Last Chance at Love (17 page)

He stared down into her eyes, saying nothing, and shivers raced through her, rattling her nerves.

“Well, if you’d rather not,” she said, wondering at his reticence, “I can use some sleep.”

He extended his hand for her key, took it, and opened the door.

Inside Allison’s stateroom, Jake went to the phone, ordered a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne, an assortment of canapés and fruits, and charged it to his credit card. The ship seemed to rock a little, and he had a feeling that they were in for a storm. He didn’t know why he did it, but when he turned to face Allison—seemingly more fragile than he would have imagined possible—he said, “I love seeing your hair down. I like it as it is, but when it’s down, there’s a softness about you that appeals to me.”

Without taking her gaze from his, she removed the comb, released the twist, ran the comb through her hair, and let it fall to her shoulders. He sucked in his breath. Without saying a word, she let him know that she enjoyed pleasing him. He knew he’d better watch his step.

“I’ll be right back. Have a seat,” she said, and went into the combination dressing room and bathroom.

He sat in the chintz-covered chair, comfortable even if it wasn’t to his taste, took the opportunity to make a few notes on observations he had made while in the gaming room, and jotted down a reminder to ask the chief if he had anything on Lena and Ned. Allison opened the door and he hurriedly slipped the little notepad into his pocket.

“Is this ship rocking?” she asked him, and he could see that she wore the wristband that was said to prevent seasickness.

“Slightly. You okay?”

She nodded. “What will we do in Martinique?”

“You name it. Swim, snorkel, horseback riding, tennis, dancing, enjoy the breathtaking scenery, a lot of things. And I’ve heard the food is great. If you like, we can find a restaurant that has a veranda, sit out there in the breeze, and enjoy each other’s company.”

She answered the door, and the waiter set the champagne service on a table beside the window and opened the champagne. Jake tipped the man, but always mindful of the dignity of people who rendered him a service, he detained the man with brief conversation.

“How’s the wind out there?”

“Not so good, sir, but we’ll be out of it in a few hours. Sometimes it gets pretty rough this time of year. Hurricane warnings up in the West Indies, but we’re well south of the storm.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jake said. “Thanks for bringing this.”

“My pleasure, sir.”

After the waiter left them, Jake poured each of them a glass of the wine. “Come closer to me.” He patted the chair beside the one in which he sat. “Are you glad you came?”

“In a way, yes.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. After musing over it a bit, he clicked her glass with his own and sipped the champagne. “In what way no?”

She leaned back in the chair and covered his free hand with her own. “It’s like having a great ride that would be exhilarating if your seat belt wasn’t broken, or like taking a wonderful trip and not knowing where the plane is headed.”

“Yes, I know.” And indeed he did. “It’s the uncertainty. Doesn’t sit well with me, either. Not knowing important things about my life—I don’t mean the future; I mean the
now
—goes against everything I stand for.” He glanced at her. “Did you feel that?”

“Yes, indeed. This thing is rocking.”

He couldn’t help grinning. A little danger had always revved up his engine, but he wondered whether she would be so serene if she were alone.

“Where’s the fun? If this thing gets out of hand, I’m not letting you leave this room.”

The laughter that he had smothered rolled out of him. He couldn’t control it. “Allison, sweetheart, if you think getting me to stay here with you will be a problem, you’re out of your mind. Your problem may be getting me to leave.”

She sipped her wine and tossed her head, dismissing his words. “Oh, pooh. You’re a gentleman.” She crossed her knees and began swinging her foot.

His sense of the absurd left him as quickly as it came, and he looked at her with as stern a face as he’d ever worn. “That is not a means of controlling me, Allison. A gentleman has needs, and when he’s with a woman he wants on a stormy night at sea, his needs can rise up like a stallion on hind legs and throw him.”

“I didn’t mean to suggest that you don’t have feelings, just as I do,” she said, letting her gaze slowly scan the room.

Something in him jumped to life, for at that minute he realized she was scanning her room for cameras that he’d said might be hidden there.

“What are you looking for?” he growled, forgetting that he might frighten her.

“I, uh... I was...”

