by Owner
Maddie exhaled. She had to admit he had her interest piqued. Along with her nipples.
Her body must’ve gone into some kind of life-or-death mode, overreacting to the combination of the raging rainstorm and Jon as if he were the last man alive. What other explanation could there be for her shortness of breath and hot flushes? She really should focus on something other than him and the weather and pounding body parts keeping rhythm with the hammering rain, driving them both to orgasm.
Pretty hard to do when trapped in the darkness with him. Wriggling her finger free from his hold, she stuffed another thickness of the brown blanket between them while she added and subtracted points. His mouth, his eyes, his voice, all pluses. His fear of water, his distance from Maine, his inclination to pick up dumb women. Minus, minus, minus. She concluded yet again how wrong he was for her.
“How long do these rainy bouts last?” The anxiety in his voice only confirmed her final tally.
“You know what they say? If you don’t like the New England weather, wait a few minutes.”
Jon smiled. He had a sensuous, welcoming smile. Made her feel all gushy and wild on the inside, like her own tempest was brewing.
Maybe her need to have her storm calmed wasn’t all due to Jon. She hadn’t been inland to a port of any size in over a year. She hadn’t been in bed with a man in that long either. Her long-distance love affair with the sports med orthopedist had gone from glowy to cool, then petered out, so to speak, on his part.
“I only have to wait a few minutes for the weather to change.” He glanced toward the shivering windows.
“Sometimes it takes longer.” She shrugged and the blanket edged away from her shoulder. He slipped it back up, his fingers lingering on her skin, sending hot tingles of suggestion to her brain. Foolish, reckless ones. She fought back. “A squall might blow in or out like that.” She snapped her fingers, and his hand fell away. “Other times rain hits the island and moves out to sea only to circle back again.”
“Very unpredictable.” He riffled his hand through his dark hair, leaving it mussed.
Tousled and tempting. Irresistible. To keep her fingers occupied, she looked away toward the sputtering candle flame and grabbed for the spare tapers. “If we plan to sit here all night, I’ll have to light more candles.”
“Unless we sleep.” His voice had a smoky, non-sleepy sound to it. Smooth like cognac, warm as melted chocolate, relaxed like morning raindrops.
It didn’t sound anything like a snore, a yawn, or even a nap. Maddie faked a yawn. “We could retire. I noticed at least two bedrooms down the hall from the bathroom.”
Or they could share one. Indecision wrenched at her nerve endings, trying to stack points in his favor.
“We could.” He shivered and cuddled closer to her, making no move to leave.
Shared body heat bound them together. As the steady dampness seeping into the room threatened to chill her to the bone, his hot body next to hers pulsated with promise.
Besides his gentle hands and broad shoulders, his thigh next to hers felt powerful enough to take a woman where she wanted to go. In spite of his love handles, or maybe because of them, his physicality lured her. Masculine. Intriguing. Simmering.
She squeezed her eyes shut, blotting out Jon and visions of another body part. A hard, throbbing one. Forget lurid dreams of Jon, she coached herself. They’d shared deeper intimacies. Confidences they promised never to repeat. Ones they shouldn’t complicate with sex.
Instead, she thought about Grace and her father, wondering if the woman would show up in the morning. When she opened her eyes, pictures of them in the cottage flashed before her. She shook her head. Forget that, too.
Now, she didn’t have much of anything to think about.
Jon’s steady, warm breath on her neck tickled and teased. But, he seemed content and quiet and harmless. Now she only needed to keep herself under control.
Maybe she’d concentrate on a few isometric exercises. Contract her muscles, hold, and release. Amazingly, the only muscles contracting were her PC muscles. Her vaginal walls were eager to clench, it seemed.
No way.
No Kegels.
****
Fuzzy-headed and drooling, with his chin resting on Maddie’s shoulder, Jon stretched his stiff legs. He opened his eyes to a gray morning light filtering in through the diamond-shaped windowpanes and the pale glow of the dim-lit bulb in the floor lamp. The power and heat were back on. He flipped the cover off.
