Beauty and the Bayou

by Erin Nicholas

  “Probably is,” he agreed. That was almost a certainty. “But mine comes with something yours doesn’t have.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Kisses to make it all better.”

  A little shiver went through her and he grinned.

  “Yours is better,” she agreed and held her hand up.

  He took it, turning it so he could see the splinter more easily. It was long and stuck

  in at an angle, but the end of it wasn’t embedded under the skin, so it would be easy to remove. “You willing to let me do this the bayou way?” he asked.

  She lifted a brow. “There’s a bayou way for removing slivers?”

  “There’s a bayou way of doin’ most everything.”

  She nodded. “I’m willing.”

  He grinned and lifted the jar. “First, disinfectant.”

  “Homemade by Cora and Ellie?” she asked.

  “Homemade by Mitch with Kenny’s recipe.”

  “Who’s Kenny?”

  “Maddie and Tommy’s grandpa. One of the founders of the business. He was best known for being the best fishing and hunting guide around here, but secondly for his moonshine.”

  “This is moonshine?” she asked, eyes widening.

  He chuckled. “Yep.” He opened the jar, then took her hand again, and poured a little of the liquid out over the wound, the excess dribbling to his hand cupped under hers. He lifted his hand and licked the moonshine off. Then he tipped the jar back for a drink, grinning at her look of curiosity. He held it out. “Want a taste?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Here, see what you think.” He leaned in and kissed her, sliding his tongue over her bottom lip, then stroking along her tongue. He lifted his head a moment later. “Do you want more?”

  “I do,” she said softly. “More of that.”

  “Let’s get your hand taken care of,” he told her. “Then I’ll give you anything you want.” He meant that with everything in him. And he hoped she’d ask for a lot.

  Her pupils were dilated when he looked down at her. God, she was beautiful.

  He lifted her hand and looked at her finger again. Then lifted it to his mouth, drew it in and sucked gently. It would soften the skin and draw the splinter out a bit. Juliet pulled in a quick breath and squeezed her knees together. Yeah, he’d been hoping it would make her hot and tingly, too. It tasted like the moonshine, of course, but he could definitely taste Juliet underneath the potent alcohol and he wanted more.

  He let her finger go and blew on it gently to dry it, then reached into the first aid kit. He pulled out a roll of duct tape. He pulled off a strip, lifting it up to tear it off with his teeth.

  “Duct tape?” she asked. “I was expecting a needle.”

  “This should work. If not, we’ll do what we need to.”

  He lifted the piece of tape and pressed it against the splinter, wrapped his hand around it gently, warming the tape a little, then started to peel it back slowly. The tape pulled the splinter out as it came away from her skin.

  “I love duct tape,” she said. “I never go anywhere without some.”

  “See, you have more in common with us than you thought.”

  When the splinter was about a third of the way out, he felt more resistance and he reached for the tweezers in the kit, pulling the rest of it out. Then he dabbed ointment on the area, wrapped a bandage around it, then lifted it to his lips for a kiss.

  His eyes were on her face the whole time and he saw her lips part as he kissed her finger.

  “That was pretty smooth,” she said.

  He nodded. “No problem at all.”

  “And now it’s time for anything I want?”

  Sawyer pulled a breath in through his nose. He nodded. “Anything.”

  She ran a palm over his chest, watching her hand as she did it. Then she lifted her eyes to his. “You said I didn’t always have to be the one that was fully prepared for everything.”

  “Right.”

  “Does that mean that you’ve got a condom in your pocket, Sawyer?” she asked, her voice soft and husky.

  He ran his hand up the side of her neck to the back of her hair as heat and want tightened his body. “Yes, Juliet, it does.”

  “Awesome,” she breathed.

  “You need to What-If anything? The door? My family and the tourists outside? The ridiculously thick layer of dust in here?”

  She didn’t even give him a smile. She shook her head. “The only thing I can focus on is what if I have to walk out of here without you touching me.”

  There was no way in hell that was going to happen.

