by Holly Jaymes
I ran my hands over his chest, feeling for the lines and ridges of his muscles. His left hand slid up my side, his thumb brushed over my nipple, making me gasp as a shot of arousal hit my center.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmured.
“Why?” Then I remembered his no-women rule.
“Because I want you so fucking bad, but I’m afraid it’s too much too soon.”
“What if I want you too?”
He groaned against my neck. “Then you can have me.”
11
Seeing Stars
Tucker
Yes, yes, yes. My brain was having a fucking party that this creative, beautiful woman was really kissing me. The part of me that was trying to remind me of the no-women rule was drowned out by the fact this this amazing woman was giving me permission to touch her. Besides, the no-woman rule didn’t apply to her. I was certain that rule was made for the hookups and one-night stands with women I barely knew. Not for this woman that I’d been perseverating on since my brother’s wedding.
I moved to lift her onto the counter, when my shoulder reminded me that it was injured.
“Fuck.” I looked over at my shoulder, cursing it even as I knew it was the reason she was even here.
“Oh, sorry.” She winced. “Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“Don’t say that. Please, God, don’t say that.” I looked into her eyes, hoping she hadn’t changed her mind.
“You should rest.”
I saw disappointment there. I couldn’t have that either.
“I can do this,” I said, taking her hand and leading her to my bedroom.
“Tucker, really. You should rest. We got carried away and—”
I pressed her hand over my dick. “You can’t leave me like this, Emma. This is way more painful than my shoulder.”
She laughed. “You could take care of that on your own.”
“I’d rather you did it for me.” I gave her a cocky smile. “Unless you’re not turned on too. Tell me Emma, are you wet for me?”
I sat on the bed and rubbed my nose over her belly, inhaling. I knew women and when they were aroused. I knew she was. I could smell the scent of her arousal.
“I’ll beg if you want,” I said.
Her hands threaded through my hair. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Hallelujah.”
Her fingers went to my shirt, unbuttoning it and pushing it off my shoulders. She ran her fingers over my shoulders, down my pecs.
“Are you looking at me with artist's eyes or lover’s eyes?”
Her gaze lifted to mine. “Both.”
I could accept that. I used both hands to push her shirt up, until my shoulder revolted again.
“Let me.” She pulled her shirt off revealing lovely tits in a light-pink lacy bra.
I groaned at the sight, reaching around to undo her bra clasp with my left hand. She shimmied out of her bra, her tits swaying hypnotizing me with their beauty.
“You’re the art,” I said as I used my left hand to pull her closer so I could suck on one of those round, soft, beauties. The tip hardened in my mouth. I scraped my teeth over it as I released it, loving how she gasped.
“Strip for me, Emma,” I said in a desperate need to see all of her. Her cheeks flushed and I hoped she wasn’t embarrassed or self-conscious. “What I see so far is beautiful. I want to see all of you.”
“You too, Tucker.” When she stepped back to undress, I stood and followed suit. I regretted that I wasn’t one hundred percent and so could peel away her clothes for her. I kept my eyes on her as her jeans slid down her legs revealing creamy smooth skin.
I pushed my shorts down, my dick popping free. She was right, dicks just didn’t have the sort of artistic beauty of tits and other parts of the female form. Still, her eyes went to my hard cock, bobbing around as if it was a heat seeking missile looking for her.
Her hand reached out, her finger dragging along the length making me hiss.
“I guess it’s true what they say about men with large hands and feet.”
I laughed. “Is that good?”
Her gaze lifted to mine. “I’ll let you know when we’re done.”
My heart did a little flip in my chest at her ability to still use that smart, bantering mouth as we got ready to fuck. Most women either told me what I wanted to hear or talked like porn stars. Emma was real. She wasn’t going to pretend to be someone else in an effort to get something from me beyond what I was offering, which at this moment was pleasure.
I scooted back on the bed, extending my legs out and reaching for her with my left arm. “Take me to paradise, Emma,” I said.
Her eyes were seductive, filled with erotic promise as she straddled my thighs. “Have you ever let a woman take charge before?” she asked.
I was smart enough to know discussing previous women was a bad idea. “I’ve never had a woman like you.”
She looked at me with a strange expression. “Don’t lie to me, Tucker.”
“No lies, Emma.” I hooked my hand around her neck and pulled her to me, kissing her. Kissing away that expression that made me worried she thought she was like all other women. That this encounter would be just another fuck for me.
She surrendered, her hands cradling my face as she joined in on the kiss. Her pussy rubbed over my dick, and I nearly came right then and there.
“Fuck…” I groaned and reached over to my side table, opening the drawer and feeling around for a condom. Thank God there were some left over from my last trip up. With my no-women rule, I hadn’t brought any.
I started to use my right hand to open the little package, but a sharp pain in my shoulder had me wincing.
“Let me,” she said, taking the condom and opening the wrapper. “I should probably roll it on too.”
“Heaven help me,” I said, closing my eyes as she put the condom on my tip and started rolling it down my aching cock.
