Double Mountain Trouble

by Katerina Cole

  I didn’t know what the hell Daniel wanted with me tonight, but I was damn sure not going to let him think I was trying to impress him. We were broken up. And we had been for months. There was nothing between us. I had no reason to impress him.

  “He’s just some guy I used to make out with,” I told my reflection in the mirror. “We never even had sex the whole time we were together. He’s never seen you naked and he sure as hell isn’t going to see that tonight, either.”

  I blushed, embarrassed of myself for this dumb pep talk. It was stupid to assume Daniel wanted to see me for some romantic or sexual purpose. If he was trying to make this a booty call, he was going to be sorely disappointed. I wasn’t interested. Sure, when he had first broken up with me, I was upset. I might have even cried a little bit. But I was over it. And once I got over the sting of being dumped, it had become blatantly clear to me that we were never meant to be anyway. No matter how much I had tried to convince myself of that when we were together.

  “You’ve got this,” I told myself, putting on my blazer.

  And with that, I picked up my purse and headed downstairs in the elevator, calling a cab on my way down. I walked out and climbed into the sedan, feeling pretty confident. In a way, I kind of hoped he was trying to get me back. After the unceremonious manner in which he’d dumped me, I thought it might feel kind of nice to turn him down.

  I told the cab driver to take me to a bar Danny had texted me about. A place I had forgotten all about in the months after we broke up. It was just a sports bar, unassuming and loud, full of local college kids who were there to get drunk and yell at the sports games on TV. Daniel and I were certainly not college kids anymore, but he had always liked that bar because, as he said, he was highly unlikely to run into anyone he worked with. His rich, snooty clients always preferred higher-end bars than this one.

  Once I got there, I actually did feel a little nervous again. I walked into the bar and went straight to the counter to order a rum and coke. If I was going to survive this night, I had a feeling I was going to need some liquid courage. Even if I didn’t have feelings for my ex anymore, it was still bound to be a little awkward.

  As I was turning away from the bartender, drink in hand, suddenly Danny was right in front of me. He was smiling, looking positively delighted to see me. He looked exactly the same as he had months ago when I last saw him. Just under six feet, with blond hair and brown eyes. He had a sweet, almost boyish face. The only thing different now was that he had glasses, which made him look like a bigger nerd than before. It suited him, though.

  “Jill.” He threw his arms around me in a hug. “It’s so fantastic to see you again. You look amazing.”

  “Oh, uh, thank you,” I responded awkwardly. I forced a smile. “Can I buy your drink?”

  “No, no, I’ve got it.” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “There’s a table over there in the corner if you want to sit down. I’ll be there in a minute. I’m so glad you came.”

  “Okay,” I said, hurrying away to the table.

  I sat down and immediately began sipping my drink, wondering if I was making a big mistake being here. Danny came back and sat down across from me, his cheeks pink. I could tell he was nervous, too.

  Good, I thought.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  “I’m good. Tired. I just got back from California early this morning,” I said. “Been going all day, and I’m a little jetlagged.”

  “Still busy as ever, then?”

  I nodded. “Yes. You?”

  “Yes. Still flying all over the place. It’s always nice to come back to Atlanta, though. I have a lot of good memories here,” he said, smiling. I knew what he meant. Memories with me.

  “So, any particular reason you wanted to meet?” I asked, cutting to the chase.

  Daniel’s cheery expression faltered a moment. “Well, mostly, I just thought it would be nice to catch up. It’s been a while.”

  “Yeah. Well, after you dumped me I wasn’t exactly ready to be friends.”

  He hung his head for a moment and then reached across the table to take my hands. I was too stunned by the gesture to pull away. “Look, Jillian. You’ve always preferred when I get to the point, so that’s what I’ll do. I miss you. I’ve been missing you. All this time.”

  I blinked a few times. “You missed me?”

  “Yes,” he said firmly. “A lot. In fact, after we broke up—”

  “After you dumped me over email,” I corrected him.

