Call Me Wild (14 page)

“No.” She tackled him to the blanket, just about knocking the air out of him, pushed his shirt up, and before he knew what happened she had his shirt off, his jeans pulled down as far as they could go, and her mouth on his. She straddled him. When he opened his eyes, her face shielded the sun, and the light caught the colors in her hair.

God, she felt amazing. He pulled the ponytail holder out, dragged his hands through her thick hair, and angled her head to deepen the kiss. Tasting her like he’d wanted to for what felt like hours. “Jessica, let me get my boots and pants off.”

“Oh, no.” She shimmied down, and his dick came in contact with moist heat.

He sucked in a breath and slid his hands to her waist.

“I’ve got you exactly where I want you. You’re at my mercy.” She held his wrists and brought them up over his head, her breasts close enough to lick. So he did, and pulled a taut nipple between his lips, sucking it in deeper. She moaned, but didn’t move, her hands still pressing his into the blanket. “God, you’re good. You almost made me forget my plan.”

“Plan?” He switched breasts, but didn’t move his hands. He didn’t need them. He used his lips, his tongue, and when he abraded her nipple with his teeth, he knew she was close. She rocked against him. One quick thrust, and he’d be in heaven. Before he could reach for a condom, she was on the move again.

“You keep your hands right there until I tell you, okay?” She gave him a quick kiss and moved to his ear. “I’ve wanted to do this since last night.” She sucked on his earlobe and then nipped it with her teeth, sending bolts of heat right down to his groin. “I’m not going to let you deter me.”

“But I want—”

She cut him off with a kiss. “Fisher,” she mumbled against his lips, her eyes dark against the bright blue of the sky. “If you don’t get what you want, you’ll have your turn later. I promise.” She didn’t wait for a reply before she slid farther down, kissing his neck.

He did his best to control the urge to grab her hips and sink into her as she toyed with him, nipping his chest, licking a path down over his abs, sinking her tongue into his navel as his dick slipped between her breasts. “God, I’ve died and gone to heaven.” The vision had his dick twitching and his hips rocking, thrusting, driving himself mad.

Her head lowered as he thrust, and his dick slid into the recesses of her open mouth. All control fled, and he bucked against her and let out a groan. “Jessica, please. I want to touch you.”

She released him with a pop of suction and raised her dark eyes to his. They held enough mischief to make Karma look innocent. “Nope. It’s my turn.” Her hands held his sex. He started to protest, but when her tongue peeked out and licked the length of him, he lost all ability to speak.

Hot, wet, heaven. She slid her mouth over him, taking him deep, and when she sucked, the rush of blood drowned out the sound of the river below. He saw stars and wondered if it was from staring directly into the sun or from Jessica. Her hand held him in a tight grip. Her mouth and tongue danced and played tag with it, and all the while he could barely breathe. When her fingernail trailed over his balls, he couldn’t help himself. He grabbed her, pulled her up against him, and then, wishing for the thousandth time he hadn’t worn boots, he rolled her beneath him.

Jessie knew that was coming. Men could be so pushy. Unfortunately for him, his legs were locked together, and hers weren’t. His kiss was searing, but she didn’t let it distract her. She planted her foot on the blanket, and using a few wrestling moves of her own, rolled them back over and reached for a condom. “No hands. Today the tables are turned.”

“What tables?”

She wasn’t sure she could handle sex with all parts of Fisher engaged. She hadn’t been able to last night and ended up blubbering like a baby. Maybe this way she could stay in complete control. She ripped open the package and tossed the wrapper in her shoe. The wind picked up, and her hair flew in front of her face, shielding it from Fisher’s view and those hot green eyes of his. Even better.

Every muscle in his body tensed beneath hers as she rolled the condom down the length of him, sorry he’d interrupted her oral exploration. Today, he’d be the one losing control—at least, she hoped he would. She didn’t have much experience with these things, but she figured it couldn’t turn out as badly as last night had. The multiple orgasm part had been awesome; it was the waterworks after the fireworks that were the problem.

She laid over him, her gaze meeting his just as he raised his head, stealing her breath with a kiss, and thrust inside her—his tongue invaded her mouth with the same urgency his body had. They both fit so well. She almost came right then.