He and Maddie had never made it to the bedroom, separately or together. He hadn’t made any moves on her. Mostly because he couldn’t read her signals. Not sure if she was willing, he’d ended up settling for staying close for warmth.
Jon shut his mouth quick and covered the wet spot of drool on her T-shirt with his portion of the fuzzy brown blanket. As if that was going to fool her.
He didn’t know what to think about Maddie. Where she was concerned, everything he thought he knew about women blew in the wind, like the gusts whipping around outside.
He perked his ears and listened. No sound. He squinted toward the windows. No rain. The storm had stopped.
The one outside anyway. The one inside, she was snoozing at the moment, but when she awoke she had the potential to be as changeable. He didn’t know whether to touch her, talk to her, or just sneak off.
Wishing Wanda would get here to give him a ride to the dock and make leaving a viable option, he glanced at his leather-banded Timex. Seven a.m. The wristwatch brought a smile to his lips. The graduation present from his mother was irreplaceable, even with a Rolex.
The reminder of his mother brought him to mind. Jon hoped Wanda would be taxiing his mother’s lover out to the cottage when she drove up. He’d like to run into the guy and settle up with the jerk before leaving the damn island for good. Between the man, the rain, and Maddie, Jon hoped to break a leg before ever boarding another ferryboat after today.
He groaned. There was still the Bain Island ferry to deal with. At least those powers-that-be had the good sense to allow his beloved car to travel with him. Going down with his Jag wasn’t as bad as sinking into the brink alone.
“Mmm.” The woman next to him moaned in her sleep. A sweet moan. Not exactly sexual, but still tempting.
But not for this man or in this place, he reminded himself.
Maddie purred and stretched, and opened those lovely lavender eyes. In a flash, all his survival instincts vanished like a ghost ship.
“Good morning.” He leaned against the sofa cushion toward her while he tested her waters.
“So it is.” She smiled and the sun came out. Inside the cottage, anyway. Outside it still looked murky and dreary. “I’m hungry. How about you?”
He wished she was hungry for him, but it was just as well. That had the potential to end fatally. He rubbed his still sore back and ribs, glad she hadn’t noticed the spot of drool on her shirt.
“The power’s back on and I remember seeing eggs. But there wasn’t any bacon, sausage, or ham.” He stretched his arms along the back of the dingy brown sofa and his feet out against the bare floor, waiting, dreading whatever she was about to suggest.
“Rye toast or granola cereal.” She glanced at him, from head to toe, and then abruptly away. “Do you want first dibs on the bathroom?”
“Nah, I can wait.” He sprawled out even more, flaunting his willingness and courtesy. “Ladies first, even blonde ones.” He grinned.
“Are you sure?” She arched her eyebrow.
He reassured her, and with a shrug, she strolled off toward the bathroom.
He watched her navy skirt and her shapely ass wiggle out of sight before he relaxed, looked down, and let out a low groan.
No wonder she’d offered him the bathroom, twice. His khakis were tented like the dunce hat he should’ve been wearing.
Chalk up another strike against him. First, the lame blonde remark and now his morning boner. This would more than likely earn him another jab in the ribs. If he
was lucky.
He draped the cover over his lap and strummed his fingers on the arm of the sofa. But the tent refused to unpitch. Finally, the bathroom door squeaked open. Without a glance in his direction, Maddie scooted toward the kitchen. Soon pans rattled. Dragging the cover with him, he grabbed his overnight bag from near the door and ducked into the bathroom.
The room hinted of a honey scent and Maddie. He’d never smelled honeysuckle, but he’d bet his front-end technologies it smelled like this. Like her.
After he washed and brushed, he fumbled through his overnighter for a clean shirt and khaki shorts. By then, he and his boner had calmed down so he joined Maddie in the kitchen. She signaled him to have a seat at the enamel-painted, wooden table.
Warily, Jon sat down. His gut flinched. Why did he feel like the expendable CEO at a corporate takeover? Why didn’t she say something? Something about the weather would be nice.
Smiling ever-so-prettily, she passed him a plate of creamy scrambled eggs and toasted rye bread. She poured steamy, certainly decaffeinated, coffee into a crackled ceramic mug.
