by Lori Wilde
“Science is science. It’s about facts. Not fairy tales.” She wandered away from him, her gaze going to the tank filled with sharks.
The bite marks underneath the Ace bandage on Scott’s leg throbbed, but he followed her anyway.
Jackie watched the sharks for a while, and then hugged herself. “I love it in here. Thank you for rescuing me.”
“Thank you,” he emphasized.
“What for?”
“If you hadn’t agreed to come to the party, Megan would have found someone to fob off on me. Now that she’s found Dave she hates that’s I’m single and she loves playing matchmaker. Just FYI.”
Jackie smiled. “You’re welcome, and thanks for the heads-up.”
Her smile beguiled him and Scott couldn’t resist moving even closer. He reached out, took her firm little chin between his fingers. He tipped her face up. She peered at him as if she held the secrets to the underwater universe. Hell, she probably did.
Her smile widened.
God, she looked so beautiful when she smiled.
Scott dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers, and felt her smile spread from ear to ear. Her wicked little tongue flicked out and traced over his lips in a glorious vibration that drove straight down to his burgeoning erection.
“Jackie,” he murmured and pulled her to his chest.
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
He pressed his face against her hair, smelled the lovely scent of her. She smelled like home. Key West. Gardenia, lime and sea. “Jackie.”
Her nipples beaded hard against his chest.
“You’re not wearing a bra,” he said huskily, his body going hard instantly.
“I’m not wearing any underwear, either,” she whispered.
Instantly, his balls drew up hard and tight against his body. “Hot damn, woman, what are you trying to do to me?”
“Same thing you’re doing to me, sailor.”
“I want you.”
“I know.” A lusty light shone in her eyes.
Fish tanks surrounded him. Dolphins and sharks. Sea urchins and sea horses. Starfish and clown fish. Music filtered in through the sound system. “Oceans” by The Format. This felt so right. Perfect.
Her hand went to his belt buckle.
He reached for the top button at her cleavage.
“Protection?” she murmured.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”
“Where?”
“Hip pocket of my pants.”
“You were ready.”
“Mermaid, I was born ready.”
“Lucky me.”
“No more talking. Let’s just let nature take its course.”
“Okay.” Her hands reached to the hem of her dress and she stripped it over her head. Then, just like that, she stood totally naked in front of him.
Scott just thought he’d been hard before. Seeing her lithe form backlit by the aquarium lights yanked the air right from his lungs. “Jackie.”
“Scott.”
“You’re incredible.”
“And I’m naked and you’re not. That’s not fair.”
She didn’t have to ask twice.
Scott fumbled for his belt, whipped it off, unzipped his pants.
She laughed, danced away from him like a saucy sea horse. Making him work for it.
“Where are you going?” he wheedled.
“Can’t make this too easy for you. Come and get me if you think you can handle it.”
She dodged around a bin where they stored fish food, her blond hair streaming out behind her. She looked exactly like a mermaid. He swallowed a gulp of emotion, stripped off his shirt, while at the same time kicking off his shoes.
“C’mere,” he intoned.
She stuck out her tongue, ducked behind an aqua tank, out of his sight.
He pulled a condom from his back pocket before he took off his pants along with his BVDs. His heart pounded extraordinarily hard and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this aroused.
Where was she? He could hear her moving down the tunnel.
“Here fishy, fishy,” he cajoled, opening the condom and rolling it on as he searched. He moved into another room that held more aquariums.
It was incredibly arousing to realize that on the other side of those thick tanks that people were mingling at the party. The fish and the water vegetation, the darkness in the back, contrasting with the lighting in the main room, would prevent anyone from seeing them back here, but still the possibility they were semipublic spurred his adrenaline.
He heard a giggle, spun around.
She was behind him.
How had she gotten behind him?
He pivoted, dived for her.
She ran.
He missed. “Naughty mermaid. Get back here and take what’s coming to you.”
He returned to the room he’d just left. She was nowhere in sight. He touched his cock. It was beyond granite. “Where are you?”
Another glorious giggle erupted.
It lifted his heart to hear her having a good time. She didn’t often have a good time and to think that he was an instrument of her pleasure puffed his chest with pride. “Oh, Jackie, where are you?”
He peered behind the aqua tank, and then felt a light tickling on his bare ass. He snaked his hand around, grabbed her wrist. “Gotcha.”
She squealed.
He turned to face her.
“You’re pretty quick for a shark-bit man.”
His leg was hurting from the activity but he didn’t care. No pain, no gain, right? His leg was still in the Ace bandage. It would keep him secure.
She wriggled in his grip. Her eyes were wide, her lips glistening. Her breasts rose and fell in a perky rhythm as she sucked in air.
“You’re mine now, you little mammal.”
“Not if I swim away.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” He pulled her to him.
She trembled with excitement and her excitement fired his. He couldn’t say what came over him, but it was powerful as the ocean waves. Timeless and ferocious. He pushed her backward until her spine flattened against the tank. Instantly, she raised her legs, wrapped them around his waist.
