by Lori Foster
His hands were holding the wine, the glasses and a string of condoms so long it reminded Gail of a party pack of lollipops. She swallowed hard.
“One condition,” Jesse said, placing the items on the bedside table and closing the drapes. “No shame. No embarrassment. Just pleasure. Deal?”
Gail found herself nodding.
Jesse was in front of her. He pushed her legs open where they draped over the side of the bed, forcing his way close. She couldn’t help but notice that his erection was directly lined up with her mouth.
He grabbed her hand, the hand that had just been down inside her swimsuit. Jesse raised it to his lips and licked the juice from her fingertips. Gail gasped. When he was done, he bent at the waist. They were eye-to-eye.
“Now, that’s my idea of an exotic delicacy, Professor. And I plan on treating myself to a lot of it this week. Will that be all right with you?”
Gail nodded, speechless.
“Then tell me again,” Jesse said. “I need to be absolutely sure this is what you want.”
“Fuck me. Right now.”
With one flick of his wrist, the towel fell to the floor. Gail’s eyes nearly popped from her head.
“There will be plenty of time for you to explore me, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere. But right now, I have to get inside you. I just have to be inside your body.”
She grabbed his face with both her hands and pulled him down to her mouth. Gail felt his fingers deftly untie the swimsuit. His hands began to travel everywhere on her body—her neck, her breasts, her belly, her legs, all while he kissed her, took her over and over again with his tongue.
They rolled together. Gail was on top of him, her fists full of his dark hair and her legs spread over him. She felt like a she-devil, like some kind of animal just released from a cage, like a stranger who’d been living inside her all this time had finally been given permission to come out to play.
Gail reached behind her and grabbed a condom. She handed it to Jesse, who looked up at her with as much wild desire in his eyes as she must have had in hers. Who was this man who’d been thrown into her world and her bed? What was happening to her?
She scooted down then lowered her mouth to his hard cock, gently and slowly tasting what he’d so kindly unveiled for her pleasure. He was thick and long and he tasted salty and clean. She dragged her tongue along the underside of him then closed her lips down on the head, taking as much as she could into her mouth.
“Whoa.” Jesse had his hands in her hair. “Hold up, wild woman.”
Gail raised her head, afraid she’d done something he didn’t like.
“It’s been a while for me, Gail,” he said, his eyes filled with a tender honesty. “Not quite as long as you, but long enough, and the way you’re going at me you’re going to make me come.”
She nodded. “We wouldn’t want that, now would we?”
He gave her a crooked grin then ripped open the foil wrapper.
GAIL WAS A WILD WOMAN all right, but she was also intensely erotic, fluid in the way she moved her body, and so ethereally beautiful that he felt as if he were looking into the face of an angel.
She was spread beneath him, and he was poised to enter her. She was so wet and open from his hand and his tongue that she’d started to pant. This was good.
He grabbed two handfuls of her luscious bottom and pulled her up to him. With one agonizingly pleasurable push, he got the head of his cock inside her. She was tight, slick and already pulsing around him.
With slow determination, Jesse got all the way in her. Her body was trembling. Her eyes looked up at him, pleading for more. So he gave it to her, in, out, his hands clutching her ass, her breasts rolling in rhythm with his thrusts. “Oh, hell, yesssss,” Gail hissed.
Jesse smiled through the waves of intense pleasure now rippling through him. He watched her face. She was lost in her own onslaught of bliss. She moaned, and her head rolled back and forth on her lovely neck.
Suddenly her eyes shot open. Her lips parted. And she clutched at his arms and shoulders. “I’m coming.”
He lowered his face near hers. “Come for me, Gail. That’s what I’m here for.”
“Oh, God.” Her eyes went blank. She was hanging on the edge.
“Do it, you sexy little mami,” he whispered, just before he crushed her mouth with his. She exploded in his arms, beneath his body, her raucous scream absorbed by his kiss. It was all he could do to stop himself from coming right along with her. But he managed. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to wrap up their first go-around together.