  He winced slightly. “Yes. After that, I went through a tough time. I thought about my life and how busy I was and how great things were going but I realized I still wasn’t happy. Because something was missing. You.”

  I pulled my hands away and put them in my lap. “Danny.”

  “I know, I know,” he said, putting his hands up. “It’s crazy. Out of left field. I get it. But let me explain, okay? I messed up. I made a mistake when I broke up with you, Jillian. I was an idiot. I didn’t know what I had. But I do now. I looked around myself and realized you belonged there. In my world. Beside me.”

  “Danny.”

  “I’m not finished yet,” he said, holding up one finger. “My business is booming. I’m looking to expand, hire on new people. And you know who was the first person I thought of?”

  “Me?” I suggested flatly.

  He nodded. “Yes. You. You’re smart, you’re persuasive, you’re used to handling large sums of money and working with luxury-class clientele. You’d be perfect as a partner. Both in business and in well, life.”

  “Are you offering me a job and telling me you want me back?” I asked, frowning.

  “Yes. Exactly. That is exactly what I’m doing.”

  I scoffed, shaking my head. “It doesn’t work that way.”

  “Why not?” he said, not following at all. “I know you were hurt when we broke up. Isn’t this what you want?”

  “Danny, I was hurt because you dumped me over email. And because breakups always suck. But you and me, we’re done. We’ve been done,” I explained as gently as I could. “I’ve moved on, and you will, too.”

  “I don’t want to move on. I know what I want. It’s fate. You and me—we’re fate,” he argued, beginning to sound truly hurt. I didn’t want to break his heart, but I had to be honest.

  Then it hit me.

  If I had to be honest with Daniel, I also needed to be honest with myself. And if I was being totally, brutally honest, I knew exactly what I wanted. I had known since I was a dumb teenager. Since that first Thanksgiving when I looked across the table and saw Bruin Kincaid.

  Suddenly, I stood up. “What? Where are you going?” Danny asked.

  I gave him an apologetic look, my heart pounding.

  “I’m sorry, Daniel. But I have to go. There’s something I have to do.”

  Twenty-Five

  Bruin

  Back in Ft. Lauderdale, I stood on the deck of the Mirabella, my heart whipping itself up into a storm as I leaned against the railing and glared at everything.

  I still had to be physically present to sell the boat. At least, I wanted to. I assumed Jeff was going to get some other broker besides Jillian to oversee the transaction. I couldn’t decide which prospect was worse: the thought of him sending some pencil-necked man to come try to fumble through the paperwork Jillian already had done the legwork for, or some other girl in a short pencil skirt meant as a distraction for me.

  Either one seemed pretty reasonable for Jeff, given our icy relationship since talking about Jillian seriously.

  One of the servers, a pretty young blonde I’d hired recently, made her way up to me with a mojito on a tray and a smile on her face. “Your drink, sir,” she said, presenting it to me.

  I took it wordlessly and put a fifty-dollar bill on the tray as a tip. I wasn’t in the mood for conversation. My eyes were fixed on the deck, my jaw clenching and unclenching as I thought over the ship.

  “You seem a little worried, sir.” She tilted h
er head to the side. I shot her a glance, wondering why she was still there. “Is... there anything else I can do for you to help with whatever’s on your mind?”

  She moved her hips ever so subtly as she spoke, and I could tell what she was insinuating. Maybe that was my old self’s fault. I had a reputation in the hiring pool, and this one was probably looking for a cozy spot in my bed for preferential treatment.

  “Yeah.” My expression didn’t’ change. “Another mojito in about fifteen minutes. That’ll be all.”

  She stiffened a little, but she got the message and gave a curt nod with a disappointed face before hurrying off.

  I turned and faced the water, downing half my drink in a single swig, tasting the rum strong and sweet, just how I liked it. Overwhelming mint could only do so much to dull what was stabbing at my gut, though.

  I needed to figure out something with Jillian. I couldn’t just let things stay the way they were, but I wasn’t about to stomp all over her career in the same stroke.

