The color of the icebergs shocked Charley. The brilliant blue color gleamed in the rising sun. Jahi explained that blue was the only wavelength of color that could penetrate the ice. It was rather amazing how much the young man knew about the area.
The Sawyer Glacier and the magnificent carving of icebergs from its face were captured within her lenses. Jahi talked, and she clicked away. They didn’t see any bears but a stark-white mountain goat made its way up the seemingly sheer side of the mountain and bald eagles were in abundance.
The captain spun the enormous ship on a dime using thrusters on either side of the vessel all the while using those same thrusters to keep the icebergs from hitting the ship. Charley couldn’t help being impressed with the maneuver.
She had four hours before they arrived in Juneau and the late night and vigorous activities caught up with her. Her eyes were half closed when Jahi walked her to the stairwell, and she thanked him.
She put up the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and collapsed into her bed fully clothed.
Somewhere in her hazy mind, she heard knocking but it did not penetrate enough to make her get out of bed and open the door. The phone may have rung but even that could not motivate her to wake.
The tongue tickling the sensitive skin behind her ear was enough to rouse her. “If that’s you Jules, I’m not that kind of girl.”
His deep rumble of laughter made her smile.
“Too bad,” he said. “I would love to see that.”
She rolled over and slapped his chest playfully. “How did you get in here?”
He was still in uniform, lying half on top of her with his head on her chest. “I called, I knocked and then I became concerned so I found Jules and she let me in.”
Charley sat up. “Where is she now?”
“She checked that you were breathing and left.”
“She left you here?”
His brows narrowed over his stunning eyes. “Why is that so surprising? I got the impression she liked me well enough.”
“She thinks you will break my heart.”
He frowned. “I think it is more likely that you will break mine.”
His words had barely sunk in when the public announcement voice garbled something out in the corridor. “What’s he saying?”
“That we’re coming into port and you must have your tender tickets if you wish to get off the ship in Juneau.”
She looked at the digital clock on the bed stand. It blared two o’clock in red relief. “Oh my god! I never got my tender ticket.”
She tried to get up but he held her down and unbuttoned the top button of her flannel shirt. He pressed his lips to her collarbone. “Relax. I have once again been assigned the tedious task of playing tour guide and I have your ticket.”
“You do?” she tugged on his hair and looked at him.
“Ow. Yes, I do.”
She smiled and released her hold on his soft curls. “Shouldn’t we go down to the boats then?”
“We have forty minutes.” He slipped another button out of its hole and kissed between her breasts.
“I have to shower and get my equipment ready.”
“My equipment is ready now.” To prove his point he ground his very stiff cock against her leg.
“Aren’t you tired? You didn’t get a nap.”
“How can I be tired with you stretched out in the bed as if you were a goddess?”
“Goddesses don’t wear jeans and long underwear.”
His eyes widened, and he immediately went for the button on her jeans. “You have long johns on under there? Let me see.”
She giggled and pushed his hands away from her zipper. “No you cannot see.” Still laughing she shoved him away and got out of bed.
Kyle leaned on his elbow with is cheek in the palm of his hand and smiled at her. “Well, if you’re not going to let me ravage you, then you’d better brush your hair and grab your stuff. I have a helicopter waiting for us.”
She froze. She had not eaten since the night before but her stomach still did a flip-flop. “I’ve never been in a helicopter.”
Her fear must have been readable on her face. Kyle stood up and faced her with his hands gently pulling her shoulders toward him. “You’ll be fine. In fact, I predict you will love it.” He touched her cheek.
She took a deep breath and nodded. When she arrived at the bathroom, she saw why he’d made the “comb your hair” comment. Pulling the brush through that knotted mess was not easy.
“I need to eat something. I had no breakfast or lunch.”
His gorgeous head poked inside the bathroom door. “Are you kidding? You’re on a cruise, woman. All anyone does is eat on this ship. How is it that you could have missed two meals?”
She turned and put her hands on her hips. “Someone kept me up most of the night and then I had to work.” Some of the fire went out of her speech. “Then I was so tired I just passed out.”
He shook his head. “Take a shower and get dressed. We’ll stop by the café before we go to the tender boat.”
Chapter Eight
The ship would leave port at ten thirty. He’d given her the opportunity to photograph the Mendenhall Glacier both from the air and from the ice. His prediction that she would love the helicopter ride had been correct. She laughed, smiled and took dozens of pictures.
Being from Florida, she shivered and had to really make an effort to steady her quaking body before each shot. In spite of the warm summer they were having in Alaska, it was still cold standing on the ancient slab of ice.
Upon returning to town, they made the trip up the mountain by gondola lift. The cable car was the only practical way for them to get to the park at the top. Some people hiked the path up, but that would take far too long. The incredible views had her clicking picture after picture of both the ships in the harbor and the endless mountain peaks to the east.
She sat on a bench and looked out at the view. “I’m just going to check my messages. Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” He sat down next to her.
She pulled a cell phone from her bag and poked at the screen before holding it up to her ear. A minute later she frowned and shook her head.
