“You’d better hurry. Knowing you weren’t wearing undercrackers is an instant aphrodisiac.”
“Undercrackers,” he mumbled with a sexy smile. “I’ll remember my girl likes me ready and willing.”
While she reveled in the endearment, he raised his brows, taking his sweet old time as he pushed his jeans down to his knees. His cock sprang free, and she scrambled to the edge of the bed and crooked her finger. He began pushing his jeans down further and she shook her head, taking his hard length in her hand.
“Leave them on.” She slicked her tongue from base to tip, and he groaned.
“Damn, you are my naughty girl.”
She reached around, grabbing his ass as she took him in her mouth, earning another heady noise.
“Fuck, Addy. How will I survive ten days without you?” He tangled his hands in her hair and she met his gaze, circling the broad head of his arousal with her tongue.
“How do you think I feel?” She slicked her tongue along his length again and stroked him with her hand. “I’ll be hiking without any of my toys.” Her eyes widened. Why hadn’t she thought of bringing them?
“Shit,” he ground out. “You’re bringing them, aren’t you?”
She shrugged, sure she looked like the cat who ate the canary, but even as she teased him, she knew she could no longer be satisfied by a battery-operated boyfriend. He stepped from his jeans, flipped her onto her stomach, and smacked her ass. She yelped and laughed, trying to crawl away, but he tugged her back by the ankles and laid his full, delicious weight on top of her. She was so full of him she could barely think straight.
“You’d rather have a toy than me?” he said heatedly into her ear.
She lifted her ass, grinding against his cock, and couldn’t help teasing him a little more. “My Neanderthal won’t be there to satisfy me.”
He scratched his scruff along her cheek, and she couldn’t suppress the wanton moan from escaping.
“And who’s fault is that?” he growled.
She laughed, trying to turn over beneath him, but he was too heavy, too strong.
“Don’t try to avoid the question.” He kissed the back of her neck.
“Are you kidding? I’m trying to turn over so I can take full responsibility for my actions.” He seemed to like that, and lifted up, allowing her to turn onto her back. While he was still perched on his palms, she lifted her hips, dragging her sex along his arousal.
“You think you’re going to sidetrack me and make me forget about those toys?”
Grinning like a fool, she shook her head. “I’d rather have you than a toy any day, but just in case, and since you’re hungry, maybe you should take your fill and make me forget those toys. Otherwise…”
“Sexy girl, it’ll be a miracle if you can still walk when I’m done with you.”
JAKE DIDN’T SLEEP a wink. He’d fulfilled his promise and worn Addy out to the point of exhaustion, and she’d fallen asleep lying on top of him. He didn’t want to move her. As he lay beneath her, her hair cascading over his side, her hand over his chest, he memorized the feel of her, the sure and steady cadence of her heart beating against his. He wanted to tell her he was going with her today and make her deal with it, but his father’s words held him back. You cage that girl in and you’re liable to get bitten.
He wrestled with that thought over the course of the morning, tempted to tell her anyway when they were making love in the shower and again now, as he watched her dress in a cute pair of cutoffs and a white T-shirt with a red flannel shirt tied around her waist. Her hair curtained her face as she tightened the knot on the shirtsleeves, and she tipped a sweet smile in his direction. He was so high on her he couldn’t think straight.
She crossed the floor slowly, reaching for him, and hooked her finger in the waistband of his jeans.
“Did you drop your luggage at your place?”
He shook his head, too messed up to speak.
“Is it in the hall?” She gazed out of the bedroom.
He shook his head again, cleared his throat, and forced his pussy-whipped self to man up. “During the fishing trip my brothers were going on and on about how sexy their wives were at the wedding.”
She trapped her lower lip between her teeth, that raging smile she’d been flashing since he’d arrived refusing to be erased. “I might have given them a few pointers in seduction.”
“Of course you did.” He tugged her against him, kissing the top of her sexy, stubborn head. “Jesus, those men don’t know what they’re in for.”
She kissed his chest and peered up at him. “How does that explain your lack of luggage?”
