Jed wanted Ailish to see the rest of the island. It had always been his inner sanctuary. He’d never even considered bringing someone there. It was like trespassing into his own soul.
He pulled gently and Ailish followed him down the tree lined path away from the garden. He led her to the rocky tip of the island he used as a boat launch. The boat wasn’t large. Just an eighteen foot craft made for an open lake. It had no cab or covering. In the wilds of the Canadian north, anything larger would be excessive and cumbersome.
“I fish and I grow my garden. I hardly go to land anymore until the winter comes unless it’s to fulfill part of my plan.”
“You mean meet people that you want to make rich.”
Jed actually smiled. “I guess so.” Why was it that his heart felt lighter even when Ailish questioned everything he thought would give his life meaning?
“I’ve never been fishing,” Ailish said. “In Chicago we never had a chance. I’ve seen it done though, on TV. It looks fun I guess.”
“You guess?” Ailish turned her gorgeous green eyes his way and Jed’s heart thundered painfully in his chest. “I mean it looks hard. How do you know what to do?”
“Oh. I guess you just learn the lake and the habits of the fish. I’ve been coming here for a while now.”
“How long?” Ailish implored. Her eyes searched his face.
It was surprising to learn that someone truly took an interest in him. Jed saw no guile there in those emerald depths. Ailish had no ulterior motives.
“Years,” he responded vaguely, unable to let her in fully.
Jed wanted to tell her. For some wild reason he wanted to tell Ailish everything. He’d never bared his soul to another person and the temptation to give in and do just that before he disappeared completely was too great to resist.
He squeezed her hand gently and led her away from the boat and over to a larger outcrop not far from there. It jutted to the south, a sharp cliff that dropped away twenty feet to the water. It was deep right away, at least fifty feet with no hidden rocks. Jed always felt confident enough to sit looking out over the water. The sunsets were spectacular from that point on the island. He knew that if he ever fell the water would just be cold and that was that. He sometimes jumped, on hot days, just for the feel of the icy shock as he plunged beneath those blue black depths.
They sat together, their legs dangling over the warm black stone. Ailish refused to release his hand. Instead she tugged it into her lap and left it there. Jed closed his eyes briefly and let himself revel in the smooth satiny fabric of her red dress. Even rumpled it was the most beautiful piece of clothing he’d ever seen. Ailish made it that way.
“I want to tell you what it was truly like for me growing up so that you understand…” Jed started but his voice trailed off. His eyes scanned the horizon. There was nothing but blue. An endless expanse of lake joining up with the wide horizon that extended into infinity.
Ailish waited. She actually released Jed’s hand but her fingers played over his gently. The mere whisper of her warm touch over his skin sent violent shivers racing up Jed’s back.
“My parents were never around. My father and mother both came from money. My mother had a brother, that uncle I mentioned. He never got along with her father. I guess he found a way to be free. My parents were both Harvard graduates. My father went into business and my mother founded her own company. They were far too busy to ever have any time for me. I wonder sometimes why they even had me. If it was just duty or obligation. Their marriage was a duty for them both. It was something their parents arranged. One money marrying into another. It was a strong bond.”
“They didn’t love each other?” Ailish was so naïve she actually was surprised.
“No. I don’t believe so. I think they really did have me just to carry on the family name. It was expected of both of them. After I was born they thought giving me the best of everything was the equivalent to loving me. It wasn’t. I felt more love from the nannies I had than they ever showed me.”
“What happened? I mean, how did they die?”
Jed laughed bitterly. “They’re still alive.”
“What?” Ailish’s face registered her shock.
“Yes. They live in Switzerland now. Retired I guess. They’re still together. People like that don’t get a divorce. What would be the point? They are already happy enough existing without each other. They have their own lives. Those lives never did include me.”
“But if they’re retired surely they have more time.”
“They have all the time in the world if they want to make it. They always could have.”
“So how did you make your money?”
“I inherited a large chunk of it when I turned eighteen through a trust fund. They put the money aside for tax sheltering, I’m sure.”
