“So let’s play hard and fast. Scale the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea … win the girl of our dreams.” Go team, go! Vinny and Aaron slapped each other on the back in the spirit of competition.
Hoo Rah.
* * *
“Oh, August! How did you do this?” The small table in Tara’s room held silver, domed dishes. Candles were lit and a glass of white wine waited for her. August smiled at her and pulled out the chair, motioning her to sit. “I stole it from the kitchen. I figured we’d need nourishment before we get down to business.” “Of course, you mean before we carry on an intelligent conversation, minus our body parts tangled in an embrace of passion? ” His hand reached out and caressed a nipple through her thin cotton shirt. “I like your body parts.” Waving his hands away and ignoring the wetness between her thighs she replied,
“That’s the trouble, we like each other’s body parts far too much. So indulge me, okay? ” “Oh, all right.” Tara kissed him quickly before taking her seat. “We were supposed to go to the mixer tonight. Everyone will wonder where we are.”
“Nah, I started a rumor about you. No one will wonder where you are.”
Her eyebrows rose inquiringly. “Great, wanna share what that rumor might be? Just on the off chance I need to prepare my story. Like am I a transvestite or something?”
August laughed heartily. “I told them I heard you were lovesick for your boyfriend and you wanted some ‘alone time’.” He swiped his fingers in the air, making imaginary quotation marks.
She giggled and gave him a cocky eyebrow raise. “Oh, good, that might have worked, but Ms. Mary already knows I don’t have a boyfriend.”
August smirked at her, his blue eyes with that devilish gleam in them. “Ms. Mary said she just knew you were full of crap.”
Tara tipped an imaginary hat at him. “Touché.”
He spooned rice onto her plate, followed by tender, white slices of chicken. “So was that the truth? Do you have one of those?”
“One of what?”
“A boyfriend.”
Munching on her chicken happily, Tara swallowed before answering. “Nope.”
August’s face relaxed, “Good.”
Tara’s heart beat faster. “Do you have one of those?”
His smile was flirty. “A boyfriend?”
Wiping her mouth with her napkin, she giggled again. “Yeah, a boyfriend.”
“Nope.”
Sighing loudly, she nibbled a cucumber from her salad. “A girlfriend, August. Was there anyone you left behind? Someone I should know about, or better still, someone Kelsey should know about.”
He frowned, his lower lip sticking out. “I’m hurt.”
“Why? ”
“That you would think I’m capable of such deception. ”
“So, no girlfriend?”
“Nope,” he said, winking at her.
She relaxed in her chair, letting the day’s events slip from her mind. Forgetting that August was the forbidden and good girl Tara just didn’t do this kind of stuff. Forgetting that she needed to come clean with him about why she came on this stupid show. He was the easiest man to be with. Even in silence, he brought about a comforting calm.
“Tell me why we didn’t know each other in high school? I just can’t place your name. What clubs did you belong to?”
Damn high school. Tara would bet if she told August she was part of the decorating committee for a prom she never went to because of that video, he’d remember her. Surely that rumor had spread beyond Evanston’s walls. She still couldn’t believe he didn’t know what happened between her and Kelsey. “I was captain of the trig club.”
“You really were a geek, huh? ”
Tara gently tapped his shin with her foot and smiled “Don’t make fun of me. So what was your gig in high school?”
“I was in band.”
“Well, there’s the problem, I traveled in far more interesting geek circles.”
“Hey, the tuba is interesting. ”
Stabbing her tomato, she brought it to her lips, licking the slice free of salad dressing.
“Stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Licking your lips,” he growled.
“Do you want me to just rip my clothes off now and we can dispense with the learning about each other phase of this relationship?”
“Now you’re talkin’.”
“August,” she warned, “it’s only for a little while, then, I promise to get naked, lie on the bed and let you have your wicked way with me if we can just talk.”
“Pinky swear?”
Chuckling, she held up her pinky. “Pinky swear. So after high school you graduated from college, and…”
“I started my own web-site design company. ”
“I know next to nothing about computer graphics. What kind of web sites do you design? ”
“I specialize in custom sites for commercial companies, like cars and food products.”
