Part 20 (2/2)
Tired of arguing with him, she slid her arms up higher and used her natural coordination to quickly grab hold of his b.a.l.l.s.
”Yikes!”
”Don't make me have to get rough.” She squeezed gently.
”I, urn, guess you're really serious about this.”
”Uh-huh.” She enjoyed cupping the weight in her hands. Only extreme hunger kept her from turning her hold into a caress and asking if he wanted to use up that last condom. That and the fact that she sort of wanted to save that one, keeping it like money in the bank, for when they really needed it.
”I just have a few blisters on the bottoms of my feet,” Jack said. ”No big deal.”
”Blisters? How in tarnation did you blister up your feet?”
”Well.” He cleared his throat. ”Last night, when I was . . . when you first took off your clothes and let me ...”
”I remember that, Jack.” Most likely she'd remember it for the rest of her natural days. He'd made her come by sucking on her nipples. That was a landmark event, for sure. ”But near as I recollect, you weren't using your feet at the time.”
”They were a little close to the fire.”
She released him and sat back on her heels, totally amazed. ”Your feet were frying like green tomatoes in a skillet and you didn't tell me!”
”Uh, no.” He kept his back to her.
Even without gla.s.ses, she could see that his neck was getting red, and it wasn't from sunburn, either. She'd never been paid such a strange and backhanded compliment in her life. He'd scorched his feet rather than take a chance on missing out on s.e.x with her. Or else, even more unbelievable, he'd been so taken with the enjoyment of her naked body that he hadn't even felt the heat on the bottoms of his feet.
”So now you know how pathetically eager I was,” he said.
He was embarra.s.sed that she knew, and now she felt bad for making him tell her. ”Jack, I was eager, too,” she said softly.
”But I'll bet you wouldn't have blistered your feet.”
”Well, maybe not, but-”
”I'll go wash off the energy bar now.” He started to leave.
”I'll go with you.” She hopped to her feet and picked up the beach towel. ”I would go in your place, but you need to soak your feet in the salt water. That will help you heal up those blisters. And while you're soaking your feet and eating your half of the energy bar, I'll pick us some more guavas.”
He ducked out of the hideaway. ”You can go pick the guavas, then. I'll go down to the water by myself.”
”Then take this with you.” She hurried to catch up with him. ”Slow down a minute, Jack. It'll feel better if you sit on the beach towel while you're soaking your-” She stopped as she glimpsed the reason why he was charging off so fast. He was stalking down to the waterline sporting a full-blown erection, and he wasn't happy about it.
He still needed the towel, though, so she walked faster to try to overtake him. The sand felt hot under her feet, so she could imagine how it affected him. ”Jack, when I grabbed you by your privates, I didn't mean to cause a problem for you.”
He gestured toward his bobbing p.e.n.i.s. ”You mean this problem? I might as well get used to it, because all I have to do is look your way and I immediately rise to the occasion.”
”It's because of being stranded like this,” she said. ”I-”
”Speak for yourself. There were times at the office when I considered wrapping a roll of duct tape around my Jockeys so I wouldn't embarra.s.s myself when I saw you. You've affected me this way ever since I met you. You just didn't know about it.”
The idea made her head buzz. Jack had been having s.e.xual urges toward her for months? He'd admitted having some interest in her, but she hadn't taken that to mean he could barely control himself. How incredible. And exciting, too. Still waters really did run deep, after all. ”I thought. . . I thought all you cared about were your computer programs.”
”Think again.”
”You always seemed to have a one-track mind.”
”I do.” He stepped into the shallow water and glanced over at her.
She returned his gaze, and a s.h.i.+ver of s.e.xual excitement ran through her at the look in his eyes. He certainly didn't look like a nerd today, with his beard glossy black in the suns.h.i.+ne and his hair ruffled by the sea breeze. He'd had a good body to begin with, and now his skin was beginning to turn brown, which set off his muscles to good advantage.
She knew what those muscles felt like, knew what his fingers could do, and his mouth, and his ... That part still stood out, proud and free, announcing that he found her irresistible. She was beginning to understand how lucky she was, because ever since they'd splashed down near this beach, his one-track mind had been focused on her.
Staring at a man's p.e.n.i.s wasn't ladylike. Her mother would have a hissy fit if she had any idea her daughter could do such a thing. But Jack's p.e.n.i.s was a work of art.
”You're not helping matters,” he murmured.
She dragged her attention back to his face. ”Sorry. But I keep thinking of you being affected this way, and me never suspecting a thing. You mean, even when we'd happen to meet over by the water cooler, you'd be getting a-”
”We never just happened to meet. I'd do my best to run into you, even though it was torture for me.”
She looked into his eyes for a long time. ”When we go back. . .”
”I have no idea how that's going to work.” He cleared his throat. ”I might have to quit.”
”No! Rainbow will have enough problems after what Nick did. If you quit, that could sink the whole company, which means I wouldn't have a job, anyway.”
”Maybe I could find him a replacement.”
”Jack, you will do a tom-fool thing like that over my dead body. I've heard how they talk about you. You're a genius. Do you think there's a genius hiding behind every banyan tree? Hardly. You're one of a kind, and you belong right where you are, doing whatever it is you do, which I don't pretend to understand.”
”Then maybe I could work at home most of the time. There's no reason why I have to-”
”Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Genevieve couldn't explain why this was upsetting her so, but it was. The idea that he would stay home to avoid her, that their nice little friends.h.i.+p was ruined and now she wouldn't see him walking around in his mismatched plaids with his hair sticking up, was too much for her. ”I like having you in the office, and I'll bet everybody else does, too.”
”Yeah. Comic relief.”
”That's not it! You're . . . you're real, Jack.” She blinked away the moisture in her eyes. ”So many people in this world look like they came right off the a.s.sembly line in some people factory. They wear what everybody else wears and they talk like everybody else talks.” Like she'd been trying to do herself. The idea shook her. ”But not you,” she said, wondering if she could learn a thing or two from Jack about being real. ”If I thought I was the reason you had to hide in your house and work by some sort of remote control, I would never forgive myself.”
”Then I won't do that,” he said gently. ”And thank you, Gen. That might be the nicest speech anybody's ever made about me.”
She sniffed. ”You're welcome. But I have to warn you, I can't quit, either. Mama needs my income until Lincoln graduates, and he has three whole years left.”
”Don't worry.” Jack's expression was tender. ”We'll figure something out.”
”I hope so.” But she had no idea what. From now on, every time she saw Jack at the office, she'd know he was doing battle with his p.e.n.i.s. And knowing that, she'd start thinking about what had happened on this island and get all worked up herself. Maybe she should have considered that before she allowed herself to get so carried away by l.u.s.t.
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