A Bad Boy for Christmas (11 page)

“I don’t know, Mia. I hope he can give Nash some answers. If nothing else, they can probably manage to arrange a time to meet. Doesn’t take long.”

“Yeah, you got that right.” Mia looked back and saw Nash heading towards them. “Cutter,” she said quietly. “Phone call’s over.”

Cutter cursed beneath his breath.

They waited until Nash caught up with them. Nash handed the phone back to Cutter. “We’re going to try and catch up in the New Year.”

“He give you a date?”

“No.”

“Asshole,” Mia muttered and Nash shot her a warning glance. “Well he
is
.”

“I’m sorry, man,” said Cutter. “I don’t know what to say. I wouldn’t have picked that for his response at all.”

“Not your fault.”

“We could—” Cutter ran his hand around the back of his neck. “
I
could catch up with you before then. Here or in your part of the world. Wherever fits best.”

“You’re not going to follow his lead?” Nash asked gruffly.

“He ain’t leading,” Cutter said simply, and that moment, right there, was the moment Mia fell for him completely.

She blinked at the enormity of her realization and tried not to believe that Cutter Jackson was both the best and worst thing that had ever happened to her.

“Listen,” Cutter said next, holding Nash’s gaze by sheer force of will. “I’m down a crewman tonight on the trawler. Shift starts at eleven and finishes around ten tomorrow morning. My grandfather will be running the show and I’ll be on deck. I could use a hand. You available?”

Mia had to look away as Nash looked down. This wasn’t a simple request; it was a declaration of allegiance, of solidarity between brothers.

“You’d be doing me a favor,” Cutter coaxed.

“No I wouldn’t.”

“Do it anyway.”

Nash nodded and looked away, as if he was only just holding together. “Okay. But right now I’d better take the trailer and pick up this car I just bought. Mia, you want to stay here?”

Nash wanted her to stay here, that much was obvious. The man wanted to lick his wounds in private.

“Sure. I can hang here for a while. I can annoy Cutter.”

Cutter nodded. “She’s good at it.”

“I’ll get him to take me back to town afterwards.”

“Or sooner.”

Nash gave them both a wry grin and headed for the parking lot without another word.

“He’ll be all right,” she murmured, as they watched him go. “Not like he needs a father’s approval anyway.
And
he has a brother in his corner now. He’s never had that before. I think I fell in love with you over that one.”

“You fall in love too fast.”

“I really don’t. So,” she said on a new breath. “What do you want to do? Take me back to town or sit on the jetty?”

“Jetty.”

“All righty.” It was gorgeous here late in the afternoon, no question. The boats an eclectic mix of rich boy toys, a few less shiny offerings and fully functional commercial fishing boats. The boardwalks were made of wooden planks that had faded to gray and there was order here and a sense of serenity.

“You been in the water yet since you’ve been here?” he asked as they headed towards the place where gray wooden boards ended and sapphire blue water began.

“Every morning.” There was something about swimming in the sea that soothed her. “Six a.m. like clockwork.”

“What about the afternoons?”

“It’s true I haven’t yet been swimming this afternoon. Maybe later.”

The gleam in his eyes really should have warned her that Captain Cutter Jackson hadn’t yet finished taking charge.

The man was feeling bolshie.

Possibly even pushy.

“Now, Cutter,” she began. “Don’t do anything I’m going to regret.”

“You said you were hot,” he said. “I agree. And I can’t let you leave this place without experiencing this. It’s really good for letting off steam.”

They’d reached the end and she knew what was coming. That didn’t stop her shrieking when his hand shot out to push her in. She went right on shrieking until she hit the water.

The moment required it.

She came up spluttering and cooler by half. The water was warm and caressing, a purely physical experience guaranteed to make a person feel alive. She paddled in a circle and there he was, sleek as a seal, beside her.

“You could have at least let me take my clothes off,” she said.

“Bad,
bad
idea.”

She reached out and tried to dunk him and he let her try—to absolutely no effect. Besting this man in the water was going to be about as possible as hitching a ride to Mars. All her efforts did was put her in ever closer contact with all that tanned skin and thoroughly impressive muscle, and now
there
was an idea her body could get on board with.

She backed away with a smile and let the Sea God be.

She started with her sandals, unbuckling one and tossing it onto the jetty before doing the same with the other. Her skirt came off next, and up it went, flying through the air to land with a splat on the jetty.

“Er, Mia?”

Her panties came off. “Yes, Cutter?”

“It’s broad daylight.”

“So it is.” The panties went flying, a tiny scrunch of pink. “They’ll dry quickly. Not much of them.”

She started in on the buttons of her camisole next. “Quite liberating this skinny-dipping thing. Good idea.”

“Not my idea.”

“You’re sounding a little strangled. Could be the T-shirt.”

His face was a study in contrasts. Tortured restraint versus physical awareness. “We are
not
doing this.”

“You’re not,” she said. “Which is odd, seeing as it was your idea.”

“Not my idea!”

“Can I just balance my foot on your knee while I—there.” And now her bra and shirt were off too and she was wholly naked. “Perfect.”

*     *     *

She truly was
perfect. And far more of an exhibitionist than he’d given her credit for, although he probably should have guessed she wouldn’t have a demure bone in her body. The urge to gather her close was almost irresistible. Water and women—always a good combination for him.

“So here’s what we’re going to do,” he said, backing away carefully. “You’re going to stay right where you are and I’m going to get you a towel and put it at the top of that ladder over there.”

“Excellent idea.” She floated on her back, her face to the sun and her eyes closed. “You do that.”

Her nipples were pale rose colored and pebbled tight against the generous swell of her breasts and he wanted to touch, and taste. Heaven help him, he’d never wanted anything so badly in his life.