  Sawyer bent to kiss her, but Juliet somehow arched her back, lifting to meet him partway. Their mouths met in a hot, wet clash of desire and enthusiasm. Lips touched, tongues stroked, hands roamed.

  Sawyer grasped her hair in his hand, tipping her head back so he could truly plunder her mouth. Her hands stroked over his chest, her fingers digging in, the feel of her nails stinging slightly and making his cock ache. She lifted her legs, crossing her ankles at the back of his thighs and he pressed forward. But his height and the height of the desk made the fit not-quite perfect. Frustrated, he pulled away, looking down at her, breathing hard.

  She looked dazed, her lips pink from the pressure of his mouth, her breathing also fast.

  He glanced around and saw one of the tall stools like the one Kennedy used behind the front desk in the main office. Without hesitation, he scooped Juliet up with his hands under her ass and carried her across the office, depositing her on the stool. It swiveled slightly, but he clamped his hands on her hips and she again wrapped her legs around him. Pressed together like that, the stool was going nowhere. Her arms were around his neck again, her body arching against him, as they went back to the hot, deep kisses.

  Sawyer pressed his cock into the soft notch between her thighs and they both groaned. His hands moved to her ass, pulling her against him more tightly. She circled her pelvis, rubbing against his cock and Sawyer knew this was going to go absolutely as far as she let it.

  He hadn’t wanted sex in months. He’d had absolutely no appetite for it. He hadn’t been good company, he hadn’t been able to work up any energy or desire for wanting to give someone pleasure or for taking any for himself. That had all changed in a flash. Because of Juliet Dawson. He not only wanted to lose himself in her, to claim every ounce of pleasure, to just fucking indulge in every way, he also wanted to give her the same. He wanted her to feel pure fulfillment. From him. He wanted her to give up some of the worry and attentiveness that she carried around with her in everything she did. For him. He wanted her to let go, completely, and let him catch her. Yeah, it was a little caveman, but the woman took care of herself all the damned time and she didn’t need him to take care of her. He wanted her to want him to take care of her.

  He gathered her hair back and put his mouth against her ear. “This is all up to you,” he told her roughly. “Whatever you want. However you want it.”

  “I want it all, Sawyer,” she told him, breathlessly.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Completely.”

  And the thing about a woman like Juliet who was always prepared for everything, he didn’t feel like he had to ask twice. After last night she had, no doubt, gone over the What-Ifs of the next time they found themselves alone together. This might seem pretty spontaneous at the moment, but he knew that at least on some level, she was ready for him.

  Thank God.

  “Take your…” He paused and grinned down at her.

  “What?”

  “I was going to say ‘take your clothes off.’ But I need to add ‘and your safety jacket. And your steel-toed boots. And your…whatever else you’ve got between me and your gorgeous naked body.’”

  An obvious little shiver went through her even as she grinned at him and uncrossed her feet from behind him. She slipped the safety vest off and tossed it to the floor. That damned thing. It was a fucking turn-on and he was
very ready to accept it at this point. She bent to untie her boots, but he knocked her hands away.

  “Never mind, I’ll do this. Get your shirt off.”

  Her tits had been taunting him since day one. It was time to get them bare and in his hands. And mouth.

  She gave him a knowing smile that was full of sex and mischief. Her fingers went to the buttons on her shirt and she started undoing them as Sawyer yanked the shoestrings loose from her boots and tugged the heavy things off her tiny feet, dropping them with dull thuds on the floor. How was she walking around in those things? He pulled her socks down and discarded them as well. Then reached for the button on the front of her jeans. She wasn’t even done with the buttons on her shirt yet.

  “Juliet,” he said, low and firm. “I need your pretty tits in my hands. Right now.”

  Her smile died and she sucked in a quick breath. Her fingers also sped up. He bit back a smile and flicked open the button on her jeans.

