by Jordan Bell
Everyone in the room stared. Jonah wiped his face clean of emotion. He looked at Eric and then across the room at nothing in particular. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“No! Why not? Oh please Jonah, she’s never been before! I promised she’d get to try everything while she was here! Take her Jonah, please?” Shannon was awake with her glasses perched on top of her head. She turned in her chair and regarded her brother eagerly. “Just a short one?”
Jonah shifted in his chair, took another immediate drink of water. Eva sighed a little. “I would love to go out on one of the boats.”
I would not love to go out on one of the boats at all. I wanted to stay with Shannon and I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather be less than alone with Jonah and Eva McCallister out far enough that I couldn’t swim back if they started making out in front of me.
“Alright,” he said with a sigh. “I concede.”
***
Eric, Nelson, and Cole rounded up the rest of the party, with Henry staying behind with Shannon who was afraid of the open water. Eric assisted me into big fast looking blue boat docked near the end and helped me get strapped into my life jacket. I snuck looks at Jonah as he prepped the boat and loaded its gear. He snuck looks back, but I couldn’t decipher them.
Despite everything, I was kind of excited. It was true, I’d never been on a boat before. I had been to the ocean. Shannon and I were only a few hours from it at school and she loved the beach.
I wanted to taste the salty air and feel it rushing through my hair the way it did in movies. Eric suggested a spot at the front, and as soon as Eva and her long tan legs spread out on the back benches, I listened to his advice.
Jonah took the wheel and turned her on. She purred quietly as he backed her out of her spot and steered her out into the open water. It was a nice day, but clouds cutting the sky threatened to end our happy trip early anyway. Once we’d gotten far enough from the docks, Jonah hit the throttle and the boat leapt forward as if she was born to only go fast.
I grabbed onto the railing and leaned out to watch the waves cut before us. It was exhilarating! We zipped through the endless blue and boy were we fast. I very quickly fell in love with the cut and bounce and how controlled but almost wild Jonah handled her. I wanted to reach out and skim my fingers across the foamy water, but I didn’t dare.
Once we’d gotten far enough out, Jonah slowed us down and killed the engine so that we were set adrift, riding the current gently rather than fighting it to get out this far. With the roar of the wind and engine gone, I could hear laughter from the back of the boat and wanted to be near Nelson and Eric and whatever joke they were telling. When I stood, I immediately wobbled and fell back into the seats.
“Careful,” Jonah said, appearing and taking my arm and easing me back to the leather seat. I was acutely aware of my windblown hair and flushed, cold cheeks. He dropped into the leather beside me with a sigh and stretched out, taking up most of the room in our little area of the boat.
He did not have his life jacket on anymore, so I thought it might be ok to take mine off too. It was heavy and tight and made me sweaty underneath. The clasps gave me trouble.
“Let me.” Jonah sat up, brushed my hands away like they were annoyances and nothing more. He carefully unhooked me from my jacket and slid it from my shoulders.
His hand fell to my knee and his thumb found a tiny scar there, one of many smaller ones I couldn’t hide from the world. He touched it gently, absently. Then, remembering, he took my wrist and turned my arm over to inspect the soft skin at the inside of my elbow. Tiny blue bruises blushed the skin where Cole had grabbed me. “I should have broken his fingers” he murmured, more to himself I think, than to me.
The anger there startled me. I held my breath as he stroked the soft skin. His knuckles brushed the curve of my breast and we both felt my body shiver.
“Are you wearing your bathing suit?” he asked as if it were the most natural thing for him to be asking me.
“Yes,” I said, breathless from the smallest contact. Why was he touching me? Please don’t let him stop.
“Let me see.” His voice sounded heavy, sun-tired, and I obeyed because I wanted to, despite everything else. I lifted the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my shoulders. When I went for the hem of my boy shorts, his hands stopped me. “Let me.”
I nodded, lifted my hips as he took them down my thighs, just like he’d done with my panties, slow and deliberate, as if he wanted to make this quiet moment between us last as long as possible. My panties! I’d completely forgotten them in his room! He smiled a little, the smallest, barest of smiles, and I wondered if he could hear my thoughts or if he was remembering this moment last night, too.
