“Andi,” he said, “Are you mad?”
I didn’t answer, still trying to process the evening. Between getting accidentally flogged on a BDSM theme cruise and running into my high school sweetheart, my life had taken a turn for the weird. In a really good kind of way. Well, except for the bloody boob accident. I could’ve lived without that, although it had led me back to Jonah. “Nah. Not mad. Just thinking.”
“Andi, come on. I’m sorry I stopped keeping in touch with you, but do you honestly think we would’ve made it through four years of college plus three more years of med school, and still been together at the end?”
I froze and turned to face him. He’d totally read my silence incorrectly. “I hadn’t been thinking about that, but now that you mention it, I don’t know. Maybe we could’ve made it together through college, but we never had a chance since you ended it.” Now I was a little peeved.
He caught up to me and grabbed me by the shoulders to face him. “Andi, stop walking away from me, from what we could be. I said I was sorry, and I really mean it. Is there anything I can say or do to make you give me a chance?”
I looked up at him. His face was one I could look at forever, made up of warm eyes and full lips that stretched into the best smile. “I don’t know. When I saw you in the clinic, it felt like it was meant to be. Like some higher power put me on this boat to see you again.”
He grinned.
“And don’t tell KK I said that. She’ll be impossible if she thinks I called her a higher power.”
He did that cute thing where he zipped his lips and threw away the key. I rolled my eyes, and shrugged out from under his grip on my shoulders to walk down the hall. “I forgot what a jokester you are. You never take anything seriously.”
“I’d take us seriously,” he called after me.
My feet stopped moving after that declaration. Could any thirty–year old woman walk away from a gorgeous man who told her he’d take them seriously? Nope. I wouldn’t believe it, even if the video was posted on YouTube. Just as he always had, Jonah rushed in with his smooth–talking tongue and kept dazzling me with his words.
“I wouldn’t walk away this time, Andi. I’m not a boy anymore. I’m a man and I know how to treat a woman.”
Um, yeah. Knees weak. It took every ounce of fortitude I possessed not to leap into his arms and declare my heart his for the keeping. “I’ll think about it, Jonah,” I finally said softly. “We can talk more tomorrow. Tonight, I just need to go to sleep.”
Chapter Three
After seeing Andi safely to her cabin, Jonah went back to his quarters in a piss poor mood. No, not a bad mood. Horny and anxious, yet happy. Seeing Andi after all those years had made him feel alive in a way he hadn’t in a while. And he hadn’t even known that something was missing from his life until she appeared in his clinic waiting room and, bam, all the love he’d had for her came flooding back.
He’d never Facebook stalked her over the years for the simple reason that he wasn’t on Facebook. It was easy to call social media a waste of time and claim he preferred actual in–person socializing, but now he knew. He hadn’t gone on the internet to find Andi because he’d been scared of what he’d find. What if he’d gone online and seen pictures of her smiling with a man’s arm around her and two kids in front?
Talk about a knife through the heart. He would’ve had to buy a new computer because his fist would’ve gone through the screen if he’d had to endure seeing a happily married Andi with a family of her own. Of course he’d wanted that for her, and hoped she had it, but wanting it for her and wanting to see it firsthand were two different birds.
The night hadn’t ended where he’d hoped it would–in bed–but he’d at least gotten her to agree to have lunch with him. He had the six a.m. to two p.m. shift in the clinic tomorrow, and they’d made plans to meet for a late lunch at the pool deck after he finished. Here’s to hoping the late lunch turned into early drinks then on to dinner and from there, who knew?
He was feeling a bit like an idiot for confessing his misguided spring break trip to Andi. She’d had no idea he’d come and he could’ve left it that way. She didn’t have to know the truth. But if he wanted a future with her, they had to start with honesty. He was starting to want a future with a woman he hadn’t seen in twelve years, and he absolutely wanted tomorrow and the next day.
