PASSIONATE ENCOUNTERS (17 page)

She’d thought about buying a house but the convenience of
townhouse living had appealed to her more. Furthermore, her decision had left
her with enough money to live comfortably until she decided what she wanted to
do with her life.

Mike finally slowed the boat down, heading for a secluded
little inlet. Massive trees grew along the muddy bank. Heavy branches swaying
like giant canopies over the water’s edge provided them with even more privacy.

The water was dark and choppy that morning and for the first
time Emma began to notice the unfavorable skyline. If she didn’t know better it
looked like rain. Turning off the motor, he reached for one of the fishing
poles at the bottom of the boat and proceeded to bait it, all without words.

She made a face when he hooked the fat, wiggling earthworm
before handing her the pole.

“Here, you don’t have to cast, just drop it over the side
and wait.”

Thank goodness. Emma knew enough about fishing to know she
didn’t know how to cast. “Thank you.” She did as he instructed under his
watchful eye. “What kind of fish are we fishing for? Since you’re nice enough
to bait the hook for me, I’ll cook whatever we catch. It’s the least I can do.
But you’ll have to lop off their heads and tails, skin and gut them because I…”

“Emma,” he said in a tone one might use on a tiresome
five-year-old.

She looked at him expectantly. The expression on his face
was as serious as they came. It was obvious Mike didn’t fool around when it
came to fishing.

“You have to be quiet or you’ll frighten the fish away.”

Oh.
She knew that. She watched him bait his own hook
before casting it into a clump of wet grass further away from the boat. She had
a hard time believing that he and Melissa fished the whole time without
talking, but if that’s what he wanted, she’d do things his way.

For a while she watched the red-and-white bobber gently
floating on top of the rough water before realizing it was making her sleepy.
She covered a loud yawn with her hand, giving her head a vigorous shake to
clear it. Waiting was always the hardest part, she should have remembered that.

She’d gone fishing with her father once, when she was nine,
but she’d been too young at the time to appreciate the value of waiting for
something. It took patience, a trait she’d never associated with Mike before
now, although his quiet perseverance didn’t come as a surprise. She had no
doubts that when he wanted something he’d wait for as long as it took to get
it.

For some reason that brought a smile to her lips, which didn’t
go unnoticed by the much-too-serious Mike.

“You look like the cat that swallowed the canary,” he said
in a low voice.

He narrowed his eyes on her in a way that made her feel like
squirming.

“What’s going on inside that head of yours?”

She glanced away with a shrug, pretending interest in a
couple of squirrels circling a tree on the bank. “Nothing, why are you so suspicious?”

“It’s the detective in me. And you look guilty as sin about
something.” He reeled in his line only to cast it out again in one smooth motion.

“I assure you I’m very innocent,” she breathed, giving him a
come hither look that produced a sparkle of humor in his eyes. And something
else that caused her heart to flutter.

“You weren’t so innocent the other night in the dressing
room,” he reminded her.

Her mouth dropped open that he’d dare bring that up. “That
sounds like you were disappointed, Detective.”

There was no denying the smoldering emotion filling his dark
eyes. “Not at all. You were very, ah, good.”

“And you see where that got me,” Emma said before she could
curb her tongue. She hadn’t meant to say it like that. The last thing she
wanted was for Mike to think she was disappointed. “That didn’t come out the
right way.” She smiled.

“Neither did the other night,” he said with a sexy grin that
grew crooked on one side.

Emma couldn’t miss the underlining of truth behind Mike’s
comment. She could only hope he wasn’t referring to her embarrassing acting
abilities. She lowered her gaze, his comment filling her cheeks with instant
heat that rapidly swept down her body.

Suddenly the insulated sweatshirt she had on was much too
warm. She set her rod down and proceeded to remove it. As she tugged the
sweatshirt over her head it pulled the rubber band from her ponytail, releasing
her hair in a soft cloud of tangles around her face.

She glanced at Mike, freezing at the raw expression on his
face. “Is something wrong?” Worried there was a hole in her tee shirt, she
glanced down, her heart plummeting. It was worse than that. The sweatshirt had
snagged her tank top on the way over her head, baring Emma’s left breast.

