by Afton Locke
“Hello, Jimmy,” Sadie said as she walked by. Pearl could tell by the coy glances her cousin gave him she was interested in him.
He barely looked up. “Hello, uh…Sadie.”
Sadie glared at Pearl, as if his lack of interest were her fault, before going to her station. I can’t help how I look, Pearl thought. Besides, Sadie had nothing to worry about. Jimmy wasn’t the person on her mind this morning.
Then she realized he was exactly the type of man her aunt expected her to marry. The kind she herself expected to marry. He was successful and seemed nice too. Mama would approve. She grabbed another oyster. Jimmy was being friendly to her because she was new, nothing more.
She glanced around the plant. Where was Caleb? Had last evening really happened? When she looked back at the small shucking room, she saw the door wide open and people working in there. It was impossible to believe she’d been there alone with the owner behind a locked door.
As soon as she placed the oyster on the cutting block, she remembered her private lesson. Everything Caleb had taught her about shucking came back to her.
The secret is in the first cut…then she’s easy to spread open…wet and tasty…just waiting to be plucked.
His choice of words wasn’t lost on her. If only she could feel his body pressed behind hers again it would make this dreary day pass so much faster. She tackled her first oyster, amazed at how accurately and quickly she shucked it. Encouraged by her progress, she grabbed another and then another. Before she knew it, it was time to take pails full of meat to the processing window.
When she returned to her post, she moved her hands without conscious thought. Shucking had almost become as automatic as breathing. While she worked, she relived every moment of last night—the oyster he slipped into her mouth, his hot tongue exploring the folds of her ear and his lips dipping to the swell of her breasts. It was as if her body floated, suspended in another time.
This day was certainly different from her first. Now that she was more relaxed she noticed more camaraderie among the workers. Two men on the other side of Leroy had an informal contest on who could shuck the most oysters in the next half hour. Behind her, Wilma gossiped with another woman.
The strains of a spiritual hymn drifted to her from the other end of the plant and got louder as other people joined in. She didn’t recognize it but found herself humming along. The music reminded her of Annabelle’s piano. Looking down at her fingers encrusted with oyster juice, she wished she could still play.
The lunch break passed but she still hadn’t seen Caleb at all. Was he here today? And then she heard his voice near the unloading dock. The knife dropped from her hand as she turned to look. Her heart stuttered when she saw him. Just the sight of him and sound of his voice made her feel his mouth on hers again.
Her gaze clung to his pale eyes and the moustache that had brushed her face. He shook hands with one of the watermen delivering oysters and then slapped him on the back. It was easy to see who was in charge, but his posture and voice were so easygoing everyone must like him. They came her way so they must be headed to his office. Pearl froze, daring not to even breathe until they passed.
Would he look at her? Speak to her? Introduce her to the other man as his lady? Pearl squeezed the oyster shell in her hand. Where in the world had such a ridiculous idea come from? She would never be Caleb Rockfield’s lady. Imagining such foolishness would only distract her from her work and the money that needed to be made. Uncle Charlie was sick and Aunt Wilma needed her help.
As they passed by, Pearl pretended to look down at her work while watching Caleb’s face. He glanced at her so briefly she almost missed it. His expression was too blank to read anything from it.
She watched his retreating back as he talked with the other man. He’d looked at her as if she were a piece of furniture, nothing more. Couldn’t he have at least smiled at her, if not greeted her by name? Even a little sparkle in his eye would have acknowledged what they’d shared last night. By letting him be the first man to kiss her, she had given him a little piece of herself. One she could never get back.
Now she felt like a complete fool for worrying about fighting off his advances during their future work together. He obviously regretted what they’d done and wasn’t interested in her. It was just as well, she repeated to herself.
She tossed down her knife. Last night was a dream. This was reality. Here he was important and she was a faceless nobody. The sooner she accepted that the better.
When someone grabbed her arm, she gasped. His name was on her lips but she knew better. He and the other man had gone upstairs.
“Don’t get frustrated now. It’s only your second day.” It was Jimmy Clark.
“I-I’m not frustrated,” she said, trying to gather her wits.
When he let go of her arm, she barely noticed. Why didn’t his touch crackle with electricity as Caleb’s had? She expected to feel that same surge of heat flowing through her body like high tide in a storm. Instead, her blood felt as if it were a stagnant pool of water on a calm day.
“I’ve seen you take your pails to the window several times today,” the other man said. “You’re doing much better.”
“The practice is helping.”
Jimmy grinned and touched her arm again. “If you need any help, you just holler, all right?”
Pearl sighed as she grabbed her next oyster. This morning she’d convinced herself Jimmy was just being nice to her. Now it was obvious he was sweet on her. Not now, she thought. The man was perfect for her but she couldn’t stop thinking about Mr. Rockfield.
She had to get that man out of her mind before her thoughts ruined what might be her only chance at a decent future. In the meantime, she would be pleasant to Jimmy without overly encouraging him. If his interest in her developed slowly, it might give her the time she needed.