“Fuck…Jesus…” I pushed her hands away, and using my left hand I rolled it the rest of the way down, checking that there was room at the tip. Then I put my hand on her hip. “Put me out of misery. I’m fucking dying here.”
She smiled, and it was so lovely it made my heart stutter in my chest.
“You’re ready, aren’t you?” I asked, realizing I was being selfish. She already thought I was a sex-crazed jock, I didn’t need her thinking I was selfish in bed too.
I slid my finger through her folds finding her wet. “Yes, you feel ready,” I said, bringing my fingers to my lips and sucking. Her eyes flared with heat as I made an mmm sound. “You’re delicious.”
She gripped my cock, tugging me to her pussy entrance. I levered up, putting my left arm around her. I lightly bit her tit, but as she sank down over me, all I could do was experience that sweet pussy around my dick.
“Jesus, fuck…so good, Emma,” I said burying my face between her tits as electricity flared out from my dick to the rest of my body.
She moaned as I reached the limit in her body and she rocked over me. Moans were good, but I had to know.
“Tell me you like it. Tell me it’s good for you.”
“Yes.” Her hand pressed against my right pec as her other hand gripped my left shoulder. “God, it’s so good.”
Thank fuck, I thought.
She started to move over me, and my brain started short circuiting. It was like her pussy was putting live electrical wires on my dick…in my brain. I went from zero to sixty in one slide of her body over mine and I was nearly there. I wasn’t sure if I should be thrilled to have so much feeling and arousal or embarrassed that this was going to be a short ride.
I lay back so I could move with her. My hips rising as she sank over me. I tried to distract myself by watching her. Her head dropped back, those long luscious red locks hanging down her back. Her tits swayed and bounced like they were moving to music. She was art. Art in motion.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I said, in awe of her.
“Oh God, Tucker.” S
he leaned forward, her hands on my chest, her fingers digging into my pecs.
I gripped her hip with my left hand, letting my right-hand rest on her thigh as pressure in my balls coiled tight, ready to release.
“I’m gonna cum…you’re gonna make me cum…Are you there yet?” I asked. I normally had better control, but she had me teetering on the edge of oblivion.
“Yes, yes, yes…” she chanted as she chased her release. Then she cried out as she sank down on my dick, her sweet pussy walls clamping around my cock until I saw stars.
I let out a long feral growl as her pussy shot me to the heavens. I bucked up, spilling my load, once…and again and again until she collapsed on my chest. Even then her pussy pulsed around my cock as it continued to twitch inside her. God, she was fucking amazing.
My left hand splayed on her back, wanting to make sure she didn’t get away.
“There are stars bursting in my head,” I managed on a harsh breath.
She lifted her head, and gave me that sweet smile that made my heart twist in my chest. “You say the most wonderful things.”
“I’m speaking the truth.” I lifted my head and kissed her. When I dropped my head back to the pillow, I waited a moment and then said, “Now it’s your turn.”
“My turn?”
“To tell me you saw stars.”
She laughed. “Your arrogance is showing.”
“Am I wrong? Did I not rock your world?”
“My world has been rocked.”
I grinned. “When my shoulder is better, I won’t have to ask. You’ll be singing my praises without any prodding.”
Her head cocked to the side.
“What?” I asked.
“This isn’t a one-time thing?”
God, I was afraid of that. “I hope not.” I reached up, and fingered the soft strands of her hair. “One time won’t be enough for me. How about you?”
“What about your no-woman rule?”
That was a concern, and I looked down as I tried to figure out how I’d navigate this.
She started to move off me. “I don’t want you to lose your job—”
I held her with my left hand, willing to ruin my right shoulder if I needed to use it to keep her next to me. Fortunately, she stopped trying to escape.
I pulled her down to lay next to me on my left side. “You’re not the woman who that rule was made for,” I said, wondering if I should be confirming for her that I was a Lothario. Was, past tense, being the operative word. “And as long as you’re not going to Instagram my dick, we should be fine.”
“Tempting,” she said as her hand rubbed down my belly, making my dick twitch in response.
“With that said, I’m not sure Mason and the team would agree.”
Her hand stilled and her head lifted to look at me. “I should go?”
“No. We should keep this on the downlow.” I hated saying that. It was like saying there was something wrong or sordid about us. But the truth was, Mason wouldn’t approve, and I wasn’t willing to abstain. Especially now that I’d had a taste of her.
She studied me for a moment.
“This isn’t wrong,” I said.
“Except it is. You could lose your job.”
I nodded once but then shook my head. “It’ll be fine.”
“A secret? Sounds salacious.”
“Private. Something between only you and me. Special,” I said, hoping she’d understand that this was important to me. More important than it should be, but I wasn’t going to figure out right now what it meant.
She smiled, but it wasn’t that radiant one. She lay her head on my chest.
“This isn’t like my other…encounters,” I said, feeling desperate for her to understand she wasn’t just a meaningless hookup. I didn’t know what she was, but I did know that I wanted to keep seeing her, and not just for sex. Before, being with a woman was just the physical. Like an itch, we scratched at each other until we had relief. But that wasn’t the case with Emma.