With a wary hand, he lifted the cup to his lips. Still she didn’t say anything. She must’ve decided to let the incident pass. He leaned back in his chair and drank a slug of coffee.
Her warm breath whispered near his ear, “About your hard-on—”
He choked. Coffee sputtered across the nicked table and dribbled down his chin. His neck and ears burned. He was blushing for crying out loud. And in front of the goddess.
“Is that any way for a lady to talk?” He mopped at his mouth, his unshaven whiskers roughing up what was left of his soggy paper napkin.
“I’m in health care. I’ve seen all kinds of body parts.” She took the wilted napkin from him and plopped it into the trash bin. “I have to say yours looked exceptionally healthy.” She grinned.
Heat and blush drained away. Now his extremities felt cold and pale. Her know-it-all know-how made her impossible to deal with. He lowered his head and shoveled eggs into his mouth before he said or did something else he’d regret. What? His mind blurred. He already regretted nearly everything, including breathing her same air.
Maddie sat across from him sipping tea, humming, crunching her nutty granola.
And annoying the hell out of him. Jon hoped he’d packed the Tums.
Chapter Six
“Wanda should be showing up soon,” Jon said politely, between gritted teeth, deciding to make his and Maddie’s last moments together as pleasant as he could.
“As soon as we finish eating, I’ll pack up my things.” Maddie continued to nibble away, but on an apple now.
Her mouth was moist and her teeth enticing to watch. He envisioned those teeth grating his neck, or nipples, or the crown of his dick. His balls clenched. An erection twitched with a swelling need to have her on her knees in front of him.
Hard pressed to sit across from her any longer, Jon got up and paced the cottage, the porch, and eventually the stony driveway. Finally his hard-on eased up.
An hour came and went with no Wanda. The sky darkened like it had yesterday, although the pine-scented air remained still. He figured this was a fragrant calm before yet another storm.
Hands in pockets, he strolled down the lane, hoping to meet the ticket agent’s car mudding up the road. Nothing, but a fallen tree blocking passage in both directions. He pulled and panted but couldn’t budge the heavy trunk. Deciding he and Maddie had better get their stuff and wait here at the impasse for Wanda, he strode back to the cottage.
And tripped over his tongue inside the doorway. Maddie was down on the floor performing calisthenics. Leg lifts to be exact. Her lanky leg rose and fell, exposing the panty-clad vee between her thighs with each exacted, graceful movement. A dark patch of pubic hair was just visible beneath the filmy material, which clung to her vaginal lips and targeted the exact place he’d like to sink his dick. He sucked in his breath so deep he nearly swallowed his tongue. His choking caught her attention.
“A-a tree is down across the road. I was—ah…thinking we should walk down and meet Wanda there.”
Maddie stopped mid-thigh high. He wished she’d drop her leg. Or lift both of them and invite him in. He coughed the thought away. Getting off the island was more important than getting into her panties right now, wasn’t it?
“That’s an excellent idea. We can’t expect her to hike up here for us.” Finally, Maddie closed her thighs.
In a lithe move, she stood and stretched every limb, like a cat after a nap. The woman had great flexibility, besides a great shape. Possible sexual positions flickered through his mind in quick succession. Mounting her from behind while she touched her toes was his favorite.
He swallowed, hard, and turned away before he lunged or plunged or did something he’d regret. If she rebuffed him, his ribs couldn’t take another blow, not to mention his ego.
“Maybe I should try calling someone?” he offered.
“The phone is disconnected and my cell’s in a permanent roaming mode. But the numbers for the General Store, the ferryboat office, and someone’s granny are scribbled on the calendar over there.” She pointed a finger toward the kitchen wall. Even her index finger was in great shape.
“Let me try my cell again.” He scrounged around near his overnight bag where his phone had clattered to the floor the night before when she’d dropped him like a bear market. He found it and pressed the power button. Nothing. He banged it against his palm. Still nothing.
“I could try charging it, or we could start down the road to catch our ride.”