Fisher ripped his mouth away from hers. “Jessica, don’t move. Please. Just give me a minute.”

“No time-outs.” She untangled her hands from his hair and sat, walking her hands from his shoulders to his stomach. His face looked carved in stone—tense, hard, and wild. She clenched all her inner muscles and rose above him, only to slide down in a heartbeat. Taking him in, loving the feel of him inside her, grinding against him, and doing a little hip swivel when their bodies met.

She set the pace, and he followed, sending her higher than she’d expected, so high she shot the spectrum of sound, color, and light. Everything blended into a cataclysmic crescendo that sent her reeling. She stared into Fisher’s eyes, and they carried her like an undertow, so strong, so consuming, it was futile to resist. She’d always heard that if you just went with it, the undertow would eventually spit you out on shore, beaten and bruised, yeah, but alive. Whether or not you’d want to be when it was all over was the million-dollar question. The last time she’d been caught in Jamie’s undertow, she’d been tossed back, all right. Only that time she hadn’t wanted to live, and she never wanted to feel that way again.

Jessie collapsed on Fisher. Her gasps turned to tears, and fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck. Her eyes were leaking again.

***

“This is getting to be a habit.” Fisher pressed a kiss against Jessica’s forehead and held her as her tears rolled onto his chest. He’d had the best sex of his life, twice, and each time it ended up with him getting cried on. “You want to tell me about it?”

She shook her head, trying to stop crying. It wasn’t working. He rubbed her back, which only seemed to make it worse, but he knew whatever it was that bothered her needed to come out. The only way that was going to happen was if she let it.

Every tear that fell stabbed him like a knife. Still, he wished he could take all Jessica’s hurt on himself. Anything would be better than watching her battle with the pain of whatever it was that would make the strongest woman he knew cry.

The real kicker was the tears probably had nothing to do with him, which sucked worse on too many levels to count. Not that he ever wanted to make Jessica cry, but shit, when a man has the best sex of his life with a woman, he’d want that woman to be thinking of only him. And except for a few arguments about Jessica’s food choices, rescuing her, and dating her, she hadn’t let him in far enough to hurt her. She had so many emotional no-trespassing signs posted, he wasn’t sure how to get around them.

“I’m sorry.” She slipped out of his arms and reached for her shirt, pulling it on. “Maybe this is a mistake.”

Fisher rolled to his side, forcing a grin. “I agree. Remind me to never wear hiking boots around you again. It’s not a good choice.”

That made her stop, which was good, because she had her pants halfway up her legs. “What?”

“Look at me.” He sat, bending his knees to his chest, and held out his arms, his shorts and pants bunched around his ankles. “I look ridiculous.”

She let out a surprisingly girlie giggle and then sniffled. The way she dried her eyes with the back of her hands did something to his gut and had him wishing he could pound whoever was responsible for her tears.

“I think we’re about even when it comes to the embarrassment factor.” He dealt with the condom, stood, and pulled his pants up. As soon as he buttoned and zipped, he wrapped his arms around her. She didn’t melt against him, but she didn’t pull away either. “Let’s take a hike before lunch.”

“I have work I should be doing.”

“It’s not far, and it’s in the opposite direction of the cabin. You can work all afternoon. I promise.”

She stabbed her feet into her laced sneakers. Of course, she had runner’s elastic laces. They gave more then regular laces, but still, it wasn’t enough.

The tongues curled into her shoes, and he squatted and pulled them up for her. “You’re going to love it.” He kept waiting for her to agree. He was steamrolling her and wished it wasn’t necessary. “It’s where I go when I need time alone to think. It’s a special place… to me at least.”

He folded the blanket and threw it over his shoulder with his pack, grabbed the rod, and took her hand, leading her toward the river. “Gramps owns a bunch of land up here, and we’ve come camping here as long as I can remember. I was maybe six or seven when I stumbled on it. I was bummed when Hunter uncovered it.”

“Why? I thought from the way you’ve talked about him, you two are close.”

“We are… Well, we were… Aw hell, I’m not sure what we are anymore.” Everything changed. How many times had he picked up the phone to call Hunter and put it down, not wanting to disturb him and Toni? How many days went by, seeing neither hide nor hair of his twin? They used to talk almost every day, or when their spidey sense told them to call. He hadn’t felt that connection in a while, and that scared him down to his boots. “I suppose I needed my own space, someplace I didn’t have to share—even with Hunter.”

