Formula for Passion

by Yahrah St. John

  “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of people watching you? Isn’t your bathing suit underneath those shorts?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s do it!” Jasper flung the T-shirt he’d been wearing over his head and pulled down his shorts to his swim shorts. “See you inside.” And with that comment, he dived into the water.

  Courtney debated with herself whether to join him. The water did look inviting and it was hotter than Hades outside. What would it hurt? She shimmied out of her shorts and tank and dived in after Jasper.

  They swam away from the crowd into a small alcove underneath the waterfall to make out. With the water cascading in front of them, Jasper lowered his head and with his mouth invited Courtney to come play. He brushed his mouth across hers, slowly and deliberately. Momentum built as neither broke the kiss. They couldn’t.

  Their tongues mated and danced as they feasted on each other with gentle nips and licks. Jasper’s hands were hot as he skimmed his hand down her spine and cupped her buttocks, pressing her closer to him. Courtney took the hint and wrapped her legs around his waist.

  Jasper kissed her mouth and then her neck before moving to her breasts. He squeezed the mounds, and a moan escaped her lips. Her head fell back when she felt his mouth on her nipple through her swimsuit. It hardened as if on cue, and her back arched when he took the bud in his mouth and rolled it around with his tongue.

  “That’s enough for now. We’ll have to finish this later on,” Jasper whispered huskily, and set her back onto the river floor. He could feel the heat emanating from her core, but more importantly he was getting hard and might take her right underneath the falls with the tourists only a stone’s throw away.

  Courtney was hazy with desire and couldn’t see clearly. Just a touch from Jasper had her acting like a wanton woman in the middle of a very public waterfall. “Yes, let’s,” she said, forcing herself to move and make her way back to the shore.

  Chapter 6

  They dressed quickly and after the hike up to the horses, they were back on the trail. When they made it back to Jasper’s old, beat-up truck, which Courtney had gotten rather used to, neither one of them said a word. They didn’t have to. They had become good at reading each other’s minds, and Courtney knew as he did that there wouldn’t be any visiting local watering holes tonight for dinner. They would be each other’s dinner.

  Courtney wondered how long it would take for the passion she felt for Jasper to die out. Would it take a few more days? They’d been together over a week now and it didn’t seem to be dying down. Instead, it had gotten stronger with time. What was wrong with her? She wasn’t the type to get emotionally attached. What was it about this man that she found hard to resist? Was it his raw sex appeal?

  Courtney didn’t ponder it for too long because when they made it back to the resort and to her suite, there was no more time for thought. There was only time for action. When he stepped toward her, her pulse kicked into high gear and her heart soared. Their bodies collided with aching and a need that had yet to be fulfilled.

  “You feel so good,” he said as his hands dived into her hair.

  Courtney’s hands gripped at his T-shirt and she lifted the offending garment from his pliable body and flung it across the room. “I want you. I want to feel you inside me. I want you to take me to the edge....”

  Jasper drew in an unsteady breath seconds before he claimed her lips, crushing her to him. His lips were hard and firm over hers, demanding a response, and Courtney gave him her assent by giving herself freely to his kiss.

  She reached for the waistband of his shorts and helped relieve him of his shorts and swim shorts. Courtney gloried in his male splendor. He was so magnificent and strong that she couldn’t resist grazing her soft fingers across his stomach and near his growing erection. Jasper shuddered underneath her.

  “Tease.”

  Courtney looked up at him. “Oh, don’t you worry, there’s more where that came from.”

  “Good, because I have something in store for you too.” Jasper yanked down her shorts and bathing suit bottom in one fell swoop. Then he reached behind her to loosen the strings that held up her bikini top and discarded the scrap of material until she was as naked as he was.

  “So what do you have in store for me this time?” she inquired.

  “I’m sweeping you off your feet,” Jasper answered, lifting her into his arms and walking toward the bed. He set her down on the bed and then knelt between her legs. He glanced up and gave her a wicked smile as he parted her thighs and lowered his head.

