Eversea: A Love Story Read online

  “Thanks.”

  I took a sip, thankful it was still warm. I held it out to him, and he crouched down again next to me.

  “Taste?” I asked.

  He took it from my hand, but instead of taking a sip, he set it down on the floor out of reach. Then his hand cupped my face and turned me toward him, his eyes searching mine.

  “Say yes, Keri Ann.”

  I sighed and closed my eyes against the feel of his skin.

  “Yes.” It was the easiest thing I’d ever said.

  He shifted, dropping his knees to the floor in front of me. His other hand came up to cradle my face, his thumbs running over my jaw and cheekbones. I watched him under my lashes as his eyes roamed my face, and then his mouth descended to my forehead, each eyelid, one cheekbone, then the other, and finally, my mouth.

  I clutched his wrists for balance as his tongue lightly ran over the seam of my lips. I opened to him, and he groaned.

  “Mmmm, chocolate.” He took another taste. “And margaritas.” His tongue slid along mine again. “And Keri Ann. A heady mix.”

  It was for me. My heart pounded deep throbbing beats through my body. Still holding his arms, I came forward to my knees and we both raised up our bodies meeting from leg to chest. My hands worked of their own volition winding up his neck and into his wet hair, and I pulled his mouth more firmly down against mine.

  His lips were warm and soft next to the rough skin of his chin, and I drew closer to him like a magnet, needing to press my body, my skin, against his. But there were two layers of fabric between us, and I became aware of the cool press of his wet t-shirt.

  Letting go of his neck, I brought my hands down to slide under the hem of his shirt. He inhaled sharply as my warm hands made contact with his skin.

  “You need to take this off,” I managed. My voice sounded raspy to my own ears as I made to lift the fabric.

  He let go of me and reached behind his neck. Gathering a handful of shirt, he peeled it forward over his head.

  My breath left me as I came face to chest with his perfectly sculpted body. The firelight played across his skin and his flexed abdominal muscles as he leaned back on his haunches slightly to lay the shirt out by the fire.

  Without thinking, I brought the flat of my hand up to the center of his chest below his collarbone. His skin was cool to the touch and smooth.

  He stilled where he was, leaning slightly away from me on his knees and brought his eyes to mine.

  I very slowly ran my palm down over the ridges and planes of his chest, pausing for a moment when I noticed the hard beat of his heart. His eyes got darker and broodier as my hand continued it’s slow journey downward. His breathing changed, as did my own in response. My eyes dropped to follow my hand as it reached the belt buckle of his black jeans.

  I took a deep breath. “You should take these off, too.” My words came out as a whisper.

  His jaw tightened, his dark eyes watching me.

  I went to undo the buckle but his hands stilled me. For a moment, I thought he was going to keep his wet clothes on. As much as he needed to take them off so they could dry and he could get warm, I was hyper aware of the combustible situation that existed between us. I knew he was too.

  He shifted away and brought up one foot, then the other, to undo the laces on his black boots. His socks came next, and he laid them by the fire. I was mesmerized by every action. His hands returned to his buckle as he stood and undid the belt and his buttons, revealing the waistband of his black boxer briefs. Then, leaning down, he shucked his jeans off each leg and stood back up.

  My shallow breathing was loud next to the soft crackle and pop of the fire, and I swallowed the lump in my throat as my eyes took in how aroused he was. He was glorious in his perfection, like a dark angel.

  He reached for the towel and wrapped it around his middle covering himself, and I realized my face must have shown my trepidation. I looked up at him.

  “It’s okay, Keri Ann. I’m not going to take advantage of you.”

  Oh, but I wished he would.

  T W E N T Y – T W O

  “I’m not the one who’s undressed. You should be worried about me taking advantage of you.” I grinned sheepishly.

  Jack chuckled and came over to sit beside me by the fireplace.

  I pulled the blanket up over our legs.

  The storm picked up again and there was a flash of lightning followed by a sharp crack of thunder that was a whip on my tightened nerves. I jumped.