And then he was in her. He didn’t know how it happened. One minute they were peering into each other’s eyes and the next minute his red-hot rod slipped into her juicy wetness and he just sank into her. They both expelled air-hungry groans.
His mouth captured hers. Blow my mind. Man, she was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. He moved in her and the world spun out of control.
Her fingernails dug into his back. His calf cried out, cursing him, but pain was nothing compared to the exquisite feeling surging through his body. He ground his hips, pushing her against the wall.
“Harder,” she cried.
He gave her what she wanted. Her head bounced against the glass.
“Yes, yes!” she cried. “Harder, faster. Give me all you’ve got, Scott.”
He sank into her as deeply as he could go, pumping his hips, thrusting fast and hard. He went blind. He couldn’t see anything. All he could do was smell the musky scent of their joining. Feel the tangle of her hair flowing over his face. Taste the salt of her skin. Hear her high sweet keening.
“Yes, oh, yes. I’m close. Don’t stop, don’t stop.”
He couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to. He drove into her in a way he’d never driven into any woman. With full, complete abandon. He blew through her like a hurricane, came in a white-hot gush and immediately regretted his hair-trigger response.
Their first joining was over far too soon.
9
You have to go out, no one says you have to come back.
—Common saying among the Coast Guard rank and file
THEY RESTED ON THE CEMENT floor, still on the backside of the aquarium. Jackie threaded her hand through Scott’s lush dark hair. Sweat glistened over his back. She traced her fingers over his spine, his head lying facedown in
her lap. She tracked down his sculpted butt—his incredible, amazing butt—to his firm, muscular legs.
Then she saw blood staining the Ace bandage around his right calf. “You’re bleeding.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you stop?”
“What’s a little blood when you’re flying high on sex endorphins.”
“It’s going to hurt when the endorphins wear off.”
“Don’t care.” He kissed her inner thigh.
She laughed, wriggled. “That tickles.”
“How about this?” His tongue traveled down.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Hmm.” He planted more kisses over her skin. “I could get real used to this taste.”
She made a small, unintended noise, and she was uncertain what it meant.
He raised his head. Looking at him was like staring at the sun. Too bright to be endured for long. Hot. Intense. The source of stark, blistering energy. He cracked her heart as wide-open as the Atlantic Ocean and that worried her.
“Are you ready to go again?” he asked, thankfully bringing things back to sex.
“Better question, are you?”
“I haven’t had sex in six months. So, yeah. I’m ready to go again.”
“You have a rapid recovery time,” she said.
“Why thank you for noticing.”
“Do you have another condom?” she dared.
He sat up. “Just let me find my pants.”
He got to his feet. She noticed he was careful not to put too much weight on his right leg. A pinprick of guilt passed through her. This wasn’t fair to him. He was in pain.
“Scott…”
“Yes?” He retrieved his pants, dug in the pocket.
“Forget it…you’re hurt.”
“You don’t get it, do you? I’m Coast Guard. Pain is part of life.”
“But I don’t want to be the cause of your pain.”
“You didn’t bite my leg.” He came back to her, his erection bouncing proudly. He was ready again. Jackie grinned.
“I love to see you smile.” He reached a hand down to her.
She placed her palm in his and he pulled her to her feet.
“So forget about my leg. Tell me what you want.”
“My turn to look at the fishes while we do it,” she said.
And to keep from looking into your eyes when you make love to me.
Looking into his face when they were entangled was too intimate. It bordered on something more than sex, and she didn’t want to go there. She was not going to lead this man on. Even though she’d made it clear their relationship could be nothing more than sex, she knew things would get complicated if emotions got involved, and staring each other in the eyes punched emotional buttons that shouldn’t be pushed.
“If that’s what you want.” He kissed her.
He was the best kisser. Firm and warm. Not too wet. Not too dry. Just the right amount of moisture. She swallowed him up. Yes.
In an instant, she felt her body respond. Speaking of moisture. She was immediately ready for him all over again.
She broke off the kiss, turned and planted both palms against the tank. “There are people on the other side of this tank.”
“I know.”
“They’re out there talking and drinking and laughing and we’re in here—”
He said a dirty word that made her ears burn and her cheeks heat.
“Yeah,” she purred lustily. “We’re doing that.”
His hands went around her waist. He pressed his body against hers. His erection was hot steel against her buttocks.
“Spread your legs,” he said.
She did as he asked, spreading her legs wide while she watched the sea horses. They were mating, too. Entangled with each other, but anchored to nothing else. Snout-to-snout they drifted upward out of the sea grass, spiraling upward as they rose. In spite of her scientific training and knowledge, Jackie saw it now as a beautiful, romantic dance of love.
Scott’s fingers trailed down her back to her buttocks. He tickled her lightly, then moved on down. His hand slipped between her legs and her body shivered involuntarily as he lightly touched the sweet hood that offered so much pleasure.