  When he flicked his tongue across her womanly lips, Courtney lifted her hips to give him better access.

  “Hold on, woman,” he said. “It’s going to be a long ride.”

  He commenced with conquering her with his wicked tongue that he used to lick, flick and tease. Courtney could hear her whimpers over his lovemaking but was powerless to silence them. Jasper didn’t stop his pleasuring at her cries. Instead he held her hips firmly in place and continued his erotic feasting. She came undone when he thrust two long fingers inside her. That’s when she bucked, screamed out his name and fell spent against the pillow.

  Courtney had never felt such intense pleasure in her entire life. She glanced up and found that Jasper had a satisfied grin on his face.

  “You don’t play fair,” she murmured.

  “Now, that wouldn’t be any fun, would it?”

  “Just you wait.” Courtney pointed a finger at him. “Your turn is next.”

  Jasper smiled like the Cheshire cat. “I can’t wait.”

  She rose on her shins and pushed him back against the pillows. She licked her lips first, and then she bent forward and pressed her mouth to the head of his penis. Jasper wanted to explode right from that tiny action, but he didn’t. Instead, he waited as her mouth enveloped him. She sucked him forcefully and with intent, bobbing her head up and down, desperate to make him come as she had.

  He gripped at the sheets when she suddenly pulled away.

  “Don’t stop....”

  He was a goner when she took him back into her mouth again, but this time even farther. “Courtney...!” She licked and sucked him, all the while stroking him, until Jasper was close to losing all self-control. That’s when she

  pulled away.

  Courtney sat back on her haunches. “There, I think I have repaid you in equal measure.”

  “You little minx!”

  “And you love it,” Courtney said. “But don’t think you’re finished, because I have more in store for you.”

  Despite the teasing grin on Courtney’s mouth, somehow Jasper remembered to grab for protection. He was glad he did because she lowered her body onto his waiting erection and took him deep inside her.

  She was hot and slick for him, so the glide inside her was easy. An agonizing groan escaped his lips. She moved her hips, wrapped her legs on either side of him and slowly rocked against him.

  “Any slower and I’m going to die,” he murmured.

  What came next scared Jasper. She drew him in and out of her body so intensely that he felt her drawing into his body, his soul, his mind. He hadn’t expected such a strong connection to Courtney, but how could he not? When he wasn’t working, they’d spent every day and night together. That had to be what it was.

  Courtney increased the tempo of her rocking until she bucked and undulated against him.

  Jasper sat up and kissed her then. She allowed him to play with her mouth and gather her against him. He relished the contact of Courtney’s pert breasts clutched against him. He bent his head down so he could boldly suck on one brown nipple while his fingers went to her womanly lips and he inserted his fingers between them. He lazily moved them until gasps of pleasure escaped her lips and she arched her back as her orgasm shook through her entire being. That’s when
Jasper swayed forward, thrusting harder...twisting...riding the wave as he too crested to completion. When he did, he gave a loud, exultant shout of joy.

  But Jasper didn’t allow her to rest for long because they were too tempted by each other. He turned her over so that she was kneeling in front of the headboard and he took her from behind.

  Courtney found the position intoxicating, especially when Jasper licked her spine or teased her breasts or played with the flesh at the apex of her thighs. He quickened the rhythm and soon she was swooning as the force of his swift thrusts sent both of them careening toward another orgasm.

  She’d loved the way...no, wait, where had that word come from? She liked when Jasper enveloped her in the cocoon of his arms and entwined his fingers with hers. After they’d made love, Courtney relished his nearness. How was she going to be able to leave this man when it came time for her to go back to Atlanta, back to her life? She was addicted.

  * * *

  Jasper continued his quest to show Courtney the island. He took her zip-lining and initially Courtney resisted because she was scared of heights. She didn’t want to go, but Jasper convinced her it would be great fun. After she’d gotten over her fear and climbed the ladder to the first zip line and then let go on the first zip, she’d enjoyed it.

