Under The Covers Read online

  The swell of her breasts threatened to spill over her strapless dress. It would take nothing to free them, watch her nipples harden and pucker in the cool night air. Mercedes’s breathing turned almost to pants as he fingered her. He enjoyed how her dress kept her breasts confined, pushed together and offering a view to die for. It was too perfect to ruin by yanking it off.

  “Have you been this wet all evening?”

  Mercedes’s long lashes fluttered over blue eyes. Her gaze was glassy, glazed over with a sensuality and erotic stare that showed how turned on she was. Her lips were parted, and he watched her face, the way her eyes cleared slightly, as though contemplating how to answer had sobered her slightly from the thick, needy state of desire in which she’d been trapped.

  “I admit there was a curiosity,” she whispered, speaking so softly he might have missed her admission if he hadn’t been inches from her, drowning in those deep pools of sensual blue. “Obviously, it’s mutual.”

  She surprised him when she moved her hand down his chest and stroked the length of his shaft through his jeans with her fingernails. Mercedes sucked in her lower lip, never taking her attention from his as she moved her fingers delicately over him. The slight touch was enough to send his body temperature to dangerous levels. Jeremy gritted his teeth, staring into her smoldering gaze and watching a level of confidence simmer inside her when she saw how her actions affected him.

  “Have you been this hard all evening?” she purred, daring to taunt him while making him grow even harder and thicker in his jeans.

  “I think you know the answer to that one already, my dear,” he growled, his voice darker, deeper.

  Mercedes’s eyes opened wider. He loved her naturally submissive nature, although watching her grow confident, trying to take him on and fighting to be assertive, was just as fucking hot.

  “If you’re going to touch me like that, you’re going to release me and do it right,” he told her.

  Mercedes swallowed and then dropped her attention to his cock. Knowing that she watched his face while she undid his pants forced all the blood in his body straight to his groin. It seemed to take her forever to unzip his zipper and then even longer when she pushed his pants down.

  When his cock sprang free, Jeremy swore he started floating. The sensation that his feet had left the ground made him lightheaded for a moment, as though the beer he had drunk had been too much for him. Yet the moment Mercedes wrapped her fingers around his cock, Jeremy stabilized himself quickly. There was no way she’d end this evening with her curious touch. He clamped his teeth down so hard he bit his lip, but the sharp, eye-watering pain helped keep him steady. More than anything, he needed to enjoy the moments while she stroked him, took her time fingering his shaft and learning him.

  “How are we going to do this?” she asked, her hair streaming over her bare shoulder. She watched herself continue to stroke him. “I mean, I really don’t want to lie in the sand.”

  “You’re not going to.” It was perfect timing when he grabbed her, turning her around. “Put your hands on that rock,” he instructed, pressing her forward slightly.

  Mercedes supported herself against the flat, dark rock at the base of the cliffs and bent over in front of him. Her exposed ass glowed against the moonlight, which was just enough light to allow him to see the most glorious rear end he’d laid eyes on in as long as he could remember.

  Soon he would have her in her bed, possibly even later tonight. But he didn’t need to ask to know she didn’t want to wait another second. Mercedes needed to be fucked as desperately as he needed to be inside her. She kept her legs straight but parted them just enough to show off the sweet curve of her ass and barely offer a view of her shaved, soaked pussy.

  Jeremy rubbed her smooth bottom, loving how her dress was wrinkled around her waist and her long, slender legs were spread. She tried looking over her shoulder at him and appeared ready to say something, but Jeremy gripped her hips, positioned himself, and then thrust deep inside her.

  The fire that ransacked his soul, burning and clutching his cock, driving him in deeper, spread throughout his body in a matter of moments.

  “Holy shit,” he hissed. “You’re absolutely perfect, sweetheart.”

  “Oh, God!” she cried out, arching her back and moaning loudly as she shifted just enough to allow him to fill her completely. “Yes, oh, hell yes.”