There was also the not–so–small consideration that Andi’s sexual preferences were not compatible with his. She’d been turned on when he’d ordered her to bend over the exam table. She’d ended it only because she’d claimed she didn’t want to be spanked by a stranger; not that she didn’t want to be spanked period.
He thought back to how it felt having her bent over, at his mercy. Getting off on causing her pain didn’t excite him in the least, but controlling her, having her at his mercy was hot as hell.
… … … … …
“So?” KK sat up excitedly in bed. “Tell me everything.”
I collapsed onto my bed, uncaring that I still wore my heels. My feet killed after Jonah had toured me all over the boat. These boots were not made for walking. “Nothing to tell. I saw my high school boyfriend after twelve years. Goodnight. The end.”
She pounced on me. “Ow, KK. Get off. My spine was not designed as a holder for your knee. Not to mention my boob cut doesn’t feel so great.”
“Sorry.”
Her knee moved, but she remained in my bed, pushing at me until I finally had to roll off my stomach and sit up to look at her. “I’ll tell you what happened,” I said seriously, “but first you have to tell me how you found him. Or, more to the point, why you found him. Is that why you were suddenly gung ho on playing a submissive for the Whipped cruise? Because you were playing Cupid?”
She hugged her knees in tight, while I took the time to kick off my heels and lean over to dig my pajamas out of my suitcase. “Hon, not even for you and true love would I collar myself and take orders from a man for five days unless I really wanted it. But, yes, I’ll admit it. This whole trip was meant to be a set–up, with the bonus of me getting a vacation with lots of men.”
“Why?” I tugged my dress and bra off and then pulled a tank top over my head.
“Because you haven’t been happy,” KK confessed. “You’ve hidden it well, but I know you’ve been unhappy.”
“With my job, not my love life.”
She didn’t answer, but looked at me in the KK way, calling me on my bluff.
“Okay, fine,” I conceded, “I haven’t been happy in a while.”
“I knew it.”
“Don’t look so happy about it,” I said.
“I was trying to think of what to get you for your birthday, and I tried to remember what made you happy. And I realized the last time I’d seen you truly and incandescently happy was when you were with Jonah.”
“You’re quoting Pride and Prejudice to me?”
She hugged in her knees a little tighter and the mattress bounced under her excited weight. “No one can resist the power of Matthew Macfayden. Are you going to see him again?”
“Who? Matthew Macfayden?” The pillow hit me in the face with more force than KK had probably intended. “Ow. I’m already injured. Then I’ll have no choice except to see Jonah again.”
“Answer the question, Andi. I was sure I was sleeping solo tonight, and was surprised when you walked back into the cabin.”
“I was this close,” I pinched my pointer finger and thumb together, “to staying with him tonight.”
“So what happened?” She climbed back into her own bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, hiding the t–shirt with the words, “O’Kane for Life” on the chest.
“He told me he came to visit me during our freshman year spring break.”
“He did?” KK’s nose wrinkled. “I thought you said he never visited.”
“I did say that because I had no idea he’d come to Florida. He showed up, saw me sitting on someone’s lap and left without telling me he
was there.”
“No way.”
I nodded.
“God, that’s so romantic.”
“You think? He didn’t even stick around. Romantic would’ve been him marching into the party, pulling me off the guy’s lap and kissing me.”
“True. Did he say why he didn’t do that?”
“Because he was devastated seeing that I’d moved on, and he didn’t want to ask me to go into a relationship with him when we lived on separate coasts. He said I was too fabulous to waste my college years waiting for a boyfriend who was too busy for me. So he left the party.”
KK’s hand clutched at her chest. “Swooning here. That is romantic.”
“I know, right? He was right, college was fun, and I would’ve missed it all if I’d been trying to be loyal to my boyfriend in California. But part of me can’t help wishing he’d stayed and fought for me. Where would we be now?” I reached up to switch off the lights. Whoa, that was serious darkness. I was a city girl, and there was always ambient light through the windows. Out here on the ocean it was pitch black. As in, can’t see your hand an inch from your face dark. “Sorry. I’ll leave the bathroom light on.” I switched the overhead light back on, hopped out of bed to the bathroom and when the room was lit the way we wanted it I climbed back into bed to sleep.