  My phone buzzed. I looked down to read the text.

  “Jillian?” I murmured out loud.

  Still at the yacht today?

  I raised an eyebrow and texted back.

  Yeah. Any clue what Jeff plans to do? Another broker coming over?

  I waited half a minute before it buzzed again with the reply.

  Look down

  I blinked at the text a few times. There was no way. Was there? I turned my eyes down to the marina and scanned the area until my gaze caught a waving hand, an incredible figure, a head of beautiful dark hair, and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. She was wearing a white blouse, professional black slacks, and matching flats.

  “Jill!” I shouted out, my heart somersaulting before I took off running down to the gangway. What the hell was she doing down here? My face was a sloppy grin, and I couldn’t help that, but my mind was all over the place trying to reorganize itself.

  All my plans and worries had just been tossed up in the air, and God knew where they were going to land.

  I reached the gangway, where Jillian was already making her way across. Miguel wasn’t far away, giving me a what-should-I-do expression, but when he saw my face and Jillian making her way toward me, he backed away understandingly.

  “Jill, oh my God,” I said, still in disbelief. “How the hell? What are you doing here?” I had to hold myself back, I had to tell her about everything that had happened with Jeff, I had to sit down and rationally think things through.

  Jillian interrupted those thoughts by nearly breaking into a run and jumping into my arms, throwing her arms around me, and pulling herself up my shoulders to kiss me, holding me there as I groaned into it.

  On instinct, I held her tight, pulling her whole body into a warm hug while I savored the feeling of our lips together. It had hardly been any time at all, but I felt like I was dying of thirst in the desert, and Jillian was fresh spring water.

  Both of us let out sighs of delight as we were locked into each other, and I took a few steps back away from the gangway, arms full of the woman I loved.

  “Jill,” I whispered when the kiss finally broke.

  “Fuck, Bruin, I missed you so much,” she whimpered, nuzzling her face into my neck. Her small hands felt up the muscles on my shoulders and neck, and her soft lips brushed along the nape. I tilted my head back to enjoy the feeling while my cock grew thick in my pants.

  I hadn’t been expecting any of it, but my body knew exactly how to react.

  I squeezed her ass with a strong hand, and I let her attack my neck until I couldn’t resist the urge to attack hers anymore. My own mouth went to her neck, and I breathed on the sensitive flesh like it was my prey.

  On my ship, in my territory, that was exactly what Jillian was.

  As I let my teeth graze her neck and took pleasure in every single whimper and moan I drew out of her, I walked us backward to the door leading to the dining room. I didn’t care where we were, but I wanted some privacy, and I wanted it now.

  We stumbled clumsily into that moody, beautiful dining room, and we terrified the couple of crew members who were in there already. One look at us, though, and they took the hint and vanished behind the scenes. I expected everyone to vanish below deck for a while, but if they didn’t make it out in time, that was on them.

  It was my yacht, and I’d fuck the love of my life wherever I wanted to.

  Every time that thought crossed my mind, love, it made my cock swell bigger and my need for Jillian get stronger. We made out sloppily while I walked us back to the very dinner table where we’d shared that first night together.

  We knew so little that night. We were so unchanged by each other, so different, even though it was so recently.

  I set her down beside the table, but her hands never left me. They tugged pleadingly at my shirt, fumbling with the buttons on it. I grabbed the tablecloth in one hand and yanked it, throwing everything on it onto the floor with a crash. I didn’t care. I needed a surface.

  Finally, I turned around and helped Jillian’s progress by gripping my shirt in both hands and ripping the buttons apart.

  She sighed delightedly and slid her arms around my sides, kissing my chest and feeling my abs, cuddling into me while emerald eyes looked up at me pleadingly.

  “I’m yours,” she gasped, “Bruin, you’re all I’ve been able to think about. I don’t care about anything but us right now.”

  “I’ve dreamed about you saying those words,” I said in a rumbling voice down to her, and I picked her up by the hips to set her on the table before pushing her onto her back.