My bathing suit wasn’t much less revealing than my shirt and shorts had been. It was a one piece, blue, with a slightly shinier blue pattern of swirls extending from my hips up to just under my breasts, which were also completely covered. His heavy lidded gaze fell down my body to where his hand rested on my thigh. He slid it up to my hip and hesitated over my stomach. I hesitated too, but at the last minute whispered, “No.”
“Why?” he said and lowered his lips to my shoulder. I shivered when he kissed me there. “Why hide from me now? I want to see all of you.”
I swallowed. He’d already told me no last night, told me not to come back. What harm did it matter if I told him the truth now? It wouldn’t change anything.
“No, you don’t. Trust me. It’s not…”
And is if on cue, she appeared sans life jacket in a tiny yellow bikini with ties on both hips, a mere triangle of fabric between her and the whole world. Her breasts, round and large, pushed the fabric to its breaking point. She was beautiful, a flat, soft stomach marred only by a tattoo of a series of three stars near her belly button. Jonah put a mile between us in an instant, bored and disinterested as if nothing had happened.
“…that,” I finished, quiet enough for him to hear, though he said nothing.
“There you both are, hiding up here like a couple of mice. We forgot the cooler with the beer.”
“Eric and Nelson are underage. I left it behind on purpose.” Jonah shrugged and moved over closer to me so she could stretch her thin, tan body out for us both to see. She made my simple one piece look like something a child would wear. Jonah watched her, and I watched Jonah, and all I wanted to do was go home.
“What the hell, man, there’s no beer?” Cole appeared and my hell was complete.
“No,” Jonah said sharply. “We aren’t staying long enough to drink them anyway. I’m taking you all back in a few minutes.”
I stood up, got my sea legs under me this time. “I’m going to go see what Eric and Nelson are doing.”
Cole dropped into the seat I’d vacated, but not before grabbing me around the waist and pulling me into his lap where my ass fit against his erection. “Mmm, that’s better.”
I gasped and strained with the flat of his hand pressed across my stomach. No! Panic seized me down to my soul because, no one, no one, no one touched me there! I struggled to free myself, which only encouraged him. I had no memory of anyone but doctors touching me there, and every cell in my body fought against his hold. Every part of me wanted to start screaming like a lunatic. He’d only touched me for a handful of seconds before Jonah was on his feet, fury darkening his green eyes.
“Jessica,” he commanded and my name on his lips paralyzed me into stillness. “Come with me. Now. You’re driving.”
Cole released me and I struggled to my feet. Jonah held me behind him before Cole could change his mind. Eva watched us, and I knew girls enough to know that she had us figured out, and she was pissed.
Jonah took my hand and pulled me out of the front of the boat and up a short flight of steps to where the driver’s seats were. Up here we were partially hidden from the others, but we could hear Cole groan loudly and swear about that “fucking tease.” Eva said something we couldn’t hear, but it didn’t matter. I
pressed myself against the wall of the tiny pilot booth and waited for my heart to slow. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt that level of panic. How could anyone stand to be touched? Not me. Not ever again.
I slid to my butt and after Jonah closed the little door to the booth, he fell to his knees and buried his hands in my hair, pulled me against him. He was shaking ever so slightly, and instead of repulsing me, his touch was comforting. So different than what I’d just felt.
“Shhh, it’s alright,” he whispered against my hair. He kissed my head, my temple, my eyelids. “Jessica, it’s alright. He won’t ever touch you again.”
It wasn’t alright, I wanted to say. But maybe it could be.
***
The sun and the salt water made me sleepy, and when Eva tied Jonah up with boating questions designed, I’m positive, to keep him from following me into the woods, I went alone anyway. I discovered Shannon curled up in the cool, dark cabin, snoring softly, clearly exhausted, and decided that was the best idea I’d heard yet. I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I woke late and Shannon was gone but she’d left a note to join her when I was ready. I changed into black jeans and a black tank top and took off at a jog up the path to the main house. The sun was setting and I was starving. I hoped I hadn’t missed dinner because I was not going to ask the French Chef for something to snack on.