Just then the living room lamp flickered and died, and the fridge wound down with a whine. Looked like the power had gone out again, and the decision was made for him.
Jon and Maddie hurried down the rocky path as the sky darkened with each step. Her backpack and sneakers didn’t deter her stride any. His overnight bag, laptop, and thin-soled, topsider shoes lumbered his.
None too soon, he sat on the trunk of the downed pine tree with her beside him. The rough bark bit his butt while he fidgeted and drew circles in the dirt with a stick. Patience wasn’t his strong point.
Seemingly content, she watched a pair of squirrels play in the grass beneath a clump of trees. Some bird chirped, not sounding very melodic. More like a warning. A storm warning was his bet.
He glanced down the lane. Still no one in sight. Except for him and Maddie, nothing else breathed that didn’t have feathers or fur.
She jumped to her feet. Her violet eyes glistened even with no sun in sight. “Let’s walk to the dock.”
“How far is it?” He couldn’t see the dock from here so he figured that meant it was a long hike.
“I’m not sure. But, on a better thought, I saw bicycles behind the cottage. Biking’s faster.”
Jon nodded. He hadn’t been on a bicycle since he was ten. This ought to be amusing. For her, anyway.
They trudged back to the cottage.
“Tie your luggage on to the back of the bike while I search the kitchen for garbage bags in case it starts raining.” She smiled despite his apparent lack of enthusiasm.
Jon did as instructed. Almost. He wasn’t stringing his laptop to the back of any rickety bicycle. He slung the strap across his shoulder, figuring to balance the computer case across his lap once he pedaled.
“We’re in luck.” She held up the black plastic. “The last two bags.”
They pushed the bikes down the road and around the fallen tree before they hopped on and started pedaling. Aside from a butt-bruising from the rocky, bumpy ride, Jon didn’t do too badly. He lagged a mere length behind her. Once he got the hang of pedaling with the computer bumping his thighs, he grew more adept. Soon he biked alongside her. After keeping pace awhile, he overtook her.
Ha, ha. Once he took the lead, he looked back at her to gloat. That’s when the bike veered, the front end jiggled, and he hit the tree.
He thought the jolt would kill him. But he realized as he flipped head-over-he
els over the handlebars that the landing was what would do him in.
Thud. He hit the ground hard, flat on his back. The breath was knocked out of him. He gasped, but couldn’t seem to get enough air. Salty and pungent as the air might be, he suddenly needed it badly. He waited for his short life to pass before him.
Instead, violet flashed in front of him as Maddie’s eyes filled his view. She dimmed from his sight for a moment and then returned. Her fingers were in his mouth, a rather erotic gesture. Soon her tender lips touched his. She kissed in an odd manner, by forcing air into his lungs.
More kisses. He floated. She faded. Then he choked.
“Are you okay?” Her voice pulsed against his eardrums. Her fingers touched his body, intimately.
His body responded. His dick hardened when she fondled him just above his knee. He moved his arms and legs about at the urging of her hands before she sat him up, slowly. All motion seemed heavy. Her arms supported his shoulders while his head swirled and nodded like a kewpie doll. He groped for her head, trying to make contact with her mouth again.
“More kisses,” he murmured.
She laughed, light little wisps. “Those weren’t kisses. I was resuscitating you.”
He grinned, not sure why. Maybe at the sound of her laughter. Maybe at the fact that he’d survived.
“Can you sit up on your own?” She let go of him, but kept her arms circled around him and close. All four of them. His vision was fuzzy.
Tottering, he swayed a little, and then balanced, smiling proudly. “Yes, I can sit on my own.” His voice sounded far off, foggy.
“Good.” She nodded. Both of her heads were proud of him. “When you feel up to it, we’ll try standing.”
Jon squinted, blinked, and finally focused. Gratefully, there was only one of her now. The idea of dealing with two Maddies could relapse anyone. He chuckled, but didn’t let her in on the joke.
He glanced around. One tree only? He felt like he’d hit a forest. But on second look, it was a big tree and it loomed over him, still shaking its threatening limbs and leaves at him.