Yes, there was the physical element, but it had tentacles beyond that. It wasn’t just lust. It was something more. I didn’t know what. And to be honest, it made me nervous. And yet, I couldn’t back away from it. Even with the feeling that all this would backfire on me, I couldn’t walk away. Not yet.
12
Tumbling Head Over Heels
Emma
As I lay in Tucker’s arms, I knew I should heed the warning alarms that buzzed the minute the orgasms were over, but I couldn’t. He was saying all the right things, even if a part of me thought they were just words. Tucker was well-known as a ladies’ man, so certainly he knew how to make a woman feel special. Not that I felt I was a notch on his bedpost, but I wasn’t thinking this was going to lead to happily ever after either. Especially since it had to be a secret.
I suppose what kept me there was that I enjoyed being around him. He seemed to have a genuine interest in my work. He was sweet and funny, and yes, he was quite satisfying in bed, even if I did most of the work.
We had sex again, but then I left.
He used his good arm to pull me close as we stood at the door. “I want you to stay, but—”
“It’s a small town, Tucker. I get it. I don’t much want to do the walk of shame either.”
“When can I see you again?” he asked.
“You know where to find me.”
He kissed me again and gave me his signature cocky grin. “When I’m better, I’ll show you a good time, Emma.”
I playfully patted his cheek. “Promises, promises.”
The following week my life was almost exactly as it had always been. I woke early, worked on my art or Etsy store, headed to my job at Paradise Java, came home and worked some more on art or my Etsy store, ate and went to bed. The only difference was several nights during the week, Tucker showed up on my doorstep and took me to bed.
“You’re going to reinjure your arm,” I told him one night as he decided it might be fun to have me on the kitchen table.
“You’re the cure, Emma. The endorphins alone heal me.” He hooked each of my legs over his shoulders. “Plus, we need to replace the painful memory of you torturing me at this table with something more pleasant.”
“Torture,” I said on a gasp as he thrust inside me.
“I don’t know about you, but this right here feels a whole lot better than when you were treating my scrape.”
I couldn’t respond because it did, in fact, feel a whole lot better.
I worked to be okay with the secrecy of our situation. Intellectually, I understood why we had to hide and I didn’t want to become a problem for his career. Sometimes there was even a taboo, forbidden aspect that made our secret rendezvous exciting. Other times there was a romanticism about it, although I worked hard to avoid that thought.
Then there were times that the idea that no one could know about me was hard. Like when he came into Paradise Java for his smoothie and all the women would preen like peacocks and he’d flirt back with them. I told myself that he did that to hide our secret, but I knew flirting was also how he interacted with women. I hated it.
I wondered if, when things ended with us, as they surely would, if it would be like we never existed because our relationship was never acknowledged in public? When he was back in Los Angeles with all the glamorous celebrities and would-be starlets, would he forget me?
When I was with him, he had an amazing ability to make me feel special. Like I was the only woman in the world. It was his superpower, I supposed. It was why he’d been able to build the reputation that he had.
Even so, I had to prevent the fairy tale ideas that on occasion crept into my head, particularly when he was around. It was time to get my focus back on my goals and dreams, so when he did leave, I wouldn’t be left feeling empty.
One afternoon during a lull in customers at Paradise Java, I noticed Allie and Mason having one of their regular meetings about the wellness retreat they were hosting this summer. Since I was still a lon
g way financially from opening a studio/gallery, I wondered about the idea of an artist retreat and how Pine Rest would be the perfect spot. Of course, I couldn’t put something like that together for this summer, but I could reach out to local artists and other artists I knew about coming to Pine Rest if they were looking for some R&R or a change of scenery.
I pulled out my notebook, smiled at the sketch of Tucker sleeping on his couch. I turned the page and started making a list of artists I thought would come. That evening, I made a few phone calls and sent emails, and by the time Tucker showed up on my doorstep, I had two people agreeing to come.
Within a few days, I had half a dozen friends booked for a mini-artist’s retreat. The Minors were excited, and, at the same time, worried.
“I don’t know that the cabins are ready for your friends,” Mary said to me one afternoon.
She wasn’t wrong. Most needed a good cleaning, at the very least. “I’ll help you. I bet Tucker will help too.”
Mary’s head cocked to the side as she studied me. “So…you and Tucker?”
Remembering that our relationship was supposed to be a secret, I shook my head. “No, but you said he used to help you and he’s in town.”
“He’s a famous football player,” Harry said. “He’s too important now.”
“No one is too important to help a friend.” Of course, I’d already talked to him about my artist friends coming and he’d volunteered to help if needed.
“You’re a good friend too, Emma,” Mary said, her eyes misting.
I gave her a hug. “I’m happy to help. You’ve got a wonderful place here and you’re both wonderful people.”
“I think I’m putting Emma on my island,” Harry said.
I laughed.
The night before the big spring clean on four of the cabins began, was the first night that Tucker stayed over with me.