“Bad news?” He took her hand.
She smiled, but the expression looked contrived. There was none of the fire that he associated with her happiness. “No. I just had a message from my mother.”
“Is everything all right?”
A very unpleasant laugh that was more of a scoff pushed from her lips. “She’s fine. Just complaining about my taking this trip and leaving her behind.”
“She didn’t want you to take this job.” He guessed his confusion showed on his face because then she really did laugh.
“My mother can be…a bit difficult. If it’s not about her, she’s not happy.”
He didn’t understand. “But this was a big opportunity for you. I would think she would be proud of your success.”
She stood up and her face became unreadable. “One would think. Ready to head back to the ship? I have everything I need.” She patted her camera bag and walked away down the path toward the gondola lift.
Offering to take her out to dinner in Juneau had produced a wicked smile and a shake of her pretty head. He wanted to please her, to prove to her that he was interested in her and not just sex. The look in her eyes and the way that she was looking at him, gave him the impression that she was not interested in his efforts to be a gentleman.
At eight o’clock they returned to the ship.
“Do you have to work tonight?”
“I’m off duty until we make port in Skagway tomorrow.”
“Jules will be out for the evening. She may get lucky and be gone all night long.”
“Are you flirting with me, Charley?”
She blushed as they entered the elevator. “I’m saying that you should push the button for deck eight.”
“Are you hungry? We could sneak in for the eight thirty service. I always have a table if
I want one or we could have a setting added at your friends’ table.”
“No,” she said. They got off the elevator hand in hand and walked toward her stateroom.
“You’re not hungry?”
As they reached the door, she grabbed his collar and pulled his lips down to meet hers. “Starved. Lucky for us, one can obtain food at any time day or night in my room.”
His cock, which had been at half-mast since entering the elevator, jumped to attention.
Her passion darkened those green eyes, and he thought he could get lost in them for the rest of his life. What the hell was wrong with him?
She opened the door and backed in, put her camera bag down and started stripping out of clothes.
He closed the distance between them and stayed her hand at the top button of her plaid shirt. “I thought you were going to order some food.”
She cocked her head to one side.
His chest tightened. She was adorable.
He walked to the phone, picked it up and dialed room service. “Hello, this is stateroom 8088. I’d like to have dinner sent up.”
“Yes, Sir. You understand it might take a short while. We are in the middle of dinner service.”
“Yes. Of course.”
“What would you like, Sir?”
“Caviar, olives and a cheese assortment, filet minion and lobster and fruit and chocolate for desert. And can you send a nice bottle of Pinot Noir with that?”
“Of course, Sir. It will be sent up directly.”
“Thank you.” He hung up the phone.
She had kicked off her shoes and sat on the end of one of the two beds. “That sounds as if it’s going to be a lot of food.”
He opened the sliding door that led to the veranda, allowing the cool air to alleviate the stuffiness of the room but slid the curtain to nearly closed for privacy. “Do you eat everything I ordered?”
She stretched her feet out in front of her and wiggled them. She winced as she pointed and flexed her toes. “Yes.”
He knelt down in front of her. “Do your feet hurt?”
Her eyes were wide with surprise as he took her right foot in his hand. “Um, yes and cold. I’m not used to wearing heels every night and I’m sure not used to standing and walking on ice. I hadn’t expected it to be such a rough surface. It’s stupid, but I thought the top of the glacier would be smooth.”
He pulled off her thick wool sock and started to rub his thumbs along her arch. “It’s not stupid at all. How could you know until you’ve seen it?”
She moaned. “God, that feels good.”
He rubbed the ball of her foot and her heel for several minutes. Charley leaned back on the bed. Tiny satisfied moans escaped her mouth. Her feet were smooth and her nails polished. He removed the sock from the other foot and gave it the same treatment. As he rubbed, he saw that hint of long underwear poking out below her jeans.
“I have to see them.” Before she could react, he reached up and popped the button of her jeans, slid the zipper down and started to tug the denim over her hips.
She gave a yelp and tried to sit up. He already had the jeans halfway over her ass, making it difficult for her to adjust. “What are you doing? I thought you said we had to wait for the food to arrive.”
“I have to see these long johns. It can’t wait.”
She laughed and made a futile effort to stop his hands. The denim clung to the waffle style thermals all the way down. After much effort, Kyle succeeded in removing the garment and exposing her long underwear. He stood up and looked down at the cream-colored old-fashioned thermals that clung to her legs and hips.
She was still laughing and he couldn’t help his own mirth. “You know they have made new styles of these in recent years.”
She rose to her elbows and look down at herself. “I like these. They’re nostalgic and very warm.”
He straddled her lap and pushed her back on the mattress. “Do you have the matching top on?”
He started unbuttoning her shirt. She slapped at his hands, but not with much assertion. Soon he exposed the matching V-neck.
“Are you happy now? You have proven how ridiculous I am.” She continued to giggle.
He leaned down and kissed her neck. “You are adorable.”
