Under The Covers

by Crystal Jordan, Lorie O'Clare

  But she wouldn’t forgive him. As she’d told him when they’d run through the rain back to the cabins and stood outside her door dripping wet, how would she know if he ever lied to her again. Even if they were just a two-week fling, she wouldn’t have a brief affair with a man she couldn’t trust.

  Remembering how his eyes had darkened when she’d mentioned them having just a two-week affair still stopped her heart when she pulled up the vision in her head.

  How could he want more? she asked herself, her thoughts going insane as she straightened and moved so the water streamed down her back.

  God, she was stupid for even thinking about this. There wasn’t room in her life for a relationship. And a long-distance relationship would really suck. Not that she really ever stayed anywhere that long. She went where the grant money was, carrying out her research with whatever company or organization would take her on. Regardless, her work was her life. She was happy. Why stir up the waters and complicate things?

  As the water turned cold, she shut off the shower and reached for her towel. It was hard to believe it was Christmas Eve. Normal people would be waiting for family to show up, filling their homes with the smell of rich food cooking and shaking gifts under the tree while waiting with baited breath for the moment to arrive when the presents could be opened.

  It wasn’t the first Christmas she hadn’t been around family; there wasn’t any reason to feel melancholy about it this year. Mercedes didn’t mind easing into a sundress instead of bundling up in pants and sweaters—the cold weather never had been her thing. Opting for one of her strapless mini dresses, she pulled the zipper up under her arm and then shifted in front of the mirror, admiring her figure. Once again Jeremy’s face, his eyes dark and predatory, appeared in her mind.

  “You’re going to see him.” She stared at her reflection, knowing she wasn’t asking herself a question.

  In the past few days she hadn’t done any work—she’d barely left her cabin. If she had, the chances of running into Jeremy would be too great. Maybe she was intelligent. Maybe playing math games and challenging her mind appealed to her. Maybe she was the classic geek. But that didn’t mean she would have the strength to stay out of his arms despite knowing he could so easily break her heart.

  “Just don’t let that happen.” She gave herself a firm nod, reminding herself for the hundredth time—as she’d argued over the right thing to do—that no one could hurt her unless she allowed it. “Don’t pass up the hot sex. Let it go at that. Everyone leaves happy.”

  It would be her Christmas present to herself. Fucking Jeremy. One hell of a gift.

  After taking her time applying makeup and then brushing out her hair until it glowed and curled at the ends, she slipped into sandals and stepped outside her cabin for the first time in days. The bright sun immediately blinded her. Turning her back to the sun, she faced Jeremy’s cabin.

  “Decide to join the living?” he asked, leaning in his doorway with a cup of coffee.

  “I figured I couldn’t stay in there forever.” She offered him a small smile he didn’t return. His dark, brooding stare wasn’t readable and sent chills rushing over her flesh, even though it was warm outside. “And it is Christmas Eve and all,” she added, suddenly wondering if she’d spent days mulling over something that wasn’t even an option.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, his demanding tone the same as always.

  She could get really accustomed to having a man in her life who cared so much he always wanted to know what she was doing and where she was.

  “I thought about seeing what was going on in the village,” she said, saying the first thing that came to her mind.

  He let silence pass between them, not letting go of her gaze and watching her with a hard, aggressive look that made her feel as though he might leap without a moment’s notice.

  “And that’s the only reason you’re out of your cabin—to go to the village?”

  “Do I need another reason?”

  Jeremy pushed away from the door frame, still holding his coffee as he moved in on her slowly. “Tell me something, Mercedes.”

  “Okay,” she said, swearing she felt tiny hairs prickle to attention down her spine.

  “Is this honesty thing you demand a two-way street?”

  “What?” she gasped. “I have never lied to you!”

  “You’re looking that hot to go into a village?” he demanded.

  He stood so close she had to tilt her head to see his face. That hardened expression didn’t change. If she didn’t know better she’d swear he was pissed that she looked nice. She focused on his mouth, how his lips were pressed together into a thin line, and let his words sink in.

  “What do you mean a two-way street?” she asked.

  “Just what I said. You look beautiful,” he added, his tone dropping to a husky growl.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “I know you’re just as beautiful when you don’t go to all this effort.” He raised his hand between them and brushed his fingers over the top of her strapless dress.

  Mercedes hissed in a breath, her breasts swelling and aching as he brushed his finger over the exposed cleavage.

  “Yet today you’re absolutely stunning. Did you prepare yourself for villagers you don’t know?”

  “No,” she uttered, the one word barely audible.

  “Who are you trying to impress?” he demanded.

  “You.”

  Jeremy turned and walked away from her, entering his cabin but leaving the door open. Telling him the truth was so easy, yet if her reward was him storming away from her, she wasn’t sure she could handle it. No matter how much she’d argued with herself over the past few days that she could seek him out and make him her lover without getting her feelings tangled up, she’d failed to do that within minutes of him seeing her.

