This time, she opened for him before his lips even touched her. She was wet. Instantly. Everywhere. Because kissing in this plant was more dangerous than anywhere they’d been together before. What if Jonathan returned to ask more questions? Broke down the door?
Although his lips were thin, they were surprisingly soft and sensual. She could kiss and suck them for hours…no, days. His tongue, slick as an oyster, speared her mouth, lighting up a hundred nerves. His arms closed around her. Hard. She’d read an anatomy book once. Knew how each muscle and bone looked and what they were called. One by one, hers dissolved to water, and she collapsed against his arms. Although she wasn’t a small woman, he was bigger, and he held her still tighter.
Their bodies writhed, pressed, and hungered for everything they couldn’t have. They had to stop, but she couldn’t.
“I wanted to do this all day.” His mouth dug into her throat until she felt her pulse pounding against his lips.
“So did I, but we agreed.”
She clasped the side of his head to keep her balance because she felt as if she’d just fallen overboard. The glossy locks of his unkempt hair slid through her fingers, enticing her to keep grabbing them until he could never get away. She pulled harder.
“That hurts, Sadie.”
She released his hair. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
He pierced her with his smoldering blue gaze. “I don’t believe I told you to stop, did I?”
What? He actually enjoyed pain? It was the strangest thing she’d ever heard. So why did her core tighten up inside her, leaving her panting for breath?
While she combed her fingers roughly through his hair, he pulled up her skirt. Urgent fingertips skated across her stockings, traveling higher and higher.
“We agreed not to do this.” She reminded him because if he kept caressing her legs, she’d lose the ability to speak.
“You’re the business expert,” he said with a ragged breath. “Don’t you know contracts can be broken?”
“But what about the Klan?”
He unbuttoned her blouse and tugged the folds of fabric away, revealing her nipples. They poked so hard against her bra and slip, it was as if they weren’t even there.
“The Klan is not here right now.” He pushed away the other layers. “Do you have to wear so many danged clothes?”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly planning on a tryst tonight.”
And because she worked in an office, she figured she should dress better than she had as a shucker. She squealed softly when he lifted her onto the desk. She sat on the edge, holding her knees together with all her strength, but he forced them open, revealing her wet panties.
“Neither was I.” He fingered the wet cotton between her thighs. “Your scent is driving me over the edge.”
What was it about this building? Caleb and Pearl must have imprinted it with their passionate affair. With his other hand, Henry traced erotic circles around her exposed nipple. The tips of her breasts swelled into aching fists of need. What was he trying to do to her? Columns of numbers were easy to figure out. Men, hopelessly confusing.
“Wait.” She gulped. “What are the rules now?”
He answered by teasing her inner thigh with his index finger, not stopping until it slipped beneath the hem of her step-ins. She forgot to breathe when he slid it across her folds, teasing one tender lobe back and forth. Back and forth. A cannonball of pressure built inside, ready to explode out of her.
“Henry,” she said, barely stifling a groan.
“I was never good at following rules.” His finger slid inside to the hilt. “All I know is I can’t stop.”
“But this is dangerous.”
Her torso arched when he wiggled his finger inside her like a fishhook. He’d sure hooked her. At this moment, she’d willingly lie across this desk and give him anything he desired.
When he bent his head and suckled her exposed nipple, she exploded inside, clamping his finger.
Unlike the incident in his cottage, he was touching her body and facing her. Showing her with his eyes how beautiful she was. How much he wanted her. Needed her. The realization undid her even more than the physical flexing of his digit.
“Henry! Henry! Henry!” She struggled to whisper, but each word spilled out in a moan, instead, as she came.
Buck had never made her body shatter like this. For the first time, she was glad the marriage had ended. If only she could marry the man who excited her.
Still quivering with exquisite aftershocks, she reached for his trousers, anxious to unleash the painful-looking bulge. She needed his erection inside her.
He batted her hand away. “I hear something.”
“Me, too.” Her heart raced as she pulled down her dress hem and buttoned her bodice.
After a few seconds, his shoulders relaxed. “It’s downstairs. Probably just the floormen cleaning up.”
“Do you want to take that chance?”
