Polished Slick (Natural Beauty) (11 page)

“Okay.”

Ginger’s house was second row from the beach, so the trek was hardly grueling. That didn’t stop Trinity from exhaustedly tripping all over herself when she noticed a familiar yellow Jeep parked in the public lot.

It couldn’t be.

A few more feet and a man with a naked, heavily-tattooed chest, and wearing Hawaiian-print swim trunks came into view.

Jerry didn’t see her.

Trinity paused, looking around and wondering if there was a more circuitous route to the house, but she took too long finding it.

He slammed his back door shut, turned around, and caught sight of her with little hassle. Shock registered on his face for a brief moment, then he smiled and waved. He jogged over to her in bare feet.

“Hey there, pixie.”

“Um…hi.” The bit of fidgeting she did made her nearly drop the cooler. Her bandeau was slipping, and she didn’t have a free hand to grab it.

He stepped in and took her tote from her.

“Going home?”

“Well, sort of. My aunt has a house here.”

“Oh, you mean the charming lady from the bar?”

“That’s the one.”

“Cool. Can I help you tote some of that?” He went ahead and laced his fingers around the cooler handle without waiting for an answer.

She let him do it.

“Are you…coming or going?” she asked as they took up a moderate pace toward the cottage with her slightly in the lead.

“Coming. Can’t really surf when there are too many swimmers in the way.”

“Oh, right. I never tried. Extent of my water sport prowess is paddling a canoe.”

“Better than nothing, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. This is the house. Can you put that stuff on the porch? I’m going to shower off on the side.”

“Of course.”

She hurried around and practically threw herself under the cold stream of water while hoisting up her top.

Don’t even look at him. Don’t look. It’s a trap and he’s just the bait. Nope. Don’t do it.

Although she got all the sand out of the most critical places, the shower did nothing for her surging libido. Her breasts ached even under the cold water just thinking about his skillful tongue, and here she was, practically naked for his inspection. She shut off the water, and quietly lurked up the stairs to the side door. She eased it open, and darted into the house in search of a shirt.

She found a plain white one crumpled on the floor beside the guest bed, and pulled it on before letting Jerry in through the front door.

“Do you have a wetsuit or rash guard? Something a bit more secure than a bikini top?” he asked as he carried the heavy cooler over the hardwood floor of the sitting room into the nearby kitchen. He’d already dumped the remaining ice.

Handy guy to have around.

She pinched herself for even thinking of the possibilities. Her and Jerry? No way.

“Um, no. I don’t.”

“Pity. I would have put you on my spare board and taught you to surf.”

She guffawed. With her limited coordination, that effort would end with epic mortification and possibly mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The mouth-to-mouth part might have been nice, though. “Not really my scene,” she said.

He was nonplussed. “You might like it if you tried it. It’s a good work-out.” He picked up a bottle of aloe perched atop the center island and handed it over to her. “Looks like you need that.”

“Thanks.” She took it, and walked toward the bathroom where she could pull off her shirt without scrutiny.

“Need some help? Your shoulder blades were looking a bit charred. You need to be better about being under the shade. What happened? Did you fall asleep and the sun moved?”

“Yeah. Damned good nap, too.”

“Beer and heat are good for that.”

She sighed, and tried to reach the tingling parts of her back, but couldn’t manage it. “Yes, I’d like some help,” she said quietly. She pulled a towel from the nearby hook.

He slid into the tight bathroom and took the bottle she extended, standing very close to her back. Careful hands slid over her sunburned skin, and the chill of the gel made her shudder.

“I’m going to undo your clasp.” He unhooked it without waiting for her objection, and ran a finger over the burning line where her band ended and sunburn began.

“Ouch.”

“That’s the worst of it. If you were any redder I’d want to dip you in butter and bite you.”

“Funny.” She held the bandeau tight over her chest and reached for the T-shirt she’d accidentally dropped off the sink side.

In one deft movement, he pulled at the loose bandeau strap and yanked the top away from her.

“Jerry!” She wound the towel around her top and turned to face the bandit.

He was very close to her, so close that when she turned, the side of her arm grazed against the erection his swim trunks couldn’t hide.

