And already I feel all eyes on us. This man is too damn good looking!
JUDE
Her silky blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail and I can picture it with a cute little, pink camo hat and her hanging out with me in my hunting blind. She has no makeup on at all and seems completely comfortable and is still mesmerizingly beautiful.
She gets in on one side of the booth and I have to take the other because the sides are meant for one person only. It dawns on me that might be the exact reason she picked this place. I asked her to go with me to the very classy Regency Hotel for breakfast and she told me, no way.
So here we are at a place I’ve never been to in my life. But I’m going to pretend I’ve come to these little chains tons of times. You have to act at home in the prey’s territory to get them to feel safe around you.
An old, and extremely heavyset woman with yellow hair comes to us with an orange pot of coffee, I assume, as she’s also carrying two little off-white cups. She places them on the table and fills them with some steaming hot, black as night, coffee. “Here ya go. Now, do you two need a minute or do you know what you want?”
Good God! What kind of manners are those?
“How about a pancake with some bacon and a couple of fried eggs for the lady? Put that all in a smiley face fashion. I’ll have the same. And a couple of orange juices,” I say.
Mercy quickly adds, “Make mine an apple juice.” Her eyes cut to me. “I’m allergic to oranges.”
Reaching across the table, I take her hand that’s resting on it. “Aw. You shared something with me.”
She slaps my hand and looks back at the waitress. “And can we have some fresh cream for our coffee?” Mercy hands the woman the little silver pitcher with a thick drizzle of cream hanging on the side.
She takes it with a smile on her wrinkled face. “Of course, Doll. Now that special order will cost you extra, you know that?” she asks as she looks at me.
“The sky’s the limit,” I say. “Feel free to toss your freshest fruit on the plates too. And remember there’s a hefty tip waiting for you if you can make this special and memorable. This is our first date.”
“You don’t say,” the woman says then points to her yellowing name tag. “Well, as you can see, my name is Lola and I will be your server this morning. And I will be right back.” She sashays away and I catch Mercy smiling.
“You have a beautiful smile, Mercy.”
“You have all the right words, Jude,” she says then laughs a little. “So, you have managed the happy face breakfast. What other magic do you know?”
I lean forward and take both her hands which are conveniently resting on the old brown table. “I have so much magic stored away, you have no idea. And I want to thank you for your call this morning. I was worried you wouldn’t call and I’d have to call you again and beg you to do something else.”
She looks away then bites her bottom lip then looks back at me. “So, you sounded tired when I called. Did I wake you up?”
“You did,” I tell her. “I couldn’t fall asleep very easily as you were heavy on my mind.”
“I was?” she asks and I see a light in her blue eyes.
That’s the one thing lacking in the young woman. There is no real light there in those beautiful eyes. I find myself wanting nothing more than to put a light there. Then I find myself entwining our fingers and wishing like hell she was closer so I could kiss her and bring her that light I know I can.
“You were. Hearing your voice last night made me think things I never have before,” I say.
“Like what?” she asks.
The waitress comes out with a big bowl of assorted fruit and I notice there are no oranges in it. I give her a smile. “You listened, great job, Lola. Thank you very much.”
The rotund woman leans in and whispers, “I have some vodka in my purse. If you want, I could spike your drinks.” She gives me a wink.
I shake my head. “Thank you. That’s very kind of you but not this morning. I think I’d like to keep my head straight.”
She nods and leaves. Mercy and I laugh quietly so as not to embarrass the woman. She meant well after all.
Taking only one of her hands again, I take a piece of banana with my fork and hold it out for her. She takes the bite and picks her fork up and gives me a plump cherry.
I take the sweet fruit and eat it then say, “Was that metaphoric?”
Her face goes beet red. “Oh my God! Why did I give you that?” She laughs then points at me. “Hey, wait! You gave me a bite of banana! I think it’s not metaphoric as much as it’s Freudian!”
I have to laugh too and find I’ve never felt this relaxed this quickly with anyone. She’s amazing and it’s been like five minutes. So I go for it, my plan to keep her with me all day and into the night. “Do you like boats?”
After placing a grape in my mouth, she answers, “Who doesn’t? They’re boats!”
“I have one,” I say then put a piece of apple into her mouth.
She nods as she chews then swallows. “I bet you do.” She stabs a pineapple and places it in my mouth. “I bet you have every kind of vehicle they make.”
I pick up a grape that refuses to be forked and place it on her lips. She parts them and takes the small fruit in and my cock straightens all the way out as her pink lips wrap around the orb of purple and pull it into her mouth until it disappears.
And she isn’t even trying to do that sexy!
Dear God, how can I keep my head on straight with this woman?
My voice is a little shaky as I try to think about what she’s said and add to the conversation instead of jumping over the table and boning her right here in the small booth at Denny’s, “I don’t own even one motorcycle.”
That’s true. My youngest brother would covet it if I had one.
“I have two of them,” she says then takes a tiny sip of her black coffee the waitress still hasn’t brought fresh cream for yet. “A couple of Harleys.”
Fuck me! She’s perfect!
