PluckingthePearl

by Afton Locke

  So much had changed. She belonged to another man…almost.

  “We could hug and say farewell,” she said. “Is that what you came for?”

  He stepped closer. “I came for whatever you choose to give me, Pearl.”

  The boat swayed beneath their feet to a steady rhythm, loosening the grip she had on her common sense. Unable to help herself, she reached up and traced her fingers along his jaw.

  “You’re a very special man, Caleb Rockfield. I’ll never forget you.”

  He captured her hand and bent to kiss the tips of her fingers, sending a sweet shiver through her. “And I’ll remember our time together for the rest of my life.”

  “You don’t plan to marry?” She wasn’t sure why she asked. The thought had never occurred to her before.

  “I can’t now.” His usually warm, vibrant voice was as hard and lifeless as a discarded oyster shell.

  Emotions built inside Pearl with alarming pressure that threatened to spill the banks of her control. She could see by the tightness in his jaw Caleb was fighting it too. With no warning, her arms flew around his waist and she held him so tightly she cut off her own breath.

  “Oh, Caleb!” she cried out. “Why did you bring me out here? Why prolong our parting? It’s already painful enough.”

  And I already miss you so much I could die! Is that what you want to hear, Caleb?

  He gripped her shoulder hard as if fighting an inner battle. “We have to talk about how things are going to be from now on.”

  Feeling shaky from her outburst, she forced a slow, steadying breath into her lungs. She let go of him and stepped back. “Then let’s get it over with.”

  “We’ll have breakfast first.” He opened a storage bin in the middle-back part of the boat and brought out a basket of biscuits, peach preserves and ham. “Are you hungry?”

  “Not especially,” she replied, “but I’ll eat.”

  They sat at the stern with the basket of food between them.

  “I think it would be best if you don’t work at the plant after…after the wedding,” he began.

  She nodded. “It would be awkward between us. Can you suggest where I might find another job?”

  He waved away the notion. “I’m Jimmy’s boss, remember? I’ll make sure he’s so well compensated you won’t have to work.”

  “That’s kind of you, Caleb,” she said quietly.

  “I want to make sure you’re taken care of. It’s the only thing left I can do.”

  A piece of ham stuck in her throat as she struggled to swallow it. “What if we should happen to run into each other on the street?”

  Caleb looked down at the biscuit he spread preserves on as if considering it. “Then I’ll say good day, Mrs. Clark and you’ll say good day, Mr. Rockfield.”

  “It sounds so formal.”

  “It’s the way it has to be,” he said firmly.

  Her food formed a cold lump in her stomach. “I don’t think I could bear talking to you like a stranger. It would be easier if we don’t run into each other at all.”

  He gazed at the water, looking more serious than she’d ever seen him. “Then let’s hope it doesn’t happen too often.”

  When they finished eating, Caleb put the basket back in the storage bin and sat next to her again. The sun was high enough now to light the rippling water around them with hundreds of tiny jewels.

  “It’s beautiful here,” she said. “The rest of our lives seem so far away.”

  His voice was husky as he spoke. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  He took off his hat and laid it on the seat. She frowned when he reached behind her head and pulled out her hairpins, one by one. Her nipples tightened with each one he tucked into his shirt pocket.

  “Caleb, what are you doing?”

  “Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

  Her breath caught when he released her hair and let it fall to her shoulders. Her scalp tingled with freedom.

  She grabbed at it. “Don’t. You shouldn’t see me this way.”

  “So soft,” he whispered as he rubbed his finger up and down a hank of it. “Just like your eyes and your mouth.”

  A hundred knots untied inside her stomach as his fingers tangled in her hair. He used the leverage to pull her face toward his. A moment later, his familiar mouth, sweet and hot, claimed hers. His moustache caressed her upper lip while his tongue recaptured the cavern of her mouth.

  Stop him, her inner voice told her as searing heat emanated from her core and consumed her entire body. Stop him before it’s too late. But it was already too late and had been ever since she’d set foot on this boat.