  “You don’t like storms?” he asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and tucking me in against him. It felt good and unexpected.

  “Actually, I love stormy nights. Hot chocolate and firelight and now barely dressed men have probably made them my all time favorite.” I nudged him playfully, my awareness of him still simmering insistently in a warm pool inside me.

  He laughed and squeezed my shoulders.

  I realized he was telling the truth. He really wouldn’t take advantage of me.

  I took a deep breath and turned to him. Drawing his face down to mine, I kissed him.

  He held his body tense as I touched my lips to his.

  It was slow and soft, his lips giving way to mine and moving in gentle rhythm, tasting my lips with his lips. The kisses were delicious, but I wanted more. I wanted passionate Jack who couldn’t control his breathing or his reactions when he was kissing me.

  I turned more fully toward him and tentatively ran the tip of my tongue along his lower lip like he had done to me.

  Jack’s reaction was swift. It was like he’d been waiting for permission. One minute we were sitting side by side, the next he gave a soft growl and had me on my back with half his body covering me.

  I gasped under the sudden move and his weight before he lowered his mouth and plundered mine. Heat speared through my core and my body, of it’s own accord, arched to meet his.

  Jack’s lips moved with greed, his tongue sliding in and claiming me, leaving me almost lightheaded.

  Reaching up, I clutched the hair at his nape and sought to taste more of what he was giving me. The feel of his body along the length of mine was intoxicating. My hands roamed down over his bare shoulders, clutching at the tense muscles in his back. I wished I were wearing less. I had a demanding need to feel my skin against his. That annoying ache I had a feeling only one thing would fix had started up between my legs and was getting more and more intense.

  Jack’s kisses moved down toward my neck.

  I sighed with pleasure and shivered involuntarily as his tongue trailed up over my earlobe.

  “You like that?” he whispered in my ear causing another shudder to run through me.

  I nodded with an incoherent sound and felt his smile against my sensitive skin before his tongue darted out again. I moaned, tilting my head back and exposing more of my neck to his hot mouth. Yes, please. I wanted a lot more of that, too.

  The movement had thrust my chest forward toward him and his hand came up to rest on the bare skin of my stomach where my shirt had ridden up. One of his legs was slung over mine, and I felt how hard he was for me. From experience that was limited to pictures I had giggled over with Jazz, or my imagination, he felt ... big. A tremor ran through me.

  He came up on an elbow, and I opened my eyes through the fog of desire to meet his intense, hooded gaze. I became aware of how rapidly I was breathing, but was completely helpless to stop it, especially as his hand at my waist slowly pushed my shirt upward. He held my eyes, unflinching, and I bit my lip with nerves as he slipped my shirt further upward and exposed first one breast, then the other. The cool air hitting my exposed skin made my already hard nipples pebble into painful peaks. My breath was almost coming in pants. God, I wanted him to touch me.

  His eyes left mine and dropped to my newly exposed flesh. His jaw tensed, and his nostrils flared. He ran a fingertip up the channel between my breasts, and then around each one excruciatingly slowly.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he whisper
ed. His warm breath across my skin was too much.

  “Please—” I croaked and arched up further.

  “Please what?” Jack lowered his head and looked up at me through his lashes, a glint in his eye.

  I moaned again, I couldn’t help it. “Please touch me,” I managed, too far gone to feel embarrassed by my plea.

  He pressed his lower body harder against me. His fingers brushed across a tight peak.

  I inhaled swiftly. Then his warm hand palmed my whole breast, capturing a nipple and rolling it between his finger and thumb. The sensation was incredible.

  “More,” I gasped.

  He made a sound low in his throat, drew my hands above my head, and held them tight in one hand. The other arm came under my arched back, holding me up as he lowered his head and sucked a nipple into his hot mouth.

  Holy shit, I thought, as lust hit me like a Mack truck. Every sensation I was feeling was more intense than the last. I was a complete slave to it and completely lost in it. The aching between my legs had reached an insistent sharp throb that was hardwired to every pull of his mouth at my breast. The lower part of my body surged toward him, trying to move his leg between mine.