He jumped to his feet and stood facing her. With his right hand outstretched, he waited as she sat there gazing up at him, swinging the leg that hung from her knee. When her eyes darkened and her tongue rimmed her bottom lip, he smiled, held out both hands, and then opened his arms to her. She sprang from her chair, and with a moan that he knew signaled complete capitulation, she locked her arms around him.

Was she certain this time? He hesitated, doubting his ability to pull back. “Do you want me? Do you?” He had to be sure, because he couldn’t let himself embarrass her and certainly not hurt her in any way. Her large, almond-shaped eyes gazed up at him, questioning. Yes, and inviting. But he had to be sure.

“Do you?” he repeated.

Her lids dropped over those luminous eyes, and her bottom lip trembled. “Don’t ask me questions,” she whispered. “Just...just love me. Love me, Jake, like you mean it. Like I’m the only woman on earth. I need you.”

The sensation of her thumb rubbing his bottom lip stunned him, and when she sucked the thumb into her mouth, he felt a rush of blood, a swift tightening of his groin, and jumped to full readiness.

“Allison!”

When she locked her hands behind his head and opened her mouth, desire sliced through him, and he plunged into her. Her rhythmic sucking on his tongue sent his blood racing, as she feasted like a woman starved. He wanted to tell her to slow down, but her hand went to his buttocks, tightening him to her, and he nearly lost his composure, as she moved against him, letting him know that she enjoyed the feel of his erection, that her body was primed for his entry. He told himself to think about popcorn,
Gone With the Wind,
shoelaces, Italy, anything but the woman in his arms as she tortured him with her woman’s scent, the softness of her body, and the loving she gave his tongue.

Allison didn’t think of the past, nor did she worry about the future. Her reservations about Jake and herself disappeared like a puff of smoke in a windstorm, when he stood before her, open and vulnerable, and spread his arms to her. Nearly six years of loneliness and pain heightened her need of him. His arms went around her and blotted out everything that existed or ever had been, except him. When at last she felt his tongue in her mouth, her world spun off its axis.

She felt him hard against her and grabbed his buttocks, the better to feel him, as his heat touched her through their clothing. He broke the kiss, and his lips began to tease her ears and throat. She heard the moans that escaped her, and didn’t care. His tongue bathed her neck, and she thought she’d die if she could feel her nipple in his mouth.

“Jake. Honey.”

“What is it? Tell me what you need.” For an answer, she grabbed his hand and rubbed her left breast with it. “Tell me,” he whispered in a voice she hardly recognized.

“Kiss me. Please ki—”

His big hand went inside the bodice of her dress and freed her breast. Then, he bent to her hardened nipple, and lathed it gently.

“Please. Please. I want to feel your mouth on me.” She felt his warm breath seconds before he pulled her nipple into his mouth. “Oh, Lord,” she cried. “Jake, honey, I can’t stand this.” She rocked against him, finally throwing one leg around his hip. He lifted her, and she straddled him, feeling all of him. Greedy for more, she began to unbuckle his belt.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” he said, setting her on her feet. “May I unzip this?” he asked her, his voice thick with desire.

“Yes. Yes.”

He unzipped her evening gown, caught the dress before it landed on the floor, and threw it across a chair. As if stunned, he stared at her until she covered her bare breasts with her hands.

“No. Don’t. Sweetheart, you’re so beautiful. So... Let me look at you.”

He lifted her, threw back the bed covering, and placed her on the bed, where she lay bare to him except for the inch-wide yellow bikini panties. As he stared down at her, her breathing shortened to a pant, moisture accumulated in her mouth, and she had to control the urge to spread her legs wide as desire washed through her. Without taking his gaze from her face, he shed his clothing, hurriedly as if racing ahead of a fire. And then she saw him, full and masculine. Her legs shifted apart as she reached for him. When he stepped to the edge of the bed, she tugged at his G-string, released him, and let him spill into her waiting hands.

He threw his head back and groaned as she fondled and caressed him. Then he joined her at last and wrapped her to his hard body.

“May I?” he asked, with his fingers on her bikini. She raised her hips to him, and thought she would break out of her skin when his hands skimmed slowly from her belly to her nest and down the inside of her thighs. She reached for him, but he moved from her.