  By the time he had her unzipped, she’d tossed the shirt on top of her socks. Then she slipped the fitted white tank over her head and reached behind her for the hooks on the plain beige satin bra. A moment later, it was also on the floor. He assumed. He didn’t look to see where it landed. His full attention was on the most beautiful pair of breasts he’d ever seen in his entire life. They were full, with large, dark pink nipples that he could practically feel against his tongue, and all he could think about was how much he was going to enjoy watching them swing when she rode him. Or when he fucked her from behind. He wanted to do it all right now. Over and over again. Every position. Every surface. Until neither of them could so much as roll over for an hour after.

  “Sawyer,” she said, lifting her hands to her breasts, lifting them and squeezing, as if trying to ease a pain.

  “What do you need, Juliet?” he asked, almost not recognizing his voice, gravely with desire.

  “Touch me.”

  8

  “Fuck.” He reached out, almost reverently. He settled his hands on her waist, stroking up and down, watching goose bumps chase each other up her body and tighten her nipples even further.

  She moved her hand as he moved to cup one breast, memorizing the weight, the heat and silkiness of her skin, the way she sighed, almost as if in relief, as he did it. Then he looked into her eyes as he stroked his thumb over the nipple.

  She moaned and arched closer. He rubbed over the tip harder, then circled it with just the edge of his thumb nail, making it tighten and her thighs tense as if wanting to squeeze her knees together. He wedged a hand between them, keeping them apart. He stepped forward, putting himself firmly between her thighs. “You aching for something, Juliet?”

  “Yes. God, yes.”

  “Well, the only thing that’s going to relieve that is my fingers and cock right now.”

  He hadn’t planned on talking dirty to her, but it just came out. And she didn’t seem to mind.

  She wet her lips. “Please.”

  That was exactly the right answer. “I like you begging.”

  Was he a little dominant during sex? No. He was very dominant during sex.

  He didn’t mind a woman telling him exactly what she wanted and needed. He didn’t mind demands at all. But he made them, too, and he very much liked a woman who could keep up with that.

  Damn, he hadn’t felt any of this in far too long. He’d been a demanding asshole in the past few months, for sure, but not in any way that would result in anyone’s pleasure.

  “Take your pants off. Take everything off,” he told her, backing up just enough to undo his jeans and shove them to the floor and kick them away.

  She did, but it seemed almost automatic because her eyes were glued to his cock. Which was pressing insistently against the front of his boxers, wanting her attention badly.

  Juliet licked her lips as she kicked her pants off of her feet and her thumbs hooked in the top of her panties. She started to push them down, wiggling on the stool seat as she did it.

  Sawyer couldn’t take it anymore. He should take this slow probably. But damn, it felt like they’d been engaged in foreplay since that first day on the dock when he’d felt the skin of her lower back against his hand. After he’d saved her from pitching over the edge. When she’d hugged him.

  Hell, he should have known then that she was going to be special. That she was going to heal him. That he was going to need her in a way that was foreign and so fucking good at the same time.

  He stepped in and grabbed the front of her panties, pulling them down her legs and over her feet, tossing them over his shoulder.

  “Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he told her sincerely, running a big hand from her knee over the top of her thigh. He needed to touch her. He just couldn’t touch her yet. Because he wasn’t going to be stopping once he started. But his hand was huge splayed over her thigh, and his thumb came very close to the hot center where he needed to be.

  She parted her thighs and Sawyer’s mouth went dry. Then she reached for the waistband of his boxers. She tucked her fingers in the top and ran her knuckles back and forth over his lower abs, her fingertips grazing his head.

  “Juliet,” he said on a near-groan. “Fuck.”

  She ran her hand up over his abs to his chest in a slow motion, almost as if she was spreading imaginary sunscreen on him again. “I love your body. You’re so big and hard and hot. Even when you’re not out in the sun. You’re just so…much.”

  “It’s all yours.” He took her hand and pressed it against his cock. “You’re making me feel again, Juliet. And I want it all. I want to fucking revel in it.”

  She looked up, her fingers curling around him. She met his eyes. “Yes. Revel in it with me.”

  She tugged on the front of his boxers and he used one hand to help shove them to the floor, kicking them away. He was throbbing, harder than he’d ever been, his cock rising against his belly. He wrapped a fist around it, giving it a squeeze, trying to relieve some of the ache.