“You’re not on separate coasts now,” she said.
I stared up at the dark of the ceiling. “No, but he lives on this boat. Might as well be different time zones.”
“Does he like it on the boat? Maybe he’d move for you?”
“KK, I haven’t seen the guy in twelve years. Let’s not jump ahead.”
“Do you at least have plans with him for tomorrow?”
“Yes. For a late lunch.”
“Oh, good, then we’ll have time to hang out and shop at our first stop.”
“Okay,” I said, and yawned. We fell silent after that, but sleep didn’t come easily. The shock of seeing Jonah again after all these years. It was almost too easy. I’d been dissatisfied with my love life, and bam my dream man appeared, saying all the right things. It was almost too good to be true, and I’d never been a believer in fairy tales.
Chapter Four
We’d agreed to meet at the clinic for lunch, and I was running a little late. KK and I had an amazing time off the boat. My beach bag bounced against my back as I hurried down the hall to the clinic. I wasn’t the only one running late.
Jonah wasn’t in the waiting area and, from the three people waiting, I surmised it had been a busy day for him. I stood outside the glass doors, waiting, when finally a woman in a white uniform hurried past me and entered the clinic. She greeted the waiting patients then entered the back room. After a second, Jonah exited and grinned when I waved at him. He held up one finger to indicate he needed more time, and I waited a minute until he reappeared again, this time sans uniform. With his straight, slightly messy dark hair, baggy khaki cargoes and gray t–shirt, he looked more like another cruise passenger than the ship’s doctor.
“Fun day?” he asked nodding toward the beach bag slung over my shoulder.
“Great,” I said. “The water was turquoise and warmer than a bath.”
“Did you snorkel?”
I followed him. “No. I followed doctor’s orders and only waded up to my knees.”
“Sorry. But the salt water would’ve stung like hell anyway. You’ll feel up to swimming tomorrow.”
“Maybe you should check out the wound. Make sure it’s healing properly,” I said suggestively. My nipples hardened, jutting out in obvious invitation. This morning I’d decided to leave my anger behind. I’d been given this second chance with Jonah, and I wanted to see where it led. No strings. No goals. Just five fun days on a boat together.
His eyelids lowered as he glanced down at my chest then grabbed me for a brief but hot kiss. I wanted more, but he released his grip on my lower back. “Lunch time,” he announced. “Before we get in trouble in the hallway.”
I grinned, thinking of the kind of trouble we’d get up to, but walked alongside him to wherever he was leading. The backs of our hands brushed, as did our shoulders. It was difficult not to latch onto his palm and hold hands. We fell into our old habit of walking the hallway, trading seductive touches and teasing glances.
“Are you in the mood for anything in particular?” he asked.
I shrugged, but I was starving. The official lunch hour had passed a few hours back.
“Sushi it is then.”
All right. I could do sushi. He took me to a restaurant I hadn’t seen yet. The ship was massive, and I’d skipped the tour they’d offered yesterday. The restaurant was nearly empty since most passengers were on shore, plus it wasn’t really a normal lunch hour.
Jonah spoke a few quiet words to the hostess, who then led us to a part of the restaurant that had a wall made of bamboo and rice paper. She slid aside a panel in the wall, revealing a tiny private dining area.
“Shoes off.” The petite hostess in the orange silk kimono pointed at my feet, and I kicked off my flip flops before climbing the one low step into the room. The table was shin height and there were no chairs, only large, flat silken pillows on the tatami mat. I sank onto one and waited for Jonah to finish untying his sneakers and join me.
The hostess backed out of the room, leaving us to relative privacy. “Good choice.” I nudged him with my left shoulder as he’d chosen to sit on my side of the table instead of across from me.