  Afterward, she wanted to do it again, but her stomach growled. They feasted on a local dish of sancocho. Courtney enjoyed the rich stew of chicken, pork, pumpkin, yucca, plantain, corn on the cob and cilantro. She ate it with a hearty portion of rice and sliced avocado, the traditional sides. Courtney found that she was letting down her guard and enjoying the culture. Although Jasper had thought she was a pampered princess, she was proving to him that she wasn’t above enjoying life’s simple pleasures. It was what he’d learned to do as a teenager growing up on the farm.

  Later that night after they made love and were lying in each other’s arms in bed, Jasper confided to Courtney about what he suspected was going on at the hotel’s construction site. He said that he thought the owner, Jim Dorchester, was using subpar materials, such as bad concrete. He’d already seen an order of non-flame-retardant lumber that he was going to have to stop.

  “What are you going to do about it?” Courtney inquired.

  “I don’t have enough proof yet,” Jasper replied. “I need someone who is willing to come forward. Dorchester could claim the order was a mistake.”

  “Do you think you can convince someone to rat out Dorchester?” Courtney asked. “They could lose their job.”

  “I know it’s a long shot, but think about the alternative. Someone could get hurt in the long run if this hotel is constructed poorly.”

  “That’s very honorable.”

  “It’s the right thing to do,” Jasper said emphatically.

  “I love it when you’re passionate.” Courtney’s eyes blazed fire. “I wish more people were like you. We had a saboteur at my family’s company last year.”

  “Really, what happened?” Jasper asked, even though he knew the answer to the question.

  “My brother-in-law’s ex-girlfriend snuck into my brother’s lab and stole the formula to one of our fragrances.”

  “How did she get away with something like that?”

  “She used her looks to beguile our security guard and when his back was turned, she took his access card to the lab. Then a safecracker came with her to crack my brother’s safe.”

  “Wow! That’s pretty underhanded. So, what happened to her?”

  “Well, it took us a while to figure out, but once we did, we pressed charges, but the thing is...she was a famous actress and since this was her first offense, she got off with a slap on the wrist. We know she wasn’t working by herself, but she refused to give up her accomplice.”

  “Who was it?”

  “We’re almost positive that it was our family’s most bitter rival and competitor, Andrew Jackson of Jax Cosmetics.”

  Jasper wished he hadn’t asked. Hearing his father’s name caused Jasper’s mouth to turn dry and a bitter taste to form. Not only was the bastard a bully, but he was also a thief. But Jasper wasn’t surprised that Andrew Jackson had no morals. He’d heard rumors of his father’s underhanded tactics from his mother as it had made all the local papers in Georgia.

  But it also put him in an untenable position. He’d known that Courtney was a spokesmodel for her family’s cosmetics company, but now he had confirmation of her real identity. Courtney wasn’t some stranger. She was Courtney Adams.

  The Adamses and Jacksons hated each other. If Courtney knew he was Andrew’s son, she would jump out of his bed so fast his head would spin. He didn’t want that. He was forced to continue the lie he’d perpetrated from day one. What else could he do?

  “Never heard of him,” he finally said.

  “Of course, how would you?” Courtney shrugged. “You’re not in the States. Plus I doubt the machinations of two cosmetics companies interests you much.” She turned to face him. “But I’ve been curious—how did you come to live here?”

  “Oh, that.” Jasper was caught off guard. Of course she would want to know how he came to be on the island. “Well, I came down here with some friends for a vacation about five years back and fell in love with place.”

  “You don’t miss the States?” she asked. Jasper wasn’t sure if she was asking out of curiosity or if there was more to the question. Was she wondering if he would leave Punta Cana to come visit her? Would she even want him to?

  “Sometimes,” Jasper answered honestly. “I visit on occasion to see my mother.”