  Her hands slid around his neck, memorizing the texture of his skin and hair for the rest of her life. She ran her fingers across the crisp, short hairs above his ears up to the longer, glossy locks she’d touched so many times before. When the kiss finally stopped, she clung to him as if he were the only solid thing out in this constantly shifting sea. His gaze held hers, waiting for her to jump in those blue depths all the way.

  She bolted upright and faced the stern, making the boat sway under the sudden shift in weight. “Take me back. Right now.”

  The wooden seat creaked as Caleb got up slowly and stood behind her. She stared up at the sky and gasped when he molded his body behind hers as he had the day he’d given her the shucking lesson. Just as it had then, the hard ridge of his erect penis pressed into her, making her panties flood with need. A need no man could fill but him.

  Why did he fit her so completely in every way? His warm lips nuzzled her ear and then her neck as the wind tossed her loose hair around her face.

  “I mean it,” she said, sounding weaker now. “Take me back.”

  His tongue flicked her earlobe as he pinned an arm around her waist. “Is that what you really want, Pearl?”

  “What I want and what I should want are two different things,” she said.

  “Jimmy gets you for the rest of his life,” he said with a growl. “I’m just asking for this one day.”

  She turned in his arms. “What do you want from me, Caleb?”

  “Pleasure. The kind of pleasure we shared the nights you worked for me.”

  “You’re asking for the one thing I can’t give.”

  To her surprise, he didn’t answer. Instead, he went to the side of the boat to untie a rolled brown tarp, spread it out, and attach it to the windshield at one end and loops on the boat’s sides at the other. Caleb’s common sense must have finally returned. Relief and disappointment pulled her in half as she watched. Within minutes, they had a roof.

  “Is that to block the sun?” she asked.

  “Privacy.”

  She held out her hands. “Privacy? There’s no one else here.”

  “When you’re naked, you’re going to want some privacy.”

  Before she could answer, he pulled her under the tarp and clamped his mouth to her neck as they fell together in a sitting position. Her hands scratched at his while he unbuttoned the bodice of her dress.

  “I’ll stop any time you want me to.” He reached inside her bra and teased her nipple with his finger. “I mean it. Just say the word and we’ll head back immediately.”

  Streaks of fire shot from his touch and fueled the heat building in the rest of her body. She moaned aloud, glad for once that they didn’t have to worry about being heard.

  “Don’t.” She grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him hard. “Don’t leave the choice with me. Damn you, Caleb. You know I can’t control myself around you.”

  “Then why did you come?”

  She gasped, realizing he was right. All along, she’d trusted him to make the decisions and look out for her. Neither of them had been sensible when they’d come out in this boat and Caleb was obviously just as vulnerable to temptation as she was. It was about time she started thinking for herself. But not today…

  His scent, mixing with the salty air, wrapped around her under the tarp, carrying her hesitatio
n away with the wind. With a will of their own, her hands clawed at his suspenders and pulled them over his arms. Next, she grabbed handfuls of soft, cotton shirt and helped him unbutton it. She needed to see him, all of him.

  Her fingers splayed across the hot skin of his chest, needing to feel every inch of him too. He tossed the shirt aside while helping her out of her dress and stockings. As the boat danced on the waves, their limbs tangled with each other’s clothes. If the urgency of their bodies hadn’t pushed them so hard, she would have laughed at the spectacle they made.

  Caleb grabbed a thick quilt she hadn’t noticed before and spread it beneath them. At last, they lay side by side in each other’s arms with nothing between them and their bare skin. Having his erect cock just inches from her body made her cunt wetter than the water around them. Pearl’s gaze traveled the length of him, from the sun-darkened patch of chest to the dark hairs that led to his waist and below.

  “I still won’t take your virginity if you don’t want me to,” he said huskily as he toyed with her hair.