“I figured we’d have more privacy here,” he said.
“Oh?” I raised both eyebrows. “Do we need privacy?”
He nodded. “I want to pick up where we left off last night.”
“Fighting?”
“No, you bent over the exam table and me ordering you around.”
He stopped talking and crawled around to sit behind me, his thighs straddling mine. His wide chest acted as a chair back for me, and his lips tickled my ear. My heartbeat sped up and I suddenly didn’t know where to put my hands. They could fold stiffly on my lap or grip the table’s edge. I opted for the natural and desired movement of placing them flat on his muscular thighs.
The muscles under my palms felt solid, as if he still ran for the high school track team. I’d always loved his legs. My head bent to one side, giving him better access for his lips, which kissed a hot trail up my neck. Any minute now the waitress would show up for our order, and my head was spinning so much from arousal that I knew I’d order something dumb like pizza. At a sushi bar.
With concerted concentration I picked up the menu and held it so both of us could study the offerings. “What’s good here?” I asked.
“Everything,” he murmured, with another kiss to the sensitive area of jawbone running below my ear. I shivered.
“I’m a vegetarian now, you know?” I said, trying and failing to read the menu. My pupils had dilated, making the writing one big blurry mess.
“Oh? So no meat?” He made meat sound dirty. For him, I’d consider eating meat. His meat. My ass scooted back a smidge and the ridge of his hard cock pushed back into me. It was all I could do not to spin in his arms, push him back on the mat and ride this thing to its natural conclusion.
But the waitress arrived at that second and I ordered. I think I asked for cucumber and avocado rolls, but I might have said something about burritos. Jonah’s hands distracted me as they caressed a path along my right rib cage, hidden from the waitress’s curious eyes. The second she’d turned her back on us to go enter our order in at the kitchen, his palm was over my breast, with one finger toying with a distended nipple.
“Jonah, we’re in a restaurant,” I whispered.
“I’m a doctor and I’m checking your wound. Stop whining.”
Whining was the last thing on my mind as his hand explored my body, which at this point was aching for him. His mouth suckled at my neck, leaving little love bites. My eyes closed and I leaned back against him, subtly spreading my thighs. I didn’t think I’d let him go there
in a public place, but by now I was needy enough not to really care.
My palms roamed freely along his legs, but when I tried to turn to feel more of his body, his thighs caged me in place, as did his biceps. “Jonah?” Experimentally I tried to shift my position on the mat, but there was no give. He had me locked in place, subject to his whims. He’d touch where he wanted to touch and there was nothing I could do but hang on for the ride.
“I told you I’m not letting you go, Andi. I’ve got you right where I want you.”
If any other guy said that, I would’ve laughed at the corniness, but when Jonah growled it into my ear…game over. Total arousal straight to my girly parts, which had gone a shade past damp to dripping. I knew he was acting all dominant because he thought it was what I was into, and I had to admit I totally was. I’d never experimented with being a submissive before, but obviously when the right guy came along–Jonah–I was a willing slave.
By the time our food arrived, I was a puddle in his lap, a second away from begging him to stop with the foreplay and get his hand where I needed it. Right between my thighs. But of course the waitress came at that moment, laden with a tray full of food, and I did my best to pretend all was normal.
“Keep your hands on my thighs,” he ordered, and my palms dropped from reaching for my first roll. “Don’t worry. I’ll feed you.”
At first I felt totally awkward eating from his fingers, and each chew echoed in my ears. I barely tasted the food, which looked delicious. After a few pieces of roll, I stopped thinking so much and started feeling; the warm rice against my tongue, the cold snap of the crisp seaweed and the soft richness of the avocado. His fingers got involved in my next bite, and I nipped at them teasingly. I’d hardly finished swallowing before he leaned around me and swooped in for a kiss that sent me reeling. We’d been dancing around each other since yesterday. This kiss told me the teasing was over and things were getting real.
Brought to His Knees-Tough Guys Laid Low By Love Page 67