  “I want you so much,” she said softly, reaching to wrap her hand around his.

  He gladly moved his own hand out of the way. “Juliet,” he said raggedly.

  She looked up at him. “Kiss me, Sawyer.”

  He did. He cupped her face and took her mouth, fucking her with his tongue the way he wanted to take the rest of her body. Her hand tightened around him, squeezing and stroking, her other hand running up over his abs to his chest, and then to the back of his neck. She curled her fingers, hanging on tight. He shifted, one hand teasing a nipple, the other running up her thigh, his thumb grazing her clit.

  Juliet moaned and Sawyer pressed harder. She was already slick, and the way she wanted him almost brought him to his knees. She was amazing. She was sweet. She was kind and caring, quirky and wounded, brave and strong, but she was also hot and sassy and knew what she wanted. And she wanted it from him.

  “I wish I’d thrown you over my shoulder and taken you to my house,” he said, his breathing erratic against her mouth. “I want to bury my face in your pussy and taste you when you come for me the first time. Need more space. Need a place where I can spread you out.”

  Her grip on his cock tightened and she moaned. “Later. For sure. Please.”

  He chuckled roughly. “I love the begging, but I think all you have to do is crook your finger and I’m there.”

  She eyed the desk behind him.

  He shook his head. “Dusty.”

  “Don’t care.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “There are just some places you shouldn’t use disinfectant wipes, Juliet.”

  She laughed and groaned. “You’re making me not care about any of that.”

  “I take that as the highest compliment,” he told her, actually meaning it. That was what getting Juliet Dawson to let go looked like. “But, it’s also too short,” he said. “I’m going to spend a lot of time between these pretty thighs and I don’t want to risk a neck or back injury by leaning over for too long.” He gave her a little wink and she laughed ag
ain.

  “So licking this sweet pussy until you scream my name is going to happen, but not in here.” He turned his hand so he could slide a finger into her wet heat. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to hear you crying my name and coming hard.”

  Juliet spread her legs, encouraging him with a “yes, Sawyer.” He added a second finger, sliding in and out, rubbing over her G-spot and pressing against her clit at the same time.

  She bucked against his hand, her fingers tightening on his cock and his neck, holding him close, or holding on.

  Sawyer lifted a hand to one breast, taking the nipple between his thumb and finger, tugging and squeezing, then leaned to suck it into his mouth as he finger fucked her. She couldn’t move much on the stool without sliding off, so she was left to just hang on and take it. But she took it all like a champ. Her hands dropped to the seat and she gripped the edges, letting him suck and lick and stroke and rub as she arched against his hand, pressing hard into his fingers. She gasped his name and gave him lots of “Oh yes” and “Right there” and “Oh, Sawyer” encouragement, until she clamped down on him hard, her body tensing, as an orgasm rolled over her. Sawyer felt her muscles milking his fingers and the sweet heat of her climax but kept his fingers moving. She was so fucking gorgeous. Her nipples were tight, her mouth open in a sexy “o,” her head thrown back, her body offered up to him. He didn’t move as she continued to circle against his hand, but as soon as those movements slowed, he leaned to grab the condom from his jeans’ pocket. He rolled it on quickly. “You ready for me, Juliet?” he asked, straightening.

  “I’ve been ready for you. For so long,” she told him, almost buckling his knees.

  “Come here.”

  He didn’t know if she could balance on the stool any longer, and there was about to be a lot more force trying to knock her off of it. He slid her forward. When her feet touched the floor, he turned her, bending her so she braced her hands on the seat of the stool.

  She shivered. “Oh God.”

  “You okay?”

  “So okay.” Her voice was breathless.

  He ran a hand down her smooth back and over her gorgeous ass. The first part of her he’d seen when he’d found her on the dock. It felt like a year ago and like it had just been yesterday. He rubbed his palm over her left cheek. He’d never wanted a woman like this. The need for her tightened his gut to an almost unbearable point, yet he could take a year to just touch her, study her skin, her nipples, the way her hip curved into her ass and ran up to her lower back.