Her breath hitched, and she shuffled her weight from foot to foot awkwardly, uncertain of what to do. Leave? Tell
him
to leave?

“I figured you’d like to finish what you started at my place,” he said smugly.

“Th-that was a mistake,” she said, shaking her head emphatically from side to side.

His smile broadened. “Oh? Is that all? I thought it might have been something else.”

“Like what?”

“Like you trying to tame me, maybe? Nice try, but eviler women have tried and failed.”

Her jaw dropped. “I—I don’t know what…I—”

“Don’t worry about it.” His tongue swirled down the side of her neck toward where her fingers had a desperate clamp on the towel.

One devilish little voice in her head was saying, “Drop the towel! Remember?” The other was saying, “Go ahead and drop your bottom, too, you hussy.” Where was the little angel on her shoulder when she needed her?

If she’d been paying more attention, she would have found Jerry’s thumbs were already hooked into the sides of her bikini bottom, and as he pulled them down, he followed them to the floor in a kneel. With one compulsory nudge at her thigh, her legs parted and he was
right there
.

“What are doing?” Her voice was breathy, which was no surprise given her sudden inability to draw in air.

“Checking you for sunburn.”

Two fingers parted her lower lips, then a warm, wet tongue made a lap around her slit.

She said a prayer of thanks for remembering to go get that pre-beach wax while she was in Elizabeth City, and then cursed herself for being so vain at a moment like that. “Um…”

He held himself back a few inches, and looked up at her with a cocked eyebrow. “Why don’t you drop the towel? It’s going to get hot.”

She was
already
hot. She let the towel fall to the floor, and the corners of his lips turned up into a triumphant grin.

Then he went back to work, licking, pulling, sucking until her toes curled against the cold tile, and she gripped the sink edge for support.

Oh my fuck. This feels like the worst kind of sin. I’m going to burn for this.

He had started probing her opening with his fingers, when Ginger opened the front door and called into the house, “Yoo hoo! Trinity, Della found me on the beach. I’m going to throw on a dress and go down to the bar with her.”

He pushed the bathroom door closed and continued on as if what they were doing wasn’t a far too intimate thing.

Naturally, Trinity struggled to respond. “Um! Oh…okay! I’m just…taking a cool bath. Uhh…”

Footsteps sounded past the door, she tensed until she was sure she heard Ginger rooting around in the master bedroom.

He slid a finger into her, and Trinity stifled what would have otherwise been a loud gasp by jamming the fleshy part of her hand between her teeth.

He lifted her foot, and wrapped her leg around his neck to further his access. “God, you’re tight,” he barely whispered before darting his tongue into the aforementioned tight place.

“Um…”

Ginger walked back by, this time in heels, and paused in front of the door.

Trinity grabbed a handful of Jerry’s dreads to hold his face back as Ginger said. “I’m off! Don’t wait up. You know how we get when we start dancing.”

“I sure do. Have fun!”

Then Ginger was gone, slamming the door behind her.

Jerry resumed his tongue’s fluttering on her most sensitive areas, stroking inside her until she felt like she was about to explode. When he forced one more finger into her, she let loose a torrent of vulgarity that probably could have been heard from Ocracoke.

With a flick of his thumb over her clit, she came, bucking between him and sink, with her fingers gripping his hair.

While she came down from her high, panting, boneless, he stood and wiped his mouth clean on his forearm. As he leaning against her, the hard cock at her belly was a slightly frightening reminder of the one-sided nature of their interaction.

Eventually, he’d call in the favor.

His teeth pulled at her earlobe, and he whispered, “Girl, I would hurt you.”

“Yes.”

“But it’d be worth it.”

“After the first time.”

“That’s the spirit.” When he pulled back, he said, “I’ll be surfing until dark. Risk of sunburn should be long past.”

“I’ll…I’ll pop out.”

“Good.” He gave her ass a commandeering squeeze, then left.

* * *

Jerry didn’t think Trinity was going to show up at the beach after he brought her to the brink and sent her hurtling unceremoniously to the edge, but there she was. Dressed in little shorts and a baggy white shirt, sitting atop a towel, she waited and watched about fifteen minutes before he planned to leave.