Jesse slowed his pace, pulling his lips from hers so that he could see her. Gail’s expression was one of utter satisfaction, complete with rosy cheeks and a drunken little smile. Her eyelids hung heavy over her soft brown eyes.
“Worth waiting for?” he asked.
Gail let go with a giddy chuckle. “Yeah,” she breathed.
Jesse gathered her tightly in his right arm. “Wrap your legs around me,” he said. She did. Then he pushed himself up and turned around to sit on the edge of the bed, his cock still embedded in the heat of her body. She placed her arms loosely around his neck, smiling down at him.
“You know, I have to admit something, Gail,” he said, his fingers kneading her back and buttocks.
“Yeah?”
“I saw it right away,” Jesse continued. “I could tell that underneath your good-girl packaging you were a sexual beast.”
She giggled softly and began to stroke his hair. Jesse closed his eyes and had just begun to luxuriate in the moment when he felt Gail do something wonderful—an unmistakably bad-girl trick—with the lower half of her body.
He opened one eye to see her smile as she squeezed him, wiggled on him, slowly raised and lowered herself on him.
“You bring it out in me, I guess,” Gail said, throwing her head back in pleasure as her inner muscles pulsed around him. She began a slow and intense grind, her soft little groans coming in rhythm with the undulations of her body.
Jesse knew he wouldn’t last three seconds if she kept this up.
“Gail?”
She let her head fall forward and looked down into his face. Her eyes were half closed in ecstasy and her beautiful blond hair tumbled down next to her cheeks. She never stopped wiggling on him and never stopped squeezing.
“Yeah?” she whispered, distracted.
Jesse had to laugh. It was clear to him now that Professor Gail was a single-minded sexpot when in pursuit of pleasure. He fuckin’ loved it.
She began to ride him faster. “I’m going to come all over you again,” she breathed. “Oh, God, it feels so good.”
That was it. Jesse shuddered and he clutched at her, pulling her body closer as he rode out the searing heat of his orgasm. It took several moments for him to catch his breath. While he waited, he ran his hands all over the silky skin of her back, bottom and hips.
“Damn,” he whispered, pulling away from Gail and cradling her face in his hands. As he kissed her cheeks and chin, he thought about how lucky he’d been to be saddled with Lelinda’s Hemingway tour that morning.
It had turned out to be one of the most outstanding days of his life.
“WHAT THE—”
Holly stood in the open sliding door, staring at the sexy old dude from next door and her mom, romping around in the lit-up pool like teenagers. What were they doing? What music were they listening to? Why was her mom laughing so hard?
Please, God. Don’t let them be naked.
“I thought your mom hated hip-hop,” Hannah whispered into Holly’s ear.
“With a passion.”
“You said she goes to bed every night around nine.”
“Like clockwork.”
“Hey girls!” Her mom waved enthusiastically, a huge smile on her face. It was then that Holly noticed the familiar straps of her mom’s fugly one-piece aqua-blue swimsuit and knew it was safe to start breathing again.
“Hey!” Hannah answered for both of them. “Her
e we are, home by curfew, just like we promised!”
“That’s great, girls. I really appreciate it.”
Her mom paddled over to the pool’s edge while the captain dove underwater. Holly watched him glide to the pool wall, all sleek and dark muscles in the Day-Glo green water.
She didn’t trust him. He was probably a player. And her mom was clueless. It was like watching an Animal Planet episode on lions and gazelles on the Serengeti. She wanted to cover her eyes.
“I was just getting ready to head home.” Jesse propelled himself straight out of the water then smoothed back his hair. Hannah made a little squeak of appreciation as he turned his back to them and bent over to grab his towel. At least his swim trunks were the normal kind and not an old-pervert Speedo.
“Did you guys have fun tonight?” her mother asked, looking up at them with that big smile still on her face. Holly decided she looked totally blissed-out.
