Chapter 8 #2
She tried to hold back a smile and failed, shaking her head at him.
Under the bright lights from the main pier, he watched her unlock the console and start the boat.
After letting it warm up, she cast off the bowline and gestured for him to get the stern.
The night was clear and very dark. Dan gazed up at a star-filled sky that got more spectacular the farther they got from the lighted docks.
“It’s quite something, huh?” she asked from her post at the helm.
“Indeed. Something tells me this isn’t the first time you’ve been out here late at night.”
She shrugged. “I don’t sleep very well, so it’s something to do.”
Without thinking through the implications, he came up behind her and sat on the seat, urging her to lean back against him.
She immediately went rigid. “Um…”
“Relax. I only want to keep you warm.”
“I’m not cold.”
Behind her, he smiled. He’d expected nothing less from her. “This way, you won’t get cold.”
She remained stiff and unyielding for several minutes before she gave in and leaned back against him.
Dan celebrated the victory silently as her hair whipped around his face. He gathered it into a ponytail and held back the urge to kiss the sweet curve of her neck where the straps of her dress came together in a single button that would be so easy to release.
“You’re getting awfully familiar.”
The scent of her hair was driving him crazy. “Am I?”
“You know you are.”
“Is that so bad?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Let me know when you make up your mind.”
“Dan—”
“Shhh. I’m trying to enjoy the ride.”
Even though he knew she had plenty to say, she stayed quiet as she navigated the boat to the far side of the vast pond. He was intrigued to realize it was rather easy to see once his eyes became accustomed to the dark. It took about twenty minutes to travel around the anchorage.
“Isn’t that your friend what’s-his-name’s boat?” Dan asked.
“Do you mean Robert?”
“So now you actually know his name?” He couldn’t believe how furious that made him.
“Of course I know his name. He asked me out.”
“You…he…he did?”
Kara laughed softly.
He tugged on her hair. “Don’t laugh at me.”
“Why not? You’re funny.”
“So…what did you say?”
“To what?”
Dan wanted to growl with exasperation, but then he realized she was enjoying playing with him. He liked her playfulness, even if it was at his expense. “When he asked you out.”
“I told him I’d let him know.”
“What does that mean?”
“I wanted to see how tonight went before I gave him an answer.”
Dan reached around her and shut off the engine.
“Hey!” She turned to him, as he’d hoped she would. “You can’t do that!”
Remaining seated, Dan released her hair and reached up to put both hands on her face. When she tried to turn away from him, he resisted. “Don’t.”
For a charged moment, they stared at each other in the darkness, and then he drew her down to him, slowly but purposefully.
“Dan—”
“Shhh. I had no idea there was so much riding on this date. I have to make sure you don’t want to go out with anyone else.”
Their lips met softly, tentatively. He was careful to go slow even as every cell in his body urged haste.
This, he reminded himself in a moment of clarity, was her first kiss in years.
He couldn’t screw it up by demanding too much too soon.
For the longest time, he thought she wouldn’t respond, and then her lips moved against his.
When it dawned on him that she was kissing him back, he slid one hand around to the back of her neck to keep her anchored as he tipped his head to the right to better align their lips.
She was so sweet, so careful and so wounded.
He couldn’t forget that last part as he stood and drew her in closer to him.
And then her arms came up to encircle his neck, and he wanted to whoop with joy.
Rather than do that, though, he painted her bottom lip with gentle brushes of his tongue, hoping she’d take the hint and let him in.
As the water lapped against the hull of the boat, he teased and cajoled until her mouth opened and her tongue pressed against his.
He wasn’t proud of the growl that escaped from him as he took her up on the invitation for more.
As the kiss deepened, she pressed herself against him, making the small space between the seat and the console too tight to hide his growing arousal.
While still kissing her, he eased them out of the confined area and backed her up to the center seating area that also served as a cover for the boat’s engine.
She shocked the shit out of him when she tugged him down on top of her. Who was this girl, and what had she done with shy, reserved Kara? Not that he was complaining, but he couldn’t help but wonder what had gotten into her.
With their bodies now tightly aligned, Dan could no longer hide the proof of what her sweet kisses were doing to him. He pressed against her and waited for her to push him away. Instead, her arms tightened around his neck, and her lips became greedier.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted anything the way he wanted her, and the thought of her going out with someone else was completely unbearable.
She arched her back, released her tight hold on his neck and shoved her hands inside his sport coat to tug his shirt free of his pants. The feel of her soft hands on his back had him gasping.
“Oh, sorry,” she whispered as she began to withdraw from him.
“No, no, don’t be sorry. Don’t stop. Touch me.”
Her hands slid from his waist and up his back to pull him back down for more kisses.
“I want to touch you, too. Is that okay?” He waited, breathless, until he saw her small nod.