  He would love to sing her praises, stroke her lovingly while saying all the words he was an expert at putting on paper. But the voice of the famous author eluded him as he fucked her, building momentum and unable to do anything other than enjoy the many tiny muscles that vibrated against him and held him deep inside her.

  It was all he could do to focus and watch his cock disappear inside her, only to pull out almost all the way before impaling her again. Thick, white cream coated his shaft, the imagery beyond perfect. Mercedes was hot, incredibly tight and wet. Although he couldn’t swear to it, the way she cried out, exploding again and again as he fucked her harder and faster, led him to believe sex wasn’t something she got on a daily basis.

  When he thrust even harder, her arms gave out, and she collapsed over the rock, crying out his name. It was the most beautiful sound. Mercedes was perfect, beyond perfect. And that she would howl his name as her orgasm swept through her was enough to push him to the edge.

  “I’m going to pull out,” he told her, not wanting to but somehow able to hold on to a small part of sanity as his balls tightened painfully and the pressure became unbearable.

  “Jeremy!” she cried again, neither confirming nor denying his actions.

  Her come coated his cock, and he was hot and sticky when he grabbed his shaft, retreating from her scorching heat and then releasing everything he had over her bare, creamy, smooth ass. As he came, her cries tearing deep into his soul, the mess he created over her rear end made him come even harder. His entire world nearly toppled over, leaving him almost too drained to even straighten and dress, let alone make sure Mercedes was alright.

  “We’re going to do that again,” he breathed, his voice raspy as if it had been him howling in the throes of ecstasy instead of her.

  Mercedes struggled to look over her shoulder, shaking her ass and teasing him as she puckered her lips. “I’m ready when you are.”

  In a less secure world, Jeremy would have believed that her final comment after they’d finished fucking on the beach implied that he hadn’t satisfied her. If it weren’t for the way she’d willingly collapsed against him, letting him hold her for a long time with neither of them speaking, he might have thought that. But he’d seen how hard she’d come. Her legs had visibly trembled when she waited for him to clean her before helping her straighten her dress. And when they returned to the cabin, holding hands, her quiet, contemplative mood only told him she had digested the new level their relationship had reached and how quickly it had moved to that point.

  The table and all the food were gone when they returned to her cabin. Jeremy stood silently at her sliding glass door when she entered and moved to the nearest lamp.

  “Well, that’s thoughtful,” Mercedes said when she stared at the bottle of wine and several beers now on the table in her room, submerged in fresh ice. “It looks as if we’re being offered a nightcap.”

  Her hair was tousled as she fingered the chilled bottle. Her strapless dress was crooked, pressing her breasts together and creating a deep ravine of cleavage. Jeremy knew the longer he stood there watching her the more he would want her. And he already craved burying himself in that hot pussy again.

  Mercedes didn’t say anything but instead ran her finger along the length of the damp wine bottle. Finally she shot Jeremy a furtive glance. No way would she send him away.

  “I’ll tell you what,” he said, his voice gruff and raw. “Tonight was perfect. We’re going to see each other again. We’re the only ones on the island.”

  “Other than Francis and the villagers,” she offered, her smile suddenly shy.
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br />   “I want to end this evening with the memories we’ve just created.” He suddenly felt a twisted knot in his gut, feeling like a schmuck for using a line straight out of his book. It was the how-to-get-out-of-an-awkward-evening line, and he didn’t want to get out of anything. But he didn’t want her sending him away either. He cleared the distance between them and lowered his mouth to hers. “I will see you tomorrow.”

  The kiss was tender, erotic, and got him so fucking hard it was all he could do to turn and walk away from her. Even as he stripped out of his clothes and collapsed on his bed in his cabin, her smell was still on him; his fingers tingled, aching to touch her again. Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough. He would wake up and write for a while, making a show of not stalking her first thing, and then he would hunt her down. Jeremy drifted off to sleep, refusing to allow his mind to travel to places he didn’t want to go. It was no use wondering why he longed to pursue Mercedes. It was physical. He didn’t need to be the sex therapist his books implied he was to know lust was a strong and powerful emotion.