“Or because they did care and did want to provide.”
“It’s irrelevant.” Jed shrugged. He never looked away from that point in the distance where the lake seemed to meet the sky. “Anyway, I took it and invested it. I learned from the best. I also went to Harvard. Not because I wanted to. I made good investments and they paid off. I guess it was like a game for me. I wanted to see just how much money I could make.”
“And this? Is this a game for you now? Giving it all away?”
“I don’t know what it is,” Jed confessed. He’d never been so open and honest in his life. He’d never told a single other person what was in his soul. “I just know that I finally figured out it was the right thing to do. When I bought this island I found happiness and peace for the first time. I figured if I could live out here with nothing then I could live anywhere with nothing.”
“If you’re happy here why don’t you just stay here?”
Ailish’s imploring gaze was too much. Jed’s chest constricted again. “I don’t know that I can be truly happy. Even out here my past haunts me. The money haunts me. I want to make a difference but I think some people just aren’t created with that talent. I was meant to make money and meant to give it to people who could. People who still have that fire and passion for life.”
“You have it as well,” Ailish insisted. “I know that you do. You’re just unhappy Jed. You could change it. Money or not, you could change it all. You just have to stop letting it determine who you are.”
“It will always define me.”
“No!” Ailish shook her head. Her hair flew around her face and her eyes were large and wild. “I refuse to believe that. I refuse to believe that it could make a difference between being loved and not, between passion and not, between choosing to live and choosing to hide from everything life has to offer.”
Jed had his protest ready but his words died on his tongue when Ailish shifted. She dropped his hand and leaned forward. Her arms wrapped around his neck. Her fingers twined in his long, dark hair. One slid through a knot and he winced at the sweet burning that pulled on his scalp.
Ailish looked up at him with those huge, heavily lashed eyes and Jed forget everything. He forgot to think. He just lost himself in her eyes.
When he bent his head it was the most natural thing in the world. He hesitated right above her mouth. Had she ever been kissed? The thought of being the first was thrilling and unexpectedly sweet. His head swam when she exhaled and her warm, sweet breath tickled his lips.
It was Ailish who made the final movement and joined her lips to his. The second her mouth met his, a torrent of wildfire was unleashed inside Jed. The urge to connect with her, to take her, to open his soul and lay everything bare for the first time was so great he wanted to weep.
Ailish kissed him sweetly and gently at first. Her lips explored his. Her small tongue ran over the ridge of his bottom lip. She opened her mouth to him and his own tongue swept in. He tasted her honeyed sweetness and if he had been lost before there was no doubt that he was like a blind man.
She tasted so wonderful, so fresh and guileless and innocent. The heady feel
ing of finding redemption swept over him. The kiss turned passionate as the fires of desire stole over them both. Ailish kissed him back. Her lips grew insistent and furious and her tongue snaked out, into Jed’s mouth and tasted and explored him in tandem. He growled low in his throat when she nipped his bottom lip. Her own exhale of passion set loose a torrent of pent up longing.
Jed’s never broke the kiss so much as he moved lower. His hand came up to Ailish’s face. He cupped her jaw gently as he trailed hot kisses over her chin and down her neck. He moved lower, suckling and nipping at her sweet scented skin. She wore some sort of floral perfume or maybe it was all her own scent.
Either way it scrambled Jed’s thoughts. Ailish permeated his mind until there was nothing there but her and the raw ache to claim her.
Jed’s other hand traveled over the curves of her body, cupping one rounded breast gently. Ailish moaned and Jed’s body ached. His cock was painfully hard. It pulsed and pounded between his legs. He’d never felt such wild, all-encompassing desire for another person.
“Jed,” Ailish panted. It was clear she felt the same wildfire he did. “I want you to have me. I want you to know. I want to know. Everything. Together. Right here.”
Jed groaned. His hand traced the outline from her breast down the flat planes of her stomach. He gently guided her backwards. She responded eagerly to his touch. Together they moved like liquid. Their bodies met and caressed like the waves seemed to touch the sky.