“It sounds much more interesting than being a chemist.”
August took a long draw from his beer. “I think chemistry is cool. ”
She bristled over that word. “That’s just what everyone keeps saying you have oodles of with Kelsey. ”
“That’s because they can’t hear me telling her to keep that tongue of hers in her own mouth. ”
Tramp, slut, whore.
“Thank God Vinny won the date tonight.” He genuinely seemed relieved by that.
And August didn’t even have to cheat for it to happen. Vinny won the poker game fair and square. Brooklyn in da house. “Yeah, it means we can talk while everyone else is off doing their own thing,” Tara reminded him. Tonight, after the mixer was a free night and most everyone opted to go back to their huts and relax.
“Are we done doing that yet? Because I remember hearing someone say they’d get naked…”
His insatiable lust shifted her heart into overdrive, and there was nothing she wanted more than to throw herself at him and shout “do me like a sow in heat.” But she also wanted to know about August and he was making it very difficult.
“Not just yet. Where are your parents? Do they still live in Colorado?”
“Mom raised me, with Gram. My father left when I was a kid.”
A tear stung her eyes. “Oh, August, I’m sorry. ”
Shrugging he grinned at her, the dimples on either side of his mouth deepened. “Don’t be. Nobody could whack a baseball like Gram. What about your parents?”
“They live in Colorado too, still married, still nuts about each other. One brother, two sisters. All married with too many kids to count. Do you have any siblings?”
“Nope, it was just me. I think I was more than enough. ”
“I can’t begin to imagine why you’d think that. You’re so not demanding. ” Tara mocked teasingly, lacing her tone with sarcasm.
Throwing his napkin on the table, he pushed his chair away and rose. “C’mere, wench. Let’s get more comfortable.”
“You mean naked comfortable, don’t you? ”
“Well, I don’t want to be too demanding…”
Unbuttoning her shirt, she gave him a sassy smile. “Is it time for you to have your wicked way with me?”
August slid out of his pants, revealing his boxer-briefs. They hugged his thighs and molded to his already thickening cock. Yum, he was delicious in every way, so she gave up trying to learn anything about him until they were done getting naked. Maybe he didn’t want to get to know her?
Well then fine. She’d never had a ride quite like this and she wasn’t ready to get off the train just yet. “Past time.”
Hiking up her skirt, she pushed it off. Standing in her panties and bra, she pushed at his now naked chest. “Lay down, big boy. ”
“I like those panties.”
“Do you? Want me to leave them on? ”
He stretched out on the bed, his eyes beginning to darken as he stretched out. “What do you think?”
Tara
slipped out of them, tossing them at him. He caught them and threw them in a corner. Straddling him, she slithered up along his solid length and reached over him, digging for a condom on the nightstand. He took the opportunity to capture a nipple, already swollen,.
“Oh, August, that feels so good…” she sighed, inhaling at the tingle shivering up her spine. Having him beneath her afforded her the control she wanted tonight. She needed to slake this fevered desire quickly. No fuss, no muss. Pulling away, she sat up and tore open the condom wrapper, slipping it over his cock with fluid ease.
“Don’t move. Let me do the work.” Lifting her hips, she slid slowly onto his solid shaft, sinking on top of him, letting the thick invasion take over.
He muttered something incoherent when she settled on him. His fingers parted her slick flesh and found her clit. Rocking forward, she ground her ass into him, feeling the crisp pubic hair above his cock scrape her swollen nub.
Moving his fingers in a circular pattern, he fondled her, sending waves of electricity straight to her pussy. Tara braced herself with her hands on his belly, rock hard and rigid with muscle. She ran her fingernails lightly over him, burying them in the thatch of hair surrounding his cock.
He moved in her, slow and easy, precise thrusts of hard flesh, making her pussy clench him tightly, tightening and contracting with each jab.
Each hand covered a breast. Pulling them to his mouth, he suckled her nipples, then took long, hot swipes at them. Her hand found her clit of its own accord, fingering it to a frenzy of white-hot need.
