PluckingthePearl

by Afton Locke

  “I want your pearl,” he whispered in her ear.

  She frowned in confusion but he didn’t give her time to question him. Something primal and inconsiderate raged through him as he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her hard enough to swallow her entire face.

  But she didn’t seem to mind. Her hands clawed at his shirt as they had on the boat. This time their clothes came off much more quickly.

  “What if someone comes by?” she asked.

  “No one will,” he said with a growl.

  Whatever had a hold of him was beyond words now. His cock ached with a white-hot heat that threatened to burn him alive if he didn’t bury it inside her. Her earthy scent wrapped around him, removing all sense of time and direction. Lost, he claimed each nipple as his own, pulling the tender peaks into his mouth and sucking as if he could drink her essence into his body.

  Her fingers fluttered through his hair and stroked his cheeks and moustache. On the boat, he’d seen lust in her eyes. Here in the bright sunlight, he saw something else too. The soft look filled his chest with warmth and pressure, combating his desire. No, adding to it.

  Each breath shuddered through his body as he pushed her soft, petite body down to the quilt and admired how the sunlight burnished her skin to the color of rich wood. Her thick hair fanned out around her face, making him wish he’d yanked out those hairpins a long time ago.

  He spread her legs with his hands, almost losing his breath entirely as he gazed at the dark thatch of hair and the glistening, swollen folds beneath. The pinkness in her center begged for his touch. Sitting above her oyster was her precious pearl, slick and round.

  Mine, he thought.

  His arms trembled as he lowered himself between her thighs. The pounding of blood through his head drowned out the sound of small waves constantly lapping the shore, and the heat searing his groin made the sun on his back cold in comparison. His mouth grazed hers while his aching member brushed across her belly.

  Was she really about to let him do this? He could hardly believe it.

  “Pearl?” he asked close to her ear. “Do you remember what I told you out on the boat? You can stop me.”

  But she didn’t say a word, didn’t stop him. Her only reply was a near sob of need and a moment of hesitation before scratching one fingernail down the length of his back.

  The path of her nail stung, unleashing something inside him he could no longer hold back. He thrust his finger into her, making sure she was ready for his cock. The slick juices of her tight opening drenched his skin, making his balls contract.

  When he slid the length of his erection across her folds, the heated contact of their flesh clawed deeply into every muscle, demanding him to make her his once and for all. God, she felt like hot, melted butter.

  He was a mere breath away from entering her.

  Condoms, he remembered. He had to use one. Reaching for his discarded trousers beside him, he groped in the pocket.

  You gave her your word, a little voice reminded him. And although she hadn’t exactly said no, she hadn’t said yes either. She belonged to another…

  Caleb pushed the trousers away and buried his fingers into the sand as a battle even bigger than The Great War raged through his body. With the last ounce of his strength, he pushed off the ground with his hands and staggered backward from the force of it.

  With his cock so hard it threatened to break off with each step, he ran into the water.

  “Caleb? Caleb, where are you going?”

  He heard her voice but he kept running until the water came up to his waist. Tears of frustration stung his eyes as he sank to his knees and begged the waves to give back the control he’d just lost.

  Pearl had come to this island as a virgin, and—no matter how badly she wanted him—if she didn’t leave as one, he knew he’d never be able to forgive himself.

  Chapter Eleven

  Pearl crouched on the quilt and toyed with an oyster shell as she watched Caleb standing in the water. The shells were everywhere, reminding her of the oyster plant and their stolen times together.

  Between her legs, her pussy burned and ached, still reeling from the texture of his hard shaft brushing across it. It was clear from the way he slapped the water and dunked his head in it he was wrestling for control.

  She put her fingertips to her mouth, realizing how close they’d come to making love. During the heat of the moment, nothing had mattered except feeling his cock inside her. He’d reminded her to stop him with a word and what had she done? Scratched his back like some wanton whore.

  Thank goodness he’d been strong enough for both of them. So why wasn’t she happy she was still a virgin?

  Because she loved that man standing out there and that changed everything.

  Spending so much time alone with him today had made her feelings clearer. Most men would have fucked her already. Even though he must have been tempted out of his mind minutes ago, he was out there struggling to do right by her.

  Common sense told her to put her clothes back on, but the sun warming her skin and the leaves rustling on the trees made nudity feel too natural and good. This island had woven a spell around her, just as Caleb had.

  Her heart raced as she stood and walked toward him where he now stood in knee-deep water. The cool water swishing around her legs did nothing to douse the steady flame burning between them. She bathed in his pale, blue stare as she reached out and took his wet hand in hers.

  “I came so close to breaking my word,” he said. “Hell, I barely remembered I brought condoms.”

  “It’s all right. I wanted you too.” She blinked. “Did you say condoms? You must have known all along we’d end up like this.”

  The hint of a smile teased the corner of his mouth. “I didn’t plan it exactly but I know us too well.”

  Realizing how close she’d come to giving him her virginity and his taking it made her legs shaky, as if the smallest wave could knock her down.

  He clutched the sides of her arms and pulled her close to him. The cool wetness of his skin enticed her as much as the dry heat of it earlier. She could not imagine the rest of her life without being able to touch this man every single day.