He shook his head. “I need to make love to you, but we can’t do it here. And not tonight. I want to plan it. Take my time.”
She stood, looking at the important papers she’d rumpled by sitting on them. Imagine that. Experiencing joy all day doing what she loved, followed by pleasure at night with the man she was falling for.
But she was a realistic woman. Doing only one of these activities would be a full-time risk. Attempting both would be suicide. The sober expression in Henry’s dark-blue eyes told her he’d just realized it, too.
“We’ll finish this,” he promised.
“Which?” she asked, her bottom lip trembling with…something. Fear? Hope?
“Maybe we can have it all, Sadie. I’d sure like to try.”
But there was so much at stake. Not just the company, but the safety of their families. If anything happened to Mama, or Pearl’s baby… She couldn’t bear to even think about it. They had to be extremely careful.
She closed her eyes and gripped his hands. Why couldn’t she be practical like Jimmy, admiring what she wanted from afar while staying safely in her place?
Chapter Seven
On Sunday afternoon, Henry sprawled in one of the seats on the
Rockfield II
, Caleb’s fishing boat. After the week he’d had with Sadie, he needed to return to the sea. Because it was springtime, the water was a little choppy but streaked with bright sunlight. He closed his eyes, inhaling the salty air. The breeze jingled the fishhooks on his lucky cap. Music to his ears.
Caleb cast his line into the water. “I hate to ask, but how’s the business going?”
“Good. We…I’ve cleaned up the books. Ironed out some discrepancies. That kind of thing.” Henry gripped his pole, hoping his brother wouldn’t ask too many specific questions.
“Really?” Caleb’s eyebrows lifted. “Did you have any help?”
With his free hand, Henry pressed his fingertips to his palm. “Not really. Your books helped a lot.”
“Wonderful!” A grin broke out under Caleb’s dark moustache. “I always knew you could accomplish a lot if you applied yourself.”
Henry grinned, too. “I want to keep the business in the family as much as you do. I’ve missed the water, though.”
After spending a couple of hours in the boat, it would be even harder to drag himself back to the plant tomorrow. Fortunately, he had Sadie to look forward to. Remembering what they’d done in her small office covered his face with sweat. Her womanly scent was so…what was the word…ripe? Like a piece of fruit—heavy, full, and ready for harvest. He laid the fishing pole across his trousers so Caleb wouldn’t spot his erection.
He shouldn’t have messed around with her. Helping him with the business was risky enough, especially with sharp-eyed Jonathan Carter sniffing around the plant like a bloodhound. Henry must have been out of his head to half undress her on company property. What if someone had broken the lock on the door? Seeing both of them leave together would be enough to arouse suspicion.
We’ll finish this.
Why had he told her that? In the heat of passion, unfortunately, his mind was even denser than usual. Intercourse was out of the question, but they couldn’t go on the way they were, either. Every time he looked at her, he couldn’t think of anything else but rubbing himself all over her, and in her.
Something tugged on his line, but he barely noticed. What if he got her with child? He couldn’t go through that again, but Sadie seemed convinced she wasn’t beautiful. Changing his mind about making love to her would infuriate her. The last thing he needed was to anger his key employee.
He had to go through with his plan.
“Holy catfish! You’ve got a big one.” Caleb pointed at Henry’s bent pole. “Are you going to reel him in, or do you expect him to jump into the boat by himself?”
But the prize was a feisty bluefish, not a catfish. Henry reeled it in and removed it from the hook. For some reason, he didn’t feel the usual thrill from catching a fish. In the short time he and Sadie had worked together, he’d gotten used to having her by his side.
Watching her capable fingers, wrapped around a pen. Her smooth brow as she bent in concentration over his books. Her intelligent eyes, gliding over the pages or shooting him a feisty look.
Her hands in his hair, pulling until it hurt.
A pinpoint of hot fluid seared the tip of his penis. He wished she were here so he could teach her how to fish. Maybe she’d even kiss him to reward him for catching one. The heat in his shaft intensified when he fantasized about making love to her out here at sea. Each wave would guide his hands over her curves and his thrusts into her sweet wetness.
