“I’m trying to impress you.” He squeezed her hand. “Let’s get going. I have a theory I want to run by you.”
“You want to talk about the theft?” she asked in a tone that told him she definitely didn’t.
But since what he wanted to do was peel that dress off her as quickly as possible, he figured talking about the necklace would distract him long enough to get his baser impulses under control. At least until the yacht was well away from the estate.
He untied it from the dock, then helped her up the ladder to the captain’s perch, where he got them under way before broaching the subject of the missing jewelry. “You said Peter took a sleeping pill before bed last night,” Jared began.
“That’s what he said.”
“He could’ve lied.”
“You honestly think Peter is the thief?” she asked in surprise, shaking her head. “He doesn’t have the creativity. Or the brains.”
“What if he took the necklace so he could ‘find’ it and be the big hero to Richard?”
“He’s going to suddenly pull it from the sofa cushions? And what about Rose saying she locked it in the safe? How’s Peter going to explain how it got from there to wherever he’s going to find it?”
“He won’t if he’s smart. ‘Hey, look what I found.’ Leave it at that.”
“Leaving the thief unidentified.”
“If the necklace is back, safe and sound, who would care? Rose could add the mystery into her next themed dinner party, and everybody else would assume she’d been mistaken about locking it in the safe.”
“It’s a good plan,” Victoria agreed, tucking her windblown hair behind her ears. “Certainly one you could think of. Peter? Not so much.”
Jared recalled Peter bragging about his knowledge of horses, talking about the Thoroughbreds he’d ridden at a Montana spa—even though a Thoroughbred’s skinny legs were designed for speed at Churchill Downs and would likely snap over the first rocky patch of western terrain. “Yeah. I see your point.”
Frankly, he didn’t see anyone, besides Victoria and her friends, capable of pulling off such a bold theft. David seemed too polite, Emily too high-strung. Nobody knew Sal well. Shelby had tried to convince him Rose’s companion had shifty eyes, but he’d seemed okay to Jared. Good-natured, in fact. Which any man would have to be to endure Rose’s tendency toward drama. Could he really—
Dude, what are you doing, obsessing about that ridiculous necklace when a woman as sexy as Victoria is within touching distance?
He studied her. Her shoes discarded on the deck, she was curled up in the corner of the sofa near the wheel, with her face turned into the wind, inky hair blowing back from her gorgeous face. “You’re sitting awfully far away,” he said.
Smiling, she patted the empty space beside her. “There’s plenty of room.” She angled her head. “Is there a remote control for this thing?”
He rose from the captain’s chair and extended one hand, clasping the wheel with the other. “I can still keep it between the channel markers.”
She stood in front of him and he embraced her from behind, inhaling the flowery scent of her hair. “It’s quiet out here,” she said. “Almost eerie. I’m used to the noise of Manhattan.”
He rubbed his lips against the soft skin beneath her ear. “The noises in nature are better.”
“Like crickets and birds?”
“Sure, but I was thinking more like the sound of heavy breathing.” He stroked her stomach. “A fast beating heart.”
She dropped her head against his chest. “That’s a good sound.”
He trailed slow, lingering kisses down her neck, while keeping his hand moving across her stomach. When she let out a low moan, he dipped his fingers between her legs. Even through her dress, he could feel her heat. Could feel her responding to his touch, wanting more.
She pressed her backside to his erection, and he held her there. The pressure was heavenly. Yet he needed so much more. The realization that he was going to get more, to possess this remarkable woman, even for a little while, honed the sharpness of his desire.
She turned, looping her arms around his neck. “How are we going to do this without wrecking the boat?”
“I know a quiet cove where we can drop the anchor.”
“Condoms?”
“In my pocket.”
She flicked her tongue over his earlobe, causing his heart to hammer faster. “I do like a man who’s prepared.”
* * *
WHILE JARED WAS DEALING WITH the anchor, Victoria headed into the main cabin. The bedroom was located in the stern. Decorated in a kitschy nautical theme, the room boasted a king-size bed with a plush navy comforter.
Handy. They’d use every inch of it.
She giggled at the idea as she sat at the end.
Hold it. Giggling? What the hell was wrong with her? She couldn’t be nervous. She didn’t get nervous.
What was really so special about this moment, this guy?
On the surface, he was all a woman would ever want—strong, smart, good-looking. But there was something deeper, something meaningful in the way her heart pounded when she saw him or touched him. His honesty was a balm to the sometimes back-stabbing world she lived in.
Or heard him, she realized, as his footsteps echoed down the hall, and her pulse picked up speed.
“Hi,” he said, his large frame filling the tiny doorway.
“H-hi,” she croaked out, then winced, knowing she’d betrayed her anxiety.
He sat beside her and cupped her cheek tenderly. “You okay?”