Oh, God.
“A great time,” Holly said, not wanting to be outdone by her mom. “We met these awesome local boys who were really nice and showed us around.”
Her mom just nodded, but the comment caught Jesse’s attention, and he spun toward them while he toweled off his hair. “Oh yeah? What are their names?”
“Luis and Nestor,” Hannah answered. “They said you were like family to them.”
Jesse’s arm stopped in midair. It was only for a split second and he went on as though nothing happened, but Holly noticed the reaction.
“Do you know them?” her mom asked Jesse. “Are they good kids?”
“Absolutely,” Jesse said, smiling a smile that Holly thought looked genuine. “Their dad’s one of my best friends. No worries.”
That seemed to make her mom happy.
“Just tell them I said to behave.”
Hannah thought that Jesse’s comment was funny, but Holly detected a real nervousness in the way Jesse was moving and speaking. Now she knew for sure the guy couldn’t be trusted.
Just then her mom jumped from the pool and began to dry off, asking if the girls had eaten and inviting them to join her and Jesse tomorrow. He was taking her to swim with the dolphins, she said.
“Thanks, but we have plans.” Holly answered while keeping an eye on the captain.
“Oh. Okay, then.” Her mom gave both the girls a kiss on the cheek. “I’m headed off to bed—I’m completely exhausted.”
I just bet you are, Holly thought.
Then she watched her mother smile at Jesse. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for a wonderful day.”
The captain smiled back at her. “Sleep tight.”
Hannah and her mom had already stepped through the back sliding door, and the captain was headed to the pool gate.
“Um, Jesse?”
He turned around, the smile he had for her mom still hanging around on his face. “Yes?”
“She’s not, you know—” Holly checked to make sure her mother was out of earshot. “My mom, I mean. She’s not all that experienced with men. She’s kind of naive.”
Jesse tugged the towel tight around his waist and looked at Holly with kind eyes. He nodded slowly, as if he was thinking about what she’d said.
“Mom’s only been with my dad, and she got pretty hurt.”
“She’s told me everything.”
That was a surprise. Holly took a step closer to him. He really was very handsome—for an old guy. “Don’t hurt her. Just don’t. It wouldn’t be good.”
A smile spread across Jesse’s face, and he looked away, almost like he was embarrassed. He laughed softly before he looked at Holly again. “Your mom is a very perceptive and smart woman. I wouldn’t worry too much about her.”
She shrugged, not wanting to admit that was what was going on here—she was worried about her mom.
Jesse took a step closer to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Believe me, Holly. The last thing I’d ever want to do is cause your mom pain. She’s a very special lady, and she deserves the best.”
Holly crossed her arms over her chest and studied him. He seemed like a decent enough guy. And he liked her mom. That was obvious.
“Well, okay,” Holly said tentatively. “But I’ll be keeping my eye on the two of you, just in case.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“CHAGO. YOU UP?”
His friend yawned into the phone. “I am now, man. What’s going on?”
“Your boys home yet?”
“Oh, shit. What’d they do now?”
Jesse laughed. “Nothing. I just have a favor to ask you. Are you awake enough for this conversation?”
“Hold up, man.”
Jesse heard him rustle out of bed and take the phone in another room so he wouldn’t wake his wife.
“Okay. What’s goin’ on?”
Jesse took a breath. “Listen, I know this is going to sound strange, but hear me out. I need you to take down the ‘Dark Blue’ series display for a few days, and put my books in the back room where no one can see them.”
The phone went quiet for a moment. “Say what?”
“Please.”
“What the hell for, man?”
“As a personal favor to me.”
Chago laughed. “Sure. No problem. That’ll leave me with Pat the Bunny and the cookbooks. I’ll have to beat the customers away with a stick.”
Jesse felt horrible, but he pressed on. “Please, Chago.”
“Look, you’ll have to tell me what this is about, because you and I both know that J. D. Batista is the only marketing hook I got. That new chain store on Roosevelt is killing me, man.”
