Jinxed!

5

THAT WAS CLOSE, ERIN thought as she and Wes bolted into their cabin. Close to getting caught, close to actually getting somewhere. Even now, her skin was still slick with oil, buzzing with the imprint of Wes’s practiced hands sliding over her, under her…

At the reminder, she felt a jolt in her sex. She was still primed for him, beating with a plump reminder of what could’ve been.

As Wes shut the door, the ship’s intercom sounded a bell, and the purser’s voice came on. “We’d like you all to join us on deck as we depart-”

“No,” Wes said, stalking over and guiding her toward the bed. “Hell, no.”

She clasped his arms and turned their bodies so that his back was to the mattress. “Exactly. No more interruptions.”

With verve, she pushed him onto the bed, where the edge of it caught the backs of his knees to take him down. Propping himself up on his elbows, he reclined, obviously entertained by her take-charge attitude.

They both laughed. Then her gaze caught his and-

Ja-joom.

Her heart pistoned, jarred to life by his sitting there, just watching her with such casual, frank interest. Black hair slouching over his brow, eyes liquid with dark yearning, his T-shirt straining over his tight abs while the white material skimmed every cut muscle. He was more than she could handle and, for a flailing minute, she didn’t know what to do or how to do it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the ship pulling away from the dock, taking them out to sea. Stranding her with the decision she’d made to get intimate with this gorgeous, hot man who sent tremors to her core.

Not wanting to dwell on what those tremors might signify, Erin pushed all her doubts to the wayside, purposefully moving to the vanity counter, where she’d set down her lollipop earlier.

Shaking with anticipation, she picked it up, making a show of inspecting it: cherry candy, heart-shaped and innocent.

“Do me a favor?” she asked quietly.

Ja-joom. Oh, man, she was really going to do this. Sleep with Wes. Ignore that they had no future and just go for it. Expose herself to a prediction that scared her half to death.

“Name it,” he said, tone low and gristled.

Slowly, she began to undo the candy’s clear wrapper. “Take it all off.”

He slid a curious look at the lollipop, then cocked an eyebrow, clearly up for any request. Rising, he tugged off his shirt, tossing it away to the corner.

Through the window, the harbor glided by: a swollen sky met by wind-ruffled water.

Stomach going goofy-from the thought of sailing, or from nerves?-she went to the window. With a decisive jerk, she closed the curtains, then turned back to Wes.

There. The room was dimmer now, less intimidating. It was a shadowed alcove where she could act out her fantasies without feeling fully revealed or losing her courage under too much illumination.

Tracking her with predatory eyes, Wes had also taken off his shoes and socks while still sitting on the bed. His olive skin looked darker with the lack of light. Exotic, smooth, so masculine.

“And?” he asked, voice edged with the same sexy amusement.

She went hot again, pulse throbbing in a countdown to contact. Instinctively, she ran the lollipop over her lips.

His smile grew.

Moving closer to him, Erin lolled the candy away from her mouth. Screw all the cautious cells bumping against each other in her body in their attempt to get her to reconsider, to take this slower. She was ready to go.

“Your jeans aren’t going to do us much good,” she said.

As he stood and eased them off, she went back to the lollipop, tilting her head and licking the sweet cherry, knowing Wes was taking it all in.

He tossed the denim away, the heavy material hitting the wall with a bunched slap. And there he stood: tall, athletic, his penis half-erect from her preshow.

Erin took the entire sucker into her mouth, then drew it out. “Mmm…”

“Erin…” Wes said. It was as if his voice had been sliced open and was bleeding raw desire.

Infused with the confidence of knowing how much he wanted her, she forgot everything else, moving forward and giving him another slight push to get him back down on that mattress, then tossing him a pillow so he could prop up his head. She knew he’d want to watch; she needed him to do it, too, needed to feel naughty and rebellious.

He understood her intentions, shoving the pillow under his head as she put the lollipop back into her mouth with one hand and pressed one of his legs open with the other.

As she pulled out the sucker, she felt the floor roll beneath her feet. Her head swam.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Taking a fortifying breath, she crawled onto the bed to hover over him. “You think the water will be rough out there?”

He closed his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe she was talking instead of…doing. She couldn’t believe it, either, but for a second, she’d felt queasy.

He opened his eyes again, but his hands clutched the pillow under his head. “Ship’s too big for you to feel the waves. Don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry.

Okay.

She ran the fingernails of one hand up over his leg, his inner thigh. He shifted, his cock bobbing. It made her clit seize, paining for him to massage it again. She sucked hard on the lollipop, juices stinging her mouth.