Oh, yeah.
Apprehension vanished. “Come closer,” she said, her gaze roving his rugged features.
He leaned in until his face was inches away.
“A little closer,” she whispered.
His mouth immediately connected with hers.
Perfect.
She breathed in his woodsy, masculine scent, and a needy ache spread through her belly. She angled her head as his tongue caressed hers, and clutched his shirt in her fists, wanting his body on hers, inside hers.
With his hands at her waist, he lay back, pulling her with him. She liked having him beneath her, leaving her free to explore his powerful frame, to learn where he liked to be touched, what strokes made him moan.
Her fingers trembled as she unbuttoned his shirt. She knew how beautiful his chest was. She recalled running her palms over his heated skin on the beach earlier that day, and repeated the caress now. He clutched her tighter against him, slipping his hands into her hair.
His heart beat as quickly as hers, but he let her set the pace. She left a trail of kisses down his throat and across his chest. He had muscles she didn’t know the human body possessed, and a tiny scar on his shoulder that she touched the tip of her tongue to.
He sucked in a ragged breath and shifted his hands to the hem of her dress, inching it up her body. She lifted off him long enough for him to tug it over her head, then straddled him, the heat between her legs pressed intimately to his washboard stomach.
His gaze tracked down her body, clearly approving of the skimpy, nude-colored bra and panty set she wore. “Beautiful,” he said, his tone low and hungry.
He slid his palms up her sides, then cupped her breasts, flicking his thumbs over her nipples.
She closed her eyes as desire overlook her, sending ripples of burning need through her blood. Rolling her hips, she pressed the growing dampness of her body against his skin. She couldn�
�t remember the last time she’d let go like this—the last time she’d enjoyed heat and intimacy more than bodies simply satisfying an urge.
He reared up, fusing his mouth to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and echoed his surge of passion. His erection rubbed her center, and through the bits of cloth they wore, she tingled, then caught on fire, knowing she would climax the instant he touched her.
Either he sensed her thoughts, or his own need was too great to ignore any longer, because he lifted her off him and got rid of his pants. Victoria mirrored his moves, divesting herself of her lingerie and tossing it to the floor.
Naked, he tugged her to the bed, where he quickly dealt with protection before urging her on top of him.
Victoria was sure she should say something, something teasing and sexy, but her body throbbed, demanding satisfaction, in no mood to argue about aesthetics.
She poised herself above his erection and sank down in one powerful stroke.
As expected, she did climax, letting out a rapturous sigh as her inner walls pulsed around him. With her hands positioned on either side of his head, she braced herself, while ripples of pleasure reverberated down her spine. He arched his body into hers, going, if possible, even deeper inside her.
“Damn, V,” he moaned.
She kissed him deeply in appreciation and anticipation, since he was still hard as steel and she knew more bliss lay ahead for them.
Straightening, she glided her palms over his chest and began to rock her hips. His hands clenched her thighs. She felt strong and powerful, giving him the strokes he craved, and her movements had the itch of need in her own body flickering back to life.
His hands moved across her skin, hot and sure. He captured her nipples between his thumbs and fingers, stimulating a hunger that shot down her abdomen and pulsed between her legs. She bit her bottom lip as the ache spread.
She couldn’t remember ever being so in sync with a man. The first time was generally spotted with tentative touches, fumbling or learning the right rhythm. Was Jared so superior a lover, or were they truly well matched?
He jolted her from her thoughts when he reached up and sank his teeth lightly into her left nipple.
Smiling at her surprise, he gripped the back of her head, then flipped them. She immediately hooked her legs around his waist. He thrust inside her, retreated, then pushed inside again. She could see the intense need stamped on his face. He was through with teasing. His heart-pounding pace was about outright need and seduction.
She arched her back as his thrusts became shorter and quicker. His breath covered her cheek and she wanted more than anything to please him, to show him how quickly he’d become a solace for all the turmoil surrounding them. Beads of sweat clotted her burning face. Almost there…
Hung at the edge, she dug her fingernails into the sheets.
Then he teased her once more, and she climaxed.
He followed her in seconds, moaning deep in his throat, holding her tight as the pulses undulated through her and the waves rocked around them.
* * *
LYING ON HIS BACK BESIDE Victoria, Jared gasped for air.
Tremors of ecstasy continued to pulse through his body. He couldn’t imagine when, if ever, he’d felt so amazing.
Scuba diving in the Caymans?
No.
Skiing in Jackson Hole?
No.
Hang gliding in Rio?
Not even then.
She scooted closer, resting her cheek on his chest, tangling their bare legs. He stroked her silky hair, kissed the top of her head.
Being right here was too great to consider being anywhere else. He’d never pictured Victoria cuddling contently next to him, as if he was the only thing on her mind. He’d always figured she had a million thoughts going on in her brain at once.