She reared up, and let her head fall onto her shoulders, circling the heat of his cock with her pussy. He placed his hands at her waist and offered her full control, allowing her to set the pace.
This slow, gentle side to August tugged at her heart, she could ride his cock to madness given the opportunity. It was that good, that real, that rich in texture and clarity. Rolling her body into each thrust, her clit brushed his belly and her nipples tightened, sharply. A bolt of white heat licked at her, wending its way to her pussy, slicing through her and robbing her of anything but the feel of him inside her.
August tensed beneath her, she felt her own orgasm swell too, rising up and taking her breath away. She came on a sigh, with August sharply grinding out her name.
“Jesus, woman. You’re going to kill me.”
“Well, wasn’t it you who said you wanted to have your wicked way with me?”
“Looks more like you had yours with me.” He nipped at her shoulder.
Tara chuckled, leaned forward and kissing the firm line of his lips. “I did at that, Mr. Guthrie.”
Cupping the back of her neck, he looked at her solemnly. “You are amazing.”
“I guess I’m not so amazing at conversation, cuz look where that got us.”
“I think this conversation went very well, Ms. Douglas. Let’s do it again, real soon. ” Pulling her toward him for a kiss, he slipped his tongue between her lips.
Tara ran her hands over his shoulders, gripping the thick muscle and tight skin. “We can do it as often as you like, Mr. Guthrie, as long as you realize I’m not just some sex toy to be dabbled with. ” Tara said it lightly, but her heart wrenched at the thought. Men like August—geek back when or not—didn’t want women like her forever. They wanted them as long as they could have them and then they moved on to other women because once they were free from their geek limits they knew no bounds. Surely August knew he could have any woman at the drop of a hat?
He laughed at her, enveloping her in the warmth of his embrace. “Just because I don’t like to talk doesn’t mean I think you’re my sex toy. Though I won’t mind if you call me yours.”
The impulse to ask him what this all meant couldn’t be repressed. “Where are we going with this, August? I mean, there’s going to come a time when you’ll be pushed to make a choice. Leave or stay and quite possibly be chosen to marry Kelsey, if you’re not voted out. I can’t seem to convince anyone you’re not right for Kelsey. So then what?”
“Well, I’m not marrying Kelsey, but the longer I stay in the game, the longer I can be with you. I began to see your point … about staying. ”
“What about the money, who couldn’t use a million bucks?”
He pulled out of her and walked toward the bathroom. “I don’t need or want the money. I thought coming on this show would mean I might get to know Kelsey and we’d fall in love as a result, or something misguided like that. At the very least, I thought I’d like her, even a little, but I don’t. I’m not the kid I once was.”
Oh, that was like a shot through a familiar place in her heart. “And now?” Tara refused to sound anything other than matter of fact. If they were going nowhere with this, but simply getting this attraction out of the way, boinking it out of their systems, then she wasn’t asking to be hurt and she didn’t have to tell him anything. Not her motivation for being on the island and not what had happened between her and Kelsey. Okay, so that was a cop-out, but whatever.
August poked his head around the corner, “And now, that’s not the case. I thought I’d made myself clear about it.”
Her heart beat a bit faster, “What is the case?” she asked, sitting at the edge of the bed.
Strolling over, he plopped down beside her. “Well, now, I met this really hot chick and she’s making me crazy. Kelsey isn’t who I made up in my head and I’m stuck in the middle of a competition that I don’t want to be in, but I don’t want to leave because I’m hot for this chick. Plus I sorta came here on a bet.”
“A bet?”
August gave her a sheepish look. “Yeah … my best friend Greg, who never really left high school, bet me I wouldn’t come on the show. In fact, he triple dared me. He knew I was hot for Kelsey in high school and he knows I hate to be triple dared. It actually sounded like a good idea at the time. A way for me to show Kelsey what she missed. Sorta like a backsie. Now, I just feel like an ass.”
Tara began to laugh. “Forget Greg. This chick … tell me about her.”