“You must be crazy.”
He rose on his hands and hovered over her. Laughing with Charley, he felt happier than he had in a long time. His cheeks started to ache from smiling. “Do you know what the best part of these old-fashioned long johns is?”
“You get to make fun of me for the rest of the cruise?”
“No, but that is a bonus.”
She laughed so hard she barely got out her question between giggles. “What then?”
He moved so that he was stretched out alongside her then reached his hand down between her legs. “They are equipped with a very convenient button front.”
The crotch had three tiny buttons, which he manipulated easily. He slid his finger through the opening of the underwear and found the soft, bare skin of her pussy beneath.
He was sure his surprise registered in his face. He looked down at her, and she smiled.
“Nothing underneath?”
She shrugged and raised her eyebrows.
“Charley, everything about you is a surprise.” He teased the outer lips of her soft, shaved pussy.
Her earlier giggling stopped and she closed her eyes as his fingers slipped between her folds.
Within seconds her nectar began to flow. He rubbed the wetness along her slit.
A high-pitched cry escaped her lips as his fingers swirled over her clit. Her hips lifted off the bed. His lips covered hers and his tongue dove into her mouth. He dipped one finger inside her, and she nipped his lip gently. His touch was light as he slid up and down along her crease, each pass he made over her clit causing a tiny cry that was muffled by his mouth.
One of her hands wrapped around his neck while the other clutched his arm. Her hips lifted and fell with each pass.
“Are you going to come, Charley?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Come for me, baby. I could watch you come a thousand times.”
He rubbed her clit faster but not harder. Her hips bounced up and down in time and her cries increased. His cock pressed hard against his jeans. Watching her ecstasy was so erotic, he wanted to plunge deep inside her immediately. He wished he hadn’t ordered the food. He would have to keep his clothes on until the room service was delivered. In the meantime, he would revel in making Charley come.
He lightened his touch and her hips settled. Her breath was ragged and her pussy gushed with fresh moisture. He didn’t waste any of that glorious liquid heat as he slid two fingers deep inside her feeling the soft tightness of her passage. Lifting up the cotton top, his mouth closed over her nipple, sucking it through the thin lace bra and soaking the material. He nipped the bud between his teeth, and she moaned lifting her hips. He pulled his fingers out and pushed them deep inside again while still tugging on her distended nipple.
Once again his fingers found her clit and rubbed the now swollen bud. She panted and cried. His mouth covered hers, muffling the noise. Increasing the pressure, he felt her tighten and plunged his fingers back inside her just in time to experience her canal clutching and pulsing around him.
He stilled, letting her orgasm crescendo and then subside. His lips trailed kisses along her jaw. “You really are spectacular when you come. I’ve never seen anything so gorgeous in my life.”
She moaned and he felt her pussy tighten again just from his words. She liked to be watched, and he could not have been more turned on. His entire body pulsed with need.
A loud knock at the cabin door broke the spell.
She gasped and practically jumped from the bed. “What’s that? Oh god, it’s Jules.”
The knock repeated. “Room service.”
Her face was the color of a lobster.
He couldn’t help laughing. “Why don’t you go into the
bathroom for a minute? I’ll take care of the food.”
She practically sprinted for the bathroom door, ran in and pulled it shut. “Stop laughing at me.”
The demand through the wall of the bathroom made him laugh even harder as he opened the door.
“Hello, Eduardo. How are things in the kitchen?” Kyle asked. He stepped aside and allowed the waiter to place the large tray of food on the table near the sliding door.
“Very busy, sir. How are you today?”
“I’m fine. Would you mind terribly changing the billing on this meal to my account?”
“No problem at all, sir.” The waiter headed for the door.
“Thank you, Eduardo.”
“Good evening, sir. Enjoy your meal.”
As the waiter left, Kyle took the Do Not Disturb tag from the inside knob and moved it to the outside. If Jules came back to the room, the sign might prompt her to knock before entering.
“You can come out now, Charley. The coast is clear.” He walked over and sat on the couch next to the small table where the food created delightful scents in the stateroom.
He heard the door to the bathroom open and close but didn’t look up. He took the cover off of the appetizer tray that had been delivered. Small crusts of toasted baguette were arranged around the platter with caviar, brie and olives. He popped an olive in his mouth and savored the briny flavor.
“You appear to be overdressed, sailor.”
The shy woman he’d made love to was nowhere to be found. This version of Charley stood completely naked with her hands on her slim, rounded hips. Her eyes dark with passion. He had to make an effort not to knock the entire tray of food onto the floor.
“So it would seem,” he said. “What happened to your charming underwear?”
“I didn’t realize how much you liked them. Shall I put them back on?” She made a move back toward the bathroom.
Kyle practically leaped over the table to stop her by wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her close. “Oh no you don’t. I like this look much better.”
In spite of her efforts to be seductive, she blushed. He touched her cheek and she looked up into his eyes. “God dammit, Charley. Why do you have to be so irresistible?”
Alaskan Exposure Page 11