  Jack groaned and shifted, his thigh coming up to press against the apex of my legs.

  I flexed, rubbing myself against him, trying to create some friction.

  “God, you’re killing me,” Jack hissed.

  “Likewise,” I said between breaths.

  He let out a low chuckle and took my mouth again, kissing me deeply. Then he rose up and worked my shirt up over my head and arms.

  I went to help but he held my hands tighter.

  “No,” he said, pulling my shirt up over my head as far as my wrists and wrapping it securely around them.

  My heart thumped, but I knew I could break free if I had to.

  “I have to do this, because if you touch me right now, I won’t be able to handle it.”

  My insides lurched at the heady feeling his words inspired. My upper body was now completely bared to him. I wanted to feel a shy embarrassment, but his hot, raking gaze was making molten heat pool through me.

  His mouth found mine again, and I kissed him back fiercely, making up for the fact that my hands couldn’t touch him.

  “But I want to touch you,” I said between breaths and kisses.

  “In time,” he whispered in my ear. He trailed wet kisses down my neck and throat to my chest.

  Jack took his time licking and nipping at each nipple, driving me to a gasping point. I was writhing and arching against him.

  One of his hands ran down my side and over my pajama’d thigh, hitching me up hard against his leg.

  I whimpered as his fingers trailed over my bottom and between my legs. I was sure he could probably feel how hot I was for him through my pajamas. I tried to move against his hand.

  He tensed and his breath came out forcefully. “God,” he croaked.

  I knew the feeling.

  He pulled his hand back up to my chest.

  I wanted to grab it and press it against where I needed it most. He kissed me again, slowly, deeply and pulled away, shifting off me slightly.

  I opened my eyes to him watching me. He was flushed, his green eyes intense. It was a mesmerizing sight in the dimming red glow of the dwindling fire. Both of us were breathing hard. He ran a hand down slowly from my neck to my hip bone, and then dipped inside my pajama pants below my navel. I held my breath, but his fingers slid back out and up to my belly.

  “Please ... I want ... I need ... ” I didn’t know how to ask, but I needed Jack not to stop.

  I knew that every pause, every slowing down, and every hesitation was him making sure I was still doing this willingly, almost like he wouldn’t trust himself to stop if he wasn’t paying attention. The knowledge made my heart swell in my chest.

  Jack squeezed his eyes shut tight and swallowed before his mouth came down to mine again, kissing me deeply and slowly like he was deliberately trying to hold back the pace.

  But thank God, he wasn’t stopping. His hand slid back down my belly and inside the loose waistband of my pants.

  My breath was shallow, my body tense, as he lightly ran his hand around my hip, cupping the bare sensitive skin of my buttock. Instinctively, I lifted a knee up.

  I moaned a breath as his fingers trailed back around the top of my thigh and into the crease between my legs. Squirming against his hand, I tried to bring it to me, and he chuckled softly against my lips. I nipped at his mouth with my teeth in frustrated retaliation.

  Everything moved pretty fast after that.

  He growled against my mouth as his fingers found my wetness and slid down over my sensitive nub, plunging inside me.

  I cried out and arched up.

  “Fuck,” Jack gasped. His tongue plunged into my mouth too, mimicking his fingers as they slid out of me and back inside, his thumb rhythmically sliding over my hot button.

  I whimpered and moaned and gasped into Jack’s mouth. My wrapped hands came down locking his head to me as we devoured each other, my hips thrusting against his hand shamelessly.

  His breathing matched the quickened pace of his sliding fingers.

  “Feels ... so ... good ... ” I panted out between kisses, and he groaned in response, sliding deeply into my mouth again. Suddenly it was too much. I was splintering apart on an explosion of sensation. I held tight to Jack’s head with my arms as he captured my cries into his mouth, my body shuddering and clenching against his hand, his palm pressed hard against me.

  “Shhh,” Jack soothed. He gave small chaste kisses along my mouth and cheeks and neck. “Shhh,” he whispered into my ear as I still shuddered through my release.

