Jake (19 page)

              “I’m going to have to take you from behind,” he said. “Are you okay with that?”

              She was still in the mind-blur of her orgasm but she lifted her head and gazed at him in the mirror. His face was tight and flushed. “Definitely okay.”

              He placed his hand on her back and urged her forward, so that her hands came to rest on the wall. He lifted her dress and separated her, adjusting her hips so that she fit perfectly in the cradle of his thighs, and slipped his cock into her. She watched passion darken his face, his jaw tense as he sought to control his response, and Ivy couldn’t help it. She squeezed her internal muscles so that she clasped his shaft and he called out her name.

              She loved hearing it torn from his lips like that.

              He laid a hand over hers on the wall, grasped her hip with the other, and bent over her so he could pull her earlobe into his mouth and suckle it. “Still okay?”

              “Better. Much better than okay.”

              She reached between their legs, cupping his balls, and Jake’s eyes closed. His hands tightened on her hips and he kept her still as he fought for control. Ivy tried not to move, battling her need to touch him, pleasure him, send him rocketing into an orgasm as he’d done for her.

              All in good time, she told herself. Jake’s timing. He needed this and she wanted him to have it.

              And then he stood tall, lifting her with him, and pushed her dress up further so he could watch his thrusts. Ivy didn’t think anything could be more arousing than watching Jake come apart. His thrusts deepened, grew faster, and he used his thumbs to hold her cheeks back.

              “I love seeing you like this, Ivy,” he panted.

              “I love watching you.”

              “You’re so beautiful. Wet and swollen and wanting me.”

              “Only you,” she agreed.

              “I’m close.”

              He turned to the mirror and their eyes caught. His were pure fire. He pumped and turned back to where their bodies were joined. His thrusts became faster, lost some of their easy finesse until they were just perfectly rough. His orgasm began with the deep shuddering of his body. His hands tightened on her ass, he titled his shaft upward and spilled hotly into her womb.

Chapter Seventeen   

              The Cove was beautiful in the early morning light. Ivy stood at the railing above the Pacific and watched the waves roll in, capped in frothy white, and undulating calmly. She loved the water and was good at looking for danger. There were no riptides, though. No deep depressions between waves that indicated an undertow. She listened to Jake’s voice behind her, as he helped their guides unload the kayaks. There were sixteen takers in their group, many of them couples, like she and Jake. There was also a mother and her young daughter, and two women. Some were riding tandem, others solo. She and Jake were riding together.

              The wind lifted, cool and damp, with very little of the sun breaking through the cloud cover yet. She was glad she’d chosen to wear her neoprene shorts over her one-piece. They would keep her warm and protect her bottom from abrasion against the unyielding seat of the kayak.

              Jake, on the other hand, looked spectacular in a pair of black board shorts and a t-shirt that defined the muscles of his shoulders and chest. She turned, leaning against the railing, and watched him.  He was taller than the other men, the breadth of his chest and shoulders broader. It could be the way he held himself, confident and disciplined. Or it could be the way the rest of the male species just paled in comparison to him. Jake exuded strength. He stood head and shoulders

above the other men.

              She had fallen in love with him. No doubt about it. And it made her feel like she was breathing helium. They had known each other exactly one week and it didn’t seem possible, but it had happened and she refused to worry about the future, not when the present offered the happiness she had always craved.

              Jake looked after her like no one else ever had. He was protective and considerate, encouraging and generous. He laughed with her and didn’t flinch away from the hard stuff.  Not even the intimacy issue. On the boat last night, his climax had been controlled, but he’d revealed more of himself.  He had been vulnerable. He had been moved. He had needed her, but hadn’t been consumed with the need to find his release in her. Ivy acknowledged the lilting disappointment as it settled in her heart but felt bolstered by the thought that with time, Jake would come to trust himself. And her.

              He unloaded the last kayak and turned towards her. She smiled and waggled her eyebrows at him, making no attempt to cover her perusal of his body or that she was enjoying every moment of it. There was enough distance between them that his husky laughter just barely reached her, but the joy on his face was a beautiful thing. He was relaxed, in an easy mood, as if he had put the whole issue of control—or lack of it—behind him. And maybe she should too. If they left it alone, maybe he would come to trust himself, and her, naturally. Ivy understood that Jake’s need to protect was as natural and necessary to him as breathing, and so she did her best not to push him. She decided slow was the way to go on that.

              They’d left the dinner cruise the night before sated from their tryst in the restroom, but by the time they’d returned to Ivy’s apartment they were back on simmer. It was a slow-burning heat and they had spent several hours lying naked in each other’s arms, indulging in soft touches and kisses that skimmed across their skin and built into more demanding needs. When they did come together again it was a tender coupling, and more about their emotional connection than an act to relieve a physical ache.

              And Jake had watched her the whole time as though he was mesmerized by her.

              He hadn’t spoken about his feelings, but Ivy felt that he had made a clear statement through touch. He was emotionally invested in her, if not actually in love with her. And she hoped that would come in time.

              He walked toward her now, the smile deepening on his face. “Like what you see, huh?”

              “Definitely.”

              He took her hand in his and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “Back at you.”

              He tugged on her hand and she fell into step beside him.

              “The blue boat is ours.” He navigated among the kayaks until they arrived at theirs, and then snagged a life jacket and helped her into it. “I’ll take the back, if you don’t mind.” He picked up another life jacket and slipped into it.

              She wasn’t so sure about that. The tour took three hours, which meant he’d have a front row seat watching her and she would be lucky to get a few glimpses of him when she twisted in her seat to talk. Ivy loved to watch Jake at work. There was a graceful fluidity to his muscles, a vibrant strength that took her breath away.