  Mercedes stepped forward, approaching his open doorway as if it might be a trap of sorts. She rubbed her hands down her hips, feeling how damp her palms were when she fisted them and tried to get her heart to quit pounding so hard.

  “Crap!” she screeched when Jeremy suddenly appeared in the doorway, storming back out as quickly as he’d stormed in. He no longer held his coffee cup, and he lifted her, yanking her into his arms, and then backed into his cabin. “Jeremy!” she yelled.

  Mercedes slid down roped muscle, her heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe. Digging her fingers into his shoulders, fighting to hold on and to get her world to quit spinning, she felt her breasts smash against his rock-hard chest. She stared into his smoldering gray eyes, seeing the intensity of his unadulterated lust. But there was something else, something predatory and raw that made her insides quicken as she lost herself in those incredible eyes.

  “Tell me you want me,” he growled.

  The swelling in her womb throbbed between her legs and burned her insides alive. She opened her mouth to answer, worrying it was too dry to utter the words. “The past few days…” she began.

  “Tell me you want me,” he repeated, barely moving his mouth when he stressed each word.

  “I want you,” she whispered.

  “I’m not perfect,” he told her. “But there is a possibility I’m perfect for you.”

  She couldn’t help grinning.

  “This isn’t a joking matter.” His expression grew even darker, which she was surprised to see was possible. “You’re not going to run from me again.”

  “Jeremy, we’re here for two weeks—”

  Again she wasn’t able to finish her thought. Jeremy pounced on her mouth, moving his hands as he stepped forward until her backside pressed up against the wall. He pinned her there, devouring her mouth with the hunger she’d seen in his eyes the last few times she’d looked at him. Obviously, that hunger hadn’t diminished since she’d last seen him. Maybe while she’d been in her cabin battling her demons, he’d been over here doing the same.

  One thing was for sure: she wasn’t going to make sense out of it whi
le he was kissing her senseless. Mercedes didn’t know what it was about the way he kissed that made her lose focus. With her backside pressed against the wall and his hard-packed, muscular body smashed against her front side, she couldn’t think about anything other than what he was doing to her body.

  A fever rushed over her, boiling her alive and giving her chills at the same time. But more so than that, the need pouring out of him—the raw, untamed, intense desire he released upon her—ransacked her brain until all she could do was hold on and pray he wouldn’t make her come so hard she’d pass out.

  Jeremy nipped her lip. She cried out and then slid down the wall when he grabbed her arms and started feasting on her neck.

  “God—shit, Jeremy,” she moaned, the pressure building to a boiling point that would make her mad if he didn’t do something about it.

  “You’re the one who made me wait several days.” He found her zipper on the side of the dress and yanked it down.

  Her dress slid down her body, exposing her breasts and rendering her naked in seconds, shy of the lacy underwear she’d opted on when she’d dressed. The material tangled around her ankles, but Jeremy didn’t give her room to move from between him and the wall. The moment her breasts were free, he cupped them with his large, strong hands and then pinched her already sensitive nipples between his fingers and thumbs.

  Mercedes arched her neck, feeling the hard wall behind her head but not caring. Sparks ignited inside her, and a streak as powerful as a bolt of lightning charged from her oversensitive nipples straight to her pussy.

  She shoved her hips against him. “You aren’t accustomed to going a few days without sex?” she asked, her voice so husky it didn’t sound like her speaking.

  “I’ve gone more than a year without sex,” he growled against her throat and then bit the sensitive spot just above her collarbone.

  Mercedes jumped, digging her fingers into solid muscle. “Then why are you complaining?”

  “That was before I met you.”

  God, he had the lines. “How did you survive?”

  He stepped back so quickly Mercedes staggered forward. “I don’t think you understand.”

  She brushed hair away from her face, trying to catch her breath. It was hard as hell just having a conversation. Her body sizzled with unleashed desire that would make it hard for her to comprehend much of anything at the moment, other than that he’d stopped touching her.

  “What don’t I understand?”

  “I don’t want a fling. I don’t want to just fuck you and then pretend we don’t know each other the next day.” He took her hand and pulled her from the wall. Then, gripping her arms, he pushed her forward until she crawled onto his bed. “There’s something here between you and me. Something strong enough it’s driving you as crazy as it is me. We’re going to explore it, and we’re not limiting it to a two-week time period.”

  Mercedes slid her legs underneath her, facing him as she sat in the middle of his neatly made bed. Papers were scattered along the desk and dresser with an open laptop amid it all. Proof of his writing—and being lost somewhere in the South Pacific working on his second book. Jeremy wasn’t focused on his work now, though. He stared at her as if she were the only thing around him. Just him and her.

  “I didn’t get any work done the past few days.” Mercedes wasn’t sure why she’d made that her response to what he’d just said. Her heart had swelled to the point where it was too large for her rib cage. Blood rushed through her veins so fast the rushing sound in her head drowned out her ability to think about anything else. “And you were right when you saw me leave my cabin. I spent all morning getting ready to come see you.”