She summoned the warmest smile she could. “Thank you, Jimmy. I’ll be sure to do that.”
* * * * *
Caleb’s face looked serious and cold when Pearl reported to his office after work. His office didn’t even look as messy as it had yesterday. Did she still have a job? She wished she hadn’t told Wilma about it because now her aunt would expect the extra money.
“Good evening, Pearl. I’ve made the same arrangements with Leroy as yesterday to take you home.” He didn’t even look at her while he spoke. His face was nearly buried in the clipboard he held.
“I want you to clean the room we were in last time,” he continued. “There’s a long-handled broom down there. Try to get rid of all the cobwebs.”
“Yes, sir.”
She hoped he didn’t hear the disappointment in her voice. What did she expect, another private oyster-shucking lesson? This was for the best. They were supposed to act this way. If only she hadn’t kissed him yesterday. As she headed down the stairs, her chest felt like an oyster with its shell pried open.
Going to the small shucking room, she left the door open. Being in the same room alone was strange. Instead of small and cozy, it felt cold and empty. She’d gotten halfway through the cleaning when the door opened. Her heart pounded against her ribs as she turned around to see who it was, hoping it was him.
It was. The pale blue glance that had barely skimmed her earlier today burned with an intensity that nearly stole her breath. This time there was no doubt he was looking at her. No doubt, either, about what he was thinking. Her previous concerns about his lack of interest evaporated.
Without a word, he reached behind him and pushed the door closed. Locked it.
Pearl swallowed hard. “I thought you were going to stay away.”
His voice sounded just as strangled as hers. “I tried.”
Chapter Four
As soon as the latch clicked, Caleb knew he’d surrendered the control he’d hung onto all evening. Something tightened around his chest, restricting his breathing as he gazed at the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind. The woman who could destroy everything he’d built.
“Come here,” he whispered.
Pearl’s hand shook as she leaned the broom against the oyster table opposite him. It fell with a crash. As if in slow motion, she stepped forward and slid her arms around his waist. He locked his around her before she could change her mind and lowered his head to claim her mouth.
A groan rumbled in the back of his throat as her soft lips yielded under his. Everything he’d held back today burst free like a boat torn from its anchor. All the sensible decisions he’d made about her went down the drain in the floor near his feet.
He should stop. Surely he was bruising her mouth. Instead, her fingers dug into his back, spurring him on. His hands moved over her back too, pulling the gray fabric of her dress taut, wanting to tear the ugly thing off. It was much too plain to cover her tempting body.
Even though he hadn’t had nearly enough of her sweet mouth yet, he pulled his face away to gulp some badly needed oxygen. Regaining the slightest bit of control, he buried his face against her soft hair. She smelled earthy and musky-sweet like flowers growing in the shade.
“I’ve thought about you all day,” he said.
When she looked up at him, the hurt in her eyes was impossible to miss. “I have too but when you didn’t notice me earlier, I thought—”
“Oh, I noticed you, all right.”
He remembered all too well how hard it was to keep his distance while he watched her work. How impossibly damn hard it was to constantly remind himself who he was and who she was and how they had to act in public.
Her hands moved to his chest. The heat of them penetrated his shirt, hardening his cock.
“You didn’t speak,” she said. “You didn’t even look at me.”
He touched her cheek, losing himself in the depths of her dark eyes. “I couldn’t. I was afraid if I so much as looked at you, I’d lose control. We both have our roles to play during the day.”
She nodded. “Of course. I feel silly.”
“I think people would talk if I’d kissed you and ripped your dress off in front of everyone, don’t you?”
“Is that what you wanted to do when you saw me?” she asked, giggling like a young girl.
He held her closer, unable to resist grinding his penis against her soft pelvis. “You have no idea.”
“I told myself it was just as well if you’d lost interest in me,” she said. “We shouldn’t be here…doing this.”
He kissed her brow, savoring the smooth, coffee-hued skin. “I know but here we are.”
When she traced a finger over his moustache, a dozen flames lit inside his body. Oh how he wanted her. All of her. He felt the knowledge in his gut, just as he could sometimes predict the weather at sea or the oyster harvest.
He would have her. It wasn’t a matter of if anymore but when.
God, he’d wanted to do it today when he’d seen her working so hard. He’d wanted to tell the whole world she belonged to him and then take her from behind. Lift her dress, grip that sweet, curvy ass and plunge deep inside.
“I thought last night was a dream. I can’t believe we’re back here again.”
“Believe it,” he said.
A frown marred her smooth forehead. “But if this is so wrong, why does it feel so wonderful?”
He looked down at the breasts filling out her dress, wondering if she’d slap him again if he dared to touch them. They’d decided it was best to keep their distance from each other. After one taste of her mouth, it was clear that decision wasn’t going to work.
She squealed softly when he suddenly lifted her and put her up on the oyster table.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
“I want to look at you,” he said.
“I suppose I can’t object to that,” she replied.
He didn’t know what the rules were anymore and it didn’t matter. When it came to her, they changed by the minute. One moment she slapped him and insisted on being a proper lady. The next she clung to him and kissed him as if the world were ending.