Traveling higher, she found his sac, tracing her fingers over the softness. He bunched the pillow in his fists, groaning.

Lightly, she rolled his balls with her fingertips, fascinated by the ecstatic agony on his face. Then, while drawing harder on the candy, she ran her index finger up the underside of his shaft.

He bucked. “Erin-”

She cut him off with a low sound from her throat-a strangled longing for him.

Wrapping her fingers around his penis, she took him into her fist, sliding upward. She moved downward, up again, slowly, bringing him to absolute hardness. With every carnal motion, she rolled her tongue around the lollipop.

She found that his gaze was on her mouth. Was he picturing her tongue on him?

She coaxed the candy out, a slurp echoing in the room as she nonchalantly held him in her hand.

Slowly waving the sucker back and forth, she felt more flirty and powerful than ever, knowing she had him at her mercy. This was what she’d been missing before Wes came along-a sense of mutual giving and getting.

“You wondering what I’m going to do next?” she asked.

A harsh, choked sound was his only response.

On a whim, she took one more taste of the candy, allowing her tongue to linger and invite. A muscle jerked in his cheek as she leaned the sucker away from her mouth and licked her lips.

Then she whispered, “All those long hours in the store. Staring at those creamy candies, the suckers, the bonbons…It does things to a girl. It makes her create diabolical daydreams. New ways to use all those sweets.”

She slid her lollipop back inside her mouth, wet it thoroughly, then took it out and carefully placed it on the tip of his penis. She circled the head, coating him with sticky promise.

After she was satisfied, she lowered her mouth, licking the sugar from him, taking her time as he moaned beneath her. Stoked by his reaction, she took it one step further, winging her tongue back and forth over his head to tease him.

By the time she came up for air, he was breathing hard. “You…learn that from your L.A. friends?” he asked, clenching his jaw.

“Nah, I’m not so L.A.” She repeated the process by sucking on the candy again, then this time very deliberately bathing his entire length in lollipop-slickness, avoiding getting too close to the dark patch of hair nesting his erection. “The place is Cheryl’s home base. I just moved there to open the business with her.”

Business. Why the heck was she talking about it again?

She bent to lay her tongue to him, this time concentrating on his shaft. Greedily, she tasted him up and down as he encouraged her with building groans. Cherry, skin, Wes…

Stimulated by his enjoyment, she took him all the way into her mouth, swirling her tongue around him, up and down, sucking, lingering, getting a sugar rush that hummed in her veins.

Oh, he tasted so good…delicious…

His hands bunched her hair, and when he came, he filled her mouth. She savored that, too, swallowing. She rubbed her cheek lower, against his inner thigh. His leg hair crisped against her skin, the scent of sweet male satiating her.

Dizzy, she rose away from him. Sweat beaded his chest, his upper lip, and he was gasping for air, just as she was. Her pulse jackhammered from her chest to her sex, tearing her into a thousand pieces, making her tummy roil again.

“Come here,” he whispered raggedly, reaching for her.

Her stomach jumped, but she obeyed, falling over him, mouth seeking his. She grinded her hips against his to alleviate the pressure that’d built between her legs. Even though he’d climaxed, he was still going strong. She rocked against him, wishing she didn’t still have her jeans on, wishing he was inside of her.

As they devoured each other, nipping, sucking, tonguing, the world rolled inside Erin’s head.

Words flashed through her, blinding her sight with neon distraction: You can stop looking for the man of your dreams.

She tried to shut out the fortune-teller, instead reaching for her zipper to undo it. Fun, freedom, immunity from seriousness, that’s all she wanted right now.

You’ve already found ‘the one.’

Panic began to overtake Erin, materializing in clumsiness as she fumbled with her jeans. The sea seemed to lift the ship, and it got to her, making her come up from Wes for a deep breath.

Again, a wave seemed to rock the boat, and Erin’s head went tight.

You reject what love has in store for you, and you twist karma around until it comes right back at you with negative energy.

Closing her eyes, Erin backed away from Wes, holding her forehead. “Dammit.”

“Hey…” he said, cradling her face.

But she pulled away, lying on her side until the ship stopped moving. “Are we in bad weather or something? I…”

She stopped, the taste of candy suddenly like copper in her mouth. Wes was just a short fling, no more, that’s all either of them wanted from each other-

Wes was stroking her hair, obviously concerned. “The ship’s not moving. What’s wrong?”

The answer was clear.

Cursed.

Her karma truly was bent out of shape, and seasickness was the price she’d have to pay this time.