Part 16 (1/2)
”Maybe it's your brother,” she offered.
”Not his headlights,” Jack called back.
Then she heard him groan.
”What?” she whispered. ”Do you recognize the car?”
Jack turned back to her. ”Nope. But I sure recognize the tall gentleman who got out of it. Robert Neal. Seems my compet.i.tion has arrived a bit early.”
At least the man was nice, Marilyn thought. At least he wasn't some ogre with an att.i.tude. Quite the contrary. Robert Neal was a handsome, polite older man in his sixties with brilliant silver hair, ice-blue eyes and a killer smile.
Chuck, thankfully, had diffused the situation by the time Jack and Marilyn made it up the embankment. He and Colette had welcomed the author and by the sound of their voices were offering to take him to his cabin.
”You're on the west side of the river near me,” Marilyn heard Chuck say.
She placed a hand on one of Jack's arms and shook her head, hoping he could see her well enough and take the hint to stay low.
Once the three people in front of Jack's cabin left, Jack and Marilyn continued their climb until they reached Jack's front porch.
”Well, that's a fine howdy-do,” Jack mumbled. ”Man shows up at my cabin to the smell of burnt food and smoke. Probably laughing himself silly about now.”
”I didn't hear anyone laughing,” Marilyn said. ”I just heard Chuck and Colette offer to take him to his cabin. So you're safe.”
Jack surveyed his surroundings and walked back inside the cabin. ”I have a sleeping bag in my loft.”
”I have a bed in my bedroom.”
He turned to catch her smiling. ”You makin' fun of me, chere?”
”Just trying to get you to lighten up a bit.”
She held out her hands and pulled him toward her. ”You know,” she said coyly, ”some day maybe you and I will even fix breakfast for one another.”
”What do you mean?”
”As in stay long enough to enjoy breakfast. Not have to leave immediately after.” She paused. ”Well, you know.”
”n.o.body lit a fire under you and made you get up and leave last night,” he said, chucking her chin.
”As I recall, n.o.body gave me a good reason to stay either,” she retorted.
”Ah. So that's what this is. Getting the fighting over with early. Maybe I should just walk over to your cabin, turn around and leave and get it over with so we can start to make up sooner.”
Marilyn linked her arm through his and said, ”You already have clothes over there. I 'll bet money that Colette and Chuck are already preparing dinner at his place. You want to join them or see if we can rustle up something to eat over at my cabin? I'm still hungry.”
Jack grinned broadly. ”You trust me to prepare an after-dinner snack after what just happened here?”
”No. But I know somebody who still has some ice cream left in his freezer, unless Chuck and Colette dared take it all. And maraschino cherries in the refrigerator.” She winked. ”If you have chocolate syrup and whipped cream we can have our own private orgy tonight.”
She bent to retrieve the items from his refrigerator.
Jack laughed. ”You're incorrigible.”
”But?” she asked, rising and fondling the jar of cherries. ”I sense a 'but' in there somewhere.”
He c.o.c.ked his head, his eyes sparkling mischievously. ”Just one b.u.t.t-yours in my palms.”
”Jack?”
”I totally suck at cherries jubilee,” Jack said, walking toward her menacingly. ”Ah, but you have no idea what I can do with the stem of a single maraschino cherry and my tongue!”
Marilyn c.o.c.ked her head. ”I've heard of that little trick-tying it into a knot?”
”Yep. Care to put me to the test?”
”Only if you do to me in my bedroom what you did to me in your kitchen earlier.”
He helped her carry the refrigerated and frozen items to her cabin, but when they set them on her table, he surprised her by taking her into his arms and holding her without kissing her at first...just gazing into her eyes.
When he brushed back the hair from her eyes and bent to kiss her, Marilyn's heart fluttered. She'd expected sa.s.sy, bold, funny, charming. She didn't expect a slow burn, a fire that started somewhere in her belly and soon raced through the rest of her body.
He kissed her cheeks then her eyelids, slowly, seductively, yet pa.s.sionately. This time when he made love to her, it was as if he'd had a revelation, like he'd discovered a treasure he hadn't known existed. ”My G.o.d, you're beautiful!” He paused and studied her lips, running a forefinger over them gently.
She was self-conscious, and her first thought was to make some self-effacing remark that would keep the mood light, but then she realized that she was just afraid. Of what, you dolt? She trembled beneath his touch, s.h.i.+vering as if chilled by a white hot pa.s.sion she'd never known.
It was hardly like this with Ben! She'd had o.r.g.a.s.ms, but never with this much tension, excitement or fear of the unknown. She'd made love, been made love to, and she 'd done all the mechanical moves that generally accompanied the act, but this was different. This time, she knew she'd be not only making love but mating.
He scooped her into his arms with one smooth, easy move and walked towards her bed. Marilyn almost swooned when he bent and rolled them side-by-side, one arm cradling her head, the other against her lower back.
The warmth of his hands on her back and head, his eyes peering soulfully into hers as if he could read her mind, the intensity with which he held himself back ever so slightly as if he was seeing her for the first time and viewing her as some priceless work of art... All combined to shatter her as nothing else ever had.
Words escaped her. For the first time since they'd met, neither seemed willing to talk, to break the spell.
The self-conscious worry about how she looked or smelled vanished when he pulled down her panties and gently laid his head on her stomach and stayed there for a moment. His hands felt deliciously dangerous as they floated over her hips and thighs and between her legs.
So this is how it feels. Marilyn watched Jackson's head as he turned his face fully into her stomach and kissed her then slowly laved her navel with his tongue. Darts of electricity jolted her from p.u.s.s.y to pedicure and back up. This is what I should have felt with Ben and didn't.
Marilyn closed her eyes for a moment. Even the fleeting thought of her former fiance 's name couldn't stay with her long enough to bring her out of the ma.s.sive, magical spell Jackson was weaving. No one existed for her but Jackson. A small cry caught in her throat as she realized that no one else ever would after tonight.
Jackson's back muscles rippled beneath her fingertips as she dared touch him.
Everything from his warm male scent to the power beneath her fingers energized her, depleted her, both weakened and strengthened her. She writhed uncontrollably as his tongue continued flicking out to taste her. Marilyn had never felt so cherished.
She was torn between anguish when he lifted himself to finish undressing them and antic.i.p.ation of what would follow when he finally came to her and gave them both what they desperately needed and wanted.