All she could think of was thank God she’d had the foresight
to wear a bra, even if it was a sexy see-through.

Her embarrassed gasp was loud enough to scare away every
fish in their vicinity to the other side of the lake. As she reached up to tug
the tee shirt down another gasp escaped her when Mike’s hand shot out, stopping
her. She looked at him questioningly, holding her breath as she waited to see
what he was going to do.

Desire licked at her senses when his finger snagged the
folded edge of her tank top. He began to drag it down in slow motion, taking a
path that left her flesh on fire. Her gaze fell to his hand, mesmerized as his
finger moved down her breast and over her nipple, causing it to pucker and
tingle instantly, which then caused every nerve ending in her body to go
haywire.

Suddenly there was a fire burning in her belly, moving
rapidly lower. When Mike was done she glanced up, meeting his lazy gaze. The
look in his eyes excited her, if not frightened her a little. She wasn’t an
expert on the subject but all the signals were there; she only hoped she was
reading them correctly.

Mike wanted her.

And he wanted her now.

Chapter 15

Mike tried to swallow but his throat closed up. Seeing
Emma’s breast encased in a lacy bit of nothing, was more than a man in his
fragile state could bear. How the hell was he supposed to ignore that? Or forget
what she’d tasted like the other night in the dressing room. How her body
responded to him.

It all came rushing back to him now. How sweet her flesh
was. How her nipple had swelled in his mouth. How her pussy surrounded his cock
with tight, wet heat.

Reaching forward to cover that tempting mound seemed the natural
thing to do. The opposite of what he really wanted. He had to think about his
sanity. Still, nothing could have stopped him from taking his time and trailing
his finger across that tempting flesh, marveling at how soft it was.

How responsive.

His gaze met hers, the desire evident in the smoky depths of
her eyes, as well as a subtle shyness that endeared her to him when they
weren’t fucking. There was nothing shy about Emma then.

The urge to pull her across his lap and kiss that soft,
sweet mouth was so powerful that he shook with it. How could the sight of one
lace-covered breast cause such turmoil in his body? Maybe if he kissed her it
would appease some of the hunger eating away at his soul. Chipping away at his
control.

He should never have touched her to begin with. Should never
have fucked her. Because now that was all he thought about. Sliding into her
wild body and driving them both a little mad.

Mike didn’t need to glance around to know they were in a
well-secluded spot. Maybe he’d unconsciously chosen this area, knowing the
house on the lakeside lot was empty now that the occupants had returned to
their winter residence in Florida.

His body tightened like a coiled spring, making up his mind
for him. Fingers closing around Emma’s upper arms, he slowly drew her across
the open space between them, with every intention of kissing that delectable
mouth.

“I might regret this but if I don’t kiss you right now you
might as well take me to Cherry Grove and drop me off at the hospital.” Cherry
Grove only had one hospital, the Cherry Grove Institute for the Mentally
Insane.

“Is it that bad, Detective?” Emma teased, her eyes sparkling
with mischief.

It was as if she’d known how he was reacting to her. Her
hands came up and she automatically braced her palms against his chest. Only
she wasn’t pushing him away. Her fingers curled into his torn shirt.

“Worse than bad,” he growled, leaning back as he brought
Emma against him. He meant to straighten when she was settled on his lap but
suddenly Mike slipped off the seat backwards, landing with a mild thump on the
bottom of the boat, with Emma on top of him.

“Oops!” She laughed, her hair falling down in her face.
“You…”

Mike bent his head, closing the short distance between them
and slanting his mouth firmly over hers, effectively cutting off whatever she’d
been about to say. He wasn’t in the talking mood, or the listening mood for
that matter. All he knew was the feel of Emma’s softness against him and the overwhelming
urge to do something about the pain in his loins. Kissing her seemed a good
place to start.

Yet Mike’s heart sank when he realized almost instantly that
kissing her wouldn’t be enough. He’d had a taste of her fire. As his mouth
worked on hers, he gradually lay back, bringing Emma more fully against him.