All he knew was how much they wanted each other and he wasn’t about to waste this precious piece of time they had together. To hell with tomorrow.
“Will you share an oyster with me again?” he asked. “They’re aphrodisiacs, you know.”
“An aphro-what?” she asked.
He grabbed one from the pile and put it on a cutting block beside her. “They heighten desire.”
Her lips curved into a shy smile that went straight to his balls. “I don’t think we need help there.”
He watched her breasts rise and fall, surprised by how fast she breathed. They would fill his hands perfectly, he realized.
“Take the oyster into your mouth,” he told her. “Then give it to me with your tongue.”
After he shucked it, he placed it on her outstretched tongue and shivered, imagining that tongue on the head of his cock instead. Then he lowered his head, holding out his own tongue. She dropped the oyster, hot and wet from her mouth, onto his tongue. He swallowed convulsively, too excited to stop and savor the taste of it.
“Your turn now.” He shucked another oyster and placed it on his tongue.
He groaned as her lips encircled his tongue, pulling away the prize. Hot fluid trickled inside his trousers from the tip of his cock. His entire pelvis ached with such desire he thought he might explode.
“Did you swallow it?” he asked.
She nodded, sticking out her tongue for his inspection. It was clean but he longed to see droplets of his semen there instead. Dinner was all but forgotten. The oysters had only made him hunger for one thing—her.
He focused his attention on her legs. Despite her small, girlish body, every inch of her was all woman. She wore sensible leather shoes in good condition. His fingers began there and moved to trace circles on her slim ankles. Then he stroked the lengths of her shapely calves, his fingers sliding over her silky stockings.
The way her breaths caught and her head lolled told him how much it affected her.
“Are these silk?” he asked.
“Yes, they’re hand-me-downs from the daughter of the family my mother and I worked for,” she replied.
“Most women here don’t wear stockings, especially in hot weather.” And certainly not silk. “They’re probably too easy to nick with all the oyster shells around.”
She shrugged. “I’ve always worn stockings. I’d feel naked without them.”
Finding it much too easy to picture her naked, he slid his hands higher, palming her knees. “I wouldn’t want them to get damaged. Let’s take them off.”
She clasped her knees together, pinching his thumbs between them. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
Caleb took a slow, patient breath. The proper side of her was back. Maybe it had been there all along, temporarily buried under passion. He had to keep her feeling good every moment so she wouldn’t have time to think. So he wouldn’t have time to think either…
His stilled his hands on her knees even though it took everything he had not to pry her legs apart like two halves of an oyster and finally claim the prize inside.
“As I told you last night,” she began. “We can’t—”
“I know, honey. You’re saving yourself for marriage.” His fingers inched higher, testing the tops of her thighs just above the knees. “I just want to touch your legs. Nothing more.”
That was a lie but touching her would be better than nothing.
She looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head. “It’s wrong. I shouldn’t.”
“Please, Pearl. It won’t hurt anything. Show me how to take them off or do it yourself. It’s up to you.”
Her expressive mouth worked as if she fought an inner battle. After waiting several moments that felt like hours, he
gulped when she slowly lifted the hem of her dress. He watched without breathing as the gray fabric slid higher and higher up her coffee-colored thighs and stopped just above her ivory-colored garters.
Caleb’s heart nearly pounded out of his throat as she took his hands from her knees and pulled them to the tiny fasteners. He made short work of flicking them open. She even lifted her legs slightly, one at a time, so he could undo the ones on the bottom. His hands ached to push higher and explore every private inch of her but that would have to wait.
This seduction reminded him of catching crabs when he was a boy. Lunge too fast with the net and the scared crab swam away, maybe never to return. Patience caught crabs. Dip the net so slowly the crab didn’t even notice until it was completely surrounded. Then bring up the prize.
The tops of the stockings, no longer pulled taut by the garter, gapped to reveal bare flesh. Still moving as slowly as he could possibly stand, he hooked his fingers over the edges and pulled them all the way down.
Goose bumps appeared on her skin in the wake of the stockings unrolling. By the time he reached her ankles, a small moan came from her parted mouth. He left the stockings rolled around her ankles and her shoes on. There were more important things to attend to.
His hands traveled back up to sample all the beautiful bare skin he’d uncovered on the way down. Her goose bumps disappeared under his touch and the heat it generated. He could do this all day, every day. To hell with oysters and Rockfield Oyster House. During all those years he’d wasted his life living like a monk, he hadn’t known how much he was missing.
“Does that feel good?” he asked.
Her head lolled back as she parted her legs a few inches. “Yes. Why is it that no one else’s touch makes me feel the way yours does?”
His hands halted on her calves. “Has someone else been touching you?”
“Jimmy Clark.”
Caleb dropped his hands. Her reply hit him like a punch to the stomach. Just how many men did she mess around with anyway? Was her innocent act just that—an act? What made their time together so special was the belief that he was the only man who shared this passion with her. He wasn’t about to stand in line.