“Be patient, love. This is too important, too precious to rush.”

He took both of her hands and held them over her head, then her cheeks, ears, nose, and forehead sparkled beneath the heat of his mouth. “Jake, I want you inside me. I’m going crazy.”

“Don’t rush it, love. It will find us.” The feel of his lips on her neck, then her chest, teasing, promising, and denying, excited and frustrated her until in desperation she slapped his buttocks, then rubbed them as moans spilled from her throat. When he kissed the top of her breast, she cupped it in a lover’s offering. Finally his mouth covered her nipple, bringing a keening cry from her lips as he suckled her, nourishing himself as if he’d been starving for years. She reached down for him, but he moved away.

“Not there, baby. Not yet.”

With one nipple snug between his lips and one of his hands on her breast, her senses began to reel as his other hand moved slowly down her body, stroking her belly, caressing the inside of her thighs. Unable to restrain herself, her hips undulated, but he stilled them, poised at her center, and when she wanted to scream, his fingers parted her folds and began their talented dance.

“Please. Jake. Get in me. Get in me.”

For an answer, he lifted her knees over his shoulders, kissed her, and then claimed her with his tongue, rubbing, circling, and probing until her moans filled the room. Slowly, he kissed his way up her neck, reached on the floor beside the bed for the condom he’d placed there, and handed it to her as he covered her body with his own.

“Raise your knees a little, love.”

She took him in her hands and brought him to her love portal. And then she felt him, iron-hot, velvety smooth, and big. Her body stiffened. “We’ll go slowly,” he said, but if she didn’t feel him moving inside her, she’d go crazy. She swung her body up to meet his gentle thrust, wrapped her legs around his hips, and pressed his buttocks to her.

“Allison, baby. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You aren’t. You can’t. I just want to... Honey...” She pushed upward, ignoring the initial pain, and took him in. All of him.

He raised himself up and gazed down into her face. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. Perfect.”

Slowly, he began to move, then suddenly he flipped her over on top of him, and as she leaned forward, he pulled her right nipple into his mouth. She didn’t know where she was. He suckled her, all the while thrusting upward, until sensations plowed through her that she hadn’t dreamed possible.

“I’m going to put you on your back now,” he said, and in seconds he let her know the power of his hard thrust. The pumping and squeezing accelerated in her vagina as he increased the pace, heat seared the bottom of her feet, and then he was in her, over her, beneath her, and all around her, claiming her and scattering her senses, robbing her of herself. She was his, every atom and every molecule of her body knew him and capitulated as the swelling gripped her. She threw her arms wide, gave herself to him, and sank into a vortex of ecstasy.

“Oh, Jake. I love you. I love you.”

“You’re mine. Mine. All mine,” he whispered in barely audible tones as if he hadn’t the strength to speak louder. He gripped her to him, moaned her name, and shattered in her arms.

For a long while, they didn’t speak. Then he braced himself on his forearms, looked down at her, and smiled. “Did you have an orgasm?

She couldn’t help grinning, for joy suffused her. “Yes, I did, thank you.”

“Sure?”

“Yes. Couldn’t you tell?”

“Actually, I wondered, because you started swelling around me the minute I entered.”

“Believe me, I never felt anything like that in my life. What about you?” she asked, half fearing the answer.

“Me? You are perfect for me, Allison. Perfect from beginning to end. You fit me like a glove in more ways than one.”

“Are you going to spend the night with me?”

“You bet, sweetheart. I like honey for breakfast.”

She pinched his buttocks, and he retaliated with ten minutes of loving that took them both on a whirlwind trip to paradise.

Afterward, he stretched out on his back and hooked her to his left side.

“I just realized something,” she told him. “The first time I saw you was not at your lecture, but on the beach in Idlewild early one morning a couple of days before we met. You came out of the lake and walked toward me on the beach, barefooted, wearing a tiny red bikini, hardly more than a G-string, and water from the lake dripped from your body. You didn’t look my way.”

“How do you know it was me?”

“There isn’t a warm-bloodied woman anywhere who could see you dressed that way and forget what your body looked like. I confess I ogled you, and I was glad you didn’t look my way.”