If she ever had the inclination to slick on some lipstick she’d be a knockout. But then, he might feel the need to do some knocking out himself. He was generally laid-back when it came to chicks and all their tricks, but something about the pixie was growing on him. Yeah, she was a bit awkward and more than a little bit bossy at times, but when he pushed the right buttons, she was a damn pussycat.

He caught one weak-ass wave closer to the shore and it collapsed long before he reached the sand.

He swam then walked his board to Trinity, and rested it atop the shell-smattered beach.

“How long have you been sitting here?” he asked, squatting down beside her towel and resting his forearms on his knees.

“About half an hour. Saw you wipe out a couple times.”

“Ah, waves are shit today. I knew they would be. It was in the surf report. Still, I didn’t want to drive far.”

“Why?”

“I’ve…got a lot to do at home tomorrow. Normally I spend the night somewhere, but I just wanted a couple of hours today.”

“Sorry to cut into it,” she said it a snotty tone.

“Whoa! What’s that all about?” He assessed her face and found false nonchalance on it. If he learned anything from working for her in all that time, the first and foremost thing was she wore her emotions very freely. Trinity didn’t do blank face. Or, rather, she tried and failed. Something was up.

“Nothing. I’ve been sitting here long enough to see you hug and kiss no fewer than three bimbos in bikini tops.”

He had to think about it. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Trinity. I’ve known those girls for years. I taught all three to surf back in the day.”

“Interesting.”

“Interesting?”

“Yes.”

“How so?”

“Well, you don’t seem to have any female friends back in Chowan County beyond Nikki, but here at the beach you’re literally drowning in them. It’s like you’re leading two lives.”

“Hardly. Is that
seriously
what put you in such a shitty mood? I’m sorry for being nice to people, Trinity. Jealousy isn’t a flattering trait, by the way.”

She scoffed. “I am
not
jealous.”

“Yeah, you are. And frankly, I don’t understand it. You’ve got a lot going for you. I mean, aside from your bad attitude.”

She gaped.

Ah. Expression. There it is
.

“There’s nothing wrong with my attitude.”

“Yeah, there is. It’s just a false front, and don’t pretend otherwise. I bet you even like to cuddle.”

She looked away.

“Oh? Haven’t done that either?” he asked in a low, serious voice.

“Look, earlier was a mistake.”

“I don’t think so. You seemed into it at the time, and interested in a sequel.”

“You can hardly count that.”

“Yeah I can. And I
will
. I’m thirty-two years old, Trinity. Don’t let my appearance or any of my extracurricular activities fool you. I’m a grown-ass man, and I only play with big girls. I’m not going to waste my time courting anyone who doesn’t know what they want. I like to play,
really
I do, and I’m
really
good. But I don’t want to be toyed with.”

She smoothed her face to that artificial blankness again.

“All right then, Trinity. See you at work. Maybe I’ll tell you about what we saw on the video footage.”

He picked up his board and schlepped it to his Jeep, growling all the way.

CHAPTER TEN

“What’s wrong, honey, is your mimosa not boozy enough?” Aunt Ginger slipped her sunglasses further down her nose and watched Trinity with interest.

They were out on the front porch of the beach house, enjoying a late breakfast of bagel sandwiches and leftover champagne that was threatening to go flat.

Trinity looked down into her glass. She hadn’t even tasted it, she’d been so distracted. She quickly remedied that. “No, Aunt Ginger, it’s perfect as always.”

“What are you thinking about so hard, then?”

“Work.”
Liar.

“Want to tell me about it?”

“It’s…complicated. I guess it’s more of a personnel issue than a performance one.”

“Oh boy. I’ve had my share of those. I hate firing folks, but every now and then I get a hygienist who’s a real stinker. Is the person getting in the way of you doing your job?”

“Well, he hasn’t yet. He’s just a distraction. He’s kind of…everywhere.”

“
He
, huh?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, I see. Well, that’s a whole different ball of wax. Is it the beautiful ex-pro surfer?”