              “Why don’t we switch half way through? I can pull my own weight.”

              “But not mine. I weigh seventy, eighty pounds more than you do.” He reached toward her and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “The guy in back takes the brunt of the load.”

              “Are you sure you aren’t doing it for the show?”

              He smiled and it was decidedly wolfish. “That’s just an added benefit. But really, you’d have a hard time steering my weight.”

              She pursed her lips, considering the situation. “You could end up having an equally hard time, Jake.” She shifted on her feet, allowing her knee to push gently against his and her thigh to slide smoothly between his. “Just saying.”

              His bark of laughter was full of delight.

              “That’s just about a constant state of being for me, honey.”

              She loved when he used endearments. She felt herself melt a little. “Fine. Take the back. But you had that position last night, if you remember, and in all fairness, I’m going to need equal time.”

              He lowered his head, and his voice, and said thickly, “Oh, I remember, sweetheart. That moment is one I’m never likely to forget.”

              “Is that a favorite position, Jake?”

              His eyes grew dark, mysterious. “One of them.”

              “We’ll need to explore the others.”

              “We have the time,” he agreed.

              And she liked hearing that. He wasn’t tallying the cost of a relationship that demanded the kind of intimacy Ivy needed. He may be treading softly, but that was okay. Ivy was not the most patient of women, but Jake was worth the wait. And he was teaching her that slow was as equally pleasurable as instant gratification, maybe even more so.

              “I hope one of them will put me in the driver’s seat.”

              “Another favorite of mine,” he promised.

              They were interrupted by one of the guides, who began to give instructions about pushing off and boarding without tipping over. Ivy paid attention with half an ear, having kayaked many times before. She turned so that she was facing the gently lapping water of the Cove, and relaxed into Jake’s arm, which was wrapped lightly around her waist. She noticed the other kayakers in various stages of readiness, listening while they shrugged into life jackets or tried the grip of their oars. One of the guides tested the fit of the life jacket on the little girl, who must have been seven or eight years old. The other guide gave a final warning about respecting the wildlife they encountered while out on the water.

              The shores along San Diego were teaming with life, from the urchins and starfish in the tidal pools to the playful sea lions and dolphins further off the coast. Just last week, the guide said, they’d come upon a pod of bottle nose that had surfed the waves and put on a spectacular show. He reminded them that tiger sharks, of which they would see plenty, were not aggressive.

              Jake gave a final tug to Ivy’s life jacket, making sure the fit was perfect, and then pushed their kayak to the water’s edge. He held it as it bobbed in the surf and looked up at her. “You want to hop in?”

              She took the forward perch, picked up her oar and laid it across her knees. She thought about a program she’d watched on Travel TV. Kayaking was popular in Hawaii. So were paddle boarding and snorkeling. She’d like to try all of those with Jake, while basking in the sultry sun of the islands.

              She felt the boat lurch as Jake pushed it into deeper water and then climbed aboard. Others were doing the same, with one guide in front to lead and the other at the rear to round up any stragglers. Jake’s powerful strokes had them easily cutting through the softly rolling waves. Ivy matched her efforts to his pacing but paused at the crest of each wave to enjoy that thrilling, teeter-tottering feel of being on the ocean in small craft. As they left the Cove behind, the strength of the water grew. The wind picked up, too, and they were quickly coated in salty spray. It was exhilarating. Ivy was definitely a water baby.

              They cut diagonally through the water, heading for a cropping of rock that flowed out from the cliffs that towered overhead. The sun pressed through the clouds and Ivy glanced at the water, where it sparkled emerald and then danced with shadows.

              “Hey!” she called back to Jake. “Are those the tiger sharks?”

              She pointed with her oar as a dark figure passed beneath the surface close to their boat and glanced back at him.

              He smiled and hummed a little of the “Jaws” soundtrack. He looked sexy as hell, with the wind pushing through his short blond hair and laughter in his vibrant blue-green eyes. His biceps were lean and cut and she remembered how it felt to be held by him, protected but also desirable.

              She flicked some water at him with the paddle and turned back into the wind.

              Jake didn’t hide his emotions, even when he became distant, and Ivy appreciated that. She didn’t know how a relationship lasted without that kind of openness. It helped that they were both problem-solvers, too. She had finally found her match. They complemented each other in so many ways, drew out each other’s strengths, lifted each other through their weaknesses—although Jake didn’t seem to have any, except maybe his need for control. And she was beginning to think that there was room for compromise there.

              Genny had told her that the key to her twenty-one years of marital bliss was focusing on what she loved about her husband—
makes even the big things less significant. . .

              Well, Jake had many qualities worth dwelling on. So what if it was a rare moment when she was able to push him beyond control in bed. That was no reflection on her desirability. But she still felt a hitch in her breath at the thought. Yeah, it stung a little.

              “You quitting for the day?” he prodded from behind her and Ivy realized that she was staring out to sea, her paddle resting across her knees.

              “Enjoying myself,” she called back to him. The wind had lifted, though, and snatched her words and ran with them. It was strong enough that when they approached the maze of caves beneath the cliffs, the wind became a howling through the fissures and crevices. “Spooky,” she said and turned to see if he’d heard.

              But Jake’s face was turned away from her. He was peering up, to where the rock formations joined the cliffs. There was someone up there. A boy, maybe. He looked small, but it could be the fifty or sixty yards between them. Ivy noticed a belt wrapped around his waist and a pulley of ropes. And a drop almost half the size of a football field.

              “There’s no rock climbing here,” she said. She’d read a sign stating as much up at street level.