  Although, by noon the next day, he still struggled with the chapter he’d been working on since the day before. Entering into the mind of the callous female jaded from so many men didn’t sit well with him today the way it usually did. Mercedes might be that voice. Her brooding stare the night before when she’d stood in her dimly lit cabin, her face flushed and hair in a disarray from good, hard sex, wasn’t the image he wanted planted in his mind. He didn’t want her leery of him. Yet she was, and there wasn’t anyone to blame but himself. From the beginning of their night, he’d been evasive, misleading her and definitely not honest. More than anything right now, he wanted her to know the real him. But telling her who he was would probably piss her off.

  Jeremy Fall would never bend a woman over a rock on the beach and fuck her just to get his rocks off. Jeremy Fall would have asked her what would please her, taken the time to learn her body so he knew where to touch her, how to caress her, because her orgasm meant more than his.

  “Jeremy Fall, you’re a prick,” he grumbled, pushing away from his laptop and standing to stretch. Fall was an annoyance to all men, making them have to work harder and fight to understand the intricate minds of women. What sucked worse than anything was that he didn’t have a clue how women thought. He’d faked it and pulled it off—big-time. But could he continue faking it and pull it off with Mercedes?

  After showering, Jeremy headed to the office for fresh coffee. It didn’t bother him that Francis wasn’t around. One glance at Mercedes’s cabin through the open curtains, and it was obvious Mercedes wasn’t around either. He looked toward the ocean, and then walked in that direction before thinking it through. It wasn’t until he’d come to the grove of trees that he saw the large yacht and the long dock that reached out to it. His footsteps echoed against the wooden planks, the ocean lapping under the boardwalk, filling the air with the fresh smell of salt. Nursing his coffee, he slowed when he reached the ship. There wasn’t anyone visible.

  “Hello?” he called out, wondering how the captain of the ship would react to him boarding. He obviously was not a thief, or trouble, to anyone who took the time to look at him.

  An older gentleman appeared around the corner from the stern at the same time Jeremy stepped onto the ship.

  “May I help you?” he asked. His closely shaved head looked as tanned as the rest of his body.

  “I’m looking for Mercedes.”

  The older man studied him with shrewd green eyes. “Does she know you?”

  “Yes. I’m Jeremy Faulkner. We had dinner last night.”

  The man didn’t say anything, but he took in Jeremy a moment longer, his dark expression not revealing whether he cared who Jeremy might be. Then, turning, he disappeared, leaving Jeremy standing where he was. He had half a mind to follow the old man. He wanted to see Mercedes in her own environment, working with her marine life. Hesitating for only a moment, Jeremy headed after the man, finding the staircase that led into the belly of the ship.

  “Mercedes, there is a man who wants you,” the man announced.

  Mercedes turned, studying the older man with a frown before looking past him to Jeremy. “Hi, there,” she said, her voice turning breathy.

  She wasn’t upset to see him. He straightened when the man turned around; Jeremy no longer cared if the guy seemed a bit put out that Jeremy had followed him instead of waiting for a formal introduction.

  “It’s okay, captain,” Mercedes offered, touching the man’s arm. “Thank you.”

  The captain grumbled something about being just outside and gave Jeremy a warning look as he walked past, leaving the two of them alone in a small, well-lit room.

  “This is where you work?” Jeremy felt like he’d just seriously scored, seeing approval in her eyes. On top of that, he was witnessing her in action as she turned to a computer and scattered notes on a desk she’d been standing in front of when the captain announced him.

  “It has been for the past couple months,” she said. Mercedes wore blue shorts today that hugged her perfect ass. He loved short shorts on a woman, especially when she had the hips and long toned legs to show off. The tank top she wore with no bra gave her a youthful look and made for a mouthwatering view, even from her back side. Her hair was pulled back at her nape in a barrette. The dark brown strands fell in waves over each other, curling at the middle of her back. “Are you just waking up?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder and meeting his gaze only for a moment.