“Then why are you sharing it with me?”

She seemed as confused by that as he was. “I don’t know.” And he really didn’t. It was completely unlike him. “Look, I don’t know why you’re upset, and I don’t want to pry, but I do want to help. Hell, if you’re anything like me, you might not even know what’s bothering you. I’ve been there too.”

“You have?”

“Yeah.” Especially lately. “All I know is that when life takes a dump on me, I go there and always feel better. It might just help you too. It can’t hurt.”

She nodded and squeezed his hand. He wasn’t sure what that meant. “When I was a kid, I used to think the place was magic. Sometimes I still do.”

Fisher led her down the path he knew as well as the inside of his own home. He could run it on a dark, moonless night, and had not long ago.

Jessica kept up with him, which probably shouldn’t have surprised him, considering the way the woman ran. He’d never enjoyed hiking with women, except for Karma, but then she wasn’t a typical woman. In his experience, women either slowed him down, complained, or both. Jessica did neither.

He turned toward the river and helped Jessica over the boulders he’d thought had kept the rest of the world away. The sound of rushing water filled his ears, and he felt himself relax immediately. “Do you feel the river taking away the tension?”

“I’m not tense.”

He placed his hands on her rock-hard shoulders and squeezed. “You’re lying. I gave you a back rub, remember?”

“I remember, and I’m not lying. This is just the way I am. It’s not tension. It’s just normal.”

He pulled her in front of him and pointed over her shoulder. “You see the circle of rocks up there? That’s it, or it was before Hunter turned it into a glorified hot tub. Come on.” He led her down the path he’d worn.

“How do you make a hot tub out here?”

“The area is full of hot springs. The water comes up so hot it will burn. Hunter encircled the spring with rocks, allowing just the right amount of cold river water to enter. I think he’s got it at about one hundred degrees. Before Hunter hijacked it, you could scald yourself if you didn’t know where to sit.”

She looked at him with those big, deep eyes of hers. “You liked it better before.”

“Yeah, it tended to keep people away, which worked for me.”

“It must have really upset you. It’s like when a guarded secret comes out, your pain is revealed to the world, you feel as if your privacy and self-respect have been stolen.”

It just about killed him, but he didn’t ask her what her secret was. He wasn’t digging, though if she shared with him, it would be a big relief. Maybe if he knew, he could fix it.

“I wasn’t happy when Hunter found it, but I never told him he’d discovered my sanctuary. Bringing you here is different. I want to share it with you. You’re here by invitation, not invasion.”

Jessica shot him a rabbit-in-the-crosshairs look, and he wondered who this conversation scared more—her or him. As much as it surprised him to say it, he didn’t regret it. Having her here with him, holding her hand, and sharing this magical place, just felt right. That was enough to scare the crap out of him. The terror in her eyes didn’t help either. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back against his front. “We can sit or soak—your choice. I’m fine with either.”

“I’m not wearing a suit.”

“That didn’t stop you before, and you shouldn’t let it stop you now, if you want to soak. The river traffic goes way down in September. There’s not a soul around, but you and me.”

He sat on a boulder and pulled her up, making space for her between his legs, wrapping his arms around her, guiding her to lean against him. He closed his eyes and drank in her scent, rosemary, mint, a hint of sex, and something that was all her. She melted into him, and he didn’t say a word, letting the place steal her tension, her troubles, her pain. If she wouldn’t share them with him, maybe for a while at least, she’d let the river wrestle with them.

Jessie rested against Fisher and watched the dappled sunlight sift through the trees on the river’s edge. The sound of water soothed her frayed nerves. Their breathing in sync, in that moment everything felt right. Fisher made no demands, no comments, no questions. He just held her and let her lean against him. It felt natural to be close, which was strange. She’d never been physically close with anyone.

A picture of her and her parents at the Fourth of July fireworks flashed. Every other family seemed to be piled on one another, kids sitting on their mother’s laps, men with their arms around their wives. She and her parents sat on opposite sides of their beach blanket, like stones holding down the corners, so the wind rolling off the Long Island Sound wouldn’t pick it up. They were three people alone, together.