Jed’s hands trailed from the smooth skin of her ankle upwards, over the gentle swell of her calf, over her knee to the silken plains of her thigh. He moved higher, finding the satin and lace of her panties. His finger traced the hot outline of her pussy and she gasped.
“Jed,” she moaned. Her hands reached for him and tangled in his shirt and hair.
His index finger continued to caress the smooth outline of her folds. The warm silk of her panties grew even wetter in response. It stunned him how ready she was. His own body ached in response. His cock throbbed. Jed could only imagine how tight she would be, how wet and warm. He shuddered as Ailish whimpered and rocked her hips into his hand.
“Take my dress off,” she whispered. “I want your hands on me. I want you to know every single inch of my body.”
Jed couldn’t smother his savage groan. He met Ailish’s eyes. They were wild with passion. He didn’t hesitate to do as she asked.
Chapter 5
Ailish moved, settling on her knees on the hard, rocky ground. The ledge bit sharply into her skin but she hardly felt it. All she knew was that she had to have Jed’s hands on her and she wanted to touch and know every single inch of him.
The desire that burst over her wasn’t like anything she’d ever known. His kiss unleashed a torrent of want and desire. A raw, burning hunger churned at her insides. No other person had ever evoked such a response. The ache she felt had nothing to do with wanting Jed to stay or leave and everything to do with just becoming one with him.
That was the only thing Ailish truly wanted at the moment.
Jed’s hands were on her thighs, pushing her dress up, over her waist. Ailish raised her arms above her head and he slipped off the silky fabric. The dress was thrown casually to the side and settled on the rocky, pine needle strewn ground with only the suggestion or a whispered rustle.
Ailish reached out boldly. Her fingers came into contact with the rock hard muscle under Jed’s dark t-shirt. The cotton was thin and soft under her fingertips but she craved the silk of his skin. She was delighted when Jed reached down and pulled his shirt over his chest and off. He cast it aside as casually as he’d thrown her dress.
She had seen the barest hint of his chest before, peeking out from the robe the night he showered at her apartment. That had been just a tease compared with the beauty that was bared to her now.
Ailish let out a long exhale that left little doubt exactly what she thought about Jed’s body. He was rock hard granite. His skin was dark, bronzed from hours spent out in the sun on his island. His muscles flexed and rippled under his silken skin whenever he moved. His chest had a smattering of dark hair that tapered off over chiseled abs and resumed right below his navel. Powerful shoulders flexed as his arms moved. Biceps curled and the veins stood out in impressive forearms.
Ailish reached out with a shaking hand and brushed Jed’s pec. Her fingers settled on the solid warmth of his chest. Very gently she circled one of his dark nipples. It hardened instantly under her touch. Ailish dared to look up into Jed’s face. His eyes were closed and his lips were parted to let out his ragged breaths. A violent current of electricity shook Ailish at the touch.
She couldn’t stand it any longer. She needed to taste Jed again. Her hand moved slowly, curling around Jed’s neck. Her fingers twined around the silken strands of his dark hair as she shifted, crushing her body to his. Her nipples strained against the fabric of her bra and she wished Jed would reach behind her and undo the fabric that was separating their skin from touching.
The warm curves of her stomach met the rock hard muscle of his as she pressed herself against him. Her other hand skimmed over Jed’s ribs and massive shoulders as she wrapped it around his neck, joining her other hand in the tangles of his dark hair.
Ailish closed her eyes and leaned forward. Jed met her half way. Her heart thundered painfully as his lips brushed hers. He tortured her by not kissing her deeply or passionately but by exploring her mouth again. She wanted all of him and he gave her just enough that her senses flared up on high alert, dazzling her brain with a spectacular set of lights behind her closed eyes. Jed suckled her lips, tasted her mouth, left her craving so much more. It was a promise of what was to come if their passion was unleashed and it was glorious. When Jed’s tongue finally entered her mouth, Ailish started. She whimpered and arched into him. Her pelvis bucked against his in an instinctive and involuntary action that she couldn’t stop or control.