Then he reached for the button that held up her dress and released it, peeling back the dress before she could change her mind.
With a single flex of two fingers, he released the front clasp of her strapless bra.
Her rapid breathing was all he could hear over the roar in his own head as he exposed her full breasts and watched her nipples pebble in the cool night air. “So pretty,” he whispered as he bent his head and took a stiffly beaded tip into his mouth.
She cried out and gripped his hair, holding him tight against her chest as he sucked and licked and tugged, all the while grinding his erection into the welcoming V of her legs. “God, Kara. I want you.” This was whispered against her neck in the second before he bit down on her earlobe.
Her hands were clumsy and fumbling when she reached for his belt and tugged it open.
There was something he meant to say just then, but the words died on his lips when she unzipped his pants and shoved her hand inside.
On the verge of immediate release, he returned his attention to her other breast and tried to buy some time by distracting her.
He couldn’t believe this was happening. Where was shy, reluctant Kara?
And how far was she planning to take this?
He hoped it was pretty damned far, because he wasn’t going to last much longer with her sweet breast in his mouth and her soft hand caressing his shaft.
Dan reached down to her leg, pushing it up and over to open her.
Waiting for her to call a halt to this whole thing, he focused his attention on her inner thigh for the moment, all the while continuing to suckle her breasts.
Determined to distract her, he drew her nipple between his teeth, biting down only hard enough to ensure he had her full attention.
He took advantage of her distraction to move his hand higher and encountered a small strip of satin covering her mound.
Holy shit, he thought as he moved the scrap of material over the dampness between her legs.
She wanted him as much as he wanted her.
Somehow he managed to gather his wits. “Kara—”
“Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
“Are you sure?” The last thing he wanted was to deal with her regret in the morning and have to start again to win her over.
She nodded and stroked him, harder than before, and all Dan could think about was sinking into her heat.
With that in mind, he disentangled from her and quickly shucked his jacket, shirt and pants.
Pushing her dress up to her waist, he tugged the thong from between her sweet cheeks and brought it to his face to take a deep sniff of the crotch.
“Mmm.” He wished he could’ve seen her face right then.
He’d bet everything he had that it would be bright red.
In his wallet, he found a condom he hoped wasn’t too old and rolled it on before lowering himself to her embrace. “You’re still sure?”
“Yes.”
“Do you promise you won’t hate me tomorrow?”
“The only way I’m going to hate you is if you don’t hurry up.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. With her arms around him and her body arching into his, she was sending every signal that she wanted this as much as he did.
His fingers found her slick and ready, and when he focused his attention on the tight bundle of nerves at her core, she gasped in reaction.
As his control snapped, he pushed into her while continuing the insistent movement of his fingers.
And then he was kissing her again with far less panache than he normally displayed.
All that mattered was getting as close to her as he could while taking as much as she was willing to give.
He hammered into her, knowing he’d regret being rough but unable to stop himself.
Like a wave determined to reach the shore, the intensity built and built until it broke in a simultaneous release that had them both crying out into the dark night around them.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders, holding on for dear life as she rode the waves of her own climax, clutching him with tight internal muscles that had his eyes rolling back in his head from the sheer, unbelievable pleasure of it.
Nothing had ever been like this, he realized as he floated back to earth to find her shivering beneath him.
“Cold?”
“Sort of.”
Reluctantly, Dan withdrew from her, reached for his coat on the floor and wrapped it around her. “Better?”
“Yes, thanks. There’s a beach towel under the pilot seat if you want to grab that, too.”
Dan retrieved the towel and stretched out next to her, covering them both with it. “Come here,” he said gruffly, needing her close to him after what they’d shared.
She turned toward him, her eyes wider than usual and her hair tangled.
He put an arm around her and smoothed her hair back from her face. “You promised you wouldn’t hate me.”
“I don’t.”
“Or yourself.”
“I never promised that.”
“Kara—”
“It’s okay,” she said with a small laugh. “I’m remarkably okay.”
He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her sweet scent. “I have another condom.”
“Is that right?”
“Mmm.” This was said against her neck and punctuated with a stroke of his tongue that made her tremble. “Should I get it?”
“How about we continue this back at my place, where it’s quite a bit warmer and the bed is significantly softer?”
Dan couldn’t believe she was inviting him into her bed. After months of having a mad, crazy seemingly unrequited crush on her, he wanted to pinch himself. “You won’t change your mind between here and there?”
She brushed a lock of his hair off his forehead, a gesture that made his heart stagger. “I won’t change my mind.”
“And you won’t go out with Robert?”
She stared at him, and then she laughed—a deep, husky laugh that fired him up all over again. “I won’t go out with Robert.”
Relief flooded through him. “Then I’ll share my other condom with you.”
“You’re just too good to me.”
“I completely agree.”