She slid her hand across his chest, her mouth following the same path. Her hot breath caressed his skin, and when her lips brushed his earlobe, his heart jumped.
Suddenly she propped herself up on her elbow, meeting his gaze. “Did you call me V?”
Okay, a million and one. He struggled to think back. “Maybe.”
“I thought you said it wasn’t an imaginative nickname.”
“It’s not.”
“So?”
What answer would get her lips back on his body? “Well…my imagination wasn’t exactly…engaged.”
“I think other parts were engaged.” Smiling, she pressed her lips to his jaw. “For the record, I like V. Especially when you say it in that breathy way you did earlier.”
He glided his fingers down her back. “I still think Tori is fun.” He paused, recalling what she’d said. “I’m a guy. I don’t do breathy.”
She shrugged. “You’re the one who called it out in the heat of passion.”
He wrapped his arms around her and rolled so he hovered over her. “A man will say anything in the heat of passion.”
Lifting her hand, she stroked his face, her eyes shimmering like pure blue pools of water. “Not you. You only say what you mean.”
“Let’s go back to the house.”
“There are lots of people at the house.”
“I bet we can find a room or two that’s empty. Besides, there’s the leisurely ride back.”
* * *
SEATED IN THE CAPTAIN’S CHAIR and trying to keep his hand steady on the steering wheel, Jared let out a needy groan. Victoria wore nothing. He had on his pants. Unbuttoned, as she was currently sitting on his left thigh and running her hand up and down the hardened length of his penis.
They puttered as slowly as possible along the Atlantic shoreline. He didn’t trust his powers of concentration even in the deserted waters.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” he said.
She pressed a lingering kiss to his shoulder. “One of your better ideas.”
As she shifted her position, his muscles tensed. The woman had an incredible touch.
When she straddled him, her thighs on either side of his, rubbing her warm center against his erection, he closed his eyes to keep control.
He was torn between wanting to drive himself inside her and letting the pleasure go on endlessly. They were compatible in investigating and lovemaking. And though he was still uncomfortable with keeping secrets—especially from cops—he had secrets of his own, so he could hardly judge.
“Don’t you want to watch?” she said against his ear.
His eyes popped open and his thoughts scattered.
With a teasing smile on her beautiful face, she reached into his back pocket and pulled out a condom. Slowly, she stuck the corner of the packet in her mouth and tore it open with her teeth.
Oh, man.
His erection pulsed in time with his heart. She paused in her stroking only long enough to roll on the protection.
“We’re not going to hit the shore, are we?”
“What shore?” he asked, an instant before he jerked his attention to the course the boat was taking, cutting through the black water. Thankfully, the shore was still on his right and the vast sea on his left.
“You drive,” she said, lifting her body to the tip of his erection. “I’ll do all the work.”
She moved down, inch by excruciating inch, until he was seated deep in her core. Grasping his shoulders, she threw her head back and rolled her hips forward. Sparks of ecstasy caught fire and shot through every cell of his body.
&nbs
p; With an intensely grateful sigh, she rocked against him, her rhythm lazy and steady at first, but increasing in tempo, along with her breathing. He let her take her pleasure as she wished, thrilled to be her partner.
His plan to change her mind about the kind of men who interested her was working. So why did he feel like a fraud? To quiet his conscience, he stroked her silky thigh. Her hardened nipples grazed his chest, sending lightning pulses shooting across his skin.
A whimper started in the back of her throat, telling him she was near climax. She dug her fingertips into his shoulders. Driven by her growing demand, he worked against her, matching her speed and intensity.
As his own peak approached, he cut the boat’s throttle and threw his arms around her, glorying in the satisfaction he could feel drawing near, in the summit just out of reach.
His orgasm surged before he was ready, but his triggered hers. Her body fluttered around him, squeezing and releasing, drawing out his rapture. She ground herself deeper as the contractions subsided, and he pressed a clinging kiss to her throat.
As she tucked her head between his neck and shoulder, he fought to breathe.
And steer.
Even without the engine engaged, the yacht chopped through the waves. Boats didn’t have brakes, after all.
“I really like being on top,” she gasped.
“So I see.”
She moved enough to kiss him, her tongue gliding against his, her passion sated but certainly not gone. “I haven’t enjoyed myself so much in a long time,” she said.
“Me, either.”
“Not just sex-wise,” she added. “I mean, I like being with you, talking to you.”
“You don’t usually talk to your lovers?”
“I give them a bottle of water before I shove them out the door.”
The unexpectedly vulnerable expression on her face made Jared question his happiness about being right from the beginning.
He’d wanted her when they met, and he’d done everything he could to have her. But now that he held her, where were they? Where would they go?
Breathless on the Beach Page 13