  She glanced up. The sun was well past noon and was slipping in and out of some angry-looking clouds gathering on the horizon. They should have gone back hours ago. How much more time did they have together before they had to part forever? Minutes? Hours? Even a century wouldn’t be enough.

  “I couldn’t take you that way. We have to discuss it first.” Caleb rubbed his forehead. “I hate myself for even asking. Damn it. I have no right.”

  She traced a rivulet of water as it ran down his chest. “Ask me anyway.”

  He stroked her chin. “I want to be the one to take your pearl, honey, even though it’s wrong and selfish.”

  “I want that too,” she replied, “but I’m to marry. Can we really trust that condom? What if you get me with child?”

  The shame that would cause for her, her family and maybe even the entire island was too horrible to even think about. He should have taken her while she’d been willing because now she had second thoughts.

  He looked into her eyes with his serious ones. “The chance of the condom failing is very small but I won’t lie to you. There’s always a chance. When did you last have your monthly courses?”

  She looked away, remembering the day her mother had explained to her what it meant to be a woman.

  “I’m expecting it to return in a couple of days,” she said. “That makes it safe, doesn’t it?”

  “Most likely but there’s no absolute guarantee. I’ll try not to come inside you but I can’t guarantee that either.”

  She nodded in understanding of the risks.

  “Do you want to make love, Pearl?” he asked as he caressed her cheek. “Just this one time before we go on with our lives?”

  “Yes, Caleb.” She smoothed back his wet hair, wishing she were answering a marriage proposal from him instead. “
Make love to me.”

  He smiled, a flash of white teeth beneath the dark moustache, as he picked her up and carried her to the quilt where he laid her on her back. When he kissed her and stroked her cunt with his fingers, the heat inside her returned as if it had never stopped. Everything they had ever done had led to this moment, she realized.

  His body loomed above hers—hard and dripping wet. She clasped his outstretched cock in her hand, spreading the juice from the tip downward and making it even harder.

  She watched, fascinated, as he pulled a condom packet from his trouser pocket, opened it and withdrew a lump of putty-colored rubber with a ring around it. He unrolled it down his erect staff, sheathing it like a second skin. Her nipples and clitoris ached as raw need closed around her body like a fist. When the tip of his penis finally pressed against her pussy, her nails dug into his shoulders.

  “So help me, if you run off again I’ll drag you back here myself,” she said.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “It may hurt some so tell me if you want me to stop.”

  She nodded and spread her legs wider, wanting to give him everything she had while she could still give it.

  The head of Caleb’s cock slid across her juicy folds, flooding her with sweet, liquid sensation. Hurt? This couldn’t possibly hurt.

  When he entered her, his hardness lodged against something but he kept moving, ever so slowly. She hardly noticed the pinching pain among all the tiny kisses he rained on her face. The sensuous and familiar brush of his moustache on her skin made her instinctively open for him.

  She gasped when he was all the way inside, glad he stopped moving. The insides of her seemed stretched beyond belief. It was as if he’d filled her with his entire body.

  Nothing had ever felt so right.

  “Caleb!” she called out when he started to move again.

  Concern creased his brow. “Am I hurting you?”

  “No,” she whispered. “It-it’s wonderful.”

  “Just look at us,” he said.

  She lifted her head and followed his gaze to his pale shaft thrusting between her dark thighs. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen and resembled the colors of sand around her—palest where dry and darkest at the water’s edge with bands of varied shades in between.

  He moved so slowly and gently, filling her and retreating like the restless waves beyond their feet. She lowered her head back to the quilt and locked her arms so tightly around him they ached. Drops of water from his hair fell on her face, the sensation heightening the waves of pleasure squeezing her cunt.

  As she moved more and more under his firm, steady strokes, a cool wind blew across their bodies. Both of them were wet with seawater and sweat. Gray sky and swift-moving dark clouds appeared beyond his flexing shoulders.

  “It’s going to storm,” she said.

  He tasted her neck. “I couldn’t care less right now.”

  She tracked the furrow down his spine with her fingernails, letting her hands finally rest on his hips. While they moved up and down, she met his strokes. The rhythm of the waves still coursed through her from spending so many hours on the boat.

  “Mine,” he said as he moved faster and harder. “You’ll always be mine.”

  Her tight channel ached with pleasure as it struggled to expand and accommodate his new rhythm. With every stroke, he changed her.

  While distant thunder grumbled, the breath caught in her throat or was it a sob?

  “Yes, Caleb. Yes…yes,” she said as an image of them standing at the altar flashed through her mind.

  Such pleasure and a feeling of rightness flowed through her she wondered why she’d fought this for so long. She realized they had been meant to do this from the moment they’d met. Oyster Island was far away but this was real. Finally the only man she wanted was in her arms where he belonged. No circumstance could possibly separate them now.

  He reached down to rub her button of pleasure while he continued to stroke. Each touch dug her nails into his back and brought her climax rushing to shore faster than the storm. When the moment came, it struck her with the force of a thunderbolt. She screamed as she closed her eyes and clung to her man.