“Wow. You ride?” I ask as I sit back and really look at her. I never pegged her as a motorcycle chick.
She shakes her head, making that blonde ponytail flow over her right shoulder and across her tit which looks completely edible under her little white top. “No, but I own two of them.”
There has to be a story behind that, so I ask, “Did you win them?”
Another shake of her head answers me. “No. I’d rather not talk about how I got them if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” I say. But the fact she doesn’t want to talk about that has my curiosity peaked. I’ll let it go for now, though.
“So, how about a morning boat ride with me?” I ask.
She sits back in the booth and crosses her arms in front of her chest and seems to be thinking about it.
My fingers are crossed, my breath is held, and I am waiting for her answer.
MERCY
I know I should not be doing this. I know I should be going back home to be with the kids but the idea of a little boat ride on this gorgeous morning is too much to pass up. And let’s face it, hanging out with Jude is more than a little fun.
Dashing off to the bathroom after breakfast, I made a call to Becky to let her know what I would be doing and she said the kids were doing great. I heard them playing in the background so I think this is okay for me to be doing.
I do feel kind of selfish for taking this time away from them with all the time I already take away from them with work. Then I look over at the completely hot man in the driver’s seat and that pretty much flies out the window.
I left my car in the Denny’s parking lot and am riding with him to the marina on some big lake about forty-five minutes away. I watch him change the radio station then his hand moves toward me instead of the steering wheel and he takes my hand and holds our hands on the little leather armrest that’s between us.
“Your car is really nice,” I say because I don’t know what else to say. I kind of hate being tra
pped in a car with people. It’s one of my little quirks. You just never know what to say.
“Thank you,” he says then lifts our clasped hands and kisses the side of mine. I nearly yank my hand to get his mouth to touch mine instead of just my hand.
I realize I’m holding my breath as he looks at me from behind his dark sunglasses and a half smile is on his lips. Letting out the breath, I say, “So, how much farther is this lake?”
“Your voice went kind of high there, Mercy,” he says with a little chuckle. “Am I making you nervous?”
“No!” I say with the same too high tone.
Of course, I’m nervous. The touch of his lips on the side of my hand made my insides heat and a pulse start in my lower regions. If I don’t watch myself this man will have me naked and writhing in passion underneath him in minutes.
Oh God, why did I have to make that image in my head?
Now I’m aching a little for him to fulfill that little scene my mind created. Imagination can be a truly awful thing.
“Mercy, when was the last time you were kissed?” he asks as he looks at the road.
“I’d rather not talk about that. Just for the record, I do not want to know when you were last kissed, okay?” I say then look out the window and find the glimmer of water filling in the areas between the tall pine trees that grow along the edge of the road. “Is this the lake where you boat is?”
“It is. Have you ever driven a boat?” he asks then gives my hand a squeeze.
“No,” I answer and try not to think of us alone on a boat in the middle of this big lake and what I’ll do if he kisses me out there with no one around.
“Well, you will today. I’ll show you how to do it. It’s fun,” he says then lets my hand go as he pulls into the small marina with quite a few very nice and expensive looking boats pulled into separate stalls.
“You’d trust me with your boat, Jude?” I ask as he pulls to a stop.
“I’ll be right there. Right behind you, making sure you don’t get overwhelmed.” He runs his hand over my arm and up to take my chin in it. “Let me get your door.”
“K,” comes my weak response.
I watch him get out of the car and have to adjust myself as he walks around. He has me nine types of hot and bothered and I don’t know why I agreed to this. It was the worst idea ever.
Alone with him. Him standing behind me as he teaches me to drive his boat. I can almost feel his erection on my ass now and it’s making me uber-uncomfortable. Damn, my vivid imagination!
The door opens and I see I’ve forgotten to take off my seatbelt. He leans in to do it for me and is closer to me than he’s been so far and I’m nearly shaking with how bad I want to grab him and kiss him right now.
So I close my eyes and feel his lips graze my cheek as he moves back across me and takes my hand, lifting me out of the car. “Come on. I can’t wait to get you out on the water.”
Opening my eyes, I follow along until he pulls me up to walk beside him and lets my hand go, running his arm around my waist. “I can’t stay out here very long, Jude. Maybe an hour.”
He stops and gets in front of me, taking both my hands in his as he looks at me, “Why.” He just stands there looking at me, waiting for my answer as to why I can’t stay out on this lake with him for more than an hour.
I’m like a deer in the headlights. I have no idea of what to say to him so I make something up. “Laundry, I have a lot of laundry to do.”
He laughs and moves back around to my side, slipping his arm around me again as he says, “I can help you do it, later on, tonight when I take you home. I’ve never done laundry before but with you, it might be fun.”
When he takes me home?
I have no idea what to say now. He can’t go back to my place. I can’t bring him into the kids’ lives yet. I never can, really. Just the way he drove us over here was a bit hard to take. He drives fast everywhere he goes. Like he’s trying to beat some time limit to get from point A to point B or something.
I’m sure he’s a real dare devil and the children can’t be subjected to that. Not when their parents died in a car wreck. That would be emotionally damaging to them.