  He’d started unbuttoning his shirt and paused at her admission. Raising his gaze to her face, his incredible gray eyes smoldered with an emotion so strong it stole her breath. “Take off your underwear,” he instructed her, glancing at her for only a moment but then returning to his task, making incredibly quick work of getting out of his clothes. “I really like how they look on you and would hate to rip them off you and ruin them so I couldn’t see you in them again.”

  Mercedes slipped out of her underwear and tossed them to the floor in the general direction of her dress. When Jeremy was naked he climbed over her, forcing her to lie down. She ran her fingernails down his chest, relishing the feel of the tight, dark curls that spread over his chest. As he moved between her legs, she lifted them, wrapping her thighs around his hips and pulling him closer. His cock was swollen, thick, and hard and pressed against her entrance as soon as he was on top of her.

  Bracing his arms on either side of her, Jeremy stared down, gracing her once again with that smoldering gaze. His expression was pinched, as though he concentrated on something so fiercely it took every bit of his energy to maintain it.

  “I have a confession,” she whispered, knowing she had been the one who’d demanded that anything between them be built on a foundation of honesty and trust.

  “Oh, yeah?” he growled, lowering his mouth to her shoulder and scraping his teeth over her flesh.

  She jerked in reaction, breathing in hard while fighting to keep her thoughts about her so she could say what she needed to tell him. “Yes. Like I said earlier, I never did like your book.”

  He chuckled, not looking up. “I can live with that.”

  “I didn’t like it, because it described a type of man who didn’t appeal to me.”

  Jeremy did raise his attention to her at that, searching her face without saying anything.

  She needed to get this out and then take whatever reaction he had. “I never knew this before meeting you. You’re bossy, pushy, demanding, and aggressive.”

  Jeremy didn’t say a word, watching her and not touching her, other than with his cock, which continued throbbing against her soaked pussy. Obviously, listing his character defects had done nothing to sway his confidence. He remained hard as steel as he tortured her, the swell of his cock stroking her but not entering her.

  “I would have sworn to anyone that a man who tried to dominate me would get a swift kick in the ass and a firm good-bye.”

  The corner of his jaw twitched. Jeremy’s opinion of himself was solid. Obviously, he didn’t regret any of his actions with her since meeting her. He would be a handful, testing and trying her patience throughout their time together. Just thinking about taking him on, daring to stand up to the overwhelming male domination that radiated from him, had her thrusting her hips up, eager to feel him inside her.

  “Which is why only a strong man would work for you, my dear. Otherwise you’d chase him away.”

  She hadn’t thought about it, but he was right. “And that’s why I didn’t care for your book. It didn’t describe the type of man for me.”

  “I’m the type of man for you.”

  “I think you are,” she whispered. “The real you.”

  Jeremy impaled her, giving no warning but filling her with everything he had. Mercedes howled, dragging her fingers down his arm while clenching her legs together and willing him to fuck her.

  There wasn’t any torture. No longer. He didn’t tease or take his time. Jeremy moved in to hard-core lovemaking, riding her hard and giving her everything she needed. His face was a blur, but Mercedes could feel the smoothness of his flesh, the coarse hair that covered it, and his warm, powerful body tensing over hers as he fucked her.

  There wasn’t any way of knowing how long they’d be together. But, then, couples who’d been together for years couldn’t say if they’d make it a lifetime. It was one day at a time, and today Mercedes was willing to give it her all. Jeremy had written a book about the perfect man, but that man wasn’t him. And he was perfect—for her. He’d been given credit for helping relationships around the world—though his book didn’t do anything for the two of them. If anything, without their own desire to be honest and try and make what had sparked between them work, his book might have torn them apart.

  “Mercedes!” he roared, every inch of
him tightening while his cock seemed to grow and swell inside her.

  The pressure he’d released and built back up now swelled to dangerous levels, robbing her of her breath as she struggled to focus on his face. He brought his mouth to hers, his breath hot and ragged.

  “I’m going to come. Come with me, baby,” he whispered, sounding hoarse and growling as he slowed the pace, his strokes now torturously meticulous when he moved deep inside her.

  She didn’t need to tell him what he needed to do to make her come. As he spoke, he gave one final hard thrust, diving deep into her heat and pressing against that spot that sent her over the edge.

  Fireworks erupted before her eyes as her world exploded. A dam broke inside her, and with it all reservations of being able to live without this guy. They were off to a good start, she thought, and regardless of their work, they would make whatever it was between them survive. Jeremy was bullheaded enough to see to it. And she was intelligent enough to know how to use his stubbornness to her advantage.

  “Merry Christmas,” she whispered, curling up alongside him when he pulled out.

  “It might just be the best one so far,” he muttered, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closer. “For once, I got the present I wished for.”

  “What was that?”

  “You,” he said and noticeably relaxed next to her.

  Mercedes placed her hand over his heart, feeling its solid beat, and had to agree with him. “I’m getting what I want for Christmas, too.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  She chuckled, loving his self-confidence and making a mental note, as she got incredibly comfortable in his arms, to suggest that his next book use more of his real voice. After all, every woman loved a real man. And now she had hers.