“Mmm,” he murmured then leaned forward to plant kisses along her spine.
Jackie moved against him, reveling in the sensations sweeping her away. She watched the fish, felt his tongue, smelled the scent of their bodies, heard the sound of his rough masculine breathing, tasted her own desire floating hot and heady in her mouth.
His fingers stayed busy, strumming, rubbing, caressing. Touching her in ways that unfurled her. She bloomed. In his hands, she was a rosebud in the sun. Opening, softening, exploding with rich fragrance.
She closed her eyes, pressed her face against the cool glass. It was the next-best thing to being underwater.
The tip of him pushed lightly at her entrance. He stopped. Just stayed there for a moment. His throbbing erection bobbing against her.
Come in, come in so we can come together.
She pushed back against him, causing him to enter her.
“Minx,” he whispered against her ear.
“Stop teasing.”
He gently gathered a handful of her hair in his hand. “Let’s mate like the sea horses, mermaid.”
She pushed harder and he was in her to the hilt. He tugged on her hair. Not too hard. Just the right amount of tension to let her know he was fully in control. She liked it. Giving up control. Letting him take over in this context.
With one hand on her hair and the other clamped to her waist, he started gyrating his hips, pushing her forward. She opened her eyes, staring into the tank. He was long and hard and it felt so good having him buried deep within her. She couldn’t have escaped if she wanted to. She didn’t want to. She liked this. Liked what he was doing to her. Liked him.
Hell, she liked him.
He’s inside of you. It’s probably a good thing that you like him.
But she couldn’t like him too much. She had to draw a line.
Before she could fully develop that thought, he quickened the tempo. Tugging her hair, riding her hard, pushing her over the edge again. She hadn’t even realized she was ready to tumble, but suddenly, her knees were weak and her body filled with an ocean full of sensation. Rippling, undulating, waving.
He was dragging her overboard. Taking her down to depths she’d never before dived, darkly mysterious and sweetly scary.
The orgasm hit so hard she almost choked on the scream she tried to bite back. People might not able to see them on the other side of the tank, but if she screamed, they would surely hear her.
He held her as she trembled, sinking to the ground with her in his arms and Jackie had to admit it was the best sex she’d ever experienced.
THEY GOT DRESSED, tried to tamp down the smirks of pleasure on their faces and edged back to the party. Scott reached out to take her hand, but Jackie pretended she didn’t see him extend it.
“Look,” she said, shifting her gaze to the aquarium. “A red-and-white-striped filefish.”
Scott came up behind her. She could feel his breath against the top of her head. He rested his hands on her shoulders. “You doin’ okay?”
“Fine.” She turned back to him, forced a smile. “Never better.”
“Scotty!” Megan exclaimed. “There you are. We were wondering where you’d gotten off to. I’ve got someone I want you to meet.” Megan linked her arm through her brother’s. “You don’t mind if I borrow him, do you, Jackie?”
“He’s a free man.” Jackie laughed, waved a hand.
Scott shot her an unfathomable look.
Feeling breathless, Jackie turned away, pulse fluttering in her throat. She needed air and perspective. While Megan hauled Scott away, she slipped out the exit door.
Once free, she rested her back against the cool stone of the outside of the building and looked up into the sky filled with twinkling stars. Why did she fe
el so…so… What was she feeling?
Her body sweetly ached and she was sated in a way she hadn’t been sated in a very long time and yet something was off-kilter. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Couldn’t name it, but the anxiety was there. A knot constricting her solar plexus.
The breeze ruffled her skirt and she took in a big gulp of air and closed her eyes. Her limbs tingled pleasantly. This was good. Right?
“I see you made good your escape.” Scott’s voice came to her from the dark.
She opened her eyes, met his smile. “Crowded in there.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”
“I—”
“Needed some distance,” he finished for her.
She nodded.
“Are you ready for me to take you home?”
“Would that be rude? I have so much work to do.”
“No problem at all.” His smile was still in place, but he sounded disappointed.
“Thank you.”
“You hungry? We burned up a lot of calories back there.”
“We did.”
“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Fish taco from a beach vendor.”
“That sounds perfect,” she said, quelling the panicky sensation urging her to tell him to take her straight home. Yes, they were using each other for sex, but that didn’t mean she had to be rude about it and she was hungry.
“C’mon.” He offered his hand.
This time, she took it and he led her across the parking lot to the rental sedan he picked her up in.
She paused. “Um…I’m not good at this social stuff, but I just realized I should probably go say goodbye to your mother and sister.”
“I already did it for you.”
“You knew I was ready to go,” she said, feeling relieved and grateful.
“You’re not as enigmatic as you think you are, Jackie Birchard.”
“Or you’re just pretty astute, Lieutenant Commander Everly.”
“There is that.” He opened the door for her.
She slid in, smoothing down her skirt as she went. He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.
“What kind of car do you drive?” she asked. “Back in D.C.”
“Guess.”
She canted her head and studied him. “Some kind of sports car. Low slung, red and fast.”