Jude Hurst can be no more to me than a little secret side action. And even that will have to be kept in check. There cannot be any sex between us. Not ever. This man could make me fall for him so easily. I have to keep my guard up or I’ll get hurt.
I know I will!
“Here she is,” he says as he gestures to a very badass looking boat.
It’s white with canary yellow striping on it. A little canopy is pushed back I assume so he can drive it faster than the canopy would allow if it was up.
He walks onto the flat deck up front, taking me along with him. There are two little steps down into the main area of the boat. Four seats are in the front and one long seat goes across the entire back of the boat. It’s so long we could both stretch out on it and the canopy could be raised to make shade and a little privacy.
Oh, Lord! I’m already scoping out a place where we could have sex. What’s wrong with me?
JUDE
For reasons I cannot fathom, Mercy seems to be trying to figure out reasons why she can’t hang out with me for much longer. She’s having fun. The smile hasn’t left her face very often at all. It can’t be because she’s bored or doesn’t like what we’re doing.
Maybe she just doesn’t like me.
Nah, that can’t be it!
There has to be something she’s hiding. Something she’s ashamed of.
Maybe she’s a hoarder and doesn’t want me to see her place. Maybe it’s not like that at all, maybe she’s a freaky chick who has a dungeon and likes to play the mistress part in kinky sex games with strange men.
Oh wait, that’s one of my fantasies!
Whatever it is, I will get to the bottom of it, because I’m keeping her all day and into the night. Whether she protests or not, she’s going to hang out with me until she gets past this weird thing she has about going back home all the time.
“Do you have pets, Mercy,” I ask to see if that might be why she wants to get back home so quickly.
She shakes her head, “No. Why? Do you?”
Well, that’s not why. “I have an old hunting dog I inherited from my grandfather who passed away a while back. So no pets huh?” I pull out of the boat slip and back up slow and easy.
She shimmies in the seat next to mine and seems a little nervous. “Where are the life jackets?”
“Look under your seat,” I tell her.
She looks and sees one of the orange life jackets there. “Oh, okay. That does look easy to get to if I need it. Have you ever wrecked a boat before?”
“No, I have not. I’ve been driving boats since I was just a kid. We have a yacht too. There’s a captain for it but he lets us all try our hand at driving it when we want to,” I say as I start to pull away from the marina.
The lake is smooth as glass this morning. The air is warm and the sun feels amazing.
“I don’t suppose you have sunscreen onboard, Jude,” she says,
“No,” I say then wish like hell I did have some.
“See, we can’t stay out long or I’ll get a sunburn. So keep it under an hour,” she says with a smile on her face like she’s found her out.
The first aid kit is in the glove box so I pull it out and toss it to her. “See if there’s some in there. I took Mom and Dad out a few weeks ago and I think Mom might have put some in there.”
She sighs and opens the little kit and pulls out a tube of the thing she thought would get her taken home sooner than I want to let her go. “Yes, there is some.”
“Would you mind putting some on my face? I don’t want to burn either,” I ask her so she has to run her hands all over my face and I’ve been wanting to see how that would feel.
Going slow out of the marina, I let the wheel go and turn in the seat so she can lather me up. She squeezes the tube and a glob if white lands on her palm. The
n she rubs her hands together, getting them all white and stands up, coming to me and places her palms on my cheeks.
“The beard usually keeps those covered just fine. But you’ve already greased it so go for it, Mercy,” I say as her hands move over my face. The sensation makes me hard as a rock and I can tell she and I will be very compatible in the sack.
Her hips are begging me to rest my hands on them so I go for it. “Getting a little handsy there, aren’t you?” she asks as she rubs the lotion in.
“I’m holding you steady, Mercy. Geeze, don’t go jumping to conclusions.”
“Right,” she says with a little laugh. “There, you’re all safe now.”
I hold her by her hips and look up at her. “How about a little kiss before I have to let you go?”
She leans down and I ready myself for some much sought after lip action and hope a bit of tongue comes into play. Then her lips touch the tip of my nose and she stands back up. “There you go, player.”
Man!
I let her go and find I’m going to have to put in more time if I want to get to the goods with her. She has some restraint, that’s all I have to say.
Taking her seat, she lathers the lotion all over every spot of her skin that’s not covered by clothing. “Get ready to go fast, Mercy,” I say just before I throw the throttle back and let her rip.
“What?” she screams as the engine reeves and the nose of the boat comes up high as we go fast.
I glance over and see her gripping the seat and her lips are pressed together in a hard line as she looks ahead. She seems on the edge of being terrified. So that’s good.
It’s not a good ride if you’re not a little afraid it’s going to all go south in an instant!
I decide a little more intensity is in order and shout, “Hold on tight!”
Her head jerks to look at me. “Tighter than I already am?” she screams as her head shakes back and forth, trying to let me know not to do whatever it is she thinks I’m about to do.
I nod and pull the wheel hard to the right, taking us in a hard circle and watching her knuckles go white as she holds tighter to the seat. It makes me smile like a lunatic as her mouth comes open and she shrieks the entire time.
Mallory Page 106