  I clamped my lips between my teeth to keep from crying out any further.

  His fingers slid slowly in and out, drawing out the sensation as I clenched around him. Jack’s harsh breathing against my neck matched my own, before he leisurely withdrew his fingers and drew a trail of wetness up my belly.

  My heart still thudding, my eyes flickered open as I watched him lean up and paint my moist arousal around one of my nipples. Then dropping his head, he drew it into his mouth. The shocking action punched another wave of heat through my belly.

  There would be no going back from sleeping with Jack Eversea. If I hadn’t been clear on that before, I knew it now.

  All the experience in the world wouldn’t have changed the fact I knew deep down to my soul the kind of heat created between Jack and me was stratospheric. It was the kind of energy women who read thousands of romance novels yearned for and rarely got and certainly nothing like the times I had touched myself. I wondered, fleetingly, if I would ever bother again. He felt it too, he had admitted as much. And that had been ... before.

  I broke my wrists out of the bonds of my t-shirt and clutched him to me.

  He laid his damp forehead down on my chest, and I could tell he was forcing his breathing to slow down.

  I ran my hands down his back. He must be painfully turned on if what had happened to me was any indication. For a moment I felt nervous. I wanted to ... relieve him ... but didn’t know how to ask. And I wasn’t ready for him to be inside of me. Not yet. I wanted it, but I wanted to delay that point of no return just as fiercely. I would belong to him then. Body, heart, and soul, and I still wasn’t sure if he was fully mine in return. That thought terrified me and cooled the flow of lava coursing through me.

  But Jack had asked me to take a chance on him. I tried to swallow my shadow of doubt.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, looking down at me, a small furrow appearing between his eyebrows.

  I nodded and smiled gamely. “After that? Who knew you were so talented with your hands, Mr. Eversea.”

  He winked, and his dimple appeared. “I told you I was good with my hands ... you just assumed I meant for construction purposes.” He pressed a small kiss on my nose.

  “Oh my God, your elbows must be in agony from this hardwood floor!” I was sudden
ly very aware of the fact I had been completely caught up in a tsunami of feelings. If the roof had blown off the house, I wouldn’t have paid the least attention. Embarrassment crawled up my cheeks as I came to terms with how I had just wantonly come apart in his hands.

  “That wasn’t foremost on my mind ... but now that you mention it ... ” He rolled to the side. “Hey, now what’s with the blush?”

  “I ... well, that was amazing ... I’m sorry I didn’t even ... couldn’t even ... ” Well, this was awkward. I had no idea what I was trying to say.

  “Hey,” he turned my face to him. “That was the hottest freaking thing I’ve ever experienced. I actually am physically trying not to think about it, because I’m dying here. Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you are?”

  “Will you sleep here tonight?” I blurted on a whim to cover my reaction to his words, perhaps. “I mean stay in my bed ... not ... ” I took a breath. “Just to sleep, I mean.” God, where the hell was my mind? Somewhere stuck in the bunched up blanket I was sure, because it sure as heck wasn’t in my head. I couldn’t articulate a damn thing.

  “I’m not in any condition to walk right now, anyway, although the rain could double as a cold shower.” He laughed and kissed my forehead. “Yeah, I’ll stay. I’d like that.”

  He helped me to my feet, as I clutched one arm across my bare chest, and handed me my shirt.

  I quickly pulled it on.

  “Is there anything down here you need to take care of?” he asked.

  Apart from him? From under my lashes, I took in his body, head to toe. But my roving eyes and my traitorous blush gave me away again.

  He groaned. “Seriously, Keri Ann. You’ll be the death of me. And now that I understand what that blush means, the question is,” he cocked his head to the side, “just what naughty idea were you having in my bathroom the other day?”

  Damn, I knew he wouldn’t let that go.

  “I’ll never tell,” I said, shaking my head.

  He leaned in, a smile on his beautiful face and gave me a quick kiss before sweeping me up, one arm under my knees.

  I squealed and grabbed onto his neck.

  “Hold on,” he said,and headed for the stairs.