip of eliminations. Why didn’t everyone like Vinny the way she did? He was cute in a wise guy sorta way. So he was a bit brazen, a little rough around the old edges. Big deal. Kelsey could whip him into shape in no time flat. She’d have him filing her nails and dancing until dawn without batting an eye.
Straightening her shoulders, Tara headed toward the door. “Let’s get this over with. I really hate this part of jury duty. ”
Gianni bobbed his head in sympathy. “I liked Gordon…”
Poor Gordon. On the other hand, August no longer had a roommate who could tell anyone he was gone late into the night.
Yeah, baby…
* * *
August half feared, half hoped the jury would boot his ass out. If he was eliminated it meant he couldn’t see Tara for another three weeks, until the show was over. But if he stayed he might have to keep going on dates with Kelsey. Quite frankly, he’d rather have his eye teeth ripped from his mouth with a pair of rusty pliers.
Damned if you do—damned if you don’t.
As the jury members made their way back to the pool, he watched Tara take her seat from behind his dark glasses. Her face was impassive, not tipping him off in either direction. She held the magic envelope with this round’s eliminations.
Jesus, she was beautiful. Long and lean, lightly honed and well rounded in all the right places. Last night had been amazing to say the least. She excited him like no other woman, and far more than Kelsey Little ever had or did now—since he’d spent some time with her.
He’d been foolish to think his adolescent crush was anything more than just that. If he looked back on his high school days honestly, he saw Kelsey for what she was. Funny, how a little lust could alter the perception of reality.
August wanted the freedom to explore this thing with Tara. Beyond the explosive sex, beyond the constraints of this damn show. There was no denying their physical compatibility. His cock burned with the need to simply be inside her. But, he didn’t just want to screw her brains out, he wanted to turn her brains inside out. Learn all of the things that made her tick. Find out w
hy the hell they’d never run into each other, seeing as they were from the same geeky social circle.
And then, he wanted to take her out, buy her dinner, do all the normal stuff people did when they dated, and after all that, he would screw her brains out again. Trouble was, he had to keep his hands off of Tara … all of his good intentions flew out the window
when she was nearby and especially when she was nearby and naked. “Hey, man, where are you? ” Aaron interrupted his thoughts. August blinked. “I’m just tired, I guess. This is stressful. ” “Yeah it is, especially when you can’t get a date with the chick.” Was that envy he
heard in Aaron’s tone? “Your time will come.” He hoped. “I was checking that Tara chick out from the jury, man, she’s a hottie.” August’s jaw twitched. I’m sorry, did you mean my, Tara? He wouldn’t say it. “She’s pretty. ” August kept his comment non-committal. Aaron nudged Vinny. “Pretty? Did you hear that, Vin, August says Tara is pretty.
Are you on crack, dude? She’s got a killer ass.” Vinny raised his glasses. “And those hooters! Would I like to sample that fruit.” August twitched again, clenching his teeth together and fisting his hands at his sides. Remain calm, he told himself. He would not offer to duel Vinny at dawn over Tara’s
hooters. Hold that thought. Vinny called ‘em hooters too… Oh my, God. He was
officially a pig. “Fruit?” August spit through his teeth. “Yeah, ” Vinny smirked. “Ya know, like melons?” August was this close to offering Vinny a chance to see how good he was at crushing
his melons. No, he had to play nice if he wanted to stay in the game. Tara would encourage that. “Guys,” he cut in, “it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to get caught on camera
talking about the jury foreman’s hooters, ya know?” Each man sobered instantly, glancing around surreptitiously for the cameras.
Back away from my woman slowly, you swine.
“Gentleman, are we ready to behave like adults and do what we came here to do?”
Aaron and Vinny nodded. “Sorry, August, you’re right.” Aaron was contrite.
Whose Bride Is She Anyway Page 20