“I couldn’t stand listening to them and thinking about you. We cut the fishing trip short, I asked my father to get my stuff in the morning, and I hijacked Lucky and Cage. And the boat.”
She laughed. “Do they even know how to drive a boat?”
“That’s why I took Cage with me. My brothers were too horny to sit still another minute, and I couldn’t drag my father out because he’d give me shit for not giving you space. When we got back to the island I saw Lucky and Cage at the tavern. Lucky jumped at the chance to help me out. Apparently Cage owns a boat, and taught Lucky how to drive, but I guess he’s a bit of a wild child, so Cage came along.”
She wound her arms around his middle. “So you dropped everything, stole a boat, and probably bought an outrageously expensive last-minute plane ticket just to see me.”
He leaned down for a kiss. “And to make sure you’re safe, baby.”
She pressed her lips together, narrowing her eyes. He expected a fight, and when she said, “That might be the sweetest, most romantic thing a person has ever done,” he let out a relieved breath.
“That’s an overstatement, and I didn’t do it to be romantic.”
She touched his chest, and he flattened his hand over hers.
“And I didn’t think I liked romance,” she said tenderly. “But we’re both testing new boundaries.”
Yeah, baby, I’d love to test your boundaries. He dragged her out of the bedroom.
“What’s wrong?”
“The minute ‘boundaries’ comes out of your sexy mouth, my mind goes to dark places.” He tugged her against him again, needing to soak in as much of her as possible. “I’m going to cook you breakfast and pretend that word doesn’t exist, or you’re never going to make it to the mountains.”
Chapter Eighteen
ADDY SAT ON a stool at the counter watching Jake move around the kitchen like he belonged there, easily finding her pans and dishes and cutting up vegetables like a chef. “You didn’t strike me as a guy who knew how to cook. It makes you even hotter. Not that you need an ego stroke.”
“I told you my parents taught us to be prepared.” Leaning over the counter, he gave her a chaste kiss. “And I need to hear that every single day if it’s coming from you.”
“Flirt.” She sipped her coffee. “I thought you meant in the wilderness, and pushing you career-wise.”
He waved the spatula in her direction. “Preparedness in all aspects of life. Cooking, cleaning, laundry. You name it, we did it. And it’s probably a good thing, or we all would have starved after we left home. You can only put up with pizza for so long.” He turned back to the stove and loaded up two plates with mounds of vegetable and cheese omelets and toast, then plunked one plate down in front of Addy.
“That’s good parenting. My parents taught me how to speak to the chef.” She stared down at the heap of omelets and toast. “This looks amazing, but I’m not really a breakfast person.”
“Sexy girl, that is not a proper response to the chef. I might need to have a talk with your parents. You are about to go hiking for ten days. Ten. Days. You need all the nourishment you can get.” He handed her a fork and took a bite from his own plate.
She gazed into Jake’s warm hazel eyes, thrills chasing through her veins. She still couldn’t believe he was there. “Thank you, but seriously, I never eat breakfast. I’m good with coffee.”
He leaned his forearms on the counter, bringing his serious face within inches of hers. “You don’t have enough meat on your bones to argue this point. You need to eat.”
She crossed her arms, feeling bad for refusing him, but she really wasn’t a breakfast person.
“You’ve never done this, Addy. Backpacking is hard work, probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do. You’ll burn through thousands of calories just making it up to Riser’s Ridge.”
“You have no idea what else I’ll do in my lifetime. Maybe this won’t be the hardest thing.” She hated the automatic response, but she’d obviously spent too many years tying up the obedient girl and releasing her counterpart, Little Miss Independent.
He rose, his eyes boring into her. “Addy, this isn’t a battle of wills. It’s simple math. The average person needs a certain amount of calories every day. You add to that the three to five thousand calories they’ll burn by carrying a pack and hiking for four or five hours a day, and you’ve got a bigger calorie requirement than you can imagine. If you don’t replenish your calories, you’ll waste away.” His gaze softened, and he leaned in close again. “This isn’t me trying to bully you, sweetheart. It’s me trying to make sure you don’t end up too sick to make it down the fucking mountain.”