  She giggled and squirmed on the heavy wooden table that was worth thousands on its own. I pulled her shoes off, then took her by the hips and dragged her close enough that her crotch was pressed against mine.

  I gripped her blouse like I’d gripped mine, and I tore it open to reveal her bra. Her breasts were so beautiful, so perfect, that they drove me wild whether they were free or held in by any kind of fabric. As long as she was with me, I’d spoil her forever, buying her any clothes she could possibly want.

  I wanted everyone to know who my girl was and what she enjoyed.

  The thought of ripping thousand-dollar bras off her was even more thrilling.

  I pinned her down, breathing on her neck as my hands explored her torso. I felt the fabric of her bra before my hands went behind her and unhooked it, and I used my teeth to pull it off her.

  She wrapped her legs around my waist as I raised my head and looked down at her hungrily.

  “Do you know how much I wanted to do this when we were together that first night?” I growled, and she shivered, blushing fiercely. My hands groped her breasts, thumbs rolling over the nipples until they were stiff, and her back was arching up into me. “I wanted to show you from the first second you stepped onto my ship that you were mine.”

  “I’ve been yours since you first saw me, Bruin,” she gasped, and I scooped her up. My hands gripped her ass and held her facing me, and I attacked her breasts, teasing her nipples between my teeth.

  “Bed,” I grunted, and I carried her to the stateroom where it all started.

  She was subtly grinding into me the whole way, her hips desperately pushing while we made out the whole way. I pushed the door open, and we spilled in. I didn’t even set her down. I went straight to the bed and tossed her onto it, watching her bounce and giggle in a way that drove me wild.

  I gripped her ankles and pulled her to the edge of the bed before she helped me get her pants off. She wasn’t wearing panties.

  “You know what you want,” I growled.

  “I’ve never been able to help myself around you,” she confessed.

  I pushed her legs apart, held her ass, and shoved my face into her pussy, inhaling deeply before letting my tongue out.

  She was so wet already, so keyed up and tense that she bucked her hips up with a yelp when my hot tongue touched her clit. The tip of my tongue flicked it over and over again. I wasn’t here to pla
y around, I was going to drag her into her orgasm immediately.

  It didn’t take much. She started to draw in sharp breaths from the very start as I swirled my tongue around her swollen, sensitive nub, feeling honey soak my face. I let it dart out in quick strikes, feeling her muscles twinge and tighten around me with each go. I was rock-hard, knowing how badly she wanted me, how desperately her body needed this.

  “Every morning I think about this,” she gasped in a high-pitched squeak. “Oh God, Bruin, even before we fucked, I’ve thought about this so, so much.”

  My hands tightened around her ass as I drove her harder until I heard her start to hold her breath, and all at once, I heard her let out a long, beautiful gasp while she came, flooding my face, giving me that sweetest taste of all. I raised my head and rubbed her pussy with my hand as she came, easing her through the orgasm and making her writhe and yelp on the bed while I loomed over her.

  I was done waiting.

  I pulled my pants off and grabbed her by the hips while she was still twitching from the orgasm, and I flipped her over.

  “Oh, fuck yes,” she whimpered, gripping a pillow and bracing herself. She even pushed her ass up for me, presenting herself.

  I was too dizzy with lust to reply. I gave my cock one stroke of my hand, feeling its full, vein-ribbed girth before I gripped her hips and pulled her up.

  I speared her between her lips with my cock, and she gave a sharp scream of pleasure, feeling as tight as the first day I’d had her.

  A guttural, animalistic groan came from my chest as I started pounding into her hard and fast. We weren’t here to go slow, we were here to move hard and fast, and I was going to take her for everything she had.

  I felt her clench around me, and I looked down at her pert ass as it slapped against my groin. The sight of it drove me wild. I stroked it with my thumbs while I held her up and thrust into her with a steady, unstoppable rhythm, going harder and harder as much as I felt her little body could take it. I was already rock-hard, and soon, I felt her start to clench up again as her honey started to flow more, and I watched her hands grip the sheets.