Luckily I found Shannon, Henry, Cole, Jonah, Eric, Nelson and the two littlest McCallisters in the breakfast room eating leftover burgers and ribs from the bonfire. They shared a giant pitcher of wine. Jonah started to stand when I came into the room, but Shannon beat him to it and flung herself to me and wrapped her arms around me, careful not to get her BBQ fingers in my hair.
“Jess! I feel like I haven’t seen you in days. Come join us. Our chef had the night off and most everyone else went into town. We’re noshing on leftovers. Hungry?”
“Starved. If it wasn’t made in a microwave, I’ll eat anything.” I pulled up a chair across from Jonah but beside Shannon. Henry and Cole stayed at the end of the line of tables they’d shoved together. I was grateful Eva was not among them.
“Wine?” Shannon asked, filling a glass from the pitcher before I could answer.
“Yes, please.” The liquor was warm and rich, like a dessert. I thought maybe this could be a very dangerous treat.
“Jonah was just regaling us with tales of your boatmanship.”
“I think if the animation thing doesn’t work out, she’s got a future of piracy ahead of her.” Jonah held his glass up and I leaned forward and clinked rims with him.
“I had a good teacher.” I leaned back and shrugged at Shannon who seemed to enjoy seeing her older brother so relaxed. “Besides, piracy is kind of sexy, you know?”
“Oh yeah. You’d look hot in one of those tricorn hats.”
“You know I would.” We clinked glasses and Eric loaded up a plate of food and sent it my way.
Between the good food, the company, and plenty of wine, the group relaxed and paired off, with the four teenagers leaving to the deck under the pretense of counting stars, to Sarah McCallister’s absolute pleasure. Cole disappeared once Shannon found her way into Henry’s lap, and I was left licking BBQ sauce from my fingers. Jonah got up from his chair and took Shannon’s place beside me. He took my hand and caught a finger between his lips. His tongue was velvety soft as he licked the sauce from my skin.
“Come to my cabin tonight.” He took a second finger into his mouth and held my gaze with astonishing intensity. I didn’t look away, couldn’t bear to.
“You told me never to come back,” I whispered. I was being coy, we both knew I’d be there as soon as I could.
“I was foolish and wrong. If you don’t come to me, I’ll come looking for you. Promise me.” He leaned forward, held my fingers between his. “Don’t refuse me.”
I wanted to touch his hair, stroke his hard, unyielding face until it was as soft as mine. Shannon and Henry were alone in their world, but I couldn’t risk it and I didn’t think he’d want me to try. I nodded.
“I promise. I’ve never refused you, have I?”
He considered this while sipping his wine. Jonah reached for the fruit plate, plucked the cherry from the ice, dipped it in his wine glass, and leaned forward so his back blocked Henry and Shannon from me.
“Open your mouth, Jessica.”
I parted my lips, just enough for him to press the sweet fruit between them to my tongue. I captured it between my teeth and sucked it into my mouth. He watched my lips, mesmerized.
“You’re making me crazy,” he murmured. “You must know how wrong this is.”
Shannon and Henry were kissing as if their very lives depended upon the dexterity of Henry’s tongue. Be bold, Jessica.
“Go to your cabin. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
He looked surprised, a little glassy-eyed from the alcohol. “Now?”
“Unless you would rather not.”
He stood abruptly and headed for the door without another word. I waited until he was out of sight before bidding Shannon goodnight. She waved half-heartedly over her shoulder, but managed not to break the kiss.
I didn’t go straight to Jonah’s. I walked around a lot, the alcohol making me nervous and bold at the same time. I didn’t want to be intoxicated when I went there and I liked the idea of making him wait for me. The moment I put my foot on the bottom step to his cabin, the door swung open and his bare chest and low hung pants met me on the stairs.