In a desire to explore and touch all of Jed, Ailish’s hands fell from his neck and traveled down the taut ridges of his back. The coiled muscles flexed under her touch as though she was awakening something just below the surface.
Jed’s kiss intensified. It was like he longed to taste all of her, to tantalize and stimulate her with just his tongue dancing with her own in hot bursts and delightfully sinful strokes.
Ailish leaned into Jed and his strong arms wrapped around her, holding her against him. He rocked her world with his kiss and then he broke away as he licked and suckled her chin and neck. He bit her throat gently as he trailed hot kisses below, to the hollow of her neck.
Jed’s hands guided her. They finally slipped around her back and undid the clasp of her bra. It fell away and finally Ailish was free. Her breasts ached to be touched and Jed didn’t disappoint. He bent his head and took one dark nipple into his mouth. He suckled it gently as he swirled his tongue over the arched peak. Ailish mewled and squirmed in his arms. She thrust her chest out and prayed his mouth would never leave the aching bud.
Ailish’s fingers dug into the tender skin of Jed’s back. Her nails made little crescents. She couldn’t see them but she knew they were there. Her other hand explored every detail, of muscle, every bone, every crevice and ridge of his back as he worshipped her breasts, first one then the other. The hot sensations stole her breath and awoke every nerve in her body.
Jed’s hand trailed over her back, tracing her own flesh in an identical pattern to the one she made on his own body. Ailish gasped when his hand dipped lower and cupped the round swells of her ass. She still wore her red silk panties. She longed to feel his hand or maybe even his mouth on her swollen pussy. God, she was so wet she was sure her panties were soaked. Just the thought of Jed’s face buried between her legs, torturing her and bringing her pleasure and release made Ailish shiver violently.
Her body melted against Jed’s as he cupped her ass. He lifted Ailish easily onto his jean clad hips. She spread her legs instinctively and rocked against the hard bulge
of his cock. A shockwave of ecstasy ripped through her as her aching pussy ground against the ridged outline of Jed’s thick cock. He must be huge, for her to be able to feel the detail and thickness of him even through his jeans.
Ailish shivered. She fought for control and didn’t find it. She found for her voice, for words to express what she felt but nothing came. Her tongue felt glued to the bottom of her mouth.
Finally she was able to dislodge it. She swallowed hard to force words past her too dry throat. “Jed…” she begged. “Take off your clothes. I need you to… to just… I don’t know… I just need you.” Ailish panted. Her breaths were ragged and she was shocked at the raw rasp in her voice.
“I need to taste you first,” Jed ground out. His features were contorted with his own savage need.
“Yes,” Ailish responded instantly. “Please.” The thought of Jed’s hot mouth on her dripping wet pussy nearly made her climax.
Her entire body throbbed. Jed shifted out from underneath her. His strong hands and capable arms lowered her gently to the pine needle strewn ground. The granite rock was hard under her back but it was warm from the sun’s hot rays.
Jed’s hands were hot on her legs. His touch detonated an explosion of incredible sensation that burst deep inside. His fingers hooked under the waistband of her panties and slid them down over her thighs, over her knees and calves and off her feet. He threw them uncaringly away. Ailish gasped when Jed parted her thighs with a gentle touch. His touch was white hot on her skin.
He lowered his head, his crown of dark hair shimmering in the sunlight as he bent between her spread legs.
Ailish cried out at the feel of his warm mouth on her aching flesh. He kissed her pussy gently before exhaling the sweetest whisper of air over her. She moaned and her hips bucked upwards in response. Her legs fell open, exposing all of herself in a wordless plea.
Jed’s hand joined his mouth. His fingers parted her folds and opened her pussy to his glorious tongue. He licked and savoured, tasted and lapped at her juices as he explored every inch of her pussy. When he found her entrance, Jed didn’t give her what she wanted. Ailish wanted his tongue buried inside of her. She wanted his finger, his thick cock… anything to relieve the burning ache that had taken root and pulsed so painfully deep inside of her.
Pathological Therapy Billionaire Bad Boy Box Set Page 9