“I know. And I’m sorry.”
“So what’s this got to do with my boys?”
Jesse gave him a basic summary of the situation, describing Gail in only the most general terms, explaining that he was asking only that Nestor and Luis not mention anything about his writing career to the girls. Jesse emphasized that he wasn’t asking them to lie, but he would appreciate it if they didn’t bring up the topic in conversation.
Chago said nothing at first, then Jesse heard him chuckling into the phone. “Okay. Sure. I’ll tell the boys,” he said. The chuckling started up again.
“Thanks.”
“You sure about this, man?”
Jesse sighed. The truth was, he’d never attempted anything like this charade. He’d never needed to, but Cammy’s con game had made him damn near paranoid. “Look, I can see something happening with Gail, okay? She’s that great. I just need a couple days before I tell her everything.”
“This is about Cammy, isn’t it?”
“In a roundabout way, yes.”
“So you’re testing her, is that it? You want to make sure she’s not gonna sell your ass to The National Enquirer? Is that what’s going on?”
“Yeah.”
Chago whistled low and soft. “Whatever you say, man, but I think you’re making a mistake. If this Gail is as great as you say she is, she’s not gonna like it when she finds out you’ve been lying to her. I don’t know too many women who’d stand for that kind of shit.”
“I’m not lying. I’m postponing.”
“Right,” Chago said. “So that’s it? You just want me to move my only moneymaker to the stockroom? You sure I can’t interest you in a quart of my blood? My bone marrow? My fuckin’ kidney?”
Jesse laughed. “You’re a good friend, man. I appreciate it. It’s just for a few days.”
“Consider it done,” Chago said. “I guess it’s the least I can do. You’ve single-handedly kept me in business all these years.”
“I appreciate it.”
“I just hope you know what you’re doing, man. From where I sit, it looks like a train wreck in the making.”
NOT THAT GAIL WAS AN OLD hand at this sort of thing, but she recognized what was happening with Jesse. She was being swept away. The hours in his company were running together in a blur of sunshine, ocean, laughter, discovery and pleasure. She treasured every moment of it, too, even as a
tiny ball of panic began to form in her stomach, warning her that it was all temporary, an illusion, and that it was building up to nothing but a wistful memory.
And she let it happen anyway.
On Monday, Jesse took Gail out on his sailboat to where the dolphins played. Since Jesse was a friend of a marine biologist who’d studied Key West dolphins for over a decade, he got a heads-up on where to find them. Jesse followed his friend’s directions to a spot about six miles from land, where currents had swept schools of fish that were attracting one of the dolphin pods for feeding.
Gail gasped when she saw her first two bottlenose dolphins, so graceful and shiny in the water. She and Jesse lay down on their bellies on deck to watch. That first dolphin couple was soon followed by another, then at least a dozen more animals. They swooped, dived, circled and talked to each other in clicks and chirps. One couple even jumped out of the water with fish in their mouths, as if showing off.
Gail was in awe. “This is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen,” she whispered to Jesse.
“I’m really glad,” he said, leaning close to kiss her softly.
Jesse and Gail eventually slipped into the water, treading softly as they waited for the dolphins’ curiosity to pique. It wasn’t long before they ventured close. Gail was so exhilarated to be in the water with the beautiful creatures that her hands trembled. One dolphin brushed up against her leg. Another swam by and rolled over on its back, slowing just enough for her to touch the silky skin of its underbelly.
It wasn’t long before they swam away, but as Jesse helped her back into the boat Gail knew she’d been forever changed by the experience. Her spirit felt bigger and wiser for it.
They sailed toward the coral reef for snorkeling. When they’d started off that morning, Jesse had explained to Gail that her interest in scuba diving was admirable, but certification classes would eat up much of her vacation. He suggested she save that for another time, and offered to arrange it for her.
“Another friend of yours?” she asked, smiling.