He nudged her shoulder. “Well, she’s got this killer ass and she’s smart, she’s a chemist, you know? The only problem is, she’s quite a potty mouth and I can’t seem to keep her hands off me…”
Lying back on the bed, she pulled him on top of her, savoring the heavy bulk of him. If she didn’t keep this light she’d likely bawl. If August was just using her to get laid, he was good at lying about it and she didn’t want to acknowledge that possibility just yet. Her tendency to overanalyze everything could be damned for now. There just was no science when it came to the art of attraction.
“A potty mouth and a tramp, huh? Well, I think you should break up with her. I mean, if she’s a potty mouth you can’t bring her home to your mother. What would Gram say? ” Wrapping her legs around his waist, Tara thrust her hips at him.
August settled between them and thumbed her nipple. “But she’s really cute and her hands are okay, I guess.”
Tara slid one of those very hands between them and grabbed his cock again, hard. “So tell me, what are your plans for the very hand-happy, potty-mouthed, hot chick?”
“I was thinking maybe, if she’s trainable, I’d keep her around for a little while.”
Cupping his balls, Tara felt them tighten in her hand, and massaged them slowly. “Trainable?”
August ran his tongue along the length of her neck. She arched into the heat and groaned when he stopped at her nipple. He blew on it. “Well, yeah, I mean I can’t have her pawing me all the time and take the chance she might do that in public. Could be embarrassing. ”
Tara cupped her breast and offered it to his lips. Savoring the wet swirl of tongue, she bit the inside of her cheek. “What if you can train her, then what?”
He tugged sharply on the tight bud, then released it and continued to lick. “Then, when we get the hell off this stupid island, I’m going to take her back to my place and screw her brains out.”
Tunneling her hands in his hair, she rolled into h
is tongue. “Ohhh…” Heat, sharp and sweet pulsed in her pussy. “Does she get a meal before she goes back to your place? Like a real date?”
He slipped a finger in her, hooking it upward, and moved slowly within her. “I guess if I have to feed her … maybe we should just order a pizza in. That way I can make sure she doesn’t embarrass me by pawing me at a restaurant.”
Raising her arms above her head, she rode his finger. Her legs fell away from his waist and she lifted upward, pushing at him. “Will this sort of thing be included in the deal, be … because… Oh…” he slid down her body and tongued her clit, “because, I think it could work.”
He licked the nub again, “You mean that?”
Tara squirmed beneath his mouth. “Yesss … I mean that.”
“I think that can be arranged, depends on how cooperative she is.” Without further ado, he latched onto the swollen nub, nibbling, sucking, licking.
Tara came again, squirming against his mouth and pushing onto his finger. He rode her shudders, lapping slowly at her until she let her hips rest back on the bed.
He kissed his way back over her belly to her lips. “Hey, you’re pretty cooperative.”
Kissing him long and full, she felt that stupid tug on her heart again. He tasted of her, musky and seductive. “I aim to please.”
August wiggled his eyebrows. “And I’m pleased. Seriously, I want to get to know you. I know I didn’t let you talk tonight, but I really do want to see you when we leave this island. Yet, I don’t want to leave the island without you. We’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
She tugged his cock, “I’d agree about the hard place, and all of the getting-to-know-each-other we do is in the middle of sex. ”
Moaning against her lips, he said, “This thing between us is explosive. I’ve never experienced anything like it. So it seems right to get to know one another in the middle of it.”
Tara’s heart skipped another beat. Damn his logic. “Stuff like that fades, August, just the way your little fantasy for Kelsey faded.”
“This,” he thrust his cock into her hand, “is not fading.”
Sighing with exasperation, Tara pinched his ass with her other hand. “August! You know what I mean. ” She didn’t just want to be someone he’d slept with on an island because she was convenient. Now wasn’t that a kicker? It disturbed her that he might only want her because of how she looked. There’d been a time when Tara might have settled for that, even while hating Kelsey for having the same opportunity.
Whose Bride Is She Anyway Page 21