Chapter 8 #3
“Jenny…” he said on a long sigh as his back arched. “Jenny.” The second time he said her name more urgently, which was the only warning she got before he came in her mouth. “Goddamn.”
She wiped her hand across her tingling lips.
“Come here.” He held out his arms to her and brought her to lie on top of him. “That was incredible. You’re incredible.”
“Good to know I haven’t forgotten how to do that,” she said and instantly regretted the telling statement.
“You’ve definitely not forgotten. You made me crazy, but I suspect that was your goal.”
“Turnabout is fair play.” She loved the way he held her. She loved the way he smelled of soap and clean sweat and salt water. She loved a lot of things about the way she felt when she was with him. Despite all this love she was feeling, she reminded herself what this was about—and what it wasn’t.
There was no reason that she could think of why a woman her age couldn’t have a hot summer affair that was all about sex.
People did it all the time, right? Just because she’d never done it didn’t mean she couldn’t start now with something new and different.
She’d certainly had enough of the status quo.
Maybe a hot summer affair was just what she needed to shake things up before she moved on to a more significant relationship.
“I can almost hear you thinking,” he said as he ran his fingers through her hair, making her scalp tingle along with her lips. He tapped a finger on her forehead. “What goes on in there?”
“Nothing much. You’ve managed to fry most of my brain cells tonight.”
“You fried most of mine, too.”
As his chest hair tickled her nose, Jenny smiled. It was good to know they were equally affected by what had transpired between them.
“Could I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said tentatively.
“You said it’s been a long time since you did this, which leads me to wonder why a gorgeous, sexy woman like yourself would choose to live alone in a lighthouse.”
Her brain was stuck on the words “gorgeous, sexy woman.”
“Living in this lighthouse, on this island, has been very good for me, believe it or not.”
“Have you ever been married?”
The question as well as his curiosity took her by surprise. “No. You?”
“Nope. Engaged?”
Jenny closed her eyes tight. “Once.”
“What happened?”
“It… He, um…”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. We’ve all got stuff we’d rather not talk about.”
While she was relieved that he wasn’t going to push her for answers, she suddenly wanted to know what he’d rather not talk about.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him about Toby, but she knew how that story changed things.
It made people look at her differently, and she didn’t want Alex looking at her differently.
Not yet anyway. If this continued, eventually he’d ask again and she’d have to tell him.
But for now, she liked the fact that he didn’t know about her awful tragedy.
“Are you roasting with me on top of you?” she asked.
“Not too bad.”
As much as she didn’t want to move, it was way too hot to stay pressed together sharing body heat. “How do you feel about a very cold shower?”
“That sounds like heaven.” He released her, and Jenny stood, acutely aware of her nudity, which was rather foolish in light of what they’d done together.
She bit back a groan when her already sore muscles protested the movement.
Tomorrow—or I guess it’s today now—will be fun.
With him following her, she went into the adjoining bathroom, where the small shower stall had just enough space for both of them.
Jenny turned on the water, set it to cool and retrieved towels from under the sink.
“This place is so awesome,” Alex said as he took in the bathroom.
“It’s got everything I need, along with the most amazing view.”
Standing pressed together in the shower, they rinsed off salt water, sand and sex, taking turns washing each other. He even massaged shampoo into her hair. His tenderness was somehow harder to process than the raw erotic side he’d shown her earlier.
“I should go,” he said when they were clean, dry and wrapped up in towels.
“You don’t have to go yet. Unless you want to.”
“I don’t really want to.” He ran his fingers down her arm, took her hand and led her back to bed.
“We should change the sheets. They’re all sandy and gross.” She crossed the room to the trunk where she kept extra linens and retrieved clean sheets.
“Did you paint that?” he asked of the painting of her view propped on an easel.
“Yes, that’s my masterpiece.”
He took a closer look. “It’s really good.”
“Thanks. Maybe someday I’ll actually finish it.”
Working together, they changed the sheets.
When the bed was made, he came over to her side and tugged at the towel she’d knotted above her breasts. “It’s too hot to sleep in anything other than the altogether.”
She let him remove her towel and watched as he dropped his into a pile on the floor next to hers. “As long as you know we’re not getting these clean sheets dirty.”
Laughing, he followed her into bed. “That sounds like a challenge.”
“It’s not.”
He turned on his side to face her. “You’re pretty far away over there.”
She turned on her side. “Better?”
“Still too far away.”
She slid a bit closer. “It’s too hot for much more than this.”
He placed a hand on her hip over the sheet. “Is it too hot for this?”
“I suppose that would be okay.”
Lifting himself on one arm, he leaned in to kiss her softly. “I had a really, really good time tonight after a really, really shitty day. Thank you for that.”
She caressed his face, running her thumb over the stubble on his jaw. “I had a really good time, too.”
Alex smiled and kissed her again before he settled on the pillow next to hers. “Are you sure it’s okay if I stay? You won’t get in lighthouse-keeper trouble or anything?”
“It’s fine,” she said with a chuckle.
“I should go home, but my brother is there, and I’m so damned comfortable here.”
“Relax and get some sleep while you can.”
He brought their joined hands to his chest, where Jenny could feel the strong, steady beat of his heart.
Long after he fell asleep, she was awake thinking about how much she liked him and how strangely connected she felt to him despite her plans to keep her emotional distance from a man who’d initially seemed all wrong for her.
The more time she spent with him, the more she began to suspect he could actually be all right for her.