“Hey, Cutter. How many women have you seduced beneath this jetty?” Her breasts disappeared beneath the water and now she had her back to him, slim arms and shoulders visible until she disappeared beneath the water altogether and resurfaced underneath the boardwalk. There was plenty of headroom. It wasn’t dangerous. She was out of the sun and away from prying eyes. All good things.

“Dozens?” she continued. “Hundreds?”

“You’re overestimating.”

“Really?” she said dryly. “So all those legendary stories about you are untrue?”

There was maybe
some
truth in them. Just a little. “It’s not really a safe seduction venue,” he offered. “For all sorts of reasons. Fear of discovery …”

She grinned. Okay, maybe that wasn’t exactly a deterrent.

“Contraception,” he continued doggedly.

“Implant in my arm,” she murmured. “And did you know that regular medical check-ups are a workplace requirement in my line of work?”

He did now.

“I’m squeaky clean and looking to stay that way,” she said. “How about you?”

“Yes. Fear of
drowning
,” he said, with emphasis.

“I would probably need something to hold onto. Wouldn’t want to drown. Oh, look, you’re right. There’s a ladder.”

“I know what you’re doing,” he said.

“Good. That’s good. Wouldn’t want to think you were slow on the uptake.” She smiled. He shook his head.

“Anyway, good swim,” she said. “I’m all cool now and you’re not biting. Probably time for me to get out.”

She struck out for the nearest ladder with a breaststroke that demonstrated a decent swimming technique.

“Mia, you are not getting out of the water like that,” he called after her. “Public place. Nakedness.”

She reached the ladder and put her hands on the rung. A ship in a storm began to appear. He watched, mesmerized, and then instinct cut in and he began to swim after her. She wouldn’t.

She would.

He reached her just as the ship’s bow breached the water. He wrapped his hands around her waist and dragged her back into the water. She let go of the ladder easily, too easily, and he knew he’d been had. She’d wanted this—skin on skin and heat to heat—from the moment she’d started undressing.

She wasn’t the only one.

“My brothers are up there somewhere,” he whispered harshly. “A couple of yachtsmen getting ready to cast off. You really want them to see you naked?”

“No.” A tremor ripped through her. “I wouldn’t have made it to the top of the ladder.”

“Then why even climb?”

“You know why.”

He did. “Say it.”

“I wanted you to see me. See what you’re missing.”

“I’m looking.” Heaven help him.

“But not touching.”

She was wrong. One hand to the ladder and the other at her waist as he pulled her back flush against him. “I am now.”

He slid his hand lower, over her belly, low enough to encounter soft folds and heat, and she was already plump for him, already breathing hard.

“Cutter, please.”

He shouldn’t be doing this. He was only making things more difficult for everyone. Especially now that his father was behaving idiotically towards Nash. “Please what?”

“It wouldn’t take much, I promise.” Her eyes met his, dark and desperate as she turned ever so slightly in his arms. “I’ve been dreaming about you. Foreplay’s done.”

“Please what?” he demanded again.

“Please make me come.”

He kissed her, deep and reckless, as he slid his middle finger down and in. He ground the heel of his hand into her clitoris and ate her tiny gasps and moans, and she was right.

It took no time at all before she was clenching around his finger and whimpering her pleasure.

He let her ride his hand until her own hand slipped from the ladder, and then he turned her to face him and hoisted her up so that her breasts were above the water. He traced one of her nipples with slick fingers before taking it in his mouth and she tasted of everything he’d ever loved. Salt and the sea, and a sweetness all her own. He suckled hard, uncaring of the marks he was making, wanting to make them, as she wrapped her legs around his hips again and fed him wordless encouragement.

“I’m not done.” It had been years since he’d barebacked a woman but he wanted this with a ferocity that was new to him. “Can you go again?”

“Yes,” she whimpered. “Yes, I can.”

He was big. He knew this from experience.

But no woman had ever cursed him out for it as creatively as she did.

She was tight, tighter than he’d ever had, and he tried to be patient, tried to soothe and wait until she was ready for more. Another inch, and then another, and then she put her back to the ladder and he put both hands to it as she wrapped her legs around him and impaled herself with one fierce, impatient thrust.

“You were taking too long,” she murmured and crushed her lips to his.

Breathing was overrated anyway.

She milked him slowly at first, barely enough hip rotation to make the water move but enough to loosen the way somewhat.

“Lack of lube,” she murmured as she dragged her lips across his ear and clung hard to the ladder. “Another reason the water beneath the jetty’s not your favorite seduction spot.”

He stilled, breathing hard but still in control. “Am I hurting you?”

“Would you like that?”

“No, I—ngh.” She dug her heels into his buttocks and he thrust into her hard, no measured stroke, this one. “Oh, dear God.”

“Gonna take that as a yes, pretty boy. Because I want you to hurt me good.”

The rhythm they created didn’t last long. Half a dozen slow and brutal strokes and she was convulsing around him again, biting into his shoulder to smother a scream and taking him with her into a release that hit like a cyclone.

She stayed where she was in the aftermath, still wrapped around him like an octopus, and, oh, he could get used to that. To this. To her.

“Hey.” He could barely recognize his own voice. “You still there?”

“Present.” She let her hands drop to his forearms as she leaned back against the ladder and smiled lazily at him. “Do you feel good? I feel good.”

“I feel shattered.”

“That’s good, right?” She pulled back to look at him, eyes wary. “Please say you don’t regret this.”

“I don’t regret this.”

Her smile broke him, and her kiss remade him.

She lived in Melbourne and was leaving soon, not to mention her having strong ties to the half-brother his father didn’t want around. His world was splitting down the seams and a new world was forming. So be it.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, and kissed him again. “I won’t ask for much. I promise.”