Her startled gasp only allowed him the chance to slip his
tongue inside her mouth. At that point Mike was sure he heard fireworks. He
almost drew back to look but caught himself. He had a beautiful woman in his
arms, returning his lusty kiss with every bit as much zeal and enjoyment as he
could have hoped for. Why should he waste a second of it looking for something
he knew was only in his imagination?

As desire for her surged hotly through his blood, Mike’s
hands left her arms and glided up to her shoulders, before sweeping down the
graceful arch of her back to the gentle flare of her hips. His hands explored
her with thorough slowness, touching her everywhere. He groaned deeply with
pleasure letting his palms smooth down the back of her slender thighs and back
up to her hips, before cupping the half-moons of her buttocks.

He squeezed, then parted his thighs and thrust against her,
letting her feel how hard his cock was for her. Her low moan encouraged him to
run his hands beneath her shirt up her smooth back. He unclasped her bra,
wanting, needing to feel her naked skin beneath his palms.

Mike wanted so much more than a stolen moment, wondering
wildly what kind of trouble they could get into making love in the bottom of
his boat. Stratton was a small town, and gossip traveled like wildfire. If he
thought he’d put Emma in a situation that would humiliate her, he’d stop. No
matter how hard it was.

He tore his mouth from hers only because he needed air. He
was powerless to do anything but lay there, his chest rising and falling
rapidly as he worked to fill his empty lungs. With shaking hands, he reached
up, and pushed the hair from Emma’s face so he could read what was in her eyes.
Her pupils were dilated, her nostrils flaring in her overheated face. Her
desire for him was evident in her aroused expression.

She never looked so beautiful, or as desirable.

“Damn, lady. I feel like a keg of dynamite getting ready to
blow.”

Emma lowered her head against his chest, trembling wildly
against him. When she spoke he could hear the smile in her voice.

“The feeling is mutual.”

“Don’t say that. You don’t know how weak I am right now. All
I want to do is kiss and touch you and sink my cock into your hot pussy.”

She arched into his hard on and Mike groaned.

“My clit is pulsing right now, Mike. And I’m so wet for you.
That’s what you do to me. The way you look at me turns me on.”

He closed his eyes. “God, Emma…don’t.”

She didn’t listen to him. Mike kept his eyes closed but that
only sharpened his other senses. As she continued to rock her body against him,
he willed himself not to give in.

Soon he felt her mouth against his chin and jaw before she
closed her teeth over his bottom lip and gave it a tug. His cock jumped into the
crevice between her legs. Laughing huskily, Emma’s soft mouth kissed its way to
his ear.

Mike’s hips left the boat in reaction to her warm breath.
His heart was pounding. Then he felt her move.

“Open your eyes.”

He barely heard her soft plea. His inclination was to say no
but he was intrigued at what he might see and she was too damn tempting. Hardly
taking note that Emma had moved to a sitting position, Mike couldn’t tear his
gaze away from her movements.

Slowly, and wearing a teasing half-smile on her pretty face,
Emma took the hem to her shirt in her hands and brought it up and over her
head. She shook her hair free and he watched mesmerized as the thick locks fell
to her quivering, hard-tipped breasts. He wasn’t aware he was holding his
breath until her hands moved to the snap of her jeans. She quickly worked at
getting her jeans undone. It wasn’t until Mike caught the first glimpse of hair
covering her pussy that he finally lost it and was able to move.

He grabbed Emma around the waist and pulled her down to him,
her swaying breasts his target. She cried out softly when his mouth closed over
the tip of one. Her hands went to the front of his jeans. He knew what she
wanted and he didn’t care.

As he loved one breast, and then the other, his hands caressed
her silken flesh. Her little mewling sounds were like music surrounding them.
The gentle rocking of the boat added stimulation to their rocking bodies.

“Help me, Mike.”

He chuckled at the breathless frustration he heard in her
tone. Instinctively knowing what she wanted, he raised his hips so she could
roll his jeans down over his hips and butt.