She reminded him of the weather at sea, changing in an instant. He pictured her docile one minute and a feral cat the next. Naked, they’d wrestle on this boat, grappling with each other from bow to stern. Pulling, grabbing, fucking…
“Ah!” Henry masked his groan with a cough.
Shame scalded his face when he realized his overalls were wet.
Blazing barnacles
. He’d ejaculated just from thinking about her.
“Excuse me. I need to use the head.”
When he returned, he took small, stiff steps. His clothes were cold and wet but clean.
Caleb raised an eyebrow as he started the boat engine. “What happened to you? Did you fall overboard or something?”
Or something…
“The fish was messy,” Henry muttered. “We’re leaving already?”
“I don’t like to be away too long with Pearl so close to her time.”
Henry stowed his pole, tempted to pout worse than a sullen child because he wanted to stay out here until nightfall. He also needed to talk about Sadie, but he shouldn’t.
“Caleb, I need to ask you something.”
“Shoot,” Caleb called out while stowing the fishing poles.
Henry pulled up the anchor. “It’s about women.”
Caleb gestured him to join him up front and grabbed the wheel. “Well, it’s about time. Who is she?”
“You wouldn’t know her,” Henry said.
“Try me. I know just about everybody in both counties.”
“I’d rather not,” Henry replied, staring straight ahead through the windshield. “I’m very fond of her. We’ve fooled around some, and I sort of told her I plan to make love to her.”
Caleb’s gaze left the water for a moment. “Sounds serious.”
“It can’t be. It would have to be one time.”
“Why? Is she married?” he asked, steering around a buoy.
When Henry shook his head, Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s black, then.”
Henry nodded.
“Then even one time would be dangerous.”
“Tell me what I don’t already know.” He watched a seagull wheeling overhead. “I want to make it romantic. What would a woman like Pearl prefer?”
He hoped Caleb didn’t figure out the mystery woman was her cousin. Of course, their personalities were complete opposites. Pearl was demure and very feminine. Sadie had the drive and smarts of a man. And demure? Hardly. But the night he’d admitted his feelings to her, she’d been all woman.
“For starters,” Caleb admitted. “I recommend a bed. If you plan to do it at your place, clean it up first.”
“Makes sense. What else?”
“Pearl enjoys candles and flowers. And wine.”
Henry scratched his head. “Sounds like I need to do some shopping.”
Caleb pinned him with a wiser-older-brother look. “Make sure you use a condom.”
Old memories punched Henry in the stomach. “Why bother? It didn’t help last time.”
“Because not using one would be worse.” Caleb pointed at the water. “You’re a sailor. You know lightning never strikes the same place twice. It’ll be different than…Natalie.”
Henry had done some stupid things in his time, but getting his first and only sweetheart with child was the dumbest. They’d met on his teen boat expeditions. He’d seen her playing at the water’s edge of a big estate and stopped to get to know her. He’d tried to do the right thing by asking her to marry him, but her rich family didn’t think a
waterman
was good enough for their daughter.
They hadn’t even invited him to the funeral.
“I hope you’re right, Caleb.”
His brother elbowed him. “I’ll be watching you, trying to figure out who the mystery woman is.”
Henry swallowed hard.
You and the Klan…
There was no way around it. If he didn’t make love to Sadie—and soon—he’d have a nonstop erection for the rest of his life. He’d never looked forward to and dreaded an event so much at the same time.
The return trip to Pearl Point passed quickly. The place seemed to run on a slower speed than Oyster Harbor. Numerous trees made the new plant resemble a sleepy Indian trading post. The leaves were small and pale now, but later in the summer they’d be lush and dark.
As lush and dark as Sadie’s soft, curvy body. Not wanting to clean his overalls again, he squelched the thought.
With his new road project, the mayor seemed determined to drive Oyster Harbor even faster to modern times. If not for the expected child and the wrong woman, he wished he could trade places with his brother.
After they disembarked and tied the boat to the pier, a mix of female voices drew Henry’s gaze to Caleb’s backyard. Because the weather was decent, several women sat on the deck. The sound of a strong, familiar voice prickled the hairs on the back of his neck.
Sadie was here.