  “Thank you, Caleb.” She caressed his shoulder and arm. “It’s enough just to see and feel all of you like this.”

  He glanced up at the wind-rippled roof of the tarp as he caressed her upturned hip. “Privacy does have its advantages. Do you remember my telling you what I fantasized about on the mayor’s yacht?”

  Heat flooded her cheeks as she remembered. “You spoke of putting your tongue inside me.”

  Instead of answering, he got onto all fours and eased her shoulder down until she lay flat on her back.

  “Spread your legs, honey,” he whispered.

  When she did as he asked, he encircled her ankles with his hands. “Oh, Pearl. You’re the wettest I’ve ever seen you.”

  He greeted her folds with the tip of his tongue. When he centered his attention on her clitoris, her hips raised off the quilt. With strong hands, he gripped them and pressed her down again.

  She howled when his mouth consumed her with no warning. Lips, moustache, tongue and teeth assaulted her so quickly she could barely tell the textures apart. The scent of her passion filled the area under the tarp and her thighs trembled with the hold this man had on her body and heart.

  Pearl blinked in confusion when he got on his knees and rubbed the length of his cock in front of her. She could see it much better here in daylight than she had that evening in his office. It was deep pink and looked swollen enough to explode.

  Her pussy throbbed between her legs, refusing to be ignored, as she sat up.

  “Why did you stop licking me?” she asked. “I hoped to climax again.”

  She cringed at the sound of her words. What would Jimmy and her family say if they could see her now? Especially her mother… They weren’t here, she told herself. Besides, whatever she and Caleb had started couldn’t be stopped now.

  “Oh, you will,” he promised, “but I need to come too. Lie down again.”

  Her heart thumped against her ribs as she wondered what he had in mind. To her surprise, he turned his back to her and planted a knee on each side of her, dangling his gorgeous penis over her face. When his fingers parted her thighs, she understood his plan. She spread her legs farther, closing her eyes and moaning when his mouth brushed across her folds again.

  Knowing what he wanted, she opened her eyes, reached up and grabbed his cock, bringing it to her parted lips. Even her mouth was drenched. Her entire body thirsted for this man. She extended her tongue to lick the wet pearl of fluid from the tip of his penis.

  “That’s it, Pearl,” he said. “Suck me like you did before.”

  With no warning, his tongue knifed into her. In reaction, her hand tightened around his member, pulling it into her mouth as fast as it would go. He thrust his tongue into her heat, in and out. She could feel his hot saliva mingle with her own juices. Urgent desire radiated from the magic he worked, making her tremble under his mouth and suck his cock as if she starved for it.

  Unable to help herself, she reached up and dug her nails into his powerful hips. The deeper he tongued her, the harder she scratched. Cool air hit her between the legs when he lifted his head.

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered as his wet shaft lingered near her lips. “I scratched you again.”

  “I don’t mind a bit,” he replied, “but let’s work together with the rhythm of the boat.”

  Pearl closed her eyes and let herself become one with Caleb and the boat. When the craft dipped into the trough of a wave, his tongue thrust deep and she pulled his hardness into her mouth. When the boat rose to a wave’s crest, his hot, sweet tongue pulled out of her and his wet cock slid from her mouth.

  It took them a few tries to get the hang of it but they did. Nothing else mattered but achieving this harmony, this oneness with each other and the world around them. Thrust, retreat, rock, rock…

  Caleb’s organ seemed to grow larger inside her mouth with each wave. She could say the same for his tongue. As the waves slapped the hull and the wind vibrated the tarp, their breathing grew more frantic and Caleb’s cock filled her mouth to the hilt.

  As Pearl sensed the point of explosion building inside her, she realized the rhythm had changed. Although the water still rocked the boat slowly, they thrust and sucked faster and faster.

  “Pearl, I—”

  While she waited for his next words, Caleb’s hot juices flooded her mouth. His scent and taste filled her existence but the urgency poised between her legs refused to be ignored. He drove a finger into her while nibbling her clitoris. She shattered on the second thrust, shouting his name over and over until she was hoarse.