  “No. I’ve been online most of the morning.”

  “Research, huh?” She started typing when he leaned on the counter next to her. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she shot him a furtive glance. Jeremy might not be the man he claimed, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have good insight into women. Mercedes obviously didn’t believe him. He’d spent the first hour, after answering e-mails and checking a few of his favorite blogs, reading several reports on the chemical makeup of men and women.

  “Actually, yes.” He relaxed against the tall counter, picking up a ballpoint pen and glancing at notes scribbled on a legal pad—a formula of sorts that appeared completely Greek to him. Mercedes was the epitome of sex appeal and intelligence. He doubted he could compete. What he might lack in brain smarts, he could make up for in smooth talk and his persuasive nature—again, behavior he dogged in his book. “In fact, let’s do a little experiment.”

  “An experiment?” Mercedes stopped typing and shifted, matching his pose as she, too, leaned against the tall counter. “I’ve been running experiments all morning with little luck. Unless yours offers a strong probability of a favorable outcome, I doubt I’m interested.”

  She didn’t look stressed or worn out from the work she claimed had annoyed her all morning. The corner of her mouth twitched, and he guessed she hid a smile. Either that or she contemplated what a favorable outcome might be from experimenting with him. As he studied her face for a moment, color washed over her cheeks until she looked down at her notepad. He liked pushing her. Maybe he’d take this experiment one step further and see how long it would be until he got her to submit.

  “Then we’ll conduct two experiments.” He put down the pen and covered her hand with his. She returned her attention to his face while sucking in a breath. He loved how her nipples grew hard and poked against her tank top. “Here’s the first one. Look at this equation on your legal pad and tell me what you see.”

  Mercedes groaned. “I see that it’s wrong.”

  He couldn’t help laughing. “I see a threat.”

  She yanked her hand out from underneath his and clutched both her hands to her chest, as if he’d just burned her. Her blue eyes were bright as she stared at him, her lips barely parted.

  “Are you saying intelligent women threaten you?” she whispered, the flush in her cheeks disappearing as she paled noticeably.

  “Actually, no. But I’ll admit when I walked up to the counter and stood beside you, it was the first thing I noticed.
I don’t have a clue what it means, so it presented a challenge to me.”

  “Well, if you think I’m going to act like a stupid twit while we’re on this island together, just to entertain you, think again, mister.”

  “I doubt you would be able to pull it off if you tried,” he said dryly. “And I told you this was an experiment. Are you ready for the second one?”

  She stared at him warily, pursing her lips. It was all he could do not to lean in and kiss her. As it was, he moved a loose strand behind her ear that had escaped her hair clasp. Mercedes lowered her gaze, her long, dark lashes fluttering over her pretty eyes. When she sucked in a sharp breath, his cock stirred in his pants. It was a damn good thing he’d opted for loose-fitting khaki pants today instead of jeans, or he’d be giving her a show right now that wouldn’t do either of them any good at the moment.

  “Okay,” he continued when she didn’t say anything. Brushing his fingers under her chin, he turned her attention back to his face. “Here is the second experiment. When you look at me, what do you see?”

  Mercedes smiled, her eyes darkening until they glowed like sapphires. “Is this a two-way experiment?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you go first.”

  “Okay.” He remembered the doubt in her voice when he’d told her he’d spent the morning doing research. Already she questioned the validity of who he said he was. The explanation behind this experiment had been the premise for the chapter he’d been writing since yesterday. For the results to be accurate and measurable, all participants needed to be incredibly honest. “When I look at you I see a challenge.”

  Her expression didn’t change. She was ready with her response and answered so quickly he doubted she’d given herself time to allow his comment to register before speaking her mind. “When I look at you, I see a threat.”

  5

  “A threat?” Jeremy demanded, his eyes the shade of a stormy sky.