“I’ve been waiting forever,” he growled and I loved the way he sounded when he took hold of me, pulled me up two more steps so that we were pressed together. “I thought you weren’t…” He cut himself off, took my face in his hands, and pulled me to him until his mouth was on mine and all at once it became a battle over who could draw pleasure from the other faster. He had no clothing for me to grab so I put my hands on his bare chest, solid and etched beneath my fingertips. He pulled at my hips and the small of my back until it felt like he wouldn’t be pleased until I was inside of him, part of him.
His tongue tasted of red wine, sweet and intoxicating. He lured my tongue to his lips and sucked on it, bit it gently with that growl I loved. He kissed my lips, sank into me, took his breath from mine. I never thought we’d make it into his cabin until he broke the kiss and dragged me by the hand inside, into the cool dark of his bedroom.
The curtains were open though, illuminating our skin just enough to find and explore each other in the dark. I could tell he ached to pull my shirt from my body, but settled for stroking the roundness of my breasts in his palms through my shirt. He played with my nipples, coaxed them until they were stiff and painful. He left me briefly and returned from behind to caress them and hold me against him and I’d never felt so worshipped as I did then when his mouth latched onto my throat and kissed his way to my jawline.
He didn’t touch my stomach on his way to my hips and then to the zipper of my jeans. He popped first the button, and then dragged the zipper down one tooth at a time until he could slip the rough fabric from my hips. He found my panties then, red and black satin and it was all he could do to only groan against my throat and finger the tiny cords of fabric holding them on.
Jonah pulled me back to his bed and pushed me down so I bounced when I fell. He crawled onto me, straddled my hips and pinned my wrists over my head. His mouth found mine again, slower this time. I couldn’t get enough of the way he tasted. It was a crime we hadn’t kissed before now.
His cock, hard and throbbing against his pants pushed into my belly, held my hips still though I very badly wanted him inside of me. He worshipped my lips, sucked at my tongue and plundered my mouth with such vigorous aggression. He groaned and pressed my hips down into the bed.
“What do you want, Jessica? Tell me exactly what you want.”
“You,” I gasped and pushed to meet his hips, our battle for control began. “All of you. Inside me.”
He responded by crus
hing my mouth with his, rough and desperate. Savage. It lasted only a second before he climbed off me and grabbed the front of my panties in his fist and ripped them down my thighs. I bent my knees, lifted my hips as he tore them from my body. He unbuckled his pants, unzipped them, and drank all of me in with his gaze in the soft, ocean moonlight that fell across his bed. His cock fell straight and hard, swollen and wet. He grabbed my hips and yanked me down the bed toward him.
“You are a very naughty little girl, Jessica. What would people think if they could see you now?”
I grinned, arched my hips so I could feel his erection slide back and forth against my thighs. Jonah reached for each wrist, pinned them above my head in one hand. He leaned over me and slid his other hand between my legs, cupped me in his palm, and probed me with his middle finger as he searched my face for the answer to the universe and the stars. He could see through me, into me, I was sure of it.
“I only care what you think, Jonah. What do you think? Tell me,” I moaned and arched my body up against his. “Tell me.”
“I think,” he said and lowered his mouth to the dip in my tank top between my breasts. I gasped, it was too close to the no-fly zone of my body, but instead of pulling away, I pushed toward his mouth and he kissed me there again and again, tracing the forbidden edge of fabric with his lips and tongue. “I think this is all I’ve thought about for days. Your thighs, your body, that gorgeous mouth. I want you very badly.”
I moaned and forced my hips against him, ground against his length like I’d die without it. He released my wrists, stood tall over me, and slapped my left hip that stung and sent me nearly over the edge.
“On your hands and knees, Jessica. Show me how beautiful your ass is.” I’d never been spanked before, but the way he growled and stroked the hot, stinging spot made me shiver desperately.
“Again,” I whispered. “Again, please.”
“My eager girl,” he sighed. I pushed my ass into the air, lowered my face to the bed. He took both ass cheeks in his hands, stroked and petted them with gentle devotion. When he had me moaning and rocking into his hands, he pulled his right hand back and smacked harder this time, once, twice, until I was sure I could feel his hand print, hot and stinging, left there like a permanent reminder of how badly I wanted him and he wanted me. He lowered his mouth to the handprint, kissed it and I couldn’t take it anymore.