  “Oh, of course.” Courtney nodded in understanding.

  “Are you getting anxious to get back to your life?” Jasper wondered. He sure hoped not, because he was enjoying having Courtney here. If he admitted it to himself, he’d shut himself off too much from the world and focused on building his hotel empire to the exclusion of his personal happiness. And now that Courtney was here, she’d shined a light on just how important human contact really was. “I realize life here in Punta Cana must be a slower pace than you’re used to.”

  “It is, but I like it here,” Courtney replied. “As crazy as it sounds, it kind of feels like a second home.”

  Jasper smiled broadly. He knew exactly what she meant because once he had come to DR, he’d known that he wanted a hotel in Punta Cana. Once Sea Breeze Resorts was complete, he’d decided to stay on for a while. Who knew that so many years later, he would still be there? “I’m glad you like it here.”

  “Well, that could be due to a certain attractive chocolate-

  skinned brother I met a couple of weeks ago,” Courtney murmured, caressing her hands across Jasper’s broad chest and stroking his nipples with her fingertips. He shuddered underneath her touch.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Absolutely,” Courtney said. “Kiss me.”

  And he did. A powerful, potent kiss that pierced through her being. Soon Courtney drifted off to sleep with a satisfied smile.

  * * *

  “We need you back home,” Shane told Courtney a few days later. She’d just been preparing to go for a long run on the beach when her cell phone rang.

  “Why? What’s wrong?” Was it their parents? Had something happened?

  “Andrew Jackson.”

  Courtney looked up to the ceiling. “Lord, what did he do now?”

  “We’ve all been waiting for him to put out his imitation fragrance of Ecstasy at a lower price,” Shane began. “And now he finally did. He waited until the bad press with Noelle

  Warner died down before introducing his knockoff.”

  “Enough said,” Courtney said. “I’ll be on the first flight out.”

  “Thank you, sis. I’ve already notified the pilot and he’ll be there in an hour.”

  “Wow! You sure didn’t give me much time.”<
br />
  “I’m sorry, but this came up rather suddenly and we’re doing damage control. Ethan had been keeping tabs on Jax Cosmetics, but Andrew was sneaky and kept this hidden pretty well. We only just got word that they would be debuting the knockoff this week.”

  “No worries. I’ll be back soon.” Courtney sighed when she hung up the phone. That gave her just enough time to pack her bags and get to the airport. What it didn’t leave her was time to go see Jasper and explain. She could call him, but she was terrified that saying goodbye would be just too hard. After all, they’d known this was an island fling and nothing more. Wasn’t it better she pulled the bandage off quick versus the torturous aspect of drawing things out?

  Courtney rushed to the closet to find her oversize suitcase and started unceremoniously throwing items of clothing and shoes in. She hated to leave. She was having so much fun in Punta Cana with Jasper that she’d forgotten she had a life in Atlanta waiting for her. She couldn’t stay here forever living a fantasy and neglecting her family duties. Plus, she would never move up in the company if she didn’t show her family she had real ideas that could make an impact on AC. This crisis with Jax Cosmetics was a prime example of what she could do to show her worth to her family.

  Of course that didn’t stop her from feeling like a total heel for leaving without so much as a word to Jasper. He’d been nothing but kind and respectful to her, more so than any other man ever had. Perhaps that was the problem, she told herself. Jasper had come to mean more to her than she had ever expected. She’d come to Punta Cana looking for an island fling with no attachments and what she’d found was an attractive, passionate, down-to-earth, funny and kind man. She couldn’t forget what he’d done for those homeless kids at the Plaza.

  Which was why leaving was so difficult. She didn’t want to admit it, but deep down she knew she’d fallen fast for Jasper. She would miss him terribly, but she had to go.

  She stopped packing long enough to make a quick call downstairs to Miguel to ask him to send a car within the hour. He was surprised she was leaving so quickly, but promised to have a car waiting for her.