  He planted tiny kisses on her thigh. “That was beautiful, honey. I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”

  She kissed the tip of his erection too but couldn’t answer. After experiencing their most magical encounter yet, she wasn’t sure she could face the rest of her life.

  Pearl cast a worried glance at the horizon after they’d cleaned up and dressed. “We need to get back.”

  Caleb looked at the small speck of Oyster Island, wishing, for the first time in his life, it didn’t exist. All he needed was her on this boat. Forever.

  “Not quite yet,” he replied as he pulled up the anchor. “There’s somewhere special I want to take you first.”

  He’d thought of taking her directly there earlier but he hadn’t been able to resist living out his fantasy with her on the boat. Tasting her sweet pussy in tune to the rocking waves while his cock pushed into her wet, soft mouth had been the most exciting thing he’d ever experienced. All his past business deals paled in comparison to this.

  This time with Pearl had been amazing beyond words and he wasn’t ready for it to end quite yet.

  Luckily she didn’t argue as she stood next to him at the wheel. He could tell from the soft look in her green eyes she didn’t want to go back to their lives any more than he did. When he spotted the tiny spit of land ahead, excitement bubbled through his veins. It looked just as deserted as it always had.

  Pearl shaded her eyes from the sun. “Caleb, is that an island?”

  He nodded as he maneuvered the boat around to the side not facing Oyster Island. “It doesn’t really belong to anyone but I’ve sort of claimed it as it my own special spot.”

  “It’s beautiful. Do you come here a lot?”

  “Not as much as I’d like. I’m usually too busy working.”

  He cut the motor and jumped out of the boat. Leveraging the lines around a tree, he pulled the boat safely onto the sand and tied it securely. After helping Pearl out of the boat, he took her hand. He watched her eyes as she looked at the surroundings, seeing them himself as if for the first time.

  The side of the island facing Oyster Island was full of tall beach grass with plumes and marsh shrubs, blocking them from view. The side they stood on had a crescent of sandy beach. A few trees provided some shade.

  “What’s that building?” She pointed to the ramshackle structure tucked into the bushes. Its
weather-grayed boards camouflaged perfectly with the surroundings.

  “It’s an old hunting shack but we’ll be more comfortable out here. I’ll get the quilt and sandwiches.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “You brought lunch too?”

  “I always like to be prepared for anything when boating.”

  His heart raced as fast as an excited child’s as he laid out their picnic and invited her to sit on the quilt with him. He put it between two walnut trees, which gave them privacy as well as a mix of sun and shade. Having Pearl all to himself in his special place was too incredible for words. Being with her made him wonder why he’d come here so many times to be alone.

  Don’t let this day end.

  He’d made the roast beef and mustard sandwiches himself. Sharing his food with her felt as right as sharing his body and his island. If things were different, he could easily imagine spending his life with her too.

  When she finished eating, she sat with her arms around her folded knees and stared at the water.

  “Our time together today is making it harder to say goodbye, not easier, you know,” she said.

  He crouched behind her and moved her hair aside to kiss her ear. “I know but we’ll have these memories forever.”

  She turned and looked at him, her eyes luminous with unshed tears. “I don’t want memories. I want you! Oh, Caleb, I’ve always wanted you!”

  The urgency of her words sliced through him, shattering what was left of his self-control. He’d lain next to every inch of her velvety, coffee-colored skin out on that boat. They’d even made each other climax. That was enough. Too much.

  The woman was engaged to another man, for God’s sake.

  Now that she’d seen his island, they should go back home but he couldn’t move. When he glared at his tied-up boat—their only link to this private fantasy world and the reality of their lives—he half wished it would float out to sea and sink.

  “I want you too, Pearl.” Each word he ground out echoed the intensity inside him.

  He wanted her, all right. In the one way he’d never had her. The way no man had had her.