  “My, that was loud,” he said in her ear. “It turns me on to know I made you scream like that.”

  When she opened her eyes again, Caleb was outside of her, rubbing his cock over her stomach. The condom was gone and the swollen head was so engorged it was the color of ripe berries. He threw back his head and groaned as his warm, wet seed showered across her belly.

  She rubbed the pearly fluid, so white against her dark skin. “Thank you for not doing this inside me.”

  He kissed her gently. “And thank you for giving yourself, Pearl. This meant so much to me.”

  Emotion welled in her chest but Caleb pulled her up before she could find the words to express it.

  “Hurry. We need to wash up before the storm hits. It’s dangerous to be in the water.”

  The entire day had been dangerous, she thought as she splashed water across her belly, erasing the evidence of their lovemaking. They ran back to the beach, folding up the quilt as the first raindrops fell.

  “Go in the shack,” he told her as he handed her the quilt and their clothes. “I need to secure the boat better.”

  Pearl now knew what she needed to say and it couldn’t wait. She reached for his hand and pulled him close to her body.

  “Caleb, I-I can’t marry Jimmy. I love you.”

  A streak of lightning accentuated the paleness of his eyes and a coldness she’d never seen there before.

  “I told you to get inside!” His voice was even colder than his eyes as he pushed her away.

  She stared at him in disbelief as he headed to the boat without another word. This couldn’t possibly be the same man who had just kissed her tenderly and made such sweet love to her.

  Unable to move, she watched waves rolling through a clump of cordgrass at the water’s edge. Each blade bent under the force, bending the one before it in turn just as her strength had bent beneath the force of passion.

  Pearl finally clutched the quilt and their clothes to her body as she ran into the shelter. She shivered from the rain and wind but Caleb’s reaction most of all. Moments ago, her world had been so right. Now everything was wrong—terribly wrong.

  He was just preoccupied by the storm, she told herself as she stood at the doorway and watched the wind tear at the leaves of the trees. He’d taken her pearl, just as he said he would. She’d given it to him, only to end up like one of the oyster shells at her feet—discarded and used. Turning from the doorway, she put her hands over her face.

  What have I done?

  Caleb pulled the boat farther on shore so the storm wouldn’t wash it out. Why had he done it? Why had he taken her pearl? It didn’t belong to him.

  He cursed as the wet rope slipped out of his hands more than once. When a jagged streak of lightning lit the sky, he realized standing in water wasn’t the smartest thing to do either. Getting struck by lightning was probably exactly what he deserved, though. After all, he’d just ruined Pearl’s future.

  He glared down at his limp cock, wishing he’d had better control over it. The rain made the scratches on his back sting, almost making him hard all over again. Discussing sexual intercourse with her beforehand instead of taking her in the heat of the moment didn’t justify his actions. Neither did her consent. He was older and should have known better.

  Why had he suggested this boat trip in the first place? In the back of his mind, he must have known all along he’d end up between her legs. What he hadn’t predicted was how tempting this beautiful island would be for them both.

  Nevertheless, he’d brought her here and he despised himself for it.

  Caleb rested his hands against the slick hull of the boat after he’d pulled it up far enough. Thunder crashed, rattling his ribs. He needed to get inside that shelter before he got barbecued by the next streak of
lightning.

  It was time to face Pearl and try to repair the damage he’d done. The thought of what he was about to do lodged a block of ice in his stomach but it couldn’t be helped. There was no other way she would embrace her new life and have a secure future. It was the least he could do for her now.

  He had to make her hate him.

  After grabbing a lantern and the rest of the food from the boat, he ran to the shelter. When he got near the doorway, he cocked his head at the strange sound he heard. It was hard to decipher it against the roar of the storm but it soon became clear it was Pearl. Crying.

  Caleb gripped the rough boards of the shelter exterior and hung his head, ignoring the hard rain beating down on his scalp and naked body. Each muffled sound knifed his chest. He had brought her to tears and he couldn’t even scoop her into his arms and comfort her as he yearned to do.

  The storm showed no sign of letting up and the sea beyond was a seething cauldron of high waves. His stomach sank when he realized this wasn’t a passing summer thunderstorm. It was the kind of storm this area saw in spring and fall as the departing season clashed with the new one. This one could linger for hours, maybe even an entire day.

  He and Pearl would be stuck here a while, possibly all night. Under other circumstances, it would be a dream. They could while away the hours in each other’s arms, making love over and over again. Unfortunately the color of their skin brought its own set of circumstances and there was nothing he could do about it.

  It was going to be a very long night.

  Inside the shelter, Pearl sat on the quilt, which she’d laid on the sandy ground. The roof leaked in several places and the windows were nothing but open holes so she was glad she’d found a dry spot.

  She’d used the privacy while Caleb was outside to dress. Thank goodness her clothes had been dry because she didn’t think she could bear to be naked around him again. Now she concentrated on watching raindrops drip from the leaves of a vine that fringed the nearest window frame.

  How could he have been so cold to her when she’d opened her heart to him? And did it really take that long to secure the boat or was he just avoiding her? When she heard him approach the doorway, she quickly dried her eyes.